Beginner Tips & Tricks For The First Berserker: Khazan

Summary

• Parrying is crucial for success, practice combos for easier battles.
• Dying is normal, learn from mistakes to improve in boss fights.
• Use consumables wisely, farm for resources to upgrade and ease gameplay.

With the release of The First Berserker: Khazan, many fans of the Soulslike and action genres are jumping in to enjoy some of the brutal and challenging gameplay the title has to offer. Much like other titles that put difficulty and rewarding gameplay first, the barriers to entry can feel quite high for new players, especially with a lot to learn and master in order to succeed.

Thankfully, there are more than enough helpful tools and tricks that players can pick up and learn to make the experience easier to digest and more manageable in a first playthrough. A lot of it comes down to the knowledge of the game’s style and understanding the mechanics available, as well as being aware of a few extra details that can make traversing the world and fighting tough enemies just a bit easier.

8

Learn To Parry

It’s Not Quite Sekiro, But It’s Damn Close

One of the biggest and most challenging mechanics to learn in The First Berserker: Khazan is the parry. Similar to other Soulslike titans like Sekiro and Bloodborne, deflect mechanics play an important role in the success the player has in each fight, and they are an invaluable asset to understand and be able to put to use against the grueling boss fights later in the game

A single playthrough will vary from player to player, but will take at least 20 hours or more for most, meaning that being able to deflect reliably, and being able to efficiently combo attacks and skills along with those deflections, will make the game significantly easier. Even if the player can’t parry every single attack perfectly, the game is quite forgiving with the window, and a missed deflect doesn’t spell instant death, giving a second chance to fight back and win.

7

Dying Is Okay

What Kills You Makes You Stronger

The Soulslike genre is known for its difficulty and featuring almost guaranteed deaths around every corner. Maybe it’s an insanely hard boss fight that keeps putting the player down after a few blows or a sneakily placed enemy around a corner ready to push the player to their untimely death. Succumbing to mortality is a genre expectation that is good to come to terms with early on to avoid frustration.

Learning a boss takes time, so dying over and over, though it can be annoying, is actually a good way to figure out how to deal with certain attacks or abilities. Khazan even provides the player with additional Lacrima upon challenging a boss, even if they end up dying in the end. This means that after dying 10 times, for instance, the player won’t be stuck in the same position as before and can probably afford to level up a stat or two without doing anything extra.

6

Re-Stating Skills

Try Something New

The skill tree in Khazan is simple, easy to understand, and very reminiscent of Black Myth: Wukong, where players choose what kind of weapon type they want to level up and are free to take back their hard-earned skill points whenever they choose, without the need for any extra currency or items.

This means that after playing for a while, if the player decides their skill set isn’t cutting it, or they just want to try something new, the option is there right from the very start, letting them choose whatever skills they want or don’t want (assuming they meet the level requirement). It’s a great way of learning how other weapons function with some extra abilities, and means that if a specific enemy is easier to stagger, for example, the player can swap out their skills for ones that benefit from breaking stances or performing potent attacks, then return to their original build whenever they like.

5

Play Aggressive

It Pays To Keep Up The Tempo

It will quickly become apparent that The First Berserker: Khazan is fast and action-packed in every encounter, forcing players to think on their feet and constantly react to devastating blows with very little notice. One aspect of the combat allows players to break the enemy’s stance, setting them up for a stagger and a potent attack that deals heavy damage and lets the player take a breather from the onslaught of attacks.

The stance meter itself fills up quite quickly for most enemies, so players will want to keep up the assault as long as possible to prevent the enemy’s stance from regenerating, allowing them to get into a better attacking pace. It is far easier to get up in a boss’s face and play proactively than it is to always be running away and struggling to dodge attacks that can feel disjointed when playing in a less-than-rhythmic pattern. Plus, the game is just a lot cooler when hitting the perfect inputs and combining insane moves in quick succession.

4

Use Consumables

A Little Buff Is All It Takes

Consumables are a big part of action and Soulslike games, as they can provide significant buffs for a tricky fight or prevent a specific damage type from shredding through the player’s health pool. Khazan puts a pretty heavy emphasis on consumable use, allowing the player to craft a large list of cleanses, stamina buffs, and everything in between that can be stocked up to take into the next big fight.

They are particularly useful against status effects like poison or fire, which deal a large amount of damage in a short time, so it is worth keeping a few vials around to remove those effects. Materials are abundant and easy to come by, so there is no stress about saving them, letting the player craft specific buffs and items tailored to the challenges they are currently facing.

3

Vengeance Points

Keep An Eye On The Map

A fairly well-hidden yet surprisingly helpful mechanic, Vengeance Points are a currency acquired by viewing the game map at a Blade Nexus and hovering over completed missions across the world. Each main and side mission provides a decent number of points, which can then be used on the same screen to provide character-wide buffs to damage and stamina.

Many players overlook the mechanic as it isn’t explained in a tutorial and is tucked away in a spot that isn’t regularly seen, but it is worth checking to see if any points are sitting unclaimed. So, although the map is a useful way of seeing which areas have collectibles left over and seeing where to fast travel in order get them, it comes with an added bonus that can make the player feel a good degree stronger than before.

2

Farming

Just A Few More Coins

When the going gets tough and a boss is just too much to handle, there is no shame in wandering off and fighting a few mobs to upgrade stats and weapons or to acquire some new skills. Khazan does allow players to collect Lacrima upon fighting bosses over and over, but the amount given is fairly small when compared to fighting and defeating several enemies over and over, which can also provide additional gold and consumables as drops.

The leveling system is fairly straightforward, with five core stats and a simplistic skill tree that lets players pick and choose a style that suits them, so piling up some XP and resources before challenging a tough boss again is a fine way to make the game easier, aside from turning down the difficulty. There is also an additional currency, Lacrima of Circulation, which can be acquired by defeating Revenants of Adversity, which are scattered around the levels once the first one is defeated and can be farmed to unlock the summoning ability in fights, giving a companion that can take some heavy damage and make fights a lot more manageable compared to facing them alone.

1

Soulstones

More Than Just A Shiny Rock

Hidden throughout each mission are a few shiny red crystals called Soulstones that don’t seem to do a whole lot at first. Attacking them gives a pop-up saying they have been acquired, and early on, that seems to be all they do. After just a few missions, however, the player unlocks the ability to spend them, using them to buff healing as well as Lacrima gains, making them an incredibly valuable material that should be looked out for at all times.

These stones are never super well-hidden and can normally be found just on the side of the main path or on a raised ledge above it, requiring a javelin or a consumable to break them. The map has a handy counter that lets players check if they missed any during a specific mission, and players can jump back in to go hunting at any time.