Yes, itâs true that dodging is more important than youâre used to, more on this below. But firstâŠ
A) Weapon choice
Iâve only played CE in PvE, so if PvP is somewhere on your radar someone else will have to help you there. Having said that, I almost exclusively use shield & 1H-mace (for melee, obviously there are plenty of times when you use ranged weapons instead).
Maces are awesome at any level of progression. The standard, craftable maces have Shieldsmash & Sunder.
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Shieldsmash - ignores when the opponent parries, in other words your attacks canât bounce like other weapons can. Even though itâs called "Shield"smash, I think it ignores weapon parries too, not just shield parries.
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Sunder - removes 10% of the targetâs armor protection for a short duration, can stack upon itself up to a total of 5 times each for a maximum of 50% armor removal. This is a awesomesauce for any humanoid NPC that has armor, which is most of them, especially in the more difficult areas. On top of which, there are plenty of animals and mythical creatures (especially in the more difficult parts of the map) that have armor even though it might not look like it visually. And considering youâll be using a 1H weapon, you can swing it more often, stack up those sunders and keep them going without the effect expiring.
Also, the higher class maces that you find as loot often have additional abilities (example: Mace of the Grey Ones also adds a bleed). And once you start finding legendaries⊠oh boy. âMomentumâ is arguably the best 1H weapon in the game, maybe even arguably maybe even the overall best weapon for PvE when combined with an epic shield.
In addition, there is a case to be made that you should carry a backup weapon that does other effects against unarmored targets, in which case 1H-Axe (bleed, cripple) and 1H-shortsword (bleed, good DPS) are also good choices. I donât ever bother with 1H-swords, because Cripple rarely matters in PvE, itâs not like Conan is full of enemies who try to run away.
B) On the topic of dodging
Yes, this game involves learning how to dodge, itâs part of the game and it canât be avoided. Some people describe this as being âmore skill basedâ than other games, I would describe it as being different skills than other games. Tanking requires skills, theyâre just not the skills that matter the most in this game. Conan has a more interactive style of combat, your movement to engage and disengage with the enemy matters much more than other games. If you donât learn how to dodge, if you donât choose to make it important to teach yourself how to dodge, then you will inevitably run into opponents that will just crush you. Enemies have special abilities too - shieldsmash, sunder, bleed, etc. or theyâre just so powerful that shield and armor wonât be enough against them. You might as well start practicing your dodging with weak opponents so you can get good at it. The end result is that you simply cannot use a âstand there and take itâ playstyle in Conan. I spend years playing mostly DPS with some tanking in other games, and I got my butt handed to me in Conan until I learned that you simply have to learn a different set of skills here.
The best way to avoid damage is to not get hit in the first place.
The priorities are:
a) Dodging is your first line of defense
b) your sheild is your second line of defence
c) parrying with your shield can sometimes matter a lot, other times it wonât matter at all, you have to learn which enemies it matters with. Anyone can use a shield, but not everyone is good at it.
Hope this helps.