In Yakuza: Like a Dragon, defensive mastery can dramatically change the way you play the game. While raw stats and equipment will always matter, learning the timing mechanics behind dodging and perfect blocking can turn you into an unbreakable wall—even with underleveled characters.

This guide breaks down everything you need to know to dodge or perfect block nearly 100% of incoming attacks, giving you a serious edge in late-game content or low-level challenge runs.

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The Basics: Guarding and Dodging

Whenever an enemy attacks, you can reduce or negate damage by pressing the Guard button (Circle on PlayStation) at the right moment:

• Perfect Block: Mitigates most damage if timed correctly
• Dodge: Completely avoids the attack (no damage, no debuff)

You may notice that even with seemingly perfect timing, these defensive moves sometimes fail. That’s where a deeper understanding of attack animations and timing windows comes in.

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Dodge & Perfect Block Timing – The Core Strategy

After testing and refining the system, here’s the optimal input window:

Dodge Timing:

• Press Guard between 45% to 60% of the enemy’s attack animation
• Roughly: Aim for the midpoint of the animation

Perfect Block Timing:

• Press Guard between 70% to 90% of the animation
• Do not wait until 100%, even though the game says to block “as the attack lands”—this results in inconsistent success

Tip: If you aim for a dodge and mistime it slightly late, you often get a perfect block instead. It’s a forgiving system if your reaction is close.

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Visual Examples: With and Without the Strat

Players often report inconsistent dodging and blocking—even when they feel their timing is spot-on. But with the above timing strategy applied, you can shift the odds massively in your favor.

Without Strat:

• Random dodges
• Occasional perfect blocks
• Rarely more than 2 dodges in a row

With Strat:

• Consistent dodge strings (up to 6–8 in a row)
• High frequency of perfect blocks when dodges fail

This difference is night and day once mastered.

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Tips to Master the Timing

1. Study Attack Animations: Each enemy type has a rhythm. Learn their animation speed and telegraphs.
2. Don’t Panic Tap: A single press within the correct window is ideal—but if you tap too early, press again at the correct moment. The game seems to prioritize the later press.
3. Double-Tap Technique: Press Guard once at ~40% and again at ~50% if you’re unsure. This isn’t ideal long-term, but can help while learning.
4. Agility Matters: Higher Agility increases dodge chances passively, but this strat enhances that through skill.

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What the Strat Works On (and What It Doesn’t)

✅ Basic enemy attacks
✅ Enemy skills (even with debuffs)
✅ Boss attacks (non-cinematic)
✅ Works across all standard enemies and late-game bosses

❌ Buffing moves (enemy casts on themselves) ❌ Boss cinematic skills (scripted, unblockable cutscene-style moves)

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Platform Consideration

This strategy was tested extensively on PS4, but it should work across other platforms. If any differences exist, they’ll likely be in timing windows, not overall mechanics.

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Why It Matters

Mastering this strat opens the door to:

• Beating the game with underleveled characters
• Winning with a solo party member
• Surviving challenge runs without healing
• Minimizing resource use (less MP spent healing, fewer item dependencies)

When stacked with smart party building and optimized gear, dodging and perfect blocking transform you from reactive to untouchable.

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Final Words

Though the mechanic is simple on the surface—just pressing Guard at the right moment—mastery lies in repetition and reading enemy animations. With a bit of practice, this strat can carry you through the toughest encounters Yakuza: Like a Dragon throws at you.