P4AU/Defense

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Blocking

Ground Blocking

Narukami blocks a mid attack.

Hold 4 to block high attacks and hold 1 to block low attacks. Mid attacks can be blocked in any direction. As a general rule for ground blocking:

  • Block low until you see an overhead, then block high.
  • Most air attacks must be blocked high.
  • Every All Out Attack (5+A+B) must be blocked high.
  • React to throws with throw breaks or attacks, depending on how risky you feel.

If you block incorrectly (for example, blocking a low attack high), an exclamation mark will appear to show that you made a mistake.
Because there are relatively few grounded overheads in P4AU, it's best to block low and react to jumps or the white flash signaling an All Out Attack. Not all jump attacks are overheads, however; as a general rule, jumping Persona attacks are not overheads, though exceptions exist. Be sure to check each character's wiki page for details!

Air Blocking

P4Arena AirBlocking.png

Hold any backward direction while in the air to block. There is no high-low blocking in the air, making it a common place for defenders to go to avoid blocking ground-based high/low/throw mixup. That's not to say that being airborne is a fail-safe defensive posture: going airborne is a risk since jumps have a lot of vulnerability on startup (blocking is disabled during jump startup and the first 5 airborne frames) and you need to deal with air throws, crossups, and air unblockable attacks.
While you cannot block strike attacks during jump start-up and for the first 5 airborne frames, you can now block projectiles on the 4th frame of a jump.

Landing while in air blockstun does not cancel out the remaining blockstun - instead you will transition immediately into ground standing blockstun for the remainder of blockstun.

For example, after blocking an attack in the air that causes 20F blockstun, you land after 15F. That means after landing, you will be in blockstun for 5F before you are free to move.


Air Unblockable Attacks

Notice the yellow "!"

Some attacks (such as most 2Bs) can be blocked high or low when on the ground but are unblockable if you try to block them in the air. If you are hit by an air unblockable attack, a yellow exclamation mark will appear to show that you could not have blocked it.
These attacks are only air unblockable if the opponent is not already in blockstun. If the opponent is already air blocking (plus 17 frames after coming out of air blockstun) when you perform an AUB, then they will be able to block. This means that AUBs should be the first attack in a string in order to be useful as an anti-air.

There are several attacks that are always air unblockable, however, which means you must stay grounded to avoid them. For example, Yukari's Feather Bomb is always air unblockable, even if the opponent is already in blockstun. She can take advantage of this with her Magarula super by catching an opponent airborne with Magarula, then throw and detonate a Feather Bomb while they are stuck in the air blocking the super! Similarly, Teddie's Parachute Bomb item, Mitsuru's Bufudyne super, and Sho's Moonsmasher super are also air unblockable attacks that ignore the restrictions on other AUBs.

Instant Block

P4Arena instantBlock.png

Start blocking a moment before the opponent's attack connects to perform an instant block. Your character will flash white and you will hear a clanging sound effect if you did this correctly. At present, it's assumed that you need to start blocking within 8 frames of the attack in order to Instant Block.
Instant blocking is used for the following:

  • Recover from blockstun 2F faster (4F for air IB), thus making it easier to counterattack.
  • Gain 2 SP for each successful instant block (unconfirmed).
  • Create gaps in pressure: some chains are not true blockstrings when Instant Blocked, opening up new escape routes!

Sometimes instant blocking the first hit of an attack will cause you to instant block the subsequent hits (for example, Yukiko's 5C). In these instances, you will only gain 2 SP once for successfully instant blocking.

Guard Cancel Attack

P4Arena GuardCancelAttack.png

While blocking, press 6+A+B to immediately flash white and cancel your guard into an attack that will blow the opponent away. See this section for more details.

Guard Cancel Evasive Action

P4Arena GuardCancelRoll.png

While blocking, press 6+A+C to immediately flash white and cancel your guard into an Evasive Action and escape the opponent's pressure. See this section for more details.

Unblockable Attacks

This is your cue to move.

Some attacks are completely unblockable, meaning the only way to avoid getting hit is to move out of the way! You will know which attacks are unblockable when your character shows two exclamation marks if hit while trying to block these. Most unblockable attacks have significant start-up and the unblockable sign appears before the attack becomes active, warning you to take action. Some characters can use their Furious Action to avoid the unblockable attack or use a super with significant invulnerability to avoid taking damage.

Additionally, some characters are able to combine certain moves to force an "unblockable," but these are rarely "true" unblockables, as they can be escaped with universal defensive options. One example of this sort of "unblockable" is Labrys (Ariadne) placing you in blockstun with her Weaver's Art: Breaking Wheel super, then One More! Cancelling into Brutal Impact, an unblockable attack that must be jumped or avoided with Evasive Action. Due to the blockstun from Breaking Wheel, you will be forced to remain blocking as an unblockable attack heads toward you for massive damage -- but this set-up can be escaped by performing a Guard Cancel Evasive Action. Other variations of this kind of "unblockable" exist, but almost all can be escaped with the right defensive choice or universal defensive options.

High-Low Unblockable

There is also a second class of unblockable attacks that exist because the opponent and their persona hit you with a high and low attack at the same time. Because you can not block high and low simultaneously, you are guaranteed to get hit. There is no icon to show when this happens, though you will see an exclamation mark showing that you blocked "incorrectly".

High-low unblockables are rare and do not exist outside of certain set-ups, which can almost always be escaped.

Guard Bonus

P4Arena Guard Bonus.png

If you are stuck in blockstun for over 6 seconds straight (meaning there's not even a 1 frame hole in the opponent's attacks for 6 seconds), you automatically begin instant-blocking all attacks and the words "Guard Bonus" will appear on the side of the screen. This doesn't happen often, but it's good to keep it in mind.

Crossup Guard

The guard bubble animation appearing during the changing direction animation

Certain characters can easily perform very ambiguous crossups with their personas. As a small aid against this, for 2 frames after the opponent passes to the other side of you, you are allowed to block their attacks holding either towards them or away from them. This also applies when you are in an unspecified amount of blockstun during a cross-up, preventing unblockable left-right mix-ups.

Throw Break

P4Arena throwBreak.png

When normal thrown by the opponent, press C+D within 13 frames to break the throw. Note that you can not break throws while performing/recovering from an attack.
On a successful throw break the two characters push away and causes the two of you to enter a quick recovery animation that is invincible. The character who breaks the throw will be at slight frame advantage (+2) afterward.

After an air throw break, both players regain their double jump/air dash. Thus it is possible to air dash > air throw > throw break > air dash again!

Furious Action

Yu using his Furious Action. Notice that some of his health has turned Blue as a result.

Press B+D to make your character briefly flash orange, then perform a reversal action, like a Street Fighter-style shoryuken or a counter attack like Hakumen from BlazBlue. This varies from character to character, but they are all mostly used for the same purpose: to stop the opponent's offensive momentum.
While Furious Actions do not consume SP, they do transform 5% of your max health into Blue Health regardless of whether they hit the opponent or not. Adachi is the only exception to this, with his Furious Action making 10% of his max health blue. Furious Actions can not be One More! Canceled or One More! Burst canceled, but you can Super Cancel them.

Furious Actions count as special attacks, so it's possible to cancel most normal attacks into a Furious Action.

Furious Actions are known as R Actions in Japan and some players use the term instead of Furious Action.

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