Tekken 9 Advanced Techniques Tutorial

Tekken 9 Advanced Techniques Tutorial

Alright, fighters! Ready to take your Tekken 9 game to the next level? We’ve already covered the basics, but now it’s time to dive into the really cool stuff – the advanced techniques that separate the casual button-mashers from the true Tekken masters. This isn’t about just knowing your character’s moves; it’s about understanding the game’s mechanics and using them to your advantage. Get ready, because things are about to get intense!

Understanding Frame Data: Your Secret Weapon

First up, let’s talk about something that might sound a bit technical but is super important: frame data. Think of a video game as a series of still pictures or frames flashing by super quickly. Frame data tells us how many of these frames each move takes to start up, hit, and recover. Knowing this information helps you understand why some moves are safe to throw out and others are risky.

What are Startup, Active, and Recovery Frames?

• Startup Frames: These are the frames it takes for a move to even begin doing damage. The faster the startup, the quicker your attack will connect, and harder it is for your opponent to react.
• Active Frames: This is the part of the animation when the move can actually hit your opponent. Some moves have very few active frames, meaning precise timing is key.
• Recovery Frames: These frames are what happens after the active frames. The higher the recovery, the more time it takes your character to return to a neutral position, and the more vulnerable you are to counter attacks.

Imagine a jab with a startup of 10 frames and a recovery of 10 frames. If your opponent blocks, you’ll be stuck in recovery for those 10 frames while they’re ready to act. Now, imagine another move with 15 startup frames and 5 recovery frames. If it hits, great! But if it’s blocked, you’re much more vulnerable.

Using Frame Data to Your Advantage

Knowing this stuff helps you do a few things:

• Punish: When your opponent does a move with a lot of recovery frames, you can use your faster attacks to punish them. This is called a “punish.”
• Safe Attacks: Use moves with fast startup and low recovery to poke at your opponent without being too vulnerable.
• Avoid Risky Moves: Don’t spam moves with high startup or recovery times unless they’re part of a smart strategy.

You don’t have to memorize every single move’s frame data (unless you’re planning on going pro!), but using some tools to get a sense of what moves are fast, slow, safe or unsafe is the key to improving your game. There are many online resources and character guides dedicated to specific fighter frame data.

Movement Mastery: More Than Just Walking Around

Movement in Tekken 9 is more than just running forward and back. It’s a dance of positioning, evasion, and creating opportunities.

The Sidestep Shuffle

The sidestep is your best friend. It lets you move perpendicular to your opponent, dodging linear attacks and creating different angles for your attacks.

Here are a few tips about sidestepping:

• Sidestepping Linear Attacks: Moves that go straight are easy to dodge with a sidestep. You might avoid a jab, and immediately punish with a counterattack.
• Using the Sidewalk: Instead of just tapping sidestep, you can tap it then hold to circle around your opponent. This can throw off their rhythm.
• Mixing it Up: Don’t always sidestep in the same direction. You need to be unpredictable. If your opponent anticipates your sidestep direction, they can catch you out.

Backdashing: The Art of Retreat

Backdashing is about creating space, avoiding attacks, and tempting your opponent to chase you so you can counter-attack.

Things you need to understand about Backdashing:

• The Quick Backdash: This is a very short dash. Good for getting out of the range of some fast punches.
• The Long Backdash: This moves you further back. It creates a larger gap and requires more precise timing.
• Mixing it up: Don’t be too predictable. If you backdash all the time, your opponent might use a range attack to catch you.

Movement Tips

• Practice Moving: Spend some time just moving around the arena, getting comfortable with the different directions and how they affect your character.
• Watch the Pros: See how the best players use movement. Pay attention to how they use the sidestep, sidewalk, backdash and how they transition from one to the other
• Don’t be Predictable: Always mix up your movement.

Combos: Stringing Together the Pain

Combos are the bread and butter of Tekken. They’re how you deal big damage, and you need to be good at doing them if you want to win fights. Here, it’s not just about doing some simple attacks; you will need some advanced strategies.

Launchers: Starting the Party

Launchers are moves that lift your opponent into the air, setting them up for a combo. Different characters have different launchers, and each one has different properties.

• High Launchers: These typically launch the opponent high into the air, but are usually easier to block.
• Mid Launchers: These launch opponents a medium height, and are harder to block on reaction.
• Low Launchers: These hit low and launch opponents, but leave you vulnerable on block. Use them with caution
• Finding Your Launchers: Practice with your character and learn which moves are the best at launching.

Juggle Combos: Keeping Them Airborne

Once you’ve launched your opponent, you need to keep them in the air using a string of attacks.

Things you need to understand about Juggle Combos:

• Timing is Key: You need to hit your opponent at the correct time to keep them in the air. Practice the timing of your combos in the training mode.
• Varying Damage: Some juggle attacks do more damage than others. You should learn to optimize your combos for maximum damage.
• Wall Carry: Some attacks will carry the opponent towards the wall, creating additional opportunities for damage.

Wall Combos: Corner Pressure

When your opponent is against the wall, you can inflict even more damage.

Here’s some general wall-combo advice:

• Wall Splat: Certain attacks will slam your opponent against the wall. This can lead to a full wall combo or high damage punish.
• Wall Carry Combos: Some combos carry your opponent to the wall, where you can start the splat.
• Wall Enders: Some attacks do more damage when your opponent is already up against a wall.

Combo Tips

• Practice: Spend a lot of time in the training mode and practice your combos. It may seem difficult at first, but practice makes perfect.
• Learn the Basics: Don’t go for complex combos before learning simple ones. First master the basic launchers, juggle combos, and wall combos for your character.
• Adapt: You can’t use the same combo every time. You need to be able to adapt your combos according to what your opponents do.

Advanced Offense: Keeping Your Opponent Guessing

So, you know how to move, and you can do some cool combos, but a good player needs to use more advanced offensive techniques to keep the opponent under pressure. Let’s explore some of those techniques.

Mix-Ups: High, Mid, Low

The key to offense is unpredictability. If you only attack the same way, your opponent will just block, sidestep, or duck.

Here’s a breakdown of mix-up attacks:

• High Attacks: These are fast and difficult to react to, but they can be ducked.
• Mid Attacks: These need to be blocked while standing, and they can hit opponents trying to duck.
• Low Attacks: These need to be blocked low, but will hit opponents trying to stand block, and can lead to big combos if they land.
• Don’t Be Predictable: Vary the type of attacks. If your opponent starts trying to duck, use mid attacks. If they stand block, use lows.

Grabs: Breaking the Guard

Grabs, also called throws, are a good way to get past someone who is blocking constantly.

Things to know about grabs:

• Standard Grabs: These are simple grabs that everyone has.
• Command Grabs: These are specific throws that come out after certain inputs. Command grabs are powerful and difficult to break.
• Grabbing Mix-Ups: Don’t just try to grab all the time. Mix grabbing with your striking game.

Pressure: Staying on the Attack

Pressure is about keeping the offensive going. Don’t give your opponent time to breath.

• Plus Frames: These are attacks that, when blocked, give you a slight advantage. This advantage can allow you to continue applying pressure.
• Using Quick Moves: Use jabs and other quick attacks to keep your opponent on the defensive.
• Don’t be reckless: Be careful of your positioning and the risk/reward of your actions. Don’t leave yourself vulnerable to a counter attack

Advanced Offensive Tips

• Learn Your Character: Each fighter plays differently. Spend time learning their best offensive attacks.
• Don’t be afraid to mix things up: The best offense is an unpredictable one.
• Practice makes perfect: Spend a lot of time practicing these techniques.

Defense: Avoiding the Pain

Okay, offense is cool, but it’s not the only thing that matters. You also need to be able to defend yourself. A solid defense can turn the tides of battle and allow you to punish your opponent’s mistakes.

Blocking: The First Line of Defense

Blocking is a fundamental skill. It’s how you avoid taking damage from most attacks.

• Standing Block: You hold back to block high and mid attacks.
• Low Block: You hold down and back to block low attacks.
• Reacting to Attacks: It takes practice to know what block is correct, so learn your opponents attacks to know what’s coming.

Parrying: A Risky Gamble

Parrying is when you try to deflect an incoming attack. This is a powerful defensive option, but it’s risky.

• Timing is Everything: You need precise timing to make a parry work.
• Parry vs. Low: Some characters have a parry that will beat high and mid attacks. but will lose to low attacks.
• The Risk: If you mistime the parry, you leave yourself wide open to attack.

Punishing: Making Them Pay

Punishing is all about capitalizing on your opponent’s mistakes.

• Identifying punishable attacks: Knowing frame data will help you recognize punishable moves.
• Quick Punishes: Use quick jabs and other attacks to immediately punish mistakes.
• Launch Punishes: For more severe punishments, you can use launchers to set up combos.

Defense Tips

• Don’t be afraid to block: It’s not a sign of weakness. A good player blocks to open up counter attacks.
• Practice your parries: Don’t go for it in a match until you’ve practiced in training mode.
• Learn to punish: This is how you win games, capitalizing on your opponent’s errors.

Character Match-ups: Know Your Enemy

Every character in Tekken 9 is different. Knowing how to deal with them is crucial to your strategy. Learning to play with, and against many different characters, will improve your skill immensely.

Understanding Character Strengths

• Power Characters: These fighters have attacks that deal heavy damage.
• Speed Characters: These are quick fighters that can overwhelm you with a constant barrage of attacks.
• Technical Characters: These fighters may have difficult but potent moves, or mix up their attacks in creative ways.

Adjusting Your Strategy

• Don’t play the same against everyone: You need to adapt to your opponents specific strengths.
• Look for Weaknesses: You need to identify your opponent’s weaknesses and find ways to punish them.
• Learn Match-Ups: Spend time playing against every fighter to learn their move sets.

Character Match-Up Tips

• Watch the Pros: See how high level players deal with different characters.
• Use Training Mode: Practice specific match-ups in training mode.
• Be Patient: It takes time to learn every character, so take things slowly, and don’t overwhelm yourself trying to learn too much.

These are just a few tips to get you started on your Tekken 9 journey. Keep practicing, and keep improving. With hard work and dedication you will become a great player. So go ahead, play some Tekken, and show them what you have learned. Remember to always stay calm, learn from your mistakes, and have fun!