Tekken 8: Understanding the Rage System

Alongside the newly-introduced Heat System, Tekken 8 has another universal mechanic that has been around since 2007’s Tekken 6, the Rage System.

Every character has access to Rage, but unlike Heat, no character can go into Rage on their own volition. Instead, Rage is locked behind a specific health threshold, which when reached, automatically activates the system. In short, it’s a comeback mechanic. But how do you maximize this part of the game?

How Do You Unlock Rage in Tekken 8?

When your character takes enough damage to go below 47 health, you gain access to Rage without having to input anything. Your character and their health bar will glow red once this happens, and you will hear a special sound effect that tells you that Rage is now on.

Once Rage is activated, your character’s moves all receive a 10 percent damage boost, rounded down. Your character also receives 70 percent less chip damage when blocking moves that deal chip damage during this time.

The Rage activation threshold is the same regardless of whether or not you still have gray health remaining. So, it’s entirely possible for your character to go into Rage by taking enough chip damage. The system does not care whether you have gray health or not; it only cares whether or not you have 47 health or lower, period.

Incidentally, the fact that Rage is automatic at such a low health value incentivizes stopping combos short in order to ensure that your opponent doesn’t gain access to Rage. Doing so delays the damage boost they get out of it, and it’s possible that they might not even get to enjoy its benefits if you can KO them with another combo before they can attack you with Rage on. So you may want to consider playing around the threshold.

What is a Rage Art in Tekken 8?

Aside from the damage boost, Rage grants access to Rage Arts — a set of moves not unlike Super Arts in Street Fighter 6 or other similar super moves across the fighting game genre. When activated, Rage Arts will freeze the game and the round clock, and play a special pre-startup animation that indicates a Rage Art is about to come out.

Unlike traditional supers, though, Rage Arts don’t have invincibility frames on startup. Instead, they have armor that’s one step stronger than the armor you get from a regular Power Crush, which means Rage Arts will blow through everything, including low strikes and throws. The only thing they can’t go through is another Rage Art used beforehand.

The Rage Art that happens first in this case will plow straight through the armor of the second one, so trying to interrupt your opponent’s Rage Art this way is not advisable.

In Tekken 7, Rage Arts were unique to each character, and had their own specific activation inputs and move properties. Some where highs, some were lows, but most of them were mids — and their disadvantage on block varied wildly. Tekken 8 has since streamlined Rage Arts, as they are all now -18 on block (launch punishable), have 20 Tekken frames of startup, and are all activated by inputting d/f+1+2. They are all mids now as well, so there’s no need to think about having to crouch against certain characters’ Rage Arts.

Going back to Rage Arts not having invincibility frames, this means that attacks that deal enough damage to KO your character while their Rage Art is still coming out will indeed kill in such a scenario. Using Rage Arts on wakeup or as a catch-all solution to whatever you think your opponent might do only works if you have enough health to survive armoring through their moves.

You lose access to the Rage state and all its benefits for the rest of the round when you use your Rage Art, whether or not it lands successfully.

Asuka’s Unique Rage Art Gimmick

The only exception to the universal rules of Rage Arts as of August 2024 is Asuka’s Rage Art, which can actually be charged by holding the input. The charge has three levels: no charge, partial charge, and full charge.

No charge is -18 on block as normal, while full charge makes it -13 instead — which makes it launch punishable only by Jin, Devil Jin, Kazuya, Reina, and Heihachi, and even then only if the player can pull off the frame-perfect version of Electric Wind God Fist (f,n,d/f:2 or f,d,d/f:2). The real weakness of the fully charged version is that it is extremely weak to sidewalk left (SWL). If you think your opponent is going for a full charge, you can SWL and avoid it entirely, and get your full launch punish after it whiffs.

The tricky part is when the Asuka player goes for a partial charge. This is -18 on block just like the uncharged version, but is likely to clip you when you start sidewalking left if you predict incorrectly. Thus, the absolute safest thing to do is to just block the Rage Art regardless of what version comes out. If you block a no charge or partial charge Rage Art, you can launch punish Asuka. If you block the fully charged version, you don’t get to launch her, but you do get a small 13-frame punish.

If you also happen to have access to your own Rage Art at the same time, you can blow straight through both the partially charged and the fully charged versions by activating it in response. Your Rage Art will come out first, assuming you react soon enough to the fact that she’s charging hers.

How Much Damage Do Rage Arts Deal?

Rage Arts universally deal 55 base damage, which increases the lower your character’s health is when it lands. This makes characters in Rage very dangerous when cornered, because they can choose to blow past your offense and attempts to close out a round with a well-timed Rage Art and possibly eliminate the life lead you had in the first place.

Not to mention that all Rage Arts in Tekken 8 remove all gray health at the end of their animation, thus making it harder for the recipient to take advantage of health recovery. Approach someone in Rage carefully, or you may just end up biting off more than you can chew. Or worse still, lose the round in an instant because you were too aggressive.

Rage Arts are subject to the same scaling rules on airborne opponents, meaning if you land a Rage Art on, say, a Devil Jin player in the middle of WR3, it will do much less damage than it would have if Devil Jin were standing. And because Rage Arts can be used to end combos, they are also subject to more or less the same scaling rules in juggles.

What is the Best Way to Punish Rage Arts in Tekken 8?

All Rage Arts are -18 on block, except for Asuka’s fully charged Rage Art. For all intents and purposes, they are all launch punishable. If you block a Rage Art, simply use your character’s best launcher closest to 18 frames, so that you get the best possible reward. From there, apply your character’s strongest combo route, or whatever is most consistent for them from the launcher you choose.

The next best thing is to use a command throw. Tekken 8 introduced a new mechanic to blocked Rage Arts that cause throws to become unbreakable during the recovery frames, so punishing your opponent with your hardest-hitting command throw from a standing position is a good option. However, if they managed to recover gray health after first activating Rage, your throw may not KO them outright.