Dash (Dissidia 012)
Dash is a universal ability in Dissidia 012 [duodecim] Final Fantasy that allows a character to traverse quickly from one point to another. Like many other abilities, dash has to be equipped in character customisation for it to be applied in battle.
Types of Dashes
Air Dash
AP Cost: 5
While Quickmoving, press triangle to dash toward opponent. Hold button to extend range.
This is a dash that will put the character in an airborne state and then pursue the opponent directly at a higher speed compared to Free Air Dash. Being restricted to initiating it from Quickmoves, it's application rate will vary depending on stage, but it can also generate assist meter when Assist Gauge Up Dash is equipped.
Air Dash cannot be equipped at the same time with Reverse Air Dash.
Reverse Air Dash
AP Cost: 5 While quickmoving, press triangle to dash away from opponent. Hold button to extend range.
Same as Air Dash above, but this will have the character dash directly away from the opponent in relation to their position. Due to it's defensive nature in creating space, it can be used to generate assist meter more safely than Dash feinting without risking an input error. It still requires a Quickmove in order to initiate, but it can perform well in large stages with quickmoves such as Order's Sanctuary.
Reverse Air Dash cannot be equipped at the same time with Air Dash.
Free Air Dash
AP Cost: 10 Press R + Triangle to dash toward opponent. Hold button to extend range.
A homing aerial dash. Majority of the cast should have this equipped at all times as it allows them to close a gap with an airborne opponent even if they are directly above them. Abbreviated as FAD.
If a player has this ability equipped, but not Ground Dash, pressing R + Triangle while grounded will initiate Free Air Dash instead.
Free Air Dash cannot be equipped at the same time with Reverse Free Air Dash or Omni Air Dash(+).
Reverse Free Air Dash
AP Cost: 10
Press R + Triangle to dash away from opponent. Hold button to extend range.
Think Reverse Air Dash, except the player can perform this at will. An aerial dash that moves the player directly away from the opponent. While it's not as universally applied as Free Air Dash, mage characters such as Terra and Kefka are known to take advantage of it as it lets them create distance, generate assist meter and then enable them to apply projectiles at a desireable range, either for assist meter or pressure. Naturally this relies on the fact that the opponent has to approach your character, so if that character has nothing to incentivise that action, your combat efficiency can suffer greatly.
Reverse Free Air Dash cannot be equipped at the same with Free Air Dash or Omni Air Dash(+).
Omni Air Dash
AP Cost: 10 Press R + Triangle to dash in any direction. Hold button to extend range.
This lets the player dash in any cardinal and ordinal direction, but cannot directly dash towards the opponent who may be below or above them. It also does not synergise with Assist Gauge Up Dash. As such, it is often successfully applied with only a handful of characters as a result, namely Ultimecia, Kefka and The Emperor.
Omni Air Dash cannot be equipped at the same with Omni Air Dash +, Free Air Dash or Reverse Free Air Dash.
Omni Air Dash +
AP Cost: 20 Press R + Triangle to dash in any direction. Turns capable during dash.
Omni Air Dash with the ability to turn to left or right during the dash. Useful for actively maneuvering around complex stages such as Pandaemonium and Kefka's Tower. It shares the same faults as the regular Omni Air Dash, making this ability merely an upgrade to an already niche choice.
Omni Air Dash + cannot be equipped at the same with Omni Air Dash, Free Air Dash or Reverse Free Air Dash.
Ground Dash
AP Cost: 10 While on ground, press R + Triangle to dash toward opponent. Hold button to extend range.
This can be likened to a grounded version of Free Air Dash, with the primary difference being the character cannot become airborne without falling off a ledge while performing this dash. If the player is below an airborne opponent while using Ground Dash, they will either continue to dash past them or get stuck in a position as an attempt to replicate the behavior Free Air Dash would normally do.
Ground Dash also synergises with Assist Gauge Up Dash and can be used as means to generate assist meter safely. Airborne opponents have to either descend low enough to guard the dash or otherwise initiate offense within the proximity to successfully stop this behavior and this can become a mindgame of it's own.
Upon finishing the dash, the character will enter it's own ending state during which the player can still perform a dodge, block, jump or an attack.
Ground Dash cannot be equipped at the same with Reverse Ground Dash or Omni Ground Dash (+).
Reverse Ground Dash
AP Cost: 10 While on ground, press R + Triangle to dash toward opponent. Hold button to extend range.
Similiar to Reverse Free Air Dash, Reverse Ground Dash does the same thing in moving directly away from the opponent, except it is limited to being on the ground. Just like Ground Dash, it can generate assist meter with the help of Assist Gauge Up Dash ability.
If a match-up does not stress the importance of approaching quickly with Ground Dash, Reverse Ground Dash can perform as bonafide backdash. It can also be applied to a great effect in Order's Sanctuary where the stage is shaped like a sphere, which means dashing directly away from an opponent's position at the wall does not result in halting momentum. As such, a player can use Reverse Ground Dash very liberally to build assist safely while forcing their opponent to act. Punishing whiffs and generally dictating when the opponent has to predict an attack are powerful assets to any player and while Order's Sanctuary is one of the few stages to consistently encourage this strategy, it is also one of the most commonly played stages.
Reverse Ground Dash cannot be equipped at the same time with Ground Dash or Omni Ground Dash (+).
Omni Ground Dash
AP Cost: 10 While on ground, press R + Triangle to dash in any direction. Hold button to extend range.
Similiar to Omni Air Dash, this lets the player dash in any cardinal or ordinal direction. This being exclusive to ground, it's application is not nearly as self-destructive as Omni Air Dash because it can still be equipped in conjunction with Free Air Dash. Characters with slow dash speeds such as Garland or Yuna may find it necessary to evade moves with strong tracking such as Firion's Straightarrow or Squall's Blasting Zone.
Like Omni Air Dash, Omni Ground Dash does not function with Assist Gauge up Dash either. It's usage will boil down to player preference or the needs of a specific match-up.
Omni Ground Dash cannot be equipped at the same time with Ground Dash, Reverse Ground Dash or Omni Ground Dash +.
Omni Ground Dash +
AP Cost: 20 Press R + Triangle to dash in any direction. Turns capable during dash.
Same as Omni Air Dash +, this allows turning left or right during an Omni Ground Dash. The additional maneuvering can be comfortable to use, although it's not often necessary to evade moves. It will make escaping a wall or a corner a bit easier, but the additional 10 CP cost may be a dealbreaker depending on the build.
The speed of the Omni Ground Dash of a character is 8% slower (therefore it also has 8% less maximum travel distance) than the rest of the character's dashes. This is probably a bug in the coding.
Omni Ground Dash + cannot be equipped at the same time with Ground Dash, Reverse Ground Dash or Omni Ground Dash.
Multi Air Slide
AP Cost: 10 Press X after jumping to dash in any direction. Hold button to extend range.
This is technically an Omni Air Dash that can only be used after exhausting all aerial jumps. Because air dodges eliminate any remaining aerial jumps until the player character is considered grounded, Multi Air Slide (sometimes abbreviated as MAS) can be used to safely create space after wall rushing an opponent. Due to it's requirements it may take a bit longer to execute this dash maneuver, but it can fill in as means to maneuver safely in the air.
If Omni Air Dash + is equipped, Multi Air Slide will also acquire it's turning properties. Not that there is any incentive to equip these two abilities simultaneously.
Multi Air Slide can be equipped independently from other dash abilities, although it cannot be equipped simultaneously with Multi Air Slide +.
Multi Air Slide +
AP Cost: 15 Multi Air Slide can be performed twice.
Multi Air Slide + cannot be equipped simultaneously with Multi Air Slide.
Assist Gauge Up Dash
A staple ability for anyone who uses Ground Dash, Free Air Dash or their reverse variants. With this ability equipped you will gain Assist by using Air/Free Air/Ground dashes. To gain Assist with Reverse Dashes you need to equip at least one of these three as well. The Assist gain is 0.1% / 1 point of assist meter per active dash frame and is universal across the whole roster. You build the same amount of assist per frame at the start of a dash and at the end of a dash.
For example, if Yuna uses a "full" Free Air Dash from beginning to end, she'll have 98 active dash frames and gain 9.8% AST (tested with Free Air Dash Boost equipped). [1]
The average AST gain when spot dashing seems to be about 10%/second.
About Air Dash Boosts
A dash of the same type has the same maximum travel distance regardless of the character used when Free Air Dash Boost is NOT equipped. Tifa's Free Air Dash has the same maximum travel distance as Exdeath's Free Air Dash.
Free Air Dash Boost does not affect the maximum time of a full dash. It increases speed and distance of a full dash by the same amount, so total time is unchanged.
Free Air Dash Boost gives a flat 16% speed boost (and based on the point above, also a 16% distance boost) to Free Air Dash, Reverse Free Air Dash, Ground Dash and Reverse Ground Dash.
Free Air Dash Boost has absolutely no effect on Omni Air Dash, Omni Air Dash + and Omni Ground Dash.
The speed of a character's Free Air Dash, Reverse Free Air Dash, Ground Dash, Reverse Ground Dash, Omni Air Dash and Omni Air Dash + is identical when Free Air Dash Boost is NOT equipped.
The Free Air Dash Boost from Lightning's exclusive weapon, Odin Blade, will not stack with the regular Free Air Dash Boost from her abilities. Equipping both or either will give the exact same boost of 16%.
Air Dash Boost had no effect on Free Air Dash, Reverse Free Air Dash, Ground Dash, Reverse Ground Dash, Omni Air Dash, Omni Air Dash + and Omni Ground Dash.
Source: In-depth dash mechanics by TheEmden
Active dash frames in a full dash
Assuming 60 frames per second, below are two charts of the time period a character is considered in a dashing state, during which the game allows a player to generate assist (even if they are not actually moving anymore). They do not account for the actual time in motion during a dash. The first ~13 frames where you are stationary while starting up a dash ARE considered as active dash frames by the game, which complement Dash feinting as means to generate assist.
Free Air Dash/Reverse Free Air Dash & Omni Air Dash/+
| Active dash frames | Character(s) |
|---|---|
| 78 | Tidus (EX Mode) |
| 82 | Onion Knight, Tifa, Prishe (EX Mode) |
| 86 | Zidane, Tidus, Prishe, Gabranth (EX Mode), Lightning |
| 90 | Warrior of Light, Cecil (Paladin), Golbez, Bartz, Gilgamesh, Cloud, Squall, Kuja, Jecht, Shantotto, Vaan, Feral Chaos |
| 94 | Garland, Firion, Emperor, Cecil (Dark Knight), Kain, Terra, Kefka, Sephiroth, Laguna |
| 98 | Cloud of Darkness, Ultimecia, Yuna, Gabranth |
| 102 | Exdeath |
Ground Dash/Reverse Ground Dash & Omni Ground Dash/+
| Active dash frames | Character(s) |
|---|---|
| 90 | Tidus (EX Mode) |
| 94 | Onion Knight, Tifa, Prishe (EX Mode) |
| 98 | Zidane, Tidus, Prishe, Gabranth (EX Mode), Lightning |
| 102 | Warrior of Light, Cecil (Paladin), Golbez, Bartz, Gilgamesh, Cloud, Squall, Kuja, Jecht, Shantotto, Vaan, Feral Chaos |
| 106 | Garland, Firion, Emperor, Cecil (Dark Knight), Kain, Terra, Kefka, Sephiroth, Laguna |
| 110 | Cloud of Darkness, Ultimecia, Yuna, Gabranth |
| 114 | Exdeath |
Conversely, there are ~12 frames after becoming stationary upon ending a ground dash that ARE also considered as active dash frames by the game.