So, Online beta through the 14th is happening this weekend. And I know there are plenty of people who might be new to DOA or just unsure about jumping right into online play against other people.

So its tip time. I've spent hundreds of hours... and dollars on the DOA franchise so let me give you a few basic tips to get you up to speed.

1. The basis of all of DOA is the Triangle system. Think of it as paper , rock, scissors. Strikes beat Throws, Throws beat Holds (Counters) and Holds beats Strikes. So if you've got a really aggressive opponent who likes a specific string figure out if its a high/medium/low string and counter it with a hold. Got someone who is turtling up on defense? Surprise them with a throw!

2. One of the biggest mistakes I see people make with DOA is getting down this downward spiral of trying to do holds to counter everything the opponent throws at them. This is a bad idea. If you mess up a hold and take a hit you take EXTRA damage. There is no chip damage in DOA so unless you absolutely know what string your opponent is going to do a simple block will get the job done and be a whole lot safer. Just make sure you don't turtle to the point where people are just exploiting that fact for easy throws. Holds are more useful for when you have a pretty good read on what your opponent likes to do. Randomly throwing out holds will just get your clock cleaned every time.

3. Simple damage strings work well in DOA. Flashy combos are awesome but the most important thing in DOA is outplaying your opponent when it comes to defense. Countering with holds where appropriate, blocking strings and punishing with a counter string these are the things you should pay more attention to.

4. Did you get knocked on your ass by a really aggressive opponent? STOP. Before you go hitting a button to do a wake up attack like so many people do consider the following. When you do a get up attack you can do two types. Mid or Low. That means the opponent has a 50/50 shot at correctly countering your wake up. Or you just getting tagged by some random overhead attack they do while your waking up. Instead against a really aggressive opponent get up in neutral blocking but just holding block. This gets you up and allows you to instantly block after you regain footing.

Tl;dr : 1. Know the Triangle system! 2. Don't try to counter everything~!! 3. Keep it simple on offense! 4. Consider your wake up options before you hit a button!

Have fun and hope to see you online!

I'm not sure if you want this to turn into a general discussion thread but i'm curious what your opinion of the new systems are? (break blow / break hold) I thought it looked cool in the trailers but i'm not sure if i'm into it. The break blows feel really iffy on whether they'll connect or not and I only really use the break hold to counter break blows but since I dont have a good grasp on where it connects it's hard to anticipate. It could just be that i'm not used to it. (and the genrally laggy games dont help either)

I didnt think the power blow system was great either since I want to be able to do special moves without losing most of my health but at least those were very visible attacks.

Anyway, I didnt mean to shit on the game, I love this series, but this is a beta and the game is in the process of being balanced so some of this stuff could be changed.

FYI you need PS+