Notation

From Wavu Wiki, the 🌊 wavy Tekken wiki

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
. [i 1][i 2]From stance FUFA.3
, [i 1]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[i 3]
dash[i 4][i 5] 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
  1. 1.0 1.1 Should never have a space immediately after it.
  2. Optional for movement stances if there's no directional input to the move. If this is done, the stance is written in lowercase, e.g. “ws2” instead of “WS.2”, but not “wsb+1”.
  3. f,f and b,b also work but are rarely useful since they can't be buffered.
  4. Not written when obvious, e.g. after S!
  5. Just writing “f,f” is preferred since it's shorter anyway.

Stances

Generic stances
R Rage
WR While running[s 1]
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[s 2]
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[s 3]
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[s 4] Sitting Snake d/b+1
Lei f,n [s 5] 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 [s 6] d+3+4
Zafina TRT Tarantula d+1+2
  1. Entered by f,f,f
  2. The simplest way to enter to the stance, usually without an attack.
  3. 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.
  4. Some players prefer Coiled Snake, or cSNA as an alternative title.
  5. 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 ~~~This needs improving~~~.
  6. 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.

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[c 1]
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[c 2] (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
  1. Using a separate notation for splats and bounces is unnecessary since it's always obvious from context, and WB! is already taken.
  2. This is mostly important for counter hits: CH 1,2,1 means that the first hit is a counter hit, whereas CH (1,2),1 means that the last hit is.

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[h 1]
t Throw [h 2]
  1. Modifies other hit levels, e.g. “m!” is a mid unblockable.
  2. 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.

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