This frenzied 3vs3 brawler features large arenas that quickly dissolve into chaotic button mashing whirlwinds where it’s difficult to tell who is where, what stage of an attack they are landing, and which enemy or core is even being targeted.

As an arcade game where six people are meant to quickly annihilate each other, Dissidia NT makes it incredibly easy to get lost in the sea of screen-covering attack effects. You need to get a solid grasp on the game’s controls before jumping into a match if you want to rise above the competition and dominate in online matches.

A full run down on what the movement, guarding, and combat NTails for every character in this crossover fighter entry can be found below. Wondering how to specifically activate Squall’s trigger attacks instead? Check out our full Squall Trigger guide here.

Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Controls

Before memorizing the controls, there are a few mechanics to get used to that are different from either a typical Final Fantasy game or a brawler, as attacking is broken down into three main types: bravery, HP, and EX skills.

Bravery Attacks

These tend to be quicker and come in three varieties that can be comboed together. These attacks lower enemy bravery and raise your own when they land. Bravery must be reduced to zero before you can incapacitate a character with an HP attack.

HP Attacks

These tend to be slower and deal the most straight up damage, but aren’t useful for knocking a character out of the match until bravery is reduced to 0. They can be used to interrupt enemy attacks and combined with ally attacks against the same target for more devastating effects, however.

EX Skills

These are chosen before a match and vary between characters. These skills offer different ways to change up the battle, such as casting a health regen spell on your allies or sending out green globes that poison enemy characters.

Finally, learning targeting in Dissidia is critical, as your character will always run or rush toward the currently targeted enemy or core, no matter which way the camera is pointing.

Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Control List

The following control list is based around the default control type A, which is quite a bit different from how the controls were setup on the previous PSP entries in the Dissidia Final Fantasy series.

If you don’t like the default control scheme listed below, you can switch between different types by heading to the Options crystal on the main menu and selecting the Controls tab.

Primary, Secondary, and Chat Message control schemes can all be changed independently of each other, so there’s a staggering number of combos.

L2 or R2 – Switch target left or right, or in core battles, holding L2 switches to a summoning core while holding R2 switches to the enemy’s core L2 + R2 – Switch to nearest target Hold L2 + R2 – Unlock to target the summon crystal L1 – Guard shield (shield degrades over time and when hit – if shield is fully broken, you are left unable to move or attack for a few seconds) L1 + Left Analog Stick – Sidestep to avoid attack, or when used in the middle of a combo, it cancels the end of an attack to avoid a counterattack R1 – Dash towards currently selected target Touch Pad – Begin summoning ritual after meter is full (goes faster if more characters perform ritual at same time) Triangle – Activate character specific EX skill Triangle + Left Analog Stick Up – First alternate EX skill Triangle + Left Analog Stick Down – Second alternate Ex skill Square – HP attack towards targeted enemy Circle – Basic bravery attack towards targeted enemy Circle + Left Analog Stick Up – First alternate bravery attack Circle + Left Analog Stick Down - Second alternate bravery attack X – Jump (hold for longer jump, tap twice for double jump; some characters can perform triple jump as well) or use in air after being attacked to recover quickly D-Pad – Up, down, left, or right on the d-pad pulls up quick chat messages to your teammates; keep pressing to select different options or tap circle, square, X, or triangle to choose a specific message

Each Dissidia character (and character type) has varying attack speeds and combos on their bravery and HP attacks, in addition to varying EX skill abilities. 

What’s your preferred control setting type? Let us know what works best for you to get off the fastest and most effective combo attacks!

Make sure to check out our other Dissidia Final Fantasy NT guides! Here are a few to get you started: 

Character Tier List Squall Trigger Guide