Clive Rosfield, Tekken 8's first guest character, wields his sword and Eikonic powers in earnest, where both lend to excellent control of the space in front of him. Clive dominates the neutral with heavy hitting and long-range attacks, most of which are safe, hard to step, grants heat, or some combination of the these properties. His moveset is smaller than average, which makes it easier to digest and comprehend what attacks one should be using at any given time. Clive can also approach the opponent on a whim by utilizing his Phoenix Dash, equipped with a series of safe mids and risky, yet high return lows.
Clive struggles against a more patient opponent who employs solid defense, forcing him to opt for his lows which are quite risky compared to his mids. It is a necessity for Clive to thoroughly condition his opponent before he can bring his dominant mids into play.
Strengths
The Neutral Isn't Real: f+1+2 is a strong button that controls the neutral, boasting great range while also a serving as a wall-splatting heat engager which tracks to both directions. On top of this, Clive has longer range than any character that doesn't have a devil laser or any kind of projectile, allowing him to dominate space easily. This is not only due to his sword, and the ability to approach from distance with Phoenix Shift, but also due to his Power Crush (b+1+2) that can hit from Range 4 (depending on the character) and becomes practically unpunishable, if done from said range - despite being -14 on block. His wall carry potential is also exorbitantly high, with and without heat, allowing him to hit the wall from any position on most stages with the correct combo. Simply put, Clive dominates any stage he's on.
Master Swordsman: Most of Clive's attacks utilize his sword, rendering many of his moves unparriable to most characters.
Anti-Masher: Great counter-hit potential with strings such as f+2,2,2, which activates heat and grants a combo on heat dash, and 2,2,1, which is an i12 NCC wall-splat.
Easy-Access Nuke: A built-up Zantetsuken meter lends itself to huge damage, either as a whiff punish or a combo ender. At full strength (Level 5), it does similar damage comparable to your average combo by itself.
Mixup Potential: WR.2, mostly used as an approach tool, grants Clive +14 on block if he opts to transition to Phoenix Shift, where most characters have no counters to his fastest options.
Dominant of Fire: Heat allows Clive access to exclusive strings, which can easily stack chip damage, as well as transition to Phoenix Shift early to make unaware opponents hesitate or press on the string extensions.
The game will play the classic Final Fantasy victory fanfare, if you finish a sucessful set with Clive's Rage Art!
Weaknesses
Small Tekken: Key pokes such as df+1 have little to no tracking.
Risky Lows: Standing lows are all -13 or higher, and stand a little on the slower side.
Limited Stancing: Most Phoenix Shift transitions start from a duckable high or at sizeable minus frames on block, where most options are beat out by a generic mid poke.
Unsafe: Only one safe launcher in SS.1+2, which comes out at i25 (despite being +2 on block), the rest being -13 or greater.
