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The Blood of Dawnwalker's combat leans heavily on reading directions, and at a glance it looks like a fairly standard action RPG, but it's the directional attacking and blocking that separates a clean fight from a scrappy one. Match the right side against an incoming hit and it costs nothing; get it wrong, or panic and hold Omniblock instead, and you'll burn through Stamina fast.
Coen fights in two forms, and switching between them changes the maths rather than the system itself. The core mechanics carry over whichever form you're in, it's just what you're spending those resources on that shifts. On top of that, Perks earned through levelling up will gradually improve and build onto this core combat loop.
Human and Vrakhir Form
During the day, Coen relies on his sword and can lean on Witchcraft to cover for his weaker human form. That option disappears the moment he transforms at night, as the runic scars that let him cast hexes heal over once the sun goes down, so Witchcraft is strictly a daylight tool.
In Vrakhir form, claws replace the sword, though you can swap between the two freely. While in Combat Stance, press X to switch between Claws and Weapon, or Fists and Weapon in human form. Fighting bare-handed in Human form comes with a catch, though: you can't block at all in Fist stance, since there's nothing to guard with.
The bigger change at night is how Coen heals. Blood is the only thing that restores Health in Vrakhir form - biting an enemy mid-fight gets you a quick hit of Health along with some direct damage. Blood vials in your inventory work too: assign one to a Quickslot to use mid-fight, or on Story difficulty, drink straight from the inventory whenever you like.
Omniattack and Directional Attacking
Attacks come from four directions - left, right, up and down - and each one costs Stamina. You've got two options here: Omniattack fires off in a random direction, or you can pick the direction yourself before you swing.
If you've played Kingdom Come: Deliverance, this'll feel familiar. It's the same idea of matching directions between attack and defence, just adapted to Dawnwalker's faster pace. Enemies can block your hits too, and the odds of that happening climb the more you spam the same direction, so it pays to vary your angles rather than lean on one favourite.
Omniblock, Directional Block and Perfect Block
Omniblock is the catch-all defence. Hold the block input and it absorbs a hit from any direction, but it eats into your Stamina every time you use it.
Directional Block is the free alternative, so long as you get it right. Pick a direction to match the incoming attack, and a successful block won't cost you any Stamina at all. On Story, Fair and Challenging, the game shows you which way to block with an on-screen prompt, so there's rarely a reason to fall back on Omniblock instead.
Time that same block right before the hit lands and you get a Perfect Block instead. It restores a bit of Stamina and leaves the enemy wide open for a free hit, and the shield prompt changes colour from yellow to orange to flag when the timing's right.
Dodging and Perfect Dodging
Dodging lets Coen sidestep or back out of harm's way. Dodge straight into an enemy, though, and you'll still eat the hit. Time a sideways dodge just before impact and you'll pull off a Perfect Dodge, which costs nothing and opens up a counter window, much like a Perfect Block does.
Some attacks simply can't be blocked, full stop. You'll know because the target indicator turns into a red skull icon, and dodging is your only way out.
Stamina and Activation Charges
Two resources run the whole system, and they cover different things. Stamina powers your Attacks and Omniblock. Empty the Stamina bar and Coen becomes Fatigued, which slows his attacks down and makes them weaker.
Activation Charges cover Active Abilities instead, as well as Weapon and Claw Arts. They regenerate on their own over time, and landing successful Blocks and Attacks speeds that recharge up. You only start with a small pool of charges, but more capacity comes later through Perks - the Witchcraft panel has one that gives a chance to refund a charge after using a Witchcraft Ability, while Swordmastery has Perks that raise your total Activation Charge count and speed up how fast they restore.
Weapon and Claw Arts
Separate from your equipped Abilities, Weapon and Claw Arts run on their own cooldown but also cost Activation Charges, as well as Stamina. Not every weapon or bracer has one - the item description will tell you if it does - and the Art itself changes depending on what you've got equipped, so switching gear can change what this move does.
A Weapon Art only fires while you're using that specific weapon, and a Claw Art only works while fighting with Claws and bracers equipped.
Abilities in Combat, Perks
On top of the basics, Coen can call on Active Abilities mid-fight, depending on what he's unlocked and equipped. Use them through a selection wheel, or assign your go-to picks to Quickslots 1 to 4 so you're not digging through a menu mid-swing. Some Abilities are passive, but they still need to be equipped to work at all.
Which ones you can actually use comes down to form. Witchcraft only works by day, Vampirism only works in Vrakhir form, and Swordmastery works in either. Witchcraft Abilities - as well as some Vampirism Abilities - cost Health on top of Activation Charges, since casting a hex draws on Coen's own blood rather than any external resource.
Because of the form split, the game keeps separate Day and Night loadouts, so you can build one kit for daylight and a different one for after dark without re-equipping every time Coen changes.
Perks, levelled up from the same menu as Abilities, don't just add passive stat bumps, either. Some build directly onto the mechanics above - Perfect Riposte, for example, lets you follow up a Perfect Block with a critical hit in the direction you just blocked from. So the core combat loop you learn early on can end up changing shape once you start spending Skill Points.
Which Abilities to unlock and how the Perk trees work is a separate topic, and down to your playstyle.
Quick tip: In Vrakhir form, double-tap Q to trigger Shadowstep and close the gap behind an enemy almost instantly. It's a fast way to get out of a bad position, avoid unblockable attacks, or set up a hit from an angle they're not blocking.
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