Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn takes you on a journey across Kian, a world ravaged by the dead, the dying, and the deranged denizens in between. As trained sapper Nor Vanek, it’s your job to prevent these threats from laying waste to humanity.

Our Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn beginner's guide contains myriad tips to help you master Nor's combat abilities and complete this daunting task. We also talk about the activities that you can do on the side, as well as facets that boost your character’s capabilities.

 

Maximize your Reputation multiplier

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn offers a new and unique twist on the Soulslike genre, with fast-paced action that relies on quick strikes and deft avoidance. As you perform multiple unique moves in combat, your Reputation multiplier increases. The higher it goes, the more currency you'll earn upon defeating your foes. You'll need to make full use of Nor’s melee and ranged weapons, Enki’s magical attacks, parries, counters, and a plethora of acrobatic maneuvers that will help you avoid getting hit by enemies.

That last one is most important, as taking damage causes the multiplier to reset. Thankfully, the system is also quite lenient, since the Reputation that you’ve “banked” is retained even if you’re hit by an enemy.

 

Master dodging, parrying, and countering

Nor has a plethora of combat maneuvers at her disposal:

• Dodge: Press the Shift key to quickly do a sidestep or backstep. Pressing the Shift key twice allows you to dodge-roll. Note that dodging is one way to reliably avoid Break attacks (the ones with a flashing red icon) since these cannot be blocked or parried.
• Aerial Dodge/Dash: Press the Shift key while in mid-air to perform an Aerial Dodge.
• Block: Press and hold the 'Q' key to block enemy attacks.
• Parry and Counter: Press the 'Q' key just as an opponent’s attack is about to land, then the Left Mouse Button immediately afterward to follow up with a devastating Counter.
• Countershot: This requires you to unlock the Countershot skill. You can then pull off a point-blank shot after parrying.
• Poised Shot: This requires you to unlock the Poised Shot skill. This is an alternate method of parrying via gunshot, and you can follow through with a melee counter as well.

Sidearms versus long guns

One of the most important tips in Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is understanding how firearms are used as part of your offense.

Sidearms and pistols deal decent damage at close range. They can be fired quickly by pressing the Right Mouse Button to interrupt a Break attack or blow up explosive barrels. Shooting a sidearm also depletes a Black Powder charge, denoted by small pips in the bottom-left corner of the screen. These charges are replenished as you hit opponents with your melee weapons.

Long guns, meanwhile, are best suited for medium-to-long-range engagements, as they need to be reloaded in between shots. Hold the 'F' key to aim with the weapon, then press the Spacebar while the gauge is in the golden portion to grant bonus damage to your next shot. Note that some long guns also cause a critical hit (complete with a “kill cam”) when you land a headshot.

 

Use Enki’s attacks to curse your opponents

The god Enki serves as Nor’s companion throughout the campaign. Pressing the 'E' key when targeting an opponent causes Enki to inflict a curse and “Prime” that enemy. Here’s what these mechanics do:

• Curses: These debilitating debuffs can either deal damage over time or weaken a target depending on the Cursed Stone (i.e. crystal) that’s equipped.
• Priming: Enki’s attacks build up the Priming gauge, a purple meter above a foe’s health bar. Once filled, your next normal attack on a glowing target becomes a critical blow.

Learning skills from the Magic skill tree improves Enki’s capabilities in combat. These include increasing his Priming charges (which appear as small pips in the bottom-right corner of the screen) and granting him actions that can trigger randomly in battle, such as taunting or pouncing on a foe.

 

Unleash Enki’s true power via Withering spells

Think of Withering as ultimate abilities, which can be cast once the meter in the bottom-right corner is full. These powerful spells range from a massive gravitational vortex with a huge area-of-effect (AoE) radius that pulls in enemies to a beam of searing light to swirling slashes that heal your character.

 

Dive deep into the skill trees

There are three triangular skill trees in Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn—the firearms and explosives-based Powder tree, the Enki-boosting Magic tree, and the melee-focused Steel tree. Learning perks costs Reputation, and you need to unlock adjacent nodes if you want to obtain higher-tier options. Moreover, unlearning a skill only refunds a portion of the Reputation you initially invested.

Examples of unlockable perks include additional Black Powder and Enki charges, curses that spread to nearby hostiles, punches and shots that can stun foes, armor-piercing hits, instant revival on death, activating an extra synergy bonus from armor pieces, the aforementioned Countershot and Poised Shot actions, and more. Experiment and see what matches your play style!

 

Recover lost Reputation

Similar to many other Soulslike games, perishing in Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn causes you to lose all your current Reputation. Return to the area where Nor met her untimely demise and you should see a skull in the middle of a glowing circle. Moving to that spot lets you recover your lost Reputation—but per usual, if your character dies during the attempt, then the currency is gone for good.

 

Watch for hidden paths and rifts

Nor is pretty agile compared to your average Dark Souls character, and can easily pull off acrobatic moves (including air dashes and double jumps) to reach higher ledges and cross gaps.

Moreover, during your journey you'll come across glowing skulls that open rifts. You can pass through these by holding the 'E' key. Enki will then glide from rift to rift, enabling you to cross great distances in mid-air. Sometimes, you might even discover secret areas with hidden rewards.

Know your fast travel options

While you can get around the world of Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn rather quickly by jumping and sprinting all over the place, there are several fast travel methods that make exploration a lot easier, including:

• Lodestones: These small altars dot various areas of the world.
• Campsites: This is where you’ll find fellow Coalition soldiers. These NPCs offer gear upgrade services and (in some cases) Sapper quests. Moreover, an NPC named Baz will help you fast travel to any major regions that you’ve already visited.
• Coffee Shops: These are found in hamlets after you free them from corruption. Upon taking control of a hamlet, enter the coffee shop and talk to the Host NPC to gain an additional flask charge. The Host may also have new uniforms that you can purchase and side quests for you to tackle.

Explore to obtain permanent stat boosts

One of the most important tips for those beginning Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is that there are power-ups that significantly boost Nor’s survivability and Enki’s combat prowess.

First up are the Inaya Shrines, obelisks that are visible from quite a distance thanks to the bright red beams they emit. Interacting with these permanently increases Nor’s maximum HP.

There are also giant feathers scattered throughout the Three Peaks and Wanderer’s Rest regions. These are called Enki’s Feathers, and level up your companion’s Priming capability. This means Enki’s attacks fill the Prime gauge faster, which then leads to more frequent critical hits.

 

Match equipment for powerful synergy bonuses

Melee weapons, firearms, grenades, and non-uniform armor pieces can have their rarities and stats upgraded by talking to Campsite NPCs that you meet and rescue over the course of your adventure.

It’s worth noting that armor pieces (such as helmets, gauntlets, and shoulderpads) also belong to sets, and equipping two gear pieces from the same set grants a synergy bonus. For instance, the synergy bonus from the Sunderer’s set changes your dodge to a short-distance teleport.

 

Win Sebo matches to earn more Reputation

Sebo is a minigame that a lot of citizens play in the world of Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn. It involves sliding coins to adjacent spaces while watching out for your opponent’s moves. Sebo matches consist of two rounds:

• Attacking: Your goal is to form a triangular rift by moving coins to adjacent/connected spaces.
• Defending: Your goal is to prevent your opponent from forming their own rift.

Defeating Sebo players nets you Reputation.You might also discover special coins that have unique perks, like barricading sections of the board or teleporting to any unoccupied space, so keep an eye out during your adventure!

That does it for our Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn beginner's guide. We hope these tips help you prepare for the journey ahead, eliminate the undead threat, and restore peace to Kian.

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is available July 18 on the Epic Games Store.