Tekken 8 is building up to be one of the greatest fighting games of all time. Even amid the so-called “Golden Age” of fighting games, it stands out as a product that takes the best aspects of the Tekken series and refines them.
Whether you’re new to the series or returning and want to know how your main compares to the competition, we’ve compiled a tier list based on the various CNT (Closed Network Test) stages and our time with the final release version of Tekken 8. We’ve also dialed back on major nerfs, such as Kazuya getting hit many times before launch.
Keep in mind that this tier list is subject to change, and Tekken 8 is relatively balanced. While choosing a top-tier character will offer you an advantage, you can eventually win with any character. We’ll also add more characters when DLC fighters become available, with Eddy already confirmed to be coming soon.
Here’s the full Tekken 8-tier list.
Tekken 8 Tier List
S-Tier Tekken 8 Fighters
S-Tier characters are the pinnacle of the best. The majority of Tekken 8’s strongest characters are excellent all-rounders with specific strengths, such as high wall carry potential, ease of access to a launcher, ability to pressure, and so on.
Jun appears to be Tekken 8’s strongest combatant. She’s simple to pilot, has strong mix-ups and lows, and can carry to walls effectively. Many of her maneuvers are deceptively difficult to avoid, and she’s quite difficult to punish. Overall, she is not invincible, and certainly not at the level of Leroy, but she is really strong.
Jin, Jack, Feng, and Bryan are excellent all-around players with high pressure, good wall carry, and powerful pokes. Despite their particular flaws, like as Feng’s vulnerability to sidestepping with some of his finest poke moves, they are all formidable fighters.
Azucena and Zafina are more technical, with Zafina standing out as one of the game’s most difficult characters. If you can get the feel of her stances, she has some of the best lows in the game and is a nightmare to read if you’re unfamiliar with her moves. However, she is a frightening character, to begin with, and she may not be the greatest choice if you are new to Tekken.
Meanwhile, Azucena possesses powerful counter mechanics and hard-to-punish normals, as well as some of the strongest jabs in the game in terms of frame advantage. She will win matches based on frame data alone.
A-Tier Tekken 8 Fighters
The A-Tier contains the vast majority of the roster. These combatants are balanced, with obvious strengths and weaknesses. And, while some of these characters are more powerful than others, they all work well in good hands.
There are a few outliers in the mix, including Reina, Viktor, King, and Steve, who have a lot of high-level potential thanks to their new moves and interactions with the Heat system. However, they are all quite tough to play. This list is more representative of the average player’s skill level, and while some of these more difficult and unique characters may become top-tier in high-level play, the average battle will most likely look different.
Having said that, Viktor is perhaps the most likely to go up to S-tier. He has excellent tracking and a low-hitting Heat Smash, and he’s going to be a competitive favorite once players master him. If you’re looking for a hard character who rewards you for mastery, Viktor could be the one.
It’s also worth noting that bears are in this group. Kuma and Panda are both surprisingly strong in Tekken 8, making them far more viable in high-level competition. Leo and Paul are also slightly outside the S-Tier due to their subpar, predictable lows, but they may rise to the top once more players get their hands on the game and figure out who is the strongest.
Shaheen, Hwoarang, Nina, Alisa, Lili, Xiaoyu, Claudio, Lars, and Kazuya are all well-balanced personalities. They have apparent strengths and weaknesses and are sure to perform effectively in the proper hands.
Devil Jin, on the other hand, has a lot of major strengths in his gap closing, spacing, and odd and difficult-to-read flying moves, but he also has some rather weak normals. He feels like a character who will need more time and research to reveal his true strength (or lack thereof).
B-Tier Tekken 8 Fighters
Even at the lowest rank, all of these characters remain viable. However, not every character from previous entries has performed well under the Heat method. Not all Tekken carryovers are created equal, whether it’s because they have a critical move related to their Heat Smash or the system’s strengths have limited their ability to perform successfully.
This category includes characters who are very technical but have a poor payout (Lee, Yoshimitsu, Raven), characters who were drastically nerfed for their strength in Tekken 7 (Dragunov, Law, Leroy), and Asuka. Asuka struggles in many matches, particularly against characters that can zone her out and create space effectively. Her strongest capabilities in rushing down her opponent are far less effective now that everyone possesses Heat moves.
Again, none of these characters is inherently terrible. If you’ve always been a Yoshi player, you’re probably going to pick him regardless of the tier list. And that’s fine!
Finally, choose who appears appealing to you. If you’re the type of person who enjoys deciding what’s meta, S-Tier has plenty of possibilities. If not, dismiss your preferred character’s position on the list and play them regardless.