Combat

The game's battle system is simple yet effective. You have the buttons assigned to attack, defend, evade, activate powers and more. Unlike the system in Dynasty Warriors, there's no jump button. The only way to perform aerial attacks are done by successfully completing combos.

Regular Attacks and Combos

You can perform regular attacks by pressing X. This your basic attack maneuver and can chained to form combos. More combos are unlocked by making specific Attack Badges to the character you're using. Pressing Y will perform strong attacks. Combining these two buttons will produce various combos, with devastating effects. Strong attacks vary per character. Some Characters can buff themselves up with different elemental effects or status boosts (e.g. Sheik) while some characters can perform devastating attacks.

Special Attacks

Defeating enemies and picking up SP attack Items will build up your SP attack gauge. Once full, players can trigger their character's unique special attack (depending on the weapon equipped) by pressing A to decimate multiple enemies at once. Special attacks will stop enemies on their tracks, preventing them from moving or attacking you while you're performing the SP attack. Enemies can't block SP attacks as well and can even interrupt their combos, leaving them vulnerable to damage. This makes SP attacks invaluable to both offense and defense. When used in the perfect moment, SP attacks can eliminate hordes of enemies or save you from a bind.

Finisher Attacks

These are attacks that warriors will execute automatically after depleting an enemy's Weak Point Gauge. Some strong enemies (those with health bars and can be targeted) are susceptible to this, as well as bosses. Your warriors will use the same finishers on these field enemies while they'll use a different finisher when taking down bosses. These attacks are unique to the characters so you'll get to see a different finisher when playing as different characters. Using this move is vital, especially to boss fights since it can deal devastating damage to the otherwise resilient bosses.

Guarding and Evading

These are two important defensive maneuvers that you need to use often. Evasion will vary from various Characters. Heavier characters can just sidestep or dash in a short distance to avoid an attack while lighter, more agile characters can roll out of danger.

Guarding can only be done by certain Characters. It's straight up standing your ground and taking the brunt of the attacks, preventing any damage. Take note that this doesn't make you invincible. Powerful attacks or continuous combos from enemies can break your guard. When that happens, you'll be stunned for a moment or two, vulnerable to additional attacks.

Between the two, it is generally recommended to evade since this will allow you to counterattack almost immediately. Since most enemies reveal their Weak Point Gauge shortly after an attack, knowing the proper timing to avoid an attack will allow you to exploit the enemy's weakness immediately.

Lock On

This feature allows you to focus your camera on a single enemy. This is very useful against powerful leader enemies and bosses. Once locked on, you cannot switch targets; you have to release the lock first then get near the target you want to lock on to. Even when you're locked on, you can still freely move and attack any enemy as you please. There are also times that your camera view will get wonky (happens a lot in narrow areas). When this happens, release the lock on and lock the target again after moving around a bit.

Controls