Combat....seriously wtf happened?

Conan Exiles General Discussion
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I used to play on PS4 quite a lot before Isle of Siptah’s release. I recently came back to the game on PC. Once I started dealing with NPCs, it seemed like a rather noticeable difference.

I have heard about a stagger bug, not sure if that is still a thing or if it was supposedly fixed. It surely doesn’t seem fixed. Combat feels like garbage now.

I get out to Lookout Point where I grind for iron in the early game. I get my Lesser Wheel, Truncheon, some bindings to go after some of the NPCs at the camp above this. For now, I am just going after solo targets.

Only, I cannot seem to stagger them at all. They are 100% ignoring my attacks, and instead simply launching their own at the same time as mine. So we are both taking damage, and it feels like a battle to simply out-health your enemy.

I’ve tried to dodge when an enemy starts a combo. But he will always spin instantly in place so the second attack is aimed directly at me. I can’t get around to attack his flank or rear at all.

Which makes me feel like, what is the point of using a dodge roll to begin with, if the enemy has that sort of tracking to instantly alter the direction of their attacks.

Is this stuff supposed to be addressed in 3.0? Or is it simply a case of “you’re screwed, deal with it” ? I haven’t been keeping up with Conan’s patches or update info, and haven’t been able to find anything online about the stagger, other than some issues from 2.5 and 2.1.2.

Making me think the current status of the game is intended, and not something that is being addressed. Which I hope it is, because it just feels really disheartening, like the game is trying to emulate a Soulslike, which I don’t find all that fun.

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Are you playing online or off
?

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Well, the Truncheon is all I can use right now, until I get higher level WoPs. I’m playing in singleplayer/solo. Not sure what settings I should be playing with.

Do you mean the Combat multipliers?

My damage output was 1.2 while taken was 1.0, NPC damage was 0.8 and taken was 1.0.

The main thing is like the NPC combos are broken. Like, an NPC shouldn’t instantly spin 180 degrees for a second attack in their combo because you rolled around behind them. They should have to take the time to turn, which gives you the opportunity to attack their flank or rear.

Which is the entire point of a dodge/roll system to begin with. It’s to reposition yourself while they are tied up in the swing of their weapon. But that doesn’t work in Exiles. You roll, they spin instantly and launch a second attack. All you can do is lift your shield to block.

Which means dodging in the first place is entirely useless. There simply is no point when the enemy just adjusts to your new position before you are even finished standing back up. So they can attack you before you even recover.

And I shouldn’t have to nerf NPCs down to 50% or less of their attack damage, while lowering my damage taken, to compensate for a bad system. It should be something worked on by the devs to fix the balancing.

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Dodging is more for dodging, then repositioning. Give or take enemy weapon, they’ll recover faster then you can dodge (for some weapons) Outside ebing super light weight and set up to roll fast.

Stagger in general has been buff for enemies, so its much harder stun lock them. (which alot of people wanted, since you could stagger them till death… never be hit)

Trubs, even good ones really only stagger on last hit… which can suck. Good idea to have follower(give them a trub) So one of you can be KO’ing other doing there thing(like blocking, causing them recoil and be free to hit)

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It just feels like it’s been over-buffed. It shouldn’t be -that- hard. Or at the very least, it needs to be something players can control in the server settings.

Tbh, even before I stopped playing, I wasn’t happy with a lot of “player demands” that were being put into the game. It felt like the solo PvE game just kept getting worse and worse, with nothing to make things balanced for those of us who play on that.

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Looks like you read my original message before I reread your post and erased mine. Sorry about that.

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Me nether. (On some of changes)

I have my game set to, Player Damage 2.0, So Trubs almost… kill them when trying KO. (base trubs anyway) (stam/water/food drain to 0.5) QoL.

I’m in SP… I tend give myself reinforced trub from get go, (use fiber binding) from get go as Quailty of Life fix.
Enemies also got damage boost… I tend give myself Master? Armor? or was it Bulk Plating… I forget for my low level armors. (which helps…small bits)
I could turn down enemy damage, but then later game when you get lv60 armors, you feel untouchable. XD

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Yeah, the game feels horribly balanced in places.

Building, to me is top tier. It’s literally the only reason I got Conan on PC along with all the DLC, after seeing the 3.0 update information.

If I had to rate the game, Combat would get a 2/10 at best, but Building is easily an 8-9/10.

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My suggestion would be to invest in the weaponsmith perk and make a blunted weapon fitting for your truncheon. Or go looting any of the various chests scattered around the Exiled Lands until you find one.

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I don’t know how to describe truncheon fighting except like how we used to play platformers: LEFT, DODGE move RIGHT, RIGHT, DODGE repeat

You basically have to get into a rhythm of predictive play. It’s uninspiring, but the goal is to knock them out. If you were using another mace-style weapon, for instance Aja’s Bane, you would be able to quite satisfactorily dispatch even high-tier enemies with a much more fluid battle style.

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I spent last evening at my favorite early-game second camp. Just below and to the west of Lookout Point.

I’m to the point now that I’ve farmed up some Medium armor, and I’ve been raiding up into the Black Hand camp on the Lookout for thralls. I made two Lesser Wheels of Pain for easier breaking.

Picked up a few T3 fighters and some lower tier craft ones. About ready now to cart the stuff back to my initial base, and start heading for Dustdevil Ridge and Heartsblood Rise.

I like using a base there for the Brimstone in Sinner’s Refuge, plus all the Darfari camps nearby I can raid into for better thralls while I level and gear up to a sand mask and steel items.

Usually my next step after that is to skirt south around the Unnamed City. For the mass amount of Brimstone/Iron around Shattered Springs and a large western base for raids down into Sepermeru for some thralls.

Still need to tweak my Combat settings a bit to find a proper balance, where NPCs aren’t as badly OP.

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Not all the weapons cause staggering. War axe for example to cause staggering you need to achieve the first hit before the enemy start his own, or depending the weapon your enemy (npc, skeleton) holds and the “point” the other combo is on process. For example the mace on the npc or skeleton is difficult to break combo or stagger. You have to wait the npc to finish combo before you attack.
Another thing is how many continuous attack combos you can have without having an answer. This is maximum 2, yet all your hits must land on your npc or skeletons, if you miss one, better dodge. When you go on Berserkers with truncheon use more lights if you are not sure that the heavy will land. Again you have 2 combos (6hits) and then dodge back, it is time to let the Berserker do his/her combo before you start again.
So…
If you want to stager with simple weapons one handed…
Achieve the first hit before the enemy starts, do not loose any hit so “combo between” lights and heavy (depending situation and weapon) and you have not more than 6 to 8 hits.
Whirlwind blades or combination between throwing weapons and one handed weapons do shocking staggering to almost every mob and npc, not bosses ofcurce (except the Skeleton bosses in Siptah). The great advantage in these blades is this, yet no matter if you’ll land all the hits, not all the hits cause damage, at least on Playstation 4.
Train :grin:, everything is here just more rewarding on the “skill” side of the game. Combat now with npcs is more difficult and rewarding, you’ll see :wink:

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In SP with a longsword type weapon after a player has done 2 combos of 3 strikes or more the AI will not stumble if you attempt a 3rd combo of 3 or more strikes. At least for me it’s that way. If I switch on the 3rd attack to single attacks the enemy will usually stumble. I do not remember if it is this way for the truncheon though.

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I’ll work on it. I’m around level 25 now.

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In great swords the combo breaker is lights. It is very difficult when you attack to do four heavy, same with hammers because of their great damage outcome. Do not use “target lock” , target lock may help the landing on enemies yet it doesn’t on staggering. The fight was always a “dance”, direct your player and then press buttons, simple spamming is not a skilled fight, get your time before hits, dance with your weapon around the mobs and npcs. I love waraxe because you dance around everything not caring what the move of the enemy has. The funny point my dear exile @Technicolorfool is that I am that “slow”, it took me one and a half year to find out that target lock exists in the game so I learned all the weapons without target lock :rofl::rofl::rofl:. The only weapon that has great benefits on target lock is the daggers lights only, you may kill an npc without a scratch only by applying lights :wink:.

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It wasn’t, after 2.4 is!

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Tugra stand!!! An easy capture for a tremendous thrall. After Tugra get Teimos and the whole map is yours :wink:

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What I am finding odd is that Cimmerian T3 Fighters have a much higher Melee Attack Damage modifier per strength point than the Berserker. It’s almost 1% per point of strength.

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@Technicolorfool
Thank you for this!!! It is something I really don’t know, I will surely try it and let you know the soonest possible. I can surely believe something like that very easy because I have a tier 3 bearer 25k hp :person_facepalming:t3:!!! I kept him in Siptah clearly from “need”.
I never thought however to slave a tier 3 Cimmerian, can you upload a photo with stats please? I would really appreciate it :blush:

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I definitely trust you :grin:!!!
Tugra is easy because to get him the location and the other opponents are easy. The black hand camps are more difficult than darfari. But yes your suggestion is really good brother

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