Tekken 8 is constantly getting new players who want to get better at the game, and I’m here to give you some beginner Tekken 8 tips that don’t make sense at first but will help you win matches in the long run. These were all gathered from personal experiences, research, talking to better players, and of course, years of playing the series.

Don’t Attack (Yet!)

New players to Tekken (or fighting games in general) might find this weird, but this is the foundation of all the tips below. As you learn the game and get more experience, you’ll slowly realize how attacking relentlessly without a plan will usually end with a loss. Sure, maybe they work against the AI or more casual players, but the more you fight against people who study the game and know what they’re doing, the more that being overly proactive works against you.

So do nothing. Despite how offense-oriented the game currently is and how it emphasizes flashy combos, long juggles, and going into Heat Mode, the best play in Tekken 8 in most situations is to simply move, block, and observe what your opponent is doing.

This serves a couple of purposes. One is that you get to gather information about your opponent – what attacks they like to do (e.g. are they mostly safe or unsafe), their play patterns (e.g. do they use certain moves after certain situations), and tendencies (e.g. do they get frustrated immediately and throw a low attack after every couple of blocked mids). The more of these you know, the more you’ll have an idea of how to approach your match and what strategies might work against your opponent.

The second benefit is just an inverse of the first – they’ll get less of a read on you if you don’t immediately go all out guns blazing. This makes it harder for them to get a grasp of what you know, and they won’t be able to fight you effectively.

So if both players are passive, how does one break this stalemate? You poke and prod the other player to get a response by (finally) attacking with purpose. The damage you do is secondary to the information that you’ll gain. A common example is doing an attack that is slightly unsafe if it gets blocked. If the other player just blocks it and doesn’t respond correctly or is a little too slow to do so, then you’ve gained the information that they don’t know how to handle that attack properly and you can use this throughout your match with minimum risk. Do this enough times and you’ll have a list of attacks that might work best against them and they’ll have to figure out how to handle those.

In practice, this is why you’ll often see pro-level Tekken 8 players play somewhat conservatively during the initial rounds of a match and don’t go wild with their launchers and combos. Each of them is constructing strategies based on what information they’ve gathered about their opponent so far. This evolves throughout the course of the match as the players adapt to each other’s tactics.

If You Get Hit, Block

For newer players, the common response after getting hit by an attack is a knee-jerk reaction to hit back, preferably harder. However, here are a couple of tips against his for Tekken 8 – this is one of the worst plays that you can make, and it can often lead to more disadvantages because of how the game’s fundamentals work.

Without diving into the specifics of Frame Data (the measurement of the game’s speed, which I’ll make a guide of soon), the general rule is this: if you get hit and you try to hit back immediately after, your attacks come out way slower than you opponent’s next attack, and they will almost always beat it. This is because your character goes through a recovery animation first after getting hit before your next attack can come out.

So, how do you stop yourself from getting pummeled without a chance of striking back? You block first and then counterattack. This is because after you block an opponent’s attack and they immediately still try to push the offense and continue attacking, their next attack will almost always come out slower than yours. There are exceptions of course, but generally, it’s a good idea to defend yourself first before mounting a counterattack.

Or even better yet, do nothing – just block and move and find a better opportunity to do your offense.

If Your Attack Hits, Continue Attacking. If It Gets Blocked, Stop.

Here’s one of the good Tekken 8 tips when you’re on the offense: if your attack hits the opponent, it’s usually a good idea to keep attacking. This is because when your attack hits, you get into a state called Frame Advantage, where your next attack will come out faster than whatever attack your opponent is trying to hit you back with. This is because they still have to go through a recovery animation after getting hit before their next attack comes out.

We’ve discussed above how blocked attacks cause your character to enter a recovery animation before your next attack comes out, which makes it slower than the opponents’ in most situations. There are exceptions, but in most situations, the best play is to stop your offense, block, or reposition yourself when your attacks get blocked.

Move More, Attack Less

One of the first good Tekken 8 tips you’ll often see for beginners is to focus more on movement. This is because proper, intentional movement can lead to opponents misjudging the distance or direction of their attacks and whiff completely, leaving them prone to counterattacks as they recover from their attack animation. 

Tekken 8’s 3D movement is unique because you can sidestep or sidewalk left and right in addition to the usual forward and back. This means there are more opportunities to dodge and bait your opponents into whiffing their attacks and leaving themselves open.

They will, of course, try to do the same to you, so be sure to attack with certainty. If you’re not sure how to approach them or what to do, then refer back to #1 above.

You Don’t Need To Learn Your Combos (Yet!)

Launching an opponent and comboing them in midair is flashy, deals big damage, and feels good, and new players can’t be faulted for practicing them first over anything else.

However, the reality is that it’s quite hard (and often risky) to land a launcher to start these combos in the first place, especially if the opponent is very careful. A more reliable way to deal damage is to punish your opponent for attempting big, risky attacks instead.

You see, most of the powerful attacks in Tekken 8 (like launchers) carry an inherent risk with them – if they get blocked, their recovery animation is long enough that you can sneak in a few fast hits for free damage, and the opponent can’t do anything about it. This is called a punish, and it’s the game’s way of balancing powerful moves – sure they lead to big damage when they hit, but your opponent gets a chance to do free damage in return if it misses or if they block it.

The damage that punishes do isn’t as big as that of combos but they are at least guaranteed, and doing this enough times in a round will still drain your opponent’s health bar a lot, in addition to discouraging them from doing those attacks again.

I hope these Tekken 8 tips help you enjoy the game better and win you your next match!

Check out our first impressions article on Tekken 8!

Read More:

-Tekken 8 First Impressions – An Amazing Game Made Even Better!

Find out who won the recent 128-person, Php25,000 prize pool Tekken Tryhards Tournament by Rumble Royale!

Read More:

–Rumble Royale Tekken 8 Tryhards Tournament Results!