Combat | Introduction DB: Xenoverse Guide

To be effective, gain experience and work out your own style

Combat in Dragon Ball: Xenoverse is different from most fighting games. It was based on the previous Dragon Ball game - Tenkaichi, where the camera is placed behind the character. In this installment, up to six players/NPCs can be on the arena at a time. It requires an ability to watch all of the arena, help the allies and handle the fight against several enemies at once.

To attack a target, the enemy has to be marked with a proper key. The basic elements are melee attacks and defence. Default defence is raising the guard - if you do it, the attacks will affect your stamina, not health. You can break the enemy's guard in several ways: by grabbing the enemy, using a "charged" attack, by holding the attack key or with stronger techniques or ones that use grabbing. Other ways include attacking until the enemy runs out of stamina or pressing the jump button to teleport behind the enemy, but it will use your stamina.

Melee attacks are divided into weak and strong ones. You can use them to perform combos. Moreover, you can perform Ki Blasts - small balls of energy that don't use your stamina or Ki. You can't include them in combos or deal a lot of damage with them. They can, however, break the enemy's combo. Use them as often as possible, especially while fighting against more enemies. Almost every combo ends with throwing the enemy away - use the weak attack to quickly rush towards the enemy and keep attacking, or use the jump button to teleport to the spot where the enemy will land.

Obviously, no fighting game is complete without special and ultimate attacks, and evasive skills. The first two are offensive and use your Ki. Evasive skills, on the other hand, use your stamina and are mainly used for stopping an attack or evading it. Super attacks can be stopped when they're being charged. If two attacks are performed at once, the stronger one or the one with a longer duration will win. Ultimate attacks can be stopped as well, but it is much more difficult. You'll use Evasive Skills to perform quick dodges or to stop the enemy's combo, or to minimise the taken damage.