Dragon Ball FighterZ intermediate skills guide

In our intermediate guide for Dragon Ball FighterZ, we’re going to discuss systems unique to this game and how to beat some common tricks that players like to use.

Beating Super Dash

The Super Dash is a powerful movement option that homes in on the enemy no matter where they are on the screen, runs through standard energy blasts and can lead to a big combo once it lands. Naturally, players use this very often — but you don’t have to let them get away with it.

Special energy blasts like Goku’s Kamehameha — along with standard super attacks — blast right through Super Dash. From here, you can often cancel into a super attack, piling on some extra damage.

If you really want to make your counter attack hurt, time your crouching heavy attack to crash through your opponent’s Super Dash. The crouching heavy attack is a move that specifically counters aerial attackers, so it will pass through Super Dashes with no problem and lead into a big combo.

When you tag a partner in, they come in with a Super Dash, so you can also use these tactics when you are certain an opponent is going to tag out their low-health character. When players are very low on health, they suddenly stop fighting and start to walk backward as the player holds down the assist button to tag. When you see this telltale sign, show your opponent that you’re not going to let them tag out without paying for it.

Safe tagging

Be careful when you tag. Tagging is vital and will often save a teammate’s life, but there are safer ways to get your hurting teammate to the bench than to take the risk that a predictable Super Dash represents.

Once such method is using a tag super move. Do a super move with your first character (as seen below), then tap the assist button of the character you want to bring in. If the super move hits, you’ve tagged in your teammate safely. This is an especially good way to finish a combo when you’re at low health with a character.

Even if your enemy blocks your super attack, you may still be able to get away with the tag. If the tagged-in teammate’s move leaves them relatively safe, like Goku’s Kamehameha, your opponent probably won’t be able to do much to counterattack. This is a lot of meter to spend in exchange for no damage to the opponent, but it’s a completely safe way to get an ailing team member out of harm’s way.

Likewise, a guard cancel pushes offensive pressure away and switches characters in a safe twofer deal at the cost of one meter.

It’s even possible to tag in a teammate during a regular combo without using super moves. Use a basic combo into a heavy move and then immediately do a V-Change by pressing forward and the assist of the character you want at the same time. Your teammate will Super Dash on in and continue the combo normally. There are a lot of spots in combos where you can tag with a V-Change, but it isn’t completely reliable, particularly in the corner.

Assist safety

When calling your assist, keep in mind that they are vulnerable to attack and will take quite a lot of blue (recoverable) damage if hit. As such, it’s not necessarily a great idea to call certain assists out of the blue if, for example, the opponent can easily react and hit them with a beam or super attack.

In the example above, Goku inexplicably calls two assists and Krillin instantly reacts by dropping all seven super meter bars to decimate all three characters’ health bars. This isn’t likely to happen in a real match. It’s just a demonstration.

Using Vanish

Vanish is an extremely versatile tool that you can use to keep your opponent on their toes. This move teleports you behind the opponent’s back and attacks them. Because of the “hold back to block” rule, this can confuse the opponent. If they’re holding back to block you and you teleport behind them, they now need to switch their block to the other side or they’ll be hit. In other fighting games, we call this a “cross-up.”

That’s not its only use, however. Think of those long-distance situations where the energy blasts start flying. If you know your opponent is going to throw a beam out, why not call them on it? Pop up behind their back and hit them out of it. Vanish doesn’t do a lot of damage and costs a full bar to use, but it can win the match in those low-life situations.

Vanish can also extend combos. Landing Vanish in the air causes the opponent to bounce off of the wall, leaving them open for just enough time for you to land some more hits. Vanish can add a whole lot of damage to your combos, making it well worth that one bar of energy it calls for.

Learn to play as Captain Ginyu

True to the series, Captain Ginyu’s Meteor Attack switches his body with the opponent’s. Though it’s a total gimmick move, he can steal the opponent’s character and leave them stuck with Ginyu. Odds are, the opponent won’t know how to play as this oddball character and their entire game plan will be disrupted as the formerly-Ginyu beats them up with their own character.

Be prepared for this dirty trick by knowing the basics of playing as Ginyu. Just give him a go or two in practice mode so that you’re not completely blind. On the other hand, the Ginyu player should study up on playing as … well, every other character in the game.

That’s all for our intermediate guide. In our advanced Dragon Ball FighterZ guide we’re going to explore the meta-game of Dragon Ball FighterZ, specifically looking at team-building strategy.