Combat & Creature Weaknesses

There is no blocking and no dodge roll, so every bit of your defence is positional. Get behind enemies before attacking, sidestep grab animations at the moment they initiate, and use teammates as distractions when surrounded. ACE Team has said a block and counterattack system for certain weapons is coming in a post-launch update; until it lands, footwork is the whole of your defence.

• Axe — throwable and retrievable from the enemy's body; the most versatile melee weapon
• Spear — strong reach, effective when you need to keep distance
• Sword and knife — fast but short-range; weakest against armoured undead

These are two separate systems and it pays to keep them straight. Rain: firearms with a fuse cannot ignite gunpowder, so every matchlock — the Matchlock Arquebus, Matchlock Pistol and Cthulhu Matchlock Musket — simply will not fire in wet weather. A flintlock, crossbow or bow works fine, so the answer to rain is a different gun, not necessarily a blade. Misfires: a separate, always-on chance carried only by the worn matchlock variants — 11% on the Aged ones and the Cthulhu Matchlock Musket, 20% on the Decayed Arquebus and Decayed Pistol. Pristine matchlocks have no misfire chance at all, and no flintlock, bow or crossbow has one. All ranged weapons carry limited ammunition; treat them as tools for critical moments, not routine clearing.

• Y'm-bhi: the Crucifix delays their aggression — those who have been turned hesitate in its presence, their hostility slower to surface. Buy yourself time to reposition or reach the wagon
• Y'm-bhi, at the source: the K'n-yani reanimate them via orbs kept on altars, carved in the likeness of Great Tulu. Take the orbs from the altars and their power over the Y'm-bhi wanes
• Tue Tue: avoid it rather than confront it — its scream stirs your foes. If you do draw its attention, a demoniac mist surrounds you and killing the creature is the only way to dispel it
• Crawling Canopy: it does not try to tear you apart, it tries to isolate you — it collapses onto you and seeps a dark ichor that marks you and draws other creatures' hostility. Don't fight it alone
• Prowler: cannot be killed. Damage it enough and it calcifies back into an ordinary tree — treat it as weather, not a target
• Doppelganger: it imitates a person and walks with your party to break its trust. Its lore is explicit that when they swarm, escape beats fighting

Listen for the heavy breathing that telegraphs an incoming grab — it is your cue to break line of sight or reposition before the lunge lands. When an enemy initiates a grab, sidestep the animation at the moment it starts rather than after it connects. A teammate attacking the grabbing enemy will also break its grip. Grabbed enemies are briefly exposed on their back during the animation — a second player can land a clean attack in that window.

Getting behind an unaware enemy allows a backstab finisher. It requires patience to position but uses no ammunition, makes no noise, and leaves no body that might revive later. On quieter contracts, chaining backstabs instead of shooting is the difference between a calm extraction and a premature forest awakening.