Dragon Ball Xenoverse is finally available in the North American region. When you first begin the game, you may have some questions about how the battle system works and other aspects. With that in mind, we compiled a few useful tips for beginners that should help you get a quick start with Xenoverse!
Beginning the game
When you first start Dragon Ball Xenoverse, you won’t be able to jump right into any mode of play. In fact, you won’t even be able to create a character. Instead, you have to essentially play through a good portion of the story mode before you gain access to other areas of the game.
You start with an opening battle against a few of the great enemies in Dragon Ball Z. These are quick and easy battles that don’t require much effort to complete. They are here to progress the story, not test your prowess. After the initial set of battles, you’ll be able to create your character. Be sure to check out Prima’s article on the differences between the races so you know which race is best suited for your play style. After creating your character, you can choose what fighting style you prefer in order to determine your starting items.
| Your Fighting Style | In-Game Selection | Item Loadout |
| Close-range Melee Fighting | I like it up close, nice and personal! | Skills for Strikes |
| Long-range Ki Blasts | I’ll hang back and blast ’em from afar! | Skills for Ki Blasts |
| Long-range and Close-range | Close or far, I keep it balanced! | Balanced Skills |
Once you have a character created, talk to Trunks and explore the city until you’ve been through all three areas and circled back around to Trunks. At this point, speak with him again to begin your first real mission. Complete that mission, then talk to Trunks again and head off to complete a few Offline Parallel Quests before most of the modes become available.
Scouters
It’s always helpful to equip a scouter in combat, and you receive one for free early in the game. In the anime, scouters are primarily used to determine the power level of an opponent. In Dragon Ball Xenoverse, scouters can be used to locate items and enemies, even when they’re behind mountains or other structures. However, don’t rely too much on your scouter. Your movement and abilities are limited when using the scouter, so only use it to get a quick location check on an opponent, then turn it off and continue the battle.
Vanish
The Vanish (teleport) technique is the most common way to escape a combo. It requires two bars of your Stamina meter if used while taking damage, and one bar if used while guarding. Once you run out of Stamina you’ll be in trouble, so use Vanish strategically. It’s best to use this technique toward the end of an opponent’s combo, and only while getting hit. There are better ways to escape an opponent if you’re blocking their attacks (such as a throw), so don’t waste your Stamina meter by using Vanish while blocking.
If you use Vanish too early in a combo, the opponent can still hit you with another attack as he or she continues their combo. Instead, it’s best to wait until the opponent is about to use a Super or Ultimate Attack, or even a heavy attack. These attacks have a bit of delay before they hit you, which means you can Vanish and still be able to avoid the next attack. There are specific circumstances in which this is not the case, but more often than not you’ll be safe if you wait for one of these attacks before using your Vanish technique.
Super Attacks
Super Attacks are more powerful than normal strikes and almost always consume your Ki meter. You can have up to four Super Attacks equipped at a time, with the ability to change them on your created character when not in battle. Most Super Attacks are offensive, but some are also evasive. The evasive Super Attacks can sometimes use your Stamina meter instead of your Ki meter. Be sure to check the help text on each Super Attack to determine if it’s offensive or evasive, and which meter it uses.
The best time to use a Super Attack is generally at the end of a combo. If you use it outside of a combo, there’s a high probability the opponent will avoid it. While it’s still possible to avoid most combo-ending Super Attacks with a Vanish technique, that requires two bars of the opponent’s Stamina meter. If you can trick the opponent into using their Stamina meter when not using a Super Attack (performing a full combo without a Super Attack usually works), then you can virtually guarantee your Super Attack will connect by using it in a combo when the opponent’s Stamina meter is below two bars.
Ultimate Attacks
Ultimate Attacks are similar to Super Attacks except they’re generally more powerful. While Super Attacks should be reserved for the end of your combo to increase their chances of connecting, there are additional strategies you can employ when it comes to Ultimate Attacks. For instance, if an opponent blocks your Ultimate Attack it generally drains at least 50 percent of his or her Stamina meter. This can be extremely useful to initiate a Guard Break, which stops the opponent from using any Stamina-based abilities if they completely run out of Stamina (until their Stamina meter completely refills). That means the opponent can’t use Vanish to escape your combos for a fairly lengthy period of time.
Let’s say your opponent used about half of the Stamina meter and one more combo with a Super Attack at the end will likely finish them off. With half of their Stamina meter, they can still use Vanish. However, if you use an Ultimate Attack at close range or even at the end of a combo, they’re forced to use Vanish and drain their Stamina meter completely, or block the attack and face the same result. Either way, they’ll be in a Guard Break state and you will have a much easier time finishing them off.
We’ll have more on Dragon Ball Xenoverse over the coming days and weeks, but for now, don’t forget to check out our early combat impressions from the game!
