While some features may give fighting game veterans pause, players who invest the time into mastering DNF Duel’s 16 playable characters will discover a much deeper level of complexity here than may be apparent at first glance. With that said, DNF Duel is easy enough to understand that it makes a great jumping-off point for newcomers looking to dip their toes into the fighting game genre. There are still some pitfalls that will strike an unprepared newcomer. Here are the biggest ones to avoid.
10 Equating Skill Attack With Special Attack
DNF Duel is what’s known as a four-button fighter. That means that there are four attack buttons to work with. The game labels them as “Attack 1,” “Attack 2,” “Skill,” and “Magic.” Attacks 1 and 2 are the standard light and medium attacks, pretty self-explanatory. Skill attacks are a bit more misleading.
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Given that Magic attacks require the use of the Magic Meter to execute, Skill attacks seem to imply that they would too. This is not the case. Essentially, Skill attacks are the equivalent of a heavy attack. They can be chained together freely in combos, with some characters designed specifically to do so, and they don’t require any meter or special inputs to execute.
9 Over-relying On Blocking At The Cost Of Movement
One of the features that may turn off seasoned fighting game players is the inclusion of a Block button. However, there is a trade-off to using it: when players are blocking they are unable to move. That means no more spacing by holding block and backing up.
Instead, the Block ability allows counters what’s known as a cross-up, where a player will appear to be using a jump attack but will wait until they’ve jumped past their opponent before striking, hitting them from behind instead. In DNF Duel, the Block button takes care of attacks coming from either direction, negating this maneuver. However, players will still need to designate between low and high blocks and will leave themselves open to grab attacks if they rely on this ability too much.
8 Not Being Wary Enough Of The Guard Meter
Running vertically next to a player’s health bar is their Guard Meter. This is a meter that will slowly deplete as their character blocks successive attacks. Here is yet another reason why relying too heavily on blocking is a bad strategy.
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Once that meter fully depletes, players will suffer a Guard Break. This is the equivalent of being stunned. Players won’t be able to guard, move, or attack and will be left totally open to their opponent’s next action. It doesn’t last forever, but it’s a bad time while it’s in effect. New players should be extra wary of it.
7 Worrying Too Much About Magic Costs
Beneath their character’s health bar, players will notice a second bar that fills up blue, with a number next to it. This is the Magic Meter. Using Magic attacks will deplete some of this meter, after which it will slowly recharge, and taking damage will increase the total amount of Magic available. Using up the entire meter will result in a brief cooldown before it starts recharging, meaning players need to use their strongest attacks sparingly.
There’s no need to worry about waiting for the meter to fully refill before using Magic attacks though. Say a character has a Magic attack that costs 80 but their meter has depleted to 20, players can still use that attack and it won’t be any weaker than normal. They’ll still need to deal with the cooldown afterward, but there is no other penalty for using more magic than is available in the moment.
6 Underusing Guard Counters
Remember how relying too heavily on blocking can result in a Guard Break? Here’s the most surefire way to avoid that. If an opponent is laying on attack after attack and the only option seems to be constant blocking, a Guard Counter can break them out of their combo.
Executing a Guard Counter is simple. While holding Block, press forward+medium attack+heavy attack. Players who pull this off will see their character counter with a single hit that knocks the enemy back. It doesn’t do much damage (and can’t finish off an opponent no matter how low their health) but it can save a player’s bacon in a bad situation. Here’s the catch: it requires a full Magic Meter to execute, and will use the whole meter to do it, so make it count against infuriating characters.
5 Not Realizing Down+Magic Is A Defensive Move
People just getting used to fighting games may panic in intense moments and find themselves button-mashing. That’s ok, everyone’s been there at some point. If it results in winning the fight, who cares?
It is worth remembering that, while most combinations of direction+attack will result in an attack being performed, pressing Down+Magic is a defensive move for every character. Like in Arc’s Guilty Gear franchise, each DNF Duel character is different – some are counters, some are buffs, some are teleports, etc. – but accidentally throwing them into an attack combo will usually not give the result players are looking for.
4 Assuming Long Combos Are Always Better
A longer combo where players are juggling their opponent in the air and watching the hit counter rise is flashy, but in DNF Duel they aren’t always better. In fact, in many cases the shorter the combo, the more damage is done.
This is because this game’s combos follow a very consistent pattern: light into medium into heavy (or Skill) into Magic. There are more complex combos available, but this is the basic pattern they stick to. Relying on one kind of attack cuts a combo chain short very quickly, so a varied attack pattern is important. The quicker players get to their heavy attacks, the quicker they’ll do large amounts of damage in this anime-style fighting game. Even chaining light and medium attacks together in a longer combo string will not be as effective as a shorter combo chain that finishes with a Skill or Magic attack.
3 White Health Vs. Gray Health Vs. Red Health
As they play, players will notice that their character’s health bar changes color in segments throughout the match. Each color has different meanings and impacts different abilities that can be performed.
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White health is simple enough as it will regenerate over time. Some characters (such as Berserker) have abilities that speed up this regeneration. Gray Health means that players can activate a Conversion, which will consume all the Gray Health available but can be activated no matter how much Gray Health is present. Red Health appears when a character’s health is low and means they have access to their Awakening Special Ability.
2 Not Realizing That Awakening Abilities Are One And Done
When a character’s health gets low and their health bar turns red, they can activate their Awakening ability. This is the equivalent of a Super ability in Smash Bros. or an X-Ray ability in Mortal Kombat.
Unlike in those games, players only get one shot to use their Awakening. It doesn’t recharge over time, and even if players regenerate their health and then see it fall again, once an Awakening ability is activated, it’s spent for the whole fight whether it connects or not, so don’t miss.
1 Underutilizing Conversions Because They Are Tricky
As stated earlier, the appearance of Gray Health in a character’s health bar means that players can activate a Conversion by pressing medium+Skill. Essentially, this acts as a cancel. When used in a combo following an attack, it allows players to restart their combo with no recovery time. It can be used to extend a combo, to immediately follow up a ranged attack, to refill a nearly empty Magic Meter, and much more. It’s a very powerful ability when used correctly.
Some characters have abilities that generate a small amount of Gray Health, but 1% is all that’s needed to activate a Conversion. However, it’s important to be aware that getting hit by a Magic attack immediately eliminates all Gray Health. Players should be looking to use Magic attacks on opponents with Gray Health, and avoid Magic attacks when they have Gray Health of their own.
DNF Duel was released on June 28th, 2022, on PS4, PS5, and PC.
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