A guide on the five styles of Absolver.
Absolver’s Styles Overview
General Overview
There are five combat styles in Absolver. Stagger, Foresaken, Kahlt Method, Windfall, and Faejin. Each style comes with its own defensive abilities and base stats (HP, Stamina, etc.). Defensive abilities are used by moving the mouse/right stick in the direction you wish to perform the ability. Hitting an ability correctly replenishes some stamina. With all styles I would recommend at least two charge stopping attacks, (except Faejin, for which I recommend one in the back stance) two guard breakers, and one charge attack.
Stagger Style
The easiest of the styles, Stagger style’s defensive ability is labeled as ‘attacks with defensive properties.’ What this means is your character dodges the attack then performs a light counter attack. This style also has a charge attack when you use the forward ability (an additional charge attack in your regular combat deck would help keep your opponent off balance). The side motion is a spin then hit respective to the direction used, this can be used to dodge vertical and thrust attacks. The back motion dodges horizontal (high and low) attacks and even some thrust and vertical attacks (such as the knee strike and the axe kick) then performs a counter kick. All of these attacks can be gold linked and if you don’t hit the correct timing you can still sometimes dodge the attack making this style great for beginners, but unfortunately, also a spammers delight.
This style focuses on speed and avoiding attacks so the strength and vitality attributes aren’t as important as the rest, however, if your combat deck uses more strength based attacks then you will need points in strength. I would recommend that beginners to the game invest some points in vitality as well.
Foresaken
This is a parry style. Wherever the attack is coming from that’s the direction you move your mouse/stick. Horizontal, vertical, high, low doesn’t matter. All that matters is left or right. The timing is what makes this style more difficult than Stagger as if you don’t hit the timing right, you get hit. The parry blocks your opponent’s attack and stuns them for a brief moment, creating an opening. Following a parry up with a light attack is the best way to start a combo.
This is an all-around type style with a slight focus on strength. Good style for quick learners and observant fighters. I would recommend starting attacks be light, but the rest a mix of heavy and medium.
Kahlt Method
A true defensive style, Kahlt absorbs the attack and grants the ability to ignore the stun of your opponent’s attack and heal. The more consecutive attacks you absorb the heavier the attack you can ignore, however, once you do get hit all recovered health is lost. (if not yet healed) This style requires impeccable timing of your defensive ability. Moving the mouse/stick in any direction activates the ability, the way you move the mouse/stick in relation to the attack doesn’t matter. This ability can be ‘broken’ with guard breakers resulting in no healing and you being affected by the stun of the attack.
This style focuses on vitality and strength, as such, I would recommend fewer light attacks and more charge attacks than with the other styles. I would describe this style as easy to learn, but difficult to master.
Windfall
The dodge style. Side to side dodges thrust and vertical attacks, back dodges high thrust/horizontal attacks, forward dodges low thrust/horizontal attacks. The best style for those just getting into the game, but one of the more difficult to really get good at using without spamming your dodge. Spammers usually don’t dodge horizontal attacks correctly so there’s an easy work around to them.
Another speed type style, but this one is slightly more sturdy than Stagger style. Focus points in dexterity and use mostly light and medium attacks with a few heavy ones thrown into the mix to keep your opponent on their toes.
Faejin
The most difficult style. Faejin has two different defensive abilities which one you get to use depends on which stance you’re in. In the forward stances it’s a parry followed by a light counter which can be gold linked to start off a combo, and in the rear stances its a dodge that lands you back in the front stance. In contrast to Stagger style, Faejin’s forward ability is a charge stopping attack which can be used at any time while in the forward stance and gold linked as well, making for some effective combo opportunities. Low attacks are parried by moving the mouse/stick backwards, this is more like the Foresaken parry because there is no follow up counter for this parry. All others can be parried by moving the mouse/stick side to side in the direction the attack comes in. The dodge mechanic is different from Windfall’s in two ways:
- Each time you dodge your movement lands you back in the front position, relative to where you were in the back (i.e. dodging in back left lands you in front left).
- You either dodge to the side (thrust/vertical attacks) or back (horizontal attacks, some thrusts can be dodged this way as well), pushing the mouse / stick forward does nothing while in the dodge stance.
For Faejin you want your strength and dexterity about even, a few points in vitality and the rest in endurance. I would recommend a good blend of attacks for this style. (school #36655 is my setup) Spamming is next to impossible with this style because of the nature of it. Precision and adaptability is key with Faejin style. This style definitely takes a lot of practice to master.
ive been playin now for only 20 hours but all thats on kahlt and i can say that while personally i would reccomend you keep heavy attacks as finishers its more imporant to have all your start ups be light so that you can hit your opponent as while slow and heavy can confuse parry attempts and make dodging a waste of stamina since its easy to dodge incorrectly if your used to fast attacks its better that you ensure you can hit them since kahlts do good dmg even with light attacks with you get that stun immunity carried through into your attack. honestly there isnt too many charge attacks and while using charge attacks for one gurranteed hit is good its a far more risky play style and honestly a tip i got from a aweome as hell kahlt player is that patience is key which in my mind is why those light attacks are even better. they take less stamina to do and if you have a lot of stamina and can manage to hit a few absorbs its easier to throw out a lot of attacks at once and get that dmg in in a safer way where your hits will hit and you dont run the risk of that witchcraft (windfall) from destroying you hard in a counter for a missed hit