Tekken 9 How To Apply Advanced Techniques

Tekken 9 How to Apply Advanced Techniques

Alright, so you’ve been playing Tekken 9 for a while, you know the basic moves, and you’re feeling pretty good. But now you’re seeing other players pull off amazing combos and tricky maneuvers that leave you in the dust. Don’t worry! This happens to everyone. Tekken 9 is a game with a high skill ceiling, meaning there’s always more to learn. The journey to becoming a really great player involves more than just button mashing. It’s time to dive into some advanced techniques that will really take your gameplay to a new level. Let’s break these down step-by-step.

Movement Mastery: Beyond Basic Walking

In Tekken 9, how you move around the stage is super important. Forget just walking back and forth. Advanced movement opens up tons of opportunities to confuse your opponent, close distances, or create space for powerful attacks. Here’s what you need to practice:

Backdash Canceling

Think of a backdash as a quick hop backward. Now, imagine being able to do that, but cancel the animation early to move again quickly. That’s backdash canceling! This makes your movement much more fluid and harder to predict. It allows you to quickly escape danger and then get back on the offensive. It takes a bit of practice to get the timing down, but it’s incredibly useful. To practice this, try inputting a backdash and then immediately inputting another backdash or a sidestep. The goal is to get used to cancelling the backdash animation and moving quickly.

Sidestep and Sidewalk

Sidestepping is when you tap up or down to move slightly to the side. This lets you avoid some attacks and create new angles for your own. Sidewalking is similar, but it allows you to move a longer distance to the side. These moves are vital for dodging linear attacks and setting up your own mix-ups. Practice sidestepping different kinds of attacks, including high, mid, and low attacks. You will soon get a feel for what moves can be avoided this way. Learn which attacks are linear, and you can reliably use sidesteps and sidewalks to dodge them.

Korean Backdash (KBD)

The Korean Backdash (KBD) is an advanced movement technique that combines backdashes and sidesteps. It allows for very quick, controlled movement backward. It’s hard to learn, but it’s one of the most powerful movement techniques in Tekken. The general input is Back, Down/Back, neutral, then backdash again, it’s much easier to learn with practice and visual aid like videos. It takes time, so keep practicing and try to get the rhythm right. It might seem hard, but after some practice, it will become muscle memory. Once you learn KBD you can make your character very hard to catch.

Punishment and Block Advantage

Tekken isn’t just about attacking; it’s about knowing when to strike back. Punishing mistakes and taking advantage of block situations are critical to winning at high level.

Knowing Your Punishes

Every character has moves that are designed to punish opponents who are too reckless. When an opponent whiffs (misses) an attack or does a unsafe move, you must know how to punish. It means using specific moves that can quickly catch them off guard and do big damage. Make sure to learn your character’s punishers. This is when you punish with a move that is faster than what the opponent is recovering from. Different moves have different speeds and damage output, so make sure you learn your most optimal punishers. Also, it’s important to know what moves from your opponents are punishable. It might take a lot of practice to learn all the moves, so start by learning the most common unsafe moves.

• 10-frame Punishes: These are very fast attacks that can punish most very unsafe moves, usually jabs.
• 12-14 Frame Punishes: These are used for slightly slower recovery moves, usually more powerful than the 10 frame moves.
• 15-Frame Punishes and Above: These are used for moves with long recovery times, and are very powerful for that.

Block Advantage

When you block an attack, sometimes you end up with a ‘block advantage’. This means you recover faster than your opponent. If you learn to identify these opportunities, you can press an attack, or grab before they recover fully. This is often called ‘taking your turn’. This is a key part of fighting game strategy, and can let you control the fight. There is sometimes ‘block disadvantage’, and that means the opponent has recovered faster than you. If you are on block disadvantage, it is often safer to not press any buttons because it will probably get punished. If you are at a big block disadvantage, it is important to not press any buttons and instead start blocking again as you are at disadvantage.

Advanced Combos and Juggle Extensions

Okay, you can do basic combos. Now let’s get into some more stylish and damaging sequences.

Wall Carry

Wall carry is when you hit an opponent in a way that sends them towards the wall while still doing a combo. If you time it right, you can continue the combo when they hit the wall for much higher damage. This is essential for high damage outputs in Tekken. Different moves will carry your opponent different distances, and the closer you are to the wall the less distance you will need. Try different moves to figure out which ones carry the most distance and which ones carry the least. The best practice is to go into the training mode and try different combos to see what works and what does not.

Juggle Extensions

When you launch an opponent, you have an opportunity to string together more attacks. This is called a juggle. Learning to extend these juggles means you can do more damage. It involves using different moves to keep the opponent in the air while you continue your combo. Some characters excel at juggle extensions, it’s important to understand the moves that keep them in the air for longer. Try to incorporate wall carry into these juggles, which allows for bigger combos.

Practice is key

You can’t get good at combos without practicing. There are many combo videos available online and through other community resources, but understanding the theory behind them is the key. Understanding frame data, hit properties, and wall carry is vital to coming up with your own combos. Try to learn from other combos and implement some of your own ideas.

Mix-Ups and Mind Games

Tekken is a lot like chess. It’s not always about throwing out the strongest attack. It’s also about making your opponent guess what you’re going to do.

High/Low Mix-Ups

This is a classic technique. You alternate between attacks that must be blocked high (standing) and attacks that must be blocked low (crouching). This makes your opponent constantly have to guess, forcing them to react very quickly. If they block low when you use a high attack, or vice versa, it will open them up for a free combo. The idea is to not let them get too comfortable with blocking, as that creates many openings for you.

Throw Mix-Ups

Throws can bypass normal blocking and are very hard to predict. Combining throws with your normal attacks will make your gameplay much more unpredictable. There are different kinds of throws, and some characters have unique throws that have a lot of follow ups or mixups. If you see your opponent blocking a lot, you can try a throw. You will notice that many players like to duck when they are blocking, try throwing them as a result of this and see how they react.

Delaying Attacks

If you make your attack patterns too predictable, good players will learn how to counter them. Varying the timing of your attacks can make your opponent uncertain. This is often called delaying attacks. Sometimes it’s best to wait a split second to see what your opponent will do, and then act based on that. Sometimes you might not want to finish a combo too quickly and instead do a few attacks to force them to defend. The timing is important for this to work, so practice the timings in training mode and see how the opponent will react to your attacks being delayed.

Character-Specific Techniques

Every character in Tekken 9 has special moves and unique properties that make them different. You need to understand these to play your character to their full potential.

Frame Data

Frame data is all about how fast moves are. Each move takes a certain number of frames to start up, recover, and if an attack is blocked, or if the opponent is hit. The move’s frame advantage or disadvantage will help you learn what to do next. Knowing the frame data of your character’s moves will make you better at knowing when it is safe to attack, or when you will be punished if you are too reckless. This is the hardest technique to learn, because it involves a lot of memorization, but is key to improving.

Unique Movesets

Characters like King have throws that are special to him, while characters like Paul Phoenix have moves that can do high amounts of damage if used well. Understanding each character is important because not everyone can execute the same moves. Learning your characters moveset and properties is very important. Each character has certain weaknesses and strengths, and you will need to learn them all if you want to play well.

Practice with Multiple Characters

Even if you have a main, it is a great idea to at least learn some of the popular characters. If you have played many characters you will gain knowledge on how they play, which will give you an edge when you play against them. You do not have to become an expert, but basic knowledge on how other characters play is an essential part of fighting game strategy.

Adapting to Opponents

The best players aren’t rigid. They can adapt to whatever their opponent is doing.

Recognizing Patterns

As you fight, observe what your opponent likes to do. Do they keep using the same moves over and over? Once you learn that, you can adjust your gameplay. If they like to do a low attack, start blocking low more often. If they keep throwing you, start doing more mix-ups to discourage them. Sometimes you will have to change your strategy from round to round based on what they are doing. If they are adapting too, that just makes the game even more exciting and fun.

Changing Your Own Game

If your strategy isn’t working, don’t be afraid to change it up. The ability to adjust your playstyle is a sign of a great player. It might mean doing new mix-ups, doing a specific string of attacks, or trying some new mind games. Being able to adapt mid fight can often make the difference between winning and losing, so make sure that you are not predictable.

Mental Fortitude

Tekken can be mentally challenging. Don’t get discouraged when you lose. Learn from each match, try to understand why you lost, and see if there is anything you can improve on. Good players stay calm and focused even when the pressure is on. Staying calm will give you a much better understanding of what is going on, and it will make the game much more enjoyable.

Applying advanced techniques in Tekken 9 isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. It takes time, effort, and patience. You will not get good overnight, it might take months or even years to get to a high level. But with the right mindset and by consistently practicing, you can improve your skills and enjoy the game even more. Don’t be afraid to try new things, fail, and learn from each game, that is the only way to get better. Keep fighting, keep learning, and most of all, keep having fun!