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This is the King of The Iron Fist tournament, where fighters gather to exchange punches and kicks to win the spotlight. Every fighter has a unique style, and every style has different moves to master. But among the powerful roster of Tekken 8, the hardest thing to figure out is who’s your main character? These tips will help you find your Tekken soulmate.
What’s Your Style?
- Powerhouse
- Rush
- Combo Master
- Hardcore
Your style of playing indicates which character you need to master in all Tekken games. Picking a main is very much needed if you want to conquer the Tekken 8 Ranked play mode, and there are a variety of characters to choose from. So, let’s divide them into four different categories, suitable for four different play styles.
Powerhouse
Recommended Characters:
- Jun Kazama
- Reina
- Asuka Kazama
- Marshal Law
- Alisa Bosconovitch
To make things simple, this is a category for meta characters in Tekken 8. They’re straightforward to use, and their simple punches are rockets. You need less time to learn their moves; if you master them, you can take down any opponent.
A good example of this category to pick as your main character in Tekken 8, is Jun Kazama. Jin is the main character of Tekken 8, and Jun is his mom, teaching the boy the martial arts he’s been using since childhood. So if Jin is considered powerful, in a master and student fashion, Jun is a true tank in this game. Most of her attacks deal a significant amount of damage while requiring the least amount of button mash. And most importantly, Jun can heal herself to add more HP. This is broken!
Another good example here is Reina, the new character who appears to have some relation to Heihachi Mishima. So if you miss grandpa Mishima in Tekken 8, Reina has his fighting style. She’s no combo master, but her simple moves deal a ton of damage to the opponent. Marshal Law, Asuka Kazama, and Alisa Bosconovitch also wear the same coat.
Rush
Recommended Characters:
- Ling Xiaoyu
- Lee
- Jun Kazama
- Lars Alexanderson
- Steve Fox
If you’re on a journey to becoming a Tekken 8 pro player, then you need to know the importance of frames on each character’s moves. The faster your character throws punches/kicks, the higher the chance you’ll have of punishing your opponent’s attacks.
First on our list here is Ling Xiaoyu. If you see anyone blocking Xiaoyu in a Tekken tournament, you should know they’re a master! Not only is it easy to learn Xiaoyu’s combos, but her attacks are much stronger and faster than ever in Tekken 8. Choosing this character, you’ll be punishing every attack of your opponent with a simple forward + 2.
Another good example of a character with fast-frame attacks is Lee. Just press forward + 1; now that’s what we call lightning kicks. Furthermore, Jun Kazama is the jack of all trades in Tekken 8, and Lars Alexanderson is also one of the flashy fighters you can punish your opponents with by his fast hands.
Combo Master
Recommended Characters:
- Victor
- Paul Phoenix
- Marshal Law
- Lars Alexanderson
- Jun Kazama
- Leroy Smith
- Hwoarang
The Combo Master category is for those players who want their main character to perform easy, but long combos in Tekken 8. Probably the best examples here are Leory Simth and Marshal Law. Leory is a Wing-Chun master, so you probably know what this character is capable of. Two 2+3s and one 2 will get you the rain of Wing-Chun punches that you’ve probably seen in the Ip Man movies; easy as that.
Marshal Law, on the other hand, has many slamming and launching moves that’ll make the opponent ready for the follow-up attacks. Take advantage of the new Heat Dash mechanism; you’ll be a non-stop attacking machine with these characters.
Hardcore
Recommended Characters:
- Jin
- Kazuya
- King
- Bryan Fury
- Feng
- Yoshimitsu
This category is for fighting worms. If you can master a character like Kazuya, you’ll confuse the opponents so much that they might just forfeit the match. These characters are tough to learn, but their attacks and moves are unique with rewarding damage.
Jin is a good character in this category to start with. He has always been hard to deal with, but in Tekken 8, most of his new moves are combined with old ones, resulting in easier combos. If you want the ultra difficulty, Yoshimitsu is the one to go for. A pro Yoshimitsu player is always respected in the community.
Tekken 8 is currently available to play on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
