Switch It Up!
Dragon Ball FighterZ: Tips and Tricks for Beginners
Dragon Ball FighterZ is quite an easy game to pick up and play, with players having the ability to perform special attacks through half circle motions. Performing a devastating super combo can also be done by simply consecutively pressing either the light, medium, or heavy attack buttons. However, you need more than a few flash moves in your arsenal if you want to win matches in Dragon Ball FighterZ.
Let’s start with one of the easiest things beginners might overlook in Dragon Ball FighterZ — managing your health meter. In most competitive matches, matches are won based on the player who can best manage their team’s health meter.
Strategizing can be a bit difficult due to Dragon Ball FighterZ’s chaotic 3v3 setup. However, it’s best for players to keep their cool and be aware of their character’s life bar, because you can regain a large fraction of your character’s health.
Whenever you get pummeled by enemies, you’ll notice a faded blue bar in your character’s health meter. This is the amount of recoverable health you can get back if you can pass enough time without getting attacked. Getting whacked by foes is unavoidable with your active character out in the battlefield, so it’s best to switch out your characters early on. Panic-switching characters is also dangerous, as you can either get cornered by your enemy or getting counterattacked as soon as your next character enters the fight.
You can switch characters by holding any of the assist buttons. That’s L1 or L2 button on PS4 and LB or LT on Xbox One. The first assist button will tag in the second character, while the second assist button will tag in your third character.
Take note that you can’t freely tag in characters whenever you want. When your teammate’s image is faded in the menu, this means that particular character is not available for assists and for tagging in. It’s also worth noting that the cooldown time for assists also extend to your ability to switch in characters.
One of the best ways to tag in characters is while performing a combo. Because switching characters will make them perform a super dash by default, it will allow you to extend your combo. You can also switch in characters while you’re getting pressured by an enemy with relentless melee attacks. While blocking a melee attack, move the left stick towards your enemy and press the assist button to perform a guard cancel, essentially guaranteeing that your enemy gets hit with your partner’s super dash attack.
Switching in characters is also possible via a delayed hyper combo, but is quite costly on your Ki meter as it consumes two stocks. Basically, a delayed hyper combo is a maneuver where you chain multiple special attacks. While performing a special attack, simply hold the assist button of your preferred character to call them in and make them use their level 1 super attack. You can also make them use their level 3 super attack instead by pressing the half circle back input upon tagging in your teammate.
One at a Time
Dragon Ball FighterZ: Tips and Tricks for Beginners
The fewer characters players have in Dragon Ball FighterZ, the fewer teammates they can tag in to recover their health. You can turn the tides to your favor with a 3v2 or 3v1 match-up by forcing an opponent to switch their characters.
To force opponents to switch teammates, use the dragon rush attack and hold either the first or second assist button. The enemy forcibly brought in the fight will depend on the assist button held. Obviously, you should choose the character who’s low on health. Similar to switching in characters, holding the first tag button will bring in the second character while the second tag button will bring in the third character.
Forcing in an enemy who still has a full health bar is a bit senseless in Dragon Ball FighterZ. Not only will you lose out on the combo opportunity from performing a normal dragon rush attack, but you will give that particular enemy the opportunity to recover his/her health.
Spark at the right moment
Dragon Ball FighterZ: Tips and Tricks for Beginners
For good reason, the sparking blast can only be used once per match in Dragon Ball FighterZ. Not only does it quickly recover your health, it also alters some of your abilities and allows you to deal more damage and gain much more ki meter.
Sparking Blast, which can be used by pressing R1 + R2 on PS4 or RB + LB on Xbox One, is an extremely useful tool in matches, which makes it mind-boggling that plenty of players forget to use it. Below are some other benefits and intricacies of the Sparking Blast when active:
- Modified vanishing attacks: no longer automatically result in your character smacking your enemy. Instead you will teleport behind your foe without attacking, and you have the option to perform whatever move you want from there.
- Easily escape attacks and combos: Players will be able to air dash when their character is launched in the air. In addition to this, blocked super dash attacks no longer have a pushback effect, thus enabling you to perform other attacks and combos.
- Quick combo extender: The sparking blast will allow you to regain your posture mid-combo in order to perform more attack strings.
- Longer sparking blast duration: The fewer characters alive on your team, the longer your sparking blast remains active. This means the sparking blast is best used if you only have one character left on your team.
Use Your Ki Wisely
Dragon Ball FighterZ: Tips and Tricks for Beginners
Ki is quite useful in Dragon Ball FighterZ, allowing you to unleash deadly special attacks or chain special attacks with your entire team. You can also use vanishing attacks to surprise enemies or to extend your combos.
Because Ki is invaluable in this 2.5D fighting game by Arc System Works, players should make sure their special attacks hit the enemy. For example, your enemy will surely block a Kamehameha if they see it coming from a mile away. They can even perform a vanishing attack to hit you from behind and cancel out your super.
Additionally, don’t bother chaining special attacks when your opponent has blocked the first super move because the lengthy attack animations are a dead giveaway that they should continue blocking. Chip damage, or the damage dealt to enemies blocking devastating attacks, is also minimal in Dragon Ball FighterZ and will never knock out opponents who are at critical health.
Knowing the range of each character’s special attacks is also crucial, especially when chaining supers. Chaining special attacks from afar with Cell’s level 1 super or Teen Gohan’s won’t hit anyone.
One of the best times you should use special attacks is during combos, as the enemy is helpless and can’t block your attacks during this state. Enemies performing an attack animation are also susceptible to special attacks, such as when performing ki blasts or super dashes.
Get Out of Combos!
Dragon Ball FighterZ: Tips and Tricks for Beginners
One of the most useful tools beginners might overlook is recovering from attacks. If you don’t try to recover from attacks, your enemy can perform extremely lengthy combos.
When your character is whacked and sent flying in the air, you have the opportunity to regain your posture avoid getting hit by your enemy’s next strike. Press either the light attack, medium attack, or strong attack buttons to perform a regular mid-air recovery. This allows you to perform a quick counterattack or block the enemy’s next move.
There also other recovery moves that allow you to position yourself accordingly for a tactical play in Dragon Ball FighterZ. For example, if you want to close the gap between you and your foe after performing a recovery move, press the light attack button while moving the left stick towards your enemy. This makes your character lunge forward and either get closer to the enemy or approach them from their backside. If you want to get land straight on the ground, push the left stick downwards while pressing the light attack button.
Block and Counter!
Dragon Ball FighterZ: Tips and Tricks for Beginners
Constantly rushing towards an enemy can make you an extremely predictable foe in multiplayer matches. Most beginners also habitually spam special attacks from afar or use super dash to close in on opponents, and players knowledgeable in fighting games know how to punish amateurish plays.
When you see an enemy closing in with a super dash, you have a few choices for a counterattack in Dragon Ball FighterZ. You can counter the super dash with the universal anti-air (down + heavy attack) or make your enemy collide with your special attack. You can even block the super dash and perform any move that can quickly hit your enemy, such as Goku’s rapid kick rush or Frieza’s normal heavy attack, to ensure that you land a counterattack.
Don’t be afraid to block enemy attacks in Dragon Ball FighterZ, as they will barely hurt your character. Even a strong level 3 special move will barely scratch your character’s health bar.
There are many more tips and tricks in Dragon Ball FighterZ that are best learned on your own, such as manual combos inflicting much more damage than auto-combos. Try engaging in a few player matches and learn from your enemies in order to become a better player.
For more on Dragon Ball FighterZ, make sure to check out our ever-expanding wiki.
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