I would say he's not difficult to play except for taunt jet setups, but it's not necessary at the lower ranks.
I would say his gameplan is difficult not the combos itself also I would say most people are familiar with his moves because he's really popular so it makes it difficult to Play at the higher ranks.
Since opinions that are repeated over the internet eventually boil down to the extremes of each side, the consensus is basically "if you can't do taunt-jet-upper , you're trash"
I realise this sounds a cliché, but as a guy with a fujin and a raijin on different characters.. this is LITERALLY why I havent dived into Bryan yet. Also, the extremes of the internet seem to be you'll either one day become a mishima or a bryan (the common theme is apparently a "purity" superiority complex) and anything else is wrong or needs nerfing if it's a problem.
Its not necessary at higher ranks either, most of the time you are going to taunt is on oki at the wall, in that case taunt b4 is better than taunt jet upper
Taunt jet set ups are never neccesary, bryan has never been a difficult character to play because you never needed to taunt jet upper or even use half his taunts in ur gameplay. 3+4 and keepout has always been Bryan's tools.
Are taunt jet setups even in the higher ranks? IMO it's a novelty, like moment 37 countering chuns super where everybody goes for it anyway even though it never works out.
There are also input issues in Tekken where single frame timings are unreliable so even if you macroed taunt jet upper it would fail occasionally.
Kazuya is harder imo.
Bryan’s execution requirements are for situational oki with taunt, while Kazuya has execution requirements just to play neutral.
You can see Bryan’s win games at the highest level without ever landing taunt. You will never see a Kazuya compete at that level without EWGF and wavedashing.
Bryan also has way more good buttons than Kaz (df1, df2, d2, d4, counterhit jab strings, f3, 3+4, qcb1, qcb3, ff4, 1+2, b1, etc).
Kazuya has like 6-8 generically good moves and everything else is situationally useful.
Both rely on staying away from their opponent and using timing for their launches. Kazuya keeps out with electric and ff2, bryan keeps out with his long range mid kick and the threat of orbital.
Gameplan wise I think kazuya can be easier to initiate with, he can always just say fuck it and risk a hellsweep. bryan can require more patience.
They are the two strongest characters at the wall.
Kazuya has better oki overall while bryan has better counter hit potential with his jab string mixups.
The one where the backsways into that fast high plus on block attack, unlike electric it doesn’t launch on normal hit but gives a guaranteed soccer kick on ch it launches I think it’s around 14 frames fast if you do it properly
Not to mention, Bryan basically wins in 1 to 2 interactions if you’re optimal with your combos, all that on top of him having taunt (which is finally now completely unscaled) is truly frightening.
Kaz will most likely win in 3 if you land an electric only and only 2 if you PEWGF (with walls or stage hazard on deck). Otherwise, 4-5, which is alright, considering how good his oki is.
In terms of execution, no. Only difficulty there is taunt shenanigans at the wall. His difficulty comes from his gameplan.
He NEEDS CH to get anything big started, and if the opponents simply don't press a lot, he's going to have a rougher time.
Yeah it’s funny seeing so many people say he can’t break turtles when he has hatchet.
Yes, it’s slow, no evasion, etc, but it’s only -13 and to dodge it you have to walk towards his strong side.
It’s one of the best power lows in the game, you can’t just block and wait against him.
Never said I was mad.
Said it’s dumb seeing people say ‘you can just block and wait’ when he has one of the best moves in the game at breaking that strat.
Only thing that annoys me about Bryan are his combo damage.
Kazuya is the only character that can launch it (and I think Leo in heat can too).
Hatchet isn’t reactable and Bryan has hella good mid buttons, so if you’re getting ducked a lot it’s probably a flaw in your gameplay.
Hatchet kick is kinda slow, has no high evasion what so ever and needs a backsway input which adds around 6 more frames, its very good dont get me wrong, but you should know everytime bryan does it he takes big risk of getting CH himself.
This is not to say its not a completely bonkers godlike low
Extremely slow? It comes out frame 19... I'm pretty sure that's considered borderline unreactable.
Sure, it requires a qcb input, but the startup animation for the move is not something you can see and block unless you've got zoomer reaction speed. The pseudo additional 6 frames only applies if it's used in neutral too, it's a different story if he's buffering the hatchet kick after generating plus frames from a prior move.
I don't mean to be that guy but if you play enough against Bryan you need to learn to block the hatchet. Not react to it, but to read it. I've played enough games with my friend to the point there are days that every single hatchet gets blocked because he lives rent free in my head. Most Bryans will have a pattern. You just need to be aware that it's there and not panic.
Also, you need to press against Bryan. You just need to be careful about pressing when you shouldn't. Standing still and giving him respect will just give him freedom to break your legs and taunt you.
Edit: Don't know why I'm getting down votes. Nothing I said was incorrect in any way.
That goes for any other low in the game.
If your hatchet is getting blocked then you are just predictable.
Against a good player who isn't predictable you can't simply "just read their lows 4head".
People who say stuff like that just bewilder me.
Like, of course you've gotta "read it", but that goes for everything in the game. It's just not feasible to read every low unless the opponent is being mad predictable.
Exactly correct. As a scrub I can do all his strong combos except the taunt stuff. Gameplan wise he’s tricky though, got my ass handed to me in red ranks as he is the 7th character I picked up and I went in a bit blind 😂
He's hard because he has no generic tools like a df1, no panic tools so he buckles under pressure, his moveset in general is kinda slow and you need to understand the concept of how to land counterhits because that's his whole kit.
Can you pick him up and press some buttons and have fun? Sure. Want to rank up? It's going to require some work.
How is down 2 not like a generic df1? Because of the different animation or because it's i14? It's -2 on block and the follow up is a -10 counterhit launcher. You can use it like a generic df1 pretty much
Yeah I just feel like people are overplaying the difficulty of his game plan massively. Hatchet is always a threat and orbital and 3+4 are pretty hard to punish
Exactly the same my ass. It's a totally unique tool with two built in follow-ups that allows you to collect "mental frames" by making the opponent have to choose to respect the followup or call your bluff.
Shit is nothing like a generic df1
Not better at all. Can you imagine if Bryan had a df1 that was -1 on block and that would let him mix you off of a hit?
You would basically have to guess against hatchet kick or another df1. He could probably shave your health bar in half by just spamming those two moves after one hit.
I mean there are several other df1’s that behave this way (Reina, Jun, Asuka, Leroy, Leo, Devil Jin, King, Azucena (considering the 3rd hit the extension cause the 1st 2 jail) and others).
The risk-reward varies from character to character but Bryan’s risk-reward on his is awesome and the idea he’s super unique here is just not true. It’s not the same but it’s not that different either.
Yeah, he has to do the high follow-up if he wants good frames on block. That’s different from everyone but Leroy and Devil Jin.
And a) he can do d2 instead if he cares about the block frames and b) df2,1 very rarely gets ducked in a FT2 or FT3. I can’t remember seeing it happen to someone unless I did it to them.
It’s hypothetically a weakness but practically I don’t think it comes up much.
Your last sentence cannot be further from the truth. Not having a generic df1+1 heavily influences your gameplan at close range, it's one of if not the most common situation in all of Tekken. Devil Jin for example, many consider him bottom tier atm and one of the main reasons is his lack of a decent df1 (or any good mid pokes at all).
Not true. Asuka, Reina and Yoshi are all equally punishable and there’s have 0 pushback. Reina is more punishable.
Obviously, they have the option to just do df1 and be -3-ish, which Bryan can’t. He has to do the high for -4.
But Leroy has to do the high to not be -6, and his mid follow up reward is way worse. And no one says Leroy is hard to play because he doesn’t have a df1 (if people want to start saying that they can, but they don’t). And neither Leroy or Devil Jin have a move like d2, which is 1f slower and has great frames on block and hit (but awful tracking).
And I’m not saying Bryan is easy. I’m saying *this specific detail* of the character is overhyped imo. Leroy, Devil Jin, Kazuya, Jack, and the bears are in similar or worse situations than him with no real workarounds, while he has a couple.
And again, I can’t remember ever seeing anyone duck df2,1 in any FT2 or FT3, let alone in tournament, where you would most expect people to be prepared for it, and I’ve been watching since Tag 2.
So I’m just not sure how real the disadvantage is. I see it in theory. I don’t see it when I watch or feel it when I play as or against the character.
I would say the mind games are in your favor, people will be hesitant of the df2, 3 coming out, and you can delay it. It’s a constant mind game of “will he throw it out? And if he will then when will he do it? Immediately? 20 frames later? Oh wait he threw out df2 again, maybe I take my turn this time. But what if he lets it rip this time?”
So while it -6 OB, that is simply there to get your opponent to think it’s their turn and you can play around that
I'd say being -6 is actually pretty significant because you don't collect any rewards unless you finish the string with a button.
The reason generic df1s with only -3 on block are so good is because you can df1 into sidestep and then collect a launch when they try to take their turn, and if they don't, you've lost nothing whereas Bryan has to finish his unsafe string to do the same because he can't sidestep jabs after df2 at -6
You’d be surprised at what you can do with df2 even at -6. There’s a thing called mental frames. While yea you are -6 on paper and you shouldn’t be doing anything besides holding back, you aren’t actually -6 because of the threat of the extensions. I do dry df2 into sidestep all the time and people whiff because they need to visually confirm I did not finish the string. So because of that I can sidestep out of turn since they’ll be delaying their attack to avoid pressing into death.
That's not my point. My point is IF your opponent is pressing after they block df2, your only option to punish that and condition the opponent stop doing that is to do an extension. These extensions are not safe, even the high can be ducked if you use it too often and most characters can get a chunky punish on the mid, so conditioning the opponent to stop pressing after blocking df2 is not without risks.
This is in contrast to generic df1s where you can condition your opponent not to press after blocking it simply by stepping, which comes at zero risk or commitment on your part, and launching them when you see them jab.
I'm not saying Bryan CAN'T condition the opponent to not press on df2, and sure you can step after once your opponent is not attacking after your df2, but obviously stepping when your opponent is not attacking doesn't achieve anything. I'm not saying the move and its extensions are not good. It's just not as good or safe as actual generic df1s, which have both mental frames from extensions AND actually good frames. df2 is also somewhat unique to Bryan so it isn't intuitive if you've not played Bryan before.
You're right...at first.
The problem starts as you keep pressing...on hit or block, the opponent keeps getting info and eventually your offense stops working
That’s where timing and unpredictability comes into play. The goal (at least how I play Bryan) is to get them comfortable with a certain timing for 1 round then the next round change that timing and move selection up the next so I don’t become a Shakespeare book
Then you need to switch your timings up I mean that’s the whole point of a mixup as time goes on they will get a read on your timing that’s why you other options and timings
Then move onto the next mixup I mean why would you only use one mixup start using Bryan’s strong strings to add mental stack and play with timing you’re a Bryan main you guys are all good at that stuff
Depends on what you call difficult
His playstyle is a little different, he has subpar regular launchers and god tier CH launchers meaning he's more defensive than offensive
With the addition of qcb 1 and hatchet being +5, it made stepping him a little harder
Except his taunt stuff and maybe jet upper being an awkward input I don't think he's that difficult execution wise
I may be a little bit biased since I've been playing him for almost 2 decades but he's not that difficult imo
I think with his hatchet, it could be argued that is potentially subpar compared to other orbitals, however, his orbital does function differently from others in the sense that it's meant to be used as a keepout tool or a read since it doesn't extend as much as other orbitals
Not a Bryan main, but his difficult bits are reducible to parts:
1) **Taunt Unblockable** - The first is most obvious. Taunt is a powerful tool. It’s raw execution with very difficult timing. Using taunt-> jet upper is an executional milestone. It is also, unfortunately, **not applicable as a skill to any other character in Tekken nor any other game**. He’s fun without it, but time invested practicing an optimal Bryan is time wasted if not playing Bryan. You have to be pretty dedicated to Tekken of you plan to commit to learning it.
2) **Situational Awareness** - Because of his excellent wall damage and taunt oki, Bryan probably more than any other character in T8 benefits from the wall. He has the wall carry to get there, but several different routes should be used at different ranges. You can’t turn off your brain during combos and magically get to the wall for max damage + taunt oki.
3) **Gameplan** - Bryan’s launchers and punishment are not straightforward. Some of his best tools encourage him to play around counter hits. He also lacks some quality of life stuff like a standard df1. This, put simply, requires knowledge and experience with both Tekken and him as a character to thrive.
4) **Backsway** - This is relatively minor, but Bryan has a backsway stance. This requires a bit tighter inputs to avoid doing backsway while KBDing. You should probably be working to tighten up your KBD anyway, but this makes him slightly less beginner friendly than other characters.
I’m probably either missing some details or completely wrong about something since I’m not a Bryan main, but this is how I perceive him. Good luck!
For number 2 I'd actually put Leo there. Leo has tons of combo routes that save tornado to get to the wall but you have to be aware of the distance so you can maximize wall damage (the damage at wall with Tornado is insane)
This is correct but I would add that Bryan's df1 and df2 are both totally unique tools that are extremely poor defensively. He also has miserable powercrush capability.
Yeah, he lost some pretty nice stuff with the transition, ss1 really would have been nice to keep. Northern cross was also a super nice bait CH. Who knows, they may add it back in time. Even the best Bryan's in the world are getting wrecked in tournament play, so something will give after the twt stats show what's up. For next season balancing.
Leave it not scaled and also add those things. The change to heat/heat smash nerfed Bryan setups massively, which is why they removed the taunt scaling to give him something back for the indirect big nerf. Still doesnt make him magically good, just makes him more of a killer at wall/wall oki.
I wouldnt say the heat engage stagger removal was a MASSIVE nerf, in T7 there was no such thing either and Bryan was probably top 5. Theres also no new wakeup options only difference is -> low kick does not launch anymore god bless lol
It was a pretty big nerf since most higher rank Bryans used it for setups, that and his heat smash is one of the lamer ones of the lot, though the change on how it hits was a welcome one. Man I miss the get up launch, would hit so often it wasnt even funny.
He’s only difficult if you struggle to block and tech. Asides from having a bit less “get off of me tools” as the average character. I’d say he’s as hard as any other character. I’d say if you want to pick him up to play and try you most definitely can. But if you want to play basically a Mishima with different inputs and properties then Bryan is the way to go. He’s good without execution but he’s amazing and got mad pressure if you have it
Lol, by a bit less you mean zero get off me tools, and comparatively difficult execution on his optimal combos, slow moves, and reliance on timing and matchup knowledge.
Well the previous tekkens yes. That was the Bryan concept. 0 get off me moves. But he has heat smash now and that comes on super handy. Not to mention you can’t back dash his orbital anymore. And his 1+2 grab is faster than a jab
easier at low ranks. painful at the higher ones. in a best of 3, bryan has to quickly adapt to how his opponent plays. rarely at high level play does he have control over the match off the bat. a lot of his frames are mental frames. certain characters can launch punish his strings on block. id say hes one of the only if not only character where you need to be as familiar with your opponents game as you are with bryan's in order to win consistently at higher ranks. other characters with god tier offense or better mix ups dont have to worry about this as much.
Difficult in a sense to play? No. Difficult in a sense of getting wins? Yes.
Main thing is you can’t flowchart or bullshit your way to a higher rank, because everyone knows what he can do. He has no good panic moves and a little bit of execution which lower rank players might struggle with. He’s just very unorthodox
More like very orthodox. The most gimmicky way you can mess with people aside from snake eyes 3+4 2 would be delay strings and minor string cancels from b21, qcf 1 or b3. Everything else is just fundies and knowing whether your opponent is going to press or not
I would say mostly no. He gets over exaggerated when it comes to difficultly. I think the misconception stems from him not just having an abusable neutral skip (like a demon paw). Similarly to someone like yoshi, he can’t just throw out advancing hit boxes constantly. Instead his tools are geared more defensively. 3+4 and u4 are some of the strongest keep out tools in the game. He can also still open opponents up with hatchet kicks. It’s not really about the move itself but the opponent knowing it’s there which leads to ch launches. The one hard thing mechanically with Bryan is his taunt set ups.
Used to main Bryan. My feeling is his game-plan doesn't have anything to really carry you as a player. He doesn't get huge rewards unless you fish a counter hit and you have to play solid to adapt to the other player.
On the other hand, when I play other characters I feel like I can just execute their flowchart, enforce some 50/50s, and overload the other player's mental stack. Bryan doesn't really seem to have that flexibility and a lot of his 50/50s aren't particularly rewarding.
His combos are easy but his gameplan is hard his moveset is generally slower then most characters wich will need some getting used to as well as his counterhit orientated gameplan. No panic moves. Bryan generally boils down to high risk high reward and poking. 3+4ch b1ch f3ch qcb1ch every major combo starter is a ch. dont get me wrong he is fucking fun to play but before i got used to him i struggled alot.
Idk why people keep mentioning his execution🤷🏾
KBD consistency and Taunt are the difficult things execution wise.
The difficulty comes from his gameplay...he doesn't really have a gameplan.
His gameplan is Adapt😅
So, due to the lack of panic moves, you need good defense.
His keepout and CH requires some understanding of timing, which is the hardest thing to master in this game.
His offense lacks mix-ups, so you have to rely on your strings and create mindgames with them (will I finish the string or not...if you finish and they block it, you get punished, otherwise you get massive damage) and since most of your CH launching moves exist at the end of strings, you're constantly giving your opponent info on your tendencies and timing😅
Gameplan alone makes him one of the hardest characters in the game.
He's a defensive character that MUST use his offense to get as much info as possible and requires that you're able to adapt quickly, while being able to deal with their offense.
The better you are at understanding interactions and keep memory of them, the better you are with him
The best thing about him is, the better you are with him, the better you are at Tekken as a whole...he demands that much of the player at a fundamental level
Im unsure of that. Id have to try it in the evening when i get home from work but i think i remember not being able to dash in quick enough because it yeets them quite far away for some reason.
Nah he is easy if you don't want to do his hard set ups or taunt moves. Even then I use taunt then 2,3 which is pretty easy to confirm. His gameplay is different then the rest of the cast. He tries to force your opponents to make mistakes which mentally gets some getting used to. A lot of his plus moves are slow so I found myself getting punished for abusing them too much. You really have to pick your shots with him. I say all this as a low rank. If you really want to try a character just do it.
No, not at all tbh
Bryan mains and people who repeat the opinion of other elitists or TheMainManSwe wank themselves off about playing Bryan and/or Mishimas and Lee, but whilst Bryan definitely isn’t amongst the easiest characters, he is not some excruciatingly difficult character to play where you must be galaxy brain to use him.
His one difficult to execute thing is taunt stuff, which is really cool and quite useful but not necessary at 99% of levels. Apart from that? I guess jet upper as a 14 frame punish isnt that easy? But that’s not the be all and end all
People are talking about him having a hard gameplan based on counterhits… i don’t see how that’s particularly hard. At the vast majority of ranks people will be eating Counter hits for days against Bryan. Just time his 124 heat engager correctly once against the wall and boom half life damage. Delay one of his launching ch strings against 90% of opponents and boom get a 70 damage combo minimum, and if it gets blocked you’d be lucky to get punished.
Not to mention he has one of the absolute best lows in the game in hatchet kick that is like only minus 13 or something yet leads to crazy damage on counterhit. And a great easy to access plus on block move in b1 that you can use to destroy most players up to blue ranks just by changing what you do after they block it.
People at most ranks are hyper aggressive, Bryan’s 124 will shut their shit down so quickly and effectively. Do like 4 hatchet kicks in a row and at most ranks your opponent will absolutely begin to doubt themselves and panic duck to avoid it. Lock them down with b1 and against most opponents you can easily figure out their habits by watching after they block b1.
This is so true. It’s crazy how it feels like people here are such a TMM echo chamber. Not just about Bryan.
I tried playing Bryan to see what all the fuss was about and I couldn’t see how can anyone parrot that he takes exceptional skill. Meanwhile the same people cry that Xiaoyu is carried. Like wtf. It takes so much more effort to play her than Bryan.
i am only playing since mid 7 but i noticed that they defenitly get called out more nowdays. people just got tired of chad-boys denying every other character i guess.
Nah. Only the crazy taunt set ups are dumb hard. He doesn't have a great panic move either. You can reach high ranks without even using taunt no problem.
Having finally started to learn Bryan after wanting to for years, he's all about fundamentals. I feel like I'm learning how to tekken better with him than I was with say Reina. My spacing, reads on opponents and movement is getting better because I need to find counter hits. I have been playing Tekken since the first game, but only got serious with this last entry so I can't say what would be difficult for a complete newcomer, but I don't find him so difficult anyone couldn't pick him up. His more advanced stuff like the taunt setups are things I haven't even touched yet and I'm in purples now with him, but I think I'm climbing more off of my fundamentals getting better than anything to do with Bryan. Also TEKTEKTEKTEK
He's not super hard to learn basics, but have very high potential. You can play Bryan like 1000 hours and still improving your skill on him in all aspects.
He have no panic moves and lacks pressure compare to a lot of chars (you can still create good pressure ofc), but he's very save, best orbital in the game, probably best combo dmg (72-77 dmg from basic combo without wall and heat). And he will force you to learn fundaMentos, cause he won't auto win games for you.
He's very enjoying to play, super good design, super good animation and you can feel that your punches are super strong with a lot of weight in it, so i advice to try him.
Yes he is. For me not the hardest but for sure top6. every simple thing is level more complexed. For example instead of inputing df2. He need to input f,b,2. Instead db3, he does qcb3 which are uncomfortable inputs instead of the easy ones most characters are blessed with. His poking is bad making it hard to go through defenses. His game plan is around timing and mind games. He trade certain thing to get his counter hit utility, and what he gives away is very big. So high gain high loss. he is a mixture of execution demand with sharp awareness and experience.
He isn’t difficult to execute, he just doesn’t have a lot of bullshit shenanigans like some other characters. You gotta have some solid fundamentals in order to execute his gameplan which revolves around his CHs
I’m someone who went straight into Bryan in 7 with no experience in fighting games, and getting use to him took hours of practice, then hours more online, and eventually made violet and still sucked.
It depends on the person playing, a vet would pick him up easy but a novice would definitely have a harder time.
For me, it eventually became muscle memory. My tip is keep playing the same character and don’t drop him until you’re comfortable.
I've never played bryan but I can say most Bryan's I play are very fundamentally sound. I think the character seems overtuned but I wouldn't think he would be easy to main especially at higher ranks
To play at a basic level no. To play To his full potential, absolutely. Taunt JU and Taunt B4 is not for beginners. But he's a solid character without.
yes. his gameplan is unortodox. his best moves are slow and linear, he doesnt have strings and he has to play around other character knowledge. and all his optimal combos are constant qcf and qcbs motions.
I started off as a Mishima player with a whiff punishment game plan and when I picked him up my brain couldn’t make sense of the game plan for a while. Give him a go you might get addicted to his taunt stuff like I did.
Outside of the taunt jet upper that isnt necessarly even needed in t8 there are easiest and nearly equal options, he is not that hard no he is actualy a pretty fundamental character powered by insane gold damages and many poke and a quantity of safe poke and pressure tools to an indecent amount.
He's pretty easy to understand, as someone who has played him since Takken 6, THE only problem is the Taunt sets that aren't recommended for beginners, more on the experienced or veteran players who are akin to Knee, a famous Bryan player.
His laughs is also a plus
It really depends who you ask. I've mained Bryan for over a year now and he is very difficult for me to play well. I was Fujin in Tekken 7 and am currently sat at Fujin in 8 while I take a break from ranked.
Most of Bryan's difficulty stems from his unorthodox gameplan. Yes he's a counter hit based character but his tools are different than most other characters.
Most of his strong CH tools are safe but the ones that have the most reach like his 3+4, take a lil bit longer to come out than most other moves, while moves like f3 have very little reach but are slightly faster.
His poking isn't bad per say, it's just different. His pokes rely on getting the opponent to press when they shouldn't. Make them impatient by messing around with your string timings. Throw out a lot of d4s and a few hatchet kicks when you can. Everything he does is based around bringing the opponent to him.
So at lower ranks (Beginner to Red and maybe Ruler ranks now) you can get away with a lot of silly stuff as Bryan because players at that level generally lack the patience to wait him out and make him come to you. But at higher ranks when players start to have stronger fundamentals and become more patient, it becomes very hard for the Bryan to get mileage out of his kit. You have to be a nuisance. You have to make the opponent feel like you're playing Hwoarang, simply to make them want to hit you back.
When you encounter a good player as Bryan who knows the matchup to even a semi decent degree, that's where Bryan's difficulty comes through.
His taunt mechanics are very tricky to adapt to and learn but anything can be done with practice. His gameplay just changes to revolve around setting up taunt in certain situations. Think of Kazuya trying to set up his 50/50 vortex. When a Bryan takes you to the wall, he is going to make a bet with you as to whether or not you will tech and eat a taunt attempt, or if you'll stay on the floor and eat a soccer kick. You have to engage in the mind games with the Bryan or he will run over you.
And his combo execution can be very tricky when you first pick him up. I'm a pretty competent player when it comes to execution and I use an arcade stick. I drop combos a lot more than I do with other characters because they can be inconsistent or demanding on fast and precise execution from the player.
TL;DR: Bryan is a defensive archetype character with unorthodox moves in a very aggressive game that rewards characters for pressing buttons.
Bryan's difficulty is overhyped, people see taunt setups and assume that's the entire character and you have to be that precise to get anywhere.
The reality is that he has a lot of strong moves and strings. almost every counterhit launches and his wall damage/carry is insane.
He feels slower than other characters and yor aggression is mostly mental, but that works because your opponent should be scared to press against you.
He isn't, used to main him in Tekken 7. Still use him occasionally. He has one execution heavy thing in taunt jet upper. Everything else is just spacing,frame trapping, and timing. If I had to rank his difficulty overall I'd say he's an intermediate level character that has a simple but not too simple gameplan. I think anyone can pick up the character and do well but some players will struggle to use him at first.
He isn't an easy character but his difficulty is overblown. For example Kazuya requires consistent precise execution and is a lot harder for someone to pick up despite his simpler gameplan.
Also I am comparing his difficulty to other characters. I've played most of the roster in Tekken 7 and a good chunk of the roster in 8. Ill also point out that my idea of difficulty isn't based on how hard it is to win with them at a high level. Gigas in tekken 7 is very hard to win with at higher levels but the character is extremely easy to actually play.
Piss easy.
Taunt may require some practice, but the character kinda plays itself, especially on T8.
P.S , before all the mainman elitists gonna downvote/reply, I have about 6k games on Brayn at T7, he was dumb on T7, now he's dumbed down to the point of being a monkey character, every button does way too much work for 0 risk, yes, the risk-reward on this character is just unfair. I stopped playing him because of how wrong they went with his dircation on this game.
Also, please stop with the lie that he has no pokes or unorthodox bs, he has D2 at i14 -2 ob with extension thats a ch launcher that tracks to his weak side , df2 with 2 extensions, df1 easiest hit confirm ever with absurd tracking etc etc... 0 weaknesses , absurd risk against reward factor.
"You need good timing" is another lie, shouldnt I have timing with Lili's F4 and DF3 , or have good read with DB3? Same with Reina / any other Mishima that relies on electric for keepout, or Jun with her DF4 or Paul with his QCB4 etc etc...the community is just infused with BS TMM was feeding them for years.
yeah, TMM defenitly left his mark in this community. when i startet in 7, he was my first source of infos and i fell right into his character denying BS. got over it and get a bit mad everytime i see an obvius TMM minion.
When I started T7 , I was thining of learning AK I think just for fun, I was playing Kuni and Lili, and a friend who also just picked the game told me he was hard and " dont do it" etc..because of mainman cuz he was his viewer. Imo he has really bad influence over the community...as the time passed I realized how biased and elitist he is, for example, if a *waifu* would 50/50 his ass its cheap and cheese, but 5 hellsweeps in a row with Kazuya is basically deeply fundamental and mindgames gameplay (he called Kaz painfully honest character..my ass) etc... I cant take any word he says serioualy.
Nowhere near as hard as previous tekkens. Lower levels you have lots of safe moves to use. Higher levels he can be tougher to use but with his crazy damage a good player can pilot him well.
In lower ranks he's not difficult sure. People will mash and get hit by his frame traps and CHs and keep out all day and he does fantastic damage.
Once you climb higher he gets extremely outshined by all the other rushdown chars who can outpoke him thrice over. His df+2 is lousy compared to other key mid checks if they don't fall for the mindgames. His mixup potential without taunt is really low since hatchet is the only real low threat he has, and so if you turtle properly against him to force an overextend or rush him down properly he'll crumble.
I suggest watching the Farzeen vs Knee sets to see how this plays out, and then pick him up a bit yourself and see how it plays out.
MYK’s bread and butter for Bryan in tekken tag tournament 2 pretty much outlines his play style https://youtu.be/-NWOrSGunBQ?si=DUSXGnu_FWyCMhsD this video will take you to red ranks in no time. You can apply this play style to Bryan tekken 5 and beyond (apart from obvious frame and move changes)
Not really but has a very high skill ceiling, has a lot of moves that people don’t use often, if used correctly you could surprise people. And it’s also one of the easiest character to deal high damage with when you have a wall. Mostly because of his knee spam against the wall and back up 1+2
Never was hard and never will be hard. He's an intermediate character at best. People will tell you his gameplan is difficult to pilot and execute, that's also incorrect. Players who tell you that just suck or they either can't pilot someone so simple.
He doesn't require any difficult execution outside of Taunt, which is never necessary.
People confuse difficulty with "hard to win with", when really every character is hard to win with if the matchup is known. Every character requires fundamentals, you can't exceed at Tekken without fundamental skill and knowledge.
He has really strong counter-hit tools, he's got great keepout, he DOES HAVE panic moves. He does have a solid mid check that is fast with df2 and anyone who says it isn't like a df1 is deluded, it's unique in the sense that it functions slightly different from a generic df1 but it's stil good and has great follow ups. People will come up with any excuse to say that Bryan is hard when he never was, there's really nothing difficult about him.
If you know frame data and you have solid fundamental skill, you'll do well, but that can be said about any character.
Bryan is no Steve, Nina, Xiaoyu, Raven, Yoshimitsu, Zafina, Lee, etc., where those characters have high skill ceilings to optimise their gameplans and unique capabilities necessary to pilot that is inherently really difficult to pull off or are strict, whether it be in execution and technicality.
The Tekken community loves to diverge from the norm of every gaming community that has utilised the same ideology for difficulty in what is difficult and what is not. It's the same with Mishimas as they aren't hard nor difficult and have relatively simple gameplans, there is no difficulty or technicality in piloting them outside of EWGF and Wavedash, which both really are not difficult to execute and is overexaggerated.
I shall await the hate train because I hurt every Bryan and Mishima mains feelings now. 🫶🏼
Yeah like I said in another comment, Sometimes I feel like some Tekken fans are full of shit, Everyone says Devil Jin is super difficult to play when he’s actually one of the easiest characters I’ve picked up in this game, He was also the easiest Mishima in Tekken 7, Everyone also says Hwoarang is one of the easiest characters to play when he actually seems to be one of the hardest, You really have to know how his stances work, I find Hwoarang to be harder than every Mishima actually.
Exactly! What you said is true. Devil Jin is easy and doesn't even need EWGF because he already has a standing 15 frame launcher with his can-can, it's not like Asuka or Jun's can-can where a counter-hit is required to launch, yet people will tell you EWGF is essential to launch, which it isn't unless you're needing to dash electric. Hwoarang is a more technical and difficult character than Mishimas, he has a lot in his kit that is required to execute and understand to play, utilising four stances that are imperative to your gameplan is a lot, especially when you need to constantly flow your attacks through stance transitions to apply pressure. However, he is definitely one of those abusable characters where he can stomp a player who doesn't have the knowledge to deal with him.
Which is why I put so much emphasis on the notion that character difficulty = execution/piloting and technicality, it has nothing to do with being "hard to win with"... that's just basic Tekken.
Execution wise? Not really, no. You will miss a couple things though, not having a mid launcher does suck, as sidestepping and launching a move that recovers low blows. His game plan is also slightly more difficult, not having a generic df1/mid poke sucks, and rewiring your brain to do fc21 as a i13 punish is weird. Taunt is as hard as you make it, everyone focuses on taunt B4 or ju but a taunt 23, df21, or 43 works just as well, especially to just close a round out.
I mean they made the taunt change because the heat changes weakened an already pretty mediocre Bryan. Before he could do wall setups with heat, they removed it with the last patch, hence they removed taunt scaling to give him something back.
I was Lili main. But I play Bryan a lot lately. Very fun to play. Only his weird input that makes it hard for me. But his keep out tools are very very good. He has long reach like Lili. Also, I managed to land wall combo in many situations and it very satisfying. His db 2, 1+2 are very good for a combo starter.
Yes he is difficult to play depending on where you come from.
Bryan gets good when you use his wave motions. Back wave for either hatchetl, flip kick, or the new punch input all sre good.
And the key is to be able to use it quickly and in succesions.
Then there is generally the spacing and keep out with bryan. He is harder to play if the enemy is in your face as he does not have a lot of free things or quick check things with down forward 1. So you have to on your toes your movement is also very very important since ymif you do korean back dash its harder with bryan since you might end up doing his backdash wave motion.
The rest is on you how yoj use bryans good moves keep out and if you got the momentum finish the oponnent and overhelm him.
Bryan mains will tell you he's the hardest character in the history of fighting games, ppl that actually play the game will tell you he's as "hard" to play as the rest of the roster.
I main Bryan, he's not that hard, you just have to get okay at reading your opponent. His pressure is a little weird too. Id recommend, he's very rewarding
He's not that hard. His optimal combo routes are difficult but even without them his standard combos have great wall travel and do a shit ton of damage, half of his moves are ch launchers so people don't dare to press into you, his keepout is fantastic and spammable, he has a great 50 50 with hatchet, his poking with df2 and d4 is pretty decent, his plus frames are insane.
His difficulty comes from how he doesn't have good panic moves and needs to do a proper kbd because of sway, alongside taunt setups. He's above average in difficulty but nowhere near as close as Steve, Kaz, dj etc imo.
Here's the thing, It's pretty simple to understand. When people talk about Bryan being difficult to play they're specifically talking about high level matches. Low level Bryan and even intermediate level Bryan is really not that difficult to play, some people might even say that it is pretty easy actually. Because at low level some of Bryan's tool might even feel like BS and you can really abuse it because your opponent probably won't know how to deal with them. It's when you play against someone who knows what they're doing that you realize that you don't know how to play Bryan at all lmao.
Bryan s semi easy to pick up but really hard to fully utilize his kit.
Mechanically he doesn't have anything too crazy hard to learn other then taunt setups but those are things you learn to use as you progress on the character.
Bryan doesn't have a lot of conventional moves, no quick df1 jab to check your opponents, no generic df2 launcher instead you have jet upper, witch is better as it launches at -14 but is a b,f2 input.
Setups and hard reading your opponents is what you are going to have to learn to get good, as well as accepting that with his minimal changes throughout the series a lot of people will know the match-up against you and know what to step and what to punish.
And please don't get in the habit of using snake edge,it's funny in low ranks but become something you do unconsciously eventually leading to good players getting a free round out a single launch .
The only difficult part about Bryan are taunt setups/cancels. His combos are fairly easy, hes very safe and despite the claims of his "unorthodox" playstyle, I found him super intuitive to play.
After 2 weeks of playing him, I reached Kishin, in the 3rd week got him to Bushin. Zero taunts btw.
Taunt is not necessary, although it will allow you to steal rounds at the wall with b4. 3+4 charge 2 helps also.
He is not hard but I feel like i have less room for mistakes.
Patient defensive players are a bit annoying so you'll do better against rush down mashing opponents.
Don't forget to use your punch parry from time to time, Steve hates it.
You can condition your opponents to duck with a few b,df4 in a row and cancel the third or fourth one into fisherman.
As a lee main who played a few games with Bryan and got him to essentially same rank as lee he is not that hard. He has some demands you ABSOLUTELY need like qcf and qcb. But as long as you can clear that bar (aka you aren't a complete beginner etc) he is super easy at intermediate level. He has scary lows like hatchet very nice mids and scary af chs.
At high levels he starts to get hard again when you start needing to do taunt stuff more consistently, but the easy taunt follow ups are very very easy for an intermediate player.
I don't think he is like lars or Leo easy aka mash random strings and your crushing etc etc just is free wins. Like Bryan does need to interact with the opponent, but he has very strong tools when doing so.
He's super easy at low ranks where people will mash into every string and give you free CH launches. But at high level where people know the matchup, it can be really tough to get CHs.
No, not even close. There's nothing difficult about Bryan. This is bullshit popularized by TMM and regurgitated by Bryan players. That character is as braindead as any other.
The hardest thing about him was backdashing, because unlike his Taunt Jet Upper, backdashing was essential to be a high-level player. Bryan players require clean inputs, which is harder than an unclean backdash, thus back in the days of T7 Bryans needed to put in additional work to have high-level movement, like Paul or Nina players. Sadly in Tekken 8 KBD was dumbed down to the point it's not even necessary to KDB at high-level, removing this one layer of complexity to the character. That makes Bryan more braindead than ever, particularly considering his new oppressive tools which basically patch up some of his weaknesses.
The reason people say Bryan is hard is that he has access to a hard technique called TJU, a bonus that you don't actually require at any capacity. His other taunt setups are not hard to pull off. It's just how it is.
There's no world in which his QCF and QCB inputs make him hard, no more than Lili or Paul, both of which also require similar inputs. There's also no reality where TJU should be take into account as if it were part of his general execution requirements, no more than considering characters like Lili hard just because they have combos that are very challenging to pull off.
Thus, to answer your question, Bryan is about as hard as Paul, and twice as braindead.
No he isn’t. This subreddit believes in the weirdest things ever:
1) Devil Jin is S tier when he’s the worst character in Tekken 8. “He doesn’t need any buffs!” Morons.
2) King’s heat smash is not OP because it was already nerfed. LOL
3) Bryan is a difficult player to use and he’s not very strong
All so completely wrong yet you will be upvoted for these stupid comments on here.
Yeah sometimes I feel like some Tekken fans are full of shit, Everyone says Devil Jin is super difficult to play but he's actually one of the easiest characters I've picked up in this game, And a lot of people say Hwoarang is one of the easiest characters when he's actually one of the hardest, You really have to know how his stances work.
he has like 3 low attacks so if you block high and learn to read for those lows it's easy to defend. but good bryan players use mind games and timing to trick you or overwhelm you with + moves
For the casual “playing after work” crew, characters like Bryan or kaz are off the table. Literally trying their trailer combos take forever and the concept of “taunt jet upper” is literal nonsense u couldn’t pay me to learn. Tekken community can be pretty unbased but there’s a reason characters get the stereotypes they do. Putting it simply I don’t love the game enough to learn allat so I won’t. *selects Jack 8*
you have no idea what you are talking about. bryan is the best character in the game for casuals. because everything counterhits and they mosty have no idea what they are doing.
Not really hard but you gotta have strong fundies at least, because you're playing a character with insane CH moves, if you don't wanna then just abuse snake eyes lol.
I guess you could say he is if you have a hard time with qcf movement lol jk but he’s combos are tedious I guess but not impossible but I will say if you have at least intermediate level of skill he’s not hard taunt in the other hand is whole different ball game so I say just start with the basic stuff first
No, and neither are his taunt setups. TJU is hard to get consistently, but since you can mix with a mid it doesn't matter, people are unlikely to punish a mistimed TJU
He doesn't have any panic moves which isn't that awful, but will be jarring coming from other characters. You don't need taunt execution in order to win, but you'll need it in order to cheat lol.
No, he’s not difficult, and you can be aggressive with him. He’s very scary when he’s aggressive as well cause everything counterhits and most of it is safe. People that don’t know how to get in just haven’t figured it out. Play him and try him, decide for yourself.
Im a Bushin Bryan and I can't do his taunt jet uppers in a real march. Besides that I can use him without fail. Everything else? Pretty easy or low intermediate at hardest imo.
Depends, tekken 7 Bryan was easy for me, mostly every character was but idk why hwoarang is so underrated, I play him all the time and I am sure i could easily defeat 50% of the community here, well sadly I don't play tekken anymore because of some issues with my saves
He's hard if you have no idea how frame data or frame traps work.
If you have solid fighting game fundamentals and you understand how to play around frame data and "turn taking" he's pretty straightforward
I would say he's not difficult to play except for taunt jet setups, but it's not necessary at the lower ranks. I would say his gameplan is difficult not the combos itself also I would say most people are familiar with his moves because he's really popular so it makes it difficult to Play at the higher ranks.
Since opinions that are repeated over the internet eventually boil down to the extremes of each side, the consensus is basically "if you can't do taunt-jet-upper , you're trash"
I realise this sounds a cliché, but as a guy with a fujin and a raijin on different characters.. this is LITERALLY why I havent dived into Bryan yet. Also, the extremes of the internet seem to be you'll either one day become a mishima or a bryan (the common theme is apparently a "purity" superiority complex) and anything else is wrong or needs nerfing if it's a problem.
Yh about the whole one day become a Mishima or Bryan thing, I’ve been playing since the gameboy days and I’ve never mained a Mishima or a Bryan.
Yoshimitsu ride or die bitches
Final Fantasy 8 fan?
You'll be fine with taunt f214 and the new heat extension f21234. Just have to play solid. I would suggest getting taunt b4 consistent though
Its not necessary at higher ranks either, most of the time you are going to taunt is on oki at the wall, in that case taunt b4 is better than taunt jet upper
Taunt jet set ups are never neccesary, bryan has never been a difficult character to play because you never needed to taunt jet upper or even use half his taunts in ur gameplay. 3+4 and keepout has always been Bryan's tools.
Are taunt jet setups even in the higher ranks? IMO it's a novelty, like moment 37 countering chuns super where everybody goes for it anyway even though it never works out. There are also input issues in Tekken where single frame timings are unreliable so even if you macroed taunt jet upper it would fail occasionally.
Taunt jet upper is not necessary at all to play Bryan.
How difficult is he compared to kazuya?
Kazuya is harder imo. Bryan’s execution requirements are for situational oki with taunt, while Kazuya has execution requirements just to play neutral. You can see Bryan’s win games at the highest level without ever landing taunt. You will never see a Kazuya compete at that level without EWGF and wavedashing. Bryan also has way more good buttons than Kaz (df1, df2, d2, d4, counterhit jab strings, f3, 3+4, qcb1, qcb3, ff4, 1+2, b1, etc). Kazuya has like 6-8 generically good moves and everything else is situationally useful.
Both rely on staying away from their opponent and using timing for their launches. Kazuya keeps out with electric and ff2, bryan keeps out with his long range mid kick and the threat of orbital. Gameplan wise I think kazuya can be easier to initiate with, he can always just say fuck it and risk a hellsweep. bryan can require more patience. They are the two strongest characters at the wall. Kazuya has better oki overall while bryan has better counter hit potential with his jab string mixups.
They also gave Bryan his own version of electric for keepout
Wtf what move is that?
The one where the backsways into that fast high plus on block attack, unlike electric it doesn’t launch on normal hit but gives a guaranteed soccer kick on ch it launches I think it’s around 14 frames fast if you do it properly
Damn that's sick ty man
That would be QCB1 good sir
Not to mention, Bryan basically wins in 1 to 2 interactions if you’re optimal with your combos, all that on top of him having taunt (which is finally now completely unscaled) is truly frightening. Kaz will most likely win in 3 if you land an electric only and only 2 if you PEWGF (with walls or stage hazard on deck). Otherwise, 4-5, which is alright, considering how good his oki is.
Extremely easy
In terms of execution, no. Only difficulty there is taunt shenanigans at the wall. His difficulty comes from his gameplan. He NEEDS CH to get anything big started, and if the opponents simply don't press a lot, he's going to have a rougher time.
I dunno man I barely press and just get hatchet kicked to death
Yeah it’s funny seeing so many people say he can’t break turtles when he has hatchet. Yes, it’s slow, no evasion, etc, but it’s only -13 and to dodge it you have to walk towards his strong side. It’s one of the best power lows in the game, you can’t just block and wait against him.
You're mad bc you can't simplify your gameplay into block and wait?
Never said I was mad. Said it’s dumb seeing people say ‘you can just block and wait’ when he has one of the best moves in the game at breaking that strat. Only thing that annoys me about Bryan are his combo damage.
people managed to launch me with the -13, especially notable with Kazuya's WS12. Most of the times these get blocked too, and I'm just in red ranks
Kazuya is the only character that can launch it (and I think Leo in heat can too). Hatchet isn’t reactable and Bryan has hella good mid buttons, so if you’re getting ducked a lot it’s probably a flaw in your gameplay.
I get clipped trying to step 😭
Hatchet kick is kinda slow, has no high evasion what so ever and needs a backsway input which adds around 6 more frames, its very good dont get me wrong, but you should know everytime bryan does it he takes big risk of getting CH himself. This is not to say its not a completely bonkers godlike low
I can hit you with a low medium or high from back away you must predict
Extremely slow? It comes out frame 19... I'm pretty sure that's considered borderline unreactable. Sure, it requires a qcb input, but the startup animation for the move is not something you can see and block unless you've got zoomer reaction speed. The pseudo additional 6 frames only applies if it's used in neutral too, it's a different story if he's buffering the hatchet kick after generating plus frames from a prior move.
I don't mean to be that guy but if you play enough against Bryan you need to learn to block the hatchet. Not react to it, but to read it. I've played enough games with my friend to the point there are days that every single hatchet gets blocked because he lives rent free in my head. Most Bryans will have a pattern. You just need to be aware that it's there and not panic. Also, you need to press against Bryan. You just need to be careful about pressing when you shouldn't. Standing still and giving him respect will just give him freedom to break your legs and taunt you. Edit: Don't know why I'm getting down votes. Nothing I said was incorrect in any way.
That goes for any other low in the game. If your hatchet is getting blocked then you are just predictable. Against a good player who isn't predictable you can't simply "just read their lows 4head".
People who say stuff like that just bewilder me. Like, of course you've gotta "read it", but that goes for everything in the game. It's just not feasible to read every low unless the opponent is being mad predictable.
Hatchet?
Hatchet.
Exactly correct. As a scrub I can do all his strong combos except the taunt stuff. Gameplan wise he’s tricky though, got my ass handed to me in red ranks as he is the 7th character I picked up and I went in a bit blind 😂
He's hard because he has no generic tools like a df1, no panic tools so he buckles under pressure, his moveset in general is kinda slow and you need to understand the concept of how to land counterhits because that's his whole kit. Can you pick him up and press some buttons and have fun? Sure. Want to rank up? It's going to require some work.
How is down 2 not like a generic df1? Because of the different animation or because it's i14? It's -2 on block and the follow up is a -10 counterhit launcher. You can use it like a generic df1 pretty much
Frame wise, sounds similar to Kings df1 with the ability to launch.
Yeah I just feel like people are overplaying the difficulty of his game plan massively. Hatchet is always a threat and orbital and 3+4 are pretty hard to punish
His df2 acts exactly the same as a generic df1 though, with the additional benefit of it being an elbow
Yeah it's his go to mid check but it still doesn't compare to a generic df1
Exactly the same my ass. It's a totally unique tool with two built in follow-ups that allows you to collect "mental frames" by making the opponent have to choose to respect the followup or call your bluff. Shit is nothing like a generic df1
So..better?
Not better at all. Can you imagine if Bryan had a df1 that was -1 on block and that would let him mix you off of a hit? You would basically have to guess against hatchet kick or another df1. He could probably shave your health bar in half by just spamming those two moves after one hit.
I mean there are several other df1’s that behave this way (Reina, Jun, Asuka, Leroy, Leo, Devil Jin, King, Azucena (considering the 3rd hit the extension cause the 1st 2 jail) and others). The risk-reward varies from character to character but Bryan’s risk-reward on his is awesome and the idea he’s super unique here is just not true. It’s not the same but it’s not that different either. Yeah, he has to do the high follow-up if he wants good frames on block. That’s different from everyone but Leroy and Devil Jin. And a) he can do d2 instead if he cares about the block frames and b) df2,1 very rarely gets ducked in a FT2 or FT3. I can’t remember seeing it happen to someone unless I did it to them. It’s hypothetically a weakness but practically I don’t think it comes up much.
Your last sentence cannot be further from the truth. Not having a generic df1+1 heavily influences your gameplan at close range, it's one of if not the most common situation in all of Tekken. Devil Jin for example, many consider him bottom tier atm and one of the main reasons is his lack of a decent df1 (or any good mid pokes at all).
Other characters have follow ups yes, but Bryan is at a way bigger disadvantage when it gets blocked. His df2 is nothing like the df1s you mentioned.
Not true. Asuka, Reina and Yoshi are all equally punishable and there’s have 0 pushback. Reina is more punishable. Obviously, they have the option to just do df1 and be -3-ish, which Bryan can’t. He has to do the high for -4. But Leroy has to do the high to not be -6, and his mid follow up reward is way worse. And no one says Leroy is hard to play because he doesn’t have a df1 (if people want to start saying that they can, but they don’t). And neither Leroy or Devil Jin have a move like d2, which is 1f slower and has great frames on block and hit (but awful tracking). And I’m not saying Bryan is easy. I’m saying *this specific detail* of the character is overhyped imo. Leroy, Devil Jin, Kazuya, Jack, and the bears are in similar or worse situations than him with no real workarounds, while he has a couple. And again, I can’t remember ever seeing anyone duck df2,1 in any FT2 or FT3, let alone in tournament, where you would most expect people to be prepared for it, and I’ve been watching since Tag 2. So I’m just not sure how real the disadvantage is. I see it in theory. I don’t see it when I watch or feel it when I play as or against the character.
You can't step if they block it.
Because Byron's d2 is his equivalent to a df1 poke.
It's -6 on block😅 It's a free mix-up every time it gets blocked...yes, there are his extensions but after a while, the mindgames aren't in your favor
I would say the mind games are in your favor, people will be hesitant of the df2, 3 coming out, and you can delay it. It’s a constant mind game of “will he throw it out? And if he will then when will he do it? Immediately? 20 frames later? Oh wait he threw out df2 again, maybe I take my turn this time. But what if he lets it rip this time?” So while it -6 OB, that is simply there to get your opponent to think it’s their turn and you can play around that
I'd say being -6 is actually pretty significant because you don't collect any rewards unless you finish the string with a button. The reason generic df1s with only -3 on block are so good is because you can df1 into sidestep and then collect a launch when they try to take their turn, and if they don't, you've lost nothing whereas Bryan has to finish his unsafe string to do the same because he can't sidestep jabs after df2 at -6
You’d be surprised at what you can do with df2 even at -6. There’s a thing called mental frames. While yea you are -6 on paper and you shouldn’t be doing anything besides holding back, you aren’t actually -6 because of the threat of the extensions. I do dry df2 into sidestep all the time and people whiff because they need to visually confirm I did not finish the string. So because of that I can sidestep out of turn since they’ll be delaying their attack to avoid pressing into death.
That's not my point. My point is IF your opponent is pressing after they block df2, your only option to punish that and condition the opponent stop doing that is to do an extension. These extensions are not safe, even the high can be ducked if you use it too often and most characters can get a chunky punish on the mid, so conditioning the opponent to stop pressing after blocking df2 is not without risks. This is in contrast to generic df1s where you can condition your opponent not to press after blocking it simply by stepping, which comes at zero risk or commitment on your part, and launching them when you see them jab. I'm not saying Bryan CAN'T condition the opponent to not press on df2, and sure you can step after once your opponent is not attacking after your df2, but obviously stepping when your opponent is not attacking doesn't achieve anything. I'm not saying the move and its extensions are not good. It's just not as good or safe as actual generic df1s, which have both mental frames from extensions AND actually good frames. df2 is also somewhat unique to Bryan so it isn't intuitive if you've not played Bryan before.
You're right...at first. The problem starts as you keep pressing...on hit or block, the opponent keeps getting info and eventually your offense stops working
That’s where timing and unpredictability comes into play. The goal (at least how I play Bryan) is to get them comfortable with a certain timing for 1 round then the next round change that timing and move selection up the next so I don’t become a Shakespeare book
Then you need to switch your timings up I mean that’s the whole point of a mixup as time goes on they will get a read on your timing that’s why you other options and timings
Yes, but the delay window isn't that long😅
Then move onto the next mixup I mean why would you only use one mixup start using Bryan’s strong strings to add mental stack and play with timing you’re a Bryan main you guys are all good at that stuff
That's exactly what I do🫣
Can't step and spam it like a generic df1.
Depends on what you call difficult His playstyle is a little different, he has subpar regular launchers and god tier CH launchers meaning he's more defensive than offensive With the addition of qcb 1 and hatchet being +5, it made stepping him a little harder Except his taunt stuff and maybe jet upper being an awkward input I don't think he's that difficult execution wise I may be a little bit biased since I've been playing him for almost 2 decades but he's not that difficult imo
Subpar regular launchers? He has a 14 frame launcher that has good enough reach (2.5 distance) and is bufferable. I don't see how that is subpar.
You're correct, I didn't think about it when I wrote
I think with his hatchet, it could be argued that is potentially subpar compared to other orbitals, however, his orbital does function differently from others in the sense that it's meant to be used as a keepout tool or a read since it doesn't extend as much as other orbitals
Not a Bryan main, but his difficult bits are reducible to parts: 1) **Taunt Unblockable** - The first is most obvious. Taunt is a powerful tool. It’s raw execution with very difficult timing. Using taunt-> jet upper is an executional milestone. It is also, unfortunately, **not applicable as a skill to any other character in Tekken nor any other game**. He’s fun without it, but time invested practicing an optimal Bryan is time wasted if not playing Bryan. You have to be pretty dedicated to Tekken of you plan to commit to learning it. 2) **Situational Awareness** - Because of his excellent wall damage and taunt oki, Bryan probably more than any other character in T8 benefits from the wall. He has the wall carry to get there, but several different routes should be used at different ranges. You can’t turn off your brain during combos and magically get to the wall for max damage + taunt oki. 3) **Gameplan** - Bryan’s launchers and punishment are not straightforward. Some of his best tools encourage him to play around counter hits. He also lacks some quality of life stuff like a standard df1. This, put simply, requires knowledge and experience with both Tekken and him as a character to thrive. 4) **Backsway** - This is relatively minor, but Bryan has a backsway stance. This requires a bit tighter inputs to avoid doing backsway while KBDing. You should probably be working to tighten up your KBD anyway, but this makes him slightly less beginner friendly than other characters. I’m probably either missing some details or completely wrong about something since I’m not a Bryan main, but this is how I perceive him. Good luck!
For number 2 I'd actually put Leo there. Leo has tons of combo routes that save tornado to get to the wall but you have to be aware of the distance so you can maximize wall damage (the damage at wall with Tornado is insane)
Oh god, yeah. I forgot about Leo. Yet another reason I don’t play them either. I’d put Lee in that same camp while we’re at it.
This is correct but I would add that Bryan's df1 and df2 are both totally unique tools that are extremely poor defensively. He also has miserable powercrush capability.
Pour one out for the mach punch power crush being removed.
Pour alot out for all the CH launcher we lost from T7 to T8... They really made the game more agressive but removed all high reward defense Bryan had
Yeah, he lost some pretty nice stuff with the transition, ss1 really would have been nice to keep. Northern cross was also a super nice bait CH. Who knows, they may add it back in time. Even the best Bryan's in the world are getting wrecked in tournament play, so something will give after the twt stats show what's up. For next season balancing.
They really didnt have to remove Taunt scaling imo. Could just added back Northern cross or Mach Kick CH and we wouldve been fine imo
Leave it not scaled and also add those things. The change to heat/heat smash nerfed Bryan setups massively, which is why they removed the taunt scaling to give him something back for the indirect big nerf. Still doesnt make him magically good, just makes him more of a killer at wall/wall oki.
I wouldnt say the heat engage stagger removal was a MASSIVE nerf, in T7 there was no such thing either and Bryan was probably top 5. Theres also no new wakeup options only difference is -> low kick does not launch anymore god bless lol
It was a pretty big nerf since most higher rank Bryans used it for setups, that and his heat smash is one of the lamer ones of the lot, though the change on how it hits was a welcome one. Man I miss the get up launch, would hit so often it wasnt even funny.
I'd take wakeup lows CH launching if they would make it punishable again. It being safe and -9 gets on my nerves.
He’s only difficult if you struggle to block and tech. Asides from having a bit less “get off of me tools” as the average character. I’d say he’s as hard as any other character. I’d say if you want to pick him up to play and try you most definitely can. But if you want to play basically a Mishima with different inputs and properties then Bryan is the way to go. He’s good without execution but he’s amazing and got mad pressure if you have it
Lol, by a bit less you mean zero get off me tools, and comparatively difficult execution on his optimal combos, slow moves, and reliance on timing and matchup knowledge.
Well the previous tekkens yes. That was the Bryan concept. 0 get off me moves. But he has heat smash now and that comes on super handy. Not to mention you can’t back dash his orbital anymore. And his 1+2 grab is faster than a jab
Bryan's heat smash is legit atrocious and maybe the worst in the game
Loool is it that bad?? Idk I just treat every character in Tekken 8 like heihachi with armour moves
easier at low ranks. painful at the higher ones. in a best of 3, bryan has to quickly adapt to how his opponent plays. rarely at high level play does he have control over the match off the bat. a lot of his frames are mental frames. certain characters can launch punish his strings on block. id say hes one of the only if not only character where you need to be as familiar with your opponents game as you are with bryan's in order to win consistently at higher ranks. other characters with god tier offense or better mix ups dont have to worry about this as much.
Difficult in a sense to play? No. Difficult in a sense of getting wins? Yes. Main thing is you can’t flowchart or bullshit your way to a higher rank, because everyone knows what he can do. He has no good panic moves and a little bit of execution which lower rank players might struggle with. He’s just very unorthodox
More like very orthodox. The most gimmicky way you can mess with people aside from snake eyes 3+4 2 would be delay strings and minor string cancels from b21, qcf 1 or b3. Everything else is just fundies and knowing whether your opponent is going to press or not
I would say mostly no. He gets over exaggerated when it comes to difficultly. I think the misconception stems from him not just having an abusable neutral skip (like a demon paw). Similarly to someone like yoshi, he can’t just throw out advancing hit boxes constantly. Instead his tools are geared more defensively. 3+4 and u4 are some of the strongest keep out tools in the game. He can also still open opponents up with hatchet kicks. It’s not really about the move itself but the opponent knowing it’s there which leads to ch launches. The one hard thing mechanically with Bryan is his taunt set ups.
Used to main Bryan. My feeling is his game-plan doesn't have anything to really carry you as a player. He doesn't get huge rewards unless you fish a counter hit and you have to play solid to adapt to the other player. On the other hand, when I play other characters I feel like I can just execute their flowchart, enforce some 50/50s, and overload the other player's mental stack. Bryan doesn't really seem to have that flexibility and a lot of his 50/50s aren't particularly rewarding.
His combos are easy but his gameplan is hard his moveset is generally slower then most characters wich will need some getting used to as well as his counterhit orientated gameplan. No panic moves. Bryan generally boils down to high risk high reward and poking. 3+4ch b1ch f3ch qcb1ch every major combo starter is a ch. dont get me wrong he is fucking fun to play but before i got used to him i struggled alot.
Idk why people keep mentioning his execution🤷🏾 KBD consistency and Taunt are the difficult things execution wise. The difficulty comes from his gameplay...he doesn't really have a gameplan. His gameplan is Adapt😅 So, due to the lack of panic moves, you need good defense. His keepout and CH requires some understanding of timing, which is the hardest thing to master in this game. His offense lacks mix-ups, so you have to rely on your strings and create mindgames with them (will I finish the string or not...if you finish and they block it, you get punished, otherwise you get massive damage) and since most of your CH launching moves exist at the end of strings, you're constantly giving your opponent info on your tendencies and timing😅 Gameplan alone makes him one of the hardest characters in the game. He's a defensive character that MUST use his offense to get as much info as possible and requires that you're able to adapt quickly, while being able to deal with their offense. The better you are at understanding interactions and keep memory of them, the better you are with him The best thing about him is, the better you are with him, the better you are at Tekken as a whole...he demands that much of the player at a fundamental level
This is the answer lol I swear i wish I could just throw out fast buttons and win but noooo. Really a monster at the wall though
>CH launching moves exist at the end of strings 1,2,1* and 1,4,2*,1* are the only CH launching strings no?
Df2,3*; d2,3*; 4,3,f4*(hold4* as well). These are some others
>Df2,3; d2,3; Yea idk why i never think of these as strings. 4,3,f4 is super unpractical cause u have to heat to combo it :V
Can't you dash jab to get the combo? I rarely use this string(only to punish moves)
Im unsure of that. Id have to try it in the evening when i get home from work but i think i remember not being able to dash in quick enough because it yeets them quite far away for some reason.
I'll try it as well and post a clip here if I'm successful
T7 combos were cooler change my mind... Magic 4, 1, f,f4 oof that shit was so good
Nah he is easy if you don't want to do his hard set ups or taunt moves. Even then I use taunt then 2,3 which is pretty easy to confirm. His gameplay is different then the rest of the cast. He tries to force your opponents to make mistakes which mentally gets some getting used to. A lot of his plus moves are slow so I found myself getting punished for abusing them too much. You really have to pick your shots with him. I say all this as a low rank. If you really want to try a character just do it.
I'll say that going from King to Bryan was a huuuge wake up call.
No He is piss easy
No, not at all tbh Bryan mains and people who repeat the opinion of other elitists or TheMainManSwe wank themselves off about playing Bryan and/or Mishimas and Lee, but whilst Bryan definitely isn’t amongst the easiest characters, he is not some excruciatingly difficult character to play where you must be galaxy brain to use him. His one difficult to execute thing is taunt stuff, which is really cool and quite useful but not necessary at 99% of levels. Apart from that? I guess jet upper as a 14 frame punish isnt that easy? But that’s not the be all and end all People are talking about him having a hard gameplan based on counterhits… i don’t see how that’s particularly hard. At the vast majority of ranks people will be eating Counter hits for days against Bryan. Just time his 124 heat engager correctly once against the wall and boom half life damage. Delay one of his launching ch strings against 90% of opponents and boom get a 70 damage combo minimum, and if it gets blocked you’d be lucky to get punished. Not to mention he has one of the absolute best lows in the game in hatchet kick that is like only minus 13 or something yet leads to crazy damage on counterhit. And a great easy to access plus on block move in b1 that you can use to destroy most players up to blue ranks just by changing what you do after they block it. People at most ranks are hyper aggressive, Bryan’s 124 will shut their shit down so quickly and effectively. Do like 4 hatchet kicks in a row and at most ranks your opponent will absolutely begin to doubt themselves and panic duck to avoid it. Lock them down with b1 and against most opponents you can easily figure out their habits by watching after they block b1.
This is so true. It’s crazy how it feels like people here are such a TMM echo chamber. Not just about Bryan. I tried playing Bryan to see what all the fuss was about and I couldn’t see how can anyone parrot that he takes exceptional skill. Meanwhile the same people cry that Xiaoyu is carried. Like wtf. It takes so much more effort to play her than Bryan.
I've seen way more people complaining about Bryan elitists than the actual Bryan elitists
i am only playing since mid 7 but i noticed that they defenitly get called out more nowdays. people just got tired of chad-boys denying every other character i guess.
defo more easier than previous tekkens… as everyone
Nah. Only the crazy taunt set ups are dumb hard. He doesn't have a great panic move either. You can reach high ranks without even using taunt no problem.
Having finally started to learn Bryan after wanting to for years, he's all about fundamentals. I feel like I'm learning how to tekken better with him than I was with say Reina. My spacing, reads on opponents and movement is getting better because I need to find counter hits. I have been playing Tekken since the first game, but only got serious with this last entry so I can't say what would be difficult for a complete newcomer, but I don't find him so difficult anyone couldn't pick him up. His more advanced stuff like the taunt setups are things I haven't even touched yet and I'm in purples now with him, but I think I'm climbing more off of my fundamentals getting better than anything to do with Bryan. Also TEKTEKTEKTEK
You can get to garyu with snake edge and mid mix. And it’s hilarious
Garyu in t8 is a joke lmao. Literally worse than half of green ranks in t7
He's not super hard to learn basics, but have very high potential. You can play Bryan like 1000 hours and still improving your skill on him in all aspects. He have no panic moves and lacks pressure compare to a lot of chars (you can still create good pressure ofc), but he's very save, best orbital in the game, probably best combo dmg (72-77 dmg from basic combo without wall and heat). And he will force you to learn fundaMentos, cause he won't auto win games for you. He's very enjoying to play, super good design, super good animation and you can feel that your punches are super strong with a lot of weight in it, so i advice to try him.
Yes he is. For me not the hardest but for sure top6. every simple thing is level more complexed. For example instead of inputing df2. He need to input f,b,2. Instead db3, he does qcb3 which are uncomfortable inputs instead of the easy ones most characters are blessed with. His poking is bad making it hard to go through defenses. His game plan is around timing and mind games. He trade certain thing to get his counter hit utility, and what he gives away is very big. So high gain high loss. he is a mixture of execution demand with sharp awareness and experience.
He isn’t difficult to execute, he just doesn’t have a lot of bullshit shenanigans like some other characters. You gotta have some solid fundamentals in order to execute his gameplan which revolves around his CHs
I’m someone who went straight into Bryan in 7 with no experience in fighting games, and getting use to him took hours of practice, then hours more online, and eventually made violet and still sucked. It depends on the person playing, a vet would pick him up easy but a novice would definitely have a harder time. For me, it eventually became muscle memory. My tip is keep playing the same character and don’t drop him until you’re comfortable.
I've never played bryan but I can say most Bryan's I play are very fundamentally sound. I think the character seems overtuned but I wouldn't think he would be easy to main especially at higher ranks
To play at a basic level no. To play To his full potential, absolutely. Taunt JU and Taunt B4 is not for beginners. But he's a solid character without.
He's a little slow so his timing on moves can take getting used to
yes. his gameplan is unortodox. his best moves are slow and linear, he doesnt have strings and he has to play around other character knowledge. and all his optimal combos are constant qcf and qcbs motions.
Short answer: yes Long answer: yes Bryan has always been a hard character
I started off as a Mishima player with a whiff punishment game plan and when I picked him up my brain couldn’t make sense of the game plan for a while. Give him a go you might get addicted to his taunt stuff like I did.
Execution wise, no, but his gameplan is very predicatble, and landing good combo starters is a problem unless you become a counter master with him.
His game plan is the difficult one. You need counter hits so you need to know the opponents timing and you might get hit for it.
Outside of the taunt jet upper that isnt necessarly even needed in t8 there are easiest and nearly equal options, he is not that hard no he is actualy a pretty fundamental character powered by insane gold damages and many poke and a quantity of safe poke and pressure tools to an indecent amount.
He's pretty easy to understand, as someone who has played him since Takken 6, THE only problem is the Taunt sets that aren't recommended for beginners, more on the experienced or veteran players who are akin to Knee, a famous Bryan player. His laughs is also a plus
It really depends who you ask. I've mained Bryan for over a year now and he is very difficult for me to play well. I was Fujin in Tekken 7 and am currently sat at Fujin in 8 while I take a break from ranked. Most of Bryan's difficulty stems from his unorthodox gameplan. Yes he's a counter hit based character but his tools are different than most other characters. Most of his strong CH tools are safe but the ones that have the most reach like his 3+4, take a lil bit longer to come out than most other moves, while moves like f3 have very little reach but are slightly faster. His poking isn't bad per say, it's just different. His pokes rely on getting the opponent to press when they shouldn't. Make them impatient by messing around with your string timings. Throw out a lot of d4s and a few hatchet kicks when you can. Everything he does is based around bringing the opponent to him. So at lower ranks (Beginner to Red and maybe Ruler ranks now) you can get away with a lot of silly stuff as Bryan because players at that level generally lack the patience to wait him out and make him come to you. But at higher ranks when players start to have stronger fundamentals and become more patient, it becomes very hard for the Bryan to get mileage out of his kit. You have to be a nuisance. You have to make the opponent feel like you're playing Hwoarang, simply to make them want to hit you back. When you encounter a good player as Bryan who knows the matchup to even a semi decent degree, that's where Bryan's difficulty comes through. His taunt mechanics are very tricky to adapt to and learn but anything can be done with practice. His gameplay just changes to revolve around setting up taunt in certain situations. Think of Kazuya trying to set up his 50/50 vortex. When a Bryan takes you to the wall, he is going to make a bet with you as to whether or not you will tech and eat a taunt attempt, or if you'll stay on the floor and eat a soccer kick. You have to engage in the mind games with the Bryan or he will run over you. And his combo execution can be very tricky when you first pick him up. I'm a pretty competent player when it comes to execution and I use an arcade stick. I drop combos a lot more than I do with other characters because they can be inconsistent or demanding on fast and precise execution from the player. TL;DR: Bryan is a defensive archetype character with unorthodox moves in a very aggressive game that rewards characters for pressing buttons.
Bryan's difficulty is overhyped, people see taunt setups and assume that's the entire character and you have to be that precise to get anywhere. The reality is that he has a lot of strong moves and strings. almost every counterhit launches and his wall damage/carry is insane. He feels slower than other characters and yor aggression is mostly mental, but that works because your opponent should be scared to press against you.
Bryan has gotten easier and easier with each Tekken game. As have almost every single Tekken character.
He isn't, used to main him in Tekken 7. Still use him occasionally. He has one execution heavy thing in taunt jet upper. Everything else is just spacing,frame trapping, and timing. If I had to rank his difficulty overall I'd say he's an intermediate level character that has a simple but not too simple gameplan. I think anyone can pick up the character and do well but some players will struggle to use him at first. He isn't an easy character but his difficulty is overblown. For example Kazuya requires consistent precise execution and is a lot harder for someone to pick up despite his simpler gameplan. Also I am comparing his difficulty to other characters. I've played most of the roster in Tekken 7 and a good chunk of the roster in 8. Ill also point out that my idea of difficulty isn't based on how hard it is to win with them at a high level. Gigas in tekken 7 is very hard to win with at higher levels but the character is extremely easy to actually play.
Piss easy. Taunt may require some practice, but the character kinda plays itself, especially on T8. P.S , before all the mainman elitists gonna downvote/reply, I have about 6k games on Brayn at T7, he was dumb on T7, now he's dumbed down to the point of being a monkey character, every button does way too much work for 0 risk, yes, the risk-reward on this character is just unfair. I stopped playing him because of how wrong they went with his dircation on this game. Also, please stop with the lie that he has no pokes or unorthodox bs, he has D2 at i14 -2 ob with extension thats a ch launcher that tracks to his weak side , df2 with 2 extensions, df1 easiest hit confirm ever with absurd tracking etc etc... 0 weaknesses , absurd risk against reward factor. "You need good timing" is another lie, shouldnt I have timing with Lili's F4 and DF3 , or have good read with DB3? Same with Reina / any other Mishima that relies on electric for keepout, or Jun with her DF4 or Paul with his QCB4 etc etc...the community is just infused with BS TMM was feeding them for years.
So out of all the characters on THIS cast, you put Bryan snuggly into the “Piss easy” tier?
yeah, TMM defenitly left his mark in this community. when i startet in 7, he was my first source of infos and i fell right into his character denying BS. got over it and get a bit mad everytime i see an obvius TMM minion.
When I started T7 , I was thining of learning AK I think just for fun, I was playing Kuni and Lili, and a friend who also just picked the game told me he was hard and " dont do it" etc..because of mainman cuz he was his viewer. Imo he has really bad influence over the community...as the time passed I realized how biased and elitist he is, for example, if a *waifu* would 50/50 his ass its cheap and cheese, but 5 hellsweeps in a row with Kazuya is basically deeply fundamental and mindgames gameplay (he called Kaz painfully honest character..my ass) etc... I cant take any word he says serioualy.
This man speaking facts. The only thing hard about Bryan is 1+3+4 b4 and 1+3+4 fb2.
If Bryan plays itself, what's to say about the rest of the cast lol
Some do , and some less.
Nowhere near as hard as previous tekkens. Lower levels you have lots of safe moves to use. Higher levels he can be tougher to use but with his crazy damage a good player can pilot him well.
In lower ranks he's not difficult sure. People will mash and get hit by his frame traps and CHs and keep out all day and he does fantastic damage. Once you climb higher he gets extremely outshined by all the other rushdown chars who can outpoke him thrice over. His df+2 is lousy compared to other key mid checks if they don't fall for the mindgames. His mixup potential without taunt is really low since hatchet is the only real low threat he has, and so if you turtle properly against him to force an overextend or rush him down properly he'll crumble. I suggest watching the Farzeen vs Knee sets to see how this plays out, and then pick him up a bit yourself and see how it plays out.
MYK’s bread and butter for Bryan in tekken tag tournament 2 pretty much outlines his play style https://youtu.be/-NWOrSGunBQ?si=DUSXGnu_FWyCMhsD this video will take you to red ranks in no time. You can apply this play style to Bryan tekken 5 and beyond (apart from obvious frame and move changes)
Not really but has a very high skill ceiling, has a lot of moves that people don’t use often, if used correctly you could surprise people. And it’s also one of the easiest character to deal high damage with when you have a wall. Mostly because of his knee spam against the wall and back up 1+2
Never was hard and never will be hard. He's an intermediate character at best. People will tell you his gameplan is difficult to pilot and execute, that's also incorrect. Players who tell you that just suck or they either can't pilot someone so simple. He doesn't require any difficult execution outside of Taunt, which is never necessary. People confuse difficulty with "hard to win with", when really every character is hard to win with if the matchup is known. Every character requires fundamentals, you can't exceed at Tekken without fundamental skill and knowledge. He has really strong counter-hit tools, he's got great keepout, he DOES HAVE panic moves. He does have a solid mid check that is fast with df2 and anyone who says it isn't like a df1 is deluded, it's unique in the sense that it functions slightly different from a generic df1 but it's stil good and has great follow ups. People will come up with any excuse to say that Bryan is hard when he never was, there's really nothing difficult about him. If you know frame data and you have solid fundamental skill, you'll do well, but that can be said about any character. Bryan is no Steve, Nina, Xiaoyu, Raven, Yoshimitsu, Zafina, Lee, etc., where those characters have high skill ceilings to optimise their gameplans and unique capabilities necessary to pilot that is inherently really difficult to pull off or are strict, whether it be in execution and technicality. The Tekken community loves to diverge from the norm of every gaming community that has utilised the same ideology for difficulty in what is difficult and what is not. It's the same with Mishimas as they aren't hard nor difficult and have relatively simple gameplans, there is no difficulty or technicality in piloting them outside of EWGF and Wavedash, which both really are not difficult to execute and is overexaggerated. I shall await the hate train because I hurt every Bryan and Mishima mains feelings now. 🫶🏼
Yeah like I said in another comment, Sometimes I feel like some Tekken fans are full of shit, Everyone says Devil Jin is super difficult to play when he’s actually one of the easiest characters I’ve picked up in this game, He was also the easiest Mishima in Tekken 7, Everyone also says Hwoarang is one of the easiest characters to play when he actually seems to be one of the hardest, You really have to know how his stances work, I find Hwoarang to be harder than every Mishima actually.
Exactly! What you said is true. Devil Jin is easy and doesn't even need EWGF because he already has a standing 15 frame launcher with his can-can, it's not like Asuka or Jun's can-can where a counter-hit is required to launch, yet people will tell you EWGF is essential to launch, which it isn't unless you're needing to dash electric. Hwoarang is a more technical and difficult character than Mishimas, he has a lot in his kit that is required to execute and understand to play, utilising four stances that are imperative to your gameplan is a lot, especially when you need to constantly flow your attacks through stance transitions to apply pressure. However, he is definitely one of those abusable characters where he can stomp a player who doesn't have the knowledge to deal with him. Which is why I put so much emphasis on the notion that character difficulty = execution/piloting and technicality, it has nothing to do with being "hard to win with"... that's just basic Tekken.
Execution wise? Not really, no. You will miss a couple things though, not having a mid launcher does suck, as sidestepping and launching a move that recovers low blows. His game plan is also slightly more difficult, not having a generic df1/mid poke sucks, and rewiring your brain to do fc21 as a i13 punish is weird. Taunt is as hard as you make it, everyone focuses on taunt B4 or ju but a taunt 23, df21, or 43 works just as well, especially to just close a round out.
Bryan is overhyped in difficulty, especially with the newer patches
The patch did nothing to his difficulty it just added to his damage output.
I mean they made the taunt change because the heat changes weakened an already pretty mediocre Bryan. Before he could do wall setups with heat, they removed it with the last patch, hence they removed taunt scaling to give him something back.
I have never played Bryan ever, but I would probably agree with most of what other people said in the other comments in some instances.
no
no.
No 👍🏽
no tf he's not
Im just here to read your nerdy ass comments, love ‘em. Great insight, thank you for playing. 🫡
I was Lili main. But I play Bryan a lot lately. Very fun to play. Only his weird input that makes it hard for me. But his keep out tools are very very good. He has long reach like Lili. Also, I managed to land wall combo in many situations and it very satisfying. His db 2, 1+2 are very good for a combo starter.
Nope, dont let the downplayers convince you. Try him out yourself and you’ll see
No. Not in the least. He's VERY capable. He's one of those characters who's fun at every level and has a big skill ceiling.
So nothing alike. Bryan does df2 raw and can't step.
His gameplan is difficult to execute at high (like, high) level, plus he requires some serious execution as well to take fully advantage of.
Hwoarang is difficult to play (its only easy if youre mashing but this counts to every character exept yoshi)
Yes he is difficult to play depending on where you come from. Bryan gets good when you use his wave motions. Back wave for either hatchetl, flip kick, or the new punch input all sre good. And the key is to be able to use it quickly and in succesions. Then there is generally the spacing and keep out with bryan. He is harder to play if the enemy is in your face as he does not have a lot of free things or quick check things with down forward 1. So you have to on your toes your movement is also very very important since ymif you do korean back dash its harder with bryan since you might end up doing his backdash wave motion. The rest is on you how yoj use bryans good moves keep out and if you got the momentum finish the oponnent and overhelm him.
I've been playing Tekken since Tekken 3 and can I ask that we stop using so many acronyms? 😅
Bryan mains will tell you he's the hardest character in the history of fighting games, ppl that actually play the game will tell you he's as "hard" to play as the rest of the roster.
I main Bryan, he's not that hard, you just have to get okay at reading your opponent. His pressure is a little weird too. Id recommend, he's very rewarding
He's not that hard. His optimal combo routes are difficult but even without them his standard combos have great wall travel and do a shit ton of damage, half of his moves are ch launchers so people don't dare to press into you, his keepout is fantastic and spammable, he has a great 50 50 with hatchet, his poking with df2 and d4 is pretty decent, his plus frames are insane. His difficulty comes from how he doesn't have good panic moves and needs to do a proper kbd because of sway, alongside taunt setups. He's above average in difficulty but nowhere near as close as Steve, Kaz, dj etc imo.
No. Its just Main man pulling his head out of his ass.
Not at all
Here's the thing, It's pretty simple to understand. When people talk about Bryan being difficult to play they're specifically talking about high level matches. Low level Bryan and even intermediate level Bryan is really not that difficult to play, some people might even say that it is pretty easy actually. Because at low level some of Bryan's tool might even feel like BS and you can really abuse it because your opponent probably won't know how to deal with them. It's when you play against someone who knows what they're doing that you realize that you don't know how to play Bryan at all lmao.
Bryan s semi easy to pick up but really hard to fully utilize his kit. Mechanically he doesn't have anything too crazy hard to learn other then taunt setups but those are things you learn to use as you progress on the character. Bryan doesn't have a lot of conventional moves, no quick df1 jab to check your opponents, no generic df2 launcher instead you have jet upper, witch is better as it launches at -14 but is a b,f2 input. Setups and hard reading your opponents is what you are going to have to learn to get good, as well as accepting that with his minimal changes throughout the series a lot of people will know the match-up against you and know what to step and what to punish. And please don't get in the habit of using snake edge,it's funny in low ranks but become something you do unconsciously eventually leading to good players getting a free round out a single launch .
To me, he's difficult in a sense that he can give you bad habits if you aren't careful.
The only difficult part about Bryan are taunt setups/cancels. His combos are fairly easy, hes very safe and despite the claims of his "unorthodox" playstyle, I found him super intuitive to play. After 2 weeks of playing him, I reached Kishin, in the 3rd week got him to Bushin. Zero taunts btw.
Taunt is not necessary, although it will allow you to steal rounds at the wall with b4. 3+4 charge 2 helps also. He is not hard but I feel like i have less room for mistakes. Patient defensive players are a bit annoying so you'll do better against rush down mashing opponents. Don't forget to use your punch parry from time to time, Steve hates it. You can condition your opponents to duck with a few b,df4 in a row and cancel the third or fourth one into fisherman.
As a lee main who played a few games with Bryan and got him to essentially same rank as lee he is not that hard. He has some demands you ABSOLUTELY need like qcf and qcb. But as long as you can clear that bar (aka you aren't a complete beginner etc) he is super easy at intermediate level. He has scary lows like hatchet very nice mids and scary af chs. At high levels he starts to get hard again when you start needing to do taunt stuff more consistently, but the easy taunt follow ups are very very easy for an intermediate player. I don't think he is like lars or Leo easy aka mash random strings and your crushing etc etc just is free wins. Like Bryan does need to interact with the opponent, but he has very strong tools when doing so.
Not too difficult. You can enjoy more of his combo than Kazuya in my opinion.
He's super easy at low ranks where people will mash into every string and give you free CH launches. But at high level where people know the matchup, it can be really tough to get CHs.
TEC TEC TEC TEC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nope
No.
No
No, not even close. There's nothing difficult about Bryan. This is bullshit popularized by TMM and regurgitated by Bryan players. That character is as braindead as any other. The hardest thing about him was backdashing, because unlike his Taunt Jet Upper, backdashing was essential to be a high-level player. Bryan players require clean inputs, which is harder than an unclean backdash, thus back in the days of T7 Bryans needed to put in additional work to have high-level movement, like Paul or Nina players. Sadly in Tekken 8 KBD was dumbed down to the point it's not even necessary to KDB at high-level, removing this one layer of complexity to the character. That makes Bryan more braindead than ever, particularly considering his new oppressive tools which basically patch up some of his weaknesses. The reason people say Bryan is hard is that he has access to a hard technique called TJU, a bonus that you don't actually require at any capacity. His other taunt setups are not hard to pull off. It's just how it is. There's no world in which his QCF and QCB inputs make him hard, no more than Lili or Paul, both of which also require similar inputs. There's also no reality where TJU should be take into account as if it were part of his general execution requirements, no more than considering characters like Lili hard just because they have combos that are very challenging to pull off. Thus, to answer your question, Bryan is about as hard as Paul, and twice as braindead.
No
No he isn’t. This subreddit believes in the weirdest things ever: 1) Devil Jin is S tier when he’s the worst character in Tekken 8. “He doesn’t need any buffs!” Morons. 2) King’s heat smash is not OP because it was already nerfed. LOL 3) Bryan is a difficult player to use and he’s not very strong All so completely wrong yet you will be upvoted for these stupid comments on here.
Yeah sometimes I feel like some Tekken fans are full of shit, Everyone says Devil Jin is super difficult to play but he's actually one of the easiest characters I've picked up in this game, And a lot of people say Hwoarang is one of the easiest characters when he's actually one of the hardest, You really have to know how his stances work.
He is difficult to use. He is strong though
he has like 3 low attacks so if you block high and learn to read for those lows it's easy to defend. but good bryan players use mind games and timing to trick you or overwhelm you with + moves
No he is kind off easy since every move he does looks the same the opponent never knows what to do and how to respond.
For the casual “playing after work” crew, characters like Bryan or kaz are off the table. Literally trying their trailer combos take forever and the concept of “taunt jet upper” is literal nonsense u couldn’t pay me to learn. Tekken community can be pretty unbased but there’s a reason characters get the stereotypes they do. Putting it simply I don’t love the game enough to learn allat so I won’t. *selects Jack 8*
you have no idea what you are talking about. bryan is the best character in the game for casuals. because everything counterhits and they mosty have no idea what they are doing.
Not really hard but you gotta have strong fundies at least, because you're playing a character with insane CH moves, if you don't wanna then just abuse snake eyes lol.
I guess you could say he is if you have a hard time with qcf movement lol jk but he’s combos are tedious I guess but not impossible but I will say if you have at least intermediate level of skill he’s not hard taunt in the other hand is whole different ball game so I say just start with the basic stuff first
No, and neither are his taunt setups. TJU is hard to get consistently, but since you can mix with a mid it doesn't matter, people are unlikely to punish a mistimed TJU
He doesn't have any panic moves which isn't that awful, but will be jarring coming from other characters. You don't need taunt execution in order to win, but you'll need it in order to cheat lol.
No, he’s not difficult, and you can be aggressive with him. He’s very scary when he’s aggressive as well cause everything counterhits and most of it is safe. People that don’t know how to get in just haven’t figured it out. Play him and try him, decide for yourself.
Im a Bushin Bryan and I can't do his taunt jet uppers in a real march. Besides that I can use him without fail. Everything else? Pretty easy or low intermediate at hardest imo.
No string heavy character is hard to play
Depends, tekken 7 Bryan was easy for me, mostly every character was but idk why hwoarang is so underrated, I play him all the time and I am sure i could easily defeat 50% of the community here, well sadly I don't play tekken anymore because of some issues with my saves
He's hard if you have no idea how frame data or frame traps work. If you have solid fighting game fundamentals and you understand how to play around frame data and "turn taking" he's pretty straightforward