For fans of Monster Hunter and God Eater, Phoenix Labs’ Dauntless should be on your radar.
As a Slayer, players will enter an online co-op setting and fight for humanity. The main threat that’s endangering humankind are massive beasts known as Behemoths. With your powerful weapons and armor in tow, you’ll need to rely on your skills and teammates as you vie for survival in the Shattered Isles. Thanks to Phoenix Labs’ Nick Clifford, we have a guide full of battle-ready tips that you’ll need if you want to stay alive. Those Behemoths need to be taken down before they lay waste to everyone you cherish!
Here are the top 10 tips, tricks, and cheats you need to know for Dauntless.
1. Dodging is Your Friend
Phoenix Labs
• No matter which weapon you bring to your battles, you’ll want to pair it with a mastery of the dodge roll. Rolling away to safety can help you avoid damaging attacks, as well as granting you temporary invulnerability (aka “i-frames” magic). This means that you can dodge through attacks in addition to dodging away from them. Master this move to increase your survivability and take advantage of mobility.
2. The Right Tool for the Job
Phoenix Labs
• Dauntless currently offers Slayers a choice of five weapons with a sixth in development. Each weapon is unique, offering its own set of strengths and weaknesses. Not sure how to use it? Press Tab to show attacks and combos for your currently-equipped weapon. Check out the list posted below so which weapons are currently available:
– Sword: The sword is a great balance of speed and power, and it offers some really versatile combos. If you’re just starting out, this is a great choice.
– Axe: As far as power goes, the axe is where it’s at. This slow-but-dangerous weapon dishes out some of the highest per-hit damage in the game. Charge each strike before you attack to add bonus damage and build your special meter, then unleash your brutal special attack.
– Chain Blades: On the other end of the spectrum is the chain blades, Dauntless’ fastest and most acrobatic weapon. String together multi-hitting attacks with a unique blink-style dash. The chain blades’ special attack also lends you mobility, letting you dash in and out of a Behemoth’s attack range.
– Hammer: The hammer is a unique blend of power and mobility. On the surface it appears to be a giant maul, perfect for smashing Behemoth skulls. But tucked away inside is an internal cannon, designed for short-range blasts and elemental attacks. Skilled Slayers can even “ride” the hammer blast, moving quickly across the field of combat.
– War Pike: Last is Dauntless’ newest weapon and first take on ranged combat – the War Pike. Each attack with the war pike builds your special meter and boosts your damage. It can also be banked to create a long-range mortar shot. With additional positioning and surgical attacks, the war pike is a good match for Slayers who want to get in, dish out some damage, and then retreat to a safe distance.
3. Damage Types and Part Breaks
Phoenix Labs
• In addition to having unique attacks and combos, each weapon also features different damage types. Currently there are three types – Blunt, Slashing, and Piercing. Blunt is all about staggering the Behemoth, cracking armour, and breaking parts like horns, claws, and tusks. So as you can imagine the hammer is perfect for this. Sharp damage comes from bladed weapons, the sword, chain blades, and axe and is great for severing parts like tails. Getting hit by that nasty Drask tailswipe, focus on it at the beginning of the fight to remove it as a threat. Additionally severed parts can be taken back to Ramsgate to craft rare and powerful weapons and upgrades.
• Lastly the War Pike deals a unique type of damage called pierce. With pierce you can expose a part, making it more susceptible to damage by the other weapons. There’s a good degree of synergy between Dauntless’ five weapons and a smart hunting party will plan their attack before going into a hunt.
4. Armour aka an Excuse to Look Good in Ramsgate
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• Each Behemoth brings with it a fierce arsenal of attacks. Embermane boasts a fiery inferno, while Pangar’s icy torrent will leave Slayers (literally) frozen to the core. To survive the hunt you’ll need to bring the right armour to protect your hide. Armour is good for raw defense yes, which you will need to survive hits, but each piece also offers other perks like elemental defenses and perks like bonus health. When crafting new gear make sure to pay attention to the stats for each piece, sometimes it may be worth it to sacrifice some defense to get that elemental resistance.
5. It’s Dangerous to Go Alone!
Phoenix Labs
• While you can play Dauntless solo, it’s an online game best enjoyed with others. If you’re having difficulty with a particular Behemoth make sure to use Dauntless’ party and matchmaker to find other like minded Slayers. As noted above, having a good balance of weapons and damage types can make the difference in a fight.
6. A Lantern to Light the Way
Phoenix Labs
• In addition to weapons and armour, each Slayer also has a Lantern. Each Lantern comes with two unique abilities on it taking inspiration from the Behemoth used to craft it. Want to move faster in combat and never run out of steam? Craft that Shrike Lantern. Want to protect yourself more? The Skarn Lantern is the right choice for you. After you make your way past the first couple zones in Dauntless, you’ll receive a quest to visit Arkhan Drew, Ramsgate’s local Aether expert. He’ll hook you up with the goods.
7. Pack Your Flasks
Phoenix Labs
• Each island in the Shattered Isles is brimming with verdant life and flora. Slayers with a keen eye will make sure to pick up these herbs, flowers, and mushrooms while they track their quarry to use back in Ramsgate. The Bosun has a variety of recipes that you can put to good use, with the right ingredients. Your health flask will recharge after every hunt, so don’t worry about refilling it, but more powerful potions such as the Frenzy Tonic, Bulwark Tonic, and Lifespring Pylon will require specific ingredients to craft. Your three consumable slots are all interchangeable, so mix and match the best combination for your hunt.
8. Reputation, Cells, and Challenges
Phoenix Labs
• As you progress through Dauntless, the various people and factions of Ramsgate will have tasks for you. Reputation is not exclusive and you earn rep with multiple people at a time. This is important because some of Dauntless’ greatest rewards are behind earning reputation. How do you do that? Primarily though completing tasks and challenges for each person. These cycle on a regular basis so there’s good reason to play and check back daily. To see your progress you can press “J” on the keyboard. After gaining some status with the patrons of Ramsgate, you’ll notice you start unlocking cores as a reward.
• Cores contain powerful rewards like Cells which can be infused into weapons and armour. Cells come in all varieties from health buffs to defense boosts, to more specific abilities like damage for a perfect dodge roll. Cells, armour perks, consumables, lanterns – all these systems come together to create a sense of classes in Dauntless. You don’t pick a class at the beginning of Dauntless, nor are you locked into a specific weapon during your playthrough. That said all the variety between these systems lets players soft spec into different roles in combat. Want to support the team? There’s a loadout for that? Want to go crazy aggressive and do big hits? Well, apologize to any supporting players, then go nuts.
9. Beyond the Frontier
Phoenix Labs
• Make no mistake, Dauntless is a challenging game. As you make your way through the story and different zones, you’ll face a variety of Behemoths. Each of these encounters will get progressively harder, and prepare you for the Maelstrom – Dauntless Evergame. The Maelstrom features the most difficult encounters, known as Dire Behemoth and heroic versions with deadly hunt modifyers. If you thought Rogue Gnasher was a walk in the park, wait until you fight Shrowd, Rezakiri, Dire Charrogg, and some of the other baddies in this zone. Expect to grind up your gear, and seek out specific sets to take down each Behemoth. But all that work is worth it, because inside of the Maelstrom are rare and coveted rewards…
10. Exotic Gear
Phoenix Labs
• Taking down the baddest of Behemoths wouldn’t be complete without the rewards to show it. Inside of the Maelstrom are rare and difficult to acquire Exotic pieces of gear. To unlock them you will need to complete a special requirement for each fight for a chance to unlock it. But all the effort is worth it as these exotics come with potent abilities – resurrect your Slayer as an all powerful shadow of your Slayer when you get KO’d, fire a laser that will melt your opposition from your War Pike, and more.
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