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Tekken 8’sroster has characters of all types, ranging from Special Forces Operators to Martial Arts Masters to bears, making for one of the most varied casts you could ask for in a launch roster of its size and scope. Whether you’re looking to get serious and tackle the Ranked Mode or play more casually, at least one of these characters will speak to your liking.
If you want to become the master of the bears, you have two options: Kuma and Panda. While both play very similarly and share largely the same Move List, there are some minor differences you should be aware of, which is why today’s focus is on the Heihachi-trained Kuma!
Kuma Overview
Despite being arelatively straightforwardcharacter,Kuma can be a tad challenging to pick up for newcomers,as, well, he’s a bear, and trying to figure out how to get in on your opponent as a bear is more complicated than it may seem. Itcan be challenging to wrap your head around his unique Stanceswhen to use them, and how to close the gap.
Overall, Kuma hasexcellent pokes and ways to deal tremendous amounts of chip damageto his opposition, butactually getting in and forcing your opponent to make the wrong move to punish them can be extremely hardto pull off. While you don’t have to be a master of the game to pick Kuma up, you might have to hit the lab a bit to grasp everything he’s capable of.
Whilenot the most beginner-friendly character, newcomers should be fine with picking Kuma upif they are willing tospend some time in Practice Mode to get a handle on his unique skill set.He’s arewarding and fun characterto learn and has arelatively high skill ceiling,meaning you will constantly evolve and grow with him the more you play and get better!
Kuma Important Moves
Now that the initial overview of Kuma is out of the way let’sdive into some of his more crucial movesthat you will beusing more often than the others to begin his offense.Again, Kuma has access to someunique Stances,which we will cover how to enter in the table below, along with how to perform hismost common Launcher and Combo Starters!
d = Down
u = Up
b = Back
f = Forward
★ = Neutral (Don’t Press Anything)
u/f 3
f 1+2, 1+2
u/f 2
b 1
3+4
d 3+4
(While Crouching) 1+2
Kuma enters his Bear Roll Stance.
Please note that thetable above is only the tip of the iceberg.Kuma’scomplete Move List is quite extensiveand is much larger than what’s presented above. If you want to get everything you can out of character, we stronglyrecommend jumping into Practice Mode and learning him more thoroughlythere!
Kuma Combos
With Kuma’s more crucial focuses outlined and covered, we can now move on to thebread and butterof any Tekken guide:combos.Kuma has many exciting ways to begin his offense and carry out combos, making him very expressive in this regard.
Below are several sections that will highlight many combos of Kuma’s ranging fromStandard to Counter Hitones to ones that displayWall Carriesand how to cap things off with aRage Art.There are many combos below that you should practice to get the most out of Kuma in battle!
Kuma Rage Art Combo
Kuma Tips And Tricks
Before closing out this Kuma guide, we wanted to offer afew more tips and tricksto help you wrap your head around playing as a bear. Again, whilegetting in on your opposition as Kuma can be challenging,once you’reup close and personal, you will be dishing out chip damageandcan be a real nuisanceif you play your cards right.
Kuma’sb f 2is aHigh Attackthatdeals tons of chip damage on blockbut also enables him tolaunch into a full combo on contact,making it one of the best moves to toss out once you get in range of your opponent.
Aside from that, hisd/f 1, 2, 1+2is anexcellent string that will keep your opponent in a Block String,having youdeal lots of chip damagein the process.If it connects,you will be rewarded with anatural combo and huge damage,making it an excellent tool to utilize whenever you close the gap!
