You may not realise this going in but combat in The Blood of Dawnwalker is trickier than you might expect.
This is no button masher: between the multiple systems at play and some particularly hard-hitting, thick-skinned enemies in the early game it’s easy to find some combat encounters a bit relentless. With 3 huge skill trees to explore, equipment, abilities and more, it can quickly get overwhelming and every mistake you make in combat will be punished. Here are a few tips and tricks I’ve picked up over my time with the game that might help you on your journey to save Coen’s family.
What is directional combat?
The default combat mode in The Blood of Dawnwalker is called Directional Combat. Similar to something like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, enemies will attack and block in one of four directions: up, down, left or right. You need to angle your attack so you’re avoiding their blocks, or ensuring you’re blocking from the direction they’re attacking in.
It’s very important to pay attention to these directions, and focusing on the combat icon on your foes torso is the best way to do this, as you’ll see an arrow light up to indicate which direction they’re attacking from so you know where to block. Keep an eye on the shield in the middle too as it’ll change colour when you can perform a perfect block which staggers you opponent for a second and comes with additional benefits, some of which we’ll touch on in a bit.
When things get overwhelming you can circumnavigate this system for a short period too. Without moving the left stick in a direction while attacking or blocking, you can press RB or LB to perform an omnidirectional attack or block which will choose the direction for you. Bear in mind that this comes at a significant cost to stamina compared to your usual attacks, so try to avoid it where possible.
Skills for blocking and parrying
While we’re on the topic of blocking and parrying there are a few skills that are essential:
- Scarlet Shield: Only available in vampire mode, but works across both sword and claw combat. This heals you upon perfect parry while having a chance of activating on regular directional or omnidirectional parries. Very useful when you’re out of potions or, as in some story instances, you need to avoid using your vampiric powers
- Perfect Riposte: Another essential combat upgrade. When you get a perfect parry one of the directions on your opponent will flash red. Hit them in this direction to get a perfect riposte which deals critical damage.
With both of these combined, plus a good sense of rhythm for hitting perfect blocks, you’ll be unstoppable at night.
Additional weapon skills
Below are a few other skills I’ve found essential for making you an unstoppable force in combat:
- Artery Strike: This one is a fairly simple ability on the Swordmaster tree. It’s basically just one, high damage special attack. It also has a percentage chance of decapitating the opponent too, and while it’s low, it’s very handy when it happens.
- Second Skin: Everything on this branch of the Swordmaster tree is essential in my opinion. The first node will increase your total health pool, so grab every upgrade there. Second Skin removes the penalty associated with Medium Armour so, again, grab all three of those and then you’ve got many more armour options available to you. The third node is the same for heavy armour, so I’d recommend that too.
- Soul Reaping: One from the Witchcraft tree, Soul Reaping stupifies an enemy and keeps them out of your hair for 24 seconds. Not only that, you siphon health from them the entire time too so it’s very handy for quickly healing up during group battles as it takes some of the pressure off while providing steady health at the same time.
Combat in The Blood of Dawnwalker can be tricky, but with a powerful sword, decent armour and a strong understanding of your abilities and perks you’ll be able to take down any foe.
