Heihachi (T3 and TTT) FAQ V1.001 by Eoin (eoin-faq@eoinswebsite.com) FAQ written in Notepad, and a really cool freeware word processor called Empire that I picked up somewhere and that you don't have. Please use a fixed-width font to view the FAQ, example : Courier. If the numbers and dots don't line up, then you're not using a fixed-width font. The best font to use would of course be the one the FAQ was written in, and that would be FixedSys. Some fonts may have problems with the layout - this will be fixed to the best of my ability in later versions, in the meantime try a smaller font size. Also remember to turn Word Wrap on, it helps. A lot. 0123456789 .......... Contents :- -----Prefix----- 1. Legal 2. About - Notation Guide - Basic Movement - Standard Moves - Heights - Notation robbed from Street Fighter - Special Notation - What this FAQ is - What this FAQ isn't -----Section 1 - the Standard FAQ section----- 3. Heihachi - Why? - Why not? 4. Movelist including damage, height, and framerates - Legend - Standard Moves - Throws - Unblockable 5. Move Descriptions & Ratings -----Section 2 - Strategy----- 6. Beginner - Movement - Simple Moves - Special Moves - Throws and buffering throws - Some notes 7. Mid-level - Juggling - Using the full potential of the Crouch Dash - Poking - Okizeme - Throwing 8. Advanced - Wavedashing - Evasion - Psychology - Eliminating moves -----Section 3 - The Rest----- 9. Heihachi strangeness - Hellsweep blocking weirdness - Right kick reversal weirdness - Headbutt Carnival - More hellsweep strangeness - B+2 in f+1,B+2,4 - Demon Hop f,N,d,df,f,uf - Unblockable 4 in uf+3,4 Hell Axle - f,f+3 Vs f,f,N+3 10. The Electric Thunder GodFist (ETGF) 11. Thanks 12. Further reading ---Prefix-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Legal Tekken and Tekken characters are ©Namco Hometek Limited 1994-2001. FAQ content ©Eoin 2000, feel free to quote sections of the FAQ, post links to the FAQ, or otherwise distribute any information from the FAQ, as long as a) credit is given to "Eoin" or "riposte". b) no money is gained from the distribution. Mail me at eoin-faq@eoinswebsite.com before publishing the FAQ in any medium. Please do not email me asking about any coming versions of the FAQ. However feel free to mail me suggestions, (constructive) criticism, corrections, etc. The contents of this FAQ are not presented as 100% accurate, or any kind of final word. Much of it is opinion. Please keep this in mind. 2. About - Notation Guide If you've been around the online Tekken community much, you'll be aware that when talking about moves, a special standard numbers and letters notation is used. If you know it you may as well skip this section as there's nothing new here. If you don't, then please take the time to familiarise yourself with the notation before reading further, as the notation is used heavily from this point on. - Basic movement : up u down (duck) d forwards f back b neutral N the neutral position is the default on (working) joysticks Directional notation can be combined to represent 8-way movement, eg df = down & forward. Holding a direction is indicated by a capital letter, eg F = hold forward while f = tap forward - Standard moves : Left punch 1 Right Punch 2 Left Kick 3 Right Kick 4 Tag 5 <--obviously TTT only Again, these can be combined - hence 1+3 is left punch and left kick together, which is a throw. Note that the buttons are set up as follows on standard Tekken 3 machines :- 1 -----> O O <----- 2 3 ------> O O <----- 4 And like this on Standard TTT machines :- 1 ----> O O O <---- 5 3 -----> O O <---- 4 - Heights : High h Mid m Low l Ground g , moves done in sequence eg f,f means tap forward twice + moves done together, eg 1+3 means press 1 and 3 at the same time ~ moves done quickly in sequence, eg 4~3 means press 4, then quickly press 3 _ indicates an option. 1+3_2+4 means press either 1+3 OR 2+4 ALL means press all buttons together < means delay a move, eg 1<2 means you COULD press 1,2, but you could also delay pressing the 2, to confuse an opponent # buffer a move, eg, 1#,2 means press and hold 1 then press 2. This is equivalent to 1,1+2 - Notation robbed from Street Fighter : QCF/FB Quarter Circle Forwards/Fireball motion (equivalent of d,df,f) HCF Half Circle Forwards (equivalent of b,db,d,df,f) DP Dragon Punch motion (translates as f,N,d,df) Note : Street Fighter notation redundant and not used in this FAQ. - Special Notation : FC Full Crouch (ie, a duck) WS While Standing from a crouch WGF Wind God Fist EWGF Electric Wind God Fist TGF Thunder God Fist DF Deathfist JG Juggle CH Counter Hit CD Crouch Dash SS Sidestep SSR Sidestep right rhs Right Hand Side SSL Sidestep left lhs Left Hand Side BK Your back is turned away from your opponent FB From Behind - Opponent's back is turned away from you ! indicates unblockable [!] indicates unblockable which hits characters on the ground {!} indciates unblockable which hits big characters on the ground This list is far from being complete, but is enough for the purposes of a Heihachi FAQ. Please don't send me any other notation on the basis that it's not here - I'm pretty sure I know all the notation I want to know for now and anything left out is intentional. Also, please don't make up notation and send it to me asking me to include it - I didn't make it up, and I don't control what is and what isn't notation. - What this FAQ is This FAQ is an attempt to inform the potential (key word here) Heihachi player about Heihachi's pros and cons. It is intended for beginners through to average level Heihachi players who wish to improve their overall Heihachi game. It is intended as a rough guide to creating for yourself a workable, above average Heihachi game. - What this FAQ isn't The FAQ is not meant for players who are already kicking ass with Heihachi. Chances are there's almost nothing more for those players to learn here. It is not meant as a combo or juggle list - there are plenty of those around, and including one would just be repeating widely available information. It is not meant as an absolute beginner's guide to Tekken - some previous knowledge is assumed, as is a willingness to learn new things. It's also not meant as an in-depth guide (because that would be rather large), and is not intended to replace other FAQs. Anyone seriously wishing to become a great Heihachi player should definitely read as many Heihachi FAQs as possible. ---Section 1 - The Standard FAQ Section--------------------------------------------------------- 3. Heihachi For those of you that don't know yet, Heihachi is the old guy. Well, one of the old guys. He's been in every single Tekken so far, and he's been one of the better characters to pick up and learn at any level in all of them. If you don't know what he looks like then there's no point in reading further really. - Why? Why pick Heihachi? Firstly, he is not a hard character to learn the basics with. He has no stances, which can be confusing for anyone, let alone a beginner. He's powerful and can end a round in a very short amount of time. His moves are generally simple to do, and simple to remember - and he's not overloaded with them, making for an easier time deciding what to do. He's fast when dashing, can retreat to safety if needed, and can also fight close up without too much bother. It's easy to launch someone into the air thanks to Heihachi's range of good lauchers, and juggling can be done right from the start. Moving on to other characters from Heihachi is easy as well, as you've already got a headstart on the other Mishima-style characters. - Why not? Heihachi is slow - the only characters he's faster than are the bigger characters (and even then....). He has so few throws that anyone relying on them is going to find it hard to hit them with any kind of consistancy (I'll come back to this point later). He's been powered down in every Tekken so every new game means adapting to a new (and inevitably weaker) style. His defense is just your basic Tekken defense, so no fancy things like parries or reversals, apart from his right kick reversal which doesn't add that much to his game. He takes far too much damage, and his recovery time can be slow. 4. Movelist Note : the movelist is formatted kind of messily - depending on what you use to view the FAQ. Sorry about that, and I hope it gets better in some later version (if it doesn't come out OK, that is, which hopefully it will). The majority should still be readable, and the key part - the notation should also be OK. - Legend Move - the notation of the move. See above for notation. Name - most moves have a name. Height - most moves can be blocked - this is the height to block them at. Frames - the number of frames a move (or first move in a series of moves) takes to execute. Damage - the damage a move/series of moves does normally, total damage (for series) in (). Notes - some moves may need further elaboration - see the relevant note number. - Standard Moves Move Name Height Frames Damage Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Left Punch h 10 5 2 Right Punch h 10 12 3 Left Kick h 14 25 4 Right Kick h 16 30 1 b+1 Altar Splitter m 14 TTT 1,1,2 Shining Fists hhm 10 5,8,18 (31) 2 1,2,2 Demon Slayer hhh 10 5,8,18 (31) b+2 Demon(s) Boar m 22 25 WS+2 Dark Thrust m 18 TTT d,df,f+2 Deathfist m 13 30 3 f,f+2 Demon God Fist m 20 30 JG d+1,2 Tile Splitter to DF mm 14 15,26 (41) 4 df+1,2 Twin Pistons mm 13 8,21 (29) JG,5 1+2 Demon Breath m 12 22 6 f+1,b+2,1 Demon(s) Massacre hmm 10 f+1,b+2,4 Demon(s) Massacre 2 hmm 10 f,f+3 Left Splits Kick m 20 24 7 f,f,f+3 Jumping Side Kick m 30 8 f+4 Right Splits Kick m 19 27 WS+4,4 Axe (Tsunami) Kicks mm 11 12,21 (33) 9 4~3 Scissor Kick m 25 28 10,11 f,N,d,df Crouch Dash (CD) - 4 - 12 CD+1 Thunder God Fist m 19 35 CD+2 Wind God Fist m 11 25 JG,13 CD+3 Jumping Mid Kick m 27 35 f,N,d,DF+3 Jumping Low Kick l 33 21 CD+4 Hellsweep (HS) l 16 17 JG,14 HS,4 Double Hellsweep ll 16 17,13 (30) JG HS,4,4 Triple Hellsweep lll 16 17,13,13 (43) JG HS,1 HS to TGF lm 16 17,21 (38) JG HS,2 HS to DGF lm 16 17,? T3 HS,4,1 Double HS to TGF llm 16 17,13,21 (51) JG HS,4,4,1 Triple HS to TGF lllm 16 17,13,13,21 (64)JG HS,N,4_(4,4) HS to Tsunami Kick(s) lmm 16 17,18,21 (56) JG CD,f,uf Demon Hop - 9 - CD,f,uf+3 Demon Hop to Mid Kick m <27 33 uf+3,4 Hell Axle mm 28 17,22 (39) 15 uf+4,4 Rising Sun hl 24 25,15 (40) d+4 (Geta) Stomp ? 22 25 16 f (/others) Right Kick Reversal h/m 0 varies 17 b,b<3+4 Shadow Step - ? - 2+3+4 Lightning Taunt - 60 - 1+2+3+4 Charge - ? - 18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TTT - Move only possible in Tekken Tag Tournament JG - Juggle launcher (or, first move in series is a juggle launcher) T3 - Tekken 3 only move "-" in a damage or height column means that the move doesn't actually "hit" an opponent. Notes : 1. Heihachi's right kick stuns on CH in TTT only. 2. The last hit of the Shining Fists can be delayed. 3. The 2 in the Deathfist can be delayed, allowing you to dash and then Deathfist - but the delay window is not long. 4. d+1,2 is a combo if the d+1 connects on CH. 5. Twin Pistons are always a combo - if the first one connects, the second one does too. The second hit launches. 6. The Demon Breath can also be motioned f+2~1 or 2~1, and can be put into a 1,2,2 combo to modify the last hit to a Demon Breath - the notation is 1,2,2~1 but it's safer to use 1,2,2,2+1. The ideal notation as such is 1,2,2#,1 7. The Left Spilts Kick stuns on CH. f,f,n,3 always knocks down and acts as a launcher. 8. f,f,f+3 can be done when running as simply 3. 9. WS+4,4 can also be used from a CD, just after landing from a jump, in a HS, or if you're really feeling brave from u_ub~N~4,4. 10. Scissor Kicks hit opponents on the ground. 11. The scissor kicks can be modified, using uf+4~3, to come put quicker, and with no initial delay. The difference is 4 frames. 12. CD can be cancelled into CD using f,N,d,df,f repeat. This is a "Wave Dash". 13. WGF can be modified to EWGF (TTT only) using f~N~d~df+2 - the main thing is to hit the 2 EXACTLY as you hit the df. 14. The first hit of the HS will also hit special mid - it somehow hits high AND low. If an opponent is blocking high, they won't be knocked over, but will block and receive block damage. More on this later. The first hit will also be staggered if blocked low. If the first HS misses completely, the second will inherit these properties, and similarly for the third. 15. It is possible to perform an uf+3,4 so that the 4 CANNOT be blocked - in all versions of T3 and TTT arcade - not PS2 TTT though apparently. 16. Geta Stomp can only be used when an opponent is grounded or in the air. This move appears to hit on several levels at different times in its execution, ie will hit opponents mid sometimes (mostly if they're in the air), mostly it will hit at ground level. 17. Heihachi's Right Kick Reversal has its own section later on in this FAQ. 18. After a charge, for a small period of time, all moves hit on CH and blocking is disabled (for you, not your opponent). - Throws Move Name Height Frames Damage Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1+3 Neck Snap h 12 30 2+4 Powerbomb (jumping) h 12 30 1 f,f+1+2 Headbutt h 12 33 2 f,f+1+4 Headbutt Carnival h 12 29 3 1+3_2+4 lhs Neck Break h 12 40 4 1+3_2+4 rhs Pick Up/Push Down h 12 46 5 1+3_2+4 FB Atomic Drop h 12 60 6 2+5 Tag Throw h 12 ~ TTT,7 Notes : 1. Despite some people thinking there are guaranteed follow-ups to Heihachi's right throw, there are not. All can be escaped, it's just that they're not escaped very often. 2. The Headbutt escape is 1+2. 3. Headbutt Carnival is only possible on Jin, Lei, Kuma, and a few others. Heihachi will not do anything on f,f+1+4 unless he is against an opponent this move is possible on. Headbutt Carnival can always be reversed, and re-reversed, until someone doesn't reverse, or someone dies. 4. Escape for Heihachi's Left Throw is 1. 5. Escape for Heihachi's Right Throw is 2. 6. Heihachi's throw from behind cannot be escaped. 7. Tag throw only possible in TTT (obviously). - Unblockable Move Name Height Frames Damage Notes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- d+1+4 Lightning Hammer m 60 70 1 Notes : 1. During the unblockable and for a few frames after, Heihachi will reverse most high and mid right kicks using his Right Kick Reversal. There is a timing possibility where you get to hit both the unblockable and get the reversal as well, which 95% of the time should kill an opponent regardless of damage. 5.Move Descriptions and Ratings This type of section seems to have become standard in a general Tekken FAQ, so I might as well throw in my thoughts on the moves listed above. Ratings of course are my personal opinion, if you think I rate a move too high or too low, maybe it's because my game is different. Format : Name Notation Rating (Name of move) (Move's Notation) Rating of move (1-5 in stars) Description/explanation of move. For obvious reasons not all moves are described (you don't REALLY want a description of a jab do you?). Heihachi's special moves are featured more than his standard moves. Name Notation Rating Right Kick 4 *** Well it's a right kick. The nicely impressive thing is the stupid amount of damage Heihachi dishes out when this hits - and the stun on CH in TTT makes this move one of the better standard kicks for any character. Easy to just put into a juggle and still get huge damage relative to effort, and an ideal way to scare an opponent. The downside is the speed - it's not going to be the quickest move coming out, and the recovery time isn't great. Add to that the fact that a reversal happy opponent will see it coming from a mile away (meaning you need to chicken every time against certain characters), and it becomes even worse. Still nice though. Name Notation Rating Altar Splitter b+1 **** Quick, powerful, hits mid, can be used in juggles, the reasons why this move is a great addition to Heihachi's arsenal in TTT go on and on. Although the recovery time will have to tearing your hair out if you miss it, it's safe enough for you to do it if you know it's either going to hit or be blocked. An easy buffer set-up for a (non-guaranteed, I think) 1+2 follow-up. Name Notation Rating Shining Fists 1,1,2 **** This is what you use to punish people who miss things. Paul's Deathfist come close, but just out of range? 1,1,2. Jin's WGF didn't hit? 1,1,2. Fast (10 frames), effective, an actual combo, even if you delay the last 2, can be just thrown into any juggle. But again, the recovery time means that it's not a safe move to do anytime you want, and the speed makes it difficult to chicken - your opponent will have to be some kind of freak to reverse it properly, but it can be done (most likely on the second hit - be careful). Name Notation Rating Demon Slayer 1,2,2 ** Now I cannot see the point of this string. It causes the SAME damage as 1,1,2, takes LONGER to do, the last hit hits HIGH rather than mid, has a higher recovery time, and it isn't a combo. Am I missing something? It's not a bad string, compared to some other strings in Tekken, but it's completely redundant - 1,1,2 is much better, and there are few (possibly none) situations where you'd use 1,2,2 ahead of 1,1,2. Name Notation Rating Demons Boar b+2 ** If this move came out even 1 or two frames quicker it'd have a higher rating. Damaging, irreversible, hits mid, either pushes opponent away or stuns (for a very short time, little if anything guaranteed). The range is deceptive, meaning an opponent can think he's safe when really he's screwed, and the move has an interesting psychological effect - the first "half" (where Heihachi turns around) is much longer than the second, hitting "half", meaning opponents sometimes rush in, presuming the move will take much longer than it will, and eat an evil amount of CH damage. This move can't be "properly" used in juggles though, by which I mean that in 100% of juggle situations where you could use this move, there will be juggle possibilities that are more damaging, juggle possibilities which are more stylish, or both - usually both. Name Notation Rating Dark Thrust WS+2 **** Quick, powerful, great for interrupting an opponent who's in the middle of something. Nice damage, hits mid, therefore is great. Certainly Heihachi's best WS option in most situations. Unfortunately TTT only. Name Notation Rating Deathfist d,df,f+2 *** This is the move that's going to kill your average scrub and masher. Although not as powerful as Paul's deathfist, and has slightly less range, it's faster, and has the same properties, so if it hits on CH your opponent is going to roll to the other end of the screen. A good way to end a juggle, but - never a move to toss out without a care in the world. Any seasoned opponent will be expecting this and there are so many things that can be done to limit its effectiveness. A horrible recovery time doesn't help. Name Notation Rating Demon Godfist f,f+2 ** Bordering on 2 or 3 stars. This move is both good and bad. The bad unfortunately outweights the good. Recovery time is far too much (although if it's blocked you should be OK), it's too easy to block, and its execution is too slow. Kuma's f,f+2 is better and more useful. However, it does hurt, and it is Heihachi's highest juggle launcher. This makes it worthwhile - but it's only real use is to punish someone who's just missed a move with a high recovery time. It can also be used to hit larger opponents on the ground, but this isn't enough to make up for it's shortcomings. Name Notation Rating Tile Splitter to DF d+1,2 ** If you know you're going to hit on CH, this is a good move. If not, stay away - there's no way to delay the 2 so you'll have to commit right from the start to the full move, and that's a bad idea. Reversals, power moves, juggles, CHs, throws, they're all coming your way if you miss, and most likely, you'll miss. Name Notation Rating Tile Splitter d+1 *** A much safer option than d+1,2. A good move to harass an opponent, with a decent range. Easily chickened, and a nice buffer setup. Can't be used in a juggle without ending it, but there are some juggle situations where this is one of very few choices (like f,f,N,3 - this is the only guaranteed move). Hits opponents on the ground most of the time, especially if they're doing anything (like trying to get up, say), and will hit large characters on the ground whatever they're doing (except during the few frames of a techroll where you can't be hurt). Only 15 damage though. Shame, a little more would have made it evil. Name Notation Rating Twin Pistons df+1,2 ***** NOW we're talking. Quick (8 frames, now that is what I call quick), almost completely safe to do, hits mid, the df+1 is a nice poke in itself but if it hits then the 2nd hit is guaranteed, it's a juggle launcher that almost all Heihachi's juggles work off, it's damaging, it can be used in juggles, and if it's blocked it pushes the opponent far enough away for Heihachi to be completely safe. One word of warning - a back dash happy opponent might be hit by this move, but might also be just out of range and then the hurt begins (your hurt). Name Notation Rating Demon Breath 1+2 *** A hard move to find a serious flaw with (apart from the thing that affects all Heihachi power moves, which is recovery time). Another move that can be used to punish opponents, and on CH it knocks them away (quickly) for (possible, but not guaranteed) further punishment. Again, not really ideal for a juggle, but the fact that you can fake a 2 and do a 2~1 demon breath instead, and tag it onto the end 1,2,2, makes up for that. It's certainly useful, but not one of Heihachi's most useful moves, and I'd choose twin pistons over it in nearly any situation. Name Notation Rating Demon Massacre f+1,b+2,1 ** There are 2 uses for this move : showing up newbies, and in juggles. That's it. Nothing else. And it gets 2 stars only on the basis that it won't be used for anything else. Use at your own risk - the gain is high, but then again, if it fails, pain. Name Notation Rating Demon Massacre 2 f+1,b+2,4 *** This move gets 3 stars for far more reasons than the other Demon Massacre gets 2 stars, if that's not too hard to understand. It looks to be nearly the same, but the 4 at the end makes all the difference - if it's blocked, the opponent is pushed away. If it's missed, the opponent will have to be on top of his game to do anything worthwhile. The second hit (2), like in the other Demon Massacre, can be reversed under certain circumstances (more later), but otherwise there are no major flaws. Not much chance of this hitting, especially in its entirity, and it's not as useful in juggles as f+1,b+2,1, but it's more useful generally, and there's nothing to stop you trying it in a juggle (it can hit, fully, but it's random). Name Notation Rating Left Splits Kick f,f+3 * 20 frames? Namco must be kidding. If it came out quicker, or was stronger, or had some kind of special property, then it would be useful. As it is, the only possible way I can see of using it is if you manage to trick someone into getting hit by it when ducking. Name Notation Rating Jumping Side Kick f,f,f+3 *** The 3 stars do not mean that this is a safe move to use at any time. The stars are just an indication of the usefulness of this move in certain situations. If you're running at an opponent, who probably expects a slide, this move will make him pay for that mistake. If your opponent is trying desperately to get up after a lot of ground-based punishment, this may be the only move with a long enough range to hit them. And if it's blocked, there are some nice, guaranteed moves afterwards, chief among them the twin pistons - and that's evil. Name Notation Rating Right Splits Kick f+4 ** Better than the f,f+3 because it's quicker, and that's it. It's not so much quicker as to make much of a difference. Name Notation Rating WS+4,4 Tsunami Kicks **** Use it wisely and it is your friend. It doesn't need to be chickened since both hit mid, but unless you're sure it'll hit on both kicks, it's not that much damage. The speed more than makes up for that though - as well as the fact that it works out of a crouch dash - if you've already hit with a HS or two then your opponent might be expecting another HS - this is the move to catch him off his guard. Name Notation Rating Scissor Kick 4~3 * Slow to execute (even the faster uf+4~3 version), if you miss it has one of the worst recovery times in Tekken, if you hit there's never any follow-up and the damage done is not enough to justify the risk. There are some situations where it might not be a bad idea to throw it out and see what happens, but otherwise, avoid it's use. Name Notation Rating Thunder God Fist f,N,d,df+1 **** Not the fastest of moves to pull off, but the sheer power makes it all worthwhile. Don't be fooled by the 35 damage in the movelist - most of the time this move will be taking off 50+ points. Hits mid, which makes it even nicer, and can be delayed, and even delayed so much that it will go under some high (and supposedly mid) kicks. None of this is in any way bad, so the loss of a single star is down to the fact that you can't afford to miss a TGF very often, if at all. Also, check the ETGF section later on for the Electric version. Name Notation Rating Wind God Fist f,N,d,df+2 ***** Almost certainly, the WGF is the single best move in Tekken. Looking at it from any view, there is nearly nothing wrong with it. It hits mid. It juggles. It's a perfect buffer setup. It cannot be reversed in TTT. It can be used in juggles. It's fast. It's powerful. It's hard to sidestep. If blocked, your opponent has nothing to work with. In order for someone to hurt you when you WGF, they have to either hit you sometime during the execution of the CD, or they have to get away and hope the WGF misses completely. It's use in a Wave Dash means that the second part is unlikely. And the fact that it can be used as EWGF is the icing on the cherry on the cake. Name Notation Rating Jumping Mid Kick f,N,d,df+3 *** Compared to Heihachi's other CD moves, this one is a bit lacking. It doesn't juggle or do immense damage, but it's worthwhile anyway because there really is no safe option for an opponent afterwards, even if it completely misses, because Heihachi will usually be a safe distance away, and recovered. Nothing guaranteed to my knowledge after a block, because the opponent is pushed too far away for either character to do anything. The damage is pretty good, and the knockaway afterwards leaves an opponent open to running moves. Just watch the reversal and the sidestep on this one. Name Notation Rating Jumping Low Kick f,N,d,DF+3 **** Why more than the Jumping Mid Kick? Simple - it's just as easy to do, but has more chance of hitting, even with the higher framerate. Using it as a mix-up with the Jumping Mid Kick is one of Heihachi's better ways to scare an opponent - until the last 4 or 5 frames there's virtually no way of telling which way Heihachi is going to go, so it's a guess every time. Nice. Name Notation Rating Hellsweeps f,N,d,df+4_4,4_4,4,4 **** (in T3 *****) Still one of Heihachi's evillest moves, the Hellsweeps (HS) have so many options after them that no opponent can predict what's going to happen next. Although it can be staggered in TTT, this doesn't defeat the entire point of them, as they can still be used in juggles, as counters, and certainly if your opponent doesn't seem to be blocking low much. Learn to mix-up your HS game and stopping you is going to take a lot of effort, and constant vigilance. Name Notation Rating Hell Axle uf+3,4 *** Not a move that will be worth doing very often, but a good one anyway. You won't catch many players out with it, but anyone not famialiar with blocking will have a hard time. The recovery time of some moves means that sometimes it will be guaranteed if done quickly enough, and the damage will usually justify the risk in these situations. The second kick staggers if blocked, and that means you're safe afterwards. uf+3 on its own is not a good option then. There is a way to get the second kick to hit 100% of the time (except on PS2 TTT), more later. Name Notation Rating Rising Sun uf+4,4 * Badness. Slow, it'll never hit both times, it's easy to block when you've seen it once, it leaves Heihachi open, and it doesn't even hurt much. Never use. ---Section 2 - Strategy------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Beginner This section is intended for players who have little to no previous Heihachi knowledge and need somewhere to start. Ideally players wanting to learn should have access to a home version of Tekken 3 or TTT and should be using the practice mode. Anyone with any kind of experience playing Tekken should just skip over most of this section, or be patronised. Please note that Tekken notation is used here to get beginners who have not used the notation before more comfortable with its use. Although I've said previously that this FAQ isn't for absolute Tekken beginners, this part of it is. And yes, I know that someone would ideally be learning from experience and not from the practice mode, but practice mode is always a good place to learn how to do things without hassle, and at your own speed. - Movement I would think that the first thing to learn with any character is simply how they move - it's easy to learn and presents no difficulty whatsoever. Think of it as an exercise in getting to know Heihachi. So, pick Heihachi and move around for a bit. Notice that f and b are slow on their own - so try a backdash, which is b,b. This is a good way of quickly getting out of an attack's way. Now try f,f - this is very important because a lot of Heihachi's moves rely on a f,f motion. Dashing in with f,f is much safer than moving slowly over to your opponent. Now tap u. You should have sidestepped. If you jumped, you pressed u for too long. You can sidestep both ways - tap d and see for yourself. Now try dashing and stopping, for example f,f~b, or b,b~f. Once you've finished messing around, see how easy it is to chain together dashes and sidesteps, for example, f,f~u,N,b,b~f,f. Finally, note how Heihachi will always turn to face his opponent pretty much instantly, from whatever position, if you dash forward, allowing you to line up moves properly. - Simple Moves Press 1. That's a jab. Notice that Heihachi used his left hand. Press 2. That's also a jab, except with Heihachi's right hand. Same for 3 and 4, which are left and right kicks. Except - be sure to notice that Heihachi's 4 knocks your opponent down. In the top left hand corner of the screen you should see the damage a move does. At the bottom, there may be a button display, depending on what version of Tekken you're playing on. These are the main tools of the practice mode, you should use them to compare and evaluate moves. Now that you've done the really simple moves, time to move on. Hold D. You're now ducking. Moves are different from the ducking (or crouching) position. From a crouch, the moves hit low, rather than high. Especially note the D+3 move - it's a sweep that hits opponents on the ground, so it's very useful. Now let go of the d button and press df+4. See how it's different from a normal 4 kick, but isn't a D+4 kick? Pressing df+4 usually makes a move hit mid. So what do the heights mean? Well, a high attack will hit an opponent who is standing, but not blocking. If he is blocking, he will also block any mid attacks. However if he is blocking high, low attacks will still hit. If he is crouching, high attacks will usually go over his head. If he is also blocking, then any low attacks will be blocked. If someone is blocking low, mid moves will still hit them. So :- Opponent Blocking Height Your Attack Height Move Will ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- h h Be Blocked h m Be Blocked h l Hit --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- l h Go Over Opponent's Head l m Hit l l Be Blocked ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is important to know that this does not mean that high attacks never hit - an opponent is not always blocking. If (s)he is moving, or attacking, (s)he isn't blocking and can be hit. Note : in Practice mode the dummy won't block unless you tell it to. - Special Moves Time to get past all the really easy stuff and onto the more impressive moves. The first move to try, because it's so simple, would be f,f+2. All you need to do is press f, then press f and 2 at the same time. This is the Demon Godfist, or DGF. The DGF launches an opponent into the air. When an opponent is in the air, the opponent cannot possibly block. Before we get into the potential in this, time for some other moves. f,f+2 shouldn't have taken more than one or two attempts to do, so the next move to try should be f,f+3 or f+4 - the split kicks. Again, these should be no trouble at all. Try a few of the other easy-looking moves in the movelist. df+1,2; ws+4,4 etc aren't hard. WS means do the move as you're getting up from a crouch. So hold d, then let go and almost instantly press 4 twice. So now we come to the first thing in this whole strategy guide that could even be considered remotely hard - the deathfist. While it's still easy, no doubts about that, it's a motion you do have to practice and get used to if you're not already used to it (from Street Fighter and the like). It's d,df,f+2. You should think of it as "rolling" the joypad or joystick from the d position to the f position smoothly. If you have problems, try tapping d then pressing f+2 - Tekken should register this as d,df,f+2 if you're quick enough. Remember though, that when doing special moves, speed isn't always all that important. The next motion is absolutely crucial to a good Heihachi game. It's the crouch dash. If you can't do this, then you shouldn't be playing Heihachi. It's f,N,d,df to crouch dash and there's a special move off every button for Heihachi. Remember the N - the CD won't work as f,d,df - the thing is to have the pad/stick on neutral for as little an amount of time as possible. If after a few attempts at the CD, you still can't do it, there are a number of ways to think about it. Firstly, think of it as a 'Z'. The pad/stick moves to the right, back to the centre (quickly), then down to the bottom and then from the bottom to the right again. If you're facing left, it goes left instead of right, obviously. Keep trying the CD until you can manage to CD correctly nearly every time. Once you've mastered it, there really is no important motion left to learn. - Throwing and buffering throws Throws are important to you for several reasons. Firstly, they're easy to pull off. Secondly, they're damaging. Thirdly, most of the time you've get some kind of follow-up move afterwards. The standard throws are 1+3 and 2+4. That means pressing 2 buttons at the same time, which is easy enough usually. If however you "miss", you might end up just jabbing or kicking an opponent. This is where buffering comes in. Buffering, in its simplest form, is holding one button while pressing another. Without going into the technicalities, Tekken thinks both buttons are being pressed at the same time. So if you held 1 down and pressed 3, Tekken would think you'd pressed 1+3 and your character would attempt a throw. This makes throwing in general much easier. Buffering isn't limited to throws, but throws are a good place to start learning how to buffer. Now, SS to the side of the practice dummy. Use a throw. Notice any difference? This much cooler, more damaging throw is a side throw. If you manage to get to someone's side, throwing them from there is one of the options, and usually a good one. Each character has two side throws, one for each side. If you get a normal throw from the side, chances are that you didn't get far enough around the dummy. SS twice the same way and try again. In a normal round, most likely you'll only have to SS once, especially when you learn to time it right. All characters also have a throw from the back. This is usually the most damaging throw they have, and, most importantly, cannot be escaped. This is true for Heihachi. Except for Heihachi's back throw, all of his throws can be escaped. There's one other throw you should know about right now, and it's f,f+1+2. Easy to pull off, and slightly more damaging than Heihachi's normal throws. But the really important thing is that the escape is 1+2 - most players press either 1 or 2 instantly as they're thrown, so won't escape this throw that way. Better players will of course escape it, but the same is true for most throws anyway. - Some notes I've seen many beginners concentrate on tenstrings and unblockables. This strategy simply doesn't work. Tenstrings will be blocked or reversed or SSed by any experienced player. Unblockables are simple to the point of being laughed at - Heihachi's does have uses, but you're not going to be able to stand still, charge up an unblockable, and expect it to hit. Best case scenario, your opponent backs off. Worst case, you're looking at being hit by a damaging juggle launcher on CH and then eating juggle damage afterwards. You don't want this. - Things Before we finish the beginner's section, there are some things that it's probably best for you to know. Firstly, damage is not measured in % in Tekken. Actually damage is measured in damage points. If you're ever played Final Fantasy VII or similar RPG you'll get the idea really quickly (I think someone else drew this analogy, so sorry to them for copying it). Each character, by default, has 140 damage points. Note that this can be changed, depending on machine settings (arcade machines have settings too). Also, Tekken employs a series of damage modifiers. Basically, moves hurt more on CH, hurt more when you get a clean hit, and hurt more from behind. A move that doesn't hit from a normal position may cause less damage than it should. Well that just about rounds off the beginner section. Remember though that there was no strategy in the beginner section, and nothing about juggling, poking, and loads more little things. Following the beginner section, a complete Tekken beginner now knows the basics with Heihachi, nothing more. 7. Mid-level A Heihachi mid-level player is one that knows how to defend and attack, knows a few damaging juggles, can use CD effectively, and presents a threat to nearly every opponent (s)he meets. Note that this section is not FOR mid-level players, it's intended for anyone below that level who wants to become a mid-level player. - Juggling Once you know how to juggle, you're vastly more dangerous than you were before with Heihachi. Juggling is undoubtedly one of Heihachi's strengths - most of his juggles are easy while at the same time being damaging. Juggling is even more important in TTT than it was in T3 because juggling is one way to get rid of the red energy bar, which means an opponent can't recover as much as he might like. For your first simple juggle, try f,f+2,4. The f,f+2 launches the dummy into the air. Press 4 when you think it's going to hit, not straight away, and remember that the opponent is falling all the time that he's not being hit, so you need to time the hit. Now look at the damage - isn't that a really high number for such low effort? Now, consider what the 4 did. It knocked the dummy opponent too far away for you to be able to hit them again, causing further damage. What if you used quick moves though, that maybe didn't damage as much but would allow you to go for more hits and in the end, more damage? At this point, I think it's time to stop this section. There's no point in me listing further juggles. You can get them easily, and if I were to list some here, I'd only be repeating other juggles. It's up to the player to figure out his/her own good juggles, because taking them from a FAQ won't help you learn. If you want to go get some from somewhere else, by all means, do so, there are some in every single Heihachi FAQ at http://www.gamefaqs.com, but it would be better, I feel, to anyone's overall game if they spend a few hours in front of the practice mode trying juggles out, learning things like timing, usage, damage, whether it can be techrolled, etc, for themselves. Final note on juggles : remember each move in a juggle does less %damage than the previous one. We shall take as an example the impossible and stupid WGF,X,X,X,X juggle. X is a move that does 32 damage. It doesn't exist. It's a practical example, not an actual juggle. The damage done would be 25 (for the WGF), 32, 16, 8, 4 - in normal situations. A move loses 50% of its damage potential after each juggle hit. Think of it as a juggle "half-life". Also keep in mind that various moves reset this damn half-life thing, and make calculating juggle damage very difficult indeed. The only way to be sure is to use the juggle. - Using the full potential of the Crouch Dash As if you hadn't guessed by now, Heihachi's CD has an awesome amount of potential. Look at it from the point of view of someone playing against Heihachi. If Heihachi CDs, what's he going to do next? When during the CD will he do it? Is it safe to attack? What height should I be blocking at? It's so hard to predict until it's (almost) too late that there is no 100% safe defense against a CDing Heihachi - there are simply too many variables. Have a look at the list of every single option Heihachi has from a CD : f,N,d,df+1 f,N,d,df+2 f,N,d,df+3 f,N,d,DF+3 f,N,d,df+4 f,N,d,df+4,1 f,N,d,df+4,2 (T3 only) f,N,d,df+4,N,4 f,N,d,df+4,N,4,4 f,N,d,df+4,4 f,N,d,df+4,4,1 f,N,d,df+4,4,2 (T3 only) f,N,d,df+4,4,N,4 f,N,d,df+4,4,N,4,4 f,N,d,df+4,4,4,1 f,N,d,df+4,4,4,2 (T3 only) f,N,d,df+4,4,4,N,4 f,N,d,df+4,4,4,N,4,4 f,N,d,df,N,4,4 f,N,d,df,f,f,N,d,df (Wavedash) f,N,d,df,f,f+2 f,N,d,df,f,f+1+2 f,N,d,df,f,f+3 f,N,d,df,f+4 Actually I lied. That's not all of them. But you get the idea. Although a few may debate the last few, saying I've put in one f too many, or that those moves aren't strictly CD moves, they're options nonetheless. There are 24 different things Heihachi can do from a CD, including CD again. And this list isn't complete, as there are a few options I want to cover later on. So how exactly do you go about using the CD's obvious potential? Well firstly you have to prioritise. What are you aiming for from a CD? Chances are your first priority is to get your opponent into the air and juggle them. Only one move from the CD does this in a nice easy way, and what a move it is. The WGF juggles from a CD, so against most opponents, when you CD, WGF will be your first option. Be careful - no one is going to stand back and let you WGF them to hell. It's simple enough to block, and once they start avoiding it and retaliating, time to switch tactics. What might your other priorities be? Well, the standard priority in any round of Tekken is to give out more damage than you receive. TGF works well for this - the damage potential is immense and not limited to the 35 points the practice mode on T3 claims. Usually it'll be hitting on 52 points for a clean hit, maybe even 62 points for a clean hit on counter. Problem with the TGF is it's hard to hit regularly, and you're left wide open after it. Solution is simple - unless you're very sure it's going to hit, don't use it. Use a WGF instead. You might also want to simply harass an opponent - the HS are very good for this purpose. The stagger in TTT is annoying from a Heihachi player's point of view, but looking at it from an opponent's point of view, (s)he has to guess what you're going to do from a CD and not just sit back blocking. HS give you the option of mixing up hits, so an opponent always has to be wary of something from a CD. If you're attacking an opponent on the ground, a f,N,d,DF+3 does the trick. Usually, but not always, when carefully timed, it'll hit an opponent getting up off the ground as well, and there's no reason it won't annoy people who don't like blocking low. The last possibility is you might just want some breathing space. In this situation, using a CD isn't the best way to go about it, but a quick CD+3 can push an opponent away without you having to worry too much - remember to chicken if necessary, but that's about it. - Poking Poking is a nice and simple concept. In Tekken, moves are usually a compromise. The compromise is simple - there are about 6 attributes per move, and these are complexity, speed, power, range, recovery time and priority. So you'll see a lot of moves being very simple to do, like a 1 jab, and being fast, but not being powerful and with not too much range. The recovery time and priority are good though. On the other hand there are power moves that are more complex to do, take more time to execute, but do a lot of damage and have a nice range. Recovery time will be lower, but priority may not be sufficiently bad to be something to be worried about. Naturally, you'll be wanting to hurt an opponent a lot rather than a little. So generally, players tend to go for moves that hurt in the extreme - examples are Paul's Deathfist. Is this the best option? Sometimes. If you know a DF will hit, by all means DF. If you don't, then DFing is about the worst thing you could do. Power moves leave you open, and therefore hurt. So how do you cause damage when it's certain that a power move isn't your best option. You poke your opponent with little jabs and kicks that don't hurt as much, but are just as hard to block, harder to see coming, harder to reverse and easier to chicken, faster, and with more priority. The fact that they're simpler to do is just a bonus on your part. Generally, there are three poking moves that are standard for every character. They are 1, db+1 and d+4. Heihachi has all of these, with a few others as well. The advantage to you of poking is that it does damage your opponent, is far less risky than many other ways of damaging an opponent, causes your opponent a lot of mental stress and (s)he has to figure out a way past all these little moves rather than one big, slow move, and it's so easy to do, no matter what your skill level. Poking means you have to worry about defending a lot less - in fact many consider poking a form of defense, and the style that goes along with it is called turtling. Put simply, this means defending all the time rather than taking an offensive outlook - your opponent has to come at you. When (s)he does, they have to also figure out a way to hurt you without getting hit by repeated tiny jabs and kicks. This isn't the best overall style with Heihachi, but it can work if you're dedicated enough. Heihachi's poking moves and strings are (in my opinion) : 1 db+1 d+1 2 (just about makes it as a poke) 1,2 (a poking string...) but not as good as.. 1,1 db+4, df+4 (again, just about..) D+3 Of course, the fact that these moves all have different ranges, and hit at different heights, just makes an opponent's job that much more difficult. - Okizeme Okizeme is, roughly translated from Japanese, the art of attacking some who is on the ground or getting up off the ground. While it may seem dishonourable, so what? If someone is on the ground, they can't block, or reverse, they can only try to get out of the way. Heihachi has some good okizeme options - not the most of any character but not the least. So, working on the assumption that you've managed to get someone onto the ground, what should you be doing? The simplest and most obvious attacks are u+2 or FC+3. So let me rule out u+2 first. It's a standard okizeme attack, every character has some version of it, and they're all crap. Every one of them. It's slow, it's not damaging, it has a bad recovery time, and it'll miss 99.99% of the time. Even when you're sure it'll hit, there's usually a better option. u+2 is bad. Leave it alone, let other people use it and get hurt for it. FC+3 is much better. It's faster for a start. If your opponent doesn't techroll an attack it's usually more or less certain to hit. The damage isn't great either but hey, free damage. And the recovery is quick. So what else does Heihachi have? First, lets divide into two situations. Either your opponent is lying flat on the ground (recovering or something, or maybe they're just stupid, whatever), or they're trying to get up. In the first situation, you should be using only low/ground attacks unless you're against a big character that mid attacks will hit on the ground (True Ogre, say). So these attacks would be : d+1 HS uf+4~3 (or just 4~3, if you want to be slow) FC+3 (FC+4 usually misses, and does less damage than FC+3 anyway, so don't bother) d+4 f,N,d,DF+3 d+1+4 (included for completionists) d+1 is good - but if they're doing absolutely nothing, there's still the chance it might miss. If they're moving about or trying to get up, it's a good move to use. The Hellsweeps are a very good choice. Provided you have enough range, there's nothing that your opponent can do to stop them hitting at least once. If you're lucky enough to hit someone getting up with them, well then, that's a guaranteed HS,4,1. uf+4~3 on the other hand is a terrible move. Although it has more uses against grounded opponents than in any other situation, it still sucks. The damage, if it hits, isn't bad, but then again, it won't hit, so what's the point? FC+3 has been discussed already - this is your safe, reliable, middle-of-the-road option. d+4 isn't as bad as uf+4~3, but it still isn't likely to hit all that much. If someone knows how to techroll, they can avoid this fairly easily, as Heihachi has very few non-techrollable moves. You might THINK you can hit it after a 2+4 throw, but it's not 100% guaranteed. Try it anyway, it'll work on most people, and give others something to worry about. f,N,d,DF+3 is great. Why? Well, because it hurts. Because it's fast enough most of the time. Because it looks like a WGF or TGF for a while, meaning someone on the ground may think they're safe, and even after that it looks like CD+3 for most of the rest of its execution, making for even more fun. It'll trace (a bit), and it'll hit someone getting up. Nice. d+1+4 is a joke. The other, and more common, situation is that your opponent is getting up. Most of the same moves have the same effect - with the problem that for some frames of a techroll or roll, an opponent is invincible. Unrealistic but necessary (so that you can get up, ever). When someone is getting up, once again, your best option is going to be CD+3. Its range, power, not bad speed and nice habit of tracking a rising opponent means you shouldn't really be thinking about much else. The hell sweeps are nice if you're close enough as well. The final and overriding advantage of the CD+3 though is that even if your opponent manages to block it they'll be pushed back and have nothing to retaliate with. - Throwing Throwing is something that works on most players. In fact, generally, a player that you may consider to be at near-master level may have escaping throws as a weak-point - it's something that is difficult to learn. Using throws can therefore do damage to the majority of the players you will encounter. The basic throws are of course 1+3 and 2+4. There's only one tactic of worth when using them - mix them up. If you keep on doing 2+4 because it's easier to follow up then your opponent will note this and will escape all the time. If your opponent has to guess whether you're going to throw using 1+3 or 2+4 then most players have to rely on luck to escape more than 50% of the time. Heihachi's "other" throw is f,f+1+2. This requires a 2-button escape, so it's probably your best choice of throw. This is one of those strange breed of throws that is actually techrollable, except if someone does techroll after it, an uf,N,3 kick is guaranteed. This just increases the throw's value by quite a bit. Again, mixing it up with other throws may be a good idea. A competant player will get used to seeing it within a short amount of time, and because it's such a good throw the escape is pretty widely known. The last throw is f,f+1+4 and only works on certain characters. The only reason to use this throw is if you have an equal or greater amount of energy than an opponent and think they'll reverse it. Anyone who reverses this with a lower amount of energy than you is stupid - since you can always reverse, you'll always come out on top. Needless to say, avoid using it if you're behind, as trading energy then becomes a really bad idea. Note that although Heihachi has only a limited amount of throws, he has one of every type - 1 button escape, 2 button escape, etc. This should be enough to keep opponent's on their toes, even if it would be better to have several of each type. 8. Advanced So now begins the hardcore stuff. Once again, a reminder, this is NOT for players who are already advanced, it's for anyone around mid-level who wants to bring up their game. This section deals less with how to do moves and what moves to do, and more with when to do them, and stuff like that. At this point I'm going to presume anyone who has read this far can do every Heihachi move (they're not hard) and has grasped everything up until now, which also isn't hard. From now on though, things get slightly trickier, as at this level your opponent won't just be defeated by your knowledge alone. - Wavedashing Having said all that the first section deals with Heihachi's most advanced technique - the wavedash. Jumping straight in, wavedashing is f,N,d,df,f,repeat, and you'll be wanting to string several together to get something like :- f,N,d,df,f,f,N,d,df,f,f,N,d,df,f,f,N,d,df,f which is 4 crouch dashes. Wavedashing works by cancelling a crouch dash into another crouch dash, and is only possible in Tekken 3 and TTT. Why Wavedash? Well, for one thing, it's faster than running. In fact, it may be the fastest method of movement in the game (if you exclude Yoshi's teleport on the basis that it never works). The actual speed depends on how fast you can get out the wavedash motion, but most people, with practice, can manage 4 wavedashes in one second (some people can get up to 8 - you probably won't ever play them). You can do any normal crouch dash move out of a wavedash at any time. Of course, once you know that, you should instantly and obviously be thinking "Wind God Fist". With the each dash in the wavedash taking a measly 4 frames, you're going to be able to WGF in practically any situation and be very safe afterwards. It gets even better in TTT, because then you can EWGF. The fact that at just about any time you can "pop" out of a wavedash with a Godfist means you reduce the practical time of the WGF to just 7 frames - trust me : that's very fast indeed. Of course, you're going to have to spend some time wavedashing first before trying it out on some opponent. Using it isn't just a matter of f,N,d,df,f,f,N,d,df,f,f,N,d,df,f, you have to put a lot of thought into what you're going to do, and any alternatives, how to mix up moves from a wavedash, etc. A bad wavedasher can get eaten by CH moves and pokes and throws and all kinds of counter-offense moves. A good wavedasher can own an opponent. - Evasion Unfortunately evasion is not one of Heihachi's strong points. The only move he has that can really be classed as evasion (and isn't a sidestep) is the Shadow Step, which is b,b,N,3+4. However, this move is good enough to make up for a lack of other moves - it's one of the best evasion-style moves in Tekken. Where to begin? Well, firstly, there's the speed. It's very fast. Not in execution mind, but in the standard sense of speed, which is distance/time. When he's shadow stepping, Heihachi covers a large distance in a short amount of time. Short of wavedashing one hell of a lot, there's no way an opponent can keep up with a shadow stepping Heihachi. Secondly it's simple. b,b,N,3+4. Just about any player of any skill level can pull that one off. Compared to the wavedash and other tricky moves, it's incredibly simple to use, and it's also incredibly simple to use correctly. Finally - the N means it canbe delayed. And it can be delayed a lot. This means you can be holding 4, backdash, wait for a bit, see something bad coming, and press 3 to shadow step. Shadow stepping has the added advantage that there is no move even comparable to it in any other character's movelist. Nina, Yoshimitsu, etc, have backflips, but the shadow step out distances all of them, and additionally moves you to the side. Very few opponents will be expecting a shadow step, especially the less experienced ones. And even if they are, there's no real strategies against it. It's not so far that they can break into a run and expect to hit (2 of them is though, so be careful). And it's nowhere close to being near enough for them to hit you (barring some stupid and bound to fail long range attack like Devil's laser or TOgre's fire). And that appears to be it for evasion. The only other thing Heihachi has to get away from a move is the backdash (b~b), and everyone has that, so there really is no point in me elaborating here. - Psychology Once you're playing at high levels, it's going to become apparent that Tekken is about far far more than just moves. It works on a whole variety of levels, and being just slightly better than someone isn't always going to be enough to beat them. You have to work on their mind sometimes to gain that extra little edge. So below are some little psychological techniques which may or may not be effective in throwing an opponent's game. Keep in mind - it's better to lose to someone fairly than to beat them just because you freaked them out a little bit. Also note that if you're killed or injured using any of these strategies, that sucks, but it's not really my fault. 1. Take ages picking your character(s). An impatient opponent gets angry, and is more likely to make a mistake. This doesn't work if they're doing the same thing, or if they look like they might actually need time, like if they're eating or something. 2. Use tiny jabs. Apart from the advantages that I've already gone over (see the poking section), tiny little 1, db+1and df+1 jabs are very annoying - especially when an opponent can't get through them. Not only will it make an opponent very angry indeed, but even when they do get through, they'll be so self-satisifed that they'll probably let their defenses down and you can get a nice damaging move in. 3. Turtle. Take into account the tact that despite turtling (defending constantly) is a valid and useful strategy, not many people have come across a major turtler. If you can block 90%+ of your opponent's attacks, (s)he'll get annoyed very quickly, and will be forced to change tactics. 4. Exploit all weaknesses. If someone can't escape a throw, throw them around the place for a while. If they can't block how, hellsweep them to death. If they don't techroll, make them eat TGF when rising. Not only is it free damage, but they feel really bad about it and play a lot worse as a result. They also get frustrated, which only helps you further. And as well as that, you're actually helping them, as the smarter ones are eventually going to figure out they need to work on the part of their game you've been exploiting. 5. Chose Mokujin. OK so you can't choose Mokujin in T3 and expect to get Heihachi, but you can pick either Mokujin or random as your partner in TTT and freak some people out a bit. Picking random either means "I'm good with everyone so don't care who I get" or "You suck, and I can beat you with anyone". Both are likely to either intimidate or annoy an opponent, and either is a good result. 6. Show off. Wavedashing will alert a good player that you're also a good player. It won't affect a bad player who has no idea what a wavedash is, but hell, if you can wavedash, you can beat them anyway. Using fancy juggles and doing things that they simply can't is usually enough for them to get the message that you're better than them, and they're only fodder for you. Why you'd want to make them feel bad is another matter, but this is commonly used. 7. Use only one move. If you're really really confident, using just one move to beat someone is the best possible way of saying they suck, and annoying them to the point of them cracking. It's especially fun to take 50%+ of their energy with one move, and, just when they've figured out how to deal with it, move to another move. There are numerous other methods of annoying someone - both in game and in real life. Be creative. But most of all - be careful. - Eliminating moves Let's be honest here - Heihachi has some moves that you'll never really need. You shouldn't bother yourself with a lot of things like uf+4,4, and try to work them into a strategy. There's no real point to it. What you should be aiming for is a compact list of moves that you like, that you know the mechanics of fully, and that you know you can rely on. To this end, you should, as soon as possible, start effectively eliminating moves from the list of moves that you use, streamlining down to only the ones that matter. Starting off, you should aim for a core base of 5-8 moves that are your "bread and butter" - moves that can get you through normal matches without much hassle. Moves like the WGf, the Twin Pistons and the hellsweeps are ideal moves for this core base. However the whole business of move elimination is very personal and different people can have very different ideas about what is and isn't a good move. So anyway, once you've got your base moves you can decide on what you're regularly going to use as a juggle (trust me - it helps to have a base juggle planned out beforehand as then you won't have to bother thinking ones up). You should also have a base strategy for when someone is grounded, a base throw that you keep in mind for when you want to throw (ideally f,f+1+2), and a base "punishment" combo (you'll find 1,1,2 is the usual) for when someone messes up a move right in front of you. So here now, are my suggestions for move to definitely keep, and moves to definitely not concentrate too much on :- Keep -------------- WGF TGF HS df+1,2 d+1 d,df,f+2 b+1 1,1,2 WS+2 f+1,B+2,4 f+4 Lose -------------- f,f+3 uf+4,4 4~3 d+1,2 ---The Rest------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. Heihachi strangeness Just about every character in Tekken has some set of quirks and little strange things that only apply to them. Heihachi is no different. In fact, he has more than average. I've tried to list everything about Heihachi that I consider to be not normal below. If you have anything else along these lines, mail me and I'll put it in, right beside your name. [Hellsweep Blocking Weirdness] If the first hit of the hellsweep is blocked high, despite the fact that it hits low, it's blocked. Except it's blocked with guard damage and a strange lightning animation. If the first sweep doesn't hit or get blocked, this strange property is passed onto the second hit, and likewise for the third. If the second hit is blocked high, the CD+4,4,1 string isn't a string anymore, it's a combo, which is very good indeed. [Right Kick Reversal Weirdness] This move is so strange that even the name isn't right. Under certain circumstances (well, circumstance I think) Heihachi can actually reverse a left kick. The standard way of doing it is by pressing f just as a right kick hits. It seems to be especially effective during a CD. You don't have to press f though - anything other than a ducking move seems to work from time to time. As well as that, during Heihachi's unblockable chargeup, he will reverse most (all?) high/mid kicks. This however is not enough for Heihachi. Because if an opponent is unlucky, Heihachi can also reverse just after a charge, when his hand is still down from the animation. If an opponent is even unluckier, Heihachi can also reverse right kicks DURING an unblockable. In this case, the poor opponent eats the unblockable damage of 90 (+) and also gets the right kick reversal damage as well. No need to say - this hurts - a lot, and this will usually kill anyone outright, unless they have full energy and are lucky (and if they've been so unlucky up until then.....). The drawback to this move is of course that Heihachi also loses energy. From what I can tell, there's no situation where he loses more than an opponent, but it's never far away. [Headbutt Carnival] A well known trick with Heihachi. On some characters, Heihachi can perform a f,f+1+4 throw. If he can't do the throw against whoever he's against, this motion does nothing. It's the same as a standard f,f+1+2 throw, with one exception - your opponent can reverse it. And you can reverse it back. And so on. It's reversed by pushing buttons. Just about any will do. And it can be reversed until someone stops, or gets KO'd. Heihachi can use the Headbutt Carnival against Kuma, Jin, Heihachi, Lei, Paul (?) and Mokujin (and probably Unknown) mimicing any of those characters. [More Hellsweep strangeness] You might think that logically, Heihachi's hellsweeps would hit not only to the front, but to the side and maybe even the back as well. You'd be wrong though - the hit frames only occur to the front. Anyone standing more than a half a sidestep or so to the side won't get hit by the hellsweeps. And yes Jin's rudimentary hellsweeps work like this as well - to the point where both Heihachi can Jin can be sidethrown out of their hellsweeps (this looks cool). [b+2 in f+1,B+2,4] If you do the B+2 part of the Demon's Lair/Massacre right after the f+1, it can be reversed (despite being a mid hit when used as a standalone move). However if you delay the B+2 even a little bit, it somehow manages to become unreversible. [Demon Hop f,N,d,df,f,uf] It might not look all that strange, but I think that being able to do a jumping mid kick as f,N,d,df,f,uf+3 and getting it to come out quicker than CD+3 is weird, considering the motions involved. [Unblockable 4 in uf+3,4 Hell Axle] Ever been hit by the 4 in uf+3,4 while you could have SWORN you were blocking? There are 3 possible reasons. Reason 1 is that you weren't blocking, and isn't all that exciting or important really. Reason 2 is that the second kick requires active blocking - which means holding B rather than having the controls on N. Reason 3 is that if you press 4 exactly as the uf+3 gets blocked, the 4 kick is unblockable - on Tekken 3, Tekken 3 on PlayStation and TTT in the arcades. This doesn't work on PS2 TTT. It's also quite hard to time. [f,f+3 Vs f,f,N+3] f,f+3 is pretty useless. It's only real redeeming value is that it hits mid. It doesn't tend to knock people down. Sometimes though (on CH obviously) it will. However, f,f.N+3 will always knock down an opponent, even allowing a guaranteed d+1 to be tagged on. Why does this work? No idea. But it does. 10. The Electric Thunder GodFist (ETGF) ETGF is a modified TGF which only Heihachi (and I'm told Devil Jin) has. Unlike EWGF, it doesn't have special properties or a different motion. It happens on very specific occasions, and can arguably be considered a combination of move and taunt (in this case, TGF and Heihachi's 2+3+4 taunt). Concept : the hit sphere. Every move in Tekken has something I like to call a "hit sphere". It's a concept that you're aware of without being told, and doesn't have a name, so unless someone has a better one, I'll stick with hit sphere. It means that when you do a move, it's not only the striking point of the limb used that hits. For example - when you jab (1), you get a small hit sphere around the fist, meaning you can get hit without actually making contact. Generally speaking, the more powerful the move, the larger the area around it that will hit, and therefore the larger the hit sphere. The TGF has a massive hit sphere. Now, you're probably asking - what the hell was all that? If you manage to land a TGF that hits just on the edge of the hit sphere, you'll get an ETGF. This is the only way to get ETGF - f~N~d~df+1 or f~N~d~DF+1 don't make any difference. The most common ways to get ETGF are when you hit a jumping opponent with TGF or an opponent coming out of a techroll (usually to the right). The easiest way to do an ETGF is to go to T3 practice mode, pick Heihachi V anyone, walk right up close to them so you're pushing them back, then backdash 3 times, take a tiny step back, then do f,N,d,df<1. Some FAQs I've seen have mentioned that you sometimes get ETGF when delaying as long as possible or when hitting when as far away as you can. This isn't strictly true, as you can hit ETGF from about a backdash and a half away and without any delay at all. ETGF uses exactly the same frames of animation (19 frames minimum, 4 for the CD, 15 for the TGF) as TGF so there's no benefit from doing it. It takes the same damage off and doesn't change the way an opponent launches from a TGF or lands, unlike EWGF. It's the same CH or nCH. ETGF doesn't, as far as I can tell, work from any ten-hit combos, or from the hell-sweeps, or when doing the Demon Massacre f+1,B+2,1. It does seems to be more common in TTT than T3, although I have no idea why. ETGF should work from any angle relative to your opponent, much like EWGF. As far as I can tell, no other Heihachi move gets the same effect under similar conditions. The final question has to be : do Jin/Kazuya/other Mishima style characters have ETGF? Yes and no. None of them have the ETGF animation (except, again, Devil Jin) but if you hit a TGF using Jin/Kazuya at the edge of the hit sphere, just like Heihachi ETGF, then you'll get a modified TGF which doesn't launch an opponent but instead pushes them back (their back bends backwards as well). Again, no special properties, no different damage. - Thanks I suppose I should thank a big load of people now. Well here goes : Everyone at TTT.com, er, big list coming up, hopefully I won't forget anyone. Order is mostly random : SUPERCOP (why am I thanking you? I don't know), Professor Jumping Jax, ultimateLEE, BarCode, Kimmy Fury, Son_Kazama, aiken, Shao Khan, Baby_Nina, unknowngirl (whoever you are today), karnage, TheAmazingRando, SuLongTong, H2k, Cyberdragon, maureen, Joo, Tagio, abs911, tribaL, EC, Sith, victoria, Monty Burns, sick_boy, suckerkillawang, Triple Lei, KaNE, Blackwind, Cros, FallenAngel, shongo, notkool, RiceDaddy, Som, CopperKidd, Sophita, Judgement Day, Akira, Superstar Keoki (and friends), and seriously - if I forgot you, sorry, you should be there, somewhere. The frame data comes from Zaibatsu. Any site that kindly hosts this FAQ. My college for the amazing lack of facilities, without which I wouldn't have been bored enough to do this. My college again for renting out a shared T3 line, which makes downloading everything incredibly easy and fast and is therefore good. Whoever the hell wrote this cool word processor I'm using, you really do have to see it. You should be able to download it at http://users.skynet.be/hellfire/index.html - it makes wordpad look like a big pile of crap. Adam and Ciaran for loads of various things, including actually playing Tekken. Everyone in WTF, and UAC, Planetarion alliances that kick ass. And everyone in my galaxy in Planetarion as well : we kick ass. Tayto, makers of the greatest crisps on earth. And Pringles, or whoever the hell makes them, for being the 2nd greatest crisps on earth. All you games companies out there - except Acclaim, Accolade, Nintendo and a few others, for reasons I won't go into. Namco for making Tekken, and Soul Calibur as well. You : for reading this FAQ. - Further reading http://www.gamefaqs.com - FAQs live here. The 2 FAQs I most recommend (and no offense to other FAQ writers) are the Heihachi FAQ (Exar Kun) and Notti's Hidden Tekkeniques FAQ. Both were great reference points when writing this FAQ. http://www.tekkentagtournament.com/forum/bbheaven.html - the official TTT.com forum, no moderators anymore, but still going strong. http://www.planetarion.com - nothing to do with Heihachi or Tekken, but one of the best online games ever.