Instinct Breaking is the act of forcing someone out of their Instinct state. This can be achieved by attacking with specific moves.
Most Instinct Breaking skills also break objects like trees. Instinct Breaking is distinguished from wearing out Instinct dodges as Instinct Breaking instantly sends the players out of the Instinct state. Only some moves can instantly break Instinct. This is an extremely valuable aspect of PvP, as it allows the player to damage their opponent without wasting moves which would regularly be dodged. Without Instinct breaking, combos can be escaped, even if the opponent initially had used up all their dodges, as they may regenerate their dodges during the combo. Every move, even M1 attacks will break Instinct if the opponent was using Instinct while holding a skill.
Another difference is that when breaking Instinct, it is only temporarily disrupted, as opposed to the number of dodges being entirely reset to 0, so by the time the players opponent gets their Instinct back, it would have the number of dodges they had when their Instinct was broken. Nearly all AoE / explosive attacks in the game break Instinct. Most moves that look thin with small AoE probably won’t break Instinct, although there are some exceptions like Kabucha's Z. Instinct Breaking moves are, usually, easily recognized as they are usually large and explode with particles.
IMPORTANT:
- If Instinct V1/V2 is activated while also holding a move, it will break even if the user's dodge count is not exhausted.
- Some moves like Sanguine Art can break Instinct if the enemy directly is hit directly. If the opponent isn't hit directly, they will dodge the attack. Moves such as a Sea Beast's sea blasts are good at demonstrating this.
Instinct break only works if an AoE move's hitbox covers the entirety of the enemy's hitbox, with small exceptions, which would be listed below. For example, if a player used Dragon's Z move, it would be dodged when the beam hits another player, but it would break Instinct when the explosion covers the player. Instinct breaking lasts for about 5 seconds, after which the opponent can reactivate their Instinct.
Instinct Breakers[]
For more reliable information on which moves break Instinct and their exact mechanics, the main page of the gun, sword, Blox Fruit or fighting style should be visited.
Fighting Styles[]
| Dark Step | C, V | Must be close to the enemy. |
| Electric | C | Breaks on second hit. |
| Water Kung Fu | X | Requires you to be close, breaks on third splash. |
| Dragon Breath | X, C | X requires you to be close. |
| Death Step | Entire moveset | Crash for Z, explosion for X, and C (held) all break. |
| Sharkman Karate | X, C | Both moves require direct hits. |
| Superhuman | X, C | X has to hit within the centre. C is often dodged but requires a torso hit to break (needs more testing). |
| Electric Claw | Z, C | Dash and claw slashes for Z break (To break their instinct, the enemy must be directly struck by the Z skill or positioned between the Z slash and the player). |
| Dragon Talon | X, C | X flames break (not projectile), C requires you to be fairly close to break. |
| Godhuman | Entire moveset | Z (up close) breaks, X (projectile) breaks if directly hit, and C (held) breaks. X (held) also breaks. |
| Sanguine Art | Entire moveset | Z can break if aimed correctly, and the orbs (which attack opponents after landing C) can be dodged. The orb after missing C breaks. |
Blox Fruits[]
| Rocket | Z, X, C | |
| Spin | Z | |
| Chop | None | |
| Spring | C | |
| Bomb | Entire moveset | |
| Smoke | C | The first hit breaks. |
| Spike | X | |
| Flame | C, V | |
| Falcon | None | |
| Ice | X, C, V | X and C require direct hits. |
| Sand | C, V | V needs to be a direct hit to break. |
| Dark | C | Must near. |
| Diamond | V | |
| Light | Z, V | Z's AOE can sometimes break Instinct but only on a direct hit. |
| Rubber | X, F / Z X C | (X and F not transformed, Z on direct hit, X transformed C when enemy is close.) |
| Barrier | Z, V | The crash breaks instinct. |
| Ghost | X, C | |
| Magma | X, C, V | The puddles caused by these moves break. |
| Quake | Entire moveset | |
| Buddha | X, C, V | (Z is a transform move it doesn’t do damage.) |
| Love | Z, X, C, V | |
| Spider | C | C breaks even if ran into, ie doesn’t require a direct hit. |
| Sound | Z, C, V | |
| Phoenix | Z | |
| Portal | Z, X, V | Z ignores Instinct but breaks at the slam (final hit). |
| Rumble | Z, X, V | X has a chance to be dodged, Z breaks only if directly hit. |
| Pain | Z, C, V | Z needs to hit the ground to break, C needs to be somewhat of a direct hit to break. |
| Blizzard | Z, C, V | Z breaks Instinct on explosion when held or directly hit. |
| Gravity | Z, X, V | |
| Mammoth | C, V, F, 4th M1 (roar) | |
| T-Rex | X, F, 4th M1 | F move sometime can be dodged at the edge |
| Dough | Z, X, C, V | X breaks on direct hit, C requires you to be close to break. |
| Shadow | Z, C | |
| Venom | Z, X, C, F, Venom drop passive | Technically almost all moves can break because the poison damage takes away Instinct dodges overtime. |
| Control | X, C, V | If the enemy uses Instinct while the user attacked with C move, their Instinct will not be broken. |
| Spirit | Z, X, C, V | Z needs to be hit in the centre and X at the explosion to break. |
| Dragon | Z, X, C | Z and X have a chance of being dodged. Z requires a direct hit (explosion also breaks) and X can be dodged if timed right. C requires somewhat of a direct hit to break efficiently. |
| Leopard | Z, C, V, F, 4th M1 (roar) | Z breaks at the explosion while transformed, V breaks during the transformation (Human to Leopard form). |
| Kitsune | Z, C, F / C, X | Untransformed: Z (hit or not hit), C (Flame and intial damage), F (with 3 tails Passive).
Transformed: Z (at the edge), C (Flame and intial damage). |
Awakenings[]
| Flame | Z, X, C, V | Z needs to hit the ground to break. |
| Ice | X, C, V | X has a chance of being dodged. |
| Sand | Z, X, C | Z and C break if hit directly. |
| Dark | X, C, V | X and C moves must be in the middle to work. But it will also drain most of the enemy's dodges. |
| Light | Z, X, V | X breaks when held and hit directly. |
| Magma | Z, C, V, F | Z's magma puddles break, C ignores Instinct and F breaks on explosion. |
| Quake | Entire moveset | All of the moves can break instinct. |
| Buddha | Entire moveset, Seismic Jump passive | F only breaks Instinct at the slam. |
| Spider | X, C | |
| Phoenix | Z, V | V flames break instinct. |
| Rumble | Z, X, C, V | X has a chance to be dodged, C has to be hit before the enemy enables Instinct. |
| Dough | Z, X, C, V, M1 (click) | Z breaks on explosion, X has to be direct hit, C breaks on slam. X (aerial) can be dodged if timed right. |
Swords[]
| Dark Blade | Z | Z breaks if the first slashes hit. |
| Soul Cane | Z | Z requires the beam to directly hit the player, as the piercing beam can be dodged. |
| Trident | X | |
| Bisento V2 | X | |
| Gravity Cane | Z, X | X only breaks on first hit, the subsequent aerial slashes can be dodged. |
| Koko | X | |
| Midnight Blade | Z, X | Both moves require direct hits. |
| Rengoku | Z, X | Z breaks on the last slash (DoT), X flames break instinct as well. |
| Dragon Trident | Z, X | Z’s beam doesn’t break, but the explosion does (the explosion at the beam’s maximum range). |
| Pole (2nd Form) | X | |
| True Triple Katana (TTK) | Z, X | Both moves require direct hits. |
| Tushita | Z, X | Z breaks when held. |
| Buddy Sword | Z, X | Z flames break, however the initial slash can be dodged. |
| Dark Dagger | Z | |
| Cursed Dual Katana (CDK) | Z, X | Both moves need to be held to break efficiently. |
| Shark Anchor | Z, X | Z swing doesn't break, explosion hitbox does; X breaks only on the first hit, the rest can be Instinct-tricked. |
Guns[]
| Slingshot | Z, X | |
| Refined Slingshot | Z, X | |
| Musket | Z | |
| Acidum Rifle | Z, X | |
| Bizarre Rifle | X | X flames break. |
| Refined Musket | Z | |
| Bazooka | X, M1 (click) | |
| Cannon | X, M1 (click) | |
| Kabucha | Z, X | Z breaks on direct hit. |
| Serpent Bow | Z | |
| Soul Guitar | X, M1 (click) | X’s damage can be dodged if it hits someone within the move’s perimeter, although the initial stun effect will still apply. |