How to get good

[NoiseMan]

This is my first time playing this kind of game and I am not to satisfied with my performance. I don’t know what you should think about as is get into fights and I seem to just be button mashing. Please advise.

[[ACE] Dimaleth]

These guides should help:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2944557633
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3012045265

[NoiseMan]

Originally posted by ACE Dimaleth:

These guides should help:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2944557633
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3012045265

Thank you but I have already read these and while they were very helpful, I still feel like I can go a fight without going back and heal and I almost always seem to need to use the healing flask every fight.

[NoiseMan]

In terms of stats I’m thinking about focusing on endurance and constitution and then power in that order.

[[ACE] Dimaleth]

Try to work on your dodging, especially attacking while dodging. Try a different stance. As for stats, focusing on power first worked well for me, but you should build your stats the way that feels best for you.

[valiant43e]

Originally posted by NoiseMan:

This is my first time playing this kind of game and I am not to satisfied with my performance. I don’t know what you should think about as is get into fights and I seem to just be button mashing. Please advise.

I am not sure if it will help, but I will share my experience.

Like you, I wasn't very good at this game. My strategy was to cheese or softlock my opponents. In particular I found Projectile and Multi Strike perfect for "cheating" and beating my opponents the easy way. However, by the time I got 3/4 shield artifacts I saw that this way of playing was super boring.

What I decided was to restart the game. This time I decided to put a handicap on myself : I would not levelup ANY skills until I get good. And it helped a lot for me.
In my 1st run I sometimes got through fights simply because I got high enough stats. This time I would be stuck at the same fight for 10-20 attempts.
It was only by the time I fought Moon-Sun, that I had to levelup my skills because it was just too tough of a fight for me to win with a handicap.

Also, having 0 investments in skills helped me get a better understanding of each stance. In particular, I suggest you start with Spear Stance. Pseudo is very squishy and this stance will give you more room for errors, which is good.

Also, have you got at least one totem (with new stance or special attack)? If so, you can re-fight them over and over again (I think?). And you get healed every time, so it's perfect for practicing.

[NoiseMan]

Cool but can you give me a quick rundown on the different stances at least for the starting ones

[valiant43e]

Originally posted by NoiseMan:

Cool but can you give me a quick rundown on the different stances at least for the starting ones

I am not a dev, so don't rely on my advises too much, but here is my understanding of stances.

--- STARTING STANCES ---
1) Boxing : haven't tried much, but it feels like the most balanced one
2) Slash : theoretically good for wide attacks against big groups of enemies. Problem is that you will never want to have multiple enemies around you. So in practice, this stance is kinda bad. What's more, at least with mouse and keyboard, side-dodge + attacks are really uncomfortable to use as they force your camera into weird angles.
3) Spear : out of all stances in game, has the longest range. So, it's the safest stance. It feels boring if you just mash buttons, but it has great dodge-attacks. Also, it's basic attacks are visually very different from dodge-attacks. So, it's great for beginners : you will immediately see when your dodge attacks work or not. Good for practice and overall a very good stance even for late game.

--- UNLOCKABLE EARLY GAME STANCES ---
4) Mammoth : has good damage and stun chance, but very slow. Honestly, I feel like it's a trap of new players. It's way too slow for most enemies. What's worse, some enemies are so much heavier than you, that Mammoth doesn't even stun those enemies. So I feel like this is a bad stance, BUT I read that someone managed to combine this stance with others : by switching stances mid-combo they managed to do fast attacks with other stances, but finish combo with a powerful mammoth stance. I haven't tried this though.
5) Lightning : also, a very good stance. It has almost no chance of stunning opponents, but it's super fast. It allows you to dodge attacks very fast which is good. However, it is a very stationary stance. I often found myself hitting air in front of enemy rather than enemy themselves. But it's great in combination with Spear. You can get very close to enemy with Spear and then keep bashing them with Lightning. Also, out of all stances, lightning is the best to just dance around opponent : dodge sideways and attack to constantly be on enemy flank.

--- UNLOCKABLE LATER GAME STANCES ---
6) Corwid : weird style. I used it a lot in my 1st run as it has good stun chance and high damage, but I can't play with it properly. I know that you need to play with it very aggressively, but I haven't managed to.
7) Shadow : very similar to Lightning, but has higher damage and is also a bit more aggressive. With lightning you stay mostly in place, but with Shadow you move forward with every attack (which is good normally).
8) Crab : haven't tried yet, but someone says that it's very good. But it's the last stance you unlock.

--- Conclusion ---
- Mammoth is too slow, not good for beginner
- Crab is unlocked very late
- Corwid is weird, you won't learn much by using it (or maybe I am just not aggressive enough when using it)
- Slash is uncomfortable to use with mouse & keyboard. Maybe it's better with a controller. Anyway, Spear is better.
- I haven't tried Boxing, so can't say.

This leaves 3 best (in my opinion) stances : Shadow, Lightning, Spear.
I suggest you start with Spear to learn to be more defensive and attack from safe distance. Longer distance will give you more time to react to enemy attacks.
Later on, get Lightning (somewhere in the center of Town) Use both Spear and Lightning depending on enemies.
Later on, in the north, you will get Shadow. Replace Lightning with Shadow as Shadow is better in almost every way.

[NoiseMan]

Thanks valiant

[Jur the Orc]

Originally posted by valiant43e:

Originally posted by NoiseMan:

Cool but can you give me a quick rundown on the different stances at least for the starting ones

I am not a dev, so don't rely on my advises too much, but here is my understanding of stances.

--- STARTING STANCES ---
1) Boxing : haven't tried much, but it feels like the most balanced one
2) Slash : theoretically good for wide attacks against big groups of enemies. Problem is that you will never want to have multiple enemies around you. So in practice, this stance is kinda bad. What's more, at least with mouse and keyboard, side-dodge + attacks are really uncomfortable to use as they force your camera into weird angles.
3) Spear : out of all stances in game, has the longest range. So, it's the safest stance. It feels boring if you just mash buttons, but it has great dodge-attacks. Also, it's basic attacks are visually very different from dodge-attacks. So, it's great for beginners : you will immediately see when your dodge attacks work or not. Good for practice and overall a very good stance even for late game.

--- UNLOCKABLE EARLY GAME STANCES ---
4) Mammoth : has good damage and stun chance, but very slow. Honestly, I feel like it's a trap of new players. It's way too slow for most enemies. What's worse, some enemies are so much heavier than you, that Mammoth doesn't even stun those enemies. So I feel like this is a bad stance, BUT I read that someone managed to combine this stance with others : by switching stances mid-combo they managed to do fast attacks with other stances, but finish combo with a powerful mammoth stance. I haven't tried this though.
5) Lightning : also, a very good stance. It has almost no chance of stunning opponents, but it's super fast. It allows you to dodge attacks very fast which is good. However, it is a very stationary stance. I often found myself hitting air in front of enemy rather than enemy themselves. But it's great in combination with Spear. You can get very close to enemy with Spear and then keep bashing them with Lightning. Also, out of all stances, lightning is the best to just dance around opponent : dodge sideways and attack to constantly be on enemy flank.

--- UNLOCKABLE LATER GAME STANCES ---
6) Corwid : weird style. I used it a lot in my 1st run as it has good stun chance and high damage, but I can't play with it properly. I know that you need to play with it very aggressively, but I haven't managed to.
7) Shadow : very similar to Lightning, but has higher damage and is also a bit more aggressive. With lightning you stay mostly in place, but with Shadow you move forward with every attack (which is good normally).
8) Crab : haven't tried yet, but someone says that it's very good. But it's the last stance you unlock.

--- Conclusion ---
- Mammoth is too slow, not good for beginner
- Crab is unlocked very late
- Corwid is weird, you won't learn much by using it (or maybe I am just not aggressive enough when using it)
- Slash is uncomfortable to use with mouse & keyboard. Maybe it's better with a controller. Anyway, Spear is better.
- I haven't tried Boxing, so can't say.

This leaves 3 best (in my opinion) stances : Shadow, Lightning, Spear.
I suggest you start with Spear to learn to be more defensive and attack from safe distance. Longer distance will give you more time to react to enemy attacks.
Later on, get Lightning (somewhere in the center of Town) Use both Spear and Lightning depending on enemies.
Later on, in the north, you will get Shadow. Replace Lightning with Shadow as Shadow is better in almost every way.

Love this list and analysis of the Stances. Much appreciation!
Want to add that the dodge attacks of the Mammoth for Forward and Sideways were some of my favourites to use on my first playthrough. Spinning backfists for the side dodges which i remember allowed me to stay quite close, and a little dash with an elbow shove for Forwards. That one may hit twice, but i don't quite remember.
I've read here and there that the jump attack in Mammoth (a dropkick, not to be confused with the Special Attack called a Dropkick which is more of an Axe Kick) is also *very* powerful, though has slow recovery.

[valiant43e]

Originally posted by valiant43e:

Originally posted by NoiseMan:

Cool but can you give me a quick rundown on the different stances at least for the starting ones

I am not a dev, so don't rely on my advises too much, but here is my understanding of stances.

--- STARTING STANCES ---
1) Boxing : haven't tried much, but it feels like the most balanced one
2) Slash : theoretically good for wide attacks against big groups of enemies. Problem is that you will never want to have multiple enemies around you. So in practice, this stance is kinda bad. What's more, at least with mouse and keyboard, side-dodge + attacks are really uncomfortable to use as they force your camera into weird angles.
3) Spear : out of all stances in game, has the longest range. So, it's the safest stance. It feels boring if you just mash buttons, but it has great dodge-attacks. Also, it's basic attacks are visually very different from dodge-attacks. So, it's great for beginners : you will immediately see when your dodge attacks work or not. Good for practice and overall a very good stance even for late game.

--- UNLOCKABLE EARLY GAME STANCES ---
4) Mammoth : has good damage and stun chance, but very slow. Honestly, I feel like it's a trap of new players. It's way too slow for most enemies. What's worse, some enemies are so much heavier than you, that Mammoth doesn't even stun those enemies. So I feel like this is a bad stance, BUT I read that someone managed to combine this stance with others : by switching stances mid-combo they managed to do fast attacks with other stances, but finish combo with a powerful mammoth stance. I haven't tried this though.
5) Lightning : also, a very good stance. It has almost no chance of stunning opponents, but it's super fast. It allows you to dodge attacks very fast which is good. However, it is a very stationary stance. I often found myself hitting air in front of enemy rather than enemy themselves. But it's great in combination with Spear. You can get very close to enemy with Spear and then keep bashing them with Lightning. Also, out of all stances, lightning is the best to just dance around opponent : dodge sideways and attack to constantly be on enemy flank.

--- UNLOCKABLE LATER GAME STANCES ---
6) Corwid : weird style. I used it a lot in my 1st run as it has good stun chance and high damage, but I can't play with it properly. I know that you need to play with it very aggressively, but I haven't managed to.
7) Shadow : very similar to Lightning, but has higher damage and is also a bit more aggressive. With lightning you stay mostly in place, but with Shadow you move forward with every attack (which is good normally).
8) Crab : haven't tried yet, but someone says that it's very good. But it's the last stance you unlock.

--- Conclusion ---
- Mammoth is too slow, not good for beginner
- Crab is unlocked very late
- Corwid is weird, you won't learn much by using it (or maybe I am just not aggressive enough when using it)
- Slash is uncomfortable to use with mouse & keyboard. Maybe it's better with a controller. Anyway, Spear is better.
- I haven't tried Boxing, so can't say.

This leaves 3 best (in my opinion) stances : Shadow, Lightning, Spear.
I suggest you start with Spear to learn to be more defensive and attack from safe distance. Longer distance will give you more time to react to enemy attacks.
Later on, get Lightning (somewhere in the center of Town) Use both Spear and Lightning depending on enemies.
Later on, in the north, you will get Shadow. Replace Lightning with Shadow as Shadow is better in almost every way.

Since I have finished the game, I am updating some of the info :
- I previously said that some enemies are so heavy that player cannot stun them. That's not true :) I have definitely managed to make even the biggest enemies stagger back with a Dropkick. So, maybe, mammoth is actually good when upgraded, but I am not sure as it still feels boring to me.
- I finished the game by just using Shadow. I also used Dropkick as a special attack. IMHO, these 2 are very powerful and fun.

But remember that the best way to play Clash is to play the way you like playing : experiment with stances in dream world (enemies respawn there) and have fun.