How To Improve Your Skills in Tekken 8

We have all grown up playing the Tekken series in those gaming arcades. 

Being a very accessible game, anyone can get into it. But mastering it takes much time and effort, as every character has a different learning curve. 

Skilled players are rewarded in-game. You just have to maintain a win rate of 54% to be Tekken God Supreme, the 2nd highest rank in the game (RedBull). But, more importantly, they are also respected much more outside, in real life, by their peers.

Winning the Tekken tournament is the best feeling for any enthusiast. But that takes a player with considerable skills.

In this guide, I’ll educate you on how you can also hone your Tekken skills and defeat the masters of the game. The following sections list the best practices in your path to becoming a Tekken master.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• All of us have been playing the Tekken series since our childhood.
• The game is very accessible, but mastering it takes some time and effort.
• Master at least two characters, all their moves and grapples; Timing is important across all characters.
• Play online matches to practice your skills and combos against actual players.

Play Online Matches

Playing against the computer is relatively easy. It’s the real players that actually test your mettle. 

To do that, you can play online matches provided in Tekken 8. The more you play online matches, the better you get at recognizing patterns and adjusting your moves. Work on consistency and timing, rather than just focusing on winning. 

However, before starting the online match, make sure you have an active PlayStation Plus subscription and that your console is connected to a reliable and fast internet service. In the latter case, it should be a good idea for you to connect your console to an Xfinity Internet connection, since its super-fast speed ensures zero spotty internet connection. Once you get your internet situation sorted out, figure out who your best player is and just head out and dominate all the matches. 

Learn Your Movesets

There are many characters in the game. Winning games with one doesn’t mean you’ve mastered the game. 

Each character has its own unique moveset that you have to practice over time. For instance, if you take a look at Steve Fox, he’s a boxer who doesn’t kick at all. Pressing the kick buttons will just make him duck and dodge. 

Similarly, Hwoarang’s fighting style is Taekwondo, which means that he specializes in kicks more than punches, so to master his playstyle, you need to be creative with your kicks. Therefore, you must pick a character and play around with their moveset until you figure out what you can do with it. 

Time Your Grapples Right 

Grapples deal serious damage to the opponent. These are done by pressing two buttons together at the same time, with the combination being either of the three: 

• A punch and a kick button
• Both kick buttons
• Both punch buttons

However, it is important that you time your grapples just right; otherwise, you can either miss your grapple opportunity or your opponent can just counter it if you are telegraphing too much. So, just be observant and look for openings. As soon as you find one, immediately trigger the grapple. You can practice your grapples on the opponents you face in online matches. 

If you are good at grappling, maybe choosing a grapple-heavy character can be a better choice. The following tier list ranks all Tekken characters based on their grappling skills:

Always Have a Backup Character to Play With

Mastering one character is basic in Tekken. You need to know how to play with at least one more character.

It’s possible that your primary character may be weak against your opponent’s character. However, another character can overpower your opponent, and that is the part that you have to figure out. 

A good solution to this is that you pick a second character to play with and master their moveset as well, so that you can become undefeatable. In my case, my primary character is always Hwoarang, and the secondary one is Law. I bag a win whenever I play with either character, depending on who my opponent is playing with. 

Practice Your Combos

Basic offence and defensive moves, some grapples, and good timing can win you any number of matches. Just use them in a series creatively.

Think of every match like a canvas and all of your character’s moves like art. You need to be creative with all the moves to combine them and create art. 

This is where combos step in to save the day. You have to figure out effective combos that will deal your opponent a lot of damage. As the icing on top, you can hit your opponent with an unblockable attack, such as Hwoarang’s Dynamite Heel, which is most effective when your opponent is still on the ground right after a combo. 

Conclusion

As they say, master the basics. This is so true when it comes to Tekken. You just need to practice the above-mentioned things, and your skills will start improving exponentially.

Other than that, always make sure you save your heat smash and rage attacks for the end of the match so that you don’t end up wasting them. Once you sort everything out, you’ll be on your way to becoming a Tekken champ in no time! 

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