Tekken 8 has a robust roster of fighters who all have different fighting styles and varying levels of complexity. Some fighters demand perfect timing and execution of their commands to unleash the full potential of their damage onto opponents. Others, though, are easier to pick up and play for those who are just starting out or simply want to have fun.
From cybernetic humanoids capable of explosive attacks to giant land omnivores that use their teeth and claws, the following beginner-friendly Tekken 8 fighters are good first picks for newcomers.
Tekken 8: Where The Series Can Go After The Mishima Saga
It's interesting to speculate where the Tekken franchise could go after the conclusion of the long-running Mishima Saga.
Alisa
Just A Great All Rounder, & She Has Chainsaws
When it comes to mobility, Alisa should not be taken lightly as she can just approach so often and so easily. As a cyborg, Alisa has a couple of attacks, like her dashing f2 or her d3, that take advantage of her technological enhancements to quickly close the distance between herself and her opponent. This is done via her rocket-propelled strikes, which also serve as launchers when she manages to tag her enemy with it.
She also has a stance in Destructive Form that adds chainsaws to her arms. This can be accessed by pressing the correct command, or by using some of her simple attack strings. In this stance, Alisa can do tremendous damage. However, she needs to hit first, because if she gets hit while using this stance, the opponent will cancel it outright. Sure, the character does have a lot of depth that players will want to learn once they start to get to the higher ranks, but she can easily carry a newcomer for quite a while without them having to put much work in.
King
Whatever Button Player's Press, It'll Probably Work
King is almost always strong in every single Tekken game due to his innate design being based around grabs and making the player guess how to react to an attack or how to break out of one of his many grabs. And, in Tekken 8, King is stronger than ever thanks to the universal buff the grabs and throws seem to have received in this new game. On top of all that, King just has so many attacks that he's 'plus' on, and many of them can safely lead into grabs as well.
King is one of the absolute best fighters to pick up first in Tekken as he'll teach newcomers about Throws, plus frames, wake-up attacks, grab breaks, and so many other basics that'll help them get better at Tekken incredibly fast. Plus, players will probably also do well in Ranked with King with little to no practice, which will also be a confidence booster.
Azucena
She Can Just Keep Going
One of the newcomers in Tekken 8, Azucena relies on rush down and catching opponents with her auto counter stance. She has excellent jabs with good range to keep her from getting punished most of the time. When players have gotten the hang of her lunging attacks like Sumatra Back Knuckle, that is highly oppressive as it is safe to spam against most opponents.
Tekken 8: Characters Most Likely To Return As DLC
With Tekken 8's base roster finally solidified, it's interesting to speculate who may make a return as DLC.
Azucena’s combo strings usually end with her entering one of her two stances. In general, Azucena might be one of the easiest characters in the game to pick up, as a lot of her moves naturally chain together quite well, she's 'plus' (AKA has a plus frame advantage, which is a Tekken community term) on a lot of her attacks, and her dancing stances deal with dodging attacks for her. Her running 3 into 2 is absurd and easily keeps her pressure going, her jabs are great, her auto dodges (and auto follow-ups during Heat) are honestly hilariously toxic, and she can just keep pressing buttons and usually come out of it okay.
Victor
Everyone's Seen His Attack Strings Already
Anyone who has been putting any time into Tekken 8's Ranked Matches has almost assuredly seen Victor's main "bread-and-butter" combo by now. The one that has him launch opponents into a quick side knee, a quick shot from his pistol, and then he starts teleporting and swinging his sheathed sword all over the place to drain their health in an instant. The thing about Victor is that he's one of the easiest characters to learn a long punish string for, and it can be surprising to see how far just one punish string can take players in Ranked Matches.
Sure, he has Stances, and yes, learning to space properly (and teleport properly) with him can take a bit of work, but there aren't many other characters players can just pick up and take into Ranked and very likely win their first 5–10 matches.
Paul
Fun, Hard-Hitting Blows
One of the perennial characters in the Tekken franchise, Paul is one of the most recognizable characters in the games aside from the Mishima characters. While his story arcs often steer towards the outlandish and comedic, his offense is one of the strongest, and he is an absurdly simple fighter. In general, Paul just has a lot of options, has a lot of fast moves that can be used to whiff punish, and doesn't have any super-complicated commands or anything like that.
His iconic Phoenix Smasher, often referred to as Death Fist (executed through qcf2), is one of the best punish moves in Tekken 8. Paul’s combo strings are simple to execute, and they hit like a truck when they connect. For example, his Demolition Man combo is one of his go-to strings that players who pick him up should quickly learn to pull off, since nailing the move’s timing right deals maximum damage.
Hwoarang
Kicks for Days
Hwoarang is Tekken’s resident Tae Kwon Do practitioner, succeeding his master, Baek, from Tekken 3. He is proficient at dishing out fast kick combos that have good range and damage. He often relies on blitzing his opponent the moment they whiff an attack, or when one of his strikes connects.
Tekken 8: 7 Best Rage Arts
Each character in Tekken 8 has a unique Rage Art move that they can throw out, but these ones are definitely the most fun to watch in action.
Hwoarang has a few stances players need to learn if they want to maximize their potential, but beginners can get by with mashing his kick buttons for fun and quick combos. As players get familiar with Hwoarang's playstyle, they can execute flashy combos and air juggles to eventually run over their opponents.
Jin Kazama
Jack-of-all-Trades
As the game’s main protagonist, Jin is one of the best characters for beginners to pick up. He is above average in most aspects, and compared to the previous Tekken games, is much easier to pick up and play. Jin has nice, speedy pokes that have good range, simple combo strings that deal great damage, and some moves that deal with the other characters’ movement gimmicks.
As Kazuya’s son, Jin has access to the staple Mishima moves such as the wave dash, Electric Wind God Fist, and the Hell Sweep. He complements these moves with his Karate strikes, which are deliberate for maximum damage. Jin is the "default" character that isn't too scary and isn't too gimmicky, and he is designed in his move list to subtly incentivize people who play him to learn the mechanics of Tekken in order to do well
Leo Kliesen
Has So Many Easy-Execution Mixups
As far as mixups go (AKA tricking the opponent's block by mixing highs, lows, and mids) Leo is probably one of the best in Tekken 8. There are better characters for this at higher levels, but Leo excels at mixups without the player using him having to know every move in his move list. Just by getting into his Stance using f4, players can then follow that initial knee-raising hit up with any variety of other moves, and the string just keeps going from there.
Obviously, there's a lot more to Leo than just this one specific move that transitions into his Stance, but players would forgiven for not thinking so after going up against Leo users online considering how much they rely on this.
Leroy Smith
Another 'Press A Button & It'll Probably Work' Type Character But With An Easy Parry Mechanic
Leroy is very similar to Hwoarang in terms of why he's a good beginner character, it's mostly the exact same reasoning. Both characters have high ceilings for their mechanics but both characters also have a very low barrier of entry as well.
Players can press just about anything as Leroy Smith and it'll probably come out quickly and naturally lead to more hits afterward. For example, his d3 into 2 attacks brings him into his Hermit stance, and the branching path of attacks from here will almost always mix the opponent up to get some sort of combo going. And on top of all this, Leroy can also parry just about anything with a well-time b2, giving him a ton of offensive and defensive options to round things out.
Emilie De Rochefort AKA Lili
Just So Many Options & Even Has A Powerful Backturn Stance
Last up is Lili, and honestly compared to a lot of the other characters on here there's not much to say about Lili other than she's just very good. She's very easy to play, her moves all look cool when she's using them, her attacks chain together quite naturally, and she has an answer for just about everything her opponent might do. Her 1 into 2 jab combo is very fast and keeps her close to the opponent, df3+4 closes the distance quickly while also attacking, and her backturned stance is actually terrifying in terms of how good it is.
Yes, as with most other characters in Tekken 8, Lili has a few stances to learn and a couple of mechanics that need some practice, but just on a button-mashing level this character is an absolute powerhouse.
Tekken 8
- Platform(s)
- PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
- Released
- January 26, 2024
- Developer(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment , Arika
- Genre(s)
- Fighting
