Traditional Chinese: 直接攻擊 zhíjiē gōngjí / zik6 zip3 gung1 gik1
Simplified Chinese: 直接攻击 zhíjiē gōngjí
A direct attack (Japanese: 直接攻撃chokusetsu kōgeki) is the process where a monster's current ATK value is subtracted from the opponent's Life Points, either when there are no monsters on your opponent's side of the field, if those monsters are debuffed to be unable to block (such as by Parasite Caterpillar) or if the attacking monster has the ability to attack directly (either by its own effect or the effect of another card). Battle damage inflicted this way was formerly referred to as "Direct Damage", but now the term "Direct Damage" refers to Effect Damage instead.
Many monsters have the ability to perform a direct attack, even when there is a monster on the opponent's side of the field. However, to balance this, they typically have very low ATK values and/or a hindering effect (such as "Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat"). One major exception to this "rule" is "Earthbound Immortal" monsters, which have high ATK, but destroy themselves when there is no face-up Field Spell Card on the field.
Inflicting battle damage through direct attacks is a primary win condition for most Decks.
