---
title: 'Blood of Dawnwalker Early Combat Guide'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=OIRT2QZ0QnM'
video_id: 'OIRT2QZ0QnM'
date: 2026-09-04
duration_sec: 486
channel: 'IGN'
---

# Blood of Dawnwalker Early Combat Guide

> Source: [Blood of Dawnwalker Early Combat Guide](https://youtube.com/watch?v=OIRT2QZ0QnM)

## Summary

This video is a comprehensive guide to early combat mechanics in the game Blood of Dawnwalker, covering defensive options, offensive abilities, and practical tips for mastering the combat system. The guide explains the five standard defensive mechanics, the nuances of perfect blocking and dodging, and how to effectively use attacks, abilities, and weapon arts.

### Key Points

- **Combat Flexibility** [00:00] — The combat in Blood of Dawnwalker feels clunky at first but offers great flexibility and versatility once you understand its nuances.
- **Five Defensive Mechanics** [00:46] — The game has five standard defensive mechanics: comedy block (safest, uses stamina), directional block (no stamina, but must match direction), perfect block (timed directional block, restores stamina, opens counter-attacks), dodge (avoids all attacks including unblockable, costs stamina), and perfect dodge (no stamina, opens counter-attack opportunity).
- **Perfect Dodge Timing** [01:28] — To perfect dodge, dodge left or right in the indicated direction with correct timing. A perfect dodge gives a small slowdown; if timing is right but direction wrong, you still dodge without stamina cost but no slowdown.
- **Blocking and Movement** [02:09] — Holding block stops movement; you cannot strafe and block simultaneously. This also applies to dodging. To avoid unblockable attacks (red skull indicator), release block before dodging.
- **Perfect Block Timing** [02:33] — Perfect block timing is based on when you move the left stick, not when you press the block button. Hold block early, then flick the stick in the direction of the enemy arrow as the shield turns orange.
- **Directional Attack Indicators** [02:59] — When surrounded, the attack indicator direction always matches the enemy's position relative to you. Enemies on your left attack from the left, enemies on your right attack from the right. This simplifies blocking when engaged with multiple enemies.
- **Attack Cancelability** [03:40] — All of Cohen's standard attacks are guard and dodge cancelable, meaning you can block or dodge at any point during an attack animation, allowing aggressive play with instant defensive responses.
- **Offensive Options** [04:28] — Offensive options include basic attacks, abilities, and weapon arts. At night, you can switch between sword and claws, trading witchcraft abilities for vampiric abilities.
- **Directional Attacks** [05:00] — Standard attacks can be directional. Without a direction, the game randomly chooses. Attacking in the same direction repeatedly makes enemies more likely to block. Manual direction is useful for Perfect Rapace skill.
- **Weapon Speed and Preference** [05:42] — Attack speed is governed by sword type (fast, medium, slow). The guide prefers great swords for contrast with claws and high damage after perfect blocks, but encourages experimentation.
- **Abilities and Activation Charges** [05:54] — Abilities cost activation charges and sometimes health. Charges fill when blocking and attacking. More useful abilities have higher costs. Example: Ravenous Lock costs two charges and heavy health, and is daytime-only.
- **Vampire vs Daytime Cohen** [06:39] — Vampire Cohen is stronger early game due to the ability to heal by drinking blood mid-fight and shadow step behind opponents.
- **Weapon Arts** [07:03] — Weapon arts should be used as often as they recharge (timed cooldown). At night, cooldown doesn't reset when switching between claws and sword. They offer brief invulnerability, useful when surrounded.

### Conclusion

Mastering the defensive mechanics, especially perfect block and dodge, is key to early combat success. Use the tips on timing and directional awareness to gain an edge, and experiment with different weapons and abilities to find your preferred playstyle.

## Transcript

Despite feeling a bit clunky at first, the Blood of Dawnwalker's combat offers a ton of flexibility and versatility of options once you start to understand its nuances and fundamentals.
Here's your guide to understanding early combat in the Blood of Dawnwalker. Let's go over defense first, as several of your defensive options give you free offensive
opportunities. I'll be explaining how this all works on the default fair difficulty, but if you're playing on duelist, it'll remove some of the UI indicators. You have five standard defensive mechanics in Dawnwalker.
Comedy block is the safest option with the least upside. It'll guard any blockable attack from any direction at the cost of some stamina. You just have to hold block while staying still.
Directional block lets you aim your blocks to match your enemy's attack direction and doesn't use any stamina, but will cause you to get hit if you choose the wrong direction. You can take a perk later to mitigate this, however. Perfect block is a directional block timed just before the enemy hits you.
It restores stamina and opens enemies up to counter-attacks. Dodging left, right, or back will avoid all attacks, including unblockable attacks, at the cost of some stamina. And perfect dodging costs no stamina and opens up an opportunity to counter-attack.
To perfect dodge, you have to dodge left or right in the indicated direction and with the right timing, just like perfect blocking. On a perfect dodge, you'll get a small slowdown. If you get the timing right, but the direction wrong, you'll still dodge the attack and
not use any stamina, but you won't get the slowdown. That's a lot of explaining up top, but we can simplify it. Let's focus in on just perfect block and perfect dodge, as messing the timing up on those will usually still let you block or dodge just with fewer benefits Here some tips on how to nail that timing and the general flow of combat I can even reach one First of all holding block makes Cohen stop moving
You can't strafe and block at the same time. This also goes for dodging. I kept getting hit by unblockable attacks, the ones that show a red skull before enemy strike, because I was trying to dodge while still holding block.
When you see a red skull, make sure to let go of block so Cohen can move again. and then dodge. Perfect block timing is based on when you move your stick,
not when you hit the block button. You can hold block as early as you want, as long as you move the left stick in the direction of the enemy arrow as the shield turns orange. I'm usually not holding block while in combat, so I can have free movement,
and then when I see an enemy begin to attack, I hold block, and then flick the stick in the correct direction right as soon as I see the shield turn orange. When you're surrounded by enemies, and one attacks from either side of Cohen,
the direction of the attack indicator will always match where the enemy is coming from. Unlike when an enemy is right in front of you, and can attack in all four directions, an enemy on your left will attack from the left, and enemies on the right will attack from the right.
This makes sense if you think about it. If you're engaged with an enemy straight ahead, and someone comes at you from your right, they can't attack from their right, because they'd be chopping through their ally. Use this to your advantage.
Don't worry about the direction you'll need to block enemies from when they're to either side. It will always be consistent with where they are in relation to you. Focus on perfect blocking the enemy in front, and be ready to only guard in one direction depending on who else is attacking.
When you remove the extra variable, it's much easier to focus strictly on timing. All of Cohen's standard attacks are guard and dodge cancelable. This means that no matter
how far Cohen is into an attack animation blocking and dodging will always overwrite it so you still able to remain aggressive and still switch to defense in an instant If you nailing your perfect blocks and dodges stamina shouldn be a problem as it won be used often and will even sometimes be restored
even when you're constantly hitting the attack button.
Your offensive options will greatly expand and diversify as you continue to unlock more of the skill tree, but to start, you have basic attacks, abilities, and weapon art.
If the weapon you have equipped offers an art. During nighttime, you can choose to either use your sword or your claws, but you trade witchcraft abilities for vampiric abilities, and you can also use claw arts. that the particular bracers you have equipped offer in art.
Standard attacks, whether using your sword or claws, can be directional, like blocking. Just hitting the attack button without a direction will randomly choose which direction you attack in, or you can use the left stick to choose the direction yourself.
The more you attack in the same direction in a row, the more likely an enemy is to block it. You don't really need to choose manually which direction you're attacking in unless you've unlocked Perfect Rapace on the Sword Mastery tree, which gives you a direction to attack in after a perfect block in order to deal critical damage.
I'd actually recommend picking up the skill as early as you can, so it might be good to get used to the manual directional attacks early. The speed of your standard attacks is governed by what kind of sword you're using. They'll be listed as fast, medium, or slow.
I personally prefer great swords as they provide the greatest contrast between swords and claws and can do some major damage after learning perfect or cost. But make sure to experiment for what feels best for you.
Your abilities, whether they be witchcraft during the day, vampiric at night, or sword mastery for both all cost activation charges and sometimes a portion of your health These activation charges fill when blocking and attacking and you come across a ton of passives from weapons armor and abilities that augment how quickly they recharge or
how many max charges you can have at once. Keep in mind that the more useful the ability is, the higher the cost it's likely to have. Ravenous Lock, for instance, is a great witchcraft ability that both stuns and does heavy damage,
but costs two activation charges and a ton of health to perform. This is even more costly when you consider that this is only a daytime ability, so you can't drink blood mid-combat to get that health back.
The ability to heal by drinking blood mid-fight, and being able to shadow step behind your opponent, make Vampire Cohen quite a bit stronger in the early game than Daytime Cohen. Lastly, weapon arts should be performed as often as they recharge, as they're all on a timed cooldown.
At night time, this cooldown doesn't reset when switching between claws and your sword. Weapon arts offer brief moments of invulnerability that can also be helpful when you're surrounded and feeling overwhelmed. There's no indication of which weapon art is attached to each weapon, but a few of the
common ones we've seen are the short sword three-hit flurry, the long sword stab and upward swing, and the great sword double swipe. And that's your rundown on early combat in the Blood of Dawnwalker. While you're here, check out these videos on the best things to do first, the best quests
to do before mass, and more. For everything else gaming, keep it right here on IGN. Thank you.