Advanced Combat Tips

Level up your play

• Perfect-dodge (a last-moment evade) opens the biggest counter windows.
• Vary stances mid-fight — Thrust for range, Pillar for i-frames, Smash for burst.
• Bank Focus during safe phases so you can punish the instant a boss whiffs.
• Chain a Spirit special into a transformation for a huge damage window.

Advanced tech

• Pillar stance's vault grants invulnerability frames — use it to dodge unblockable sweeps and punish.
• Cloud Step (Alteration) leaves a decoy and turns you invisible for a guaranteed heavy.
• Cancel recovery with a dodge to stay safe after a big Smash.
• Learn to feint: bait a boss's counter, dodge it, then land your real charged Heavy.

Stamina & spacing

• Don't empty your stamina on offence — keep enough for a dodge out of a combo.
• Stay at mid-range so you can step in for a punish and out of a wind-up.
• Thrust stance's reach lets you poke safely while stamina recovers.
• Reposition during a boss's recovery rather than greeding one more hit.

Techniques worth drilling

1. Perfect-dodge for Focus, not safety

   Once the timing is reliable, dodging becomes a damage engine rather than a defensive move.

2. Pre-load the charged Heavy

   Start the charge during a recovery you already recognise, so the hit lands the instant the window opens. Charging on reaction is too slow.

3. Cast on the phase transition

   Bosses are predictable exactly once per fight: when they change phase. That is the most valuable Immobilize in the fight.

4. Bank a Transformation for phase three

   The spare health bar is worth most when your gourd is gone, which is always the last phase.

Reading a new boss quickly

• Count the attacks in its longest combo — that number is your punish window.
• Find the one move that is always followed by a recovery; that is your reliable opening.
• Note which attacks track you. Those are the ones to dodge late; the rest you can simply walk out of.
• Ignore the health bar. Fights are won by learning two patterns, not by chipping.