Did you just pick up Absolver and want a head start in combat? Did you get frustrated with the short tutorial and need some extra advice? Are you a pro just looking for some refreshers?
Regardless of which applies to you, it’s good to go into this game with a solid understanding of its combat and how you can make sure that you survive. So in this Absolver beginner’s guide, we’re going to go over all the tips and tricks you need to make sure you can smash in your opponent’s face.
Pick the Right Fighting Style
After choosing your character’s appearance in the creation section, you get to choose between three of the four fighting styles in the game with a fourth one unlocked upon completing certain requirements.The styles all have their own unique attacks and functions — and you want to make sure that you’re choosing the one that best suits your playstyle so you’ll be comfortable in combat situations.
The Forsaken style in Absolver is a more straightforward, strength-based style. It has moves like fast elbow, straight punch, winged back kick, etc. Your special function for this style is parrying. This allows you to slightly stun your enemy if you time it right and successfully parry their attack. If you’re a fan of Street Fighter III: Third Strike, this style will likely interest you.
The Kahlt Method is the tanky starting style. In this one, your stats focus will likely lie in strength and vitality. The extra health will pay off with your absorb ability. If you successfully land it, instead of taking normal damage, you’ll take temporary damage that recovers and you won’t be stunned. The starting moves in this style include the absorb haymaker, pushed elbow, and wallop blow.
The last of the first three fighting styles in Absolver is Windfall. Just as the “wind” in the name suggests, this is an agile style. Dexterity will be your main stat, and it will increase the damage you do. The starting moves in this style are ones like fast back fist, low spin heel, and surging palm. Windfall’s ability is avoid. If successfully executed, you will avoid an enemy’s attack and gain some stamina back.
The interesting thing about Absolver, at least before a meta is established, is that you can experiment with these styles. I have been playing Windfall with heavier armor, because the avoid ability is not affected by your character’s mobility. This means your regular movement speed and dodge are affected, but you are still quick as ever with your style ability.
Understanding Combat
During combat in Absolver, you have two types of attacks: regular ones and alternate ones. Your regular attacks are can be used in combos, while your alternate attacks are usually heavier, slower, and meant to mix up your moveset to keep your opponent on their toes.
While this sounds simple at first, it is made much more complicated by the fact that there are four stances. The stance you press the attack button in will determine the move your character does. Each move ends in a certain stance; sometime it ends in its original stance, and sometimes it switches. This switching of stances allows you to seamlessly alternate combos and pressure your opponent.
There are three different forms of combat: bare-hands, wargloves, and sword. Bare-hands is the form you will be in for most of your playthrough. Wargloves are unlocked after beating Kuretz in the coliseum. You unlock a sword after defeating Cargal and Kilnor in the Adalian Columbary, but you can also find them randomly laying around the world.
Each form of combat comes with the ability to change its moves. As you level up, you unlock more slots to add more moves to your combos (pictured above is what a level 26 character’s bare-handed deck looks like) and the more enemies you defeat, the more moves from different styles you unlock. This means that your Kahlt Method character at level 1 might have a completely different set of moves than they do at max level. Experiment with your deck to find which combos and alternate attacks work the best for your playstyle.
Each character is allowed two powers. Powers are used by building up shards from defensive maneuvers and taking hits. Shards are what they call the power points in this game — as you level up, your shard amount increases. Powers range from a heal over time, to a stamina debuff for your opponents, to an earthquake stun, and more. You unlock these powers by defeating Marked Ones throughout the world.
As with any fighting game, your strategy will depend on your character. If you are playing Windfall, you will want to utilize your avoids and try to string together fast attacks. If you’re playing Kahlt Method, you will have meatier attacks and will likely purposefully take damage with your absorb to land big hits on your opponent. If you’re playing Forsaken, you will have a more balanced fighting style. You will also have to adapt to your opponent’s style and individualized combat deck.
Although it’s hard to give advice without looking at each individual match in Absolver, the most important part of any fighting game is knowing your opponent. Don’t be afraid to spam a particular attack or combo if it works on your opponent, but don’t go too wild on a smart opponent — or they will absorb/avoid/parry your attacks and destroy you.
Character Progression
As you progress through Absolver, you earn experience and level up. In addition to acquiring more move slots and new moves, you get an attribute point with each level you earn.
As alluded to in the Styles section, Absolver features different types of stats. Strength and Dexterity affect your attack depending on your style, Vitality increases your health, Endurance increases your stamina, and Will increases your shard generation, which allows you to use your special abilities more often.
Mobility, as the name suggests, increase your mobility. However, unlike the other attributes, this one is not increased by points. Instead, your mobility is determined by the weight of your armor.
As you defeat enemies and find cairns randomly placed throughout the map in Absolver, you will get new pieces of equipment.
What to Do After the Tutorial
After completing the tutorial, you will have access to most of the world of Absolver. However, there is a door in the Tower of Adal that you can only unlock after defeating the six Marked Ones, the two boss fights, and Jinn Mesca.
There is about 5-10 hours of PvE content currently available in the game. The length is largely determined by how well you know the map and if you use any references for the locations of your enemies. You can defeat the bosses and Marked Ones in any order you want, but Jinn Mesca is unavailable until your character reaches level 25.
If you don’t feel like doing PvE or have already completed the main story for the game, you can do 1v1 PvP combat trials with other players if you are connected to the server. Completing combat trials will allow you to re-fight previously defeated bosses at a harder difficulty. They will also unlock different features if you’re a part of a school. As more updates for the game come, there will be different modes of PvP like 3v3 combat.
All in all, the majority of your time post-PvE will be spent looking for new armor, masks, moves, etc. and progressing in your school if you choose to join one. You do this by leveling up, completing PvP matches, and exploring every nook and cranny of the world.
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Now that you’ve read our tips and tricks, you’re ready to go out and kick some serious butt. Check out our Absolver review and stay tuned for more guides!
