How to beat Akuma in Tekken 7

In 1994, kids in the arcade would tell horror stories of their attempts to defeat Akuma in Street Fighter Turbo 2. Today Tekken 7's interpretation of Akuma may be his most menacing form yet.

Since 2016, horror stories about Akuma were being told again, but this time among the players of Tekken 7. Perhaps to draw in fans or just as an experiment with developing fighters, Katsuhiro Harada thought it was appropriate to bring this villain into the 3D realm, and in doing so, he set the Tekken community on fire.

Akuma became the subject of controversy in tournament play and even amongst casuals. Almost every Tekken 7 tournament was dominated by Akuma players upon his release.

From this crossover emerged a new beast to take down, but this time, the rules are different and so is the strategy.

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Taking on Akuma in Tekken 7: An in-depth analysis

What is Akuma doing in Tekken 7?

Akuma’s addition to Tekken 7 was not as just a mere guest character, but was tied into the story of the game. He is the final boss of the game that appears in the special chapter, and players fight him as Devil Kazuya.

His addition to the game came along with a move-set nearly identical to the one he has in Street Fighter, and therein lies the complication. The abilities of a 2D character translate differently in the 3D environment of Tekken 7, almost certainly giving said character a huge advantage.

To defeat Akuma, the first objective is to change perspective on how the fundamentals of the game work.

What makes Akuma challenging to deal with?

Tekken characters normally can’t cancel from normals into specials the way Akuma does. Akuma throws Hadokens (Fireballs), which is easily the best projectile in the game, and is capable of jump-in attacks, a type of mixup not normally seen in a 3D fighter like Tekken 7.

There is an additional layer to his playstyle with the inclusion of a meter gauge and the ability to perform focus attacks (FADCs). This allows him to string together moves in extremely unique ways. For example:

• Akuma could cancel from a low kick [d, 3] into a projectile and spend a bar of meter to focus cancel and dash forward to continue the combo
• Akuma could perform an uppercut and spend a bar of meter to FADC keeping him down on the ground, thus making the uppercut act like a launcher he can use for a full combo

Just all these different tools give his playstyle the potential to have incredible variety and unpredictability.

How to take Akuma down?

The first milestone players can reach in their quest to learn the Akuma matchup is to defeat him in story mode on the hardest difficulty. And so, this guide will firstly go into the basic strategy players can use when playing as Devil Kazuya against Akuma.

In story mode

Devil Kazuya is playable only in story mode of Tekken 7, forcing players to pick up his kit in the heat of battle. Patience and persistence is key here, as it is inevitable that players will be hitting retry until they learn basic punishes, combos and movement. More specifically:

1) Side-stepping fireballs is the first step to closing the distance and avoiding damage. At a safe distance, players are capable of punishing Akuma for throwing a fireball with their Hell Lancer [f,N,d,d/f+3]

2) Akuma is capable of teleporting (Ashura Senku) and catching players with surprise attacks or escaping from the players offense. So players must think twice before they let their guard down or commit to their offense. It is possible to punish Akuma after he teleports by performing the Wind God Fist [f,N,d~d/f+2] at the precise moment he re-appears.

3) Akuma’s rage art is a low unblockable that the CPU loves to use after tossing a few fireballs. When Akuma uses it he glides over the ground (just like when he teleports) and approaches you. If it connects he gets massive damage. There are two ways to deal with this move: Jump out of his path at the right time after activation or activating your own rage move [During Rage, d / f + 1 + 2]

Devil Kazuya Takes On Akuma (Image via Namco Bandai)

Online

The Akuma boss battle is tough but formulaic. It teaches players about his abilities but does not prepare them for the unpredictable playstyles of online Akuma players. In the higher levels of Tekken 7, Akuma players rely heavily on mixing up moves and maximizing damage with FADCs.

And the only way to become better at dealing with Akuma online is practice. Players have to learn about their opponents, and must have a deep knowledge of their own character to stand a chance at winning.

Watching gameplay is also a very good way to accumulate knowledge on how he interacts with different characters from the roster of Tekken 7 so make sure to watch high level Tekken 7 tournament play, or go through some in-depth guides.