Basic Combat and Mastery
Overview
While each Soul Trait has their own playstyle and techniques, there are certain things to explain that are universal to everyone.
True to its spiritual godfather, Delta Warriors' combat is heavily inspired by Like a Dragon.
Basic Moveset
Control Scheme
| Control | PC | XBox | Playstation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toggle Sprint | Left Ctrl | ||
| Light Attack Rush Combo |
|||
| Heavy Attack Finishing Blow |
R | ||
| Quickstep Jump |
Q Space |
||
| Context Normal | X | ||
| Guard | F | ||
| Fighting Stance | Left Shift | ||
| Taunt | P | ||
| Supers | 1 2 3 4 |
|
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| Ultimate | G |
Commands
All Soul Traits have the same basic moveset, it's when you factor in their different playstyle, specials, supers and their ultimate that they differ.
(See the keybind table for your controller type)
- Light Attack — Press . This is a single weak but fast strike. Practically useless on its own, but can be chained into a Rush Combo.
- Rush Combo — Press up to four times (depends on character). The most straightforward method of attack, dish out a flurry of light attacks.
- Heavy Attack — Press R. This is a single strike that does more damage than a Light Attack. You can also use this against enemies that are prone on the ground to strike them.
- Finishing Blow — Press R after any amount of . A powerful attack that follows after a rush combo.
- Quickstep — Hold Left Shift then press Q. Quicksteps are your other main form of defence aside from guarding. They come in handy for evading unblockable attacks.
- Jump — Press Space while not holding Left Shift. Initially, this is nothing more than a movement option, but it can be upgraded by certain Soul Traits to make it work to your advantage.
- Guard — Hold F. Put up a guard to block attacks. You'll only be able to guard from the front, and some attacks will break through your guard.
- Fighting Stance — Hold Left Shift. Adopt a fighting stance that will focus you on a specific enemy. Some moves are set up around this, but it can also just be used to lock on to a specific enemy you want to beat up.
- Taunt — Hold Left Shift then press P while near an enemy. Initially, this does nothing, but it can be upgraded by certain Soul Traits to make it work to your advantage.
Soul-Specific Commands
Unique commands tied to your Soul Trait.
- Context Action — A special type of Normal attack that changes depending on your Soul Trait.
- Specials — Simple techniques with no cooldown that may or may not consume TP. Executed by combining Normal attacks, e.g., Finishing Blow + Context Action.
- Supers — Four powerful techniques that always consume TP (8% to 100%) and have cooldowns.
- Ultimate — Your most powerful technique. Consume 100% TP to deal massive AOE damage. Grants I-Frames during its active duration but not during start-up or recovery.
All Soul Traits and their complete command list
Statuses
Certain actions — either yours or your enemies’ — can trigger special Statuses.
- Afraid — The enemy automatically backs away and becomes vulnerable.
- Grovelling — A variant of Afraid. The enemy collapses to the ground in fear and crawls away. They take double damage while in this state.
- Prone — The enemy is knocked to the ground and becomes vulnerable to Heavy Attacks and certain Supers.
- Agony — A variant of Prone. The enemy writhes in pain on the ground and rapidly loses TP.
- Stunned — The enemy is staggered by certain weapons or attacks, leaving them defenceless for a few seconds.
Equipment
There are two types of equipment; Accessories and weapons. Both can be equipped from your inventory and provide various buffs — accessories focus more on defence, while weapons lean more toward offence. You can equip two accessories and one weapon. Note that not all Soul Traits are compatible with every piece of equipment.
Neither accessories nor weapons change your commands; they purely apply special effects, buffs, or debuffs to you.
More detailed breakdown of the equipment system
Tension Points
Visible on your HUD is an orange bar which represent your Tension Points (TP). TP is your primary resource for using Specials, Supers and your Ultimate. You gain it by blocking damage, narrowly dodging attacks and dealing damage, but you lose some when you get hit. Certain Soul Traits have upgrades to make TP gain faster or more diverse.
A small quirk of the TP system is that abilities costing less than 100% TP typically consume amounts in powers-of-two increments.
Anticipation Mode
When you reach 100% TP, you enter Anticipation Mode (also called Tension Mode). A glowing aura matching your Soul's colour surrounds you as you gain heightened attack speed and damage. Certain Soul Traits have upgrades to further empower this mode.
Mastery
Both your Supers and your Ultimate become stronger as you use them. Most upgrades increase damage, but certain abilities may also gain new effects. Supers can be upgraded to Level 3, while your Ultimate can reach Level 5.
There are 3 upgrade speed groups — Early, Average, and Late.
Numbers are absolute
Numbers are absolute, not cumulative.
e.g., For an Ultimate in the Late group, it will only take 200 uses to reach Level 5, instead of adding up all the previous requirements.
| Early | Average | Late | |
|---|---|---|---|
| LV. 1 | Initial | Initial | Initial |
| LV. 2 | 20 uses | 30 uses | 45 uses |
| LV. 3 | 55 uses | 70 uses | 100 uses |
| LV. 4 | 80 uses | 120 uses | 150 uses |
| LV. 5 | 130 uses | 180 uses | 200 uses |
Elements
Elements are special attributes that certain techniques have. Each Soul Trait has one weakness, which they take 1.2x damage from. This is known as a super-effective attack.
Special Elements
Some elements don’t follow the standard rules and instead have unique effects — these are called Special Elements.
| Element | Special Effects |
|---|---|
| rude | Deals super-effective damage to anyone who can deal super-effective damage to the user. |
| star | Always deals super-effective damage. Super-effective multiplier is ×4 instead of the usual ×1.2. |
Elemental Statuses
Repeatedly getting hit by an attack of a certain element will cause an increasing risk of getting hit by a special status effect.
| Element | Effect | |
|---|---|---|
| Paralysis | electric | The enemy is shocked, this is similar to stunned except they cannot use evasives. |
| Burn | fire | The enemy is set on fire, taking DOT for a few seconds. Fire can be put out with specific actions or techniques. |
| Frostbite | ice | The enemy is freezing, gaining less TP and moving slower. Frostbite can be healed with specific techniques. |
Defeat Mechanics
When your health or an enemy’s health reaches zero, the outcome depends on the type of attack and who performed it. The attack type is defined by two factors: whether the attack is Fatal, and which Element is the attack.
If an NPC incapacitates you with a Default attack type, you will enter the Downed state for 15 seconds. While downed, you cannot move or take any actions, but your allies can heal you to get you back on your feet immediately.
Some enemies will spare you when you are downed, while others will attempt to finish you off — your allies can intervene to prevent this.
| Attack Type | Outcome | Kill? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rout | Default | Victim runs away | |
| Down | Default (from NPC only) | Victim falls on the ground | |
| Kill | Fatal | Victim turns into a red mist | |
| Freeze | ice | Victim is frozen | |
| Swoon | star | Victim is utterly incapacitated |