Damage Scaling
As you combo the opponent, you will notice that each attack does less damage than they would individually. This is due to damage scaling, otherwise known as damage proration. Each attack has an Initial Proration value and how many "steps" it proceeds down the scaling table.
Step Count | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17+ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Next Hit | 0% | 10% | 20% | 30% | 40% | 50% | 60% | 70% | 70% | 70% | 70% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 80% | 80% | 80% | 85% |
The first hit of the combo will always do 100% damage, and unless stated otherwise, all attacks have a minimum damage of 10%. To determine how much damage the second hit onwards in a combo will deal, there is a formula:
If (Base Damage) × (Initial Proration - Step Count Proration) × (Damage Boost) > (Minimum Damage) Current Damage = (Base Damage) × (Initial Proration - Step Count Proration) × (Damage Boost) × (Damage Reduction) else Current Damage = (Minimum Damage) × (Damage Reduction)
For example, most 5Ms have Initial Proration value of 100% and increments scaling by 1 step (100%+1), this means that the next attack will do 90% of its base damage. Similarly, most 5Ls' Initial Proration value is 90% and increments scaling by 1 step (90%+1), so the next attack will do 80% damage.
Here's how the scaling table looks like for all Initial Prorations from 100% to 50%:
Step Count | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17+ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
100% | 100% | 90% | 80% | 70% | 60% | 50% | 40% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 25% | 25% | 25% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 15% |
90% | 90% | 80% | 70% | 60% | 50% | 40% | 30% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% |
80% | 80% | 70% | 60% | 50% | 40% | 30% | 20% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% |
70% | 70% | 60% | 50% | 40% | 30% | 20% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% |
60% | 60% | 50% | 40% | 30% | 20% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% |
50% | 50% | 40% | 30% | 20% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% |
Notice that at 100% Initial Proration, the table benefits the most from damage scaling and damage also never goes below 15%. Thus moves with 100%+1 or even 100%+0 proration are the best combo starters.
Here's an example to get the hang of combo scaling: Start with Android 16's M Dynamite DriverGuardThrowStartup26Recovery28Advantage-, cancel into M Flying PowerbombGuardThrowStartup15Recovery+3LAdvantage-, then Vanish and finally Super Dash.
Order | Move | Base Damage | Proration |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Smash 236M | 1800 | 80%+0 |
2 | Non-Smash 214M | 700 | 80%+2 |
3 | Vanish | 850 | 100%+5 |
4 | Super Dash | 300 | 90%+1 |
- The first hit of the combo always does 100% damage: 1800, and it'll set the Initial Proration of the combo to 80%
- Since the first attack is +0, the second attack stays at 80% damage: 700 × 0.8 = 560
- The third attack goes 2 steps down to 60%: 850 × 0.6 = 510
- The fourth attack goes 5 steps down to 10%: 300 × 0.1 = 30. After this point, all attacks will do 10% damage, unless they have unique Minimum Damage
- Thus the total damage of this sequence up till the fourth attack is: 1800 + 560 + 510 + 30 = 2900
Multi-Hit Attacks
Depending on the move, each part of the attack can apply scaling individually or together as one hit. For example, Goku (Super Saiyan)'s KamehamehaGuardAllStartup18Recovery21 [17]Advantage-16 [-10] has 5 hits with each doing 262 damage and a proration value of 90%+1. If all 5 hits connect, it will do 262 + 262 × 0.8 × 4 damage, and the next attack will also do 80% damage.
On Dustloop Wiki, we denote the scaling for Kamehameha as 90%+1 (Once)
, or 90%+1×5 (Once)
to be more precise.
Damage Boosts
There are 6 sources of damage boost in the game: Sparking!, Limit-Breaking Power, Android 21 (Lab Coat)'s Photon PulseGuardThrowStartup21Recovery17Advantage-, Broly (DBS)'s Gigantic RoarGuardAllStartup10+3Recovery31Advantage-25, Frieza's Golden FriezaGuardStartup34+0RecoveryAdvantage-, Gohan (Adult)'s Potential UnleashGuardAllStartup9+3Recovery44Advantage-29. These buffs stack as follow:
Character Boost | Normal | With Sparking! or Limit-Breaking Power |
With Both |
---|---|---|---|
None | 100% | 120% | 130% |
Photon Pulse† | 121% | 145.2% | 157.3% |
Gigantic Roar | 115% | 135% | 145% |
Golden Frieza | 120% | 130% | 140% |
Adult Gohan Lv.2 | 102% | 122% | 132% |
Adult Gohan Lv.3 | 104% | 124% | 134% |
Adult Gohan Lv.4 | 106% | 126% | 136% |
Adult Gohan Lv.5 | 108% | 128% | 138% |
Adult Gohan Lv.6 | 110% | 130% | 140% |
†Only applies to Android 21 (Lab Coat)'s Special Moves and damage she deals as an Assist.
Damage Reduction
There are 2 sources of damage reduction in the game: Super Scaling and Android 21 (Lab Coat)'s Photon PulseGuardThrowStartup21Recovery17Advantage-. These debuffs stack multiplicatively.
Normal | Super Scale | Photon Pulse | Both |
---|---|---|---|
100% | 40% | 79% | 31.6% |
Without any damage debuffs, all attacks with damage higher than 0 cannot drop below 1 damage. With debuffs, attacks can be scaled to 0 damage.
Super Scaling
Landing a hit with a Super or Meteor Attack will mark the combo with Super Scaling. Once the current point character returns to neutral state, the rest of the combo will suffer a 40% damage multiplier.
Certain Super/Meteor Attacks do not have this property, allowing you to freely combo afterward with normal damage output. One caveat is that if Super Scaling has already been marked before these unique attacks, follow-ups will still suffer reduced damage once the point character has fully recovered. Example: Vegeta (Super Saiyan) hits with Big Bang AttackGuardAllStartup9+4RecoveryTotal 69Advantage-27 (has Super Scaling), then Ultimate Z Change into Nappa's Break CannonGuardAllStartup12RecoveryAdvantage-24 (when held, does not have Super Scaling), after Nappa returns to neutral state, the combo will do 40% damage.
Full list of Supers/Meteors without Super Scaling property is as follows:
- Broly's H+S Gigantic MeteorGuardAllStartup9+15RecoveryTotal 68Advantage-
- Broly (DBS)'s second part of Meteor ShowerGuardAllStartup9+2RecoveryTotal 94+25LAdvantage-50
- Frieza's Sorbet's Ray GunGuardAllStartup8+0RecoveryAdvantage-
- Goku (GT)'s Super Ultra Spirit BombGuardAllStartup12+1RecoveryAdvantage-
- Gotenks' H+S Super Ghost Kamikaze AttackGuardAllStartupRecovery57 TotalAdvantage+20 (per Ghost)
- Kefla's Gigantic RayGuardAllStartup11+12RecoveryTotal 58Advantage+50 ~ +52
- Krillin's second part of Scattering Energy WaveGuardAllStartup9+3RecoveryAdvantage+35
- Nappa's Break Cannon (Hold)GuardAllStartup12RecoveryAdvantage-24
- Piccolo's Hellzone GrenadeGuardAllStartup9+15RecoveryTotal 41Advantage+62 ~ +71
- Smash! version of Vegeta (SSGSS)'s Niagara Pummel (Hold)GuardAllStartup8+7RecoveryAdvantage-14
- Smash! version of Videl's Rainbow StormGuardAllStartup7+4RecoveryAdvantage-20. However, Non-Smash! version will Super Scale the combo immediately after the last active frame, rather than when she returns to neutral state.
- Yamcha's Spirit BallGuardAllStartup9+4RecoveryAdvantage-23 itself has Super Scaling property. However after landing Spirit Ball, if Yamcha stays as the point character and no attacks in the combo has dealt Super Scaled damage, then his Meteor Attack: Ultimate Wolf Fang FistGuardAllStartup9+3RecoveryAdvantage-15 will be unaffected by Super Scaling. This allows him to link Spirit Ball directly into Ultimate Wolf Fang Fist and get full damage, even though Yamcha has entered neutral state and can even perform other actions between the two attacks.
- Zamasu (Fused)'s Blades of JudgmentGuardAllStartup9+41RecoveryTotal 42Advantage~+110
Combo System
The combo system in Dragon Ball FighterZ is very freeform, however there are a few rules that limit things.
Moves that cause the camera to briefly change angles and zoom in are considered to have the Smash! property, which puts the opponent in an extended hitstun state compared to normal. These often cause a special hit property, such as launching, wall bouncing or sliding the opponent, although this is not always the case.
Attacks that can trigger Smash! property do not trigger these effects at all times, as certain circumstances can prevent the camera change and the effect from taking place. Typically, you are limited to one Smash! per combo, with the following exceptions:
- The third hit of the L Super Combo (5LLL) will always Smash!
- A Smash! that ground slides will still do so following any other type of Smash! and vice versa
- This is not the case of Dynamic!, which prohibits any further Smash! except Vanish and the guaranteed Smash! on 5LLL
- Vanish can be used for an additional wall bounce, however any further Vanishes will not wall bounce
- j.H will ground slide only if used after an attack with launching Smash! property (most 5LLLs, 2H, most j.2Hs, raw Dragon Rush and more) within the same combo
- Android 16 and Gogeta (SSGSS)'s j.H wall bounces on Smash!
- Broly's j.H captures into launch on Smash!
- Piccolo, Yamcha, Android 21, Vegito and Goku (GT)'s j.H cause blowback and have no Smash! property
- Super Baby 2's j.H uniquely sends upwards with no Smash! property
Hitstun Decay
As a combo goes on, the amount of hitstun each attack deals is reduced as it reaches certain time thresholds. Hitstun decay (for a grounded opponent) and untechable decay (for an airborne opponent) are determined by the amount of time that has passed in the combo.
Certain moves ignore this decay, such as most throws and Super/Meteor Attacks.
Combo Duration | 150F~ | 270F~ | 390F~ | 510F~ |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hitstun Decay | -5F | -10F | -15F | Reduced to 0F |
Combo Duration | 420F~ | 540F~ | 660F~ | 780F~ |
---|---|---|---|---|
Untechable Time Decay | -5F | -10F | -15F | Reduced to 0F |
Chip Damage
When blocking specials and supers a very small percentage of the attack's base damage will be dealt in the form of recoverable health. This is colloquially known as chip damage (i.e. chipping away an the opponent's health). Some attacks do a significant amount of chip damage, like Krillin's Destructo Disc.
Normals and regular Ki blasts do not perform chip damage.
A character will not die from chip damage.
Valid vs. Invalid Combos
Because characters can choose to delay their air recovery, this leads to the possibility of combos that work only because the opponent decided not to recover. This means that some combos are not "true" combos; the game's HUD differentiates between the two classes of combos by showing the hit counter as red for a valid combo and blue for an invalid combo.
There are some situations on defense where you intentionally delay a recovery to avoid a mix-up. For example, some characters often create mix-ups assuming you will recover right away. Delaying your recovery will mess up their timing and allow you the chance to escape.