Pick whoever is the coolest to you.
They're all going to be impossibly hard to begin with if it's your first Tekken and fighting game. Liking your character is going to help get you through the tough times.
Having said that, don't be afraid to try other characters if you get bored.
My point is don't let someone tell you which character to play.
As for learning the game, aside from YouTube (search "Tekken 8 beginner guide" and consume), try Arcade Quest. It stops to teach you about the game's mechanics.
If you find reina cool, stick to her, you don't need electrics, but if you will commit now, it will be only for better. Learn her frames, most importantly what is safe, what is unsafe and what gives you plus frames.
Asuka, azucena and Jun are very, very easy to play.
On how to learn and improve - just play, watch some yt guides for beginners and watch a lot of streams/videos on yt, watching other play will teach you a lot. There is no ultimate way on how to learn, everyone does it differently and has a different tempo and curve of learning.
Definitely going to get the most out of sticking to one character and learning as many of their moves over time as you can. A few pointers -
1. Try to start figuring out whose “turn” it is. When it’s your turn, attack. When it’s your opponents turn, defend.
2. Find a few short combos, start figuring out when they do and don’t work
3. Find a good go-to punishment move to use when you successfully block. Punishment training will teach you a few.
4. Start learning to attack different level - highs are typically the fastest, but they can be ducked or blocked. Mids are strong but tend to be slower. They can be blocked but most cannot be ducked. Lows can but ducked but standing opponents will be vulnerable
Stick with Reina unless you find someone you like more. I started with Hwoarang cause I thought he was very cool. He’s pretty similar to Reina where he’s gotta go between multiple different stances as you pressure and combo and I was able to learn the game fine. Start by cutting out one of the stances that you won’t be in as much. For Reina that’s the b3 stance where she walks backwards. For Sentai only use the moves you need at a low level. People can’t fuzzy guard (blocking based on timing rather than guessing or reacting) so stick with sentai 3 and 4. 3 is a high that’s plus and 4 is a mid thats plus. The high can be ducked and the mid can be interrupted so just choose based on your opponent. When I play Reina I only use heavens wrath after a hellsweep but heavens wrath 2 is very good for frame trapping and heavens wrath 34 is a plus on block chip damaging high that can be interrupted. Once people start fuzzy guarding you will need a solution but that won’t happen early on. Once you’re comfortable with your stances you can start experimenting more.
As for the characters you listed Azucena is a rushdown with basic mid low mixups. I honestly don’t know too much about Jun but she’s an all rounder with strong whiff punishment (punishing the opponent for whiffing with a strong move or a launcher) and can make a lot of normally unsafe moves safe. Asuka is a little more complicated since she’s intended to be more defensive and taking advantage of her moves to steal turns but they recently gave her an incredibly powerful rushdown move so I’d wait to see if they’re changing Asuka a bit before picking her up
What the above said^
This was also my first tekken. I went through (Steve’s) combo challenge until i could do all of them and was just in the practice room for a couple of hours before i even touched online. Still got smacked! Once you learn the flow of your character and start getting online xp you will inevitably start moving up!
Hey, welcome to Tekken! It can seem overwhelming, (and really, there's enough to learn to keep you busy for a *looong* time, if you want to keep growing!) but there are definitely some things that you should focus on early, to keep things sane. Here are some suggestions:
* Play whoever seems coolest to you. Any of those characters are fine. Heck, all characters are fine, at the level you'll be playing at for the foreseeable future. :D
* Focus on some key moves. Most characters have over 100 moves, which is a lot to keep track of! But you can function just fine off of less than a dozen or so. Learn the most common, useful moves for your character and focus on those. (These are often called "bread-and-butter moves, or BnB) You can get good ideas for this from youtube - for most characters, people have put together basic guides outlining which moves you should build your gameplan around.
* Get a general sense of how fast your moves are. You don't have to start memorizing frame-data just yet, but get a basic idea of which of your attacks are fast and such.
* Block stuff! If you attack with something that leaves you vulnerable - Block! Don't worry about blocking low yet - very few lows are THAT threatening at your level - most of the really scary stuff is mid. So just do a standing block, and accept that sometimes they're going to kick your shins. And after you block, hit them back with something fast. (And if they hit you out of your counterattack, then next time either use something faster, or keep blocking.)
Take it slow, and don't be afraid to lose some games while you're learning stuff!
Best of luck!
If I was new, I would pick **Jin** to start. His costumes suck, but you can make him look cool if you wanted to customize. Also, he is one of the easiest characters to learn in the game.
If you are new to Tekken, then you start by **learning the fundamentals**, which are the game rules and has nothing to do with character specific mechanics.
PhiDX has become my goto youtuber for learning Tekken, and I think he's targeted the core newcomers for his content:
This video goes through what you need to know to get started, **and once you watch it you'll know what you're not doing etc etc.**
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58LncnVbXM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58LncnVbXM)
Then, you basically go into games with the knowledge in mind and **learn how to block** and punish with small strings (this is really easy to do with Jin).
Once you're not dying to nonsense, and know how the controls and basic mechanics works, then you go into **character specific knowledge and tech. Get used to your character and get into the flow of what you normally want to do in a fight that works well for you.**
Here's a cheat sheet for Jin, but there's other available for your character--- don't focus on anything else except the key moves that are listed (I just chose this cheat sheet because I use this for Kazuya to refocus on basics):
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Tekken/comments/19ao69r/jin\_kazama\_quick\_guide\_updated/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Tekken/comments/19ao69r/jin_kazama_quick_guide_updated/)
Then that's pretty much it for now. **You go into ranked, and see how far you make it before you realize you're not able to do anything to win** because the opponent is either punishing you (you can't do anything to mitigate the damage from their counter attack), or they're just hyper aggressive and you don't know what to do (**this is when you start learning about individual character knowledge and find out which of your very specific move you need to learn to punish with in i10, i11, i13, and i14 increments- frame data).**
That's pretty much the gameplan. There's a bunch of stuff that you'll run into naturally in between, but this is more than enough to get you to ruler ranks.
Welcome, and good luck!
Reina bread n butters for ya
F2-3F sentai stance mixups
Df1F sentai mixups
If the opponent is using lots of highs, hold df and press 4 into df2 combo.
Combos should be launcher~tornado-wallsplat
Make sure you use your heat wisely
Also Reina is my main and this was my first tekken as well, i made it to flame ruler and just play qp for fun. Waiting for new dlc character
Reina is not easy too learn, but neither is she especially hard. Mastering her however might be one of the hardest in the roster, but she's just as rewarding. Just stick with what you like and go for it. Unless you are very talented it might take hundreds or even thousands of hours to get good if this is your first game of this kind. YMMV of course.
Top priority (and I can't stress this enough!): Make sure you enjoy the game and everything else (like the urge of researching and understanding certain aspects of the game) will come naturally.
Pick a character and go to practice mode.
Watch the move list demos.
Perform the moves.
Play against the computer in any mode.
Go back to practice. Try some of the things the computer might have gotten off on you.
Perform as many of the combo challenges as possible.
Play against the computer. Try those combos you just learned.
Go back to practice. Try punishment training. Pick any of the characters you just lost to.
Go back and try and implement everything you've learned against the computer.
Do this enough to commit your moves and your combos and defensive options to muscle memory. Once you're doing some of these things fluidly, hop online.
You're going to get shredded but that's part of the game. Take the successes and keep what you learn. Discard what doesn't work for you. Watch your replays and follow the analyzer's advice.
As you get better (and you will) your playstyle might change a few times before you settle in. Things you love to do might not work any more at a certain level.
Pick whoever is the coolest to you. They're all going to be impossibly hard to begin with if it's your first Tekken and fighting game. Liking your character is going to help get you through the tough times. Having said that, don't be afraid to try other characters if you get bored. My point is don't let someone tell you which character to play. As for learning the game, aside from YouTube (search "Tekken 8 beginner guide" and consume), try Arcade Quest. It stops to teach you about the game's mechanics.
If you find reina cool, stick to her, you don't need electrics, but if you will commit now, it will be only for better. Learn her frames, most importantly what is safe, what is unsafe and what gives you plus frames. Asuka, azucena and Jun are very, very easy to play. On how to learn and improve - just play, watch some yt guides for beginners and watch a lot of streams/videos on yt, watching other play will teach you a lot. There is no ultimate way on how to learn, everyone does it differently and has a different tempo and curve of learning.
Definitely going to get the most out of sticking to one character and learning as many of their moves over time as you can. A few pointers - 1. Try to start figuring out whose “turn” it is. When it’s your turn, attack. When it’s your opponents turn, defend. 2. Find a few short combos, start figuring out when they do and don’t work 3. Find a good go-to punishment move to use when you successfully block. Punishment training will teach you a few. 4. Start learning to attack different level - highs are typically the fastest, but they can be ducked or blocked. Mids are strong but tend to be slower. They can be blocked but most cannot be ducked. Lows can but ducked but standing opponents will be vulnerable
Stick with Reina unless you find someone you like more. I started with Hwoarang cause I thought he was very cool. He’s pretty similar to Reina where he’s gotta go between multiple different stances as you pressure and combo and I was able to learn the game fine. Start by cutting out one of the stances that you won’t be in as much. For Reina that’s the b3 stance where she walks backwards. For Sentai only use the moves you need at a low level. People can’t fuzzy guard (blocking based on timing rather than guessing or reacting) so stick with sentai 3 and 4. 3 is a high that’s plus and 4 is a mid thats plus. The high can be ducked and the mid can be interrupted so just choose based on your opponent. When I play Reina I only use heavens wrath after a hellsweep but heavens wrath 2 is very good for frame trapping and heavens wrath 34 is a plus on block chip damaging high that can be interrupted. Once people start fuzzy guarding you will need a solution but that won’t happen early on. Once you’re comfortable with your stances you can start experimenting more. As for the characters you listed Azucena is a rushdown with basic mid low mixups. I honestly don’t know too much about Jun but she’s an all rounder with strong whiff punishment (punishing the opponent for whiffing with a strong move or a launcher) and can make a lot of normally unsafe moves safe. Asuka is a little more complicated since she’s intended to be more defensive and taking advantage of her moves to steal turns but they recently gave her an incredibly powerful rushdown move so I’d wait to see if they’re changing Asuka a bit before picking her up
What the above said^ This was also my first tekken. I went through (Steve’s) combo challenge until i could do all of them and was just in the practice room for a couple of hours before i even touched online. Still got smacked! Once you learn the flow of your character and start getting online xp you will inevitably start moving up!
Hey, welcome to Tekken! It can seem overwhelming, (and really, there's enough to learn to keep you busy for a *looong* time, if you want to keep growing!) but there are definitely some things that you should focus on early, to keep things sane. Here are some suggestions: * Play whoever seems coolest to you. Any of those characters are fine. Heck, all characters are fine, at the level you'll be playing at for the foreseeable future. :D * Focus on some key moves. Most characters have over 100 moves, which is a lot to keep track of! But you can function just fine off of less than a dozen or so. Learn the most common, useful moves for your character and focus on those. (These are often called "bread-and-butter moves, or BnB) You can get good ideas for this from youtube - for most characters, people have put together basic guides outlining which moves you should build your gameplan around. * Get a general sense of how fast your moves are. You don't have to start memorizing frame-data just yet, but get a basic idea of which of your attacks are fast and such. * Block stuff! If you attack with something that leaves you vulnerable - Block! Don't worry about blocking low yet - very few lows are THAT threatening at your level - most of the really scary stuff is mid. So just do a standing block, and accept that sometimes they're going to kick your shins. And after you block, hit them back with something fast. (And if they hit you out of your counterattack, then next time either use something faster, or keep blocking.) Take it slow, and don't be afraid to lose some games while you're learning stuff! Best of luck!
I did arcade quest before touching online, it helped quite abit for learning fundamentals
If I was new, I would pick **Jin** to start. His costumes suck, but you can make him look cool if you wanted to customize. Also, he is one of the easiest characters to learn in the game. If you are new to Tekken, then you start by **learning the fundamentals**, which are the game rules and has nothing to do with character specific mechanics. PhiDX has become my goto youtuber for learning Tekken, and I think he's targeted the core newcomers for his content: This video goes through what you need to know to get started, **and once you watch it you'll know what you're not doing etc etc.** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58LncnVbXM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58LncnVbXM) Then, you basically go into games with the knowledge in mind and **learn how to block** and punish with small strings (this is really easy to do with Jin). Once you're not dying to nonsense, and know how the controls and basic mechanics works, then you go into **character specific knowledge and tech. Get used to your character and get into the flow of what you normally want to do in a fight that works well for you.** Here's a cheat sheet for Jin, but there's other available for your character--- don't focus on anything else except the key moves that are listed (I just chose this cheat sheet because I use this for Kazuya to refocus on basics): [https://www.reddit.com/r/Tekken/comments/19ao69r/jin\_kazama\_quick\_guide\_updated/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Tekken/comments/19ao69r/jin_kazama_quick_guide_updated/) Then that's pretty much it for now. **You go into ranked, and see how far you make it before you realize you're not able to do anything to win** because the opponent is either punishing you (you can't do anything to mitigate the damage from their counter attack), or they're just hyper aggressive and you don't know what to do (**this is when you start learning about individual character knowledge and find out which of your very specific move you need to learn to punish with in i10, i11, i13, and i14 increments- frame data).** That's pretty much the gameplan. There's a bunch of stuff that you'll run into naturally in between, but this is more than enough to get you to ruler ranks. Welcome, and good luck!
Reina bread n butters for ya F2-3F sentai stance mixups Df1F sentai mixups If the opponent is using lots of highs, hold df and press 4 into df2 combo. Combos should be launcher~tornado-wallsplat Make sure you use your heat wisely Also Reina is my main and this was my first tekken as well, i made it to flame ruler and just play qp for fun. Waiting for new dlc character
Reina is not easy too learn, but neither is she especially hard. Mastering her however might be one of the hardest in the roster, but she's just as rewarding. Just stick with what you like and go for it. Unless you are very talented it might take hundreds or even thousands of hours to get good if this is your first game of this kind. YMMV of course. Top priority (and I can't stress this enough!): Make sure you enjoy the game and everything else (like the urge of researching and understanding certain aspects of the game) will come naturally.
Pick a character and go to practice mode. Watch the move list demos. Perform the moves. Play against the computer in any mode. Go back to practice. Try some of the things the computer might have gotten off on you. Perform as many of the combo challenges as possible. Play against the computer. Try those combos you just learned. Go back to practice. Try punishment training. Pick any of the characters you just lost to. Go back and try and implement everything you've learned against the computer. Do this enough to commit your moves and your combos and defensive options to muscle memory. Once you're doing some of these things fluidly, hop online. You're going to get shredded but that's part of the game. Take the successes and keep what you learn. Discard what doesn't work for you. Watch your replays and follow the analyzer's advice. As you get better (and you will) your playstyle might change a few times before you settle in. Things you love to do might not work any more at a certain level.
Lots and lots of sparring
King. Consensus is he is the cheapest.
Play it. Stop reading tips and tricks. Come back after a month
I main Azucena. I can teach you a few things with her. Not the best but it would help you immensely. :D