Dragon Ball Xenoverse Advanced Tips – Use Items, Charge Ki, Tech Knockbacks

If you read our Combat Basics and Character Leveling guides, you should have a good idea how to play Dragon Ball Xenoverse. Now that you have a basic understanding how the game works, let’s kick things up a notch with some advanced tactics that will help you take your skills to the next level. While Xenoverse is a Dragon Ball game first and foremost, it’s also a fighting game, and that means it shares quite a few advanced strategies with other beat-em-ups.

Items in Dragon Ball Xenoverse

It’s important to stop by one of the stores in Tokitoki City or pick up items during missions and quests so that you can equip them for later use. Most of the items you should look for are healing capsules. These will replenish your health in the midst of a battle and can be extremely useful against the computer and other human adversaries. You can also equip items that replenish Stamina or Ki, or one that removes poison. If you find yourself running out of Stamina or Ki often, equip a few of these items, otherwise stick to health capsules to keep you alive longer.

Charging Ki

Some characters use special moves that replenish Ki. Earthling characters replenish their Ki automatically. However, there are other ways to replenish your Ki meter without being an Earthling or using a special move. The best way to replenish Ki is by simply attacking an opponent with basic light or heavy attacks. If you perform continuous combo strings your Ki will increase significantly. Because you’re attacking the opponent, you’ll also have the opportunity to drain his or her Stamina meter and even connect with a Guard Break under the right circumstances. Instead of trying to get away from an opponent and use a Ki-charging special move, use a few combos to keep your momentum going.

Stamina Management

It’s important to make sure you always have Stamina available to use. Stamina is arguably your most important defensive attribute and therefore you always need to know what your Stamina meter is at and how you plan to use it. A Vanish uses up to two bars of the Stamina meter (one bar while blocking), and most evasive techniques use three bars of your Stamina meter. In addition, blocking some Ultimate Attacks removes two bars of your Stamina meter and will put you in a Guard Break state if your Stamina is fully depleted while blocking. Even blocking heavy attacks will reduce your Stamina meter.

Always keep an eye on your Stamina meter to know what options you have available. If you have three bars, you know you can Vanish or use an evasive technique and still be OK. You can also block a number of heavy attacks without having to worry about a Guard Break. However, once you get below two bars of Stamina, you need to be mindful of your opponent. It’s likely he or she will go for an Ultimate Attack to completely drain your Stamina meter, or even a fully charged heavy attack.

Ki Meter Management

Your Ki meter is important when it comes to your offensive abilities. You can’t pull off Super Attacks and Ultimate Attacks unless you have the necessary Ki to do so. Your Ki replenishes when you use basic attacks, so it shouldn’t be low all that often, but there will be plenty of times when you don’t have enough Ki to perform a Super Attack or Ultimate Attack at the end of a combo, or after stunning an opponent. You don’t want to drain an opponent’s Stamina meter, unleash a combo and try to end it with a Super Attack, only to find you don’t have enough Ki. Keep an eye on your Ki meter so you always know what attacks you can use against an opponent.

Movement and Teching

Most players are already aware of the ability to quickly fly in any direction (boost). However, you can also perform a quick step in any direction by holding your Ki button and tapping in the direction you wish to step. This can be useful to evade Ki blasts and other attacks that are generally linear, while still remaining fairly close to the opponent and maintaining your position.

After getting knocked back or slammed to the ground by a powerful attack, you can tech to reduce your down time. To do this, press your Jump button while falling or flying back after the hit. If successful, your character will jump back up to his feet. You can hold a direction and initiate a Boost Dash immediately after the tech.

Dash Attack

When you use a Boost Dash (hold the Ki button and any direction) you can press light or heavy attack to add an attack to the end of your dash. If you need to quickly close in on an opponent, this can be a useful tactic. A light dash attack can be used to start a combo, while a heavy dash attack will knock an opponent away. You can also use dash attacks after certain combos or attacks that may knock an opponent too far away to continue with a normal attack. A heavy dash attack also works well to drain an opponent’s Stamina meter faster than many other attacks in the game.

Now read our Advanced Combat Training guide to make the most of your skills in Dragon Ball Xenoverse!