Dragalia Lost An In-depth Guide to Combat Mechanics

2021-08-03

Welcome to Dragalia Lost, a beat 'em up RPG gacha game Published by Nintendo and created by Cygames. Dragalia Lost works on the bonds shared between Heroes and dragons focused on tons of grind, and with a multitude of different quests and items, it can be tough to identify the best ways to farm and play.

 

In Dragalia Lost, you control the Protagonist named Euden and his band of allies, playing the game from a bird's-eye view with skills and powerful Dragons. The bird's eye view action and combat increase the fun ten folds, but it isn't without quirks and difficulties. Therefore, this guide will help you to learn all the essential aspects of combat and its mechanics. Let’s begin.

 

Dragalia Lost Combat Mechanics Intro

 

Combat Mechanics:

 

There are many factors involved when combating in Dragalia Lost, which we have combined under their respective headings below.

 

HP:

 

Player HP – Every adventurer has a health stat, represented as Hit Points, or HP for short. HP bar is defined by numbers and as a bar representing a percentage of their HP. This information is displayed at the bottom-left or right corner of the screen. The HP bar represents the endurance of the adventurers - HP is the maximum amount of damage your adventurer may take before losing in battle. In addition, the max HP also dramatically affects the speed of recovery skills.

 

The HP bar changes depending on its % compared to your adventurer's max HP.

 

  • At full HP, the HP bar glows light green.
  • Above 30%, the HP bar shows deep green.
  • Below 30% HP, your HP bar becomes red. The screen will also turn red if the controlled adventurer has 30% HP or lower remaining.

 

Enemy HP – Enemies also have HP, and they also display an HP bar, either on top of enemy units (for smaller enemies) or at the top of the screen (for more giant Bosses).

 

Enemy's HP bar has only two conditions:

 

  • At full HP, the HP bar glows light red.
  • If not complete, the HP bar is red.

Under the HP, we will cover two aspects of HP: Life Shields and the second being, Overdrive, and Break. Both of them are explained below.

 

Life Shields:

 

Some skills and abilities grant you a Life Shield, which acts as a second HP bar that absorbs incoming damage up to a limit depending on the source. Similar to regular HP, you can also view it in numerical and bar form.

 

  • If Life Shield is entirely undamaged, the bar glows light orange.
  • If the Life Shield is partly damaged, the bar will be orange.
  • One life shield may be active simultaneously; if you apply a shield while there is already one active, the highest max value shield remains.
  • Conversely, If you cast a lower shield on a higher amount of shield, the weaker shield will heal the stronger shield increasing the HP value.
  • Afflictions will be nullified if their damage is lesser than the amount of the life shield though the affliction will not cancel if it isn't doing any damage.
  • Life Shields also cannot stop debuffs like DEF down.

 

Ranzal’s Storm Wall – is an example of a life shield which states that; Grants all teammates a one-hit shield that nullifies damage less than 20% of the user's HP. Storm Wall does not stack with any other shields.

 

Overdrive & Break:

 

Most bosses will also have a Mode Gauge, which means the amount of damage you need to do to a boss to enter the overdrive state. As soon as they have entered this state, you must send the overdrive gauge damage to the Boss to break the state.

 

While a boss is in the normal state (neither in Overdrive nor broken), the mode gauge increases as the Boss takes damage. Gauge Inhibitor can slow down the growth in the mode gauge.

 

Overdrive – In an Overdrive state, bosses have boosted strength and defense. They may unleash new and more powerful attacks. Force strikes and Gauge Accelerator bonuses increase your effective damage that reduces the mode gauge, while Gauge Decelerator decreases effective damage.

 

Break – In the Break state, bosses will be rendered immobile, and your attacks will lower their defenses massively. Immobility makes them easy to damage. Break state ends typically after a few seconds have passed, though a few unusual bosses whose break state can be permanent.

 

Gauge Inhibitor – This slows the rate the mode gauge increases by 30%, which requires 80 might to cast and can be cast by heroes like Thaniel and Rex and Wyrmprints like Forbidden Relic.

 

Gauge Accelerator – Speeds the rate the mode gauge decreases by 40%, which requires 110 might and can be cast by Halloween Elisanne and by 35% requiring 100 might and can be cast by adventurers like Mega Man, Gala Audric, and Wyrmprints like A Rainy Day.

 

Basic AA:

 

Basic ATKs occur when a player taps on the screen while controlling a Hero. Multiple taps will unleash combos of AA with different animations and DMG modifiers. With certain exceptions, basic AA is dependent on weapon type, so adventurers with the same weapon type will use the same basic AA and combos.

 

Dragalia Lost Combat Mechanics Basic Auto Attack

 

Damage Modifiers – There are DMG modifiers for the basic ATK combos and dash ATKs for every weapon. With certain exceptions, heroes of the same weapon type will use the same ATK modifiers. By default, the Lvl 1 modifiers are used. The Lvl 2 modifiers are used when the Standard ATK Lvl increase node is unlocked in the Mana Spiral for heroes who have access to it.

 

Skill Points or SP – Basic ATK will cause adventurers to gain SP when a hit lands on an enemy. SP is only acquired once for each ATK; it doesn't matter how many times you hit or the number of enemies you will hit.

 

List of Basic Attack Modifiers:

 

The following table shows what the game will apply damage modifiers to each AA being the combo and how many hits it requires to increase the combo Lvl. The table also shows the SP you gain from each combo ATK.

 

Weapon

Attack

Damage Modifier (Lv1)

Damage Modifier (Lv2)

Number of Hits

SP Gain

Range

Sword

Combo 1

90%

105%

1

150

2

Combo 2

96%

115%

1

150

2

Combo 3

114%

137%

1

196

2

Combo 4

120%

144%

1

265

2

Combo 5 (Slash)

180%

216%

1

391

2

Combo 5 (AoE Impact)

180%

216%

1

 

 

Dash Attack

95%

95%

1

143

2

Blade

Combo 1

116%

128%

1

130

1.5

Combo 2

116%

128%

1

130

2

Combo 3

76%

84%

2

220

2

Combo 4

155%

171%

1

360

2

Combo 5 (Dash)

172%

189%

1

900

4

Combo 5 (Circle Slash)

172%

189%

1

 

 

Dash Attack

94%

94%

1

104

2

Dagger

Combo 1

90%

108%

1

144

2.5

Combo 2

46%

55%

2

144

2.5

Combo 3

65%

78%

2

264

2.5

Combo 4

143%

171%

1

288

2.5

Combo 5

180%

216%

1

480

2.5

Dash Attack

85%

85%

1

132

2.5

Ax

Combo 1

137%

151%

1

200

2

Combo 2

146%

161%

1

240

2.5

Combo 3

245%

270%

1

360

2.5

Combo 4 (Draws enemies

259%

285%

1

380

2.5

closer for 0.5 seconds)

 

 

 

 

 

Combo 5

274%

301%

1

420

2.5

Dash Attack

73%

73%

1

160

2

Lance

Combo 1

101%

111%

1

120

2.5

Combo 2

54%

59%

2

240

3

Combo 3

130%

143%

1

120

3

Combo 4

180%

198%

1

480

3

Combo 5

134%

147%

1

600

3

Dash Attack

89%

89%

1

111

2

Bow

Combo 1

35%

44%

3

184

5

Combo 2

44%

55%

2

92

5.5

Combo 3

50%

63%

3

276

5.5

Combo 4

76%

95%

2

414

5.5

Combo 5

42%

53%

5

529

5.5

Dash Attack

30%

30%

3

208

2

Wand

Combo 1

118%

136%

1

130

6

Combo 2

64%

74%

2

200

6.5

Combo 3

43%

49%

3

240

6.5

Combo 4

94%

108%

2

430

6.5

Combo 5 (Big)

74%

85%

1

600

6.5

Combo 5 (Small)

43%

49%

4

 

 

Dash ATK

100%

100%

1

156

2

Staff

Combo 1

114%

124%

1

232

5.5

Combo 2

132%

144%

1

232

6

Combo 3

74%

81%

2

348

6

Combo 4

248%

270%

1

464

6

Combo 5

323%

353%

1

696

6

Dash ATK

80%

80%

1

300

2

Mana-caster (Long-range)

Combo 1

67%

-

5

545

9

Combo 2

67%

-

5

545

9

Dash ATK

80%

-

1

300

9

Mana-caster (Close-range)

Combo 1

48%

-

8

340

5

Combo 2

48%

-

8

340

5

Dash ATK

40%

-

8

300

5

Mana-caster (Rapid-fire)

Combo 1

45%

-

3

200

5

Combo 2

60%

-

3

200

5

Combo 3

60%

-

5

200

5

Dash ATK

80%

-

3

300

5

 

Unique Combo Chain:

 

Some Heroes have unique combo chains that are different from what is shown above. These can be temporarily or permanently given by skills or abilities or natural to the adventurer. We will list a few of the Champions combo chains below so that you can compare them and understand combos better.

 

Dragalia Lost Combat Mechanics Combo Chain

 

Lily – Lily has a unique combo chain while under the effects of "Crystalian Princess." The damage is more significant than a regular Wand combo, but the SP gain is the same. Since these are standard attacks, they will further increase in power when the final node of the Mana Spiral is unlocked.

 

Attack

DMG Mod Lvl 1 S.ATK

DMG Mod Lvl 2 S.ATK

Hits

Range

Effect

Combo 1

132.60%

152.40%

1

6

1.3x Frostbitten Punisher

Combo 2

71.40%

82.10%

2

6.5

Combo 3

48%

55.20%

3

6.5

Combo 4

99%

113.80%

2

6.5

Combo 5 (Big)

79.20%

91.00%

1

6.5

Combo 5 (Small)

48%

55.20%

4

 

Sophie – Sophie has access to a unique combo chain, with one more tap than the standard ax combo.

 

The combo has two versions, one Standard and the other a Delayed version. Sophie will apply the Standard version if the player simply taps rapidly. Sophie will use the Delayed version if the player instead taps while there is a white glow effect around Sophie. Tapping at the appropriate time is indicated by a blue glint with each tap of the delayed combo. The combo can reset if Waiting too long.

 

  • Sophie's combo will always begin as the Standard version of the combo, not the delayed one.
  • It is possible to connect the two combo types. For instance, tapping while the glow effect is present after combo 2 of the Standard Combo will trigger combo 3 of the Delayed Combo.

 

Attack

DMG x Standard

DMG x Delayed

Hits

Range

SP Gain

Notes

Combo 1

135%

135%

1

3

150

Cancellable into Delayed Combo 2 after 0.333 seconds

Combo 2

80%

144%

2

3

180

Cancellable into Delayed Combo 3 after 0.667 seconds

Combo 3

95%

171%

2

3

270

Cancellable into Delayed Combo 4 after 0.633 seconds

Combo 4

99%

180%

2

3

285

Cancellable into Delayed Combo 5 after 0.267 seconds

Combo 5

112%

202%

2

3

315

Cancellable into Delayed Combo 6 after 0.767 seconds

Combo 6

223%

405%

1

3

400

-

 

Force Strikes:

 

Force Strikes are secondary ATK that occur when a player presses and holds their finger. A unique charge icon will appear under or near the Hero, and when it brightens up, release the held finger will launch the ATK towards or in the icon's location. Force Strikes follows which weapon type you have, so adventurers with the same weapon type will often use the same kind of Force Strike. Some Force Strikes are altered depending onHeroo by design, effects of skill, and the ability.

 

Dragalia Lost Combat Mechanics Force Strike Modifiers

 

The Force Strike Atk is initially locked for most Heroes and is acquired by unlocking the first node on a hero's Mana Circle. There are two ways schemes for Force Strikes: Pivot and Movable.

 

Pivot – Holding your finger down at a point without moving becomes the pivot point you hold to charge a Force Strike. You can now use the pivot point for aiming the Force Strike after it is charged. Drag your finger away from that point to where you wish to attack. The attack direction can be opposite in direction to aim your strike exactly like a slingshot.

 

Movable – you can charge the Force strike by holding your finger down. Your champion can still move when moving your finger while keeping it held down. This controlled movement will be at a slower pace than your regular run.

 

  • For a Personal AoE Force Strike (on Axes, for example), the area will follow the Hero as they move.
  • In the case of a  Directional Force Strike, the direction will default to the direction in which the Hero moves. If an enemy becomes the target, then the Force Strike direction will automatically point to that enemy and maintain this targeting as the character moves.

 

Bonus Effects of Force Strike Attacks:

 

Bonus damage – Can do bonus damage to the Overdrive Bars of the Bosses; they will enter the Break state quicker than basic attacks.

 

Instant break – Can instantly break enemy guards (the blue barriers created to block damage).

 

Knockback – Knocks back occur for enemies and interrupt their attacks in the process.

 

Resistance – helps to get resistance to a degree of knockback and stagger when held down, enabling you not to get knocked down by the Phantom Assault in Wind Imperial Onslaught.

 

List of Force Strike Modifiers:

 

 

 

Weapon

Lvl

DMG x

Type

Hits

SP Gain

Effect

Range

Sword

1

104%

Pivot, Directional

1

345 on first enemy hit

Deals 8x Damage to OD Bar

3

2

115%

Blade

1

83%

Pivot, Directional

1

200 on first enemy hit

Deals 6x Damage to OD Bar

4

2

92%

Dagger

1

42.30%

Pivot, Directional

3

288 on first enemy hit

Deals 8.4x DMG to OverDrive Bar on Hit 1 and 2

3

2

47%

Deals 4.2x DMG to OD bar on Hit 3

Ax

1

173%

Movable, Personal AoE

1

300 on first enemy hit

Deals 3.08x Damage to OD Bar

3

2

192%

Draws enemies closer until released

Lance

1

27%

Pivot, Directional

5

400 on first enemy hit

Deals 5.2x DMG to OD Bar on Hits 1-4

4

2

30%

Deals 6.2x DMG to OD Bar on Hit 5

Bow

1

28%

Movable, Directional

8

460 on first enemy hit

Deals 3x Damage to OD Bar

5.5

2

31%

Wand

1

81%

Movable, Directional

2

400 on first enemy hit

Deals 4x Damage to OD Bar

6.5

2

90%

Staff

1

55%

Movable, Directional

4

580 on first enemy hit

Deals 4.2x Damage to OD Bar

6

2

61%

Mana-caster (Long-range)

1

162%

Movable, Directional

1

400 on first enemy hit

Deals 4x Damage to OD Bar

9

2

180%

Mana-caster (Close-range)

1

35%

Movable, Directional

10

400 on first enemy hit

Deals 2x Damage to OD Bar

5

2

40%

Mana-caster (Rapid-fire)

1

0.41

Movable, Directional

9/s

90 per bullet that hits

Deals 0.3x Damage to OD Bar

6

Attack will continue indefinitely if the finger is continuously held.

 

The buff will slowly decay after every few hits. If a Force Strike DMG Up buff is active on a rapid-fire mana-caster, they begin to hold force strike until it finally settles at 10% force strike damage. The game will remove the buff once the adventurer lets go of the force strike.

 

Unique Force Strike:

 

After explaining the Force Strikes mechanics and essential terms in it, let's discuss what would happen if the Force Strike takes a twist when playing with characters that change the mechanics. Below you will find examples of 2 of these characters and how their Force Strikes are different from what we have listed in the previous sub-heading.

 

Gala Ranzal – His Force Strikes will fill his Burst Gauge. Here Max points in Burst Gauge are 1,000.

 

FS Level

Number of Hits

Burst Gauge Gain

1

1

150 on first enemy hit

2

1

 

Radiant Xuan Zang – Radiant Xuan Zang has a unique Force Strike that resembles a laser aimed in front of her. The charged version has an added effect and deals more damage. The first table is for the regular uncharged Force Strike.

 

FS Level

Damage Multiplier

Type

Hits

SP Gain

OD Modifier

Lv1

55%

Pivot, Directional

4

580

x4.2

Lv2

61%

Pivot, Directional

4

580

x4.2

 

The following table is for Charged Force Strike:

 

FS Level

Damage Multiplier

Type

Hits

SP Gain

OD Modifier

Effect

Lv1

218%

Pivot, Directional

4

580

x4.2

Lower paralysis resistance by 20% for 20 seconds

Lv2

222%

 

Skills:

 

Skills are abilities that you can use when adventuring in the world of Dragalia Lost. To use the skill or ability, you need to fill their gauge to activate it. The filling requires SP acquired during the quest by the simplest means of AA. When the skill is ready to be activated, its button will start flashing to let you know you can now use it. Skills vary in what they do. Some are Atks, buffs, or has a recovery attached to it or a combination of all three like a skill can be damage dealing Atk that can also debuff the enemy.

 

Dragalia Lost Combat Mechanics Skills

 

Total Skills – You may have four skills at one time when adventuring, where 2 of them are your class skills, while the other two you can get either from your weapon or shared with a friend's Hero who is adventuring with you.

 

iframes – The Combat mechanic aspect of the skills is that they are immune to all damage during his animation while your character performs a skill. This immunity duration is called iframes or invincibility frames which is a big mechanic in Dragalia Lost. The only attack that can disrupt these iframes is the purple attacks only when they make contact.

 

Some skills do not provide iframes to your Heroes, like Mega Man's Metal Blade and Leaf Shield, where you are still vulnerable to damage. The description of these skills are as follows:

 

  • Metal Blade – Equips Mega Man with the special "Metal Blade" weapon, allowing him to shoot blades by tapping the screen. Metal Blade deals one hit of 100% flame DMG to enemies in a line and inflicts bleeding for 30 sec- dealing 132% DMG every 4.9 seconds - with a 50% base chance.
  • Leaf Shield – Equips Mega Man with the special "Leaf Shield" unique weapon, through which he can create a Leaf Shield. Movement is allowed while Leaf Shield is active.

 

Some skills intentionally don't provide iframes by design as they are counter skills that require you to be hit and take some damage before you can activate them. Fjorm’s Ice mirror and Lea’s Floral Revolution are some examples. Their tooltip is explained below:

 

  • Fjorm’s Ice Mirror – Summons "Ice Mirror," then deals one hit of 1119% water damage to the target and nearby enemies. The skill will deal additional bonus neutral-element damage equally to 1100% of the DMG taken while "Ice Mirror" is active. Reflected DMG receives no bonuses from Skill Damage or other damage modifiers.
  • Lea’s Floral Revolution – Summons "Crimson Garden," then deals two hits of 734.8% flame damage to enemies directly ahead. The skill will deal additional bonus neutral-element damage equally to 1100% of the DMG taken while the skill "Crimson Garden" is active. If the user's HP is above 60% max HP when using this, they will take DMG equal to 20% of their max HP. Reflected DMG receives no bonuses from Skill DMG or other DMG modifiers.

 

Yoshitsune's Kumasaka Flash is a particular case. Like most skills, it will provide iframes to Yoshitsune. If an iframe attack attacks Yoshitsune, Yoshitsune will automatically counter said attack with additional skill damage; however, shields or life shields will be used up or damaged, regardless of damage type.

 

Yoshitsune's Kumasaka Flash – Begins preparing a powerful shot for 2.4 seconds, after which this skill will deal five hits of 119% water damage to enemies directly ahead. Suppose the user is hit by an attack that you can avoid while preparing this shot, with the damage immunity provided by skills. In that case, this skill will also deal one hit of 9% to enemies directly ahead and one hit of 1138% water damage to the surrounding enemies and, for 30 seconds, increase the user's attack rate by 10%. This attack rate increase will not stack.

 

Shared Skills:

 

Skills that you can equip from your companions can use up to 2 skills as shared skills. Once allotted, they behave as a regular skill with SP filling and usage. The only downside to these skills is that they can’t be used when in Dragon Form. The Hero sharing this skill with you must be level 80 and have at least 50 mana nodes unlocked.

 

Dodging:

 

Dodging mechanic is also an essential aspect of the game. You can mitigate most damages and powerful Ultimate from Dungeon Bosses with the simple swipe of your finger. When you’re auto-farming, your heroes won't dodge by themselves, so in difficult content, you need to be ready when to swipe to avoid even if you’re auto-battling.

 

Dragalia Lost Combat Mechanics Dodging

 

Another thing to note here is that you are as immune to damage during the dodging animation as during skill casting; you get iframes when dodging too.

 

Bracing:

 

Bracing is a get back on your feet mechanic that can be performed by double-tapping when your Hero is damaged, which sends them flying. Think of it as an action movie in which the Protagonist changes his fall mid-air and lands on their feet effortlessly.

 

A critical thing about bracing that you should keep in mind is that if you double-tap when they are thrown from attack damage, as soon as they land, their iframes are up, and they can be damaged again. If you let them fall on their own and then get up, iframes are extended further. The enemy has already damaged you, so waiting a sec longer won’t hurt and especially comes in handy when fighting a Dungeon Boss who is in the middle of either a big attack pr an Ultimate.

 

Automatic Bracing:

 

Automatic bracing is very useful when you are auto-battling and can be configured in the settings menu.

 

Shapeshifting:

 

Shapeshifting is a mechanic in the game, which can be said as an Ultimate ability in which you transform into a Dragon. Your abilities are transformed into the Dragon's power. You become more powerful and start dealing more damage. Shapeshifting requires you to equip a dragon first before you can do it.

 

Dragalia Lost Combat Mechanics Shapeshift

 

During the adventure, you need to fill up the Dragon Guage to use the ability, which you can use for a limited amount of time in which you gain certain immunities to all afflictions and cannot be knocked back.

 

The best thing about Shapeshifting is that all of your attacks in that state will instantly break the enemy's blue shields. Dragon form can also help you destroy some obstacles that you cannot do in standard form. There are a few exceptions to your Dragon Form attacks that break shields. Kai Yan's Adamantine Shield can not be broken this way and needs your basic attack while in this form can dispel effect.

 

Elemental Bonus:

 

Most RPG games employ elemental bonuses and affinities in their games which benefit you if you use them well. For example, in Dragalia Lost, Flame beats Wind while Wind beats Water, and finally, Water beats Flame. So, suppose you have a Flame elemental as your main Hero. In that case, you can do 50% increase damage to the Wind enemies while taking 50% more damage from Water elemental and do reduced damage to Water elemental. In this way, Healing is increased to the heroes who are of a similar element to you.

 

Afflictions:

 

The following list shows some basic information about what afflictions are possible and their effects, and which enemies can inflict upon you. Knowing this, you can prepare well before going into combat for difficult content.

 

  • Damage over time aka DoT
    • Poison
    • Burn
    • Paralysis
    • Frostbite
    • Shadowblight
    • Scorchrend
    • Stormlash
    • Flashburn
  • Crowd Control Effect aka CC
    • Freeze
    • Stun
    • Sleep
    • Bog
  • Others
    • Curse
    • Blindness

 

DoT – As the name suggests, DoT will deal periodic damage to the locals in the game, both Heroes and enemies. Paralysis in the DoT makes a target stagger at every periodic tic. Most CC abilities confine the receiver’s movement other than Freeze and Blog, where You can attack frozen companions to remove the Freeze status. At the same time, Bog reduces movement instead of can’t move at all, but damage dealt is also increased by 50%.

 

Other Afflictions – Curse and Blindness are the only odd ones out as when Cursed, you’re unable to use any skill and SP halted while when Blinded, most of your attacks don’t connect while SP gain is normal.

 

Stacking – Being inflicted has a negative connotation, that you can't shapeshift while afflicted, your energy levels are removed, and your inspiration stacks are also removed. Some of these afflictions can stack on top of one applied affliction. For example, other DoTs can stack on each other, or Bog, Freeze, Stun, and Sleep can stack over most DoTs and vice versa. If a CC like Freeze is cast again on the receiver having a Freeze, it will not stack but may restart the duration.

 

Dragalia Lost Combat Mechanics Cleanse

 

Cleansing – most afflictions can be dispelled by different abilities, while most enemies can dispel those afflictions by just going into Overdrive mode. Let's discuss a couple of them for your understanding.

 

  • Poison can be removed by abilities such as Felicia’s Cleansing Dance and Corsaint Phoenix’s Refreshing Flare.
    • Cleansing Dance Grants all teammates a one-time use shield that nullifies DMG less than 20% of your HP (but does not stack with any other shields) and removes poison.
    • Refreshing Flare Deals 7 hits of 234% light damage to surrounding enemies, inflicts paralysis for 13 seconds - dealing 66% damage every 3.9 seconds - with 100% base chance and removes curse and poison from all allies.
  • Bog affliction can be relieved Wind, Heal Us! ability by Lowen
    • Winds, Heal Us! Restores HP to all allies with 72% Recovery Potency and increases the entire team's strength by 8% for 60 seconds. This strength increase will not stack.

 

Damage Formula:

 

Each time you are fighting an enemy, the damage you do to them is calculated in the background by the game's engine. While typically every attack goes through the calculator, but there are a few enemies whose attacks do not go through the standard DMG formula; instead, they have their variables.

 

One of these examples of attacks, such as High Zodiark's Shadow Blast, deals fixed damage, which is not affected by factors that are calculated on regular attacks. Instead, these are based on the calculations done by considering shiels or life shields. Similarly, Void Nidhogg's Dark Detonation considers your current or max HP when dealing damage that is valid for other damaging afflictions.

 

Action Markers and Iframes:

 

We have mentioned the iframes above in the skills section. You can use these iframe mechanics to circumvent boss skills and damages, which otherwise would deal you a massive amount of damage. The game presents you with this information to avoid these attacks in advance. Whenever an enemy attacks, the game will show you the area of the attack just moments before with a marked Red area which can either be a rectangle or a circle. These are called telegraphed attacks that most enemy skills feature, indicating when and where these attacks would land.

 

Dragalia Lost Combat Mechanics Action Markers and Guard

 

There are two types of Action Markers, Red/Yellow ones which you can avoid or use the iframe mechanic to bypass. The second one is the Purple attacks, whose damage cannot be avoided unless you have a shield or Dragon form. There are a few Purple attacks that you cannot even avoid in Dragon form, and the skill will transform you out of your Dragon state if it hits you.

 

Enemy Attention:

 

When you are out there adventuring, enemy actions can either be Attacks or skills of an enemy that will target only the specified or assigned to a specific group they target.

 

following are some Target groups that enemies and Bosses will attack depending upon certain variables:

 

  • The attacks and skills will consider if whether it's you or a controlled AI.
  • Sometimes the attacks will consider targeting Specific classes in your party.
  • Finally, the enemy may consider going for Heroes relative to the enemy’s position in your party.

 

Let's consider a scenario in this case. We know that usually, the enemies or Bosses will target the enemies closest to them, which may help you avoid them or kite if necessary, while one of your Heroes will be dealing with the brunt of the damage from the Boss or any enemy.

 

It's different when fighting Raid bosses as they tend to target you first, which you can take advantage of by baiting them, following you around in circles, or charging into corners. At the same time, your teammates can continue damaging them. A Tank class is specifically designed keeping this approach in mind. Ranged and Melee take these approaches a bit differently, but the central concept remains the same.

 

Dragalia Lost Combat Mechanics Enemy Attention

 

Dragons tend to leap backward and cause knockback to adventurers in the process if there are adventurers behind them. In High Brunhilda's Trial: Master, cause damage to heroes in front of High Brunhilda. Many of the more difficult atks in endgame content, such as Advanced Dragon Trials and The Agito Uprising, will ignore AI heroes in target selection or have them not inflict dmg on them even if it connects.

 

Certain atks from Volk in Volk's Wrath: Expert, Master, and Legend, such as Snapping Squalls, prioritize attacking the ranged classes (bows, wands, staves, and mana-casters) before the melee classes (all melee classes). This ATK also completely ignores AI adventurers and will never target them. Any excess attacks that the enemy could not deploy due to the lack of valid targets will simply vanish.

 

Note that AI heroes may still get caught up in a player-controlled adventurer's Snapping Squall and receive DMG from them. It is possible to strategize, bait and dodge ATKs by taking note of enemy behavior in a quest.

 

Conclusion:

 

We started with the Beginner’s Guide to overview what you can expect from the game and what things are presented. The guide contains a summary of most mechanics that you need to know to play it well and not get confused with the barrage of menus it throws at you. After the beginner's guide, we touched each aspect of Dragalia Lost in more detail in different guides like Progression Guide, Weapon Crafting Guide, How to Improve your experience Dragons and Wyrmprints, etc. You can read all guides in detail here.

 

Today we touched upon the Combat Mechanics in detail which is the most active aspect of Dragalia Lost, which you go through after every few menu changes, and most of your time is spend adventuring. As most of the game is spent combating, this guide contains all the essential Combat mechanics that you need to know to master the game, each of them discussed above. Master the combat mechanics, and no content will be hard for you and your heroes.

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