The First Berserker: Khazan Tips – 8 Ways It’s Different From Typical Soulslikes

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While The First Berserker: Khazan falls within the Soulslike genre, veterans of FromSoftware titles will quickly discover its combat mechanics demand a fundamentally different approach. This action RPG blends elements from Bloodborne’s aggression, Dark Souls’ methodical pacing, and Sekiro’s precision-based defense, creating a hybrid system that punishes muscle memory from other games. Most players require multiple failed attempts to internalize the timing and rhythm unique to Khazan’s battles.

This comprehensive guide to The First Berserker: Khazan aims to accelerate your learning curve, providing strategic insights particularly valuable for those transitioning from traditional Soulslikes.

Khazan’s evasion mechanics operate on a distinct timing principle compared to Dark Souls or Elden Ring. While dodging still provides brief invulnerability frames, the activation window occurs noticeably later than in FromSoftware’s catalog. In standard Soulslikes, dodging as an enemy begins their strike typically avoids damage, but Khazan demands you delay your dodge until the instant before the weapon physically connects with your character.

Consider the tutorial guardian encounter—the spear-wielding giant pursuing you through caverns. When he executes a horizontal sweep, dodging immediately as he starts the motion will position you directly in the attack’s path. Successful evasion requires waiting until the spear tip nearly touches your character before executing the dodge maneuver…

Alternatively, mastering the parry system offers superior results. Khazan functions as a strategic hybrid between traditional Soulslikes and Sekiro’s deflection-focused combat, expecting players to instantly recognize whether to dodge or parry in any given situation. Generally, when your stamina reserves remain intact, parrying represents the optimal defensive choice. Enemy attack recovery occurs rapidly, meaning dodging backward typically eliminates any opportunity for counter-attacks.

The timing window for executing flawless parries—resulting in zero stamina consumption—proves remarkably lenient for this genre. Once you’ve memorized adversary attack patterns, consistently deflecting every incoming strike becomes achievable, preserving your stamina for aggressive offensive actions.

Given stamina’s critical importance in Khazan’s combat ecosystem, allocating multiple attribute enhancements to this stat during the early game proves essential, preferably before confronting the initial major boss encounter. Character progression divides between health augmentation, physical power, and equipment capacity, with the final two categories—Willpower and Proficiency—principally controlling various stamina-related attributes.

While stamina regeneration and consumption reduction remain valuable, your primary focus should center on boosting stamina damage and guardian stamina damage metrics. Guardians represent elite adversaries distinguished by purple stamina indicators—these include both powerful regular enemies and boss encounters. Inflicting greater stamina damage against these foes enables more frequent critical strike opportunities and accelerates their health depletion. These particular attributes demonstrate the most substantial improvement impact during early progression phases.

Increasing Khazan’s strength by 10 points might yield approximately 20 additional damage per basic attack—beneficial but not transformative. Elevating his guardian stamina damage through two upgrade tiers allows removing a substantial portion of an enemy’s stamina bar with a single strike, delivering significantly more practical combat advantages.

Common mistake: Many players instinctively prioritize raw damage stats, overlooking how stamina management directly enables more attack opportunities. Advanced players should note that against guardian-class enemies, each point invested in stamina damage provides approximately 3-4 times the combat effectiveness compared to equivalent strength investments.

While equipment weight and fundamental statistics typically dominate build considerations in Elden Ring or Dark Souls, Khazan implements more nuanced gear mechanics. You’ll acquire multiple iterations of identical base items, though these typically feature different upgrade levels. Consistently examining new acquisitions proves worthwhile, as minor defense improvements can substantially impact survivability.

Optimization tip: Beyond comparing raw numbers, examine gear set bonuses and special attributes that may not be immediately apparent. Some equipment pieces provide hidden stamina regeneration boosts or reduced parry stamina consumption, which can dramatically alter your combat effectiveness.

Time estimate: Dedicate 15-20 minutes after major encounters to thoroughly compare all acquired gear, as these small optimizations accumulate into significant advantages throughout your playthrough.

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