Going to move Tutorial to Noob questions and then replace with this when it's good enough.
You probably don't need a tutorial. You may just need some of your noob questions answered. Almost every core mechanic of the game can be learned by playing. The deep dives on this wiki and elsewhere are helpful if you want to get better, but they're not essential to having fun with the game.
Still, here's a tutorialâor rather, a guided tour of the wiki.
1. Controls
There are two key sets of inputs:
- 8 directional inputs: up (u), down (d), left, right, and the four diagonals
- 4 attack inputs: left punch (1), right punch (2), left kick (3), and right kick (4)
Left and right are almost never referred to directly. Instead, forward (f) and backward (b) are used, since for the player on the left side (Player 1), right is forward, and vice versa for the other player.
In addition to the 8 directional inputs, holding none of them is referred to as neutral (n or n), and could be considered a 9th directional input.
Basic movement
- Pressing and holding forward will move you forward slowly.
- Pressing and holding backward will move you backward slowly and force guard.
- Pressing and holding down will move you to crouch.
- Pressing and holding up will do a jump.
- Tapping up and forward together will do a short hop forward.
- Tapping forward twice will do a forward dash.
- If you are far enough away and hold forward, or if you tap forward a third time, this will turn into a run.
- Tapping backward twice will do a backdash.
- Tapping up will do a sidestep into the background.
- Tapping down will do a sidestep into the foreground.
- Tapping up once, then pressing and holding it will do a sidewalk into the background.
- Tapping down once, then pressing and holding it will do a sidewalk into the foreground.
2. Guard
See also: Guard
There are two guard levels: standing guard, done by holding B; and crouching guard, done by holding D or DB.
There are three basic attack types: highs, mids, and lows. Highs are blocked by standing guard and crushed by crouching guard. Mids are blocked by standing guard, and lows are blocked by crouching guard. Lows hit vs standing guard, and mids hit vs crouching guard.
So to get past your opponent's guard, you have to use a combination of mids and lows. Mids are much stronger than lowsâalmost every low is punishableâso standing guard is the default defensive option.
High attacks don't get past guard at all, so they're only useful for interrupting an opponent who isn't guarding. Standard throws are highs that go through guard so they're most similar to lows.
Low parry
See also: Low parry
Lows can also be parried with DF, leading to a juggle, but this has to be timed as the low connects. This is a critical mechanic against certain strings, such as Lee's D+4,4,4,4 and Ganryu's d+2,2,2...
3. Wake-up
See also: Wake-up
When you get knocked down, you can't block or do normal attacks until you get back up.
The safest way to get up is by doing a tech roll before you're knocked down, which is done by pressing any attack button just before you hit the ground. In some cases a tech roll isn't possible but a different kind of tech recovery is, normally by holding B during the knockdown.
If a tech recovery isn't possible, then getting up can pose some danger, since all ways of standing up are vulnerable until you've stood up. The safest option here is holding B, since it creates some space between you and the opponent while getting up. A good option to keep the opponent on their toes is a low wake-up kick, done by pressing 3, since on counter hit it leads to a juggle.
Be careful when you're recovering from a back turned grounded state (either face-down feet-towards or face-up feet-away), since in these cases there's time where getting up is vulnerable and standing, which can be much more painful just eating a grounded hit. This kind of okizeme is common after being hit by a throw.
99.
Tekken revolves around moves. Every character has a huge movelist. Learning Tekken is mainly about figuring out what every move does, and you learn most of this by just playing the game. With this knowledge, building a game plan and dealing with certain matchups is pretty straight forward.