Tekken 8: How to Break King’s Throws

Tekken 8 and the rest of the franchise are infamous for being some of the most complex fighting games out there — and the presence of King and his extremely layered throws certainly don’t help the series veer away from this reputation. Because his fighting style is based directly on professional wrestling, you can definitely expect King to have an unparalleled throw game, and this is still true in the latest game in the franchise.

Breaking throws is already hard enough on its own, but King just takes it to a whole ‘nother level. He has what feels like at least 20 different throws, all with different throw break inputs. To make matters worse, he also has the longest chain throws in the game, which will destroy you for free if you don’t know how to get out.

If this human jaguar thing has you twisted up in knots, we’re here to help. The following is a guide on King’s most useful throws and chain throws, and how to escape each one accordingly.

Command Throws

This section pertains to single command throws, which must be broken with specific inputs. Chain throws will not be included in this section, as they will have their own dedicated section later.

Shining Wizard (1+2 break)

First on the list is Shining Wizard (known as Tomahawk in the command list), which King can do from a running stance. If successful, he grabs your head and kicks it hard with his left foot.

This is a simple 1+2 break, so if you see King running towards you, prepare for a Shining Wizard. However, there exists a technique called “instant Shining Wizard”, which involves inputting f,f,f+2+4 at point blank range as quickly as possible. Done correctly, King players can use Shining Wizard on you even from up close, so you’ll have to be alert still.

Giant Swing (1 break)

Giant Swing is perhaps King’s most dangerous command throw. It deals a ton of damage if King manages to throw you onto a nearby wall with it, so it’s especially deadly when you’re cornered. Worse still, it has a very deceptive throw animation, looking like a 1+2 break since King uses both his arms to grapple you when he does Giant Swing. But in reality, it’s actually a 1 break, so you basically have to guess here. And as if all of that weren’t enough, this throw is easily buffered behind some of his pokes.

If he uses Giant Swing on you away from a wall, though, there’s a way to soften the blow when you land. Simply spam 1 while he’s swinging you around, and you’ll automatically tech roll upon landing. This greatly reduces the damage you take from the throw, and there’s pretty much no reason not to do it.

Tijuana Twister (2 break)

King players tend to use the Tijuana Twister as their mixup option for Giant Swing, since it uses the same directional input and can therefore be buffered behind certain moves.

Unlike Giant Swing, though, this doesn’t cheat the system with a deceptive animation, so you can escape this just as a regular 2 break.

Executioner Drop (1+2 break)

If the King player notices that you’re always going for the 1 break against Giant Swing when you’re cornered, they can mix things up with the Executioner Drop. This throw wall splats you if successful, so it’s also quite threatening at the wall. And since this is a 1+2 break, you have to guess between Giant Swing and Executioner Drop as a result.

Remember that you can crouch against either option and launch King for attempting to throw you at the wall, but this is only really useful if they’re that predictable. Otherwise, you will probably get launched yourself and eat a full wall combo, so try to break the incoming throw as much as possible.

Tombstone Piledriver (2 break)

This is a highly damaging throw that doesn’t necessarily come from a mixup situation, but is strong enough for King players to consider in any situation.

It’s just a normal 2 break, though, so just look at King’s right arm to tell.

Chain Throws

Chain throws are what truly make King infamous among new players. These are throws that require multiple specific inputs to pull off, and can deal huge sums of damage if you allow King to complete the entire chain. Fortunately, there are only a few of these that you need to worry about, and there’s pretty much a way to escape each chain every step of the way.

Nearly all of King’s chain throws start from a crouch dash motion (f,n,d,d/f), so if you see this happening, you can crouch to avoid the throw altogether and get an opportunity to launch him. But again, King can mix it up with mid launchers like his hopkick, so don’t rely on this too much. Instead, you’ll want to learn how to break chain throws as they happen.

Note that you can hold the break input in anticipation of the next link in the chain. This is actually more reliable than spamming the input, so you can relax and hold the button down instead.

Rolling Death Cradle (1+2 break at first, then 2 break as a last chance)

Components:

• Arm Breaker (1 break)
• Chicken Wing Face Lock (1+2 break)
• Rolling Death Cradle (2 break)

The Rolling Death Cradle (RDC) is one of King’s most damaging chain throws. It deals a whopping 100 damage in total, which is more than half of every character’s total health in Tekken 8. This chain throw only has three steps including the initial grab, so you only have two chances to break out of it if the first part lands.

To recognize that the RDC chain might be in order, look out for King grabbing your left arm and subsequently bending it on his shoulder. If he goes behind you after this to choke you out, this is now the Chicken Wing Face Lock, which you can escape with a 1+2 break. Failing this, you can still avoid the rest by holding 2, which will help you avoid the RDC itself.

Good King players will, however, recognize that you know the proper break input for Rolling Death Cradle, and mix you up with Dragon Sleeper Finish in the third part of this chain. This is a 1 break instead of a 2 break, but deals far less damage at 65 total. So, it might be an acceptable trade to just eat the Dragon Sleeper Finish in order to make sure you don’t get caught in the RDC.

King’s Bridge (1+2 break)

Components:

• Standing Heel Hold (2 break)
• Indian Death Lock (1+2 break)
• King’s Bridge (inescapable)

If you see King grab you by the leg and drag you by your back after a crouch dash, the King’s Bridge chain throw is afoot.

This deals damage that’s close to the Rolling Death Cradle at 95 total, but has one glaring weakness: the entirety of the chain can be broken with a simple 1+2 input. Once King starts breaking your leg, just hold 1+2 to instantly break out of the second link.

Screwdriver

Components:

• Cobra Clutch (1 or 2 break)
• Cobra Twist (inescapable)
• Reverse DDT (1 or 2 break)
• Reverse Special Stretch Bomb (1 or 2 break)
• Backdrop (inescapable)
• Burning Hammer (1 or 2 break)
• Screwdriver (1 or 2 break)

This chain throw is King’s most damaging, bar none. It does 116 damage in total, leaving you closer to death than even the Rolling Death Cradle. You’ll want to avoid getting hit by the entirety of this chain throw for sure.

Thankfully, it’s really easy to get out of this one. When you see King do a Jaguar Step towards you (a 360-degree forward spin) and go for a throw, you’ll know you’re in the Screwdriver chain. If you fail to break the initial throw, which is either a 1 or 2 break, you can just hold 1 to stop the chain short at the Reverse DDT. This will result in a mere 32 damage in total, which is less than what King players expect to get as a reward for landing most of his command throws.

Ground Throws

King can also throw you when you lie on the ground, such as with Shoulder Cracker (d/b+1+3 or d/b+2+4) or Head Bomber (D/B+1+3 or D/B+2+4). These can also be broken like most other throws, but the throw break input changes depending on whether the King player presses 1+3 or 2+4 — so it’s a guessing game either way.

The best way to deal with these is to just get up. Don’t mess with it, just get off the ground when you can. It’s not worth trying to guess which input King is going for in the case of ground throws, so it’s much better to just stand up right away. King doesn’t really have any threatening mid/low mixups as soon as you stand like, say, Kazuya, so getting up immediately poses not much risk to you.