The Triangle System
Just like in the previous Dead or Alive games, the Triangle System is present in Dead or Alive 5 Last Round as well. This system is the core of DOA5LR's gameplay and anyone who wishes to learn the game should be familiar with it. In the Triangle System, the 3 types of attacks players can perform will beat each other in an RPS fashion.
and 
will always beat 
, which will beat 
, which will beat and .
This, of course, is a bit more deep and complicated at higher levels of play and will be explained in more detail below.
Strikes
Strikes in DOA5LR are performed with the and buttons, or a combination of multiple buttons, such as 
or . Strikes are the most common way of damaging and pressuring your opponent in DOA5LR, and combined with movement serve as the primary way of navigating neutral. Strikes can very often extend into strings performed by inputting a sequence of buttons in a specific order. Strikes will ALWAYS beat throws, as long as you can get one out. You cannot be thrown as long as your strike is in it's startup or active frames, but can be thrown during the recovery. Striking someone during their throw animation will inflict Hi Counter, which will grant your strike 50% more damage and possibly additional properties, such as more frame advantage or a juggle opportunity.
Throws
Throws can be performed by inputting or the macro, which can be set in the button config. Each character will have multiple throws that can be performed by inputting a throw with a directional button or a combination of directional buttons. Aside from the neutral throw (5) throws in DOA5LR cannot be broken and are guaranteed the moment they connect. Throws also have differing startup, with the neutral throw having 5 frames of startup (4 frames for grappler characters). Every character will have at least a 5f throw, a 7f throw, a 10f throw and a 12f throw. Because most throws are faster than strikes, and because they cannot be broken, they are usually used to punish opponents who are at frame disadvantage. Landing a throw on an opponent attempting a hold will inflict Hi Counter and grant your throw 50% more damage. Throws can be crouched under for a whiff punish, but every character has access to at least a few low throws in order to counter that, as well as to punish opponents who recover while crouching. Low throws cannot connect on standing opponents.
Holds and blocking
The button, if held down, will make your character assume a blocking stance and block the incoming strikes, save for low strikes, which can be blocked by holding down 2, exposing you to mid strikes instead. Because lows in DOA5LR are usually slower and less threatening than mids, standing block should be the default method of blocking. For those who aren't used to blocking by holding a button, Dead or Alive 5 Last Round offers the standard method of blocking by holding back or downback. The other defensive option the button is used for are holds. If a strike connects with a hold, the hold will act as a parry, usually granting some damage and a knockdown, although sometimes it can open up a juggle opportunity or put you at enough frame advantage to start a combo. To parry an incoming strike, you will need to input a hold corresponding to the type of strike your opponent is performing. These inputs look as follows:
4 - Mid punch strikes.
6 - Mid kick strikes.
7 - All high strikes.
1 - All low strikes.
If you manage to hold the incoming strike with proper timing, the game will reward you with a Counter Hold or a Hi Counter Hold, depending on how on point your timing was, granting either 25% or 50% more damage respectively. Some characters, usually the defense oriented ones, will have access to special holds. These are performed with character-specific inputs and usually open up a combo or a juggle opportunity but require better reads, as many will counter - for example - specifically only high punches or high kicks. Other types of special holds can be holds that cover even more options, parrying - for example - all mid punches and high punches, but will usually only put you at frame advantage without starting a combo.
Offensive Holds
Abbreviated as OH, offensive hold is a special type of attack that combines the properties of a throw with the properties of a hold. Usually possessed by grappler or defense oriented characters, offensive holds are strong options both offensively and defensively. These attacks mostly look and function as throws, but will also hold strikes, allowing you to beat both blocking and striking. However, because most offensive holds are slower than normal throws, they can be thrown before they connect, and because they count as holds, throwing them will inflict Hi Counter. Just like normal throws, OHs are also divided into low and high OHs, meaning you can crouch under high OHs and then punish them as they recover.
The Combo System
The combo system in DOA5LR operates on two mechanics called critical stun and juggles. Because of how critical stun and critical holds work, characters won't have a single combo they can always rely on. The mechanics in place instead encourage players to learn the combo theory and structure combos on the fly in order to avoid being predictable, and easy to shut down with critical holds.
Critical Stun and Critical Holds
When an attack connects with the opponent, it will cause what's called a critical stun. This is pretty similar to hitstun in other fighting games, with a few key differences. The first one is that not all attacks will inflict critical stun, some may instead launch the opponent into the air immediately or even leave you at disadvantage on hit. It's important to note that not all critical stuns will open up a combo opportunity, as some might offer as little as only 1 frame of advantage, and since the fastest strike a character can have will posses 9 frames of startup, it will be impossible to keep the combo going, forcing you to continue pressure instead. When an opponent is put into critical stun, they cannot perform any actions with two exceptions - critical holds and stagger escape. Critical holds are simply holds performed during critical stun that offer you the opportunity to steal the momentum and escape a combo, but offer less damage than a normal hold would. Whiffing a critical hold will also increase (or in rare cases decrease) the amount of frame advantage your opponent has over you, meaning they will be able to land combos they normally wouldn't be able to, while also exposing you to the dangers of getting Hi Counter thrown for a lot of damage, so this is not without risks.
Types of Stuns
Although it's not fully explained in the game, DOA5LR has a few different types of stuns, offering varying amounts of frame advantage and even some unique properties. These stuns can be identified by their differing animations and have community-given names. The stuns that can appear in the game and their properties are as follows:
Lift stun - This stun will make your opponent jump up slightly, then stumble backwards just a little bit. The frame advantage is good, over 30 frames, and the amount of distance it creates is for the most part negligible.
Crumple stun - When hit with a crumple stun, the opponent will hunch over and hold their stomach. The frame advantage on this stun is usually between 20 and 30 frames, and will put next to no distance between you and your opponent.
Falling Crumple stun - This stun is very similar to the crumple stun, except it will make your opponent fall down to the ground slowly. While it offers a lot of frame advantage, the slow fall can actually make you whiff some of your following strikes, forcing you to be quick on your judgement.
Trip stun - Usually caused by strong lows or getting a counter with a low, this stun will make your opponent trip. The amount of frame advantage it offers is usually pretty low, between 10 and 20 frames, and since your opponent trips to the ground, you will not be able to connect with high attacks, making it easier for an opponent to counter you with a critical hold, since they will now only have to guess between 3 attack types, while also having less moves to worry about due to you being restricted by low frame advantage. In fact, by properly utilizing stagger escape, your opponent can make your frame advantage even lower and completely stop you from being able to continue the combo.
Stagger stun - This stun offers lots of frame advantage but makes your opponent quickly stagger away from you, restricting your options to moves with reach good enough to connect before they leave their stun. The amount of distance they stagger away is slightly influenced by your opponent's stance relative to yours.
Faint stun - Called like this because it looks as if the opponent fainted, this stun makes your opponent pop up and then quickly fall to the ground. Just like with the trip stun, the falling animation can make you whiff your high attacks if you aren't fast enough.
Limbo stun - The opponent will bend backwards, then fall down to the ground. Very similar to faint stun in how it functions but usually offers more frame advantage.
Sit-down stun - The sit-down stun makes your opponent fall to the ground on their butt. While it makes it impossible to follow with high attacks and the frame advantage is average, sitting between 20 and 30 frames usually, the sit-down stun is special in that it's impossible to perform a critical hold out of it, leaving stagger escape as the only option available to the opponent in order to try and escape the combo.
Slip stun - Another special kind of stun, the slip stun, as it's name implies, makes your opponent slip and is related to environmental hazards and usually happens only if you hit your opponent with a specific move while they are standing in the water (typically some kind of low).
Face stun - This stun makes your opponent hold their face and stumble backwards slightly.
Back-turned stand-up stun - A rare kind of stun to occur, this stun will only happen if you hit a back-turned opponent and will make them stand up, then turn towards you.
Critical Damage and Critical Burst
Hitting your opponent and putting them into a critical stun will make a part of their healthbar glow white. This glowing part indicates the critical damage threshold and is "filled" by further damaging the stunned character. Each following hit will fill up the threshold at a 1 damage to 1 critical damage ratio. If you exceed this threshold, your opponent will be blown back and immediately knocked down, shutting down your ability to continue the combo. Because of this, you want to avoid going for too long before launching your opponent. The maximum amount of critical damage you can inflict depends on what type of hit you opened up with and it looks as follows:
Normal hit - A maximum of 24 critical damage.
Counter hit - A maximum of 35 critical damage.
Hi Counter hit - A maximum of 42 critical damage.
Keeping the stun going for longer not only increases the overall damage of your combo, but also makes your opponent enter higher levels of critical stun, starting at level 1. The critical stun can go up to as high as level 3. With each level, your opponent will be launched higher into the air once you launch them, opening up longer juggles to stack up even more damage for a devastating combo. At level 3 performing a critical burst also becomes possible. Critical burst is a mid punch shared between all characters, although the input varies between characters, and some can have more than one (usually stance characters). If you connect a critical burst attack on an opponent in level 3 stun, they will enter a special kind of stun which grants you tons of frame advantage and prevents your opponent from using stagger escape and critical holds. This guarantees a launch with any move you want or even a power blow, or a power launcher for easy half of your opponent's healthbar. The level of critical stun your opponent is in will be shown to you through the "Critical Stun" message that shows up on the screen. White is level 1, yellow is level 2 and red is level 3. Keeping track of this visual cue is a good habit to have, as it will make it easier to avoid exceeding level 3.
Stagger Escape
When stunned, you can hold down the button and mash directional inputs or wiggle your stick around to perform stagger escape. This will make you recover from the stun faster, lowering your opponent's frame advantage and even making continuing a combo impossible in some cases. However, when performing stagger escape, you need to be wary of resets, as an opponent who notices you trying to go for stagger escapes often might try to take advantage of you leaving the stun earlier by going in for a sneaky throw to squeeze out some more damage. This is even more deadly when going up against characters with launching throws, characters with unblockable moves or characters with guard breaks advantageous enough to guarantee another stun.
Move Properties in Critical Stun
When your opponent is in critical stun, your moves will often gain new properties, often reflecting the properties they posses only when connecting as counter strikes. This means a strike that is usually minus on hit will now grant you frame advantage instead. The best example of this is 5 - this button is minus or at best zero on hit across the entire cast, but if you land it on an opponent who's in critical stun, it will now extend the stun and offer enough frame advantage to keep the stun going. Likewise, moves that usually don't launch on normal hit will now act as launchers. Because of this, it's important to know the properties of your moves in order to avoid dropping a combo.
Movement
Movement in DOA5LR happens in a 3D plane, meaning you can move forward, backwards, sideways and even diagonally. This section is divided into the basic movement and advanced movement. Mastering these techniques is crucial for success in DOA5LR due to it's neutral-heavy nature.
Basic Movement
Walking (6/4) - Walking is the most basic form of movement and will make your characters slowly crawl forward or backwards. While the forward walk can differ in speed greatly between the cast, walking back by simply holding 4 will make your character assume a blocking stance as they walk backwards, making it an extremely slow form of movement.
Dashing and backdashing (66/44) - Quickly inputting 66 or 44 will make your character perform a dash or a backdash, which will allow you to quickly close or create a small amount of distance between you and your opponent. The distance covered by dashes and backdashes differs among the cast.
Crouch dash (33/11) - Just like normal dashing, this type of movement can be performed both forward and backwards and is available to all characters. A crouch dash functions just as the normal dash does, except it happens while crouching, allowing you to avoid high attacks while closing or creating distance.
Freestep (2/8) - Freestep is a form of sideways movement, it's usually very fast and can even avoid some attacks (called freestep dodge by the community) while allowing you to reposition away from the walls or environmental hazards.
Sidestep (22/88 or 2/8) - Sidestepping will make your character perform a quick step into the background or foreground, allowing you to avoid non-tracking attacks. Every character can followup their sidestep with a punch or a kick for a counter if they avoided a strike. However, all throws in DOA5LR will track and punish a sidestep, which can be deadly due to the fact that performing a sidestep opens you up to a counter even if you don't perform any followups.
Advanced Movement
Korean backdash (KBD) - Just like in the Tekken series, you can cancel your backdashes in DOA5LR, allowing for a quick succession of backdashes. There are multiple methods to performing a KBD, it can be as simple as doing 214 motions or more nuanced, such as canceling your backdashes into a block by tapping the button, then immediately performing another backdash, or doing a single backdash, holding the 4 button down and then performing 632 motions. All of these methods are viable so simply use the one you are the most comfortable with.
8-way movement - You can unlock the 8-way movement in multiple ways. One of them is to simply perform a backdash and then hold down the 4 button, which will make your character start walking backwards in a manner faster than the basic walk. This indicates that you unlocked the 8-way movement and can now move diagonally. Another way is to simply tap any diagonal direction other than 1 (as this will make you assume a crouch blocking stance) and continue holding one of the directional buttons you pressed for a moment. No matter the method used, as soon as you return to neutral or press , you will need to unlock again.
Ground Game
When knocked down, you will be presented multiple wakeup options, all of them with some advantages and disadvantages. Likewise, as you are not invincible on the ground, your opponent might opt to hit you while you are downed. While not very damaging, being hit when down on the ground will force your character to get up, on which the opponent can then capitalize by performing some sort of setup or starting a guaranteed pressure sequence. Your options while on the ground are as follows:
Tech roll - If you input any button ( recommended) just as you hit the ground, you will perform a tech roll. This is the fastest and safest way of getting up, but doesn't threaten your opponent in any way other than them possibly whiffing a ground attack if they do go for one. This by itself can be quite good and put you at enough advantage to punish the whiff or at least steal a turn.
Wakeup kick - If you input or 2 while on the ground, you will perform a rising mid or low kick which will grant you advantage on hit. However, both of these are punishable on block and the low wakeup kick can be low crushed with some jumping attacks. You can even be called out by a hard read hold, since in this situation your opponent has to guess only between two options instead of four and the kicks, while it's hard to react to their type, have a long, easy to react startup. Overall, this is a high risk but high reward option.
Regular wakeup - While you're on the ground, you can input the button and hold any direction to get up in that direction. Doing a neutral will make you get up in place. This is a relatively useful option if you want to reposition away from your opponent, the wall or environmental hazards during your wakeup. It however poses no threat to the opponent and is not safe from the faster attacks your opponent might want to hit you with while you are on the ground.
Character-specific options - Some characters will have access to special wakeups. If you want to find out about them, look these up on their character page or, if there isn't one yet, their command list in the game.
Ground Attacks
Ground attacks are two universal attacks every character can perform only while their opponent is on the ground and share the universal inputs of 2 or 2 and a jumping 8 attack. These have the benefit of beating out the wakeup kicks, but don't do a lot of damage, can be easily avoided and are harshly punishable on whiff, especially the jumping ground attack. It's important to note that opponents on the ground can be hit with more than just the ground attacks, usually lows or some mids, and because these are often faster or better in some other ways than the universal ground attacks, people referring to ground attacks don't necessarily mean the universal options.