I have taken a break from Conan for a while and came back recently. I have been playing by myself to get a feel for things again yet I have always played on my own even in online servers. I’ve noticed combat seems a lot more difficult and strange now. Dodging seems practically useless now even with light armor and points in agility as it doesn’t move far enough away to avoid any attacks. I used to wear light armor and use a 1-hand sword or daggers but I constantly die using that now. I switched to using a sword and a shield and wearing medium armor but I can’t seem to get any hits in without getting thrashed and knocked over as soon as I lower my shield. I thought that wasn’t for me so I tried Heavy Armor and 2-Hand Weapons. I thought it was working for a while but everything I knock down in hopes it would give me time to not get hit stands up right away before my animation is even finished and kills me. Its also harder to get the 2-hand weapon hit to land as sometimes my axe or sword will go right through it but it doesn’t actually hit the mob. I pretty much avoid any fight where I can’t kill it in two or three swings because I get stun locked and die. I was able to kill the dredge boss because it attacks pretty slow and I’m able to actually block and get a hit in but I can’t even handle a single hyena without dying. I have a lot of points invested in combat related stats but it doesn’t seem to help much. I tried the bow with an accuracy build in the very beginning as well but it seemed to barely put a dent in anything damage wise. It stinks because I used to have some decent survivability as long as I didn’t have more than 2 mobs attacking me. I would like to play with others at some point but I don’t want to be the weak link.
Am I just doing this wrong? Am I just bad at this game? Does anyone have any combat tips or strategies? Does anyone have any builds or weapon combinations they use that are good?
Get a horse, Get a spear, Dump all your points into str and vit lil enc no grit no agility etc, run horse into player with spear, Stab repeatedly, loot /load up horse, ride off.
Oh and only ever use heavy armour, shield is better than dodge, shield and yogs touch if you happen to be on the ground but ideally want to be on a horse with thrall.
I still use light armor most of the time. Only ever equip heavy armor for boss fights. I started playing after they nerfed the dodge roll, so the new dodge is the only thing I’ve ever known. A lot of the combat comes down to timing, IMO. You can still wear the light armors if you can figure out how to adjust. Some of my favorite combos you might want to try are 2H sword - light, light, heavy, heavy; daggers - light, heavy, backflip; 1H sword - light, light, heavy, light; 1H axe (no shield) - light, heavy x3. I don’t have enough practice yet with mace & warhammer to recommend combos with them. I don’t like using them and only force myself to be more versatile.
The maces and warhammers have good hyperarmor, so they can help you prevent stun-lock, but if an enemy is coming at you with them, your best move is often to dodge sideways or backwards to evade. I hate going against spears, and usually try to dodge roll forward into them/past them if I have a 1H equipped. If I have a 2H equipped it’s usually a long enough reach to get them before the spear wrecks me. Sometimes the purpose of the dodge isn’t to avoid damage, but instead to give yourself hyperarmor so that your movements aren’t interrupted. There was an AI update a month or two ago that forced a lot of people to adjust strategies. Most notably, there was a leashing mechanic introduced to minimize kiting. You can still kite, but the distance is smaller, so you have to be more careful in how you approach it.
For heavy combat build, I like to put 31 points into Vitality and get the other 9 points with flawless armor that gives a vitality buff. It puts a nice extra kick into the Aloe Soup. 20-30 encumbrance just for convenience, and the remainder split between Str/Grit. I rarely use bows, but when I do it’s either explosive arrows for star metal, healing arrows for thrall support, poison arrows for the dregs boss, or flinthead arrows for kiting. I have never put more than 20 points into agility no matter what build I played. I rarely use a shield except for boss fights, but shielding up is a good way to heal mid-battle, even against the lowly hyena. Keep some healing wraps on your hotbar to remove a bleed stack. If you have to use them in the middle of combat, you’ll need to rely on dodge rolls until the cripple effect wears off.
I don’t play PvP, so some of this post might be completely useless for you. Good luck.
Timing is key, get to know the enemies moves, and time your attacks. If your trying to take thralls from an area with multiple enemies, start from the outside, agro, back up, disable enemy, rinse and repeat.
I use light armor, a shield and an axe. I started a new game at the beginning of the month, the only place that I have died is while taking thralls from Sepermeru and New Asagarth where you can have 10-15 NPCs attacking you at the same time if your not careful.
Run to the hills if you have 3+ reach weapons attacking you at the same time.
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