Start by learning your game’s controls, then treat combat as a cycle of observing, defending, and taking a safe opening—not a race to empty your stamina bar. Explore when a fight feels out of reach; in games such as Elden Ring, detours can reveal useful upgrades and alternate ways forward. Soulslike games share some design habits, but their controls, stamina rules, and progression systems vary.
What to learn before your first difficult fight
Spend a few minutes with the control screen or tutorial before taking on a demanding enemy. Find the controls for movement, camera, target lock, light and heavy attacks, guard, dodge, and item use. The button layout—and even whether a particular mechanic exists—depends on the game and your chosen input device. Bandai Namco’s 2021 Elden Ring starter guide is a useful example of the basic controls and on-screen gauges that a game may explain.
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In a safe area, try each defensive action once and notice what it does to your character’s movement and stamina. The goal is not to master every technique immediately; it is to know which button produces which response when an enemy attacks.
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Many Soulslike fights reward deliberate timing. In Elden Ring, attacks and other actions commit the character to animations, so starting a long attack at the wrong moment can leave you unable to react. Bandai Namco’s combat guide warns that repeated panic rolls can carry a player into an incoming attack. Its concise advice is: “Patience is key in ELDEN RING.” The principle is useful, but the specific timing and defensive options vary by game. Read the official combat guide.
#1 Best Overall
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Use a simple practice loop
- Watch an enemy long enough to notice its wind-up, attack range, and recovery.
- Choose one response to an attack: dodge, block, or another defense the game teaches you.
- After the enemy’s attack ends, take a brief opening with one or two attacks.
- Reset your position and watch again rather than continuing to attack automatically.
This short loop helps you see which actions leave you exposed and whether your defense avoids, absorbs, or otherwise answers an attack. Practice one defensive option at a time so you can learn its timing before adding another.
Choose a defense that fits the moment
- Dodge: Use it to avoid an attack when you can read its timing and direction. Dodging too early or repeatedly can leave you poorly placed for the next move.
- Block: If the game offers a shield or another guard, use it when you prefer to defend directly. In Elden Ring, guarding and guard counters are among the tools covered by the official combat guide.
- Parry: Treat a timed parry as an optional technique to practice, not a required beginner skill. The Elden Ring guide characterizes it as high-risk and high-reward.
How stamina works—and how to avoid running out
Think of stamina as an action budget. In Elden Ring, it recovers over time and is not consumed outside combat. When it reaches zero, you cannot perform further actions that consume stamina, according to Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe’s official starter guide. Attacking, dodging, blocking, and other actions can compete for this resource, so spending the whole bar on offense may leave you without the stamina for a timely defense.
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- Collaborating with George R.R. Martin to create the ELDEN RING mythos has been a genuinely delightful experience and a source of wonderful inspiration. The team is working hard to ensure that the world of ELDEN RING will be a fascinating place for players to explore, filled with peril and wonder from its furthest reaches to its lowest depths. This is a FromSoftware title through and through, rich in fantasy and RPG action. We sincerely hope you look forward to it.
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- Use a small number of attacks, then pause long enough to recover and reassess.
- Keep some stamina in reserve when an enemy is still active and you may need to dodge or guard.
- If you reach zero often, shorten your attack sequences and look for a clear recovery window before committing again.
These are practical habits, not universal rules: other Soulslike games may use stamina differently or not use it for the same actions.
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Getting blocked by one enemy does not necessarily mean you have reached a dead end. In Elden Ring, Guidance of Grace points toward important locations, and map markers help keep track of discoveries. Its world also lets players leave a difficult boss, explore without fighting, and return later. The publisher’s gameplay overview suggests considering a less threatening area when another route feels too dangerous.
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- A New Fantasy World – Journey through the Lands Between, a new fantasy world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki, creator of the influential Dark Souls video game series, and George R. R. Martin, author of The New York Times best-selling fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Unravel the mysteries of the Elden Ring’s power. Encounter adversaries with profound backgrounds, characters with their own unique motivations for helping or hindering your progress, and fearsome creatures
- World Exploration in the Lands Between – Elden Ring features vast fantastical landscapes and shadowy, complex dungeons that are connected seamlessly. Traverse the breathtaking world on foot or on horseback, alone or online with other players, and fully immerse yourself in the grassy plains, suffocating swamps, spiraling mountains, foreboding castles and other sites of grandeur on a scale never seen before in a FromSoftware title
- Genre-Defining Gameplay – Create your character in FromSoftware’s refined action-RPG and define your playstyle by experimenting with a wide variety of weapons, magical abilities, and skills found throughout the world. Charge into battle, pick off enemies one-by-one using stealth, or even call upon allies for aid. Many options are at your disposal as you decide how to approach exploration and combat
Turn a detour into useful progress
- Check nearby paths and map locations for routes you have not explored.
- Look for resources or equipment that could help with your current challenge.
- In Elden Ring, exploration can lead to weapon upgrades, healing improvements, recipes, equipment, and Spirit Ashes, according to Bandai Namco’s overview of the game.
- Return to the difficult fight when you have a clearer plan or have found a tool you want to try.
Some games also offer summons or cooperative play. Elden Ring includes Spirit Ash summons and co-op as possible forms of assistance; they are options, not prerequisites. Check the individual game’s instructions rather than assuming those systems are present elsewhere.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Choosing a first Soulslike
Choose by the kind of exploration and combat you want, not by a universal ranking of difficulty. Elden Ring is one option if an open world and freedom to approach challenges in different orders appeal to you. Bandai Namco contrasts its structure with earlier Souls games’ more interconnected, linear paths, while noting that timing, observation, and patience remain central to combat. That is the publisher’s feature comparison, not an objective genre-wide verdict. See Bandai Namco’s comparison.
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Before choosing any game, check what its own tutorial says about defense, stamina, and progression. A game that lets you defer a difficult encounter may suit someone who likes exploring; another player may prefer a more directed route. There is no established single best first game for every newcomer.
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