Is Hwoarang a Viable Tournament Character in TEKKEN 8?

Big thank you to Instant Gaming, the BEST place to buy games at a discounted rate while also supporting K-Wiss: www.instant-ga...
Instant Gaming Giveaway: www.instant-ga...
K-Wiss discusses the strengths and weaknesses of Hwoarang in Tekken 8 tournaments.
If you want to go above and beyond with K-Wiss support:
/ @k-wiss
Hi, I am a professional Tekken competitor, commentator and content creator. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the video!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
K-Wiss Socials:
Twitch: / k_wiss_
Twitter: / kungfukobi
Instagram: / k_wiss_
Discord: / discord
Donate: streamlabs.com...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Partners:
GTOmega Racing: www.gtomega.co...
Eighty-Sixed Merch: www.eightysixe...?aff=100
Into The AM: intotheam.com/...
Instant Gaming: www.instant-ga...
HOLY Energy: uk.weareholy.c...

[@K-Wiss]

Big thank you to Instant Gaming, the BEST place to buy games at a discounted rate while also supporting K-Wiss: www.instant-gaming.com/?igr=KWISSTK Instant Gaming Giveaway: www.instant-gaming.com/en/giveaway/k-wiss

[@bloodtalon27]

With you using it, definitely. You and EDGE are my favourite hwoarang players right now! Still dreaming of seeing Hwoarang win a major tournament!

[@rufern910]

Real shit man i love edging

[@Paullocker]

W comment

[@theplaymakerno1]

The problem with Hwo is that you need to be very good at execution to do well with him. Also, Hwo's 50/50 usually puts him into a 50/50 as well. Unlike Julia's 50/50s, his 50/50s punish him quite badly if he makes a mistake. Another thing with Hwo is his lack of serious knock-down moves. He is very susceptible to pressure. He has no quick solution for someone that is pressuring him. His best knock-down move, IMO, is the 4 from RF. It really sends the opponent flying. His F,3,3 is also a very good evasive knock-down move, but it is slow and can be punished (although most people do not know that). Another thing is that Hwo basically has no move that can help him close the gap from neutral. Flying Eagle is probably the best move that he has to make people be afraid of just running up to him. The other homing move (the new one) he has from RFF does not have the 'unlimited range' that some people suggested that he has. Other than that, Hwo players are usually forced into playing the, we always have to be in plus, mentality as winning your turn back with Hwo is very difficult. He doesn't have while standing moves that can help him get into his most powerful stances, so we are forced to use U,3 or U,4 from crouching. The reason why you are so successful with Hwo is because you are an overall excellent player, and have very VERY good movement. The way you can confidently run up to someone or dash block is unreal really. I'd say only Yeonerang is the only person that I have seen that moves slightly better than you. But unlike Yeon, you play Hwo the way he was designed to be played. Yeon also plays Hwo in an unpredictable manner, and doesn't play the Plus Frame game. In fact, he actually takes plus frames and moves away most of the time, in the hope that he will catch someone whiffing. In all of your tournaments that I have seen you play, you lost due to bad luck. You are usually the better player, but are limited by Hwo and literally bad luck. The other player just guesses and you get severely punished for it. That being said, do not drop Hwo. He has tools for basically every single situation that a person can think off. The problem is, he requires a lot of luck and good reads to be viable for tournament use. I also believe that a person needs to have about 4-5 different play-styles. Sometimes a person has to play defensive Hwo, or Bleed out Hwo style.

[@SmokinSkyzoStyle]

Lol

[@beastmodebeta]

@@SmokinSkyzoStyle Do you have anything important to add? The class would love to hear it.

[@beastmodebeta]

@theplaymakerno1 Saying he has no knock-down moves is a bit incorrect. He has a lot. The problem is that he needs another tool that causes crumple WITHOUT need of CH like B4 requires, or being in Flamingo ( Flamingo DF4, specifically. ) If he had a tool that allowed him to make people respect his pressure and reward him for making good reads, he would have a better spot in the roster. But he will kinda always just be around the point where he is basically lording over mid-tier and below due to people being able to just sit in crouch stance anything he even attempts to go into flamingo or shifts into RS. Hwoa also has this issue where his hitbox is elongated to over-compensate for the way he moves forward when attacking, which makes him easy to be caught before his attack animations even start. Or moves like U3+4 don't go over mids like other orbitals which makes me question what his use of the button is even supposed to be for when numerous others can use theirs and be absolutely safe about it. But that aside, a great deal of this explanation if pretty spot on.

[@actsofabundance9079]

Perfect analysis

[@theplaymakerno1]

@@beastmodebeta You are correct. I guess, F, 3 from LF (LS) should crumple when not in heat. B3, from RF without heat should make the player be closer to Hwo so it can viable without the need for a wall. He really needs a tool which would make people think twice about ducking, as people can just duck his moves and he basically can do nothing about it when executing a flow chart. He also does not really have any seriously good pressure tools from neutral, that can make a person slightly scared to duck. I have kind of felt that as well. For some reason, people get their attacks in way before I do. I thought it was because they were pressing faster than me, but I don't believe that is the case. Hwo's attacks seem to be slower, even though the frame data suggests they are not. For example, the +9 that I get from RF, 1 isn't really a +9. I try to do D, 3, 4 after that which should hit before the other person's jab but their jab hits me first. I do not know they that is the case. And don't even get me started on the orbital. It is so inconsistent! It should completely evade mids!

[@xando6767]

19:17 Bro started applyin PRESSURE 😮‍💨

[@truesuce_blehh]

i never thought about using wavus into cd3 instead of peacekeeper i will be implementing that into my gameplay now🙏🏽

[@Chris_Da_Prince]

Just realized you played schizophrenicc69. MainMan is still having nightmares after facing him so many times 😂 And Hwoarang is very punishable. B3 and whiff-You Die DF and whiff-You Die Constantly throwing highs in RFS and get punished for it-You Die Use D3,4 more than once-Low Parry and Die Even His JFSR is Stepable I just feel so dead inside everytime I use Hwoarang. JDCR said so

[@zephune9506]

Im almost done with him cant escape bushin and even though there are people better than me me with him, I feel I would be a tekken god with a different character

[@sumpyori]

@@zephune9506 keep grinding, its a trap to switch characters, bc then youll start feeling the same with that character and switch again.

[@MaDNeSS1116]

I just want 1 thing for Hwoarang make him be able to do air throw(soccer kick) from lfs I dont see why they can’t add that

[@fakeeru6783]

Even Arslan Ash contemplated on switch to Hwoarang from Azucena(seen it on Twitter) I wonder if he could have beaten AK if he was ready using Hwoarang... BUT of course in your hands KWiss... WE BELIEVE. :)

[@flavortownoutcast1719]

Nah arslan could never play a male character lmao

[@russdellapenna]

Watched my first big event ever in combo breaker and was bummed out not to see you, edge or really any Hwoarang players, but I'm excited to see you especially compete when you can get to an event. Also having played him only since his debut, I think this is my favorite iteration, and can't wait to see him win a tournament! Hope you're doing excellent

[@ivanmarinmoyano4320]

Love your play bro , learning so much

[@lucianocruz3383]

That match against devil jin was so fun to watch love these characters and both kwiss and the other player are super good with the characters

[@rickberny1424]

I think Hwoarang is fine over all, sure stronger characters, but a combination of good fundamental tools (ff4, db3, dragonlash, backlash, b3 and of course lethal skyrocket) and good and gimmicky pressure, mean hes gonna be at least viable in most situation, how ever i have a big problem with him (and 2 minor problems) 1, right flamingo is just confusing.. that stance is supposed to be a 50/50 stance, you "end up" in r.flamingo then you mix up the opponent or take a route out of the stance. But since his sweep is gone, now he cant really do that well, now he mixes up big mids with small highs and lows, the risk reward is all-over the place and its VERY hard to predict the opponents behavior against r.flamingo, and all it'd take to fix this is making d43 from -1 to like +1 ~ +3, the move does already 27 dmg, make it keep pressure and it becomes a strong option that the opponent needs to look out for, and there you have an actual 50/50. On that note also his heat sweep taking HALF of his heat is stupid, should be like 1/3 or 1/4. Two other small thing that bother me are f1+2 and df3+4 F1+2 is kinda useless, df2 does the same thing but better (being an i15 frametrap) and SLIGHTLY less range, and df3+4 is just a confirm for f1+2. Make the moves do something maybe give f1+2 the leroy treatment and make it link into df3+4 on normal hit (turning it into a mid check instead of a frame trap tool something hwos df2 isnt good at) and make df3+4 -12 or 13 from -14 so at least it doesn't get launched and can function and fast mid poke like kazuyas 1+2

[@thrillainthemanilla1409]

Hey K-Wiss! I think an interesting idea for a video would be what allowed Joka to level up his game so much in Tekken 8. He’s absolutely destroying competition in this game and while he was obviously very skilled in T7 I don’t think anyone would argue he could’ve beat Knee or Arslan in a tournament the way he did in T8

[@nogoofies5099]

While I do love Hwoarang and you still do amazing with him. It would probably benefit to pick up a more tournament viable character as you already do well with Hwoarang even more can be accomplished with a more sound character That’s just my opinion tho and I’m no top player (YET) I’ll still tune in regardless the choice but just something to consider

[@GTJD111]

Youre right. His hwoarang is great. However, what hwoarang cqn do, Feng....can do much better, plus more. KWiss would win tournwments hands down with feng. Hwoarang at the highest level holds kwiss back a bit.

[@BlueStar082]

Any Hwoarang player that can’t maintain an aggressive offense will think he’s not high tier. This Hwoarang can enter flamingo in so many ways now that it opened so many possibilities to his combo list. Hes def on crack in Tekken 8 and I love it. 😅

[@Quince477]

All I wanted is a low in rfs that wouldn't get me killed if blocked. I love playing him even more now bc of that change. But ws2,3 is garbage lol I think hwo is pretty good, waiting for your big tournament win with him! 💪🏾

[@melvinshine9841]

This video must dropped around 9pm here. "I'm just sitting in a hotel room thinking about Hwoarang." *insert "M, M, filled with MEN!"* 21:41 - 21:44 Timestamping the random K-Wiss for other reason than it's funny. This might be a cop-out answer, but I think almost everyone is tournament viable in this game. While we've had certain characters who've been in the Top 8s of several tournaments, I don't think we had the same character win multiple tournaments, yet. There are some characters who are clearly better than others, but I think the players are making the bigger difference right now.

[@junosenpaii]

wow, this aged well...

[@belowaveragegamer8612]

My biggest issue is always the hitboxes. I don't play at your level and it annoys me when I anticipated the low and my u4 or u34 is mid crushed and I am launched!! Generally I find the tekken 8 changes have made him generic. Everybody has that range now and the plus frame game is available to all. The hard blocking is a thumb numbing experience as well 🙄. Not impressed that others have big plus frames but can block or auto low parry while he has to commit to another move. In the end however Namco is committed to him being mid tier so I'm not worried. He will always be "good". No more and hopefully no less.

[@ChiefGudDClan]

Great Video but I'm freaking out that there's a Stutter bruhhh I'm thinking my phone fucked up somehow... but no it's just the Video

[@TheWhiteHorse6969]

First Hworang, step to the side his chest is facing, ez 😂

[@LordKin15]

The Brian was schnasty

[@deucecannonthegod6742]

How do you do that just frame sky rocket so consistently ⁉️

[@monkeplaysgames7049]

Hours of finger breaking practice

[@deucecannonthegod6742]

@@monkeplaysgames7049 I can only do it from RFF. 😅

[@actsofabundance9079]

He play on stick

[@mikehunt7410]

@@actsofabundance9079 He plays on pad.

[@fieryfeends8227]

Consistent jfsr has nothing to do with type of controller brother, he's just got used to the frame perfect df4 timing

[@aharris82]

Question: What fighting stick do you recommend for Tekken 8?

[@R_J8]

I think Kwiss is a pad player.

[@aharris82]

Have you played on the NACON Daija Arcade Fight Stick or the HORI PlayStation 5 Fighting Stick Alpha?

[@clippsz]

I use an old fight stick called the “fight stick V3” it’s made by hori and it’s decent and cheap. If you want something more expensive I’d just go for a Quanba Crystal for sure.

[@aharris82]

Thanks fellas!

[@Chris-bg1hc]

What's wrong with ws2,3?

[@faridjagrala]

Howrang has issues with low perry and mid low attack

[@thomasrougeot9026]

Of course Hwoarang is tournament viable. You proved it !

[@grantgarbour]

Substitute ff4 with cd3, it has much better tracking (still steppable) but if you want a demon paw analog, test it out. Ff4 is way WAY too linear to be used as anything except a whiff punish really

[@grantgarbour]

I realized later in the video that you started doing it lol

[@DannyBob08]

Arguing about hwo nerf is one thing, saying he needs buff its just insane, go to the doctor, they will create a new disease just for you guys, a terminal one, reason of death: "to push other people's boundaries"

[@n0bodyfam0us]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@DaRaZiO98]

Every character in this game might as well be a Hwo. Everyone has 50/50s, some with little punishment. Imo he's so risky

[@Gyubii]

do you play stick or controller?

[@RajaHarambe]

He is using "dualsense edge" cmiiw

[@grayo_o1165]

Who is hwoarang's bad matchups??

[@Counselor-yj8hk]

No he is not and he never will be until the devs give him crazy options in LFF stance to the point that his Flamingo attack options are overshadowed. Plus, his Flamingo gimmick has to be buffed to an insane degree where challenging Flamingo stance = death. Then he might be viable. But as he is now, no.

[@Kogasengaha_Hishoshi]

Unfortunately I would say no lol Many good players just get swept up by other characters with more options sadly. I love Hwo but :/ Same boat as Law.

[@fillfreire2169]

9:31

[@lilbeastnb7698]

What's the lore between Schizophrenic69 and K Wiss?

[@Kyojin00]

You have to have other characters man simple as that, how joka switches when its not working out You need to do the same

[@olisaiweanya7527]

This topic is soo overdrawn. He has won tournaments before and finished top8 many times. Yes he is a good character.

[@zephune9506]

Never in a major tournament/ master event

[@guap2cold]

He’s strong but he has his issues .. I’ve been playing against a lot of brain dead spammers lately and it’s getting kinda annoying 😂😂

[@memesyoucantforget7923]

I feel like Bryan is anti-Hwoarange

[@zephune9506]

Bryan, reina, steve even law a bit. Did i mention zafina and xiaoyu

[@zephune9506]

I dont think hwoarang is good enough to win a big tournament. He is very weak bottom 5 in my opinion. I think you have the skill to compete with the very best but not with hwoarang

[@mpoweredfilms2456]

If you would of just listened and stop with the ego, you would of qualified to the saudia arabia :(

[@K-Wiss]

What are you even talking about??

[@mpoweredfilms2456]

@@K-Wiss the Dallas competition you went to, you should of been in that top 8 man, but I don’t think it’s skill that’s holding you back its something else that you refuse to see or accept

[@K-Wiss]

@@mpoweredfilms2456 Again, what the fuck are you talking about?

[@mpoweredfilms2456]

@@K-Wiss I know your comprehension is not that low

[@tibz7634]

No, hwoa feels very weak compared to the rest of the cast. Everyone has crazy mixups and + frames now, hwoa completely lost his identity. He isnt even THE rushdown character anymore. Alot of other characters get way more mileage out of doing way less then hwoa. Only good ch utility is in heat. Very bad mids overall, except for jfsr wich is not easy to do. Panic move is garbage compared to what others have. No low launchers while ofcourse, the entire cast has it. One of the reason drag is so good is because he does the most basic shit and its impossible to get out off, while Hwoa puts himself in risky situations for little reward all the time.