Tekken 8: Kuma Character Guide

This article is part of a directory: Tekken 8 Guide Hub - Tips, Tricks, Unlockables & More

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With Tekken 8 now out in the wild for fighting game fanatics, it's time to start talking about one of the most iconic characters in the series, Kuma. Kuma goes by many names, the Sworn Enemy of Paul Phoenix, the Master of Salmon, or even the beloved pet of Heihachi Mishima, it all applies to Kuma. And you better be respectful to this bear too, because he's part of the Special Forces, the Tekken Force, to be precise.

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All jokes aside, Kuma is a staple character in the Tekken series and one that 'beat out' other joke characters like Roger (a Kangaroo) and Alex (a Velociraptor) to become so beloved fans couldn't imagine the roster of a Tekken game without him (or at the very least Panda). Generally in most Tekken games, Kuma is placed rather low in the tier lists but is good enough (and unorthodox enough) to compete nonetheless. Who could forget, after all, someone like Rangchu, a professional Tekken player who managed to win the Tekken World Tour 2018 with Panda, a character who is incredibly similar to Kuma. Anyway, let's break down Kuma in Tekken 8, who he is, and what his general playstyle is like.

Who Is This Bear Named Kuma?

Heihachi's Old Pet & A Proud Tekken Force Member

Tekken 8 - Kuma's King of Iron Fists Title Card

You might think, at first glance, that this character wearing clothes and using moves that emulate Heihachi Mishima wouldn't have a whole lot to his story. But, you'd be absolutely wrong because Kuma has a lot going on. Not only is he Heihachi's pet who was trained in the Mishima style just like the rest of his family, but he even worked as a bodyguard for Heihachi for a long period of his life.

Funnily enough, Kuma also has a longstanding iconic rivalry with one of the other fan-favorite Tekken characters, Paul Phoenix, as the two of them just can't seem to stop getting matched up against each other in tournaments. In Tekken 8 specifically, Kuma is absolutely still competing in the King of Iron Fist Tournaments, though this time he does have a new weapon he's using, one that looks a little bit...fishy and one that Panda herself seems to be able to sniff our right away as can be seen in his reveal trailer.

How The Tekken Community Writes Out Inputs

For Writing Out Directional Inputs, Attacks, & Combo Strings

Tekken 8 - Kuma Stratching His Head After His Rage Art

Before we get into what kind of fighter Kuma is, let's break down how exactly Tekken fans write out commands and combo strings online. Unlike other fighting game communities that typically just write out the inputs plain and simple, Tekken uses both a 1, 2, 3, 4, and letter system to denote different things. It's actually a very efficient way of doing things, once you get used to it, and we'll be using a bit of this terminology here, so let's go over some (not all) of what these numbers and letters mean:

Symbol Used	Meaning
u	Up
d	Down
b	Back
f	Forward
1	Left Punch
2	Right Punch
3	Left Kick
4	Right Kick
H	Heat
HB	Heat Burst
RA	Rage Art
u/f	Up+Forward (AKA Diagonal Up & To the Right)
d/f	Down+Forward (AKA Diagonal Down & To the Right)
u/b	Up+Back (AKA Diagonal Up & To the Left)
d/b	Down+Back (AKA Diagonal Down & To the Left)

Again, this is only about maybe half of the symbols and abbreviations that Tekken fans use, but these are the only ones that are needed to understand everything in this guide. While Kuma might seem like a character that's a bit more simple in the commands he uses, he's pretty much just as complicated as the majority of the roster.

What Type Of Fight Kuma Is & How He's Different In Tekken 8

The Master Of Salmon & Absurd Hijinks

Time to get into the gameplay elements of how this almost personified brown bear actually fights. Kuma, for reference, does actually have a fighting style like the rest of the roster. It's Heihachi-style martial arts, of course, and more specifically it's the Advanced Kuma Shin Ken fighting style. What this actually means in combat is that Kuma is one-third a range of attacks one would expect from a bear, one-third a range of attacks that are over-the-top silly, and one-third a range of attacks that are Mishima style (Heihachi specifically) martial arts.

To boil that all down to a one-sentence playstyle; Kuma has a lot of mix-ups, he has more of Heihachi's moves than ever before, and the new attacks (and especially attacks when in Heat) add more options to his already expansive move list. Kuma isn't too technical, he's gimmicky but not 'only' gimmicks, but you've got to really love Kuma to stick with him. He's just a bigger fighter with a couple of Stances, a lot of diverse attacks, and one of the best Rage Arts in the entire game in terms of visuals. As far as his differences go, the main difference is that Kuma has integrated even more of Heihaci's moves into his moveset now that Heihachi is gone, which is only a plus.

Kuma's Rage Art

Type 38 Eradication Weapon: Aramaki

Speaking of Kuma's Rage Art, let's get a bit into this thing. First of all, Kuma not only sets up a full golf swing with his fish, it doesn't stop there. After Kuma launches his opponent into the air the fish then quite literally becomes a rocket and takes the opponent out mid-air in a fiery explosion. Like all other Rage Arts, you must first be in the Rage state to perform this move, which means you have to be at 25 percent health or lower.

Then, from there, you just simply need to press the Rage Art specific input as can be seen in the Controller Setup or alternatively use d/f 1+2 (Down and Forward + Left & Right Punch). As far as what the actual move is, it's a middle-hitting attack that must be used at a pretty close range, so keep that in mind as most Rage Arts are best used with a hit confirm beforehand.

All The Complex Mechanics Of A Bear

Kuma Has Stances, A Sonic Spin-Dash, & So Much More

Just about every character in Tekken 8 has at least a Stance or Two, and Kuma has a couple as well. While not all of them may completely 'count' as Stances, we've got Hunting Bear Stance, Sitting Bear, Rolling Bear, and technically even Laying Bear (AKA Play Dead) Stance. Now the ones that actually matter the most are by far the Hunting and Rolling Stances, but let's go over how you're meant to enter each one:

Stance Name	Stance Button Combination	Alternate Button Combination	Visual Telegraph	Primary 'Function'
Hunting Bear Stance	f3+4 or Forward + Left & Right Kick	N/A	Steve crouches down & puts his face entirely behind his hands in a tight guard	A low high-guard stance with a lot of lot of slower but heavier hitting punches.
Bear Sit	d3+4 or Down & Left + Right Kick	N/A	Pretty obvious, Kuma sits down with a lot of force.	A mix-up stance where Kuma has a couple of options of what to do while sitting, from rolling forward to kicking low, and so on.
Bear Roll	Bear Sit + F or Down & Left + Right Kick and then Press (& Hold) Forward	c1+2 or While Crouching + Left & Right Punch	Kuma either rolls forward or backward while sitting	An extension of Bear Sit that adds even more potential moves into the pot to mix opponents up such as Bear Slide, Bear Shove, Bear Rolling Kick, and more.

While this may not seem like a lot, remember that each of these Stances has at least 5+ things Kuma can do out of them, and most of them can transition into another Stance the same way Bear Sit can become Bear Roll and so on. However, Kuma's Stances aren't as 'core' to his viability as say, someone like Steve Fox's Stances are, but they absolutely make up a lot of his mix-ups and more hilarious options.

The Starter Pack Of Tips For Playing Kuma

You'll Need To Know How To Hunt, Roll, & Even Sit To Master Kuma

Here's the thing about Kuma and this will most likely prove to be true in Tekken 8 as well, he's a real commitment to play the same way Panda is. Once you get into the higher ranks of Tekken 8's Ranked Matches, a lot of players are going to know all of Kuma's 'gimmicks' and this will make actually getting hits in or getting combos going as Kuma pretty difficult. That said, that only becomes a problem against people who are way too comfortable against Kuma, and against the 'average' player Kuma will still feel like a ton of fun to play. In general here are some decent starter tips for Kuma:

Tip #	Explanation
1	Hunting Bear Stance is pretty vitally important on Kuma the more experienced you get with him. It was the case in Tekken 7 and while he's not quite as dependent on it in Tekken 8 HBS is where a lot of Kuma's main damage and mix-ups come in.
2	Due to the sheer size of both Panda and Kuma, their hitboxes are different from most of the casts'. This can lead to certain combos not working against them etc. If you notice a player keeps dropping their combos at odd moments, try and use this to your advantage.
3	By design, a lot of Kuma's attacks and animations tend to upset people you're playing against much in the same way Azucena's fighting style is meant to do. Again, use your opponent getting tilted to your advantage wherever possible.
4	Heat Rush gives you some pretty useful additional options with Kuma such as Wind Bear Fist (d/f 2+3) the powered-up Bear Roll, and the moves of his that can be charged will charge a lot faster.
5	Try not to get sucked into Kuma's gimmicks too much when playing him. It's very fun to use Hunting Bear Stance or roll at your opponent, but if you're trying to it too often, you're going to be read and countered.

The biggest downside of Kuma by far, even in Tekken 8, is that most of his best options at any moment are unsafe on block. This means that if you try something and the opponent blocks, you're going to get punished for it, which can make playing Kuma feel like a really impossible climb. However, if you love this absurd character, stick with him, and after enough practice, you'll become a real pro at taking other players for an absolute ride with Kuma in online matches.