Is TJ viable?

I really like TJ because I think most of his moves are really good in theory but once you play a match with him you’re usually fighting uphill and while it does feel good when you win with him they are always few and far between.
Now I do realize that his auto barrage damage ender is among the most devastating Enders in the game,but(in my opinion)isn’t very reliable.
Do I just need to git gud or is he “low tier”.

His ultimate isn’t viable XD

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you have to put work into TJ. he is a Read, Conditioning heavy character. but once you start getting good with him and are able to “Flow”. It feels Amazing. as for Auto Barrage if they haven’t locked out you can always cash out potential damage early by pressing another button you have already pressed, giving you and advantage Ender leaving you at a 4 frame advantage. I posted a Beginners guide to TJ as well as a Intermediate/Advanced guide I am currently working on, but yes he is viable

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Looks so lame

He is very viable, with good damage, great reset potential, and some very smothering pressure options. I’d probably put him at solid mid-tier, and say that if you aren’t doing well with him the fault almost certainly lies with you as opposed to the character.

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I always drop combos because of the auto barrage activation,it sucks.

Could you link to the guide?

Its up to you but one thing some TJ’s debate on doing or not is using his instinct in game, not just for Last Breath. It makes you wonder if its ever your turn and is up there, as far as pressure, with Jago, Hisako, Tusk and Sabrewulf.

TJ is actually pretty insane. He’s got weaknesses, sure, but he makes up for it; he’s got some of the most interesting buttons in the game, hella pressure and one beast of a vortex. He ain’t hurtin’ for damage, or mobility, either. Powerline cancels are some of coolest mobility options available, and really break open his neutral. Who needs a fireball to control lateral space when you can BE the fireball (who later decides to be a fullscreen command grab that sets up a vortex)!?

If you’re having issues w/ Barrage, you’ve got some execution to drill. He is sorta execution intensive.

I also think he is one of the most expressive characters in the game, as there is so much room to play creatively w/ TJ, to let your personality shine in your play and develop your own style. He’s awesome.

And definitely “viable”.

Also, I don’t know what everyone is on about his Ulti. The others all seemed excessive, and that excess made them lame, in my opinion. TJ’s is my favorite, hands down.

Just be careful w/ Last Breath - it is trivial to thwart for enough of the cast that you shouldn’t build your gameplan around it. If you die before you have a chance to pop your second INSX, good thing it’s around, but I wouldn’t do stuff like holding onto your first INSX for Last Breath.

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Short answer: “yes”

I think TJ can be challenging because he looks YoLo but isn’t. Against low level players TJ can get away with a ton of stuff that turns out to be punishable when you face stiffer competition. A lot of TJ players I fight are really on autopilot (so called “flowchart” players) where they just do stuff and hope it works. If it’s not working they keep doing it because they haven’t really learned the character - just how to beat low level players (that’s not a criticism, btw - this is how I play TJ).

But the good TJ players are all over the place mixing in resets and pressure and just generally making things hellish. If you aren’t using TJ’s instinct twice a game and are instead saving it for Last Breath you definitely need to rethink this.

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@DevilMayCare4 Can give you some tips maybe HMMMMM? He whooped my butt the other day cause he just did things I had never seen before and kept everything mixed up. Try to keep yourself from doing the same thing too many times.

I think TJ is a beast BUT: has some difficult match ups. However his damage is good, he has tools to bait, tools to get in, frametraps, nice juggles, a hard to break juggle (not the recapture), target combos, a tricky flip out that leads to scary mixups and awesome instinct and.sure I’m missing something…Oh yes! comeback potential

Very VERY nice character. However it requires work and good execution to keep making your opponent guess what’s next. He hasn’t got solid anti air or air to air (the last is not horrible though), his normals aren’t fast, and he struggles when waking up (but that’s not strange to other characters as well: Wulf, Spinal, Gargos and…dunno).

A good TJ it’s scary, and very fun to fight against. BUT if you don’t know the match up believe me when I say that top TJs will be a thing :joy:

As far for tournament viable: depends if they counter pick you or not or how much they know the match up.

sure thing.

As a low tier player, I always think fml when I get a TJ matchup. I don’t know how to punish him properly, so he get’s that rushdown momentum going and then suddenly I’m in the TJ vortex of hell before I even realize what happened.

Edit: he also teaches me to fear combo breaking, then I’m not sure whether to take the punish or to break, I usually get flustered and lockout.

Tj is so unviable that his viability comes from your opponent bring so dumbfounded that you picked him that it affects their play.

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If they are juggling you wait to break the Tremor. the reason being is Tremor can be broken anywhere from the time they catch you all the way until his hand touches the ground. so you can break anytime in between that, and that can be hard for a TJ player to understand where/when to break. and dont break on the first frame of the capture. that is the easiest for a TJ player to counter break, just “mix up” when you break Tremors, and make sure you Punish Hard (not a grab) for failed counter break attempts. also after Shoot Toss > st.LK (flipout) you can break the st.LK.

Dude I’m not that advanced!

I’m just starting to be able to consistently break most players, let alone choosing when to break or getting into mind games. I need to hit some practice with TJ though to really understand him.

All good :slight_smile: I linked the guides

Thanks, but where? I’m looking all around…

Scroll up a bit. I replied to you they are posted in the TJ character section as well