What TEKKEN 8 Character Should I Start With? - Best Characters for Beginners 

Who do you guys think are the best characters for Beginners?

the only and best answer is:who you think is cool!

Subscribed. Thank you for your explanations along with examples (Jin’s B+2,1 being a good string along with 2, 1, 4. Paul being a fundamental character along with deadly wall pressure). Keep up with the clean commentary and you’ll be smashing your goals ✊

Two characters I would mention too are Leo and Jack. Leo is a pretty straightforward and safe character with easy built in mixups and easy combos, and Jack-8 is basically what you described Paul as a patient, timing based character but even moreso that.

Subscribed, the first/last Tekken game i played was Tekken 5 & recently found the desire to play Tekken again, thanks for the helpful tips, was using Jin for awhile but i think ima go with Paul since my timing needs work.

Picking up my copy today, looking forward to your guides!

Yoshimitsu has always been my favorite go to, that I keep coming back too. And I think it has to do with his interrupts and some of the unexpected moves he can do. I honestly don’t think he is the best for new players, but I played him as my first and found I like him. Helped me learn what I like in the game. So I think it goes to show you really can play who you want and make it work while having a fun time doing it.

Thank you very much for this video. Haven't played much Tekken (mostly 3 and 5 as a kid, didn't play 7 long since I didn't like it) so I'm basically learning everything from scratch. More likely than not, Leroy will be the character I learn the game with--he's the coolest of the roster, in my opinion.

Jin really is a great character to learn. He deadass improved my skill at every fighting game substantially due to how taxing he is on fundamentals, execution and creativity. T8 Jin is basically the same except much easier lol

@BoogardMG I think when I pick up this game hopefully this weekend, and my friend Jacob and I start learning the game, I think we will choose one of these 3 characters, I honestly don’t think after we master the fundamentals of Tekken that these characters teach us that we will ultimately main these characters but, that’s ok as we will use these characters as sort of “training wheels” to dig in and learn all of the fundamentals that will transfer over to any character we want to play in the future.

Great video man, it was kinda difficult to see though, the game was stuttering left and right, but your commentary makes up for it, i found it really guiding!

Amazing Video! This will be the first Tekken I play ranked with. I'm thinking about going with Dragunov as my main 😎👍🏾

Loving the videos recently

Liked and subbed..this is my first tekken..im one of MK1s broken hearts club band..i went through around 15 tries and landed on Victor as my go to right now..Paul almost took me but im really liking frenchie

Your shilling worked! I subscribed!

Subbed! Thanks for the video. I feel like its helped loads. Im thinking either Jin or Lars 😊

Paul is an honest fighter since Tekken 1, he does tons of damage with his death fist, his combo and juggles are not the best, but reliable, his wall game though is God Tier especially now with heat that can send people half way across the stage, overall he's a good balance character to start with.

I completely agree with everything you said about Paul. I have been avoiding him since Tekken 3, i thought he is just boring. Until i realized that he does mostly single hits and is very fundamental based. And thats the beauty of him. Just the fact, that many pros pick him proves that he is simple and universal. Great damage, simple combos, overall good and safe moves. For me, Paul is the Ryu equivalent. Great for learning Tekken and he stays as your pocket pick if you decide to try another character. I learned Tekken 7 with him and i will continue to main him in T8. (also because he stays mostly the same, i can pick him in older games too). SO to whoever reading this, if you cant decide on your starter character, give this lovable wall puncher a chance, he will reward you in a long run.

Good video. My last Tekken was Tekken 2, so a lot has changed since I last played. I played Paul a lot back in the day, so maybe I will go back to him.

@BoogardMG I haven’t picked up the game yet, I will definitely try out 2 of the beginners recommendations in the demo Paul and Jin just to see if I like either one of them until, I actually can pick up the game at the latest the end of March on my birthday but, hopefully at the earliest this weekend, we will see.

I’d say Leo is the most beginner friendly and has extra things to learn later on. He doesn’t rely on stances, but can use them. He has both kicks and punch combo strings that are easy to pick up. Having things like standing parries. But still I’d always recommend Jack for those who are just bad at 3D movement.

@BoogardMG. My friend Jacob and I haven’t bought the game yet but, we are going to download the free demo and try out Jin and Paul and see if we like them enough to actually pick one of them up to learn the fundamentals of Tekken as beginners to the series

Two banger videos. You got my sub man. I hope you succeed RU-vid has been my dream job for years too, I know it can be hard. You’re doing great.

As an Alisa player since Tekken 6 I agree with what you said in the intro lol I wasn't learning and I didn't even realize that she's still fun to play tho gonna leave her as my side main in T8

you are a great at this, subbed~!

I started with Claudio but now I'm slowly learning Lars since he always looked cool to me, but I will still love Claudio for helping me learn the fundamentals and get me into this game!

I said it a few days ago but good job on the video. I eventually want to learn King but I might learn the basics with an easier character first then move up to King. I just have to figure out who to choose since this video tells me I have plenty of options.

I was praying Law was going to make this list as I think he’s the coolest character in my opinion, can’t wait to get started on this game Thanks for the video 👍🏽

Hey dude. Recently subbed to you! Love all the t8 content

Thank u for the advice :) this is my first fighting game so might pick up one of these easier characters for a few months and graduate to a more difficult character down the line. Conversely are there any specific characters you would suggest a new player avoid, at least when just starting out?

Alright your cranking out the content lately, subbed.

whether i actually pick up T8 or not, still giving ya a sub cus these videos have been super informative and super concise. keep it up!!

Goodluck on your dream . You got my sub ❤

Im actually brazilian and I like your videos since I can understand your english pretty well and it is also for beggniners, but I also liked the initial subtitles very much, I dont know if I am asking for something really hard to keep up but it would be nice! Im scared that maybe when you start teaching some deep mechs I struggle to understand.

When I played guilty gear xrd my friends said to pick which character I thought was cool, I picked i-no and I had such an awful time learning I haaaated it. I couldn't understand how fighting games were even supposed to work let alone this special character so I went back and tried to learn ky kiske who has way more fundamental moves for 2d fighting games and since then I have put 100s of hours into 2d fighting games and I love them. It can be ok to try out different characters but learning your very basic concepts like oki, anti air, grabs, counters etc I think can be extremely frustrating especially if the game you are playing does not have amazing beginner guides for all the characters. I bet if you pick someone like jin you will have a wealth of content available to help you learn whereas a more obscure character might have 2 or 3 videos

Just a year ago i started playing with Paul and Dragunov although i knew the basics since playing with them in the past.But now i find myself playing mostly with them and doing combos and stuff.I believe that Paul though IS the more easier character to play and learn with since Dragunov has his special grabs and a few more advanced moves but that does not mean one should not try the character first before deciding which one to pick.

Good video. Tekken 8 will be my first Tekken 8 so it's nice to know who's good to start out with. I'm a wrestling fan so I'll probably start with King but if I find him too difficult I now know who's good to choose.

Great content, stumbled on your channel by luck but stayed for the information. New subscriber here. Regarding to the video.. a character that is NOT beginner friendly is Bryan, learned that the hard way :D

Me watching the video hoping that Jin is on the list Sees Jin. Continues to play my main since T4. Still love this video, you broke down the Info very well and looking forward to trying some of these characters out to improve my fundamentals/skills. You got a new sub

Paul is in interesting one. At higher level more fundamentals are required, but at lower ranks you can go full casino + df2 spam.

I just went with king and then the bears, now I’m working with feng

This is the second vid from your channel. Both very good. New sub incoming

I played T7 a couple times and picked up Lee, I’m tryna find an alternative pick as well cuz T8 looks insane

I wonder if Tekken will take some cues for my little combat in training mode we get tutorial guides, for our characters to see how they play and also giving us frame data as well.

New to tekken and used raven so far, still learning but bloody hard

Ive pkayed about 50 matches of Jin in the demo, but there are a handful of characters id still like to try, Jin is pretty sick though

Good breakdown!

The only fighting game I've played before is Guilty Gear Strive so this vid is super helpful, I'm hoping that Reina and Victor will be good for beginners cause they look super cool!

Claudio is so gorgeous. He will be my main. Not because he is beginner friendly but because he is a beautiful Prince. 💕💕💕

"pick the one you like best" absolutely is solid advice if playing an easy character you don't like doesn't give you good feelings. at the end of the day games are supposed to be fun and if you can just simply not enjoy Claudio then there's no point to picking him over another character that you like so much that that makes you want to learn how to play them well

nice video thanks buddy

Good video, but i think introducing characters with less stance is good for beginners since it might took more time to learn the fundamentals if the character rely 60% of their moveset in stance like hwo or zafina. I feel like a player that is new to tekken and new to fgc probably looking for easy input character that has good output (like paul deathfist or demoman), it usually helps motivate them to learn the game more based on my understanding from my friend that is new to tekken. I do agree for the first 4 character except for jin (paul, claudio, shaheen and law) since 4 of them has easy inputs and their key moves are easily accessable too. The rest probably are not so preferable but it is up to the decision of the players itself on what to play lol. For the other easy but different than typical character i kinda recommend jin, bryan and dragunov. I agree tk8 jin is now pretty good for beginners that wanna learn mishimas and crouch dash movement. I knew some newcomers especially that is new to fighting game might struggle with it and for them there might be learning curve on where and when to use crouch dash moves. Bryan is a balanced character as he has decent pokes, keepout tool and good CH tool for the real beginners to learn how counter hit works. Dragunov is a good character for players that likes to try poke and pressure and chipping enemy hp, and now he has decent low pokes and fast mids on crouch too. So yea these 3 characters could be played better with execution but for the sole purpose of learning the game i guess these 3 is good enough for newcomers to learn tekken. Cant believe im writing an essay here lol

Well, since currently there are only 4 characters you can play as, I'd recommend you start with either Paul, or Nina, neither of them are very difficult to play, they don't require very difficult inputs, they don't have complicated combos, Kazuya and Jin are incredibly fun, but they are not easy to play as consistently.

I was an Asuka main in 7 and will continue to play her in 8. I hope Lidia comes to 8 as she's a really simple character!

I’d say Lili She does focus on range and getting out of the way most of the time, and her execution isn’t too difficult outside of qcf shenanigans She has been relatively the same since Tekken DR This is coming from a Lili main for 18 years

Should I pick up devil Jin or kazuya for my first tekken ?

I think if you are not confident that you will play a lot then begin with easy characters start liking the game then play whoever you think looks cool 👍🏻

It does NOT hurt you long term to pick who you think is cool. Itll save your enjoyment and your ability to improve in the long term.

Where would you rate Kuma on the difficulty of learning scale? This is my first tekken game but I've decided i want to main Kuma. How long of a grind am I in for??

New sub! I'm a Jin Main. Do you reckon Devil Jin is okay for beginners?

I’m brand new to Tekken, and I think victor can be good for a new player.

A lot of people say "pick whoever you think is cool". That is how I ended up picking Bryan Fury. I had never played Tekken before and did not have a good time 😅 Changed characters, had a much better time with the game. Learning a lot and planning on going back to Bryan later on, cause he is still the coolest, he just couldnt teach me Tekken.

The best character to pick is who you think looks cool.

You say King has stances? What does that mean for Tekken? Is he not just a grappler character like Gief? Do you have to change stances to perform a grapple for instance?

Subscribed.

Im generally terrible at fighting games, the first one I bought and put any time into is mk1. Looking forward to T8. For me Reina and Azucena look the coolest. How complex do they rank?

helpful vid

Shaheen 6:34 Martial law 6:45 Aska 6:52 Draganaof 7:29 Leeroy smith 7:58 Lars 8:38

Hi new subscriber here. In your opinion is Jun good choice for a new player?

Damn, now i can't decide between Jin Or Paul :( (i'm totally new to fighting games, tried a bit when i was young but i never understood the combo system, they look like hieroglyphs to me) I find Jin cooler, so maybe i'm gonna go for him. Any suggestions?

I learned with Dragunov in 7 and he’s so badass

Is MK1 or SV6 a better choice for a complete noob to fighting games? Looking to get into one.

I only play ticket during the PS3 era of gaming it's vaguely a memory to me but I still remember playing it.

What about Lee? Asking cuz i used to play him as a kid back in the days. But i was a masher obviously. Now I am planning to come back in tekken 8 and take It more seriously so would like to know if It is real for me to master him cuz He looks Dope as fck. 😅

I learned tekken with leroy. Nerfed leroy. I played alot of kazuya, jin. And feng as well. I think leroys stance isnt super complicated, but in tekken 8 he is more reliant on it. Honestly this video hasnt mentioned leo. Who i think is very good tho stance heavy.

There’s a reason why Max is playing Jin. Because he is clearly going to be top tier. Just like Ken in SF6. Personally I wouldn’t want to pick Jin as a starting character because you’re going to have nothing but mirror matched online . Law seems good for me as a beginner plus I’m a big fan of Bruce Lee - thanks for the video

I'm going Kuma day 1.

Man I have no idea if I should buy this game. I did buy sf6(idk why but I didn't like it) and MK1(I liked it and play but sometimes it's very glitchy and buggy) last year but didn't get too much into them The only "FG" I really got invested was For honor, the 3D aspect of Tekken makes me believe I might like it more than the regular 2D but not sure. The price tag isn't helping either. Is this game that hard to learn into/get good as ppl usually say? (Keyboard user here btw)

im gonna pick reina. hopefully shes not too hard lol

If you are a beginner I recommend starting with Dragunov, Feng or Lars. I also recommend that you avoid playing with Hwoarang or Steve Fox at first because you will think that Tekken is a spammer game and that is not true.

Is Kuma a good character for beginners?

I feel they made Jin more beginner friendly since it seems the bulk of the story mode will be played through him. I liked him alot in the Demo so ill be playing him alongside Asuka. We will see who i stick with in the long run. Id also like to give Victor and Reina a try. This isnt my first Tekken, but i have been out of the loop for a few years so im no doubt rusty. My overall plan was to start with Asuka to get me back into the groove and hopefully graduate to Reina

I started with lars and ended up maining mishimas

Pick who YOU think it's a cool character, it doesn't matter if it's easy, if you don't thing he's cool you'll drop it and won't learn anything.

Yoahimitsu, Steve, Zafina, Azucena are the most easy super friendly beginner charachters 😊

That best character for a beginner is who ever they want to use. If they dont like them they can change.

Why does everyone say Jin is easy 😭 I found him hard! Or is it because I’m learning the mashima moves?

That first sentence is meeeeee

paul phoenix, no complicated strings, no gimmicks, forces you to learn fundamentals, like ryu in sf6. as for claudio, he is missing lows, asuka is nerfed basically the worse version of jun.

I started T7 a few month ago and I picked Hwoarang... I learnt the hard way how complicated he was! I still stuggle with him but I think I somehow get how he needs to be played. Im considering trying Jin for match up and maybe sub main. +1 sub!

Literally the best fighting game ever made. They really did it. I thought 7 was so amazing it would be tough. But they smoked it.

bro good informative video but why is the gameplay footage like 18 fps? im getting brain aids from all the stuttering

My main is King and I love it but I don't recommend starting with it. The execution of him is easy and he has good mid and low attacks but his combo damage is low. To get King's true damage out you need to learn grabs and wall attacks.

Jin on the list of beginner characters...o how the mighty have fallen.

i’m new to tekken itself, T7 is my first tekken and jin is my main. Jin in T8 just feels too easy. I’m going to probably pick up kazuya instead.

I'm also new to tekken began as a katarina main but she's gone so I'm switching to dragunov

What about yoshi mitsu since I’m a mk fan his strings remind me of scorpion

You hear it here first, Jin is fundamentally based

Paul. All the Way! Truly the Strongest in the Universe! 👊💪

It’s absolutely sinful you didn’t mention Jack. That guy is built to be for beginners. Especially if you’re bad at 3D movement in general since he has easy homing attacks and combo strings.