DinoBlade Beginner’s Guide

DinoBlade is arguably the most unique action RPG to have been released in a while. Rather than playing as an armored knight, you play as a Spinosaurus who wields a huge greatsword in its mouth. It’s insane… and that’s precisely what makes DinoBlade special.

Created by Jean Nguyen, who was a Senior Animator at Sucker Punch Productions (Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yōtei), DinoBlade merges the combat system of Souls games with smooth animations, anime-style abilities, and prehistoric monsters fighting with massive weapons.
Although the game is absurdly funny, the combat in it is actually pretty deep. The players who get in a fight immediately assuming the hack and slash role will be shocked how much patience and attention they need in DinoBlade. Here’s a complete beginner’s guide to help you master this unique game.

If you want to find out more about the game beyond this walkthrough, click here.

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Game Mechanics

As a young Spinosaurus with a greatsword held within its mouth, your primary power is not one of raw power but of timing. Perfectly parrying enemy attacks fills up their resolve meter to the point where you are able to counterattack them for extreme damage. Although the setting is peculiar, there are numerous gameplay similarities between DinoBlade and most Souls-like games.

You will have to control:

• Health
• Stamina
• Resonance (attribute for abilities)
• Healing Charges
• SP (upgrades)
• Boss SP (abilities)

In contrast to many Souls-like games, failure is not that punishing in DinoBlade. You do not lose your SP permanently, and costs of attributes stay the same in the entire game, which is a lot easier for progression than in, say, Dark Souls or Elden Ring.

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Best Early Stat Build

Each time you level up, you get SP to spend on one of four attributes: Health, Strength, Stamina, or Resonance.

Eventually, all of these matter. But early on? Survival comes first. So don’t worry too much about dealing tons of damage yet. Focus on staying alive. Although increased Strength will allow for quicker resolution of fights, it is going to be easier for new players to get acquainted with the game if they focus on developing Health and Stamina first. Increased health capacity allows you time to understand your opponent’s tactics, while additional stamina will make it possible to perform attacks, dodge and defend yourself more effectively. There is a question here on whether dumping all your points in Strength yields better results for the late game, seeing how most bosses one shot you. But I still believe its better to build your health and stamina for the early game – atleast till you reach the first Alpha Boss.

Basic Playstyle – Playing it safe all throughout the fight is by staying out of range of an enemy’s attacks and waiting for them to combo attack you and once they finish doing so, hit them one or two times as they recover and then get away from them.

Here’s how you should spend your points at the start:

Health

Putting points into Health early makes things way easier. More HP means you can mess up more without dying, you have more chances to figure out boss patterns, and you won’t rely so much on healing items. Face it—while you’re still learning how enemies attack, you’ll get hit a lot. Extra health lets you make those mistakes and keep going. Quick note on healing, it is a limited resource and a majority of the attacks that bosses throw at you towards the end of the game can kill you with one hit. Instead of trying to heal through their attacks, try to learn their attack patterns and how to avoid them.

Stamina

Stamina drives pretty much everything—attacking, blocking, dodging, sprinting. If you run out, you’re wide open and can’t protect yourself. The bigger your stamina pool, the longer you can keep up special transformation abilities later on.

Strength

Once surviving doesn’t feel like a struggle anymore, start focusing on boosting your damage. Higher Strength cuts down your fights and lets you mow through regular enemies way faster.

Resonance

Resonance is what powers your active skills. The majority of the game’s most powerful attacks, such as transformations, use up Resonance. These skills can be much more effective after you are accustomed to fighting using DinoBlade’s battle system.

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The Resolve Bar

Bosses possess a Resolve meter. As you land attacks and Perfect Deflects, this bar fills. Once sufficiently charged, another successful Perfect Deflect triggers a powerful parry sequence that deals enormous damage. Many players overlook this mechanic early on. Mastering Resolve management significantly speeds up difficult encounters.

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Understand the Three Defensive Mechanics

Fighting involves three defense mechanics. They all serve their own purposes. Tailor your defense to the ppponent. Learning how each opponent fights pays off with DinoBlade. Defensively minded herbivores leave themselves open following an attack, and thus are easy opponents for parry combos. If you’re fighting a fast or angry boss, try not to force a deflect, and dodge when necessary to use abilities such as Roar or other Resonance abilities.

Dodge

Dodging gives you i-frames or invincibility frames. When timed right, the attacks will pass you harmlessly.

It is your best defense against:

• Huge sweeping strikes
• Attacks that glow red and can’t be blocked
• AoE attacks

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Block

Pressing block lessens the amount of damage you take.

When is it used?

• To learn new opponents
• When not sure about the timing
• When recovering positioning

Blocking drains stamina, and so it shouldn’t be used all the time.

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Perfect Deflection

This is one of the most important mechanics in DinoBlade. Perfect Deflect means blocking attacks at the right moment they strike. Advantages are:

• Returns stamina
• Returns Resonance
• Creates openings to counterattack
• Builds enemy Resolve
• Stuns bosses

The people who understand how to Perfect Deflect will enjoy a much easier game than those using dodges only.

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Conserve Stamina

The number one error a player will make is draining his stamina gauge. A typical pattern will play out like this:

• Keep hitting your opponent
• Use up all your stamina
• Get hit back
• Can’t avoid being hit
• Can’t defend against the attack
• Need to heal

In general, always have enough stamina to get out of there. One basic guideline: Always keep some stamina to spare when attacking. Almost all of these moves — attacking, evading, blocking and sprinting — come from the same stamina pool. Exhausting your stamina leaves you defenseless against a boss’ retaliation, resulting in unnecessary damage or quick death.

Do not rush to attack without any break between each combo. Execute the combo and break, giving your stamina time to regenerate. This will ensure that you always have enough stamina to either evade an attack or do a Perfect Deflect on your boss if he decides to attack unexpectedly.

Stamina regeneration can also depend on your own actions. In case you need to regenerate quickly, do not move around all the time and make a small space between you and your enemy rather than always circling the arena.

The safest thing would be to consider combat in cycles — attack moderately, break, regenerate stamina, and attack your boss while it has a break. This strategy might not look as fast as always attacking, but it increases your chances of survival significantly.

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How Resonance Works

Resonance serves as the mana of DinoBlade. It provides the power for abilities like:

• Meteor Slice
• Meteor Zone
• Roar
• Transformation abilities

Unlike other action RPGs, Resonance is not replenished automatically. It is primarily regenerated when players succeed in performing Perfect Deflects or rest at checkpoints. It promotes active defending. Those who keep dodging might end up not using abilities against bosses in longer battles.

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Enemy Pattern Recognition

But not all dinosaurs need to be taken care of the same way in DinoBlade. The plant-eating dinosaurs that you encounter in the game, such as Parasaurus, are defensive by nature and won’t attack you until you attack them first. You will find that such enemies are likely to block or parry your attacks, meaning that mindlessly mashing on buttons is not going to get the job done.

The solution here is to slow things down and bait the enemies into attacking you. Once they have attacked, hit them with a couple of well-timed attacks and retreat. In case you have unlocked the Roar skill, use it to make the enemies stumble momentarily to allow you more hits. Similarly, the resonant skills can come handy when trying to take out such enemies more quickly.

This is a good lesson to learn as it teaches you how to win battles in the game using patience. In future boss battles, you will see how learning to bait out the enemies and counter-attack is very effective.

Almost all enemies have:

• Separate openers
• Separate combo sequences
• Separate recovery sequences
• Times where they can be punished

Rather than jumping straight into the fight:

• Observe the enemy.
• Allow them to strike first.
• Understand their pattern.
• Strike while they recover.
• Bosses especially encourage patience.

More often than not, deaths come about from players growing impatient and becoming greedy when they land a couple of hits. Keep in mind: A single hit is never worth dying for.

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Boss Mechanics

Boss battles aren’t just about damage. They’re pattern recognition puzzles. It is common for many bosses to be vulnerable once they complete combos or slam moves or during transitions between phases. Instead of attacking them continuously, you can take advantage of this opportunity, move in, and attack them using as much stamina as possible before retreating.

Bosses are often left open after making an attempt at their high commitment attacks or after going through a series of combo attacks. High commitment attacks such as heavy slam and sweep, among others, leave the boss open for a short period of time since they are unable to launch a counterattack.

In case you notice the opening, quickly get into position to attack using a short combination attack. The best place from which to do so would be either behind or aside the boss, since you will not risk getting clipped at the start of the boss’s next combination attack.

Do not be greedy and attempt to make your attack last for as long as possible. Since openings are short and deliberate, staying around too long could make you get hit by the boss’s subsequent attack. With experience, you will learn how many attacks you can pull off from one opening before you have to back off.

Look out for:

• Long combo
• Timing of recovery
• Red unblockable attacks
• Building up resolve

Some attacks can be Perfect Deflected. Others need to be dodged. Knowing which attacks fall under each category makes everything easier. One of the biggest mistakes new players make is thinking that there are always ways to deflect a boss attack via Perfect Deflects. Parrying is one of the best mechanics in DinoBlade but this doesn’t mean that every attack is designed for that purpose. Many bosses have attacks that cannot be blocked and thus require using a different approach, like dodging.

If you know how the boss acts and what kind of attacks it uses, you should take into account which attacks can break through your block and which are unblockable. When you recognize such attacks and know their visual signals, do not try to deflect them; instead, dodge them and move away, then return after the boss finishes its attack combo.

Another common mistake is to remain close to the boss and try to deal as much damage as possible after nailing a few hits. Even though it feels great to deal maximum damage, this tactic usually leaves one with not enough stamina to block the next boss attack.

A much better strategy would be to use brief periods of fighting with the boss. Stand outside the boss’ range, provoke him into starting an attack, get closer, and deliver one or two hits during the animation. Such “hit and retreat” will provide enough stamina for blocking and dodging the next attack. Even though such a fighting style seems to be slower compared to the aggressive one, it is significantly more effective.

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When to Dodge Instead of Parry

Though parries are more powerful, it is not always recommended to block all attacks.

ALWAYS Dodge:

• Red glowing attacks
• Area attacks
• Late game bosses attacks
• When you’re still learning a move

After getting the timings for an attack, start substituting your Perfect Defense for the dodge.

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Upgrade Your Abilities

Bosses grant Boss SP. Boss SP allows the unlocking and upgrading of highly useful abilities from the Souls Art tree. Abilities upgraded include:

• Damage Boosts
• Parry Window Expansion
• Transform Skills
• Ability Duration Extension

Roar will become one of the best skills that you get early on in DinoBlade. Instead of a damaging skill, Roar is a great crowd control ability, briefly stunning the enemies in the vicinity and giving you an opportunity to move away, restore your health, or counterattack the enemies.

The best thing about Roar is the way it works against highly defensive creatures such as herbivores that block or parry all your strikes. In such a case, using Roar will disrupt the rhythm of the creature and let you attack it freely before it gets its bearings. Furthermore, Roar will come in handy in battles against many enemies. Creating a brief window between the strikes is extremely helpful since it will allow you not to be overrun by the enemies.

Nevertheless, since Roar uses your Resonance, it is better not to use it whenever you want. Monitor your Resonance bar carefully and use this ability only when it will provide you with an advantage over your opponent: when you should escape from a group of enemies, disrupt the guard of a defensive creature, or hit a boss after his recovery period.

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Weapons

Throughout the campaign you’ll unlock additional weapons. Beating the Alpha Bosses gives you new weapons along with abilities that will help you defeat other bosses. These weapons do not change the way you fight; however, each weapon has its own distinct advantage.

Examples include:

• Faster attack speed
• Heavy attack shockwaves
• Wider attack arcs
• Different reach
• Improved crowd control

Late-game weapons further diversify combat despite DinoBlade maintaining a relatively streamlined progression system.

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Explore Every Side Path

Curiosity is rewarded by DinoBlade. Throughout your journey through the different regions, look for breakable rocks, destructible objects, and alcoves, as these may contain valuable items that will help you throughout the game.

Some optional paths hold:

• Boss SP
• New weaponry
• Mini-bosses
• Materials for upgrading
• Healing upgrades

The Health Stones permanently boost your healing capabilities in a way very much like Estus Flask upgrades from Dark Souls. An extra healing charge can be the key to winning or losing against bosses. It is also important that you look for these hidden spots and take them into account when facing the Alpha Boss of each region. Side paths always contain helpful items, upgrades or progression items that can make future fights much easier for you. Spending some time looking around will give you these valuable items and can become crucial to your success.

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Efficient SP Farming

Once other zones are unlocked, then using Save Stones becomes a good way of resetting enemy spawns, regenerating HP and Resonance, and continuing farming SP. With fast travel between checkpoints unlocking, you can easily come back to previous locations and make use of them for upgrades and exploration.

In case you get into trouble with a difficult boss, you should not be ashamed to farm. The most effective way:

1. Locate a checkpoint close to several enemies.
2. Kill all nearby enemies.
3. Gather SP.
4. Rest at the checkpoint.
5. Repeat.

There are many advantages to resting:

• Enemies respawn
• Health is restored
• Resonance is fully restored
• Pickups of SP respawn

Some gamers use transformation ability together with that. Activate your transformation, eliminate an entire enemy group quickly, rest, restore Resonance, and repeat for efficient farming.

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Summons After Bosses

Defeat of bosses unlocks summons. These summons make attacks in rapid succession and also provide passive buffs. Some examples are:

• Wider parrying window
• Quick stamina replenishment
• Extra combat benefits

Despite being no major modifications to your game style, these are very helpful additions that you cannot afford to ignore.

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Expect a Linear Adventure

While “sprawling” worlds are mentioned, DinoBlade is not an open world game. Rather, players should expect:

• Mainly linear gameplay
• Some optional routes of exploration
• Revealed hidden bonuses
• Different biomes
• Progression blockers in the form of Alpha bosses

The biomes consist of:

• Rocky canyons
• Dense jungles
• Environments covered in snow
• The ruins of the past

Each biome presents new enemies and tougher bosses.

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DinoBlade could perhaps boast the weirdest premise in recent games history, but behind all the bizarre ideas there is a well-designed action RPG hidden. The fighting mechanics of the game revolve around timing, energy usage, and good defense skills; meanwhile, the animation and boss battles make DinoBlade really remarkable among Souls-like games. All you need to do to enjoy the challenging gameplay and feel the thrill of victory is spend time studying enemy patterns, upgrade your skills regularly, and farm enough SP for that. It won’t take you long to become a real blade wielder Spinosaurus and slash your way through dinosaurs.