Selecting a main in a fighting game is a nightmare. Honestly, it’s a commitment akin to a long-term relationship, and in the world of Tekken 7 game characters, that relationship usually starts with a lie. Most players look at a tier list, see Akuma or Geese Howard sitting at the top, and think, "Yeah, that’s my ticket to the Tekken World Tour." It isn't. Not even close.
Tekken is fundamentally different from Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. It’s a 3D dance of death where a single sidestep can invalidate an entire strategy. Because the roster is so massive—sitting at 54 characters after all the DLC seasons wrapped up—the "best" character is often just the one whose bullshit you don't know how to deal with yet. You've probably been scrub-killed by a Hwoarang player pressing buttons at random, and while it feels unfair, it’s actually the core of the Tekken experience.
✨ Don't miss: Dungeons and Dragons backgrounds: Why your choice matters more than your class
The game is a massive knowledge check.
The Mishima Problem and Why Execution Rules Everything
If you talk to any purist, they’ll tell you that the Mishima family—Kazuya, Heihachi, and Devil Jin—are the only "real" characters. This is elitist nonsense, obviously, but it’s rooted in a very real technical barrier. These characters rely on the Electric Wind God Fist (EWGF). It’s a move that requires a frame-perfect input. If you mess it up, you get a "Wind God Fist," which is punishable and leaves you wide open to lose half your life bar.
Kazuya Mishima is the poster child for this risk-reward loop. He doesn't have a great selection of "pokes" (quick, safe moves to chip away at health). Instead, he relies on forcing a 50/50 guessing game. You’re either going to get hit by a low sweep (Hellsweep) or a mid-hitting strike. It sounds simple, but at a high level, playing Kazuya is like playing poker with your life savings on the line every single round.
Then you have Jin Kazama. People love Jin because he’s the protagonist, but he’s arguably one of the most difficult Tekken 7 game characters to master because he has a tool for every single situation. Having everything sounds like a buff, right? Wrong. It means you have to know exactly which tool to use at exactly the right micro-second. If you hesitate, you’re dead.
The DLC Power Creep was Real (Sorta)
We have to talk about the "Pay to Win" accusations that followed Season 3 and 4. When Leroy Smith dropped, the game basically broke. He had every mechanic: an auto-parry, insane damage, a cane he could use once per match, and some of the easiest execution in the series. At EVO Japan 2020, the Top 8 was almost entirely Leroy players. It was a dark time for the meta.
Bandai Namco eventually reined him in, but the trend continued with Fahkumram and Lidia Sobieska. These characters were designed to feel "modern." Their hitboxes were huge. Their strings were confusing. Even now, Lidia’s political-warrior-karate style is a nightmare to defend against if you haven't spent hours in practice mode specifically recording her moves to learn the gaps.
But here’s the thing: the legacy characters still hold up. Look at players like Rangchu, who won the Tekken World Tour using Panda. Panda. A character widely considered the worst in the game. That’s the beauty of this roster. Character knowledge and player movement will almost always beat out "top tier" stats if the person behind the controller is better.
Understanding the Archetypes
Most people group characters by their country of origin or their role in the story, which is fine for lore nerds, but useless for winning matches. If you want to actually get good, you need to look at how they move.
- The Keep-out Specialists: Characters like Bryan Fury and Jack-7. They want you to stay away. Bryan’s "Fisherman’s Slam" and his iconic "Soccer Kick" (qcb+4) are designed to catch you trying to dash in. He’s a counter-hit machine. If you’re impatient, a Bryan player will eat you alive.
- The Rushdown Monsters: Hwoarang and Nina Williams. They live in your face. Nina’s "Butterfly Loops" and "Hayashida Step" allow her to apply pressure that feels suffocating. If you don't know where the "High" or "Low" hits are in their strings, you'll never even get a chance to press a button.
- The Evasive Weirdos: Ling Xiaoyu and Yoshimitsu. Xiaoyu can go into the "Art of Phoenix" stance, which makes her so low to the ground that mid-level attacks—attacks that should hit anyone—simply fly over her head. It’s infuriating. Yoshimitsu, on the other hand, can literally heal himself, fly, or stab himself through the stomach to hit you. He plays a different game entirely.
The Grappler Myth: King and Armor King
King is the most iconic wrestler in fighting game history. No contest. But beginners often fall into the trap of thinking he’s just about the "Giant Swing" or the "Rolling Cradle." While his chain throws can delete an entire health bar, high-level King play is actually about fundamental mid-range poking.
You see, in Tekken 7, you can "break" throws. If you’re fast enough, you can press the corresponding button to escape the grab. This means a King player can't just rely on gimmick throws against a veteran. They have to use the threat of the throw to make the opponent freeze up, then hit them with a massive mid. Armor King is the darker, more "striking-focused" version of this. He’s got a great wave-dash and better "pokes" than his mentor, making him a favorite for players who want a bit of Mishima flavor with their wrestling.
Why Technical Skill Isn't Everything
You'll see people online complaining about "spammy" characters like Lucky Chloe or Eddy Gordo. These are the "lab characters." If you don't spend time in the "Laboratory" (training mode) learning how to punish their specific animations, you will lose.
Eddy Gordo’s Capoeira style is visually chaotic. He spends a lot of time on the floor. To a new player, it looks like he’s just mashing. But Eddy is actually quite risky to play. Many of his transitions leave him vulnerable if you know which mid-hitting move to use. The same goes for Lucky Chloe. Her damage is actually some of the highest in the game, but her range is pathetic. If you just stay back and wait, she has to take huge risks to get close to you.
The Guest Character Controversy
Tekken 7 was the first time we saw massive crossovers from other franchises. Akuma (Street Fighter), Geese Howard (Fatal Fury), and Noctis (Final Fantasy XV) changed the rules.
Akuma and Geese brought 2D mechanics—like jumping attacks and "meter" for specials—into a 3D world. This caused a massive rift in the community. Being able to launch someone for a full combo because you landed a "jab" (which is common in 2D games but rare in Tekken) felt broken to many. Even today, a high-level Akuma is considered the most dangerous character in the game because he plays by rules that the rest of the Tekken 7 game characters simply don't have access to.
Practical Steps for Choosing Your Main
Don't just pick the coolest looking one. Or do, but be prepared for the consequences. If you want to actually improve your win rate, follow this progression:
- Start with a "Fundamental" character: Paul Phoenix or Kazumi Mishima. Paul has the "Deathfist," which deals massive damage and is easy to do. Kazumi has a very limited move list, which forces you to learn how to move, block, and punish rather than relying on gimmicks.
- Identify your "fun" trigger: Do you like making people miss? Pick Xiaoyu or Zafina. Do you like pressing a million buttons? Pick Hwoarang. Do you want to make people scared to even stand near you? Pick Bryan or King.
- Ignore the Tier Lists: Unless you are in the top 0.1% of players, tiers do not matter. A "C-Tier" Gigas will destroy an "S-Tier" Akuma if the Akuma player can't do the 1-frame links or the Gigas player has better "spacing."
- Learn the "Top 15" moves: Every character has about 100+ moves, but only about 15 of them are actually good. Go to YouTube, search for your character's "Top 15 moves," and ignore the rest of the move list for your first 20 hours of play.
- Focus on Punishment: Tekken is a game of turns. If your opponent hits your block with a heavy move, it is your turn. Learn your character's "10-frame" and "12-frame" punishers. This is the single fastest way to jump from Silver ranks to Gold.
The reality of the Tekken 7 game characters roster is that it’s balanced for the pros but chaotic for the rest of us. The "best" character is the one that makes you want to keep playing after you've lost ten matches in a row. Because in Tekken, you will lose. A lot. The goal isn't to find a character that doesn't lose; it's to find one that makes the climb back up worth the effort.
Most of the frustration comes from not knowing the "strings." If you find yourself getting beaten by a specific move, go into practice mode, select that character, and look at the frame data. Tekken 7 finally added an in-game frame data display (though you have to pay for it, which was a questionable move by Namco). Use it. Once you realize that a move is "-14 on block," that character stops being a "cheap monster" and starts being a target.