Tekken 8 Azucena Character Guide: All You Need to Know

Azucena is principally a beginner-friendly character, giving players plenty of options to start engaging with their opponents. Her stances also lean into this by, for example, allowing her to guard against incoming damage and counterattack with the liberator stance or to keep up the speed and agility with her energized stance.

Although she is approachable, she still has great depth that top players in the scene, such as Arslan Ash, can appreciate and even take advantage of. If you want to see such an approach, then make sure to check out Arslan Ash's guide to Azucena on our DashFight YouTube channel.

However, this text guide is intended to give you a wider scope, and teach how to work up your way up with Azucena so you can start taking names in Tekken's Ranked mode.

Azucena's Gameplan

Azucena's "in your face" attitude also extends to her gameplay. As we mentioned, she has some basic building blocks to work with, but as those stack up, you can start to glean a deeper system that can frustrate opponents with how oppressive it can be. That is not to say she is overpowering; just that her punishes and mixups are well suited for most average players.

Essential Moves

3 – Quite a good range, and her 3,2 string is amazing, and 3,3 is a guaranteed 14-frame punish. Can be canceled into a stance.
df1,4 – Is a good string that isn’t duckable. df1,2,1 allows starting a combo on counterhit. Can also be canceled into a stance.
WR 3,2 – Great pressure tool that allows for good mixups. Lows, mids, even grabs.
1,1 – Unpunishable, as it’s -9 on block. Leaves you in her stance with lots of pressure to exert
df2 - Good mid launcher to punish whiffs from up close.
db4 – Her best low move. 19-frame move but it’s not reactable. However, it’s -14, so it’s kind of risky against Kazuya, Jin, or anyone else who can launch on that.
d4 – Not very good, -13f.
db3 – Be careful while using this as she’s backturned and can be launched.
FC3 – Can be used as a mixup into WS3, and then f1 to get a CH combo.

Punishes

1,1 – Her 10-frame punish that leads to her stance. Go for 1,2 instead if you can finish your opponent.
4,1 – A 12-frame punish that leaves you in backturn. Can be followed by 1,2, or just 2, which can be mashed to transform it into a grab.
3 – Leaves you in a stance at +4.
1+2 – Gives you a combo on CH.
df1,4 – A 13-frame punish, can be mixed into a lot of things.
3,3 – A guaranteed move, 34 damage and a knockdown.
df2 – Your usual df2 launcher.

Stances

Azucena's liberator stance can avoid high and low attacks automatically, making it a very strong defensive stance, but the real value comes from the multiple ways you can get out of the stance and how each provides a benefit. To enter her Libertador stance, you can use f3+4 input.

1 – A 13-frame move. Has a 1,2 string, but also cancelable.
1+2 – A great launcher.
3 – A low with a string attached, 3,1.
4 – Same thing as above, with 4,1.
df4 – A great hellsweep.

You can change the timing of her moves to throw your opponent off by utilizing her bb and ff movements while in this stance.

Heat

Azucena doesn’t do anything too crazy in Heat. Mainly used to connect and extend your combos, because no one’s gonna eat the moves the Heat mode gives her access to.

Azucena's Bread & Butter Combos:

df2, d2,3, 4,1,2, fff3,2
df2, d2,3, 4,1,2, f2,1,3
df2, d2,3, 4,1,ff, df1,4, fff3,2
df4, 4,3, d2,3 1+2, any after tornado combo
df2, d2,3, 4,1. Heat Burst, df4,1 f4,4 db3+4