Attack Priority (Dissidia 012)

Dissidia 012 operates with a priority system that decides which action prevails when it interacts with another action.

Introduction

Characters in Dissidia 012 attack, defend and move in an attempt to seize victory. The most basic idea is to fight using quick Bravery attacks, guard against them with a Block and break through guards with HP attacks. The attack priority system is what makes this set of interactions possible. There are different types and levels of priorities, but some of them are uncommon and character specific at times.

Below is an old list of priorities and how they interact against each other.

If you are unfamiliar with the priority system, please keep scrolling down for a more digestible read that introduces each priority more thoroughly.

A list of priorities

As a general rule, higher priority beats lower, identical Melee priority clashes and Melee beats Ranged if they are same priority.

• Melee attack = attacker will be staggered when blocked
• Ranged attack = attacker will not be staggered when blocked
• Ranged attack, Melee attack with Low priority -- most bravery attacks
• Ranged attack, Melee attack with Mid priority -- cause stagger on normal R block
• Ranged attack, Melee attack with High priority -- cause Guard Crush on normal R block, most HP attacks
• Special -- Special case of ranged attacks, can not be blocked, but dies to attacks and dashes (e.g. Kuja’s Remote Flare BRV)
• Unblockable -- does not collide/touch other attacks/blocks at all. (e.g. Kefka’s Hyperdrive HP)
• Dash -- include Quickmoves and any dashes
• Block Low priority -- attacks with magic guard such as Squall’s Fated Circle, Cecil’s Dark Cannon, Warrior of Light's and Tidus' EX mode bonus
• Block Mid priority -- Normal R block, Warrior of Light’s Shield of Light, Exdeath’s Delta Attack, Firion’s Shield Bash and more.
• Block Mid* priority -- Normal R block with Precision Block activated.
• Block High priority -- Cloud of Darkness’s [Wrath] Particle Beam, Vaan's EX Mode (SW) Sword & Shield, Feral Chaos' Deus Iratus.
• Block Highest priority -- Exdeath Omni Block, Ultimecia’s Charged Knight's Lance, LV2 Assist Change
• Jecht Block - Jecht's Jecht Block.

Attack Priority Tables

Left-hand columns are the point of comparison.

When two attacks collide
	Ranged Low	Melee Low	Ranged Mid	Melee Mid	Ranged High	Melee High	Special	Unblockable
Ranged Low	Draw	Lose	Lose	Lose	Lose	Lose	Ignore	Ignore
Melee Low	Win	Draw	Ignore	Lose	Ignore	Lose	Win	Ignore
Ranged Mid	Win	Ignore	Draw	Lose	Draw	Lose	Win	Ignore
Melee Mid	Win	Win	Win	Draw	Ignore	Lose	Win	Ignore
Ranged High	Win	Ignore	Draw	Ignore	Ignore	Lose	Win	Ignore
Melee High	Win	Win	Win	Win	Win	Draw	Win	Ignore
Special	Ignore	Lose	Lose	Lose	Lose	Lose	Ignore	Ignore
Unblockable	Ignore	Ignore	Ignore	Ignore	Ignore	Ignore	Ignore	Ignore

When blocking an attack
	Ranged Low	Melee Low	Ranged Mid	Melee Mid	Ranged High	Melee High	Special	Unblockable
Dash	Win	Lose	Lose	Lose	Lose	Lose	Win	Ignore
Block Low	Win	Lose	Lose	Lose	Lose	Lose	Ignore	Ignore
Block Mid	Win	Win	Stagger	Stagger	Lose	Lose	Ignore	Ignore
Block Mid (Precision)	Win	Win	Stagger	Stagger	Stagger	Stagger	Ignore	Ignore
Block High	Win	Win	Win	Win	Lose	Lose	Ignore	Ignore
Jecht Block	Win	Win	Win	Win	Win	Stagger	Ignore	Ignore
Block Highest	Win	Win	Win	Win	Win	Win	Ignore	Ignore
Shell Guard	Win	Ignore	Win	Ignore	Lose	Ignore	Ignore	Ignore
Protect Guard	Ignore	Win	Ignore	Win	Ignore	Lose	Ignore	Ignore

Melee vs Ranged

Most attacks in the game are categorized as either melee or ranged priority. This is different from damage types; A damage type of physical or magical determines the damage dealt through basic accessories and other equipment. A priority simply determines which one wins if both interact at the same time.

Melee priority attacks will cause the attacker to stagger when it is blocked, but they will also win against Ranged priority attacks if their priority level is the same (e.g. Melee Low and Ranged Low). These are commonly close range attacks that utilize the character's weapon for strikes, slashes etc, but exceptions exist.

Conversely, Ranged attacks will not cause the attacker to stagger when it is blocked, but they also lose against Melee attacks if their priority level is the same (e.g. Melee High and Ranged High). These are often times projectiles or magic spells, but exceptions exist.

Priority Levels

Both Melee and Ranged priority attacks have three levels to them: Low, Mid and High. These are the most important and common priorities in the game. The higher priority always wins when interacting with a lower priority action, while equal priorities clash with each other.

Low

Most bravery attacks in the game are low priority, usually noted as "Melee Low" or "Ranged Low" on a character's page. These attacks will lose to blocking, but are still integral for most characters.

Examples of Melee Low attacks: Warrior of Light's Dayflash, Firion's Rope Knife, Cloud's Slashing Blow, Squall's Beat Fang and Lightning's Launch.

Examples of Ranged Low attacks: Warrior of Light's White Fang, Onion Knight's Blizzard, Cloud's Fire, Squall's Thunder Barret and Lightning's Thunder.

Block also has a low priority version, but this is only seen as "magic block" for select few attacks and EX Mode abilities.

Examples of Block Low: Squall’s Heel Crush BRV, Fated Circle and Aerial Circle HPs, Cecil’s Dark Cannon, The Emperor's Starfall, Warrior of Light's EX Mode and Tidus' EX mode.

Mid

Mid priority is higher than low priority. This is the priority the Block basic abilities have and it is what will beat low priority bravery attacks. Some bravery attacks also have mid priority, which will beat regular block, Ranged Low and Ranged Mid priority attacks.

Examples of Melee Mid attacks: Warrior of Light's Sword Thrust, Squall's Heel Crush (attack part), Zidane's Booster 8, Vaan's Katana (Switch), Gabranth's Relentless Lunge, Feral Chaos' Brute Force.

Examples of Ranged Mid attacks: Kefka's Scatter-Spray Blizzaga (initial projectile), Cloud's Firaga, Laguna's Ricochet Shot, Lightning's Watera.

Examples of Block Mid: Ground Block, Midair Block, Warrior of Light's Shield of Light, Exdeath's Turn Guard, Sephiroth's Scintilla, Vaan's Sword and Shield (Switch).

High

High priority is higher than both low and mid priorities. This is the priority that all HP attacks have and it will win against attacks and blocks that are lower priority.

Examples of Melee High attacks: Warrior of Light's Shield of Light (hit), Cloud's Braver, Squall's Blasting Zone, Jecht's Jecht Stream (LV3), Prishe's Backhand Blow.

Examples of Ranged High attacks: Warrior of Light's Shining Wave, Bartz's Reel Impulse, Cloud's Meteorain, Squall's Aerial Circle (hit), Ultimecia's Knight's Axe (charged), Vaan's Windburst.

Examples of Block High: Cloud of Darkness's [Wrath] Particle Beam, Exdeath's Protect Guard and Shell Guard, Ultimecia's Knight's Lance (charged), Vaan's Sword and Shield (Switch, EX Mode)

Block Highest

As the name suggests, this is a priority even higher than the previous three. However, there is no "Attack Highest" priority, which means Block Highest will win against most attacks and only lose to unblockable and special priorities. LV2 Assist Change is notoriously powerful because of this priority, but it won't stagger the attacker when they use Ranged, unblockable and special priority moves.

Examples of Block Highest: Exdeath's Omni Block, Ultimecia’s Charged Knight's Lance, LV2 Assist Change

Dash

Characters can block Ranged Low and Special priority attacks during any dash. The guarding period is active throughout the dash, but will also end when Ground Dash and Reverse Ground Dash enter a short recovery at the end. While a reverse dash can guard against ranged low attacks that hit on the character's back, characters using Free Air Dash have a blind spot behind their back. This is most commonly seen against Bartz or Terra who use their Holy braveries directly above their opponent.

Special

Special priority attacks are unique in that they lose to melee priority, dash and ranged priority (mid & high), but they cannot be blocked. It is not a common priority in the game and the effectiveness largely hinges on other aspects of an attack.

Examples of Special: Ultimecia's charged Knight's Arrow, Kuja's Remote Flare and The Emperor's Dynamite.

Unblockable

While it is true that the average HP attack functions as an unblockable in practice, attacks with the "unblockable" priority are true unblockables. They do not interact with other actions at all (except dodge), so they will go through all attacks and block priorities, including Block Highest. This is a more common priority in the game than Special is, but only 9 playable characters have it.

Examples of Unblockable: Terra's Graviga and Flood, Exdeath's Black Hole and The Emperor's Thunder Crest.

Jecht Block

Jecht has a uniquely powerful command block that beats dash, low and mid priority moves, as well as Ranged High. It staggers him and the opponent when used against Melee High priority moves and will lose to Special and Unblockable priorities.

For more info, please refer to the Jecht Block page.