All Season 2 Changes In Tekken 8

After its massively successful launch, Tekken 8 received its first substantial update on March 31, 2025. This was season 2 – promising more characters, stages, buffs, and nerfs. While Anna Williams’ inclusion was positively received, many playstyle changes were met with mixed reactions.

Apart from minor patches to Paul and Jack-8’s playstyle, Bandai Namco has made it clear that aggressive play is the way forward for Tekken. So if you’re scrolling through the myriad discussions on the season’s buffs and nerfs, you’ll probably miss out on other vital info surrounding the patch. Here are the most important things you need to know.

10

Replay Data

Season 2 represents something of a fresh start for Tekken 8. Apart from your own saved replays, all replay data from season 1 is gone. This includes both downloaded and online replays.

The self-explanatory reasoning here is that the Season 2 overhauls render any data studied from Season 1 outdated. If you wanted to rewatch any matches because of the funny costumes your opponents had, however, that’s just too bad – they’re gone.

9

Time-Limited Content

Tekken 8’s Fight Pass has been updated, and it continues to introduce time-limited content. This includes character panels, avatar skins, and special deals on some permanent items.

Unfortunately, once these time-limited items are gone, they’re gone forever. So, if you want to grab the character panels, you should move on to Tekken Fight Lounge and fight the special ghosts in there. Five ghosts are in each update, and beating each will unlock a new panel of lovingly rendered fan art.

8

Rank Reset

If you boot up Tekken 8 and notice you’re at a lower rank than you used to be, don’t panic. It’s simply part of the rank reset, where your new rank is determined based on the highest rank you achieved in season 1.

There are also ranks above God of Destruction, previously the crowning achievement of a Tekken fan. Now, the rank is split into sub-rankings running from one through seven, followed by a peak ranking: God of Destruction Ouroboros, represented by an infinity symbol.

7

Point Calculation

The point system for Ranked Match has been overhauled as well. Here’s what you need to know:

• Beating opponents of a higher rank nets you extra points while losing to lower-ranked opponents causes you a bigger point loss.
• Bonus points are awarded only the first time you reach a new highest rank, so you can’t count on getting demoted and then promoted again to boost your progress.
• You will no longer lose extra points after three consecutive losses.
• Win streaks net you bonus points only up till the Tenryu rank and only after three victories in a row.

6

Pop-In Play-By-Plays

Part of Tekken’s appeal at the start of the series’ life was its simplicity, but over the years, the game has become more and more complex. Tekken 8 is the most competitively-oriented game yet, with season 2 making an adjustment for commentators.

In previous iterations of Tekken, including season 1 of Tekken 8, play-by-play information such as combo counters, clean hits, and punishes were restricted to practice mode. This is no longer the case: it now appears in Quick Match, Ranked Match, and Versus mode. This will allow you to gain knowledge of your opponents on the fly and also provide information for spectators and commentators.

If you find the play-by-play information distracting, you can switch it off in Screen Settings in Options mode under In-Battle Status Settings.

5

Practice Mode Got Buffed, Too

There is still no infinite stage in Tekken 8, but Bandai Namco did add a special practice stage with a wall distance of 500 metres in season 2. You can find the new stage under Restart Settings; it’s a bit tricky to access. Set your Restart Position to Practice Stage, exit the menu, and then perform the input displayed at the bottom of the screen to switch to the special stage.

This stage isn’t accessible in any of the other modes and is just a playable version of the stage used for move demonstrations. Aside from that, there are a lot more new actions, such as Heat Bursts and sidesteps, that you can assign to the CPU character.

4

V-Sync For Consoles

V-Sync was available on the PC version of Tekken 8 in season 1, but it’s only with the season 2 patch that PS5 and Xbox Series X/S owners can enjoy it too. This effect reduces screen tearing and can be found in the Graphics Settings.

If you feel that the game’s sophisticated graphics are causing input delays, we advise keeping V-Sync off. Though there will be minor screen tearing, the overall performance in terms of control will be better.

3

Chip Damage For Broken Throws

Chip damage, also known as guard damage, has been a minor aspect of Tekken since the third entry, though it could be toggled on and off. It discourages fighters from simply standing in place and guarding with no risks – though it won’t knock you back, it’ll still take some of your health off. Tekken 8 made chip damage an integral part of the game, allowing you to recover a certain portion of chip damage you took so long as you didn’t get caught in another combo.

In Season 1, throws had nothing to do with how chip damage was dealt, as they followed the rules set in previous titles. In a bid to incentivize throws, which were increasingly being ignored in competitive play, Bandai Namco has now introduced a chip damage aspect to throws. In essence:

• Broken throws will now deal 5 points of chip damage to your opponent.
• If you attempt a throw that gets broken, you will recover 1 point of chip damage.

Bear in mind that whiffed throws will still open you up to attacks from your opponent, so you’ll have to decide on the fly whether you want to risk the long setup throws have.

2

New Moves, Characters, And Stages

The Season 2 pass allows you to get four new characters and two new stages. Anna Williams is the first confirmed entrant. Two characters will be returning from previous Tekken titles, while one will be an entirely new fighter.

Season 2 also gives many characters new moves and changes the inputs and effects for some existing ones. Two moves prompted Bandai Namco to promise an emergency patch:

1. Paul’s Hammer of the Gods results in a guaranteed follow-up on block.
2. Jack-8’s Make Some Noise has a third hit that cannot be interrupted.

You can view the inputs for new moves at any time in offline play by pausing the game and selecting Move List.

1

Buffs Galore

Tekken 8’s second season moves the entire game in a more aggressive direction. Nearly every character has received substantial buffs, and general moves have been made more effective, too. Here’s a rundown:

• Homing attacks, including throws, are now more likely to hit – even if your opponent is sidestepping.
• Execution windows are now looser for many moves.
• Heat Engagers now have less knockback distance and damage, but attacks performed in a Heat state are more powerful.

The buffs make it clear that Tekken 8 is an aggression-oriented fighting game. If you’re looking to achieve God of Destruction Ouroboros, you had better practice your Death Fist.