Dragon Ball FighterZ Yamcha Guide featuring ApologyMan

Do you play Yamcha in DBFZ? In general, the character doesn’t have many supporters among the players. In most tier lists, he is deeply in low levels.

Still, that doesn’t mean you can’t put Yamcha to good use and add him to your Dragon Ball FighterZ team. The guy is good at opening his opponents and has a pretty good A Assist and pressure options. Can his strengths outweigh the weaknesses?

We at DashFight are happy to bring you guys a video that answers many questions about Yamcha. This Dragon Ball FighterZ character guide has been created by ApologyMan, a pro player who finishes in Top 8s at many DBFZ major tournaments.

Dragon Ball FighterZ | Yamcha Guide by ApologyMan

Yamcha’s Best Buttons

For the neutral game options of this DBFZ character, ApologyMan mentions:

• 5L — it’s a quick attack that moves Yamcha a little bit forward. 5L is a very good approach tool from a dash. It has a decent auto combo follow-up on whiff. 
• 5S — Yamcha shoots a single projectile and moves a little bit backward. This move gives players time to react and punish the Super Dash of their opponents.

Yamcha’s Best Special Moves

According to ApologyMan, the best Special of Yamcha is EX Wolf Fang Fist. To perform it, you should activate the regular Wolf Fang Fist with Light (236L) and then cancel it into the Heavy one, which has EX follow-up. This move costs half of the bar. 

EX Wolf Fang Fist is very fast, 21 frames full screen and 15 frames from a closer range. It’s safe on block, so you won’t be punished. The move is risky if you whiff it as it has a whiff recovery. EX Wolf Fang Fist is important for Yamcha’s ground and mixup game. It’s so good that you can punish a ki blast into Reflect on block — it’s something that only Yamcha can do. 

Also, ApologyMan explains Air EX Wolf Fang Fist. It’s good for punishing Super Dash in the air. 

Best Assists of DBFZ Yamcha

ApologyMan says that Yamcha’s A Assist is one of the main reasons to select him for your team in Dragon Ball FighterZ.

His A Assist is Wolf Fang Fist. It comes in at 19 frames and has 40 frames of block stun. It’s a really fast one. You can jail your Super Dash into it — this is one of the most universal uses of Yamcha’s A Assist. ApologyMan mentions that this Assist keeps the opponent standing, and he shows how to use this feature with Majin Buu and his Fat Throw.

Yamcha’s B Assist is Kamehameha. An interesting fact about it is that the frame data is not identical to the usual Kamehameha of Yamcha. The beam assist has the frame data of such moves of Super Saiyan Goku, Goku Black, Trunks, etc. ApologyMan thinks it would be better to pick up a different character if you want to use Kamehameha as an Assist.

Yamcha’s C Assist is Wolf Fang Fist: Pack Attack. It has a lot of the block stun and comes out at a decent speed. ApologyMan does not recommend it as much as the A Assist. 

Pressure Options with Yamcha in Dragon Ball FighterZ

The pressure by Yamcha is unique when compared to the other DBFZ characters. He has many options, and it's one of his biggest advantages.

Use 5H as this move is plus on block. If an opponent gets hit with 5H and tries to respond, they might be counter-attacked with 5L. ApologyMan recommends using 5LL that moves the opponent a bit out of the corner and allows you to use cross-up Jump Light. 

For the same-side pressure, you can use Yamcha’s Dive Kick, 2H. 

5H, cross-up, and the Dive Kick become very strong when you corner the opponent.

Dragon Rush is also an effective option for Yamcha to open his opponents. It becomes especially effective when you combine it with other pressure tools. 

Yamcha’s Bread and Butter Combos in DBFZ

ApologyMan demonstrates a mid-screen and a corner combo for Yamcha, explaining them in detail. 

The middle-screen combo is:

• 5LL>2M>5M>2H>SD>J.M>J.LL>dj>J.LLL>J.214M>236LM>74741>214LM

With it, you don’t do the usual DBFZ combo structure (5L>2M>5M>JC>j.2H). Yamcha has his Dive Kick as a replacement for j.2H. You should combo into his 2H.

You cannot combo into 5H because of Yamcha’s backflip. Go straight into 2H after 2M>5M. Yamcha's Jump H hits the opponent away instead of knocking them to the floor. You can combo j.H into 236M.

In the end, ApologyMan links Spirit Ball (236LM) into Yamcha’s Level 3 Super (214L+M, Ultimate Wolf Fang Fist). To do so, you have to shoot the Spirit Ball in very specific directions. The player says that there are a lot of ways to link these attacks, and you should find one that works for you.

The corner combo is:

• 5LLL>66>2M>5M>2H>SD>J.M>J.LL>dj>J.LLL>J.S>J.214M>236LM>48643>214LM

With this version, you can go into Yamcha’s full auto combo and then link it into 2M. The full auto combo uses Smash. The combos with 2H do not Smash; this attack hits in a different way. 

At the end of the combo, while being in the corner, you can go to j.H>j.S.

In the video, ApologyMan uses a different directional input for the Spirit Ball to link 236LM into 214LM. He emphasizes that you can do it in many ways.

DBFZ Yamcha: Strengths and Weaknesses

This character is capable of opening his opponents by himself. For doing this, he uses pressure with cross-up, 5H, the same-side Dive Kick, etc. Such an ability is very rare in this game as most characters need to use an Assist or Dragon Rush to open up an opponent. 

AplogyMan recommends playing Yamcha in an anchor position. Your two first characters can take advantage of Yamcha’s Assist. 

Another strength of this character is his Sparkling pressure. Yamcha can make the opponent come to the floor with his Dive Kick, Air Dash cancel it, and go to the cross-up or the same side Dive Kick. 

Yamcha is a solid anchor character, able to power up a comeback for you.

Alas, he has quite a few weaknesses. Many opponents outclass Yamcha.

He doesn't have the best ki blast game. The single blast is good in some matchups (Bardock, Piccolo). But other late-game anchor characters, such as Brolly, Android 21, and Janemba, have multi-shooting ki blasts. Yamcha is struggling against these characters and cannot shoot his single ki blast back. ApologyMan thinks that this is the biggest flaw of Yamcha. This weakness almost nullifies the advantages of Yamcha’s pressure game.

What do you think, guys? Is Yamcha a viable character for this season in Dragon Ball FighterZ? Do you want some buffs for him? Please, let us know on the DBFZ Forum or through DashFight’s social accounts on Twitter and Facebook.

We thank AppologyMan for this awesome video!

Guys, take a look at other DBFZ character guides created by pro players: Cell by ApologyMan, Janemba by Nitro, and Vegito by Tyrant.