Who are you maining?

[Eddy Wang]

So tekken will release in a day in and half as of this post, If you are getting in and you aren't aware how far is the water you're dipping, leave your main in here, and will tell you a lot about him/her and what she does in the game.

Here are the main rules when picking a character:

1. Looks cool
2. playstyle sync
3. How accessible the character is in the game? (This implies execution barriers, easy to execute, harder to execute)
4. How simple/Complicated is the gameplan (this implies how his meta is easy or harder to enforce, each character has a bunch of strengths and weakness in this scenario, for example, Jin has easy ways to enter heat, but his heat options aren't as relevant or as strong as many others, compared to Kazuya who his heat engagers are harder to connect, but are far more usable when he is in heat)

Ask the crystal ball, your answer shall be received

 

[Plop]

I main Jack and the bears in every Tekken game, but every time a new one comes along I always say "I'm gonna main someone else for a change"....

but I never do.

 

[NaCl man]

the one and only

 

[Metin]

Mishimas

 

[Eddy Wang]

I main Jack and the bears in every Tekken game, but every time a new one comes along I always say "I'm gonna main someone else for a change"....

but I never do.

This time you will, because not only you can learn the theory, but test on practice against yourself or other ghosts and see how it's going, and make the adjustments without getting salty, that's how I learned paul in the demo.

I never touched jack in my life or bears, but since this is a real formula now, I plan on picking this up, I might even help you out look for things if you need, just let me know.

 

[Eddy Wang]

the one and only

I played a lot of Kazuya during CBT and now in the demo.
I haven't got down his entire moveset, but your are pretty much Set, as you know kaz so well, you haven't lost much. As said earlier, Kaz main issues are the lack of good heat engages, and he can be sidewalked to left one the wavedash starts, so avoid wavu wavuing against someone who starts to move around as soon as you start, instead go for staggers into random hellsweeps or ff3 to throw them off.

Big launcher in EWGF, and i13 EWGF, DB1,2 it's a nice i13 heat engager but it's unsafe AF in block so watch out for these and use mostly as a punisher.
Kaz can also enter heat with B4 which is homing, B1+2 which is unsafe, and ff2, Yeah Kaz has Demon's Paw now, and in Tekken 8 this is officially a mishima move, Kaz one tracks SSL and SWL, which is a good option to prevent them to move when you start to wavedash, be sure to remember this, though it's -10, has a pushback which makes it safe but not as spammable as Jin.
You still have was 1+2 which I'm sure you know how to iws1+2 from a wavedash, it track well and will keep them honest.

df3+4, 1, 2 it's a wall ender, no longer political storm like but good for walls df3+4 on it's own it's safe.

Just make sure to learn the new routes, they are game changing, I haven't bothered to learn them in the demo because there were no practice mode, but overall his gameplan with movement, punishment it's solid.

 

[kabelfritz]

tell me who i should.

i liked nina the most in the demo because of her long limbs, paul was ok, feels like they changed him a lot since the old days. jin and kazuya - not so much for me. i think the french guy (victor?) looks great but also a little op.

 

[Eddy Wang]

Mishimas

Super vague, they are like 4 in the game now if you include Jin (Ignore TMM dictatorship of saying that Jin isn't a mishima because he lacks 112)

Jin
Safe, poking monster, Oki machine in tekken 8, overall a well rounded character, can play each style, rushdown, zoning or footsies you name it.
His key moves are all heat engagers:
ff2 (safe, i14~i15, mid but linear)
df4( safe, i20, mid)
f31 (-14 on block, hit confirmable, mid, mid, has a safe high extension)
zen 2 (safe, high (can be ducked) homing, doesn't launch in heat dash)
1+2 (i13, punishes almost everything that it's beyond -12, has range)
When in heat, his omen sucks and spends too much heat, instead, use it to pitbull with pressure and chip.
His heat smash doesn't give grey health so there is nothing to recover from, deals 100% in all heats because they are grounded, and has insane wall carry.

CH 4 it's +13 on heat, easy way to enter heat.

Kazuya
Crazy Mixup 50-50 options, unreactable hellsweep, though wave dash options can be sidewalked, if you know how to put the breaks, it increases the pressure as it will let you do hellsweeps without wavedash, so they will never see it coming, it's a character that downloads players by analysing and searching for an opening just by moving around, easy heat engager db1, 2 but unsafe, you also have ff2, which it's -10 but has pushback, no one can punish it.
CH Df2 it's -12 despite being a CH launcher, be careful but no one launches at less than 13f.
When in heat, ff2 activates laser beam, so does cd3, these do 100% damage at the spend of heat.

Devil jin
A mix between Kaz and Jin, great pokes, great pressure and crazy 50-50, he has a launchable hellsweep in cd4,1+2 which adds laser beam that screws, yeah hellsweeps are nerfed in tekken 8, but in general a good character, new stance has a lot going for it, just don't duck as he can mix with throw, or mid that launches and has an overhead that it's super plus, still has electric.

In heat his laser comes off many things and has a mechanic that feels like he has double heat smash, it's crazy.

Reina
A few semblances of heihachi here and there, but a lot of stances, they even transition into each other, she even has a mist step that parries into raijin shorter EWGF, but can play both ends, with mixups, heat pressure, or a lot of stances, she can also go 100% mishima.

 

[Eddy Wang]

tell me who i should.

i liked nina the most in the demo because of her long limbs, paul was ok, feels like they changed him a lot since the old days. jin and kazuya - not so much for me. i think the french guy (victor?) looks great but also a little op.

Nina has movement intricancies, she is a sway character, if that's a problem then I advice to switch and try her gradually, usually it's always good to overcome sway execution to not do it while you backdash, only then you will be able to fully unlock such characters.

So nina changed quite a lot, she is the one I played less, but from what I've noticed, she can erase grey health with some bone crushing throws, she also has guns this time, and she can fire them to do chip damage and push them up far away, don't worry it doesn't have mags and bullets, in heat she fires even more shots and seems to be crucial to her gameplan.

If you don't know, Nina is very execution heavy, and has one of the longest wall carry combos in the game with butterfly loops, if you decide to go further with her, try to learn this and practice the loops, only then figure her tools away.


She is rushdown technical, and a grappler as well, and in tekken 8, she has Guns, she wasn't my type of character, but it's also someone I'm in the look to try out, if you like Sonya, you will love Nina.




Paul

Surprisingly he didn't change much, his main gate entry still being able to move without triggering sways, once that is done, you can go pretty far with paul, I mean.
df2 still crushes jabs
d1+2 crushes lots of moves
qcb1+2 it's -14 but crushes highs, and launches, you just need to pick your spot and do it, if your opponent is terrible at punishing, this move is terrifying.
He has f2 as Heat engaged and I'm almost sure that's i14, he also has uf2 which is safe, and can heat engage from death fist.

He is still same old paul, you can destroy button mashers with df2, and if you don't know how to combo, death fist gets you by, definitely one of the most simplest character to play, and very beginner friendly when it comes down to how to play tekken, paul it's literally that character that says.
" You want to launch? use this? opponent is pressing too much buttons? use this, don't know how to combo? use death fist, want a low, try Demoman for a risk or b4 to keep them honest, are they moving a lot, df2 checks. Are they scare of death fists? qcf1 lmao.

 

[molambo]

Feng Wei like i did in 7 but i plan to expand that a bit and at least check some more Chars out.

 

[Eddy Wang]

Feng Wei like i did in 7 but i plan to expand that a bit and at least check some more Chars out.

Try as many as you can, I know I will. characters I'm checking on release.
Reina
Victor
Jun
Nina
Azu

I already main Mishimas, so Kaz and DVJ are automatic additions at this point.

Later down the line
Bryan
Drag
Hwoarang
Feng
Leo
Kuma
Xiao

Characters I'm not interested, but will pick them up way late in the game.
Asuka
Lili
Leroy

 

[Eddy Wang]

Devil jin
A mix between Kaz and Jin, great pokes, great pressure and crazy 50-50, he has a launchable hellsweep in cd4,1+2 which adds laser beam that screws, yeah hellsweeps are nerfed in tekken 8, but in general a good character, new stance has a lot going for it, just don't duck as he can mix with throw, or mid that launches and has an overhead that it's super plus, still has electric.

Speaking of the devil

 

[molambo]

Try as many as you can, I know I will. characters I'm checking on release.
Reina
Victor
Jun
Nina
Azu

I already main Mishimas, so Kaz and DVJ are automatic additions at this point.

Later down the line
Bryan
Drag
Hwoarang
Feng
Leo
Kuma
Xiao

Characters I'm not interested, but will pick them up way late in the game.
Asuka
Lili
Leroy

that didnt worked out for me in 7 but might change with 8 since i have now more experience with the game but in 7 i had struggle to have several mains due to mixing up combos/inputs all the time and forgetting punished framedata so i had to keep it slow and maybe had 2-3 at the same time where i played around with. not getting younger so i have to see if my experience helps now a bit.

 

[Eddy Wang]

that didnt worked out for me in 7 but might change with 8 since i have now more experience with the game but in 7 i had struggle to have several mains due to mixing up combos/inputs all the time and forgetting punished framedata so i had to keep it slow and maybe had 2-3 at the same time where i played around with. not getting younger so i have to see if my experience helps now a bit.

my problem was ppl to play and explore the MU, but now I can run the set against myself and see what I'm doing wrong, it's a much nicer pace than going online and getting destroyed.

I played Anna but never evolved with her for this reason.

 

[molambo]

my problem was ppl to play and explore the MU, but now I can run the set against myself and see what I'm doing wrong, it's a much nicer pace than going online and getting destroyed.

I played Anna but never evolved with her for this reason.

you mean via ghosts? yeah, that might be interesting to train yourself. do you happen to know if you can create more then 1 ghost for a charackter?

 

[kabelfritz]

Nina has movement intricancies, she is a sway character, if that's a problem then I advice to switch and try her gradually, usually it's always good to overcome sway execution to not do it while you backdash, only then you will be able to fully unlock such characters.

So nina changed quite a lot, she is the one I played less, but from what I've noticed, she can erase grey health with some bone crushing throws, she also has guns this time, and she can fire them to do chip damage and push them up far away, don't worry it doesn't have mags and bullets, in heat she fires even more shots and seems to be crucial to her gameplan.

If you don't know, Nina is very execution heavy, and has one of the longest wall carry combos in the game with butterfly loops, if you decide to go further with her, try to learn this and practice the loops, only then figure her tools away.


She is rushdown technical, and a grappler as well, and in tekken 8, she has Guns, she wasn't my type of character, but it's also someone I'm in the look to try out, if you like Sonya, you will love Nina.




Paul

Surprisingly he didn't change much, his main gate entry still being able to move without triggering sways, once that is done, you can go pretty far with paul, I mean.
df2 still crushes jabs
d1+2 crushes lots of moves
qcb1+2 it's -14 but crushes highs, and launches, you just need to pick your spot and do it, if your opponent is terrible at punishing, this move is terrifying.
He has f2 as Heat engaged and I'm almost sure that's i14, he also has uf2 which is safe, and can heat engage from death fist.

He is still same old paul, you can destroy button mashers with df2, and if you don't know how to combo, death fist gets you by, definitely one of the most simplest character to play, and very beginner friendly when it comes down to how to play tekken, paul it's literally that character that says.
" You want to launch? use this? opponent is pressing too much buttons? use this, don't know how to combo? use death fist, want a low, try Demoman for a risk or b4 to keep them honest, are they moving a lot, df2 checks. Are they scare of death fists? qcf1 lmao.

thx for the effort. for information, the last tekken i played somewhat more was TTT1 i believe . about paul, i feel like he moves way more fluid than back then.

also i just watched through all trailers and there wasnt yet a character which made me think "thats the one". whenever i played tekken i clicked the most with bryan though, i liked is range and power, but i dont think i'm feeling him this time. i guess i will go through a lot of characters first.

 

[zerosebaz]

You all fail. The only correct answer is Yoshimitsu, though Kuma is acceptable too.

 

[Eddy Wang]

you mean via ghosts? yeah, that might be interesting to train yourself. do you happen to know if you can create more then 1 ghost for a charackter?

yes through ghosts, I learned paul through ghost match.

You can't create more than one ghost for a character, but you can play more than one ghost of a character by downloading other ppl ghosts rather than your own.

 

[Eddy Wang]

You all fail. The only correct answer is Yoshimitsu, though Kuma is acceptable too.

all I see it's tv noice when it comes to him, I never understand shit, easy way to beat me, pick yoshi.

 

[Eddy Wang]

thx for the effort. for information, the last tekken i played somewhat more was TTT1 i believe . about paul, i feel like he moves way more fluid than back then.

also i just watched through all trailers and there wasnt yet a character which made me think "thats the one". whenever i played tekken i clicked the most with bryan though, i liked is range and power, but i dont think i'm feeling him this time. i guess i will go through a lot of characters first.

it been a while it seems, the trailers are deceiving, if you do not have a specialist letting you what's going on, it will be difficult to gauge the information yourself.

 

[kabelfritz]

it been a while it seems, the trailers are deceiving, if you do not have a specialist letting you what's going on, it will be difficult to gauge the information yourself.

absolutely. i can roughly see what kind of style i like but i have absolutely no clue whats going on . i can also not see much of a difference between most movesets but i'm sure its all in the nuances i dont know yet.

 

[Eddy Wang]

absolutely. i can roughly see what kind of style i like but i have absolutely no clue whats going on . i can also not see much of a difference between most movesets but i'm sure its all in the nuances i dont know yet.

put one trailer here and I will break it down for you

 

[kabelfritz]

put one trailer here and I will break it down for you

i did watch some real matches too. but ok, tell me about lee. it looks like he has a lot of good normals and a stance, but also some special gimmick i cant quite identify, like the "ching" at 1:32

TEKKEN 8 — Lee Chaolan Reveal & Gameplay Trailer - YouTube

 

[Eddy Wang]

i did watch some real matches too. but ok, tell me about lee. it looks like he has a lot of good normals and a stance, but also some special gimmick i cant quite identify, like the "ching" at 1:32

TEKKEN 8 — Lee Chaolan Reveal & Gameplay Trailer - YouTube

Nice pick
Lee out of every other tekken 8 character heat wise he is the most fleshed out character in the game, when you just frame his inputs, he breaks the 4th wall and says stuff like "great" , "awesome" and "excellent" to the player, basically Lee rewards the players for doing hard stuff gameplay wise and he still tells you, how cool you are, but this also means he has some execution behind him, by far probably the hardest one in terms of just frames.

0:37 - his new slide doesn't knockdown unless you just frame, but it gives plus frames enough for a jab check since you've been away since Tag 1 tekken has a new rule ever since tekken tag 2, every standard jab are all 10f now no longer 8f jabs exists in the game, so that's the quickest a regular jab comes in the game, and that's universal, they are also +1 on block, so that check it's +1 the next segment hits because nina pressed something.
0:40 - Here they display the Just frame mechanic, in this case, causes a knockdown and he can transition into a mist step for an accessible mixup

0:42 - Nina does a Hop Kick, those are -13 on block, which are within a punishable scenario, what's important here, is what Lee does next, the acid rain startup it's 10 frames because it comes from a jab, but acid rain are just frames inputs after 1,3 , that's what you are seeing the blue flash in the third hit for a free followup, they even changed the animation to help diferenciate, they don't show it, but acid rain allows one additional hit.

0:45 - df2 i16 launcher, to evidence that Nina did something super punishable, they changed his df2 animation. Everytime you notice a blue effect in his strings, those are being just framed, in Lee's case it does more damage than normally would.

0:51: 14f wall splat with a just frame (b11~during hit~2), Nina's f+1+2 it's -14 so it leaves her at punish risks, since she did near a wall, well ggs

1:14 ::: Heat Showcase :::

up to 1:21 - Heat burst

1:23 - DB2 counter hits, and guarantees free 44 just frame 4 which enters heat, indication that the DB2 is so good that allows Lee to enter heat if you land it on CH

1:25 - Heat Smash, I can't see well from that angle, looked like a low, but can definitely be a mid, if it's a mid, you can't duck.
1:29 - another 13f punisher with a heat engager
1:32 - Same FF2 into mist step just framed from 0:40 plus on block, but here it blue sparks since he is in heat, what it does, not only does more damage, but it restores some of his heat gauge to not expire, basically he can restore heat.
1:34 - Lars did a 111, which is -10, Lee punished with Acid Rain, as he is in heat, it bluesparks and restores heat gauge, so he stays in heat for longer times.
1:37 - Hitman Stance uf3, it's a heat engager, but since he is already in heat, he can cancel into heat dash, it curshes lows, and if blocked he can still dash cancel out of it, but loses heat in the process, on hit he gains a combo as seen in the trailer.

The rest it's just combo filler and by the end Hitman Stance 2 into Rage art.

 

[kabelfritz]

Nice pick
Lee out of every other tekken 8 character heat wise he is the most fleshed out character in the game, when you just frame his inputs, he breaks the 4th wall and says stuff like "great" , "awesome" and "excellent" to the player, basically Lee rewards the players for doing hard stuff gameplay wise and he still tells you, how cool you are, but this also means he has some execution behind him, by far probably the hardest one in terms of just frames.

0:37 - his new slide doesn't knockdown unless you just frame, but it gives plus frames enough for a jab check since you've been away since Tag 1 tekken has a new rule ever since tekken tag 2, every standard jab are all 10f now no longer 8f jabs exists in the game, so that's the quickest a regular jab comes in the game, and that's universal, they are also +1 on block, so that check it's +1 the next segment hits because nina pressed something.
0:40 - Here they display the Just frame mechanic, in this case, causes a knockdown and he can transition into a mist step for an accessible mixup

0:42 - Nina does a Hop Kick, those are -13 on block, which are within a punishable scenario, what's important here, is what Lee does next, the acid rain startup it's 10 frames because it comes from a jab, but acid rain are just frames inputs after 1,3 , that's what you are seeing the blue flash in the third hit for a free followup, they even changed the animation to help diferenciate, they don't show it, but acid rain allows one additional hit.

0:45 - df2 i16 launcher, to evidence that Nina did something super punishable, they changed his df2 animation. Everytime you notice a blue effect in his strings, those are being just framed, in Lee's case it does more damage than normally would.

0:51: 14f wall splat with a just frame (b11~during hit~2), Nina's f+1+2 it's -14 so it leaves her at punish risks, since she did near a wall, well ggs

1:14 ::: Heat Showcase :::

up to 1:21 - Heat burst

1:23 - DB2 counter hits, and guarantees free 44 just frame 4 which enters heat, indication that the DB2 is so good that allows Lee to enter heat if you land it on CH

1:25 - Heat Smash, I can't see well from that angle, looked like a low, but can definitely be a mid, if it's a mid, you can't duck.
1:29 - another 13f punisher with a heat engager
1:32 - Same FF2 into mist step just framed from 0:40 plus on block, but here it blue sparks since he is in heat, what it does, not only does more damage, but it restores some of his heat gauge to not expire, basically he can restore heat.
1:34 - Lars did a 111, which is -10, Lee punished with Acid Rain, as he is in heat, it bluesparks and restores heat gauge, so he stays in heat for longer times.
1:37 - Hitman Stance uf3, it's a heat engager, but since he is already in heat, he can cancel into heat dash, it curshes lows, and if blocked he can still dash cancel out of it, but loses heat in the process, on hit he gains a combo as seen in the trailer.

The rest it's just combo filler and by the end Hitman Stance 2 into Rage art.

amazing writeup, thank you. it helped me understand a lot more about the game.

who would you recommend to somemone like me who is alright at everything but execution and enjoys a rather tactical mid-range style?