Melee
Internal Mechanics
Alignment
Character alignment is one of the more important things to consider when talking about melee play. While your opponent is facing towards you, they have the ability to make the best of gaps in your melee attacks as not all melee options are fast enough to cleanly combo. These gaps can be pointed out by blocking, counter-attacking, Auto-Countering (or Sonic Swaying) or potentially even just moving out of the way with a side step or descend/ascend. When your opponent is facing away from you, the opposite is true. Things that may have left gaps in your attacks previously may not have gaps when your opponent is backturned, one of your most notable safe options on backturned is Flying Kick, which also opens up routes involving Ki Blasts. In addition to all of these extra options that are opened up, you get an increase of approximately 20% extra damage, give or take 1%.
Momentum
Momentum is a hidden value that is filled up by attacking your opponent using Rush Attacks, and automatically drained over time as well as being drained by using Ki Blasts and Smash Attacks. As your momentum value rises, your ability to combo into charged attacks will rise as well. The higher this value gets, the faster all charged melee attacks will charge as well as some of them being more viable options due to a faster start up.
Rush Attacks
Rush Attacks are your most basic offensive option. Tapping 
will result in your character doing their Rush String. The majority of characters have two paths from their Rush String, Rush Finish and Rush In Attack. Rush Finish is the most common to see in (very) low level play, and is preformed by tapping seven times consecutively and will result in your character either launching your opponent either upward or downward on the sixth press, then following behind with a teleport, then smashing them forward into the distance. The final two hits of Rush Finish can be vanished. Rush In Attack is the better of the two paths, preformed by tapping five times, 
once, and then pressing 
/
/
while pressing once more. Depending on if you press , , or your character will hit the opponent with a Sweep, Mid, or Overhead type attack that cannot be vanished but can be guarded assuming the opponent guesses which attack you do properly. Assuming your Rush In Attack lands, you'll be allowed to continue hitting your opponent with another set of five button taps, none of these attacks can be vanished, this set of attacks is called your Second Rush String.
Smash Attacks
Smash Attacks are rather simple in comparison to Rush Attacks, you have five different Smash Attacks, all of which can be vanished and all (excluding Dash and Dragon Dash) having five variations with differences in strength and effect on opponent. To preform a Smash Attack, hold the button while pressing /
/
//.
Light Smash Attacks (Level 1)
The first level of charge will result in a quick attack that will start your Second Rush String if you weren't on it yet and reset it if you are. If your opponent is facing toward you, they will have a chance to block between your light Smash Attack and whatever follow up you decide to use, if they're facing away from you they will not, if your character's momentum level is low enough and your animation is slow enough then your opponent will have a chance to realign.
Medium Smash Attacks (Level 2)
The second level of charge will result in a slower attack which will knock your opponent in the direction you held when charging the attack, leaving you with quite limited options to combo into.
Full Power (Level 3), Perfect, and Hyper Smash
There are three quite similar Smash Attacks which all give the same result, these being Full Power, Perfect, and Hyper Smash Attacks. The first is the most simple, being preformed by reaching the third level of charge, indicated by your character flashing white. The second, Perfect Smashes, are done by releasing the attack button at the exact moment your character reaches level three of charge, this will make your character vanish towards your opponent with a rather accurate level of tracking. Hyper Smashes are the least commonly seen of these three, being done by activating Max Power Mode and charging a smash attack to it's absolute maximum, this move comes with a short cutscene-like animation before your character attacks. All three of these attacks will send your opponent flying into the distance, leaving you with three combo paths.
Dash and Dragon Dash Smash Attacks
During a dash, you can tap or start holding your attack button to begin charging a Dash Smash. The differences between levels of charge for Dash Smashes are mainly just damage and hitstun, with more differences (that are worth talking about) being based on your character. During a Dragon Dash, you can begin charging a Smash Attack, these smash attacks have three levels of charge, the first of which leaves a block gap if your opponent is facing you, but otherwise allowing you to continue after it with a simple Rush String. The second and third levels are identical for the most part, except for the third doing more damage, both of them work the same as a standard Full Power smash.
How Smash Attacks Interact With Defense
Dash and Dragon Dash Smash Attacks can always be blocked with any of your three guarding options, and all Smash Attacks can be vanished but cannot be Auto-Countered.
- Neutral Smash
- Any Guard on Level 1 Charge
- Mid Guard on Levels 2&3
- Crushes Low/High Guard on Levels 2&3
- Up Smash
- Any Guard on Level 1 Charge
- Low/Mid Guard on Level 2 Charge
- Crushes Mid Guard on Level 3 Charge
- Unblockable against High Guard on any Level Charge
- Down Smash
- Any Guard on Level 1 Charge
- Mid/High Guard on Level 2 Charge
- Crushes Mid Guard on Level 3 Charge
- Unblockable against Low Guard on any Level Charge
- Left/Right Smash
- Any Guard on Level 1 Charge
- Crushes Low/High Guard on Level 2
- Crushes Any Guard on Level 3
- Perfect/Hyper Smash
- Unblockable
Rushing Techniques
Rushing Techniques as a whole are the bread and butter of your combos in this game, being done by either tapping 
during a Rush String or a Step-In. Each character has their own set of four Rushing Techniques with their own individual use cases and being accessed by tapping at four different points during your Rush String. All Rushing Techniques have their own unique properties, most of them opening up more combo routes as well as bypassing some defensive techniques like Auto-Counter.
Kiai Cannon/Blaster Wave
Kiai Cannon and Blaster Wave are for the most part interchangeable as their functions are rather similar, so much so in fact that they only share one character, that being Broly with BW as his second Rushing Technique and KC being his Step-In Rushing Technique. Both of these moves are typically your most reliable option for safe combos as neither of them can be vanished and don't leave gaps on frontturned if your momentum is high enough and your character's animation is fast enough. On the first level of charge they can be blocked with any type of guard, on hit they'll give you enough time to follow up with a Rush String. The main differences between Blaster Wave and Kiai Cannon are speed and size, Blaster Wave in general is more likely to come out fast enough to safely combo, as well as having a larger hitbox more similar to that of a Barrier or Explosive Wave.
Flying Kick
Flying Kick is one of the most useful Rushing Techniques to have in your toolkit, providing the user with a multitude of options to combo out of it, many of which being based around Ki Blasts. This move fills the role of Overhead pressure for essentially every character that has it and is extremely useful in pressuring people, especially since it will go through Auto-Counters. On hit Flying Kick will give the opponent an abnormally high (relative to normal melee attacks) amount of hitstun, giving you more than enough time go for options such as standing Rush Ki Blasts into your Rush String, with many characters being able to put a Level 1 Smash Ki Blast between those blasts and the Rush String. One of the most common things to see out of Flying Kick is Ascending Ki Blast Barrage. On frontturned, Flying Kick can be blocked at any point during the move, but if at least the final hit lands you'll be able to safely continue with your Rush String or if you're a more advanced player, use the high hitstun of the move to safely perform a Semi-Flank.
Heavy Finish
Heavy Finish is a highly common Rushing Technique to have, but don't think that being common makes it a weak move as out of all of your Rushing Techniques Heavy Finish gives most freedom for combo routes. This is one of your most reliable ways to crush guards, it can only be blocked Mid and will crush any guard once level three charge has been reached. On hit, all three levels of charge will put your opponent into a stagger animation and give you enough time to do essentially anything you want within reason, including a B1/B2/UB, repositioning out of the Step-In Barrier to go for Dash Ki Blasts, a Throw, or a Step-In Attack/Rushing Technique. This move isn't without flaws though, as it's one of the first things people learn how to defend against via vanishing as well as it's stun being variable based on how quickly your opponent can mash to recover out of it.
Rolling Hammer
Rolling Hammer is one of the less useful Rushing Techniques, but that doesn't make it useless. This move works the same as Heavy Finish except for one rather major difference, instead of stunning your opponent, it'll rotate them 180 degrees making it one of the lowest effort ways to get a backturned combo.
Rush Ki Wave
Rush Ki Wave is, in my opinion, the least useful of all Rushing Techniques, it's also a slightly uncommon one to have. Rush Ki Wave can be blocked with any type of guard and gives no combo routes excluding built-in strings out of it. On hit it'll have a similar effect to a Level 2 Smash Attack. This move cannot be vanished and it's knockback will vary based on the charge level.
Lift Strike/Ground Slash
Both of these Rushing Techniques are different from the others, as instead of taking up a slot in your character's Rushing Technique kit they'll be in their own dedicated slots, appearing on the majority of the cast except for typically Giant type characters who'll either only have one or neither. Both of these moves are defended against identically, they can both be vanished and are blocked either Low or Mid on charge levels one and two, and must be blocked Low on level three. Lift Strike is the more common of the two and typically the more useful as well, done by pressing + at any point during either Rush String or during a Step-In. After Lift Strike lands you can follow up by tapping then either or . If is pressed, the user will do a Heavy Finish and can follow-up either as they wish using the freedom of a Heavy Finish, or by tapping . Regardless of if is pressed or not, pressing will begin a melee combo very similar in function to your Rush String, but with a cinematic look and a higher pace. At the end of this combo you can finish by pressing nothing to a Lift Strike Faint, continuing to press which'll launch your opponent in a similar fashion to a Level 2 Neutral Smash, or tapping at any point during the combo to smash the opponent downward, similar to a Level 3 Down Smash. Both the Heavy Finish you can do at the beginning and the downward smash at the end can be vanished. Ground Slash is a much more simple move than Lift Strike, being done under the same conditions but with + . On hit it'll knock your opponent down for a varying period of time based on your charge level, essentially functioning as an alternative version of Heavy Finish, but due to the animation causing your opponent to move backwards while stunned it's harder to combo into a Throw. Ground Slash can also setup Giant Throw.
Step-In Options
Step-Ins are a rather situational option to go for, being done by tapping while inside the Step-In Barrier. During your Step-In there's a small window where you have invulnerability, meaning you can use them to avoid Linear/Target Rush B2s as well as melee attacks. Step-Ins have much more utility than just avoiding attacks as everyone with a Step-In (Giants can't Step-In) also has multiple offensive and defensive options, mainly offensive. For every character with a Step-In, pressing then will perform a Step-In Rushing Technique which can be any of the four techniques in your character's kit, you can also press or + during a Step-In to do a Step-In Lift Strike or Ground Slash respectively. Each character will either do a normal Step-In or a Step-In Sway, which one they have can be determined either by checking the third page of the skill list (Signature Technique), this property of sway or no sway determines not only if they'll sway before doing their Step-In Rushing Techniques (incl. Lift Strike/Ground Slash) but also what will happen upon pressing 
during a Step-In, for those without a sway it'll make you perform a Step-In Auto-Counter, with a sway it'll make you perform a sway with no follow-up attack. All of your sway options can be accessed after doing your first Rush String, as during the Step-In where you'd usually tap + // you can also use any of your previously mentioned Step-In options.