TEKKEN 8 gets big battle updates in Season 2 – Zafina rework, axis calibration

The TEKKEN TALK LIVE gave us a preview of what we can expect in Season 2 of TEKKEN 8, particularly in the battle and Heat System. Some big changes are incoming, so make sure you read through all of them before the update goes live.

TEKKEN 8 Season 2 goes live on April 1, 2025. This update also includes the new character, Anna Williams.

There's a new Practice Stage that will be added so you have more space to practice your combos. The stage is quite big and you can freely swap between stages during Practice Fights.

Practicing also becomes more customizable as you can select Punishment Settings and Action After Ukemi to get you in those situations more easily. For the former, you can choose freely within the opponent's move list. The Action After Ukemi choices include various dashes, jumps, and crouches.

The Ki Charge is changing! The next hit after a Ki Charge will no longer be a counter, but the damage of this has been increased.

Attacks in Season 1 had a chance of whiffing when a character stepped out of axis. In the TEKKEN TALK LIVE, they made a point that this happened a lot with Jun and Lidia. With the TEKKEN 8 Season 2 changes, the character will now recalibrate to add consistency to your hits and help you land your combos. This can be turned off in the settings "This was done to make the game more user-friendly," says Kohei "Nakatsu" Ikeda, TEKKEN 8 game director. However, if your character is heavily off-axis, the recalibration will not happen and will keep its previous interactions.

The version number will also be shown above the timer during battles. This can also be turned off in the settings.

Power Crush and a Heat Engager in one move has been removed from the game and it will only remain as a Power Crush. This change applies to all characters who had it. All characters will also now take recoverable damage upon escaping a Throw.

According to the team, the following characters changed the most.

Azucena

Making Libertador stronger is the main theme of her changes. She now has more options to transition into it and she's getting new mid and low attacks. Don't worry, it's quite slow, but it's punishing if you don't get to interrupt it.

Devil Jin

Devil Jin is getting a new combo and new attacks. Particularly, his fly from f+3 can now transition to an unblockable high attack that you can weave into your combos or close the gap quickly.

He's also getting a bit of a buff while in the Heat State. During Heat, he has a new option after Hell Sweep that flows into a combo.

Jun

Jun is getting an easier way to open enemies while in the Heat State. Her old Heat Smash is now just a move she has access to during Heat and will use the timer instead. She has a counter next to the timer that gives her access to a powerful technique.

When the counter reaches max, the icon will glow and give you access to three strong moves. This is a separate mechanic from Heat.

Zafina

According to the team, Zafina changed the most out of the entire roster. Her rework focuses on Azazel's power that she can use in new ways. She has new moves that have quite a long reach but eats at her own HP bar. Some of her punches also had their ranges extended. The frames and startups of some of her other moves have been tweaked to be less punishable.

Her move list has a lot of new options! Be sure to check them out when TEKKEN 8 Season 2 and its big battle changes go live on April 1, 2025.

King

King's stance is getting nerfed. It's now 10 frames longer and the damage reduction has been removed. To make up for it, he's getting a new attack. He will glow after Jaguar Sprinting for a while, giving him access to enhanced moves. Being in the Heat State removes the Sprint duration prerequisite to this and his moves will always be enhanced.

During Heat, his throws will be homing. While these changes mix up King gameplay, he also gives a more "pro wrestling"-like experience now with the various choices he has after throwing an opponent onto a wall.

Yoshimitsu

He was nerfed in two major areas: less damage and less health recovery when using the sword. He also has longer recovery frames on the Flash.

He's getting more options and transitions, but they're all punishable. Combined with the reduced healing, he should be a less frustrating opponent to play against.

Jin

A lot of Jin's pokes have been toned down to reduce his power. This came in the form of longer recoveries, which also took out some of his strings. He is getting some new moves though, including from Zanshin.

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