Early on in your playthrough of The First Berserker: Khazan, you’llgain the ability to unlock a multitude of new abilities on several different skill trees. The purchases you make in the first few hours of this extra difficultSoulslikecan make or break your experience, so you’ll want to ensure you’re making the correct investments.
You’ll also have another massive choice to make during your first real mission, and that’s deciding on what type of weapons you want to focus on becoming proficient with.
Sure, you can switch types whenever you want, but it’s probably a bit wiser to choose the class you like the best so you can focus on powering up this weapon as efficiently as possible.
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Beginners also need to learn early onthat weapon scaling is critical to pay attention to so that each level you spend on ranking up Khazan is spent usefully. Thisgame is arguably a bit too hardat times, so you can’t afford to waste any opportunities to gain an edge whenever you can.
If you’ve tested all the weapon types out and have decided that greatswords are your favorite, let me first congratulate you on making the correct choice. You’re clearly a person of culture.
With that schmoozing out of the way, let’s take a look at every skill you should consider acquiring as soon as possible in order to have a fighting chance with your greatsword.
6Reflection
Parry To A Pulp
It won’t take you long to become fairly proficient with the act of guarding enemy attacks in Khazan. Foes are aggressive and guard windows are forgiving, so the immediate value in this defensive maneuver and its ability to cancel out all incoming damage while your stamina lasts is pretty obvious.
One further defensive step you can take is picking up theReflectionskill as soon as you can.This one isn’t found in the Greatsword tab of the skill tree, and is instead located in the Common tab.
In the most basic of terms, Reflection is an actual parry instead of a simple damage-absorbing block. It doesn’t allow you an immediate riposte like aDark Soulstitle would, but itdoesremove a noticeable chunk of stamina from any attacker you’re able to parry successfully.
Since enemies can be left exhausted when their stamina runs out and become completely open targets, a well-timed use of Reflection can make your opponent a sitting duck for a nice barrage of punishment from your greatsword of choice.
5Heat Of Battle
Swing Away
Many skills you can unlock are entirely passive, meaning you don’t need to do anything at all in order to reap their benefits. Heat of Battle is one such example.
After purchase, this skill simplylowers the amount of damage you’ll take as you’re in the middle of an attack. For a greatsword user, this is huge.
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The greatsword has the longest wind-up of the three weapon types, so you’ll often find yourself on the receiving end of enemy damage as you’re still trying to swing your blade and land a blow. Any reduced damage you can take as you work through your long attack animations will come in extraordinarily handy.
Heat of Battle also increases your poise, meaning enemies are less likely to interrupt your attack motion and stun-lock you as you swing away at them. All of this is great for challenging early grunt enemies and bosses alike, particularlythe extra-difficult Blade Phantomyou’ll soon meet.
4Helm Break
Flipping Sick
Any time you may add a quick and flashy offensive move to the lumbering greatsword arsenal, you should probably consider it. Helm Break fits this bill exactly.
Flipping through the air and coming down with a mighty smash, Helm Break looks a lot like the Lion’s Claw ash of war fromElden Ring.
Helm Break is triggered by charging up a sprint attack, which is also extremely useful. Since the greatsword is slow, being able torun toward an enemy from a distance, charge an attack, and pummel them with Helm Breakbefore they know what hit them is an awesome combat tool to add to your set of tools.
This is a level two ability in your skill tree, but there’s no prerequisite to purchase it once it unlocks, making it one of the most useful things you can grab as soon as this branch of the skill tree opens up.
3Armor Breaker
Low-Risk Countering
It’s a little insane how good Armor Breaker really is for being a level two option for a greatsword user. Tied simply to your swift attack command, you’ll start using this one with great success without really even meaning to.
Right after you perform any guard at all on an incoming attack,your swift attack will now instantly launch into a two-swipe counter, punishing enemies at breakneck speed.
Surprisingly, you don’t even need to perform a perfectly timed brink guard to trigger Armor Breaker either.Anyattack you guard against can be double-countered at the press of a button.
Once again, since speed isn’t your friend as a greatsword wielder, an immediately responsive counterattack like Armor Breaker will pay dividends as soon as you decide to invest.
Safely Chipping Away
There’s a strong argument that you should make Avenger your first skill tree purchase, and I wouldn’t blame you one bit. Avenger comes into play passively whenever you pull off a perfect brink guard.
Each time youdeploy one of these guards at just the right moment, you’ll also do a chunk of damageto the attacker. There are very few encounters in Khazan that don’t involve any guarding/blocking whatsoever, so the ability to potentially punish every single enemy attack if you become a brink guard savant is a tempting offer.
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There’s not a massive rush to add this skill as soon as it’s unlocked, and others on the tree are definitely flashier. Still, Avenger being able to slowly whittle down enemy HP without you needing to attack at all is a skill worth adding whenever you’re ready for a little more quality of life.
1Ghost Arm Block
Summoning Success
Ghost Arm Block is a level two greatsword skill, so you won’t be able to grab it as soon as the skill tree is unlocked. Still, this one is absolutely worth the short wait.
As we’ve already mentioned, greatswords are super-strong, but sometimes painfully slow. It’s a common experience to be in the middle of a windup as your enemy launches into a faster attack and hits you first. Not only does this simply feel bad, but it can also prove deadly in many a scenario.
This is where Ghost Arm Block comes in. Now, instead of being at the mercy of your opponent as you hope and pray you have enough time to strike before they destroy your health bar, you can take matters into your own hands.
As you’re charging up a potent blow, you canuse this ghostly arm to block any incoming attacks. If it’s a perfect brink guard, you’ll even deal damage in this process, much like Avenger.
There’s a learning curve to timing a guard as you’re in the middle of charging an attack, but if you may master the process, Ghost Arm Block is easily the best early game skill for you and your greatsword.
How to Unlock the Blacksmith in The First Berserker: Khazan
This guide explains how to unlock the Blacksmith in The First Berserker: Khazan.
