Summary
Lows arean incredibly important part of theTekkenseries, they always have been. And, considering how muchTekken 8incentivizes its players to go for an aggressive playstyle, knowing which characters have great lows is even more important.
InTekken,just by neutral blocking(or holding back) players will automatically block just about all high and mid hits, but they won’t block lows. So, lows are used as a way of opening an opponent up or ‘mixing them up’ with lows interspersed between mids and highs. Every single one of the 32 fighters inTekken 8’sbase roster has lows, but some are a lot more useful than others, so let’s go over the characters with the best examples.
8Azucena
The Coffee Queen Will Kick You Off Your Feet
First up isone of the newcomers inTekken 8, Azucena. Azucena has great tools in general since she has an auto-dodge stance for highs and lows as well as a whole bunch of moves with plus frames (AKA moves that, when blocked, still allow her to usually keep attacking without giving her opponent a chance to respond).
But, as far as lows go, she has a lot of great options. Her db3 and db4 in particular are the easiest ones to access, but those are far from all of the lows she has. And, the minute she uses one of these lows to make an opponent guess what’s coming next, thats exactly when she’ll start an attack string that never seems to end.
7Raven
It Does Make Sense, Given His Fighting Style
Next up is Raven, probably one of the characters that are the absolutely furthest from Azucena in terms of learning difficulty. Raven has a lot of mechanics going on and a couple of Stances as well, making him a pretty difficult character to recommend as ‘beginner-friendly’.
However, as far as his lows are concerned, Raven’s lows almost universally have good reach and come out decently fast. His db4 is probably the oneTekken 8players are most familiar with, and it’s also probably his slowest example. Raven is also an interesting character due to the sheer amount of amazing attacks he has while back turned such as his d3, which is also a low.
6Any Mishima-Style Martial Arts Character
Jin, Kazuya, Heihachi, & Even Reina
Next up is an entry that includes multiple fights,namely any Mishima (that includes Jin), as well as any character who you could argue has a ‘Hell Sweep’. To elaborate, a Hell Sweep is a term used by theTekkencommunity that describes a move called the Spinning Demon that can be found easily in Jin Kazama’s, Kazuya Mishima’s, and Heihaci Mishima’s movesets.
And,even the ‘new’ Mishimathat is Reina also has a Hell Sweep. Now the amount of spins the character will do or their follow-ups after said Hell Sweep differs from character to character, but these moves are almost all universally amazing lows that not only open the opponent up but almost always give the player a free follow-up after the sweep.
5Ling Xiaoyu
Phoenix Stance Is An Absolute Menace Of A Stance
Next up is Ling Xiaoyu, a character who is almost always following Jin in whateverTekkenstory mode and who has another fighter, Panda, always following her. Ling Xiaoyu can be an absolute menace of a fighter to deal with, and one of the main reasons for that is her Phoenix Stance where she crouches down low with her arms high up behind her.
While in this Stance it can be incredibly difficult for unfamiliar players to figure out what Xiaoyu is doing next and where said attack will hit them. She has a handful of very useful lows while in this Stance and even has some other great lows that can be used outside of it. In general, Xiaoyu is both a mix-up monster and an attack-string monster that, in the right hands, will keep the pressure on with attacks that almost assuredly keep you guessing.
4Leo Kliesen
His Baji Quan Fighting Style Will Break Your Ankles
Leo is actually very similar to Xiaoyu when it comes to his play style. The characters use two very different styles of Martial Arts, but both of them heavily rely on mix-ups to keep their opponent on their toes struggling to tell what attack is coming next. His f4 into 4 is one of the quickest and easiest low mix-ups players have at their disposal, and it’s far from their only option.
In particular, the Stance he enters after using a f4 AKA his Jin Ji Du Li stance has a whole range of low options that players can sprinkle into the attack string basically whenever they want. There’s nothing scarier than a Leo who knows what they’re doing and is facing an overly defensive opponent, as it’ll feel like Leo just never gives them a moment to breathe let alone counterattack.
3Alisa Bosconovitch
Has A Lot Of Thruster-Enhanced Low Options
Alisa, as an android, understandably has a lot of tools at her disposal. She has wing-like jets on her back to propel her forward, she has chainsaws in her arms, and she can ever use her own head as a projectile. As far as lows are concerned she actually has a pretty incredible amount of amazing lows. With her chainsaws out she can use a simple d2 to cut at her opponent’s ankles, she has her d3 to do that sliding approaching low, and she of course has her full-body spin-kick low with d3+4.
In general, Alisa is just a fantastic character for applying pressure, and with her wide range of attack options, she can almost always keep her opponent feeling like they’re forced to stay blocking or otherwise they’ll face her wrath.
2Feng Wei
Master of the ‘God Fist’ Martial Arts
Feng is up next and he’s another character in the same class as Leo and Xiaoyu who absolutely forces his opponents to guess where exactly his long string of attacks is going to hit next. In particular, some fantastic low options for Feng are his sidestep + 4, his Peacock Sweep, Tornado Sweep, his b3+4 Stance into 2, and especially his Hellwinds attack.
Overall Feng Wei isabsolutely not an easy character to learn, but once you put some time into him he hassome of the best low options inTekken 8.
1Zafina
Scarecrow, Tarantula, & Mantis Stances Alongside New Azazel Moves
Last up is Zafina, a character who at a glance looks normal but as soon as you see her using any one of her Stances you’ll realize how ‘unique’ she is. Zafina has a whole lot going on and, like Feng, is not a beginner-friendly character. However, she absolutely has a lot of tools to punish you for standing still at all much like Claudio also does.
She’s one of the characters inTekken 8that doesn’t seem to be all that popular so far, but once people find out about her Stances and her low options, she’s absolutely going to have more diehard fans.
