TEKKEN 8 How To Pick Your Main - Character Overviews 

BEGINNER 00:00 Intro 02:37 Jin 04:20 Jun 5:52 Law 08:05 Asuka 10:48 Leroy 12:20 Lars 15:19 Alisa 17:08 Azucena 19:18 Kuma/Panda 22:20 Feng 25:10 Claudio INTERMEDIATE 28:55 Paul 32:55 Hwoarang 36:35 King 38:50 Leo 39:50 Raven 41:50 Victor 43:25 Shaheen 45:15 Zafina 47:30 Ling And Understanding Knowledge Checks 53:30 Nina 55:00 Yoshimitsu 57:59 Lili 1:25:00 Jack-8 1:27:27 Dragunov ADVANCED 1:00:00 Devil Jin 1:04:00 Reina 1:07:55 Kazuya 1:13:00 Bryan 1:16:40 Steve 1:21:22 Lee

According to youtube homie talked about lili for 30 minutes

Always pick yoshimitsu. That’s how you pick your main

Dragunov being an unstoppable train makes sense, he does like trains

thanks for this vid mainman :) this is gonna be my first tekken since playing tekken 3 when 10 years old - i had a stroke last year and wound up partially paralyzed, this is actually an incredibly useful video to get an idea of easier characters to main. your videos got me back into tekken and encouraged me to try it in spite of my physical disabilities, thank you for all you do for the tekken community!

There's been a lot of "how to pick your main" videos for Tekken 8, but they've all been pretty boilerplate. As a newcomer, it's nice to have a video that goes over different characters and actually says something.

For Reina, I feel like they struck gold with her design. If she truly is "I will mash you to death" while also being super complex, you have a character that can shine in all levels, newbies (me included) will be happy to pick her up, get some wins and when going gets tough they will have to naturally improve. I am ready to give my time to learn her moveset. If that fails, Asuka will be there for me I guess :D

Great list. What I’ll say is if you love an advanced character, play them. That goes for every fighting game. Just accept it’s going to be slower to start winning and getting good. Best time to start was 10 years ago but that’s impossible next best time is now. The reality is you’re going to have to learn fundamentals whoever you play. I see people say to learn basics with one character and then switch but I personally believe this is wrong, play the character that’s going to make you keep playing the game, the one you like, the one that fits YOU. I know it’s not Tekken but I’ve seen so many Ryu players, playing like psychopaths because they should have picked an aggressive rushdown but were told he’s the beginner.

Tekken 3 was my first Tekken. Hearing that Jin is beginner friendly is music to my ears.

Reina sounds like the kind of character that gets better as the player gets better while also being functional at lower skill level.

seeing you on that bandai namco eu channel was amazing. i picked up tekken again after years of not playing because i found my old ps2 and when i searched for some guides you popped up. you made tekken feel accessible instead of it being so overwhelming. gg's

The man, the myth and the legend!! So happy to see you as the official bandai namco's beginner guide mentor! Man I remember when I was watching your channel just to learn ewgf on Tekken 6 maybe like 12 or 13 years ago!! Great stuff as always

I love how some characters have 3 sentences as their fighting style and then: Super Spy, Ancient Assassination Techniques (?), Law = Martial arts, as if he didn't have an estabilished one already. Very funky BIOs by the developers

“Poor Ganryu mains. All three of you.”

People don't talk about it a lot but you're so right about King struggling with evasion. Some characters just go under his high hitboxes if you don't play really tight and force them to respect gou.

I remember the first time I played Tekken 3 on console at a friend's house over 20 years ago, when I finally had time to choose a characters without worrying about time limit, I saw Paul and thought he looked cool so I chose him, that was pretty much the beginning and end of my process of picking a main in Tekken.

Man, the Tag 2 custom character beat brought me back. Soo much time spent in this mode swagging my characters out to this 🔥 theme

I mained Lucky Chloe, one of my mates mained Josie, and the other mained Katerina in T7. Azucena mirror matches are about to be crazy

Excited to get to play Tekken 8 tonight. I already plan on playing Reina, Leroy, Lee, maybe Claudio, I enjoyed playing him in the demo so actually getting a chance to train with him will be cool, zafina seems interesting, and so does Victor. I foresee big training montages in future.

48:23 this is the analysis i came for

seeing jin fall from advanced tier to beginner tier kinda hurts

As a Kuma main, you are welcome for the matchup knowledge

the backgrounf music being the shop music from tag two brought back so much nostalgia. hands down one of the best ost's in tekken history

Love your character select music, your sunset is straight up my favorite song from tekken

Lee was my first and main in T7, off a vague memory of trying him after getting tired of playing King vs AI on my PSP while stuck in a hospital. I was still a super casual and bad player. I managed to get to Tekken God (potentially more if I didnt get so stressed playing ranked, lol) . It may be tough, but dont feel intimiated if a character is advanced, it's very rewarding. I had basically no competetive fighting game experience when I started, which means anyone can achieve the same if you want it

For me it’s between Reina and Law for my Main, all depends on how Reina plays but from what Iv seen she looks really fun.

Thanks MainMan. I haven't played Tekken in years but T8 has me wanting to get back into it and this video was very helpful

This was definitely one of the best pick your main guides ive ever seen in a game. I just bought tekken 8 and it really helped me get a grasp on things! You earned my sub

Tack för att du hjälper de nya spelarna, du är fantastisk!

Lili is my second main so ill go with her for the time being but i might try other characters but once Anna is revealed as DLC im definitely maining her as i did since the begining in Tekken 1

I LOVE this video! I was just about to say that you will have soo many content related things you will be able to do now when tekken 8 comes!!!

TT2 customisation theme is always gold

Just the right video to shorten the last few hours until christmas.

Reina and zafina are definitely going to be the characters i play most🤝🏾until Anna that is🤣

My fave tekken youtuber! So good to hear your insights on each character.

Reina was high on my list until you said 3rd Strike parries. Now she’s number 1. Let’s go… Will still try Yoshi though

crazy how they gave lili shapeshifting abilities, she's my go to main now

Jin (The main), Devil Jin, Lars, (maybe Leo too?) is probably the lineup but man I wanna play so many characters, Jun, Hworang, Asuka, Victor, Reina, Raven, Leroy, Kuma and maybe even Bryan and Yoshi everyone just looks so awesome to play it's insane, I'm not sleeping tomorrow. Jin has been and always will be that guy for me, obligated to main him, no matter his changes he's the character i will always main in tekken.

Are you the same The Main Man that wrote the Tekken Tag combo / guide in a magazine back in early 2000 ? If so, I just want to say I had a great time at the arcade back in high school so glad I found this channel after 20 years - time to get back to Tekken!

You nailed it! Well said to every character skills. My main is the coolest character you had mentioned

This video is gunna blow up for sure, get ready fr the next 10 years tekken 8!🎉

I'm pretty happy that there aren't many other Xiaoyu mains. I love playing her, but I really hate fighting her.

Thank you so much for this! I haven't played Tekken 7 since 2017 and have been wondering about which character to go with (from the ones I like)

Appreciate this vid man..been following you since Tekken 6 🙌🏾

*me looking at the sections thinking to myself "I bet Leo (my char) is talked a out the least" *realizes I'm right *SWE says "I wonder how many people are even going to look at this section" *A single tear falls from my eye

Super useful, been a Nina main since 1998. Can't wait to main her (and Anna) again for Tekken 8!!!

Been here since 35k subs. My oh my, it's awesome to see your success over the years. I Hope you 500k in Tekken 8.

Ty for this vid. I did went into the game expecting to main zafina but i fell in love with jun's moveset. Its nice that she seems not to hard to pick up either

Its not a TheMainmanSWE video without the Nina downplay and Kazuya build up. It didnt disappoint. I cant wait to lab Reina.

It’s that time of the decade boys. We choose our mains, stop what we’re doing to tune into Daddy TMM whenever he uploads, and enjoy some #goodassTekken🔥

Love you fr SWE, got me into washdashing and Kazuya in Tekken 7 🙏🏾 can’t wait for the Tekken 8 Journey 💯

This video was incredibly entertaining, i freaking loved it. You rock. ❤❤

Not that armor King was easy to play, but having those traditional tools in a move list made all the difference sometimes. Brian's complete lack of traditional tools in Tekken makes him extremely difficult to play in regular situations. You constantly have to be out thinking and rethinking everything that you do. I noticed that the most when I spent some time learning armor king

I just had to stop the video to give appreciation to what SWE said in the intro. Picking a character that looks cool to you to start with is always the proper thing to do. I do it every new fighting game I get and think others should too because you'll have a lot more fun if you do. I just want to call out people that don't do this though. Everyone that hops on a new fighting game and immediately asks the question "who's good in this game?" or "where's the tier list" and picks their character based off of that I don't respect unless your aim is to go to National and International tournaments. You're not getting on the game to actually enjoy it and have fun at that point imho.

Good video. This is my first Tekken game and while I eventually want to learn King because I'm a wrestling fan I'm considering learning the basics with a beginner character first before moving on to King so this guide was helpful. Keep the good content coming.

I find myself wanting to play so many characters. I main Steve, but I'm looking around and going "omg, everyone is cool now". Bryan has always been sick, but it looks a little easier to get plus frames going now. Jun looks easy but also egregious, might be fun. Claudio same jam but the single hit nature of him is appealing. Reina having a df2 pushes me into wanting to play a Mishima finally, it's a nice safety blanket while getting used to electrics. It's just so cool to see everyone play so interesting

I'm dying at your explanations! 😂 love it!

I always played Eddy and Lee but decided with a new game it's time to learn a new character and finally (hopefully) git gud, so I'll be playing raven in T8 and spending a lot of time in training mode lol 😄

Super excited to pick up Reina, and continue with Paul from 7

Shaheen is very fun to play his mixups are hilarious. That face skating move sold me when i saw that you could do it in succession

TMM must really love talking about Lili

My mains in Tekken are Raven, Hwoarang and Jin. I like mainly Raven because he's very unique and authentic, and because he resemble Naruto characters in his unorthodox fighting style approach. We need diversity in the category of fighting styles, so Raven it's a very good all-rounder authentic character exemple in my opinion. My first Tekken that introduced me to the Tekken series was Tekken 3 and my mains there was Hwoarang and Jin, fast forward a couple of years and when Tekken 4 arrived, my mains there was still Hwoarang and Jin, and Christie or Eddy. But when the Masterpiece Tekken 5 arrived, Raven has always be my trump card and my first main of the Tekken Series, follow by Hwoarang, Jin and Christie or Eddy. So all of these characters that I mention are considered OG staple characters of the Tekken Franchise by many Tekken Veterans. 🤷🏻‍♂️☯️

Thanks for the character explanations!

I LOVE LISTENING TO PPL THAT KNO WAT THEY R TALKIN ABOUT. GREAT VID. THNX!!!

I started with mommy Jun and gosh... I must say I'm not disappointed 🙏😍

TheSaltManSWE started calling characters "for monkeys" and "braindead" in his first Tekken 8 video. Can't wait for another 8 years of making the community toxic.

Love the Tekken tag 2 customization theme playing in the background

First Tekken game and I love Jin! Him and Kazuya are badass

Kuma is incredible in this game and Im offended you think he won’t beat you with them paws. Bear on top. W’s all day

I would say Katarina is popular because I’ve seen in almost every Facebook Tekken group someone posting her. Usually with the terms, “We’ll miss playing this character”. I have to say she was seriously fun to play. However, she did feel like she needed some more grapple moves like Anna could do. I wouldn’t be surprised if she makes it in eventually.

Glad I’m finally back, I got bored of tekken 7 but I’m ready to get back into the grind

Jin and Devil Jin are going to be my mains for sure. Kazuya was my main from Tekken5 to T7.

This is going to be game of the year 10/10 for me

Leather Jackets instantly put one in the running.

As someone who played Steve, Dragunov, Nina, and kazuya in tekken 7, I had no idea every character I picked up was so hard

I go with Xiaoyu, simply because I played her most in the last Tekken game I ever owned which was Tekken Tag Tournament on PS2 launch. That was an age before guides and training tools and she was the one, I just figured out some good combos on my own, that carried me to victory over all my friends, that knew even less about fighting game fundamentals.

I already know I ll play Kuma, nobody will understand what I do, me neither and I ll have fun

Got Jin locked in as my main being a brand new player jumping straight into ranked. But really interested in Xiaoyu, Leo & Panda for my end game.

Thanks for the video TMM, let's go tekken 8!

Think imma start with leroy and branch into reina when I learn all the fundamentals. Thanks for the vid!

As someone who is relatively new to Tekken, I'm going straight to Kazuya, and Im already have fun lol

Can’t wait for Saul Goodman to be added as DLC 🙏

Awesome vid. You've convinced me to buy my first Tekken.

This really helps the community especially newcomers MM! Salamat!

Forever a steve main 🥊🥊

Kazuya and Jun as always for me, mains since T1/T2 as a kid.

I mained yoshi since 3 because despite being trash at tekken I'm always amazed at what happens when I have fun pressing random buttons with him.

Fantastic video MainMan. Thank you!

I'll be maining nina and yoshimitsu

My two cents: If you're actually about Tekken, you'll pick whoever you think is appealing and learn one way or the other. Don't be a bot.

Rather than analysing a character which is pretty cool btw in terms of the breakdown you've shown here, the way I pick my mains might be a bit weird. I pick characters that resonate my inner personality - aggression. I need characters that give me the oomph factor, with move sets that looks aggressive rather than just light kicks and punches. This is why all the Jack robots are my mains across Tekken games. So in Tekken 7, I mained Jack-7 and brought him to online matches more than any of my other mains. So in Tekken 7, my main-main is Jack-7, while my sub-mains are the Mishimas/Kazamas (Heihachi, Kazuya, Asuka and Devil Jin, normal Jin I actually find a bit harder to grasp surprisingly), as well as Xiaoyu as some of her moves are pretty aggressive compare to how she was in earlier games. So overall, you could analyse the characters before choosing one or a few more to be your mains, but there are many other ways to choose some, could be the one I mentioned (characters that resonate your inner personality), looks, command inputs that look easier than others, or just plain random such as easy to button mash if you are still new to Tekken games.

Thank you for releasing this on my lunch break lol

I still think that Shaheen will have a 0.1% usage🤣

Cant believe we live in a world where jin is easier than hwoarang

Hello main man I'm a bryan main since he came out but never got really serious until 7 which made me better but I'm no where near a pro level to know that he is a advanced character makes me exceed my level!! I watch you alot keep up the great content 💪

Enjoyed the video. Subscribed!

3:28 That’s a really good point. Tekken was always the outlier im that the main characters were always some of the most difficult ones, in other fighting games, the main character is useally quite simple, like Ryu in Street Fighter

Dude when I saw lars's trailer in tekken 8 I just saw how cool he looked and said "yep that was sick, I am gonna play him"

All this new content about to give you a whole new Tekken stream career

I'm heavily invested in Hwoarang this game. May look into Yoshimitsu as well.