Dragon Ball FighterZ is released this week and there’s a considerable amount of deserved hype behind it from not only Dragon Ball fans, but also the fighting game community in general. It’s a fairly unique game, existing somewhere between the popular Dragon Ball arena fighters and a more traditional, anime ‘air-dasher’ style 2D game. It’s is surprisingly easy to pick up and play, but if you’re coming into the game as a complete newcomer, here’s a few pointers that should get you up to speed.
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Dragon Ball FighterZ Guide – Do The Tutorial
ArcSysWorks games are known for having some of the genre’s best tutorials. Guilty Gear’s training modes are a particular standout, coaching you from the basics to matchup specific high-level techniques, and while Dragon Ball FighterZ doesn’t quite reach that standard, it’s still an essential means of understanding exactly what you’re supposed to be doing.
Not only will it walk you through the stuff you could figure out for yourself – auto combos and how to block, for instance – but it’ll also get you up to speed on some of the more unique mechanics, like the Sparking Blast and Guard Cancelling. It’s not the most exciting of modes, but absolutely essential if you want to take your Dragon Ball fighting seriously. There’s also a brilliant combo trainer, which will take you from the almost insultingly easy to a few trickier ones, giving you some stuff to take into your first few battles and a launch pad for experimentation in Training Mode.
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Dragon Ball FighterZ Guide – Spend Some Time In Training Mode
So, we’ve established that Dragon Ball FighterZ isn’t quite as intimidating as it looks, certainly not at first anyway, and you’ve found a few characters you like the look of so now we’ve got to drill a few things.
Try hitting some of the combos you just picked up during the tutorial without the crutch of the on-screen display. Try using the assist buttons and seeing what your chosen partners do when they pop in and think of ways you could utilise those to catch out your opponent. Use this mode to also practice the basic combo structure of L>M>H>air dash>L>M>H, as this will open up more opportunities to land special moves and super attacks and even give you an idea as to when you can implement your own different takes on it and whether or not they’re going to work.
The auto combos will only get you so far, and although this basic universal structure isn’t the be all and end all, it’ll act as a gateway to more intermediate stuff.
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Dragon Ball FighterZ Guide – Meter Management
In most VS games, being aware of your meter status at all times is crucial. There’s nothing worse than seeing that flashy tag combo drop because you didn’t have enough resources to summon in the second character, or failing to hit a big level 3 super move because you weren’t paying attention.
Meter is key. It dictates your ability to tag mid-combo, use teleport attacks and, of course, use the big damaging super moves. Everything that can change the flow of a fight in an instant will cost you some meter. If you’re not used to this, it’ll take a little bit of time to be aware of it at all times, but just keep it in mind when you’re playing and soon enough you’ll have it locked down and then, you can start looking into ways to best optimise it. Remember, you can charge your Ki to build meter when you get a free moment, but be careful, as that can land you in deep trouble if you get caught charging.
Dragon Ball FighterZ Guide – Have A Think About Team Composition
It might be tempting to just choose the characters you like, and for the most part there’s nothing wrong with that, but if you’re trying to take your game to the next level it is worth paying some attention to what those characters do that makes them an asset to your team.
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For instance, Android 16 is a big, slow tank of a character, making him ideal to be tagged in mid-combo to land one of his super damaging powerbombs to end it, rather than being tasked with getting actually starting the combo. Kid Buu deals ridiculous damage, but is a bit of a glass cannon, having very low health himself. Sticking him in at the end to either finish a match off or give you the best chance of a miraculous comeback is a solid strategy.
Some characters assists work better with others, so it is best not to be too precious with your team loadout – as much as I love Piccolo, his assist just didn’t work as well as I liked it with my other two team members, so he ended up benched and now I have opened up a whole load of tricky situations I can put my opponent in.
Dragon Ball FighterZ Guide – Do Some Homework
One of the great things about the current fighting game community is the use of social media (specifically Twitter) to share content. A quick search for the game and/or characters you’re using will usually pick up more than a few videos of players showing off their best tips and tricks they’ve discovered, more often than not with an explanation as to what it is they’re doing and when it could be utilised. Most games have a strong Reddit presence, YouTube channels and even stuff like character specific Discord channels, so if you’re looking to take things to the next level, the resources are out there.
Buy Dragon Ball FighterZ from Amazon UK | Amazon.com
However, even if you’re not looking to be the next top player, simply watching top players can give you a better idea as to what you could be doing with your favourite team.
What’s your favourite FighterZ loadout? Got a strategy you think will help other players? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
