There are a lot of fighters to choose from inTekken 8, and not all of them are picked equally. Dragunov and Reina, for example, are being used a whole lot more than a lot of the otherTekken 8fighters, especially fighters like Zafina, Panda, and Shaheen. Shaheen especially is not played very often, which is a shame since he’s still a very fun fighter to use.
With that in mind, let’s break down who Shaheen is as a character, what he’s doing inTekken 8, how his mechanics work, and some general tips on how you’re able to quickly learn him and start climbing the rankings.
Shaheen AKA The ‘Desert Falcon’s Contribution To Tekken
And Who Is This ‘Friend’ He’s Always Talking About Avenging?
Shaheen isn’t exactly the most ‘popular’ character inTekken 8. In fact, in the popularity polls withdata gathered by one AlietteFaye on Twitter, Shaheen is in the bottom three in terms of characters people actively play online alongside Zafina and Panda. Still, Shaheen is a fighter just likeanybody else on theTekken 8roster, and he’s got his fair share of backstory, his own dedicated fighting arts, and he can absolutely shred in online matches in the hands of a seasoned player.
To go a bit into Shaheen’s backstory, he’s on a journey of vengeance. Anyone who has played the story mode ofTekken 8or has fought against a couple of Shaheens at the very least knows that this guy mentions his dead friend in almost every single voice line he has. But who exactly was this dead friend, and how does Shaheen’s investigation of his death lead him to the King of Iron Fist Tournament? Well, to be more specific, Shaheen had been trained in martial arts from a very young age, and when he was young he used these martial arts to defend a boy of a similar age, named Salim, from an assassination attempt. After saving his life, both Salim and Shaheen become close friends (Shaheen even becomes Salim’s bodyguard for a time) but eventually go their separate ways in pursuit of their individual goals.
Years pass, and eventually, Shaheen finds out that Salim has tragically passed away. Not only that, but Shaheen also finds out that basically right after his death, the oil company that Salim was in control of has now been taken over by G Corporation, and all of Salim’s family that worked there have been forced to step down. Obviously, this is suspicious, as it’s pretty clear Salim was killed (likely ordered by Kazuya and carried out by Nina Williams) because of some business conflict.
This is not only why Shaheen is always chasing after Kazuya, but it’s also why he carries that ornamental blade with him, as this was the ornamental blade Salim gave him and one he probably plans to use to enact his revenge against Kazuya. Though, let’s be realistic, if Jin Kazama at full power, a descent from space, a full-power blast from Claudio, and even Reina can’t kill Kazuya Mishima, then Shaheen’s chances of doing so are pretty much non-existent. Now, inTekken 8, Shaheen is currentlyworking as a bodyguard for another fighter, Lili Rochefort, and this is how he ends up at the King of Iron Fist Tournament in this game in the first place.
How The Tekken Community Notates Inputs
For Writing Out Directional Inputs, Attacks, & Combo Strings
Again, if you’ve read any of our otherTekken 8character guides, you’ll know that we always have a section that goes a bit over howTekken’sinput notation works in combo videos or in online posts. TheTekkenseries follows a more numerical notation rather than one that uses terms like high kick, low kick, light punch, and heavy punch.Instead, left punch is 1, right punch is 2, left kick is 3, right kick is 4, and directions and other movement terms are usually represented by their starting letter (AKA tapping forward is written as ‘f’)
By writing things this way,Tekkenplayers can easily readhow a combo or attack string is performedregardless of what their controller method is (be it a fight stick, controller, or even keyboard). We aren’t going to get over all the terminology used or how it’s written, but for the sake of this guide, here’s what you’ll need to know:
u
d
b
f
1
2
3
4
u/f
d/f
u/b
d/b
Shaheen’s General ‘Plan’ In A Match
A Whole Lot of Stealth Steps & Kicks
Compared to a lot of other characters onTekken 8’sroster, Shaheen is very ‘standard’. His moveset has all the standard options one would expect from the most basic of basic characters, but that’s not at all a bad thing.Because Shaheen doesn’t have anything ‘crazy’ going on with his moveset, mechanics, or stances, there’s not much of an initial learning curve to using him.Additionally, Shaheen has always been the butt of many jokessince his debut inTekken 7with people saying things like ‘Oh here’s one half of the entire Shaheen player base’ whenever they see a Shaheen player and so on.
And it’s true, Shaheen is not a super popular character in T8 either, but he should absolutely be more popular than he is. This character is a ton of fun to play, andhis general game plan revolves around basic offense, using Stealth Step mixups to keep the opponent guessing, sliding around constantly in combos, and a whole lot of kicks.While some characters are much more incentivized to go ‘all out’ on offense with their kit, Shaheen is pretty in this middle. To do well with the character, you’ll most likely need to have a solid defense foundation and an understanding of what a good offense looks like.
Shaheen’s Rage Art
Najm Alshamal
Quite frankly, compared to most of the rest of Shaheen’s general atmosphere and visuals, his Rage Art is by far the most ‘hype’ thing about him. It’s a mid-starter Rage Art where Shaheen launches his opponent with the first hit, jumps on them mid-air to surf on them for a couple of seconds (while ironically saying how he respects his opponent, all while stepping on them), before launching them back into the air and finishing things up by dive kicking them mid-air.
Because it’s a mid-hitting Rage Art, players will absolutely want to go for it when they see their opponent starting an animation that leads to a low, as this pretty much guarantees it’ll hit. Of course, if they press the Rage Art input right as they see their opponent starting an attack, it’ll also hit, but using it against a low specifically decreases the chances of the opponent ‘baiting out’ the Rage Art only to block it right afterward.And remember, you’ve got to be in the last 25 percent of your health to actually use the Rage Art, so keep an eye out for when your HP Bar starts radiating this red energy and when it goes from yellow to red.
Shaheen’s Unique Mechanic
Notice It’s ‘Mechanic’ and Not ‘Mechanics’
This section for Shaheen is going to be a lot shorter than our sections forKing,Paul,Steve, orLaw, and that’s because Shaheen really only has one unique mechanic with Stealth Step.
Stealth Step can be done on its own by pressing d/f 3+4, but the windup for this with Shaheen sliding before being able to do any of the moves that follow Stealth Step leaves him very open to getting punished. Instead, you’ll want to use Stealth Step in the middle of an attack string, making sure to use the specific sequences that can lead to Stealth Step by holding d/f at the end of them. To give a few examples of moves that lead into Stealth Step (if you press d/f at the end of the last hit):
Once you transition into Stealth Step you can press 2, 3, or 4 to mix opponents up with different attacks. Stealth Step into 4 leads to a low slide that Shaheen can use to extend certain combos or just trip up cautious opponents. Stealth Step into 3 leads into a mid kick that, if it lands, has Shaheen briefly surf on his opponent before launching them back into the air. And, Stealth Step into 2 is just a nice mid launcher. While Shaheen does have a few tricky moves such as his u4, his b2 command grab, and more, the character overall has very few ‘complex’ mechanics.
Starter Tips & Tricks For Shaheen
These Should Help Your Initial Ranked Match Climb
As a whole,you should consider Shaheen to be a very capable fighter inTekken 8.While his starting line may not be at the same place as someone like Dragunov, Paul, or King, he’s absolutely not ‘bad’ by any standard. If you look at Shaheen’s move set and still think he seems ‘boring’, you might want to just give him a try in Practice Mode, as you may be surprised by how much you like him.
Now, to give the rare few of you who will actually give Shaheen a chance a helping hand, here are some quick tips to help get you going in Ranked Matches when playing as Shaheen:
Explanation
Shaheen has a good handful of relatively safe poke options and reliable counters. For pokes, he has stuff like f4, b4, or 1, 2, 2, or even WS3, 3.
b3 may look like a move with a lot of windup to it, but it’s actually a pretty safe poke and can be followed by f4 to get a good chunk of damage from just two hits.
His 1, 2, 2 jab string is very fast and the last hit of it (AKA the last input) can be delayed by just a half second to throw opponents off. Or, if they’re used to your 1, 2, 2, you can throw them off with 1, 2, 3 as well.
Shaheen does have decent lows, but he doesn’t have quite as many ‘fast and reliable’ lowsas a lot of other fighters, with d3 being his usual best option outside of Stealth Step into 4. Keep this in mind so you don’t over-rely on d3 early on in a set and your opponent gets used to it too quickly.
5
Most of Shaheen’s offense comes from kicks. While his jabs do a lot of the legwork, ironically enough, most of your big damage comes from his kicks, so don’t feel as ‘locked’ to the 1 and 2 inputs as you might for a lot of other fighters.
Lastly,Shaheen struggles against players who know anything about his kit and options. While Shaheen isn’t basic, it doesn’t take a ton of time to start adapting to playing against him, so you’ll often notice the second set against an opponent will probably be a lot harder. Thankfully, as previously mentioned, Shaheen isn’t a very popular character at the moment inTekken 8, so you’ll almost never have to worry about opponents who have put the time in to learn the Shaheen matchups.
