Quite a few players have been asking for information on the AP Burst / Infinite Avoidance System in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, so here’s a quick overview. As most fighting game players know, a “combo” is defined as a series of attacks that can neither be blocked nor escaped once the initial attack connects. Basically the victim remains locked in hit stun until the combo ends, which can take a very long time in some games.

In PASBR, whenever a combo generates 100 AP or more, the victim instantly enters infinite avoidance state. They’re automatically ejected at a 45° angle and remain invincible the entire way up and down until they land – unless they attack or perform some other offensive action to relinquish their invincibility before landing.

When infinite avoidance occurs, whichever character triggered it receives a 30 AP bonus. Ideally, you want to perform a combo that adds up to 99 AP, then finish it with your strongest attack (which earns around 30 AP for most characters). That would cause AP burst at 129 AP and you’d end up with 159 AP after the bonus.

Of course, most characters can’t quite reach 159 AP because the vast majority of attacks are valued in increments of 5 or 10 AP. However, many characters can rack up 90 or 95 AP, making it possible to achieve 150 or 155 AP combos.

If two characters are beating up on one opponent in a 2v2 or FFA match, infinite avoidance is triggered when their attacks combine for 100 AP, not when they reach 100 AP independently. Only the character who performs the final hit to trigger AP burst will receive the 30 AP bonus.

There’s one major exception i should mention. Certain attacks in the game don’t cause hit stun, such as Sir Daniel’s D+Circle flames or Dante’s Triangle bullets. We call these “Twitch” reactions, and twitch reactions neither count against the infinite avoidance limit, nor can they trigger AP burst. That’s why Dante sometimes seems to break the rules, but it’s kind of his reward for having such a specialized Triangle button which isn’t useful in direct combat.

Our primary reason for implementing this system was to prevent players from getting caught in combos for painfully long periods of time. We were able to preserve PASBR’s open-ended, freestyle combo system, while ensuring that no player has to surrender control of their character for longer than 5-10 seconds at a time.

However, this system is more than a failsafe. The AP burst mechanic provides an interesting strategic choice for advanced players: Do you want to end your combo early and keep your opponent nearby for a wakeup mixup or air tech reset? Or do you want to maximize your AP gain at the cost of ejecting your opponent to safety?



Furthermore, setting the infinite avoidance limit at 100 AP basically ensures that it takes at least two clean hits to combo into super at the beginning of a match – or after performing a lvl3 super. That’s because every lvl1 super attack in the game costs at least 100 AP.

Even if players were to discover 159 AP combos with every character in the game, it’s extremely difficult to cross the threshold from 99 AP to 100 AP without triggering AP burst. Dante is the biggest potential exception to this rule, which is why his lvl1 super costs 150 AP.

Overall, Battle Royale’s AP burst system ensures a more balanced gameplay experience for all characters – while presenting players with interesting tactical choices. Best of all, it allows PASBR’s combo system to remain open-ended, providing ample room for freestyle creativity.