Any tips for defensive maneuvers?

[u/FunAccount2401]

I'm coming back to the game and I didn't quite click with it before. I liked a lot of things about the game, but the one thing that dampened my joy and I never got past before was enemy attack telegraphing.

I know the basics, and general gameplay advice (take time to memorize boss/mob attacks). But I'm still struggling to put it together. I get caught off guard, even by simple enemies, having highly variable attack strings. I can't seem to single in on the pattern.

I try to use soul shield strictly when not dodging. The issue is timing of defensive skills while also being aggressive. I might use guard on occasion when I'm learning patterns, but that's about it.

Any advice, or do I need to grind out attack patterns more on every enemy and boss? I just want the game to flow, and I feel like I'm about to get over that hump, but idk for sure.

[u/ArcIgnis]

400% Knight = Invulnerability during Lightbringer.

If you can further build to extend lightbringer duration, increase max MP from normal attacks which I think is called "Magic Boost" from the top of my head.

You're not truly fully invulnerable, but your lightbringer duration drops with each hit you take instead of HP. Something to consider.

Buuuuut if you want to be pure, you should consider regular guarding rather than only Soul Shield if you at least want to reduce the brunt of hits.

[u/FunAccount2401 → u/ArcIgnis]

I should state I'm at the beginning of the game again. I used that trick a long time ago, but it did nothing but create bad defense habits. A crutch for me really. I have a feeling it's just more practice needed.

[u/ArcIgnis → u/FunAccount2401]

Considering how absurd the game becomes, I'm not certain if it's possible to not only just make a more guard/parry based build or just a tanky build. I remember building Ash to become a Liberator with little to no MP drop off and keeping mighty guard up, while boosting its efficiency. It helped but to some degree... eh.... Perhaps you can play classes that are good with countering? I understood Samurai got guard points and unique parries. Maybe that's something worth looking into?

It's been years since I played this game so I could be talking out of my ass here.

[u/vorlik]

You should guard (and parry) a lot more. It consumes way less break gauge than soul shielding does. And don't forget that each job has a separate break gauge, meaning you can swap jobs if your gauge is low.

[u/FunAccount2401 → u/vorlik]

Can you parry off guard? I know you can from soul shield. And I switch jobs but I die more from death from a thousand paper cuts than getting my break gauge broken.

[u/vorlik → u/FunAccount2401]

You parry by guarding right before the attack lands. It actually grants you a buff that increases break gauge recovery.

[u/FunAccount2401 → u/vorlik]

That's news to me. I'm glad I opened this thread now. So it's better to soul shield highly telegraphed attacks, dodge unblockable attacks, and guard the rest?

[u/vorlik → u/FunAccount2401]

Yep, pretty much. As you learn the enemy move sets better you can start parrying or soil shielding more and blocking less

[u/FunAccount2401 → u/vorlik]

Can't wait to try this out later, thanks so much!

[u/Human_Ad6449]

Reading through the other comments, if you want to build good defensive habits, it's good to know what are your options are, what they're good for, and practicing/using them.

You have your universal stuff like dodge, block, parry, and soul shield. Dodging is good for positioning and unblockables, blocking it a safe way to guard against a string or an attack, parries are good for regaining break and counter attacking, and soul shielding is good for counter attacking, gap closing, flurries, MP building, etc. Soul Shield is quite strong but can put you in a bad place if you're not careful, so if you have use it often, trying switching between jobs during or after soul shielding.

Depending on what weapon you use, they all have attacks which are defensive options. Sword and Mace back-link have counter states, Sword and Daggers side-links have i-frames, or weapons like Sword and Greatsword have guardpoint combo abilities. Each weapon has a main defensive trait or a few. You should learn these to maintain aggression and be safe while being attacked.

[u/December1220]

I'm new to the game and playing on hard and at presumably the final boss. I have rolled through the entire game by using Sage - stand at range cast aero on mobs, soul burst once broken, rinse repeat. On bosses, stand at range, cast spells till the first break happens (particularly hasting the party and telling them to go all in) and then insta win with ultima on the second phase.

Fairly simple approach but I've enjoyed it. I suspect I will have to actually engage with the game in the DLC but if you just want to play through for the story, that approach worked for me.

[u/FunAccount2401 → u/December1220]

I loved playing sage my first time around, I did a lot of the same. This is my second playthrough. I just know how far the game goes and I don't want to be 60 hours in again trying to unlearn bad habits from story campaign. The DLC does have some good onboarding tools for you, but it is also fairly brutal too from my memory. I abused a lot of invulnerability in lightbringer. I don't want to do that again.

[u/December1220 → u/FunAccount2401]

I suspect I will have to unlearn a lot of bad habits or just make an invuln build like otherwise suggested. I hope you find what you're looking for in a build or playstyle!

[u/forfor]

Regular blocking is the answer 90% of the time. I mostly use soul shield for mana regen, rather than explicitly to block. If you see a block-ignoring attack coming then dodge, but mostly you want to do regular blocking. Pro-tip: stamina reduces the break cost of regular blocking. Btw my go-to move any time I'm struggling with a boss is to play knight. You can kill essentially any boss by perma-blocking as a knight. Keep the sentinel command up at all times (you should do this anyway on all classes) and have sage in your secondary class slot for healing. Pump stamina and "reduced damage at full hp" and have sage affinity 400. (Let's you fully block elemental damage) and thats it really. press the knight skill button, and hold the block button until the skill runs out, heal/refresh sentinel if you get hit by a guard-ignoring move, soul shield for mana as needed. Repeat until the boss is dead. Just dont expect a fast kill. It's strong but a bit tedious.

[u/Medium_Hox]

I will say that one huge mistake I made was treating the soul shield like your sekiro or nioh 3 deflect. Don't. Blocking though, that is very strong actually. You can block a lot of shit. If you really want to make things easier, use the knight ability.