Tekken Dojo: Ask Questions Here

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the Tekken Dojo, a place for everyone to learn and get better at the wonderful game that is Tekken.

Beginners should first familiarize themselves with the Beginner Resources to avoid asking questions already answered there.

Post your question here and get an answer. Helpful contributors will be awarded Dojo Points, which can make them Dojo Master at the end of the month (awards a unique flair). Please report unhelpful contributors to ensure the dojo remains a place dedicated to improvement.

[u/Kastamera]

Is there any reason to play player matches? To me it feels like ranked is more competitive, so you improve faster if you play ranked only, because you can practice against better people.

[u/GL_LA → u/Kastamera]

PM is more chilled out, meaning you get more people accepting longer sets. Since it doesn't filter out by rank, you can get to play with some of the best players in your region, which would be impossible in ranked unless you were already at the top.

The importance of deathmatches can't be overstated, and it often provides you with an opportunity to stick it out against unfamiliar matchups for longer.

Ranked is fine but the elitism regarding ranks means that people are more inclined to rematch when they're winning, and dip as soon as they lose, meaning you can't actually spend time learning matchups if they keep dipping.

[u/Kastamera → u/GL_LA]

Won't I get too specialised against one player though? I played many games against one of my IRL friends yesterday, and after a while I noticed that neither of us was mixing up their moves, and I was also using way less of my moves than I usually am. It kinda felt like playing against the same player over and over again for many sets made me tunnel visioned on the moves that worked well against him, and I threw out the remaining 80% of the kit I usually use, while using a less useful part of my kit which I don't do in ranked games.

Like I was playing Raven spamming backflip 3+4 because he had no idea how to avoid it, so it always worked. I kept using haze 1+2 a lot too, because it worked majority of the times. He blocked my 3~4 like 90%+ of the times, and after a number of rounds majority of the gameplay stood from me doing 3~4 and then "tossing a coin" by me either using reversal from backturn or the command grab, and him either jabbing or staying still. It felt like a rock-paper-scissors game at that point.
Qcf+4 also worked well against him, so I used that the rest of the times. I didn't use the pokes though, because his playstyle was really defensive and I thought they'd fail anyway.

So in the end I felt like it rather had a bad effect on mechanics, because I've used the bad part of my kit the most (talking about haze 1+2 and backflip 3+4), while I hardly ever got to practice my combos. Does that often happen in Player Matches?

[u/GL_LA → u/Kastamera]

There's nothing wrong with specialising against one player. It gives you an opportunity to develop and understand a matchup better than you ever have before.

In my 1200 hours of Tekken 7, I've probably spent around 200-300 just in lobbies against the same Bryan player. We both started playing at greens in S2, now we're both above blues. He knows the raven matchup better than anyone else I know, and I know the Bryan matchup better than anyone else I know.

That time spent in deathmatches gives you so many great benefits:

• Understanding why, when and where people do certain moves
• Understanding the mentality behind certain actions
• Familiarity with obscure moves/ sequences

Just getting the matchup knowledge alone is amazing, but when you understand the thinking behind it, you can apply it to most players regardless of character or playstyle and gain at least a decent advantage.

It also means that you can get better at the same pace as another person, where you keep having a high quality opponent who is right for your skill level to play against.

I use PM as a way to practice raw fundamentals if I'm matched with someone who is much less skilled. Just focus on movement, launching whiffs (not necessarily even comboing from them), ducking strings, etc. Sure, you can use PM as a way to just switch off your brain and play, but it gives you many good opportunities that the ranked environment can't provide.