While it is often easy and enjoyable to point to the best characters in a Tekken 7 Tier List, particularly after the Season 2 buffs have really put some fighters over the top in terms of being strong and well rounded, we often have as much fun wondering the opposite. Who are the worst Tekken 7 fighters in their own Tier List of shame?
We should preface this by stating that in the hands of a master, there is no such thing as a bad character. Every character has fast moves to punish a sloppy opponent, it is simply that the best of the best have few weaknesses to offset many strengths, while the weakest have both many weaknesses and few strengths, making them less versatile than their Top Tier alternatives.
If you're curious about the best fighters, we ranked the best Tekken 7 fighters here.
Panda
Panda suffers from a few problems, such as a large hitbox with little to compensate for the size. In general, the goal of a Panda player is to focus on burrs, whiff-punishing from range, and focusing on spending time on HBS (Hunting Bear Stance) as that is where the most potential for damage and mix-ups lies.
Unfortunately, Panda is highly susceptible to extended combos, has a weak (at best) backdash, is susceptible to SSR (sidestep to the right), and perhaps worst of all, is unsafe on almost everything that is worth using.
However, with all these points in mind, let us jump back to the idea that in any given situation, a master Tekken player can throw caution to the wind with Tier Lists and still dominate with a “weak” character. The video below is by far one of the best arguments for such a point, with Panda dominating the best players in the world.
Keep this in mind while reading ahead, for it is the best example of how far a player can go with their favorite fighter, despite how bad everyone else may consider them.
Raven
Raven’s problems begin with her lack of easy panic moves outside of WS2 (while standing and hitting the "2" button) and Magic 4 (the "4" kick that launches on a counter hit). There is generally little that one can do while using Raven when facing pressure at close range, so if one is being hammered by a Law player, they are essentially stuck.
On the offensive, Raven has too many unsafe moves that means a player needs to delve into risky territory far more often than other characters, which in itself should be making one question why one would even bother with using Raven in the first place. Overall, Raven’s juggles are unstable and require excellent timing, again demanding more from a player than a similar character.
Raven also lacks a 15F launcher. This is not a deal breaker for everyone, as Steve has a 17F launcher and has drastically improved since his previous inclusions in other Tekken games, but it is simply another knock against the character.
Alisa
Alisa is a fighter who is attractive for beginner players because she is generally balanced and offers both zoning and defensive pokes. Unfortunately, as soon as players venture forth online they quickly learn about her weaknesses that leave her often on the receiving end of some bad punishment.
Primarily, Alisa suffers from a weak stepping to the right, and her stance options almost always crumble under pressure. Similar to other characters, if facing an opponent that is both relentless in their attack and also playing a character than can reliably maintain pressure, Alisa has virtually no chance outside of catching the perfect whiff to punish.
With that in mind, one could look up videos of Knee and Chanel playing Alisa and then wonder what on earth we are talking about here. That again is because in the hands of a master, any character can shine in certain circumstances.
Bob
Here comes a bit of an odd case. Is there anything truly bad about Bob? Not really, if we are honest. He does lack a 15F launcher, same as Raven, and his slow standing launchers in general leave much to be desired, and he always relies on a counter hit to launch.
However, he otherwise is fine, and makes great use of a player who has strong, firm fundamentals at high levels of play. So why do we see him so little in online and competitive play? According to online stats across all platforms for Tekken 7, Bob is among the least played of all characters. https://www.eventhubs.com/stats/tekken7/
We are not exactly sure why, so we are placing him on this Tier List of “worst” fighters, hopefully to see if anyone disagrees and can offer some insight into this mystery.
Lei
Oh Lei, how far you have fallen from grace in this Tekken game. It is sad seeing Lei in such bad shape, but the reality is that although he has a number of fantastic, fun, creative ways to fight, he has so many weaknesses that make him a bad fighter in this tournament.
Briefly, we can say that his strengths include one of the strongest mix-up games, tons of niche, fun moves with his stances, decent to above average combo damage, great evasiveness, some throw mix-up with both Dragon and Drunken throws, strong whiff punishment, and strong against players who don't know the matchup.
Unfortunately, his last strength is one of his greatest weaknesses. In online ranked mode and competitive tournaments, every player has an encyclopedic knowledge of all the fighters, or at least the most threatening in a tournament setting. Lei has no surprises for them, and it opens him up to a world of hurt.
As a result, Lei is simply too risky to use effectively, he lacks strong generic pokes from neutral, has a hard time against keep out and gap closing, is easily counter hit, is weak to SSL, and unless they are playing a confusing, non-stop changing stance style of game, are constantly telegraphing their moves.
This leaves Lei in a position of extremely fun to play but flawed and not able to compete at the highest levels of play, which is where one would expect such a class, core character of the series to be capable of performing.
Conclusion
Consider what we discussed earlier, that even the worst characters can do well. All of the characters here are likely perfectly fine for new players, as learning tools to get a feel for how the game works. It is only when we get into competitive play, to test ourselves online against other players, that these previously small deficiencies now become glaring weaknesses that lead to crushing defeats.
If you love a character, like Panda, there is clearly evidence to support that once could reach the top levels of competitive gameplay, so go out and be the best Panda you can be!
Thanks again to TheMainManSWE for his broad range of videos that go into great detail about why certain fighters are great, or why they may be lacking.