Tekken 8: Introductory Guide

Getting started in Tekken seems quite the daunting task looking from the outside. From the long list of moves to terminology, I have condensed as much as possible while keeping the most usable/applicable knowledge within.

To give an overview, Tekken, is distinct from most fighting game due to its 3 dimensionality. In most fighting games you are on a 2D plane which means you can only move left, right, or up but not into the foreground or background. Movement in Tekken however, is different due to it being a 3D fighter where you are not just limited to 2 dimensions but given access to 3. This means you can go left, right, and up, just like in 2D fighters, but also side to side.

Note: If you have some knowledge on other fighting games just know that it won't always be one-to-one applicable.

To play you will need:

1. A PC or console
2. A playable copy of Tekken 8
3. For: Steam, PlayStation, or Xbox
4. A controller for the game

Before diving into memorizing combos or mastering advanced mechanics, your first step in enjoying Tekken 8 is to play casually and experiment with different characters. Pick a character you think is cool or you resonate with and hop in. Then just press some buttons and get oriented.

On screen when in a match you will see two health-bars separated by a timer of 60 seconds. Underneath each health bar is a blue bar known as the heat gauge. Usually next to the heat gauge is a symbol that is character specific. Above each health bar are 3 empty dots that indicate who has won rounds and how many. The default is whoever wins 3 rounds wins the match. Sets are best 2 out of 3.

These are your basic buttons for Tekken 8. Once you've pressed a few of your attack buttons, you'll quickly notice how certain inputs are tied to specific limbs.

The rules for movement is as follows:

1 - Movement is tied to Cardinal directions, mainly: Up, Down, Left, Right.

2 - Opponent Oriented - Which way the opponent is, as you will (almost) always be facing towards them.

Later on some actions will utilize combinations of the inputs above which we'll get into later.

For the example below, strictly focusing on each button at a time:

1. " f " - Forward will move you towards the opponent
2. Quickly hitting forward twice will make you dash forward
3. Hitting forward 3 times will make your character run foward

1. " b " - Back will move you away from the opponent
2. Quickly hitting back twice will make you dash backdash

The next inputs require a bit more defining

1. " d " - Down
2. Quickly tapping and releasing down will make your character side-step towards the camera
3. Tapping down twice and holding on the second down will make your character side-step towards the camera and continue to sidewalk as long as you continue to hold
4. Pressing and holding down will make your character crouch

1. " u " - Up
2. Quickly tapping and releasing up will make your character side-step away from the camera
3. Tapping up twice and holding on the second up will make your character side-step away from the camera and continue to sidewalk as long as you continue to hold
4. Pressing and holding up will make your character jump (can be combined with f and b)

Finally

1. " star " or " n "- neutral
2. no directions are currently being input

Attacks are your way of reducing the enemy players life total to zero. However its not a single player game and your opponent will have their own attacks to hit you with. To defend against these attacks requires a specific action.

High - Can be blocked standing or ducked via crouching

Middle - Must be blocked standing

Low - Must be blocked crouching

Unblockable ( ! ) - as the name implies must be evaded, usually through movement and cannot be blocked

Grabs - Are attacks that can't be blocked but can be broken through specific inputs

Note:

1. Some moves have evasive properties and can dodge other moves. These are referred to as high-crushing or low-crushing a move.

Some attacks require multiple buttons, motion inputs, and/or either simultaneously or in sequence.

Strings

1. Attacks followed one after another
2. For example: 1,2,4

Grabs/Parries

1. Standard grabs/parries require two attack buttons pressed simultaneously, such as 1+3 and 2+4
2. For example: 1+3 and 2+4

Stances

1. Some Stances usually require an input to enter
2. For example: 1+2 or 3+4

Movement

1. Some characters have specific options for movement such as:
2. wave dash
3. For example: f,n,d,df (repeat)

Now that we know both Attacks and Movement buttons lets combine them for even more possibilities.

1. b+1 = back and 1
2. uf+4 = up-forward and 4

Next, specific attacks require a motion input with its corresponding attack button, for example:

1. f,F+2 = forward tap forward hold and 2
2. qcf 1+2 = which is d followed by df followed by f then 1+2 (qcf is an abreviation for quarter circle forward)

Given a basic key of:

1. , = followed by
2. + = together with
3. ~ = in quick succession
4. T! = tornado
5. F = forward but held down when pressed

For example this combo for Bryan: f,n,b+2 f+1+2 db+2 1 b+3~F 2,4 T! b+3~F 2,2

1. Would be read in steps as:
2. tap forward, let go for neutral, tap back and 2 together
3. press forward, 1, and 2 at the same time
4. press down-back and 2 at the same time
5. press 1 (with no direction)
6. press back and 3 together then hold forward
7. press 2 then 4 (this will tornado the opponent)
8. press back and 3 together then hold forward
9. press 2 then 2

There is more notation to familiarize yourself with on the wavu wiki, this is just a simple example.

A new mechanic in Tekken 8, which buffs your character, allows for new combo routes, recovery from chip damage, and gives access to a powerful attack. The heat gauge is the blue bar under your health.

There are 2 way to enter heat:

1. Heat Burst (2+3), is a fast armored attack (that can be canceled) but takes 30% of the heat gauge when used this way
2. used defensively to stop an opponents offense or to continue combos
3. Heat Engagers - Upon hitting a specific moves, known as a heat engagers, on the opponent you enter heat with no penalty to the gauge (when blocked you wont enter heat)
4. When entered this way you gain a sizable chunk of grey health back*

Upon entering heat you are given buffs specific to your character (for example Bryans Snakes Eyes usually can only be used once before having to regain them but in heat is permanent as long as the gauge isn't empty).

As the heat gauge is not infinite, before it runs out, you have the options to either heat dash or heat smash.

1. Heat Dash - when in heat, after landing a heat engager, on block you can hold forward after the attack to dash and gain frame advantage**, or on hit go into/extend a combo
2. Heat Smash - a strong attack with armor

With either of these options, once used you lose access to heat for the round. IF you land another heat engager nothing will happen.

*Some moves inflict chip damage, which is greyed out on the life bar, known as recoverable health

**frame advantage mentioned later

Certain states can be entered to gain access to specific moves and properties.

1. Standing - your neutral state when not pressing any buttons and allows you to do you most moves
2. blocks highs and mids
3. Crouching - allows you to duck highs but prevents you from sidestepping
4. blocks lows
5. FC - Full Crouch - after 11 frames of crouching you are put into FC
6. gives access to FC moves
7. WS - While Standing (aka While Rising) - after being in FC and releasing down you are put in WS
8. gives access to ws moves
9. WR - While Running - after hitting forward 3 times, you are put into a run animation
10. gives access to wr moves

1. Armor - Moves that allow you to absorb attacks, but can be broken by lows

1. Rage - When put below a certain amount of health you gain a damage boost, take reduced chip, and gain access to your rage attack, which is a high damaging move with armor(but after use you lose rage bonus)

1. Heat - (Mentioned Earlier)

When you get very deep into the game, numbers start to matter a lot more and those numbers are known as frame data. Since Tekken 8 runs at 60 frames a second, when moves come out in just a fraction of that, they are just barely react-able. So if order to gain an advantage we utilize frame data.

When you hit/get hit depending on the move you are either:

1. Plus or " + " - When someone is plus it means they can act before their opponent thus giving them the advantage
2. Minus or " - " - Essentially the opposite of plus
3. Zero or " +0 " - Both players can act at the the same time

All moves have:

1. Startup - time before an attack is active
2. can be counter hit if hit within this time
3. Active - time where attack can hit the opponent
4. 
   
5. Recovery - time after attack was active
6. cant block during recovery
7. sometimes can be cancel-able through other moves

Frame Advantage

Say the opponent is hit with a move that is +4 on block, then their next action will be behind by 4 frames. So if you then use a 10 frame move even if the opponent does the same 10 frame move they will get hit because they are still in the startup of that move at frame 6.

This is the basis of frame traps and counter hits.

Whiff Punish

Say the opponent whiffs a move with quite a bit of recovery, if you then use a move to hit them during that recovery that is a successful a whiff punish.

While newly released fighting games usually have an adequate tutorial and challenge modes to assist their players, most in-game character tutorials are limited. As the game goes on they may even become out of date in use or application. These are most commonly used to get a feel of how they play and not how to play them optimally.

However, the replay function for analyzing past matches, with tips and info on possible improvements, is a great resource and should be utilized as such.

https://wavu.wiki/

https://wavu.wiki/t/Notation

https://tekken.fandom.com/wiki/Move_Terminology