This game features a multitude of attacks (featured from the characters' own games) and are pulled off by a combination of the analog stick and the Square or Circle button. Along with attacking, you can also dodge, guard and use various summons. There are two types of attacks: HP attacks and Brave attacks.
The first are HP attacks which, as the name implies, damages the enemies Health or Hit Points, with the damage caused being equivalent to your Brave Points at the time the attack hits. These can be used by pressing:
- Square, Towards+Square, or Away+Square on the ground.
- Square, Up+Square, or Down+Square in the air.
When your character is in EX Form these attacks will trigger your EX Burst attack, after pressing Square after the HP attack. Some of these attacks will do damage to the enemy's Brave, while others will not.
The second is the Brave attack performed by pressing:
- O, Towards+O or Away+O on the ground.
- O, Up+O, or Down+O in the air.
As the name implies, these will not actually deplete the enemy's Health or Hit Points, but rather will lower their brave pool and increase your own. They are modified by your attack power and in some cases can be chained into HP attacks (if you have that skill equipped).
To Dodge an attack press: R+X
To Jump press: X. To double jump press X at the height of the jump. Some characters can perform more than one jump without a skill, while some require a skill. Each consecutive jump requires one or more press of X.
To Glide, simply hold the X button after jumping. Note that, not everyone can glide and some can only glide when in EX mode.
To Guard, press the R button at the correct moment and you will block the attack. If the attack is a projectile and you timed it correctly, the projectile can be reflected back at your enemy. Whereas successfully guarding a melee attack will knock back and stun the enemy for a brief second. HP attacks cannot be guarded, with the exception of Jecht and Exdeath, who are able to guard against some HP attacks.
Your character can switch between locking on onto the enemy, an EX Core (with the acquired ability) or nothing.
To do so press the L button to cycle between each target.
The D-Pad is used to move the camera around the character.
Finally some of the summons can be summoned manually. To do so, press the R button + O button at the same time. To see a list of which summons can be manually activated, refer to the Summons page.
To see all of the abilities that can used to alter what your character is capable of, look at Abilities.
The battle commands are slightly different if you enable Command Battle.
General Controls[]
Action | Control | Requirements / Notes |
Move | Analog Stick | |
Jump | X | Each character has a different number of consecutive jumps. Abilities can increase this number. |
Interact with Stage | Triangle Δ | Perform different Map Actions when prompted by the gold cursor |
Rotate Camera | D-Pad | |
Switch Target | L | Locking on to EX cores requires you to have the specific ability equipped. |
Guard | R | Separate abilities required for Ground and Air Guard (Equipped at the start) |
Evade | R+X(+Direction) | Separate abilities required for Ground and Air Evade (Equipped at the start) |
Air Dash | R+Δ | Must have a Air Dash Ability equipped (Level 12) |
HP Attack | Square | Must have attack equipped |
Brave Attack | O | Must have attack equipped |
Chain HP Attack | Square | After a Brave Attack. Must have attack equipped. These attacks are learned by mastering certain Brave Attacks. |
EX Mode | R+Square | Must have full EX gauge |
EX Burst | Square |
Must be in EX Mode, then press Square after landing a HP attack. |
Summon | R+Ο | Trigger the equipped manual Summon. |
Ground Specific Controls[]
Action | Control | Requirements / Notes |
HP Attack | Analogue Stick Towards/Away from the Opponent+Square | Must have attack equipped |
Brave Attack | Analogue Stick Towards/Away from the Opponent+O |
Must have attack equipped |
Air Specific Controls[]
Action | Control | Requirements / Notes |
Glide | Hold X after jumping | Only for certain characters |
HP Attack | Up/Down+Square | Must have attack equipped |
Brave Attack | Up/Down+O |
Must have attack equipped |
Chase Mode Controls[]
Action | Control | Requirements/Notes |
Enter/Continue Chase Mode | X | After some Brave Attacks or a chase mode Brave Attack . Ends after a HP attack, hitting a wall or after 3 chase "phases". |
HP Attack | Square | Must be attacking. Ends chase mode. |
Brave | O | Must be attacking. Use X to follow after hitting the opponent. |
Evade | X | Must be defending due to opponent initiating Chase mode or evading your attack. |