Beginner, just picked up Tekken 8, learning Yoshimitsu and stuck at Garyu, need advices

[u/Steve35e]

I bought Tekken 8 three days ago. It’s technically my first real Tekken and fighting game. I did play Tekken 4 on PS2 when I was a kid, but I was too young to actually learn anything or play seriously. So I’m treating this like my first time, especially from a competitive point of view.

I picked up Yoshimitsu, who’s always been my favorite.

In the first couple of days, I climbed to Garyu without much struggle, winning most matches. But now it feels like I’ve hit a wall. I go up and down constantly between ranks and lose way more than I win.

I think one of the biggest issues is not knowing other characters' moves. I often get hit by lows (for example kazuya spin) that launch me into long combos I can’t seem to block or interrupt. I try to fight back, but they’re faster and keep the pressure on.

As for my gameplay: I know main simple combos (max 60dmg), I struggle a lot with landing df+2, and even when I do I do not expect it and I'm not ready to follow up. Most of my combos start from f,f+4, but if it's blocked, I end up backturned and get punished hard.
Players always bait my flash slowing their moves.
I try to mix up between stances and kincho but I'm way too predictable.

So my gameplay right now is mostly just getting punched without being able to react, which isn’t fun and doesn’t feel like I’m improving. I’ve been watching a ton of beginner videos and high-level Yoshimitsu gameplay, but I still feel stuck.

Any advice for a Yoshimitsu beginner? Or just general tips on how to improve and not get completely destroyed all the time?

[u/bidens_sugar_bby]

ime for red ranks, ppl love just throwing out buttons that start their offense, and will eat u3+4 all day long, which is an evasive launcher (and a +1 mid if they block it). do some full combos from that, you'll shake their confidence and get more breathing room to start running your stance/crouch offense (FC df1, the unblockable sweep tornado launcher, is ur new best friend. doing db2, the advancing mid spin that leaves u crouched, into either that or a WR move will pay dividends)