| Xiaoyu |
|---|
| Counterplay (Tekken 8) |
|---|
This page is for Tekken 8. For Tekken 7, see Xiaoyu counterplay (Tekken 7).
Overview
Xiaoyu is notoriously one of, if not the hardest matchup to learn in Tekken. She's an extremely tricky character that exploits your gaps in knowledge very hard, and to top it off her offense is absolutely not to be slept on in this iteration of the game.
(Page is still very WIP.)
Checking with mids
One of the most pronounced aspects of Xiaoyu's moveset is just how many moves she has to duck under highs. This is why it's vitally important to first and foremost check her with mids. There are some situations where she can actually go under a lot of mids, though she has to commit to dodging them far harder than highs. To counter this, you can try to do a mid with a hitbox low to the ground, but this is heavily on a character-by-character basis and requires experimentation.
Punishing Cali Roll
As shown in the video above, Xiaoyu has a high crushing launcher out of her Backturn stance.
If not punished properly, she can crush a high you press to take your turn and launch you for free. If you do manage to block it, your mileage on punishing it may vary, as although it is -11 in BT, she can BT parry many mids and highs slower than i11. Damaging jab strings are usually the safest bet, or a hopkick if your character has one; however, if the hopkick is the only thing you do, she can instantly go airborne and render the punish far less damaging. Some throws are also i11 or faster (King, Dragunov, and Paul come to mind), with King in particular getting the best BT throw punish at 75 damage and a floor break.