Notation

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.

Input

Notation	Meaning
1	Left Punch
2	Right Punch
3	Left Kick
4	Right Kick

Notation	Meaning
u	Up
d	Down
f	Forward
b	Backward
n	Neutral (no direction)
U	Up (Hold)
D	Down (Hold)
F	Forward (Hold)
B	Backward (Hold)

Notation	Meaning	Example
/	Diagonal directional input	u/f
+	Pressed together	1+2
#	Pressed together on the same frame	d/f#2
.	From stance	FUFA.3
,	Followed by	1,2
~	Followed by, immediately	1~2
:	Followed by, tight input window	1:2
<	Followed by, with delayed input	1<2
*	Held input	1*
_	Alternate input	1_2

Notation	Meaning	Input	(IronFist)
cc	Crouch cancel	u~n
dash	Forward dash	f,f
qcf	Quarter-circle forward	d,d/f,f	dd/ff
qcb	Quarter-circle back	d,d/b,b	dd/bb
hcf	Half-circle forward	b,d/b,d,d/f,f	bd/bdd/ff
hcb	Half-circle back	f,d/f,d,d/b,b	fd/fdd/bb

Stances

Generic stances

R	Rage
WR	While running
WS	While standing
FC	Full 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

Stances in this context are anything that gives access to new moves. In particular, while things like Rage, Meter, and Starburst might not be considered stances, they are notated as if they were.

In addition, strings that loop (e.g. Ganryu's d+2,2,2...) are notated like they're a stance.

For short movement stances (e.g. f~n) without any transitions, it's usually preferable to just write the full input.

Character-specific stances

Character	Abbreviation	Meaning	Input
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 Stance	d+1+2
Alisa	DBT	Dual Boot	DES.f+3+4
Alisa	SBT	Boot	f+3+4
Claudio	STB	Requires and consumes Starburst	(resource)
Eliza	EX	Requires and consumes 1 bar of meter	(resource)
Eliza	Super	Requires and consumes 2 bars of meter	(resource)
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
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
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	Sitting Snake	d/b+1
Lei	f,n	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
Lidia	CFO	Cat Foot Stance I	f+3+4
Lidia	CFT	Cat Foot Stance II	b+3+4
Lidia	HAE	Heaven and Earth	CFO.n,f
Lidia	TAW	Pouncing Tiger, Stalking Wolf	CFT.n,f
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	d/b+1+2
Yoshimitsu	DGF	Manji Dragonfly	u+1+2
Zafina	SCR	Scarecrow	3+4
Zafina	MNT	Mantis	d+3+4
Zafina	TRT	Tarantula	d+1+2

Conditions

Some moves can only be done under certain conditions. In these cases, the notation for that move's “input” includes some non-input representing that condition.

Notation	Meaning	Example
p	Successful parry	b+1+2,p,4

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,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,d/f,f+2	The f and 2 can be pressed on the same frame, will still work if f is pressed earlier
Lee	d,D/B+4	The D/B must be pressed and held at least one frame before the 4

Other styles

Two different notable 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.

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
u/f	u/f	9
d/f	d/f	3
d/b	d/b	1
u/b	u/b	7

Wavu Wiki	Iron Fist	Numpad
U	U	8*
D	D	2*
F	F	6*
B	B	4*
U/F	U/F	9*
D/F	D/F	3*
D/B	D/B	1*
U/B	U/B	7*

Wavu Wiki	Iron Fist	Numpad
1~2	[12]	LP~RP
u/f+4 f,F+3	u/f4>fF3	9RK,66*LK
d,D/B+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 most other fighting games. LP+RP and LK+RK are often shortened to WP and WK respectively.

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.))

Combo annotations

Notation	Meaning
S!	Screw (or Tailspin)
W!	Wall splat or wall bounce
WB!	Wall break
F!	Floor break
BB!	Balcony break

Notation	Meaning	Example
CH	Counter-hit	CH 1,1	1,1, where the first hit is a counter hit
CL	Clean hit	CL 1,1	1,1, where the first hit is a clean hit
()	Whiffed or blocked moves	(1,2),1	1,2,1, where the first two hits whiff or get blocked
(x?)	Repeat string ? times	1,2,f~n(x3)	1,2,f~n repeated 3 times
[]	Damage	[16] 1,2	1,2, doing 16 damage in total

Frame advantage

Any number with a “+” or “-” in front it indicates frame advantage, usually from the attacker's perspective.

These may be modified with the following:

a

Opponent will be floated during recovery and will recover grounded ("airborne")

b

Opponent will recover back turned

c

Opponent will recover crouching

d

Opponent is grounded during recovery and will recover grounded ("downed")

g

Opponent can guard during recovery

s

Opponent will be floated during recovery and will recover standing ("stagger")

If there are multiple numbers, this indicates that there are differing states of the recovery.

If a number is in brackets, this 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.

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

Example 1. Kazumi's d/f+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 (+11a)" on hit. This means:

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

Example 3. Kazuya's d/f+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.

Move properties

Hit level

Notation	Meaning
h	High
m	Mid
l	Low
s	Special mid
a	Aerial

Notation	Meaning
H	High (hits grounded)
M	Mid (hits grounded)
L	Low (hits grounded)
S	Special mid (hits grounded)

Notation	Meaning
!	Unblockable
t	Throw

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.

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 with the following in front of it indicates frames where the attacker is in a special state:

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

gs

Grounded 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.

See also

• Wavu:TZ Archive