Many strikes, throws and holds can knock an opponent into a stage's walls for extra damage and other effects. Hitting a wall straight on inflicts the full amount of bonus damage, while hitting a wall from a sideways angle only inflicts half.
- Hitting a regular wall inflicts 10 extra damage, or 5 damage if you only graze it from the side.
- Hitting an explosive or electrified wall inflicts 20 extra damage, or 10 damage if you only graze it from the side.
There are two types of walls you can get knocked into: Full walls and half walls. The type of wall determines what kind of downed state you enter after hitting it.
- Full walls leave you in a special sitting downed state from which you cannot perform wakeup-kicks. You can still get up in place or sideways, but you cannot choose to delay when to get up.
- Half walls leave you in the regular lying downed state where you have access to your usual wakeup options.
Some walls are breakable and get destroyed when someone gets knocked into them from close range. Getting knocked through a breakable wall takes you to another part of the stage and typically has you take damage from the fall and end in a downed state.
There are three possible properties for strikes to have regarding walls:
- Always wall-splat.
- Only wall-splat on a counter hit.
- Never wall-splat.
Strikes causing wall-splats also have different ranges at which they trigger. The required distance from the wall is calculated using the attacker's position, not the opponent's.
Throws and holds have two types of ways they can interact with walls:
- Some have a wall-splat added when a wall is within range.
- Others change to new animations when you or your opponent is next to a wall.
It is possible for throws and holds to trigger wall-interactions both in front and behind, depending on the move being used. Note that some wall throws can only be used next to a full wall.
Some characters have moves that can only be used when their back is to a full wall, such as Hayabusa's wall
in DOA3.
DOA3 introduced a new stun animation when hitting the wall under certain conditions:
- Must be within 2.00m of the wall.
- Must be standing, not launched. (A move that would launch, but also cause a wall-splat, is accepted.)
- Stun damage threshold must not be crossed prior to the hit.
- Can only occur once per stun. (Wall-splatting again after a wall stun will cause a regular wall hit.)
It is not possible to hold during a wall stun. Hitting someone in a wall stun also resets any counter hit states back to normal hit, meaning counter and high counter damage revisions do not take effect.
While standing on a slippery surface - such as water or ice - attacks against you will trigger their counter hit effect.
The first hit of critical stun on a slippery surface will cause a slippery version of that stun to play. Slip-stuns last longer than regular stuns.
That said, a select few stuns do not have a unique slippery animation, and are thus no different from the regular version of the stun.
In DOA2U, some characters have stronger versions of their throws that activate if the opponent is standing in water. One example of such a Water Throw is Leon's
.
Falling off a cliff inflicts extra damage. The exact amount changes depending on the stage.
Standing at the edge of a cliff causes attacks against you to trigger their counter hit effect if said attack does not already stun on normal hit. For example, an attack that normally would only stun on counter hit will cause said stun even on a normal hit.
Some jumping attacks can fall off the edge of a cliff if a defender performs a divert hold while their back is to a cliff.
Some stages have uneven terrain, which can affect your juggles.
- Inclines going down effectively increase your juggle height, meaning longer juggles become possible.
- Inclines going up effectively decrease your juggle height, meaning your regular juggles may no longer be possible.
Some stages will have objects that can be slammed into, which can cause them to break.
Throws and holds that change when next to a wall will also change when next to a destructible object.
- Getting knocked into a destructible object does 10 damage, or 5 damage if you only graze it from the side.
- Getting knocked into a destructible object from close range will break the object and put the player in a lying downed state.
- Getting knocked into a destructible object from far away will not break the object*, but will put the player in a wall sitting downed state.
In gameplay terms, destructible objects are basically small, one-time use walls.
In DOA2U, some areas of a stage will have stairs or hills (referred to as slopes for simplicity) that connect to a different part of the stage.
Getting knocked onto a slope will cause you to tumble down while taking damage. The exact amount changes depending on the stage.
Every character in DOA2U also have access to slope throws while standing next to a slope. A slope throw is performed with
, and will take the place of your regular throw.
Some cliff edges have the player fall onto a slope. Players will have access to slightly altered slope throws while next to such an edge.
In DOA2U, some areas of a stage will have ceilings above the characters. Some throws and holds change when a ceiling is present, causing them to hit the ceiling.
- Hitting a ceiling inflicts 10 extra damage.
- Hitting an electrified ceiling inflicts 20 extra damage.
After hitting a ceiling, the player is able to tech up when they hit the ground.
If they do not tech up, they are put into a stun state from which they can still hold.
Some areas of a stage can have electrified floors.
- Strikes that slam the opponent into the ground will inflict an additional 20 damage.
- Throws and holds that slam the opponent into the ground will inflict roughly 150% damage.
* In DOA2 and DOA3, knocking someone into a destructible object from far away does not break the object. In DOA2U, destructible objects always break no matter the range.
