Before I say anything I just want to start off by saying that I’m really tired of seeing threads like “I’m getting beat by a spammer”, “this character needs to be nerfed or removed”, or "Why in God's name is Akuma in the game and have an unblockable Rage Art" (which can just be jumped 99.9% of the time. Trust me, I main Akuma) by people that have likely just started playing Tekken. Now, I may just be a green rank player on PS4 and this is also my first Tekken game (got it on release day, early 2017), but I have dabbled in a few other fighting games competitively, namely Street Fighter IV from Super onwards and Smash (interpret that as you will). I understand the struggles of learning a new game, and I do realize that Tekken is very hard and not everyone learns fast. There are a bunch of moves you have to look out for (though most of the move list still goes unused), a ton of characters can overwhelm you when you’re losing, and most beginners panic from the moment they even get hit. I will warn you that this is a pretty long wall of text, because you have to put in work to get better at anything. However, if you think you have a good grasp on any of these things and you know what to do, you can skip to the next point. Still, I want to help you as much as possible if you’re serious about "gittin' gud".

If you’re getting beat by “spammers” or “gimmicky characters” like Chloe, Xiaoyu, Eddy, Akuma, Eliza, etc., there’s a very good chance that you just don’t know the matchup. If they can use just one or two moves to beat you, that’s one thing you have to practice against now. Use training mode, and remember that you have movement options like sidestepping or backdashing, and every character has moves that can either high crush (become invincible to high attacks; usually moves that make the character crouch or are simply done from the crouching stance) or low crush (invincible to low attacks; usually moves that keep the character airborne). Perhaps the move or string is duckable or even launch punishable, which brings me to the next section.

Learn your character’s combos and fast punishes. They’re there for a reason, and given any opening, you should be able to do them on the fly. Don’t leave damage on the table (unless the string used for the punish is not a natural combo; this is another beginner trap. The training mode in this game does not default your training dummy to block after the first hit, BUT some strings still register as a combo. It you haven't already, change the 2nd action of the dummy to guard all to be sure that you get the most accurate punish). Look them up, someone has likely made a video or text guide for your character like I did for Akuma (which, if you’re curious, is right here https://pastebin.com/tMhdKBYA ).

You’re on PC too; you have an app called Tekken Bot Prime ( https://github.com/roguelike2d/TekkenBot/releases/ ) which can greatly help you learn the frame data of any move. For example, by launch punishable, I mean anything from -14 to -16 or worse depending on your character (as 99% of launchers fall within the i14-16 range) and by fast punishes I mean anything that comes out between frame 10 to 12 (which is what the "i" represents before the number; impact frame as it's called). Frame data is something you should definitely pick up on; you don’t have to memorize every single move, but at least learn to be aware of when you are safe and when you are not, and pick up on a few key unsafe moves that the opponent can use. Again, a reminder that there is no shortcut to getting better.

Most of the time, you have to treat low attacks as chip damage. They’re designed to catch you off guard and hit you when you least expect it (so like the overheads in Street Fighter, where most attacks can just be blocked low; this is the opposite in Tekken, just so you’re aware). However, if you do actually block a low, keep in mind that there is a transitional stance between crouching and standing called “While Standing”. This is the stance you will often take when attempting to punish a low. Practice doing your While Standing moves. You can mess them up easily if you hit too many directions at once; you just have to let go of down-back as soon as you block and hit a button to do a While Standing move. You can hit any button, but some are preferred for their speed (usually While Standing 4 at i11) or their ability to launch the opponent (usually While Standing 2 at i15 or i16). You should aim to learn the lows that each character can do, how unsafe they are if you block (and they usually are at least minorly unsafe), and punish with the correct While Standing move (Note; if a low is -15 or worse, you can also bypass the While Standing stance and immediately use your character’s hopkick, or u/f+4, if they have a standard one. Some, like Dragunov, Eliza, and Akuma don’t).
However, if you've played Street Fighter like me, you're probably thinking "but wait, overheads in SF are much slower than these lows you're talking about" and you're right, most of them are pretty much reactable all the time. The same applies to certain lows in Tekken that are equally slow, but have much more reward for hitting. This is where the meme lows like Bryan's Snake Edge and Law's Dragon Tail come into play. Contrary to what you may have experienced, they ARE reactable, and they're pretty darn punishable too if you manage to block them, to the point where most characters can land their delayed hopkick that deals even more damage than a regular launching move. Practice blocking these lows as well; try recording multiple actions with the training dummy along with their reactable low and see if that helps you deal with them.

Adopt a more defensive playstyle. You don’t have to land the first hit, you simply have to gain the advantage first. It does neither you nor your opponent any good if you guys get hasty and just throw out whatever move that ends up getting blocked and punished. Again, remember that you can trick a lot of opponents just with your movement alone; dashing in their face but suddenly stopping and dashing backwards or sidestepping in the correct direction can force your opponent to whiff something and allow you to gain the advantage.

There are a bunch of things in this game that you probably wouldn’t have heard about without tutorials from YouTube channels such as Avoiding The Puddle (Aris) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKJtYrlWaF3G0LIneEKoPew (my personal favourite) and KingJae https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVY3hE2vluasOgc7a5dT_Lg (another really good source). They will likely teach you better about getting off the ground, teching throws, knowing when to use low parries, chickening parries, etc. than I would. There are resources out there that will teach you about every mechanic in the game, and there are too many to cover even here. Finally…

Do not be worried about your losses. If you’re losing a lot but you’ve only just started playing the game, that’s completely normal. You haven’t even reached that point where you should want to win. Instead, you should work on the little things, like landing any combo, punishing blocked lows or recognizing strings and acting accordingly. These do much more for your growth as a player than just beating someone who probably also doesn’t know what they’re doing. A match should be measured by how well you did those little things and not the outcome. Even if you only checked a few boxes, it’s better than having done none of them, and if you couldn’t do anything, well... you now have a checklist for things you need to work on, and maybe you’ll learn a lot more as you play more and figure things out.

Hooray, you've made it to the end of the guide! I sincerely hope this guide helps you get better at Tekken 7. Oh, and a friendly reminder that at the end of the day, it's just a video game. They were made for us to have fun, not to get angry or disgruntled by any stretch. Keep your emotions in check when playing. It's better to have a clear mind in any scenario.