Feel too weak to fight anything

[Schrader]

I'm about 3 ish hours in, have a full leather set and an iron claymore, and I find myself getting 3 shot by everything and dealing next to no damage. If I land an attack, the enemy won't even react, flinch or stagger, and I'll do maybe 15% of their health whilst they hit me and do a third of mine.

Am I missing something? Do I just need to keep scavenging around like a little rat to save up money for better gear? I've tried some of the dungeons and got whooped in all of em, and I can't fight the bandits that are around the area.

[XenoEvil]

Enemies will only stagger from hits when you reduce their stability gauge down to half. You should have the kick skill by default, use it as your opening move as it really good for the early game.
You are going to need to play the early parts of the game very defensively until you learn better combat skills. Don't try to trade attacks with the enemy and learn the enemies openings. Blocking is very strong in this game, block attacks over dodging since blocking will use up less stamina and blocks 100% physical attacks regardless of what melee weapon you have. Blocking will not stop projectiles and elemental attacks unless you have a shield.
And lastly, buffs is probably the most important thing you can you use to make your character better. Drink water, eat your foods, and take whatever potions you have. Buffs is what will make your character op.

[Sinister Fang]

Direct combat is going to be very difficult in the early game, even more so if you're still learning. Use traps if you feel the need to. Half of this game's combat is about preparation, be it laying traps or using rags/varnishes and food/potions beforehand. Things get easier once you get better equipment and learn new skills.

Also, don't underestimate the kick! It's deals a good amount of impact damage and will often allow you to stagger enemies with followup attacks. Once an enemy loses half of their impact bar they will stagger on every hit

[ArchaicReaper]

In addition to the above, when their Stability (that white bar under their health) hits 0 they fall down. Note that blocking grants an extra 50 Stability and is indicated by a shield icon on the Stability bar. All of this applies to you as well. Impact damage determines how hard you hit Stability.

Water is a strong but fairly short Stamina regen buff while Gabberies are smaller but much longer lasting, they stack. Play around with some of the weapon types to see what you like best, Cierzo has most of them just lying around. Pitchfork as Spear, Machete as Sword, Felling Axe as Great Axe and so on. You can upgrade an Iron weapon to a Fang one with Predator Bones and Cloth, the Blacksmith has the exact recipe but you don't need it to craft. Should be Iron Claymore plus 2 Bones and 1 Cloth.

[Schrader]

Thanks guys!

[Spudda]

Start with a halberd, and learn the halberd skill before you step out the gate. The skill is powerful.

[Clail]

Kick and cooked meat should carry you through early game encounters.

[Donovan]

My recommendation? Nix the two-hander, stick with something like a sword+shield combo and play fairly defensively until you're better equipped or understand the more minute combat mechanics. Abuse the hell out of push kick + puncture to stagger the majority of enemies/bandits in Chersonese.

[Schrader]

Originally posted by Donovan:

My recommendation? Nix the two-hander, stick with something like a sword+shield combo and play fairly defensively until you're better equipped or understand the more minute combat mechanics. Abuse the hell out of push kick + puncture to stagger the majority of enemies/bandits in Chersonese.

I found a mace and shield that I started using which feels fun. What's the benefit of using a shield? Does it take less stamina when you block attacks?

[Sinister Fang]

Originally posted by Poatan:

I found a mace and shield that I started using which feels fun. What's the benefit of using a shield? Does it take less stamina when you block attacks?

The biggest benefit to using a shield is having access to the shield charge skill (You can get this from the trainer in Cierzo above the docks). Like the kick, this skill can do a lot of impact damage depending on the shield, and if you use the skill close to an enemy it hits twice. Having a shield also increases your impact resistance more then if you were blocking with just a weapon. So this allows you to safely block more hits, and puts less durability loss on your weapons as the shield is taking the hit rather then your weapon.

[Schrader]

Originally posted by Sinister Fang:

Originally posted by Poatan:

I found a mace and shield that I started using which feels fun. What's the benefit of using a shield? Does it take less stamina when you block attacks?

The biggest benefit to using a shield is having access to the shield charge skill (You can get this from the trainer in Cierzo above the docks). Like the kick, this skill can do a lot of impact damage depending on the shield, and if you use the skill close to an enemy it hits twice. Having a shield also increases your impact resistance more then if you were blocking with just a weapon. So this allows you to safely block more hits, and puts less durability loss on your weapons as the shield is taking the hit rather then your weapon.

Yeah I saw that skill but it costs 150 silver total I think, and I've only got like 100. Gonna have to grind.

[ArchaicReaper]

Originally posted by Poatan:

Originally posted by Sinister Fang:

The biggest benefit to using a shield is having access to the shield charge skill (You can get this from the trainer in Cierzo above the docks). Like the kick, this skill can do a lot of impact damage depending on the shield, and if you use the skill close to an enemy it hits twice. Having a shield also increases your impact resistance more then if you were blocking with just a weapon. So this allows you to safely block more hits, and puts less durability loss on your weapons as the shield is taking the hit rather then your weapon.

Yeah I saw that skill but it costs 150 silver total I think, and I've only got like 100. Gonna have to grind.

I believe it's also quicker to block with a shield after attacking than it is to dodge.

As for money, walking down the beach at night and checking out Starfish Cave can yield a decent amount of Blue Sand, which sells for a decent amount. However, you may want to amass it to make Blue Sand Armor down the road. Mining Mana Veins can get you Hackmanite which sells for 40 a piece, and if not you can still sell the Mana Stones.

Other than that, weapons sell well. Good ones, at least. Montcalm Fort has an Ornate Chest and the leader has a good weapon to sell as well. Might be a hard fight so I'd say make use of Traps to get the job done if you feel up to it.

[Donovan]

Blocking with a shield is straight-up faster than blocking with a weapon, period. Shield charge skill is iffy in my book, has its place, but not on any of my skill bars. The single best skill you can purchase in Cierzo is Fitness, hands-down.

If you want a bit of an easier trek through the game, Rune Sage is a very versatile, and powerful, skill tree IMO. You'll need to get mana first, which can be done one of several ways (Taking a quick trip to Harmattan, making the run through Conflux Mountain, etc), and then traveling to Berg.

Runic Trap is capable of blowing away a lot of the enemies in Chersonese without much trouble, plus it gets you a powerful summoned sword. You'll be living on Turmmip Potage for the rest of your life, but it's a very user-friendly set of skills, even with just the four basic runes.

The breakthrough of +40 mana is a massive QOL improvement, and Runix Prefix makes the already-powerful spells even more powerful, plus you get a self-heal. If you go this route, be sure to pick Reveal Soul if you go through Conflux Mountain, can be used around dead human enemies or human skeletons/skulls to get a little blue soul you can use Spark on to recover 50% of your total mana.

EDIT: If you want somebody to play with to act more as a safety net, and not just somebody who's gonna hop in, drop free ♥♥♥♥ left and right, and actually show you the ropes, feel free to shoot me a friend request.

[Schrader]

Thanks for all the help guys this is awesome

[Cal]

i found buying lamps from store and using them early on with lamp toss is real strong damage, makes alot of hard fights super easy pre skills.

[bunies]

avoid getting hid, dodge, strafe, and block . make sure to have buffs stamina regen is very much a must food/water, hp regen helps too . also use cloths to imbue your weapon for stronger oponents

oh and most importantly upgrade your sword to a fant weapon, those things are deseptively strong, the bleed is very nice in drawn out fights