Tekken 8 DLC – all DLC characters, predictions and Season Pass explained

Tekken 8 DLC has started rolling out, and it’s just the start of years of new fighters to come. Tekken 7 made heavy use of DLC, bringing old and new characters to the game for years after launch. So if your Tekken 7 main hasn’t been announced yet, don’t worry because they might still come along eventually.

And it’s not just fighters that will be coming along. Tekken 7’s DLC also included new stages, customisation options, and even a couple of alternate game modes. So with plenty on the table, it’s time to start getting excited about what the Tekken 8 DLC has in store.

Tekken 8 DLC explained

At the time of writing, there is no way to buy any Tekken 8 DLC separately. The only way to make sure you have any DLC from day one is to buy either the Deluxe Edition or Ultimate Edition of the game, whether that’s on PC, PlayStation 5, or Xbox Series X/S.

Both the Deluxe and Ultimate Editions come with the Playable Character Year 1 Pass, which will provide you with the first four DLC characters and the Kinjin Avatar Skin. You’ll also get the Character Costume: Gold Suit Pack which includes a gold costume for each of the 32 base characters.

The Ultimate Edition also includes the Avatar Costume: Classic Tekken T-Shirt Set, providing Tekken T-Shirts for each of the base roster, as well as the Avatar Skins: Kazuya Mishima, Jun Kazama, Jin Kazama set.

Tekken 8 DLC characters

As well as being added to the game, it’s been confirmed that each DLC character will receive their own unique take on the story mode. As confirmed by the game’s director Katsuhiro Harada on X (formerly Twitter), each story mode will show how the DLC characters were involved in the events of the main story. You won’t need to buy the character to play this story mode, however.

There is a slight misunderstanding about this —->“DLC characters will have their own Story mode." <—-

Rather than adding a story mode for each character, we are going to add a story mode for each of the additional characters, including Eddy, in the summer time after May, to show… https://t.co/lvnZBOwSRH

— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) February 20, 2024

So far, two fighters have been added to the game – Brazilian capoeira master Eddy Gordo, and karate black belt and Prime Minister of Poland Lidia Sobieska. Not only that, but at EVO 2024, it was announced that series mainstay Heihachi Mishima would be coming back as the third DLC character. They won’t be the last by any means, as many iconic fighters haven’t made it to Tekken 8 yet but are sure to be in future DLC.

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How many DLC fighters?

Tekken 7 featured a whopping 15 DLC characters across its lifetime, with five brand-new characters (Leroy, Lidia, Eliza, Zafina and Fahkumram) and three guest characters (Noctis, Geese, and Negan).

Fan favourites like Armor King, Lucky Chloe, Julia Chang, Craig Marduk, and Lei Wulong have all missed the cut for the launch roster of the game, but we would be shocked if any of them we’re missed out entirely.

Tekken 8 will also likely bring some brand-new characters to the game. Tekken 7 saw the debut of the likes of Eliza and Fahkumram to the game, while fellow DLC newcomers Leroy Smith and Zafina proved so popular that they are on the base roster for Tekken 8, while Lidia made it in as the second DLC.

We can be sure to see a few wild crossovers bringing guest characters into the game. While Tekken 7’s most prominent guest character, Street Fighter’s Akuma, was in the base game, there were many more where that came from. Fatal Fury’s Geese Howard, Final Fantasy 15’s Noctis, and even Negan from The Walking Dead became fighters, so we hope to see some equally crazy crossovers in this latest instalment.

Tekken 8 DLC predicted characters

While Eddy Gordo has already joined the roster, there are still plenty of places left up for grabs. And while we have no confirmation about any future characters joining, there are a few glaring omissions from the current roster that seem like a shoe-in to feature in future DLC.

A few incredibly popular characters that miss out include Armor King, Marduk, and Kunimitsu. Whether or not they fill out the rest of Season 1 or not, we would be incredibly surprised if any of these missed out on a DLC spot.

Some other popular characters that have missed out are Lei Wulong, Julia Chang, and Anna Williams (sister of Nina Williams), all of whom have been series staples for many years, and have plenty of players dedicated to maining them. 

The same could be said for some of the Tekken 7 newcomers. Only Claudio Serafino, Zafina, and Leroy Smith made it in, so choices like Lucky Chloe and Josie Rizal, two popular Tekken 7 debutantes that could make a return with the DLC, would be a hit, as well as some of Tekken 7’s own DLC like Fahkumram.

Lastly, we’ll almost certainly see some brand-new characters. This will likely be a mix of Tekken original characters and some guest characters from crossovers with other franchises, like we saw with Geese, Noctis, and Negan in Tekken 7. Typically, these have landed pretty high up on the tier list, so keep an eye out for them.

One popular choice so far has been Tifa from the Final Fantasy franchise. When asked about it on Twitter, series director Katsuhiro Harada said that while ‘We all know she is attractive’, that nothing had been decided on guest characters yet, so it will have to remain a mystery for now.

Tekken 8 DLC rumours

Initial leaks seemed to suggest that the first DLC would consist of Eddy Gordo, Armor King, a return for the boxing kangaroo Roger, and an apparently new character named Xiao Meng. However, this has obviously been proven false with the subsequent reveals of Lidia and Heihachi.

Most players were almost certain that Craig Marduk would be the second, or at the very least third DLC character, despite claims from developer Michael Murray that these predictions were false. That being said, Harada-san went on record before the game’s release to confirm that “Heihachi Mishima is completely dead”, so who knows what we can trust anymore?

Tekken 8 Season Pass explained

The first Tekken 8 Season Pass is called the Playable Character Year 1 Pass. This will include four playable characters that will be added to the roster throughout 2024. As mentioned previously, the first playable characters to make a return were Eddy Gordo back in April and Lidia Sobieska in July.

With Heihachi already confirmed, he’ll be slotting nicely into the Autumn release window. With a period of three months between the releases of Eddy and Lidia, it seems fairly likely that Heihachi would arrive around October time, leaving the final to arrive in January, a full year after Tekken 8’s release.

Once the four Year 1 characters have been added, it’s likely that we’ll receive a Year 2 Pass, adding further characters throughout 2025. Tekken 7 had four Season Passes in total, with the last one coming out in 2020. As for whether Tekken 8 will have as many Season Passes, we’ll simply have to wait and see.

Additionally, if you own either the Deluxe or Ultimate Editions of the game, you will be able to play each DLC character 72 hours before they become available for everyone, giving you the chance to climb the ranks before everyone else.

Tekken Shop

A new addition to the series is the Tekken Shop, which released in March 2024. This will feature a variety of new and classic costumes for each of the game’s playable fighters, as well as some avatar costumes to use in Arcade Quest and the Fight Lounge.

These all cost 400 Tekken Coins, which is roughly equivalent to $4. While the majority of these costumes will require you to spend real-life money, there will are some customization options that will be completely free, meaning you can still get some new gear even if you don’t want to spend extra money.