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All you need to know to help you rank up in Tekken 8
Ranked play in Tekken 8 is intimidating at the best of times, but our guide will make reaching the mountain summit just that little bit easier.
If you want to challenge yourself and take your fighting skills to the next level in the King of Iron Fist tournament, you're going to need to know how to rank up in Tekken 8. All fighting games handle online ranked modes differently, but Tekken 8 adopts a complex points system that sometimes sees you punished for losing to players with a higher skill level.
Ranking up in Tekken 8 ultimately comes down to winning your matches and trying to create a positive win/loss ratio on your journey up the leaderboard. This is because when you reach the higher ranks, losses will actually cost you more points than you can earn back with a win. You can also be demoted, so you need to create considerable momentum to rank up consistently and reach Tekken God of Destruction status.
01
Understanding the Tekken 8 ranking system
A complex beast that can be tricky to understand, the Tekken 8 ranking system is all about maintaining a strong win/loss record while climbing up the 30 unique ranks.
The importance of win/loss ratio
The harsh reality of ranking up in Tekken 8 is that winning matches is all that matters. Close losses won't result in fewer ranking points being lost and winning emphatically won't grant you more points. It's a strict system, but one that's proven to work for the franchise.
Steve lays down a brutal punishment to Marshall Law
© Steam
This means as you progress through the ranks, your win/loss ratio becomes all the more important. It's easy to become hyper-focused on this number and allow it to impact how you play, but try not to think about it too much until you get to the higher ranks, where more points can be lost with each game.
Fortunately, the loss of ranking points doesn't kick-in until you've at least reached the rank of Warrior, the 10th rank of 30. You can never drop below this rank once you reach it, so even if you do go on the mother of all bad runs, you can't be rank reset entirely and it's just a case of starting fresh and working your way back up the ladder.
One player has worked out that the maintenance win rate is required at all levels, which gives some insight into how successful you need to be at each rank. If you're worried about win rates, rest easy knowing that the maintenance win rate for Tekken God Supreme, the second-highest rank in the game, is 54 percent.
Points system, promotions and demotions
Tekken 8 works slightly differently from previous games in the series in that there are fewer ranks that you'll need to progress through. The balancing act means each rank can take a little longer to progress through, but that ultimately comes down to your skill level.
For each win, you'll earn points and once you hit certain point thresholds enter promotion matches to progress to the next rank. As an example, the first three ranks in Tekken 8 are Beginner, 1st Dan and 2nd Dan. Beginner is the only rank in the Brown division and you need 400 points to move up to 1st Dan, which is in the Silver division. Here's a breakdown of all Tekken 8 ranks:
Rank
Division
Points Required
Beginner
Brown
0
1st Dan
Silver
400
2nd Dan
Silver
1,000
Fighter
Turquoise
1,600
Strategist
Turquoise
2,600
Combatant
Turquoise
3,400
Brawler
Green
4,200
Ranger
Green
5,400
Cavalry
Green
6,400
Warrior
Yellow
7,400
Assailant
Yellow
9,200
Dominator
Yellow
10,800
Vanquisher
Orange
12,400
Destroyer
Orange
14,700
Eliminator
Orange
16,600
Garyu
Red
18,500
Shinryu
Red
23,100
Tenryu
Red
27,300
Mighty Ruler
Ruler
31,500
Flame Ruler
Ruler
36,500
Battle Ruler
Ruler
41,100
Fujin
Blue
45,700
Raijin
Blue
52,300
Kishin
Blue
58,500
Bushin
Blue
64,700
Tekken King
Gold (Purple)
70,900
Tekken Emperor
Gold (Purple)
79,100
Tekken God
Gold
87,900
Tekken God Supreme
Gold
97,300
God of Destruction
Gold
109.700
The one advantage of the Tekken 8 ranking system is that when you're on the precipice of ranking up, the game lets you know and places you in a Promotion Match. This is a must-win match that will determine whether you're promoted to the next rank or stay in your current one. Once you reach the Orange division, you'll also be awarded points alongside your promotion that act as a buffer to prevent quick demotions.
Promoted To
Points Awarded
Orange
800
Red/ Ruler
1,400
Blue/ Tekken King/ Tekken Emperor
1,600
Tekken God/ Tekken God Supreme
2,000
God of Destruction
2,520
A demotion happens when you lose too many ranking points and fall in a lower ranking. You can't fall any lower than Warrior rank, which is the 10th of 30 total ranks. If this happens, the Tekken 8 matchmaking system still places you in appropriately balanced matches, either against those who are in the same rank or players who've demonstrated a similar skill level. In theory, you should only ever come into contact with players who are within two ranks of your current rank, but this is sometimes greater based on Tekken Prowess – a system that judges you based on how many characters you've ranked up.
Losing a rank can be difficult, but it's a natural part of playing Tekken 8 online, given how punishing the system can be with the amount of points you lose at higher ranks. Playing at the Yellow ranks, you can earn up to 390 points if your opponent is three ranks higher than you, whereas you lose 150 points if they beat you. On the other end of the scale, you'll win 70 points if your opponent is three ranks lower than you, while you'll only lose 50 points if they beat you.
What it boils down to is that there's no incentive to play or beat players who are a higher rank, because the points awarded are only marginally better than facing those of the same rank, while there's no major punishment if you lose to players ranked below you.
The system is unfortunately lacking in common sense as opposed to an ELO alternative, which simply awards points based on a straight win/ loss situation, and only aims to match you against those of a similar ranking. ELO systems also wouldn't punish you as harshly should you lose to those who, according to the system, are much better at the game, but would if you lost to someone worse than you.
02
Finding your main character
With over 30 fighters, finding your favourite will take some time
© Steam
Finding your favorite fighter and mastering their move set is a long and arduous journey, but it all pays off when you can confidently step into any ranked match knowing their inputs like the back of your hand.
Tips for choosing a character
First and foremost, your Tekken 8 main character should be someone you find fun to play. There's no use picking a character based on anything else, like who the pros are picking, because your motivation will drain twice as fast if you start losing games and you'll be far more likely to want to switch and have to start from scratch.
There's also no shame in switching characters if your first choice doesn’t quite click. Ideally, you'd aim to become proficient with up to five characters, as they all rank up individually. It also gives you some variety and the option to switch around if things get stale or you find yourself on a losing streak. In order to maintain some balance, once you reach certain rank milestones all characters have their rank raised to a certain level, provided you haven't already been demoted with them.
Because Tekken 8 doesn't place a huge emphasis on hidden character stats or a rock, paper, scissors style strength and weakness system, any character you pick can take you all the way to the top so long as you take the time to learn how to use them.
The role of practise mode
Learning how to dominate with your chosen fighters is where practise mode comes into play. You can easily spend hours learning the finest details of your fighter's moveset, all the way down to the frame advantage of each combo.
This level of detail is needed once you get to the higher ranks of Tekken 8, but you need to break down your journey into much smaller and easier-to-digest steps. As you make your way to the Warrior rank, which has already been established as the safest part of the journey – where ranking points can't be lost – you should focus just on learning your fighter’s moves and being able to pull off key combos without needing a reference for the inputs.
Once you move past Warrior rank, this is where fights are won and lost, thanks to the microdetails, and you can start expanding your understanding by looking at the frames in each combo and how to plan out a fight based on your most effective and disruptive moves.
Practice mode allows you to go to war with a target that won't fight back, initially, but as you progress and want to learn more advanced techniques, you'll need the bot to start giving you something back. You can load certain moves and combos into your opponent to learn how to avoid or punish them. The sheer volume of data available in practice mode can seem intimidating at first, but as you slowly understand what each number on the screen means, your understanding of Tekken 8 also gets much better.
03
Mastering the basics
Repetition is key to learning how to master characters in Tekken 8
© Steam
Everyone has to start somewhere and while dipping your toes into practice mode is a must, you'll eventually come to rely on it as a tool to help you unlock your opponent's defense.
Learning combos and punishments
Combos are key to winning matches if you can find an opening. After all, the last thing you want is to only get one or two pitiful hits in before your opponent recovers. Practice mode is once again another great way to learn combos against a static target and you can then challenge yourself gradually against CPU players, and then casual online play, before taking it into ranked play.
As for punishments, this is a bit trickier as you start getting into frame data, the concept that every move in Tekken 8 has a small window of time where your goal is to pull off a move with a lower frame count, thereby punishing your opponent. If you're familiar with combo breakers in other fighting games, this mechanic is similar, but allows you to get some return damage off as well, rather than just disrupting your opponent's flow.
There's full punishment training available in practice mode, which will teach you exactly how to pull off punishments in a variety of situations. Characters also have specific punishments that are exclusive to them and each punishment ranges in its frame count, meaning you could still technically attempt a punishment and get it all wrong, but it's a risk-reward feature because if you pull off a punishment with a higher frame count, it will do more damage.
Understanding character matchups
While you won't need to be an expert with every Tekken 8 character it's important to understand how they operate. Paying close attention to the move sets will give you a good idea of how your chosen character stacks up against various opponents.
Tekken 8 doesn't place a huge emphasis on character selection, meaning there aren't many obvious counter matchups to identify. However, if you find yourself struggling against specific fighters, it's worth identifying the cause of these headaches and being more aware of the issue in future matches.
This is, once again, where practice mode comes in because you can go head-to-head with a character you're struggling against and have them hit you with whatever move you like in an attempt to learn how to deal with it. You may discover that you've been trying to punish a move with an incredibly low frame advantage, meaning you're better off not engaging at all and instead should be blocking or avoiding the attack entirely. These fine details are not what the average Tekken 8 player considers, but are the difference between wins and losses as you rank up.
Following this guide should help you avoid taking such heavy hits
© Steam
04
Additional Tekken 8 tips
For some final tips, let's look at the mindset required to play a fighting game at a competitive level and the sneaky tactics used by some players to halt your momentum.
The importance of mindset
Fighting games are, without a doubt, one of the hardest games to excel at given the extremely specific skills you need to develop. Twitch responses and impeccable timing can't be taught quickly, meaning there are about to be moments when it seems easier to give up rather than continue to grind.
In these moments, there's only one thing to do – step away from the game. Taking a break is a healthy way to deal with what's most likely bad form brought on by fatigue and perhaps even pressure that you’re unknowingly putting on yourself to play well. It's encouraged to take breaks when playing anyway, but doing so when in a slump is paramount.
Dealing with smurfs and skill mismatches
You won't always be put into matches with people in your exact skill bracket, you may come up against much better players who are struggling and have been demoted. There's also a risk of being matched up against ‘smurfs’. These are highly skilled players who intentionally lose matches and drop ranks to find easier opponents or create fresh accounts to start from a lower rank and 'stomp' their way to the top.
All you can do is approach each match in the exact same way and don't become too discouraged if it takes a while to start racking up your wins. It's a seemingly impossible grind, but as with any fighting game, if you put the time and effort into ranking up, you'll eventually start to see results and it will feel incredibly satisfying.
