The Tekken 8 ranking system system is your key to a very exciting world; taking fighting games a lot more seriously than most. How exactly do the Tekken 8 ranks work though?
Every game has its quirks and eccentricities in its ranking system. Understanding them is important for rising up the ranks and proving your worth as a Tekken player. What makes the Tekken 8 Ranking system different?
How does the Tekken 8 ranked system work?
In the Tekken 8 ranks, players are divided into different tiers depending on their results. Winning against higher-ranked players nets you more ranked points. Losing against a lower ranked one similar loses more. To get into each rank, you need to reach a points threshold. For example, going for Garyu to Shinyru requires 10,000 points.
The match that will tip you over that threshold is a promotion match. Whereas demotion matches are those that could lose you a rank. To protect against smurfing, the system does award more points to players that post long winning streaks, in order to move them up the ranks faster.
What are the Tekken 8 ranks?
There are 38 distinct rank badges in Tekken 8, starting from Beginner and ending with God of Destruction ∞ (“infinity”).
Each rank has its own name or title, and each one is also called “X dan” — where X is the rank’s number after Beginner which starts at zero. For example, the Fighter rank, being the third rank after Beginner, is also known as “4 dan”. For those that don’t practice Japanese martial arts like karate or judo, the dan system indicates a black belt holder’s rank among other black belt holders. Tekken is a fighting game franchise based mostly on real world martial arts, including upcoming Miary Zo so it’s a nice connection.
The Tekken community at large tends to divide each set of ranks by their colors. For instance, Warrrior, Assailant, and Dominator are the yellow ranks. Each of the Tekken 8 Ranks within a given division tends to be the same, but less so the the higher up you go.
List of Ranks and Divisions
- Silver: 1st dan, 2nd dan
- Turquoise: Fighter, Strategist, Combatant
- Green: Brawler, Ranger, Cavalry
- Yellow: Warrior, Assailant, Dominator
- Orange: Vanquisher, Destroyer, Eliminator
- Red: Garyu, Shinryu, Tenryu
- Purple: Mighty Ruler, Flame Ruler, Battle Ruler
- Blue: Fujin, Raijin, Kishin, Bushin
- Gold: Tekken King, Tekken Emperor, Tekken God, Tekken God Supreme
- God of Destruction: God of Destruction, God of Destruction I through VII, then ∞
What Should You Expect in Each Division?
Each division in Tekken 8 ranking system has its own quirks. Obviously, lower ranked players tend to make more mistakes or use more unsafe moves or strings than those in higher ranks, but what is it really that you should be doing at each division in order to succeed?
Silver to Green
The very base ranks. Tekken 8 does not deduct ranked points for losses in these four divisions, and so this range is like the “training area” for new players and those that take the game very casually. Expect that most players in these divisions will throw out extremely unsafe strings all the time, and to not know how to do juggle combos for the most part.
Fundamentals like Tekken 8 movement, blocking low when necessary, and most importantly, punishing unsafe moves — are far, far more important. They will net you much more success than just grinding out combos all day.
All you really have to do in these ranks is to be patient, and block punish everything that is thrown your way.
Yellow to Red
Players in these Tekken 8 ranks will know a few bread-and-butter combos, but will still be lacking in the fundamentals department. A lot of players here will throw out “scrub killer” moves and strings, and will rely on unsafe setups that lead to big damage if you’re not careful.
To survive the yellow to red ranks, you’ll need to start learning how to deal with such knowledge checks. If there’s something in particular you find difficult to counter, watch your replays and use the replay takeover feature. This is bar none the most powerful tool in the entire game when it comes to figuring out the counterplay to certain moves and strings.
Oh, and know your frame data! Knowing when it’s your turn or not is vital to getting better not just at Tekken 8, but fighting games in general.
Purple to Blue
Players in the purple and blue divisions visibly know what they’re doing for the most part, and you can expect to get punished pretty heavily in these ranks if you try to just brute force your way through your opponents. Lateral movement in the form of sidestepping and sidewalking become more commonplace starting here, so you’d do well to learn how to evade linear moves and strings if you want to do well in this part of the Tekken 8 ranking system.
Breaking throws is going to be crucial in these ranks. King players in particular will absolutely destroy you if they realize you don’t know how to break throws, especially the chain throws which can deal extremely high amounts of damage over several seconds. Thankfully, there is a throw break training function in practice mode now.
Most of the community will call blue ranks in particular the equivalent of Elo hell. Opponents will still throw knowledge checks at you in blue ranks, and Tekken 8’s aggressive gameplay design doesn’t help in this regard.
If you can keep yourself together long enough to get past Bushin, you can pat yourself on the back. Beyond this point is where Tekken really gets good.
Gold onwards
The very best fighting game players call gold Tekken 8 ranks home. The play here is as optimal as it gets, with very little room for gimmicks unless your character is designed around that kind of gameplay.
And if you do make it all the way to God of Destruction, consider entering your local tournaments! You might even want to try your hand at the Tekken World Tour, if you fancy testing yourself against international competition.
