You might be tempted to approach Eighting’s latest game like any other 2D fighter, and DNF Duel certainly allows you to do that with standardized back-to-block. However, DNF Duel also gives you access to a block button, which, due to its non-committal nature towards a direction, allows you to ignore left-right mix ups that otherwise dominate the 2D meta game.
In fact, the guard button is practically required in some match ups, such as versus Ghost Blade and Lost Warrior, whom both possess moves that instantly can hit from the other direction. The guard button is so strong, in fact, that it’s only real weakness — the lack of throw tech — is not something you should be particularly concerned about.
You Have To Use Rolls — Sometimes
At lower levels of DNF Duel, you’ll find players that either roll constantly or not at all, and both habits are easy to exploit. However, neither of them are necessarily wrong — roll has a place in the DNF Duel meta, but it’s a nuanced one.
This is because roll has two big weaknesses — it’s not invincible on frame one (and thus loses in wakeup situations) and it has a vulnerable recovery. Because of these two facts, you should limit your roll use to call-outs in situations where it’s the one of the few viable answers for particular lockdown strings. If you practice particular problematic situations and find that your only two options are roll or blocking, take note of that — and take note of whether your opponent is looking for the roll in the first place.
Throws Are Awful, So Stop Worrying About Them
“Just take the throw” is a mantra in 2D fighting games for a simple reason — the damage you take from normal combos are almost always demonstrably worse than anything a normal throw can do to your health bar.
DNF Duel decided to take this statement to the extreme, however. Normal throws do shockingly small damage compared to even basic combos, and half of the damage it does do is recoverable white life, which is arguably one of DNF Duel’s most valuable resources. When combined with the fact that most throws in DNF Duel send the opponent far away (and thus, killing your momentum on offense) getting thrown almost always ends up being better for the opponent than it is for you.
Recoverable Life Can Save You In A Variety Of Ways
One of the most important resources to understand in DNF Duel is not your MP Meter, and it’s not even your life bar. At least, not the whole thing. No, it’s the white health — recoverable health generated from various actions in a round — that’s most important to how you make decisions in game.
It gives you access to many of the game’s esoteric mechanics. Intentionally manipulating white health goes both ways, too — for example, you would want to avoid throwing the opponent if the white health would put them in the “Awakening” state.
Guard Cancel Is Best Used Reactively
When you first start playing DNF Duel, it’s easy to forget Guard Cancel even exists. Then, when you’re in the middle of blocking a difficult lockdown move, such as Kunoichi’s Flame Pillar, you might guard cancel at the wrong time because you panicked.
It isn’t that you had the wrong idea, but you had your focus on the wrong part of the screen. Instead of Guard Canceling at any random point, guard cancel in response to your opponent’s commitments — this forces the opponent to try and bait out your guard cancel (and potentially give up pressure) or use conversion, which they may not be able to if they don’t have white life to spend.
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