Tag, also known as tag-in/tag-out or tag in/tag out, is the action of a character replacing another character in a match. It can be done by tapping the portrait of a tagged-out character, which causes that character to tag in while the current character tags out, unless there is a Special Attack being performed, the current character is being hit by unblocked basic attacks, or is stunned, frozen, or snared. The portraits can still be tapped. This will cause the portrait to blink, indicating that character will be tagged in on the next possible moment. This cannot be changed or canceled, nor can it be done while tag is on cooldown.
Tagging out will cleanse most negative status effects that don't prevent you from tagging, such as all forms of damage over time, except Lobo/Bounty Hunter's burn, which snares opponents, and any damage over time effects applied by Catwoman/Arkham Knight, which continue to damage tagged-out opponents.
Tagging in a character will place them right next to the enemy character, regardless of the tagged-out character's original position.
Tagging in/out at certain times can cause certain abilities to 'miss' like Wonder Woman's Shield Toss.
Cooldown[]
Tagging normally has a 8 second cooldown, which can be reduced by 4 seconds by Hawkgirl/Prime's passive. The Joker with Quake Engine equipped can increase the enemy team's tag cooldown for 3-8 seconds.
Uniquely, the cooldown of tag runs in real-life time, instead of in-universe time, unlike most timers in the game (another rare exception is Countdown, with the difference of Super Moves causes tag cooldown to continue to run in real time while Countdown pauses). This means while the game becomes slow motion during a Combo Ender's swipe, or during a Special Attack, tag cooldown will continue to run as normal. Tag cooldown runs normally during the aiming mini-game of special attacks (e.g. all of Batman's SP1), and is slowed during other mini-games.
Whenever tag is on cooldown, the tagged-out teammates' portrait becomes darkened. This visual effect also appears if they are snared, affected by Chaos, or if Shazam/New 52 is under one of the effects of his passive.
Tag effect[]
Some characters have effects that occur whenever they tag in or out, when the opponent tags in or out, only occurs when they are tagged out, or a combination thereof. Some characters and gears also perform unique attacks when they tag in, such as Batgirl/Cassandra Cain.
Knock out blows will usually count as tagging for self-tag effects, but not for enemy-tag effects. For example, Bane/Luchador's passive activates when he tags in, and is activated when an opponent deals a knock out blow to his teammate and forces him to tag in; Sinestro's passive activates when his opponent tags out, and is not activated when he deals a knock out blow.
Tag in stun[]
Tag in stun is a particularly powerful tag-in effect, allowing the character tagging in to stun the opponent, opening them up to massive damage from the Cloak of Destiny and/or Nekron's Scythe.
Tag in stuns come in 3 distinct varieties: Gear, Bane/Luchador's passive, and The Flash/Earth 2's passive. They all do 1 damage except for Earth 2 Flash, which does no damage of its own. There are 4 pieces of gear that offer tag in stun chance:
- Cloak of Destiny
- LexCorp Gauntlets V2
- Batman's Cowl (only for Batman characters)
- Fourth World Godly Helmet
The 1 damage they do have some unique properties (while Luchador Bane's 1 damage is largely normal):
- They ignore the Astro-Harness' Power Shield and Armor. No matter how much Shield or Armor the opponent has, if they have only 1 health, tag in stuns will KO them.
- KO'ing an opponent with them do not count as a KO for most purposes, including Doomsday/Prime or Deathstroke/Prime's passives, or Nekron's Scythe's resurrection effect.
Trivia[]
- Enemy's tagging animation is slightly quicker than that of the player character. This can be seen against some characters' special attacks, such The Flash's Lightning Kick: If its first hit knocks out an enemy, then the last hit will still hit the next tagging enemy, whereas in case of the enemy, the last hit will miss when the player character tags in.
- It is impossible to tag out without taking at least one tick of damage-over-time from enemy's special attacks.