Notation

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Revision as of 07:25, 7 February 2024 by RogerDodger (talk | contribs) (add heat, split stance group into two)
Notation applied to the default mapping for DualShock 4 on P1. On P2, the d-pad inputs are flipped.

For terms of art relating to Tekken, see Jargon

Notation is used throughout both this wiki and the wider Tekken community as shorthand for game input, combos, move properties, and more. This page acts as both a style guide for Wavu Wiki contributors and as a reference to help readers figure out what this notation means. Most things listed here are used elsewhere, but it's not a guarantee that any off-wiki resource is written to this convention.

Summary

1
Left Punch
2
Right Punch
3
Left kick
4
Right kick
u
Up
d
Down
f
Forward
b
Backward
uf
Up and forward
df
Down and forward
ub
Up and backward
db
Down and backward
n
Neutral
U
Up (Hold)
D
Down (Hold)
F
Forward (Hold)
B
Backward (Hold)
UF
Up and forward (Hold)
DF
Down and forward (Hold)
UB
Up and backward (Hold)
DB
Down and backward (Hold)
+
Pressed together
#
Pressed together, on the same frame
,[1]
Followed by
~
Followed by, immediately
:
Followed by, tight input window
<
>
Followed by, with delayed input
*
Held input
_
or
cc
u~n (crouch cancel)
ss
u~n_d~n (sidestep)
dash
f,f[2]
qcf
d,df,f (quarter-circle forward)
dd/ff
qcb
d,db,b (quarter-circle backward)
dd/bb
hcf
b,db,d,df,f (half-circle forward)
bd/bdd/ff
hcb
f,df,d,db,b (half-circle backward)
fd/fdd/bb
dp
f,d,df (Dragon punch)
fdd/f
iws
Instant while standing
.[1]
From stance
~
From stance transition
H
During Heat[3]
R
Rage
P
Successful parry
J
Jumping
WR
While running (entered by f,f,f)
WS
While standing
FC
Full crouch
hFC
Half crouch
BT
Back turned
SS
Sidestep
SSL
Sidestep left
SSR
Sidestep right
FUFT
Face up, feet towards
FUFA
Face up, feet away
FDFT
Face down, feet towards
FDFA
Face down, feet away
CD
Crouch dash
OTG
Grounded opponent (“on the ground”)
i
Active frames (“impact frame”)
r
Recovery
+
-
Frame advantage
~
Frame range, inclusive
a
Opponent floats during recovery and recovers grounded ("airborne")
b
Opponent recovers back turned
c
Opponent recovers crouching
d
Opponent is grounded during recovery and recovers grounded ("downed")
g
Opponent can guard during recovery
s
Opponent floats during recovery and recovers standing ("stagger")
h
High
m
Mid
l
Low
s
Special mid
a
Aerial
H
High (hits grounded)
M
Mid (hits grounded)
L
Low (hits grounded)
S
Special mid (hits grounded)
!
Unblockable (modifier)
t
Throw[4]
pc
Powercrush
ps
Parry state
js
Jumping state, i.e. low crush
cs
Crouching state, i.e. high crush
fs
Floating state, i.e. can be juggled
is
Intangible state
gs
Grounded state
S!
Screw (or Tailspin)
T!
Tornado
W!
Wall splat
Wall bounce[5]
WB!
Wall break
F!
FB!
Floor break
BB!
Balcony break
CH
Counter hit
CL
Clean hit
()
Whiffed or blocked moves
(x?)
Repeat string x times
[]
Damage or frame advantage of the following
  1. 1.0 1.1 Should never have a space immediately after it.
  2. Not written when obvious, e.g. after S!
  3. not Heat Available, which is not notated, since the only move done from that is Heat Burst, which is simply written 2+3.
  4. Don't try to indicate the hit level or type of a throw or whether or how a throw is breakable with notation, as there are too many variations and specifics. Write notes for these instead.
  5. Using a separate notation for splats and bounces is unnecessary since it's always obvious from context, and WB! is already taken.

Examples

1+2
Left punch and right punch, pressed together.
1,2
Left punch, followed by right punch.
df+1
Down forward and left punch, pressed together.
f,n,d,df#2
Forward, then neutral, then down. Then down forward and 2 pressed on the same frame.
FUFT.3+4
3+4 when grounded in face up, feet towards position.
f+3,F FLY.2
f+3,F~2
f+3,F (which transitions to FLY) followed by FLY.2.
CH 2,2,3
2,2,3 where the first hit is a counter hit
CH (1,2),4
1,2,4 where the last hit is a counter hit
i10
Active on frame 10.
i16~18
Active on frames 16 to 18.
js9
Jumping state from frame 9.
ps2~10
Parry state on frames 2 to 10.
r24 ZEN
24 frames of recovery, transitioning to ZEN.
,i15~17
Active on frames 15 to 17, where the count is from the start of this move, not the start of the whole string.
,cs1~
Crouching state from frame 1, where the count is from the start of this move, not the start of the whole string.
+7
Attacker recovers 7 frames earlier than defender.
-2c
Attacker recovers 2 frames later than defender, with defender forced into crouch.
h,m
High, followed by mid.
a,t
Aerial hit, followed by throw.
m!,m!
Unblockable mid with two hits.
L,l,L
Three lows, where the first and third ones hit grounded.
b+2,f~n(x3) ws2,4
b+2,f~n repeated 3 times, then ws2,4.
[50] 3,2 1+4
3,2 then 1+4, dealing 50 damage in total.
f+2,1 W! f+4,3 d+3
f+2,1 which wall splats, then f+4,3 d+3.
1,(2),4 S!
1,2,4 where the second hit whiffs, and where the last hit causes a screw.
CH (1,2),4 <d+2
1,2,4 where the last hit is a counter hit, followed by a delayed d+2.

Style

Spaces

Spaces should not be used within a single move or string's notation. In particular, do not put spaces after commas or dots. This is so that readers can better gauge the flow of a combo at a glance by the spaces.

Without this convention, it'd be necessary to have some “next move in sequence” symbol for readability, which would be super noisy.

Stances

Stances in this context are anything that gives access to new moves. While things like Rage, Meter, Starburst, or a successful parry might not be considered stances, they are notated as if they were. Strings that loop (e.g. Ganryu's d+2,2,2...) can also be notated in this way.

The dot is optional for moves with no directional input. Without the dot, the stance is written in lowercase, e.g. “ws2” instead of “WS.2”, but never "WS2". Don't write e.g. “wsb+1” or “WSb+1”, only “WS.b+1”.

Stances don't have to be abbreviated. If they aren't, the stance is written out in brackets, e.g. one can write “b+1+2,(Successful parry).4” to be more explicit than “b+1+2,P.4”. This is preferred for uncommon stances that most readers won't know any abbreviation for.

For short movement stances without any transitions, it's preferable to write the full input, e.g. f~n,1,2,1,2 is preferable to “(Rush Step).1,2,1,2”; but “CD.df+4,2” can be preferable to “f,n,d,df+4,2”.

Character-specific stances
Character Abbreviation Meaning Input[1]
Akuma EX Requires and consumes 1 bar of meter (resource)
Akuma Super Requires and consumes 2 bars of meter (resource)
Alisa CLK Clockwork ws3
Alisa DES Destructive Form d+1+2
Alisa DBT Dual Boot DES.f+3+4
Alisa SBT Boot f+3+4
Anna CJM Chaos Judgment b+3
Armor King SHS Shadow Step d+1+4
Bob BAL Spinner Ball f+3+4
Claudio STB Requires and consumes Starburst (resource)
Devil Jin FLY Fly Stance 3+4
Eddy HSP Handstand f+1+2
Eddy RLX Negativa d+3+4
Eliza EX Requires and consumes 1 bar of meter (resource)
Eliza Super Requires and consumes 2 bars of meter (resource)
Eliza MG Moon Glide f+4
Feng STC Shifting Clouds f+3+4
Feng KNP Kenpo[2] b+3+4
Ganryu TCH Tachi Stance 3+4
Ganryu SIT SIT d+3+4
Geese EX Requires and consumes 1 bar of meter (resource)
Geese Super Requires and consumes 2 bars of meter (resource)
Geese MAX MAX Mode EX.1+2+3
Gigas GOL Goliath f+3+4
Gigas SG Golem Set Up db+3+4
Heihachi Rai Raijin Stance f+3+4
Hwoarang LFF Left Foot Forward default stance
Hwoarang LFS Left Flamingo Stance f+3
Hwoarang RFS Right Flamingo Stance f~n+4
Hwoarang RFF Right Foot Forward 3+4
Jin ZEN Zenshin d+3+4
Josie SWS Switch Stance (from strings)
Josie SWB Sway Back b+3+4
Julia CES Clockwise Evasive Spin[3] 3+4
Katarina HAR Harrier f+4
Kazumi FLY Fly stance[4] f+3+4
Kazuya DVK Devil Kazuya R.ub.1+2
King JGS Jaguar Step 3+4
Kuma HBS Hunting Bear Stance 3+4
Kuma ROL roll stance FC.df+1+2
Kunimitsu KAT Katon 1+2
Kunimitsu SET Setsunagake f+3
Lars DEN Dynamic Entry f+3
Lars SEN Silent Entry f+3~f
Law DSS Dragon Sign Stance[5] d+1+2
Lee HMS Hitman Stance 3+4
Lee INF Infinite Kicks (string)
Lee MS Mist Step f~n
Lee Sway Sway MS.b~n
Lei SNA Snake 3+4[6]
Lei DGN Dragon 3+4,1
Lei PAN Panther 3+4,2
Lei TGR Tiger 3+4,3
Lei CRA Crane 3+4,4
Lei PHX Phoenix Illusion b+1+4
Lei DRU Drunken Master f+3+4
Lei sSNA[7] Sitting Snake db+1
Lei f,n [8] Rush Step f,n
Lei KND Knockdown (Play Dead in-game Disambiguation) d+3+4
Lei PLD Play Dead (Play Dead in-game) d+2+3
Lei FCD Face Down (Sidewind in-game) d+1+2
Lei SLD Slide (Sidewind in-game) d+1+4
Leo BOK Bokuhō (a.k.a. FoBu) [9] d+1+2
Leo KNK Kinkei (a.k.a. Jin Ji Du Li) f+4
Leroy HRM Hermit 3+4
Lidia CFO Cat Foot One f+3+4
Lidia CFT Cat Foot Two b+3+4
Lidia HAE Heaven and Earth CFO.n,f
Lidia TAW Pouncing Tiger, Stalking Wolf CFT.n,f
Ling AOP Art of Phoenix d+1+2
Ling RDS Rain Dance Stance b+3+4
Ling HYP Hypnotist db_ub+1+2
Lucky Chloe TWST Twist db+3
Lucky Chloe SCT Scoot f,F+4
Marduk VTS Vale-Tudo Stance[10] 3+4
Master Raven HAZ Haze 3+4
Miguel SAV Savage Stance 3+4
Negan INT Intimidation 3+4
Shaheen SNK Sneak[11] df,DF
Steve FLK Flicker b+3+4
Steve PAB Peekaboo f+3+4
Steve ALB Albatross 3+4
Steve DCK Ducking f+3_4
Yoshimitsu KIN Kincho 1+2
Yoshimitsu MED Meditation 3+4
Yoshimitsu FLE Flea d+1+2
Yoshimitsu IND Indian Stance d+3+4
Yoshimitsu BDS Bad Stomach db+1+2
Yoshimitsu DGF Manji Dragonfly u+1+2
Zafina SCR Scarecrow 3+4
Zafina MNT Mantis [12] d+3+4
Zafina TRT Tarantula d+1+2
  1. The simplest way to enter to the stance, usually without an attack.
  2. Called Deceptive Step in the move list.
  3. Called Wind Roll in the move list.
  4. Called Fearless Warrior in the move list.
  5. Called Dragon Charge in the move list.
  6. Snake, Dragon, Panther, Tiger and Crane stances (5 gate animals) have lots of ways to enter the stances, specifically some players prefer to explain them through the Razor Rush cycle.
  7. Some players prefer Coiled Snake, or cSNA as an alternative title.
  8. Rush Step is technically a stance, but no one abbreviates it, nevertheless, Razor Rush is commonly seen abbreviated as RR as in RR 3 for the low kick in the end, RR 4 for the mid kick in the end, RR <stance> for a specific transition after a certain amount of hits.
  9. Bokuho and Kinkei come from the Japanese names for the stances, game uses the Chinese romanization instead.
  10. Called Ready Position in the move list.
  11. Called Stealth Step in the move list.
  12. MNT 2+3 puts Zafina into BT MNT and out of it (the move is named Paradox in-game), it does not differ enough to be listed, no new moves, no specific abbreviation.

Held motion inputs

Motion inputs must specify when the final directional input is a hold. This clarifies that the attack input can't be pressed on the same frame. It also often indicates that the input can't be fully buffered.

Character Move Explanation
Bryan f,n,b+2 The b and 2 can be pressed on the same frame, will still work if b is pressed earlier
Heihachi f,F+2 The second F must be pressed and held at least one frame before the 2
Heihachi d,df,f+2 The f and 2 can be pressed on the same frame, will still work if f is pressed earlier
Lee d,DB+4 The DB must be pressed and held at least one frame before the 4

Move properties

Frame advantage

Any number with a “+” or “-” in front it indicates frame advantage, usually from the attacker's perspective. If both players recover at the same time, write “+0”, not “0” or “-0” or “±0”.

A letter indicates how the defender recovers.

Multiple numbers indicate that there are differing states of the defender's recovery.

A number in brackets indicates when the opponent can do a tech recovery. This is not strictly speaking the frame advantage, since it doesn't count how long the tech recovery itself takes. This number should not have a letter modifier.

If there is no number in brackets, then the opponent can't do a tech recovery.

Example 1. Kazumi's df+1,2 is "-13c" on block. This means:

  • The opponent recovers crouching 13 frames before Kazumi has recovered.
  • The opponent can't do a tech recovery.

Example 2. Lee's 2,1,3 is "+20a (+11)" on hit. This means:

  • The opponent is airborne for 20 frames after Lee has recovered and recovers grounded.
  • The opponent can do a tech recovery 11 frames after Lee has recovered.

Example 3. Kazuya's df+2 is "+13 +59a" on counter-hit. This means:

  • The opponent is standing for 13 frames after Kazuya has recovered.
  • The opponent is airborne for the next 46 frames.
  • The opponent can't do a tech recovery.

If a move has multiple active frames, the frame advantage is for the first active frame. However, if a move has many active frames and often doesn't connect on the first, then the frame advantage for the last active frame is also written down, separated by "~". For example, King's f,F+1+2 is "-5~+14" on block.

Active frames

Any number with an “i” in front of it indicates the frames where an attack can hit, also known as the active frames or startup.

If a move has multiple active frames, the first and last active frame are separated by "~". For example, "i23~25" means the move hits from frame 23 to frame 25.

If a move is part of a string, the first frame is not the start of the string, but the start of the move. In this case, the number starts with a "," to try and clarify this. For example, Lee's 1,2 is ",i12", meaning the active frames of the 2 are 12 frames after the active frames of the 1. This is useful for knowing how much time there is to interrupt the string when the previous move whiffed.

If a move has multiple hits, the active frames for each hit are separated by a space. For example, Lee's f+1+2 is "i13 i29~30", meaning the first hit is active on frame 13 and the second hit is active on frames 29 and 30.

If a move has a motion input, the time to do that input is not taken into account, so these moves are slower in practice. For example, Heihachi's EWGF is i11 but needs at least 3 extra frames to input, so the fastest it can be done with perfect input is 14 frames.

Active
Startup
Recovery
Frame
Input
State
1
f
2
n
3
d
4
d/f2
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

States

Any number following “pc”, “ps”, “js”, “cs”, “fs”, or “gs” indicates the frames on which the move has a particular state.

The first and last frame of the state are separated by a "~". If either are unknown or unimportant, they're left blank. For example, most hopkicks are "js9~", meaning jumping state from frame 9 until an unknown or unimportant frame.

The ranges are inclusive. For example, "pc8~19" means powercrush from frame 8 to 19, including frame 8 and 19.

If a move is part of a string, the first frame is not the start of the string, but the start of the move. In this case, the number starts with a "," to try and clarify this. For example, Lee's 2,1,4 is ",cs16~", meaning crouching state from frame 16 of the 4.

If a move has multiple states, each is separated by a space. For example, Lee's d+3+4 is "cs25~45 js45~", meaning crouching state from frame 25 to 45, then jumping state from frame 45.

Recovery

Any number written with an "r" in front of it indicates the recovery frames for a move, also known as the whiff frames. This is the time after the active frames where the attacker can't guard.

If followed by a stance abbreviation, this indicates that the move recovers in that stance. For example, "r24 ZEN" means 24 frames of recovery and a transition to Zenshin.

For projectiles, the recovery is from when the projectile is launched, so the active frames and recovery overlap.

Other styles

There's a lot of notation out in the wild. The following should be avoided in Wavu Wiki articles, but are noted for being used elsewhere.

xx
Cancel into next move. For example, “d+4xxdp1” or “d+4 xx dp1” means “d+4 then cancel to dp+1”, which is better written as “d+4,dp+1” or “d+4,f,d,df+1”.
/
Diagonal directional input, e.g. d/f is the same as df.
ar
Airborne. Same as fs.

Input

Two other input notation styles are Iron Fist (also known as official or in-game notation) and numpad (also known as anime notation). Numpad style is so-named because the directional inputs are based on their position on a numpad.

Iron Fist is used sparingly on Wavu Wiki, mainly where there isn't enough space for normal letters and numbers to fit.

Wavu Wiki Iron Fist Numpad
1 1 LP
2 2 RP
3 3 LK
4 4 RK
1+2 1+2 LP+RP
1+2+3 1+2+3 LP+RP+LK
1+2+3+4 1+2+3+4 LP+RP+LK+RK
Wavu Wiki Iron Fist Numpad
u u 8
d d 2
f f 6
b b 4
n n 5
uf u/f 9
df d/f 3
db d/b 1
ub u/b 7
Wavu Wiki Iron Fist Numpad
U U 8*
D D 2*
F F 6*
B B 4*
UF U/F 9*
DF D/F 3*
DB D/B 1*
UB U/B 7*
Wavu Wiki Iron Fist Numpad
1~2 [12] LP~RP
uf+4 f,F+3 u/f4>fF3 9RK,66*LK
d,DB+4 3~3:4 dD/B4>[33]:4 21*RK,LK~LK:RK

Numpad style is more common in South Korea and Japan and in a lot of fighting games other than Tekken. LP+RP and LK+RK are often shortened to WP and WK respectively, or sometimes PP and KK.

One reason English Tekken communities use this unusual (when compared to other fighting games) notation is that there aren't many moves with motion inputs, much less any more complicated than quarter circles, so there isn't a huge advantage in adopting numpad notation. On the other hand, the majority of Tekken moves are just strings of attack button inputs—sometimes starting with a single directional input—so using numbers for the attack buttons makes it more succinct than using LP, RP, LK, and RK.

(Of course, Tekken also uses a lot of combined attack button inputs and they still end up rather verbose with this notation, e.g. 1+2+3+4 to do a ki charge. This could be addressed by instead assigning LK to 4 and RK to 8 so that combined attack inputs could be written unambiguously as the sum itself. Then e.g. 1+2 would be 3, and the ki-charge input, i.e. 1+2+4+8, would just be 15. (Don't expect anyone to understand you if you do this.))

See also