Tekken 8: Best Character Tier List

By Karl Reyes | January 29th, 2024 | Categories: Others

With a new Tekken entry comes a new tier list of characters to choose from. From buffs to nerfs and new characters entering the roster, the fighting game community rediscovers each character’s position in the competitive meta. This list is based on three variables that every character has: their flexibility, offensive potential, and defensive options. Tekken is all about balancing your offense while maintaining your blocks, as many KOs are caused by long juggling combos that leave the player helpless with little room to recover. Characters who can pull off strings, avoid getting knocked down, and have a solution for most matchups are considered the best in the game. Here is the list from the easiest character to win to the hardest characters that require more hardwork.

Table of Contents

S-Tier

Reina
Jun Kazama
Jin Kazama
Steve
Nina Williams
Leroy

Reina, as the new character entrant for Tekken 8, does not disappoint with her Heihachi-styled moveset. She is a strong contender in the roster thanks to her versatile moveset. Reina has solid mixups in her combos and good reach with her kicks. Since she takes some traits from the Mishima school of fighting, she also has Electrics, giving her plenty of opportunities to juggle. Players who can master Reina’s kit will find her a rewarding character to play.

Jin, as the overarching protagonist of Tekken, is a great starter character due to his well-balanced moveset that has no major weaknesses. Like Reina, he has the Mishima-style kit, meaning that he also has Electrics. Jin has an answer to most matchups, as he can poke character from mid-range, making a a safe pick. Currently a great choice for players looking to learn Tekken fundamentals.

Jun Kazama is finally returning after almost 30 years since her first appearance and has been given a new, unique gimmick that puts her on the top rung of the roster. Jun can sacrifice a small portion of her health to add light pillars to her attacks for lots of chip damage and extra poke range. She can take a healing stance that regenerates gray health to counteract the health cost. Jun also has a special interaction with the Heat Gauge, which when activated, lets her use her use her light pillars for no health cost, which makes Jun an offensive powerhouse that can wear down even the most defensive players with massive chip damage.

Steve is an excellent rushdown-styled stance character with a bevy of combo mixups that make him particularly lethal with aggressive players. Since his background is in boxing, he has no kicks in his moveset, but don’t be fooled since he is still capable of low attacks. In place of a kick animation, the left and right kick buttons dictate the direction of his dodges. When playing on the offensive, Steve is unmatched.

Nina Williams, like Steve, is a rushdown character but trading Steve’s power for even more mobility. Her combo strings are so fast that she can effectively force a wall carry and paired with mid to long-range guns thrown in the mix, turns her into a highly technical nightmare for beginners. Nina will concede no ground to her opponents thanks to her attacks having quick recovery frames.

Leroy, introduced in Tekken 7, is still as powerful as his previous incarnation. Though he has toned down a bit in Tekken 8, he is still a highly versatile fighter with excellent defensive options that become offensive options and vice versa. Leroy can combine his neutral attacks with a powerful knockback if he takes a hit while in the middle of the attack, making him difficult to punish for a mistimed attack. He isn’t as dominant as he was before, but his mechanics still make him a fierce fighter for those who understand how he plays.

A-Tier

Kazuya Mishima
King
Hwoarang
Dragunov
Azucena
Lili

Kazuya still remains the staple Tekken character with his inheritance of the Mishima-style art. He is the reason why Electrics are a mechanic in Tekken, and he is the undisputed master of the iconic Electric Wind God Fist maneuver that still makes up the core of his moveset. He now comes with his own Devil transformation, which gives his attacks extra chip damage and guarantees an Electric to some his moves. His kit is solid, and he can chain good combos with his assortment of setup attacks. Kazuya is the baseline that all other characters in Tekken are compared with and for good reason

King is the premier grappler character, matching his background as a luchador. Unlike other characters who have combo mixups, King can mix up his throws, making him very difficult to tech against as, especially when he starts chain grabbing. To maximize King’s toolkit, one must master his extensive list of throws to ensure the enemy gets no opportunity to fight back. Grappler mains will love King’s Tekken 8 version.

Hwoarang’s is an excellent offensive stance character with good reach, thanks to his kick-focused playstyle. He is tricky to play as he has a total of 5 stances to choose from, each stance having its own movesets, turning him into a very technical character. The stance mechanic, however makes Hwoarang hard to read as he can easily switch stances on the fly, even mid-combo for advanced players. A Hwoarang player can be scary to fight against when they know what they’re doing.

Dragunov has an expansive toolkit, which makes him a menace at close range. A fair amount of his tracks have plus frames, letting him quickly combo another hit in. Dragunov also has some great gap closers that get him in range for his many grabs. He plays as a brawler and grappler hybrid with a slight emphasis on grab attacks. His Heat Gauge mechanic put him even further in the grappler category because when it’s activated, it makes his grabs untechable, guaranteeing damage for Dragunov.

Azucena is the capoeira sucessor to Eddy Gordo, weaponizing her dance moves. Azucena is a highly mobile stance character with plenty of evasive options. Like Hwoarang, she is complex with her stances as she has different gimmicks for each one. One of her stances, Liberation, will automatically dodge high attacks and counter lows, with mid attacks being its weakspot. She has another stance that exposes her back but gives her far sidesteps. Her neutral game is good

Lili continues to be an effective punisher character, where her movesets take advantage of any mistakes made and capitalize on juggling opponents after said mistake. Her inputs are simple to make but can be difficult to execute on aware players, as her gameplan of punishing mistakes will fall off when she fails to guess the mixup. Still, Lili is a competitive pick for players who can read their opponent’s move

B-Tier

Paul
Yoshimitsu
Devil Jin
Asuka
Marshall Law

Paul’s gameplay hasn’t changed much, still functioning as a high-damage but slow brawler that excels at the fundamental Tekken skills. Now with the new Heat Gauge system for Tekken 8, this augments Paul’s strengths even more by giving all his attacks the ability to guard break, essentially leaving his opponents wide open for his combos. He is a beginner-friendly character with no gimmicks aside from a high damage per hit, but once he enters competitive circles, he will fall off as he climbs the ranks against more skilled players. Still, his Heat Gauge gives him the chance to beat high ELO players if they underestimate his guard breaks.

Yoshimitsu’s shinobi abilities make him unpredictable for many players with his skillset and makes him a real wildcard when it comes to playing him. He has goofy movesets that can throw off many beginners with his variable hitboxes and weird attack animations. He has gotten a bit better from his Tekken 7 version, as his sheathed sword stance gives him a small amount of lifesteal. However, more competitive players can deal with Yoshimitsu once they get a read on the player running him. Yoshimitsu still remains a fun but highly gimmicky character that doesn’t see as much use in ranked modes.

Devil Jin has plenty of gimmicks to differentiate him from his human counterpart. He can airdash with his wings and has a laser attack that goes through the entire screen. Despite all these features for Devil Jin, he struggles with players that utilize the sidestep and he sacrifices his close-range viability for more ranged gameplay. When picking up Devil Jin, its better to imagine as a ranged character with decent melee options than as a souped-up version of Jin.

Asuka has been hit with a nerf in Tekken 8, getting her movement slowed down by a bit. However, she still functions as an effective brawler, albeit simpler to play now. She has safe moves with good poking range and good defensive options like her stance that counters high and mid attacks. While she is less powerful compared to her Tekken 7 version, Asuka remains a beginner-friendly fighter who can play safely.

Marshall Law is a close-range rushdown character with a powerful mixup game that can wear down opponents with his rapid combos. His gameplan hasn’t changed much since Tekken 7, as he still demands his opponents to respect his range. However, he suffers from medium to long-range as he doesn’t have much in the way of gap closers. Marshall Law requires all-out aggression, which can sometimes cause his players to drop their guard to make a risky play. If he does win that gamble, Marshall Law becomes absolutely lethal in his range.

C-Tier

Bryan
Panda
Kuma

Bryan is one of the most hard hitting powerhouses in Tekken’s history, which is offset by his very slow startup frames. He is a difficult character to play because his attacks are punishable by virtue of having a long startup frame. However, if he lands his attacks, Bryan has a wide window to unleash his own combos. When playing Bryan, spacing is key to playing him right as prop player will capitalize on his sluggish moves.

Panda and Kuma continue to suffer in the low tiers since Tekken 3 as their archetype, the slow, heavy-hitting powerhouse, falls short of the mobility, reach, and speed of all the other characters in Tekken 8’s roster. Kuma and Panda suffer from a lack of reach, massive hitboxes, and a sluggish moveset, making them generally unsafe to play with, and can be easily punished by a decent player. Veteran Tekken players can still make the bears work in competitive play, but they require way more proactive than reactive play.