Noob's Guide: How to enjoy the combat (Demo ONLY)

[Revanchist1ab]

'Sup! Does it feel like you move like a stone grinding against the pavement? Do the machine gun drones feel like the hardest enemies in the entire demo? Does everything just feel... sluggish and off. Well... IT'S CAUSE YOU AIN'T PLAYIN' IT RIGHT!!!

ANNNNND... It also ain't your fault. Let's fix that...

It's Not Your Fault

It's really not your fault...

You're absolutely right... with the wrong build and a terrible first choice (one you could never have forseen), you can screw yourself out of a MASSIVELY fun experience.

To get things rolling, lets start out with the controls. You're totally gonna wanna reconfigure these. (I'm using M&K so rip controller bros.) NOTE: This setup requires a mouse with two side-thumb buttons. If you don't got one, my condolences... you're gonna have to take some initiative on your end.

Controls/Keybindings

Basic Movement

• Movement: WASD (duh)
  
• Jump: SPACE
  
• Thrusters: RIGHT mouse-button (i.e. Dodge)
  
• Sprint: LEFT Shift (i.e. BOOOOOOST)
  
• Reload: R (duh)

Action Triggers

• A: LEFT mouse-button
  
• B: FORWARD side mouse-button
  
• C: BACK side mouse-button

Others

• Utility: X (i.e. your SUPER)
  
• Change Primary: Scroll-wheel (default)
  
• Purge: P (or whatever, ignore this)
  
• Use item: Q
  
• Item wheel: MIDDLE mouse-button (i.e. scroll-wheel click)
  
• Interact: F
  
• Zoom: TAB (or whatever, not my thing)

So... what are we doin' here? We're taking as much effort off your left-hand, as we can. Dolls Nest is a game that takes the gameplay of Armored Core and mixes it with the level design of Dark Souls.

You want to be CONSTANTLY boosting around, skirmishing your enemies, and sweeping behind them to their weakspots to do CRITICAL damage. To that end, we first need to make THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION IN THE DEMO...

Starting Gear

CHOOSE THE F---KING CLOSE COMBAT STARTING GEAR!!!

I CANNOT stress this enough. During the tutorial, you are asked to choose one of three unique sets of gear. CHOOSE THE ONE ON THE LEFT. Everything else you find pales in comparison. This gear will let you glide along the battlefield and out-maneuver those machine gun drones and you will NOT be able to locate it as a drop around the demo level. You MUST select it at the start to be able to use it.

Getting the hang of your Doll

Now, how are we gonna play? Absolutely, test everything you find. If you find some style you love... STICK WITH IT. I'm just here to give pointers and a way for those who haven't had a decent time to do so.

Sooooo... first up... screw around. I want you to get used to moving. Focus on keeping yourself behind the enemy. Boost... DON'T DODGE ...to sweep yourself behind them then use the dodge (i.e. thrusters) if you need to get out of the way of bullets. Ideally, you should be dodging into cover SPECIFICALLY to pause and let your sprint/stamina recharge. BEWARE your stamina meter. When you overheat, it's gonna ground you like a lead balloon. It's gonna be better to take a few hits then to overheat. If you can, find cover and DON'T MOVE. You recharge 3x faster when standing still.

You'll also notice turning is a bastard. Unless you're boosting around, it'll feel like you gotta drag the camera, yourself. To this end, positioning is KEY. Think about turning BEFORE you actually turn. You're gonna have to do a little planning before the start of each fight.

Next up, combat.

Weapon Basics & Equipment

Melee sucks...

Melee REALLY sucks... Hate to say it, but its more than just "Oh... it feels bad." Nope, flatout, the juice ain't worse the squeeze. You'll have higher and more consistent DPS without worrying about if you're close enough to smack 'em with your sword. If you REALLY want to be that close, grab a shotgun. You're gonna be more consistent and you'll have less downtime. Melee needs a ton of work so we're just gonna move on.

Gun Types

Guns... two types. "Physical" and "Thermal" (i.e. energy). I ain't no expert, but think of it as "physical" does less STANDARD damage but greater CRITICAL damage and "thermal" does less CRITICAL damage but more consistent, overall. Choose what feels best for you. I, personally, lean more towards "physical" damage weapons.

Primary Weapons

Use what feels best but in my opinion, SMGs are your best friend. I'm a big fan of the "Clest" (physical) and the "Srtrit" (energy). FOREWARNING, they're fast and quick but you won't be able to hit the broad side of a barn if you're farther than 10 meters away. As I said above, sweep behind and hit 'em where it hurts!

While SMGs will serve you well against most scenarios and baddies, you'll want a decent secondary. I recommend a shotgun. The close combat gear starts out with a shotty but this isn't something to spam in their face. A shotgun's TRUE strength is its MASSIVE critical damage. Get behind 'em, make sure you're a little ways away to make sure your shots hit their mark and NAIL that crit. spot. Shotguns have a slow fire rate so think of it more as a critical hit tool than a true primary.

Shoulder Weapons

More than just nifty shoulder pads, these are your INTROs and OUTROs to a fight. First up, grab an artillery cannon. This guy will let you start fights on your own terms. Wait till you get a lock, then BOOM take out most of their health and finish 'em off with your SMG. The fight'll be over before it started... While they can use up a good amount of ammo, you'll always have an option to dish out EXTREME punishment.

Your second shoulder should be non-artillery. The "GOSM" has my heart. This little guy uses up only a little ammo and is a good way to stack on DPS. The "GOSM" will send out little seeker missles that'll track your target while you're focused on staying alive or laying down suppressing fire.

I'd personally stay away from the "trebuchet cannons" until you're more familiar and comfortable with gameplay. These things park you in place, making you a GIANT target unless you stack on that heavy armor. NOTE: These will also weigh you down, reducing your speed and can make you go over your weight capacity turning you into a gently listing stone.

Ammo Economy

Speaking of ammo usage... "BP", that second bar below your health stands for... uh... I don't know... it's your ammo, that's all you need to worry about. ALL of your guns take ammo from the same pool. Your heavy, your SMG, even the flamethrower... which is called a "beam machine gun" for some reason. Shoulder heavies will use more, primaries will use less. It's important to manage this and not use too much as there are only two ways to get it back... restocking at the tree or the "Faluracan" utility gear piece which you start with in the "Close Combat" gear set. This thing will take a chunk of your health and convert it into ammo. That being said, once you're comfortable... feel free to spam as much artillery from far away while you devour your own life force.

Health

Speaking of life force... You're health is "DP"... damage points, I guess? Anywho... it's determined by your gear. Heavier gear has more; lighter gear has less... simple. You can refill your health after you take damage in battle by using "Repairing Agents". Noooooooow, can you guess what these are? DING DING DING... If you guessed "blood vials from Bloodborne" you are CORRECT!!! You'll find these scattered about the world as well as a common drop from bad guys. You can carry 5 at a time but will only be able to refill your stock either from picking them off the ground or refilling from your storage at the tree. Any you pickup while you still have 5 on you will IMMEDIATELY be sent to your storage.

Item Usage

How do you use them? Once you've picked up one, you can assign it to your Item Wheel. Click ESC to open your menu, in-game, and select Item Wheel, on the right. Choose any slot and set the Repairing Agent. Once on your wheel, hit "Q" (use item button) to consume it. NOTE: You'll move slow while using an item.

General Combat

Alright, I think we're almost done soooo... how do you ACTUALLY do this fight thing?

• Step 1: Lock-on enemy
  
• Step 2: Target enemy weakpoints
  
• Step 3: Dodge incoming fire
  
• Step 4: Adapt/improvise

Step 1: Lock-On

First, get a solid lock (if you can) on your enemy. (If you have any doubts, blast 'em with some opening-artillery.)

Step 2: Target Enemy Weakpoints

Boost around them. Don't try to take 'em head-on as your face is just gonna guzzle down lead. Go at an angle, circle-round 'em. Then while you're pointing at their side or back, hammer them with primary-fire.

Switch to your shotgun, if you can, and remember that even shoulder weapons can do critical damage.

Don't be afraid to use as much ammo as you want. You'll almost always have more than you need.

Step 3: Dodge Incoming Fire

Strafe with your dodge if the muzzle of their weapons start turning too-close-for-comfort towards your face. Imagine yourself as a very, VERY angry nat. You NEVER want to stay too long in one location, unless you're behind cover.

Step 4: Adapt/Improvise

Boost around, CONSTANTLY. Dodge only when needed and unleash constant firepower. You never want to have a free moment where SOMETHING isn't either exploding and getting riddled with your bullets.

You are the single-most ANGRIEST mosquito to ever live and this mosquito is packing HIGH-EXPLOSIVES!!!

Final Words

Aaaaaaaand that should be a good start. This is by no means an all encompassing guide but it SHOULD set you down the right path to at least have a TEENSY bit more fun in this short and sweet adventure.

Let me know if ya got any questions or comments and... I just hope I've helped you have at least a FRACTION more fun than you did before reading this.

Have a great rest of your day and I hope you enjoy the Dolls Nest Demo. ^-^

[Revanchist1ab]

improved format since I can't post in the guide section till the game is out

[awLTR]

these are some very bad subjective keybinds, lol

Melee hitboxes suck major d indeed, but melee has a big advantage of having passive reload that works even when you're using a different weapon. It's very useful for that doll-like miniboss where you'll want as much DPS and as little downtime as possible to overcome its rapidly-regenerating shield. Also, massive damage for zero BP cost.

Speaking of which, BP isn't an afterthought: some weapon combinations can chew through that bar in moments.

[shoopy]

To me the demo was easy, and I feel like the close combat frame is the worst choice. it is super fragile compared to the other frames you can get.

With the sniper frame it's pretty trivial to clear the whole demo without even changing the loadout.

[Sly Fox]

Ursprungligen skrivet av shoopy:

To me the demo was easy, and I feel like the close combat frame is the worst choice. it is super fragile compared to the other frames you can get.

With the sniper frame it's pretty trivial to clear the whole demo without even changing the loadout.

Sniper frame= long range ez to use, almost no skill needed. Low skill curve.

Balanced frame= mid range ez to use, a little more skill needed. Medium skill curve.

CQB frame= close and personal hard to use properly, a lot of skill needed. High skill curve.

People pick the CQB frame the best frame btw so they can dodge at high speeds, and melee.

If you thought the CQB frame was "too hard to use" it wasn't meant for you aka you didn't have the skills to pay the bills, and that's ok.

However please do not call a frame you dont have the skillset for "the worst" its not ok.

You can also think of it in AC terms.

The sniper and balanced frames are meant for first time players, their skill curve is low-mid, and they have decent hp so new players can make mistakes without too much hassle, a nice intro into the game.

The CQB frame was meant for veterans, who wanted to shed hp and weight for high speeds, the frame has low hp because it expects you to not get hit as often as the other 2 frames, and has a high skill curve.

[shoopy]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Sly Fox:

Ursprungligen skrivet av shoopy:

To me the demo was easy, and I feel like the close combat frame is the worst choice. it is super fragile compared to the other frames you can get.

With the sniper frame it's pretty trivial to clear the whole demo without even changing the loadout.

Sniper frame= long range ez to use, almost no skill needed. Low skill curve.

Balanced frame= mid range ez to use, a little more skill needed. Medium skill curve.

CQB frame= close and personal hard to use properly, a lot of skill needed. High skill curve.

People pick the CQB frame the best frame btw so they can dodge at high speeds, and melee.

If you thought the CQB frame was "too hard to use" it wasn't meant for you aka you didn't have the skills to pay the bills, and that's ok.

However please do not call a frame you dont have the skillset for "the worst" its not ok.

You can also think of it in AC terms.

The sniper and balanced frames are meant for first time players, their skill curve is low-mid, and they have decent hp so new players can make mistakes without too much hassle, a nice intro into the game.

The CQB frame was meant for veterans, who wanted to shed hp and weight for high speeds, the frame has low hp because it expects you to not get hit as often as the other 2 frames, and has a high skill curve.

This thread is for noobs, remember? How do you recommend the hardest to use frame as the best choice for somebody who is having trouble with the game?

Edit:
Also I have cleared the game with all the frames. Zooming and dodging isn't necessary, it's just something that you can do for fun because you have the zoomies or whatever. Almost all the machine gun enemies can be screened using the terrain, it's the players fault if they try to zip out there and get owned (the type of player this thread is aimed at) learning to zip around better is just solving a problem you created for yourself. Which is fine, but there's no sense in complaining the game is hard when you're making it hard.

[Sly Fox]

Ursprungligen skrivet av shoopy:

Ursprungligen skrivet av Sly Fox:

Sniper frame= long range ez to use, almost no skill needed. Low skill curve.

Balanced frame= mid range ez to use, a little more skill needed. Medium skill curve.

CQB frame= close and personal hard to use properly, a lot of skill needed. High skill curve.

People pick the CQB frame the best frame btw so they can dodge at high speeds, and melee.

If you thought the CQB frame was "too hard to use" it wasn't meant for you aka you didn't have the skills to pay the bills, and that's ok.

However please do not call a frame you dont have the skillset for "the worst" its not ok.

You can also think of it in AC terms.

The sniper and balanced frames are meant for first time players, their skill curve is low-mid, and they have decent hp so new players can make mistakes without too much hassle, a nice intro into the game.

The CQB frame was meant for veterans, who wanted to shed hp and weight for high speeds, the frame has low hp because it expects you to not get hit as often as the other 2 frames, and has a high skill curve.

This thread is for noobs, remember? How do you recommend the hardest to use frame as the best choice for somebody who is having trouble with the game?

Edit:
Also I have cleared the game with all the frames. Zooming and dodging isn't necessary, it's just something that you can do for fun because you have the zoomies or whatever. Almost all the machine gun enemies can be screened using the terrain, it's the players fault if they try to zip out there and get owned (the type of player this thread is aimed at) learning to zip around better is just solving a problem you created for yourself. Which is fine, but there's no sense in complaining the game is hard when you're making it hard.

I mean the whole point of a light weight high speed CQB focused frame is to have the zoomies is it not? And whats wrong with zipping and zagging? Its faster and doesn't take that much time, but it is a higher skill curve. Is that the issue? New players can't learn to have the zoomies?

[Neuro]

It really helped me to just simply play over and over again. I died a lot in the beginning but eventually grasped a play style. I can't wait for the full game.

[shoopy]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Sly Fox:

Ursprungligen skrivet av shoopy:

This thread is for noobs, remember? How do you recommend the hardest to use frame as the best choice for somebody who is having trouble with the game?

Edit:
Also I have cleared the game with all the frames. Zooming and dodging isn't necessary, it's just something that you can do for fun because you have the zoomies or whatever. Almost all the machine gun enemies can be screened using the terrain, it's the players fault if they try to zip out there and get owned (the type of player this thread is aimed at) learning to zip around better is just solving a problem you created for yourself. Which is fine, but there's no sense in complaining the game is hard when you're making it hard.

I mean the whole point of a light weight high speed CQB focused frame is to have the zoomies is it not? And whats wrong with zipping and zagging? Its faster and doesn't take that much time, but it is a higher skill curve. Is that the issue? New players can't learn to have the zoomies?

There's nothing wrong with it, it's just more effort for the same result. Which some people might like and that's fine. But if I had to equip another person with a frame knowing that they could die, I would give them the safest frame.

What you're doing by zipping around is making the enemy waste all their shots so they enter the cooldown animation and you can safely stab them in the back or whatever. The thing is that the enemies always shoot even if they can't hit you, so you can achieve the same result by just leisurely angling up to them, or be screened while you approach. For example the guy on the upper floor of the ruined building can't really hit you while you boost up the ramp, you boost past the shipping crate and curve around and by that point all his shots are used up and you come out right in his face and there's nothing he can do about it. Another example is outside with the two platforms and a bunch of enemies, you can corner peek the first guy and kill him, the one on the left isn't looking so you kill him, one further on will start shooting you but you advance in the cover of the platforms and come out just in time for him to be on cooldown and you're in his face, guys on the left and right aren't looking at you so you pick one and stab him in the back and take cover, the other one turns around and shoots while you're in cover so you come out while he's on cooldown and waste him. Then you deal with the worthless quadripeds who basically can't harm you unless you stand still.

[Sly Fox]

Ursprungligen skrivet av shoopy:

Ursprungligen skrivet av Sly Fox:

I mean the whole point of a light weight high speed CQB focused frame is to have the zoomies is it not? And whats wrong with zipping and zagging? Its faster and doesn't take that much time, but it is a higher skill curve. Is that the issue? New players can't learn to have the zoomies?

There's nothing wrong with it, it's just more effort for the same result. Which some people might like and that's fine. But if I had to equip another person with a frame knowing that they could die, I would give them the safest frame.

What you're doing by zipping around is making the enemy waste all their shots so they enter the cooldown animation and you can safely stab them in the back or whatever. The thing is that the enemies always shoot even if they can't hit you, so you can achieve the same result by just leisurely angling up to them, or be screened while you approach. For example the guy on the upper floor of the ruined building can't really hit you while you boost up the ramp, you boost past the shipping crate and curve around and by that point all his shots are used up and you come out right in his face and there's nothing he can do about it. Another example is outside with the two platforms and a bunch of enemies, you can corner peek the first guy and kill him, the one on the left isn't looking so you kill him, one further on will start shooting you but you advance in the cover of the platforms and come out just in time for him to be on cooldown and you're in his face, guys on the left and right aren't looking at you so you pick one and stab him in the back and take cover, the other one turns around and shoots while you're in cover so you come out while he's on cooldown and waste him. Then you deal with the worthless quadripeds who basically can't harm you unless you stand still.

You miss-understand, if you wait for them to reload you are wasting time, the point of the Zoomies, and Zipping and Zagging, is to close the gap between you and your target, and slash them, dont even need to hit them in the back if they die in 1 shot. I think that is your issue, you waste time and energy, trying to get behind them when you can boost in a zig zag close the gap and slash, takes like 5-6 sec to kill the 3 at the start doing that. And if you do it right, you can slash and keep sliding to the next target so it's even faster. That is why the Zoomies has a high skill ~curve~

[shoopy]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Sly Fox:

Ursprungligen skrivet av shoopy:

There's nothing wrong with it, it's just more effort for the same result. Which some people might like and that's fine. But if I had to equip another person with a frame knowing that they could die, I would give them the safest frame.

What you're doing by zipping around is making the enemy waste all their shots so they enter the cooldown animation and you can safely stab them in the back or whatever. The thing is that the enemies always shoot even if they can't hit you, so you can achieve the same result by just leisurely angling up to them, or be screened while you approach. For example the guy on the upper floor of the ruined building can't really hit you while you boost up the ramp, you boost past the shipping crate and curve around and by that point all his shots are used up and you come out right in his face and there's nothing he can do about it. Another example is outside with the two platforms and a bunch of enemies, you can corner peek the first guy and kill him, the one on the left isn't looking so you kill him, one further on will start shooting you but you advance in the cover of the platforms and come out just in time for him to be on cooldown and you're in his face, guys on the left and right aren't looking at you so you pick one and stab him in the back and take cover, the other one turns around and shoots while you're in cover so you come out while he's on cooldown and waste him. Then you deal with the worthless quadripeds who basically can't harm you unless you stand still.

You miss-understand, if you wait for them to reload you are wasting time, the point of the Zoomies, and Zipping and Zagging, is to close the gap between you and your target, and slash them, dont even need to hit them in the back if they die in 1 shot. I think that is your issue, you waste time and energy, trying to get behind them when you can boost in a zig zag close the gap and slash, takes like 5-6 sec to kill the 3 at the start doing that. And if you do it right, you can slash and keep sliding to the next target so it's even faster. That is why the Zoomies has a high skill ~curve~

You're not waiting. You're crossing ground that must be crossed anyway so that when they run out of bullets, you're already close or in melee range.

Like if there's a machine gun enemy and a barrier, you don't just hide behind the barrier. You get the machine gunners attention from further away then advance to him with the barrier blocking the shots along the way.

Basically you break line of fire and approach at the same time. Sometimes you can even use another enemy to block shots while you move into range. You can make the little bots kill each other this way, too.

[awLTR]

This discussion is very relevant and productive given that the demo doesn't even have a proper boss and the enemies that are present are all very basic

[shoopy]

Ursprungligen skrivet av awLTR:

This discussion is very relevant and productive given that the demo doesn't even have a proper boss and the enemies that are present are all very basic

Yeah really. If we're going all out now, then where's the progression going to be?

[Sly Fox]

Ursprungligen skrivet av shoopy:

Ursprungligen skrivet av awLTR:

This discussion is very relevant and productive given that the demo doesn't even have a proper boss and the enemies that are present are all very basic

Yeah really. If we're going all out now, then where's the progression going to be?

I want to talk to Munch~ Munch~ girl, see what she is selling, I bet its a few frame sets and some weapons. And a few items.

[Hammy]

Please just play on controller.

[Sly Fox]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Hamiel:

Please just play on controller.

Controller is trash, but since you only need 1 fire button change L2 to quick boost or thrust I think it's called, and your back weapons to L1 and R1, main fire R2.