It's a game that seems simple on the face of it, but there's a lot of depth that means these Destruction AllStars tips will be crucial to your success in the arena. Destruction AllStars has the potential to be the next PS Plus hit after games like Rocket League and Fall Guys because like those games, matches are short with an incredibly high skill ceiling. To help you win matches and reach the top, take heed of these 13 Destruction AllStars tips.
Check out our guide to the four Destruction AllStars best characters so you know who to pick, and find the latest on Destruction AllStars split screen mode here.
1. Roll when you land from a high jump for a speed boost
Kicking things off is a tip that is useful from the second you take control of your character. If you press circle and roll as you hit the ground from a big jump, you'll gain a slight speed boost. At the start of the match, this is especially useful because it means you're more likely to win the dash to the vehicles ahead of the people who spawn near you.
2. Collect some shards on foot because the special vehicles are much better than the default spawns
At the start of the game, if you don't win the race to a vehicle, don't fret. Spend some time running around on foot, collecting shards and building up your vehicle meter. While you won't be building up damage points in Mayhem or Carnado by doing this, you will earn your special vehicle much quicker, which includes your vehicle breaker and is much more powerful than the default cars that spawn around the map.
3. If someone tries to takeover your vehicle, wiggle the left stick as fast as possible to always win the battle
You've got a huge advantage if you're driving the vehicle during a takeover, rather than being the one on top. All you need to do is shake the left stick as fast as you possibly can; there's no rhythm or technique to it, just go absolutely wild. The attacker has to hit correct button presses, so nine times out of ten, your simple stick shaking should be much quicker.
4. When ramming, you can go for longer if you hold the right stick forward instead of tapping it
You know how one of the core mechanics is to ram other cars by flicking the right stick forward? What the tutorial doesn't teach you is that you can ram for longer if you hold the right stick forward. This is especially useful if you're using it to catch up with a car trying to escape your pursuit.
5. Use the right stick to look behind you rather than doing a U-turn
If you're at one edge of the arena, you don't have a clear picture of where all the enemy vehicles are and what way you need to go to get back into the action as quickly as possible. Doing a U-turn with the handbrake might be seen as the easiest way to see where you need to go, but you can just pull back on the right stick to look behind you. It's a common control in racing games, but the tutorial makes no mention of this so it's handy to know.
6. Dodge over incoming cars while on foot instead of jumping to get a takeover opportunity
If you see the little red icon that tells you you're about to be roadkill, press circle to dodge instead of jumping with cross. This will perform a sweet little manouevre that allows you to hit triangle and start a takeover, which if you win, will let you either destroy or take control of the enemy car.
7. Eject from your vehicle if the health is getting too low to avoid getting annihilated
It can be tempting to adopt the mantra of being a captain who never leaves their sinking ship – or car in this case – but in Destruction AllStars, you'll have a much tougher time if you stick to your car until it's wrecked and you get annihilated. Instead, when you notice the triggers on the DualSense controller start chugging and your car health is low, eject and collect some crystals for your special vehicle, or hop in a new spawn.
8. Eject from basic vehicles to gain height for those hard to reach crystals
When driving along, if you spot some crystals that you wouldn't be able to reach with a standard jump on foot, eject from your car to gain the necessary height boost. You can come back down to ground and swiftly jump straight back in your car, especially since opponents are much less likely to target an unmanned vehicle. Which brings me on to the next tip...
9. Destroy abandoned vehicles even though there's nobody in them, because you'll still earn points
The aim of the game is obviously to score more points than your opponents in the arena, and you can hinder their chances while boosting your own by annihilating vehicles with your foes inside. But did you know that you'll still earn points for yourself if you target vehicles in the arena that have been abandoned? That's right, slam into them and you'll earn some points, despite no enemy being inside.
10. Head to open training to learn which characters have the best abilities to suit you
At the start of a match, you don't have long to pick a character. There are 16 in total, each with two unique breaker abilities, so you're not given enough time to pick a character on the fly. If you head to open training, you can scroll through each character and their abilities, along with testing them out in a match against bots. Find a few that work for you so you can lock them in right away in competitive matches.
11. Unless your character breaker is active, don't bother with barges (melee attacks) on foot
Every character has a breaker that will affect their melee attacks, also known as barges, in different ways, but unless that is active, don't bother spending time trying to punch other people on foot. For one, the movement and melee combat is so floaty and characters move so quickly, it's incredibly hard to make them connect in the first place. Even if you do manage to land a hit, the damage it does is somewhat negligible compared to running them over.
12. When climbing over a low wall on foot, press circle to vault then cross to launch yourself higher
You'll often find a series of three crystals above a wall that seem impossible to reach without the double jump perk from every character breaker, but there is another way to get them without using your breaker. If you press circle when you're running at the wall, you'll do a vault animation. Press cross as you go over the wall and instead you'll jump into the sky, to about the same height a double jump would take you, and more than high enough to collect those hard-to-reach crystals.
13. You can raise pillars in the ground by running over them on foot
Some arenas have circular pillars in the ground, which can be raised by running across them on foot. This is especially useful if you've got a car on your tail trying to run you over, because if executed successfully, you can make them slam into the pillars and take serious damage.
