Commando HapKiDo self-defense employs joint locks, pressure points, throws, ground self defense, kicks, and other strikes. HapKiDo practitioners train to counter the techniques of other martial arts as well as common unskilled attacks. There are also weapons including short sticks, cane, rope, nunchucks, sword, knife, staff and gun range training.

HapKiDo contains both long and close range fighting techniques, utilizing dynamic kicking and percussive hand strikes at longer ranges and pressure point strikes, joint locks and throws at closer fighting distances.

Commando HapKiDo emphasizes circular motion, non-resisting movements, and control of the opponent. Practitioners seek to gain advantage through footwork and body positioning to employ bone breaking leverage, avoiding the use of strength against strength.

Commando HapKiDo seeks to be a fully comprehensive combat fighting style and as such tries to avoid narrow specialization in any particular type of technique or range of fighting. It maintains a wide range of tactics for striking, standing joint-locks, throwing techniques (both pure and joint manipulating throws) and pinning/grappling self defense techniques.

Commando HapKiDo also incorporate tactics for ground fighting though these tactics generally tend to be focused upon escaping, controlling, striking and gouging killing tactics over submissions and emphasizing the ability to gain one's feet and situational awareness over pins.