Action Commands

**Action Commands** are one of the central mechanics of Bug Fables and a key to Combat. On any basic Attack, damaging Skill (other than Pebble Toss) or Flee attempt will be given an Action Command. Action Commands are certain series of inputs that the player will need to do to in order to attack or defend successfully. Inputting an Action Command will power up the move, while failing it will make it weaker or completely ineffective. Additionally, almost all enemy attacks can be **Blocked** with an Action Command, reducing the damage.

Most commonly, action commands use the **ACTION** (**A** on Nintendo Switch, **B** on Xbox One, and 𝖷 on Playstation 4) key, however the **SWITCH** (**X** on Nintendo Switch, **Y** on Xbox One, and △ on Playstation 4), **CANCEL** (**B** on Nintendo Switch, **A** on Xbox One, and ◯ on Playstation 4) and directional (D-Pad on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Playstation 4) keys can also be used.

Action Commands can be separated into a few types:

## Press with Right Timing

The most common Action Command. The **ACTION**, **SWITCH** or **CANCEL** key (at random) will be displayed inside a honeycomb icon with a slightly bigger hexagonal outline around it. The outline shrinks over time. The player must push the displayed key when the outline overlaps with the honeycomb. Pressing the wrong key, pressing the right key too early or waiting too long will fail the command.

This Action Command is used by Under Strike, Needle Pincer, Heavy Toss, Chompy, and all Team Skills.

Vi's basic attack uses a similar Action Command. A bar with a green section will appear. An indicator will slide across the bar from left to right and return once after it reaches the end. The player must press the **ACTION** key when the indicator in the green section. Pressing the **ACTION** key when the indicator is outside of the green section or waiting too long will fail the command.

## Hold Down and Release

Used for Kabbu's basic Attack and Heavy Strike skill. A bar with a number of honeycombs on it will appear, with the final honeycomb being larger than the rest. The player must hold the down directional key until the big honeycomb lights up, then release it. Holding the key for too a short or too long amount of time fails the command.

## Push the Displayed Key

Used for Leif's basic Attack and Frigid Coffin skill. A bar with a countdown and and obscured key will appear. After the countdown ends, the key will be revealed. The possibilities are **ACTION**, **SWITCH** and **CANCEL** (at random). The player must press the revealed key. Pressing the wrong key or waiting too long will fail the command.

## Button Mash

A bar will appear. The player must mash the **ACTION** key to fill up the bar. Mashing too slowly fails the command.

This Action Command is used by Dash Through. Additionally, several enemy attacks use this Action Command instead of regular Block. Some enemies with HP draining attacks will continue dealing damage until the Action Command is completed.

Vi's Hurricane Toss uses a modified version of this Action Command. Instead of mashing the **ACTION** key, the player must press the left and right directional keys alternatively and rhythmically - pressing them too quickly will slow down the speed at which the bar fills.

Fly Drop uses a modified version of this Action Command. Instead of mashing the **ACTION** key, the player may need to mash **SWITCH** and **CANCEL** key (at random).

In the options, the setting **Mash Action Commands** can change all **Button Mash** action commands into **Button Sequence** action commands.

## Button Sequence

A sequence of keys will appear. They can be any keys that are used in Action Commands, and are random each time. The player has to press all the keys in their sequence. Pressing the wrong key, or waiting too long will fail the command.

This Action Command is used by Frigid Coffin, Boulder Toss, Frozen Drill and Flee.

Frost Bowling uses a modified version of this Action Command. Only the key for the required input is revealed, while the others are concealed.

## Aim

A reticle will appear and move around the enemy area (the type the reticle and it's movement pattern depend on the used skill). The player must press the **ACTION** key to fire off the skill at the reticle's position. The targets the skill hits depends on where it was fired of at.

This Action Command is used by Icefall, Needle Toss, Under Strike and Frost Bowling.

## Block

This Action Command is used to reduce the damage dealt by enemy attacks. The player must press the **ACTION**, **SWITCH** or **CANCEL** key when an attack is about to hit the character to block an attack. Successfully Blocking the attack will reduce the damage by 1 and prevent almost all of attack additional effect. Any characters who aren't being targeted by the attack will be transparent, making it easier to tell which character is being attacked.

Blocking an attack when it's almost about to hit the character will result in a **Super Block**, which reduces the damage by 2 instead of 1. Super Block has a different message and sound effect from regular Block. Some medals, such as Block Heal and Super Block+ enhance the effects of Super Blocking.

Each block has a 19 frame window at 60 FPS. There are 19 frames for any kinds of block, within the first 15 frames leads to a normal block followed by 4 frames for a super block (they overlap on those 19 frames). The cooldown for inputs between blocks is 36 frames.

Certain attacks require **Button Mash** action commands or **Button Sequence** action commands instead of a standard block.