DBFZ/Attack Attributes

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Attack Attributes

Each attack in the game has an attribute. Attributes are broken up in a few broad categories: strike, projectile, throw. These attributes interact with each other to trigger certain effects like invincibility and guard point.

Strike Attribute
Strike attributes are broken up into two groups: airborne and ground. As a rule of thumb, attacks performed while standing/crouching are ground, and jumping strikes are airborne, but there are exceptions.
Strike attacks are the most common in the game and can clash with each other.
Projectile Attribute
There are various types of projectiles in the game, but they can be broken up into 3 general levels of durability.
Level 1 (Small Ki Blasts)
Most S Normal attacks fall into this category, but some specials do as well, such as Piccolo's Homing Energy Blast.
These can be Super Dashed through
Level 2 (Beams)
Most special move projectiles fall into this category, like Goku's Kamehameha, Gohan's Masenko, and Tien's Dodon Ray
These will go through projectiles of lower level without losing any hits
Level 2 projectiles can not be Super Dashed through
Level 3 (Super Beams)
Most super attack projectiles fall into this category, like Goku's Super Kamehameha, Vegeta's Big Bang Attack, and Trunks' Burning Attack
These will go through projectiles of lower level without losing any hits
Level 3 projectiles can not be Super Dashed through
Throw Attribute
Throws cannot be blocked or Z Reflected, but they will not work against opponents who are in blockstun.

Attribute Invincibility

Some moves are invulnerable or automatically guard against certain attributes during certain times. For example, most 2H attacks have invincibility against airborne strikes starting from frame 4 through all the active frames.

Other moves automatically guard against attacks with certain attributes, such as Super Dash and Trunks' Change the Future guarding against Level 1 Projectiles and Nappa's Too Bad guarding against strikes, or armor through against attacks with certain attributes, such as Android 16's 5H absorbing attacks that can be blocked high.

These properties will be listed in the frame data as they are discovered.

Counter Hit

A Counter Hit occurs when you hit an opponent out of the startup of their attack. On hit, both the attacker and defender suffer additional hitstop so generally, there is no additional benefit to counter hits compared to normal hits. However when counter hit by a projectile, this additional hitstop does not apply to the attacker - only the defender and the projectile suffer additional hitstop, giving the attacker a little bit of extra time to land a hit and start a combo.

Hitting Two Opponents With the Same Attack

Yamcha and Krillin getting hit by Cell's 5M

One attack can hit multiple targets assuming they are within range. For example one attack can hit BOTH the opponent and an assist.

Normally, when an attack touches the opponent, the remaining active frames are converted into recovery frames. However, if there is a second hittable character, then the remaining active frames can still hit him!

This leads to visually strange situations like Cell's 2M (the slide) hitting Nappa's Saibaman, then a moment later, Nappa gets hit by the remaining active frames of the slide.

This also applies to projectiles like Goku's Kamehameha and Piccolo's Homing Energy Blast, but the later case is more difficult to take advantage of since the projectile will shatter the instant it touches an opponent.

Hit Effects


A lot of moves in Dragon Ball FighterZ have a cinematic "Smash!" version, usually with stronger properties and higher damage. Not all of them will trigger the "Smash!" prompt, but a way to tell if a move triggers Smash! property is typically a change in camera angle or a short cinematic that plays out on hit.

There are 2 types of Smash:

  • Type A: These usually knock the opponent into the air or sideways into a wall bounce.
    • Type A*: These are "launchers," a subset of type A. They have an added property of enabling some type B to get their Smash! within the same combo. This property only applies to the first A Smash! of the combo.
  • Type B: These are usually downward hitting and accompanied with sliding knockdowns.
    • Type B*: Subset of type B that requires an A* Smash! used previously in the combo to trigger Smash! property. More on this will be described below.

On top of different types, each Smash moves also follow one of these trigger conditions:

1. Only triggers if no Smash of the same type has been used.

2. Triggers even if the same type has been used, but only once.

3. Always triggers.

Cinematic sequences can only be triggered by the current point character, upon hitting the opponent's point character. This means Smash! will also only trigger on point characters and not Z Assists. However, moves like command throws and Super Attacks, despite always triggering cinematic, do have non-Smash! versions with different properties or even different animations all together. The "Smash!" prompt can also shows up for moves that don't even have Smash! properties. It's best identifying Smash! attacks by following the two criteria above, and testing them on Z Assists if possible.

Here are some basic run downs on cinematic attacks:

  • 5LLL is type A3*. As noted above, its launching property only applies if it's the first A Smash! of the combo, subsequent use does not activate B* (with a few exceptions).
  • 5H and some j.2H are type A1.
  • 2H and most j.2H are type A1*.
  • Most j.H are type B1*.
  • Special Moves can vary from all types of Smash! and conditions. Some specials can even trigger either a B or B* Smash! with different properties on hit depending on which Smash! properties have already been satisfied.
  • Vanish is type A2, with the special trigger condition of cancelling from another attack.
  • Sparking Blast does not consume Smash!.
  • Each throw of the same "family" can only be used once per combo. For example, Piccolo can do 5S, 2S, j.S, then Z Change to Android 16 to do M Gliding Powerbomb, Dragon Rush all in one combo; Broly can combo M Gigantic Strike into Aerial M Gigantic Strike, but can’t do M Gigantic Strike into H Gigantic Strike, as they belong to the same family.
  • Dragon Rush is type A* if landed raw, while "consumes" A Smash!, B Smash! and the Smash! property of Vanish if performed mid-combo. This means on hit it'll block further usage of type A1 and B1 Smash!, but not type 2 and 3.
  • Guard Cancel consumes A Smash!, B Smash! and the Smash! property of Vanish.
  • Super Attacks vary from different Smash! types, but they also consume A Smash!, B Smash! and the Smash! property of Vanish.

More information on this is described in the Combo System section, and on individual character pages.

Type B* Smash!

The in-depth conditions to get Smash! property for type B* moves are as follows:

  • The opponent must be hit with a type A* Smash that still has its "launching" property.
  • Afterward, you're not allowed to re-enter neutral ground stance. Meaning:
  • If you're grounded, you must cancel the Smash! move's recovery frames with another action. For example: Super Dash, Trunks' Cyclone Jump, any form of teleportation, etc. No jumping unless you can cancel into it, no standing for too long before doing the special, no ground Spark activation since you're forced to land afterward.
  • If you're airborne, you mustn't land. Though using special moves that teleport you back to the ground are still OK, so as long as their recovery frames are cancelled into something else.

If a combo meets these conditions, even if it becomes invalid at any point, then type B* moves will activate.

What all of this means is that you can do things like Sparking! Cell 5LLL > M Perfect Attack > empty Vanish > j.L > j.LL > Z Change > j.L > j.LL > j.LLL into a sliding knockdown. Video example.


Unlike the typical j.H with ground slide, every character also has a "Dynamic!" version of j.H that still consumes B Smash! while being inferior to Smash! in almost every way. This version can be triggered by successfully landing a 5LLL, in a combo that hasn't used A Smash!, then mash L to perform a Super Dash, followed by j.L, j.LL and j.LLL. Manually inputting Super Dash (H+S) won't work, manual j.M and j.H won't work, too much delay or attempting to do any other move and it won't work. Though calling Z Assists is fine as long as L is still being mashed.

The big thing about Dynamic! j.H is that it's a reliable way to get a Dragon Ball and is the only way to summon Shenron. Dynamic! j.H also typically causes a soft knockdown mid-screen and a decently big wall bounce in the corner. This can be put to use outside of the corner by tagging another character in right after j.LLL, which pulls the "wall" back, causing a wall bounce instead of a soft knockdown. The tagged in character can then continue the combo, this means the player can guarantee a Dragon Ball without sacrificing too much damage.


Moves with Anti-Air! property will have invulnerability against attacks with head attribute. If a head attribute attack passes through the character's body while they're doing an Anti-Air move, a blue bubble can be seen flashing out from them and the prompt "Anti-Air!" will show up.

Not to be confused with the general term anti-air, as some attacks without any invulnerability can also be used for anti-airing.

All characters have 2H as a universal attack with Anti-Air! property. Conversely, universal airborne actions such as j.L, j.M, j.H, Super Dash and Vanish are all head attribute attacks, so these are among the moves you should be looking out for.

It's not always obvious which attacks have head attribute. Most attacks performed in the air or moves that put the character in an airborne state have head attribute. However, the universal overhead, 6M, does not have head attribute, despite the characters physically jumping up. This quirk also applies to Super Attacks, as Vegito's Omega Finishing Blow (a mid strike) has head attribute while Frieza's Nova Strike (an overhead) doesn't.

The easiest way to test if a move has head property is simply try to 2H them. And the easiest way to test if a move has Anti-Air! property is to try punishing a j.H.

Wall Bounce

Certain moves have rather long extended untechable time, and will have bonus properties and a second untechable time if the opponent touches a surface before getting hit again. One type will interact with walls and cause a wall bounce, while the other interact with the ground and cause some forms of special "knockdown."

For the first type, upon hitting the edge of the screen, the opponent will be knocked back with some extra untech-time, allowing you to potentially extend your combos. Generally, this property only comes from type A Smash! moves, with the prime examples being 5H, some j.2H, and Vanish.

How much the opponent bounces back depends on the moves. Some moves will cause a big bounce that sends the opponent back to midscreen, while some will keep them at the edge of the screen, meaning they allow a wide variety of followups in the corner, but almost nothing without the help of assists when used midscreen, vice versa for the big bounce.

Another variation of wall bounce is "corner bounce," which "only" causes a wall bounce in the corner. Technically these moves do cause wall bounce everywhere on screen, but the knockback isn't strong enough for the opponent to reach the current wall. Like stated in the Dynamic! j.H section, one can "cheat the system" by tagging a teammate in to "pull" the wall back, allowing for the wall bounce to trigger, but it's generally not possible to do this with special moves.

The distinction between "wall bounce" and "corner bounce" is really only made since "causing a wall bounce in the corner unless Z Change" is too mouthful.

Ground Bounce and Knockdowns

There are a variety of knockdowns in Dragon Ball FighterZ:

  • Soft knockdown: The opponent can ground-tech as soon as they touch the ground. This is the default "knockdown" state for all attacks.
  • Sliding knockdown: Although they won't always visibly "slide", upon making ground contact, the opponent suffers from a second untechable time on the ground and is vulnerable to Off The Ground attacks. Afterward, they will be able to ground-tech, but cannot combine the delay wakeup tech with any other tech options like they can do on a soft knockdown. This type usually comes from type B Smash! moves and Super Attacks.
  • Hard knockdown: The opponent isn't vulnerable to OTG moves during the second untech-time, but cannot ground-tech and is forced to stand up as soon as the untech-time ends. This type only comes from Meteor Attacks.
  • Ground bounce: Instead of leaving the opponent on the ground, the second untech-time leave them vulnerable in the air, they can then air-tech afterward. Very few moves have this property, and the ground bounce itself usually only triggers under certain conditions.

Sliding knockdown and hard knockdown are strong and common tools for setting up oki and maintaining pressure. While ground bounce is rare and used for combo extension.

Since they're so often associated with B Smash!, it's easy to think that each combo only have one sliding knockdown, before it is "consumed." But there are no limit to how many "sliding knockdowns" can be landed in a single combo.

Off The Ground (OTG)

While rare in Dragon Ball FighterZ, some moves can hit the opponent during their sliding knockdowns.

All Super and Meteor Attacks can hit OTG. This makes it very easy to add extra damage at the end of combos, so as long as you have Ki gauges to spend.

Vegeta's "I have no use for Saiyans that can't move" is currently the only special move in the game that can do this.

Attack Level

Each attack in the game does standardized amounts of hitstun, blockstun, etc. depending on their Attack Level. Note that some moves override these default values, which will be noted in the frame data. In addition to these exceptions, some attacks knock the enemy into the air, wallbounce, etc. As a general rule attacks with the same Attack Level share the same sound effects and graphical effects.

Lvl 0 Lvl 1 Lvl 2 Lvl 3 Lvl 4
Hitstun (Ground Hit) 14 16 18 20 22
Untechable (Air Hit) 14 16 18 20 22
Blockstun (Ground) 11 11 15 15 15
Blockstun (Air) 17 17 21 21 21
Hitstop 6 8 11 14 16
Dragon Ball FighterZe
Click [*] for character's frame data
System Explanations

HUDControlsFrame Data & System DataPatch Notes

Movement/CancelingOffenseDefenseDamage/ComboAttack AttributesKi/Assist/Sparking/Dragon BallsMisc