Guard

Tekken's guard system revolves around three basic attack types: highs, mids, and lows. Standing guard blocks highs and mids, but is hit by lows. Crouching guard goes under highs and blocks lows, but is hit by mids. Standing guard is done by holding B, and crouching guard is done by holding D or D/B. Lows can also be parried with D/F, but the timing for this is stricter than crouching guard.

The typical mixup to get past guard is a combination of mids and lows. 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 similar to lows for mixups.

Mids are much stronger than lows—almost every low is punishable—so standing guard is the default defensive option.

Neutral guard

If you don't do anything, you'll automatically block moves as if you were doing standing guard. This is known as neutral guard.

Neutral guard results in less pushback than standing guard. This reduction in pushback is so tiny that it's almost always insignificant. However, there are a few moves where it matters, the most notorious being Heihachi's f,F+2, which is much easier to punish after a neutral guard.

The amount of time it takes for neutral guard to activate depends on the animation you're in. For example, with Lee against a bot in training mode set to neutral guard after being hit:

• After d/b+2 (+7), ws3 (i10) is blocked, implying it takes fewer than 3 frames.
• After d/b+3+4 (+4), 3 (i14) hits but d/f+2 (i15) is blocked, implying it takes 10 frames.
• After d+2 (+8), f+3+4 (i30) hits, implying it takes more than 22 frames.

Neutral guard is immediate from crouch, standing guard, and any blockstun that doesn't guard break.

There's no such thing as crouching neutral guard. There's no known difference between D and D/B with respect to guard outside of a guardable recovery. However, in certain guard scenarios where a move forces crouch on block (e.g. Armor King f+4) a throw must be crouched under by pressing d/b.

Guard break

Some moves break guard when blocked. This doesn't damage any damage. It just stops the defender from guarding until they press B or D/B again.

In a few cases, such as Lidia's HAE.1+2, this can lead to a combo, but usually it just punishes someone relying on neutral guard. For example, the second attack of King's d/f+1,2 hits after the first is blocked unless the defender holds B.

Low parry

Lows can be parried by pressing D/F as the low connects. Parrying a low floats the opponent so that they can be juggled for a full combo. This makes even the safest seeming lows very risky.

Low parry state lasts for 20 frames when done from standing but only 10 frames when done from crouch. As such, if a defender wants to, for example, low parry after being hit by a move that forces crouch, they ought to crouch cancel first.

	Standing
	No guard
	Full crouch
	Low parry

Frame

Input

State

0

n

1

d/f

2

d/f

3

d/f

4

d/f

5

d/f

6

d/f

7

d/f

8

d/f

9

d/f

10

d/f

11

d/f

12

d/f

13

d/f

14

d/f

15

d/f

16

d/f

17

d/f

18

d/f

19

d/f

20

d/f

21

d/f

Frame

Input

State

0

d

1

d/f

2

d/f

3

d/f

4

d/f

5

d/f

6

d/f

7

d/f

8

d/f

9

d/f

10

d/f

11

d/f

When shifting from crouch to standing without a crouch cancel, the interaction with this window is similar to while standing where there is a lingering crouch. The low parry state lasts 10 frames plus however many frames D was released for.

	No guard
	Full crouch
	Low parry
	Neutral guard

Frame

Input

State

0

d

1

n

2

n

3

n

4

n

1

d/f

2

d/f

3

d/f

4

d/f

5

d/f

6

d/f

7

d/f

8

d/f

9

d/f

10

d/f

11

d/f

12

d/f

13

d/f

14

d/f

15

d/f

As such, committing to a low parry by spamming D/F has somewhat of a hole in it.

Holding D/F for 10 frames each time

Frame

Input

State

0

d

1

d/f

⋯

d/f

10

d/f

11

n

12

n

13

n

1

d/f

⋯

d/f

10

d/f

11

n

12

n

13

n

1

d/f

⋯

d/f

Holding D/F for 12 frames each time

Frame

Input

State

0

d

1

d/f

⋯

d/f

10

d/f

11

d/f

12

d/f

13

n

14

n

15

n

1

d/f

⋯

d/f

10

d/f

11

d/f

12

d/f

12

d/f

13

n

14

n

15

n

1

d/f

⋯

d/f

Holding D/F for 14 frames each time

Frame

Input

State

0

d

1

d/f

⋯

d/f

10

d/f

11

d/f

12

d/f

13

d/f

14

d/f

15

n

16

n

17

n

1

d/f

⋯

d/f

10

d/f

11

d/f

12

d/f

12

d/f

13

d/f

14

d/f

15

n

16

n

17

n

1

d/f

⋯

d/f

If you don't go straight from D/F to n and instead have some time at f then that's extra time where you're not guarding at all.

Slower than crouching guard?

There's a myth that low parry is slower than standing guard. This myth arises because it's not possible to low parry during a guardable recovery. For example, during the last 12 frames of a tech roll the defender can block lows but not parry them. Since blocking works in this situation but parrying doesn't, uninformed players assume low parry is slower.

Guardable recovery

There are many situations where it's possible to guard but not do anything else (such as low parry). This is because you haven't actually recovered yet, but the recovery permits guarding. Some examples:

• During the recovery of quickstand, b getup, and most tech recoveries.
• The hitstun of moves with a ballerina spin animation, such as Lee's ws2,4.
• After blocking or being hit by an attack in a string.

During a guardable hitstun, blocking lows with D on its own doesn't work; only D/B is reliable. And for moves that are concerned with whether or not the defender is crouching, holding D/B doesn't put you into crouch. This is notable against Law, whose b+2,1 is +16g, and he gets a launch with d/f+2 against an opponent holding D/B.