Best Tips for New Players

In this Blades of Fire

guide, I’m going to give you some helpful tips for those of you who are just starting out with the game. We’re going to talk about combat, weapon crafting, materials, enemies, and different aspects of the game—some things that you’ll figure out eventually, but it’s definitely better to know them early to save yourself time and frustration.

God of War Inspirations — Dark Souls Execution

As I mentioned in our previous video
, Blades of Fire seems to be heavily inspired by God of War.

So if you’ve played either of the two recent God of War games, you probably already have some understanding of the concepts I’ll go through.

To start, let’s talk about combat fundamentals.

Combat Fundamentals – Mastering the Flow

Even though the game is inspired by God of War mechanically, the combat feels more like Dark Souls

This means you’ll be blocking, parrying, dodging, and managing your stamina during combat.

• Managing stamina is a key part of this game.

You can hold block for an extended period—similar to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

—to regain stamina faster.

Learning when to do this and creating distance to recover stamina is very importantbecause the less stamina you have, the slower you’ll move, roll, and attack. Enemies can interrupt you more easily when you’re low on stamina.

• Blocking—even if it leads to chip damage—is a valid strategy early on.

Sometimes it’s just easier than perfectly timing your parries or attacks. Just hold block, let the enemy bounce off, then get your hits in. That chip damage is worth it while you’re still learning.

• Parrying is extremely effective, though it can be a bit challenging.

The window is fair and can be mastered with practice. A huge benefit of parrying is that after a successful parry, you get a short window where attacking doesn’t consume stamina. So you can go all out for a bit.

When crafting weapons, you can improve the parry window using certain materials. If you like parrying, craft a weapon with a wide parry window and switch to it when you want to parry. Since you can equip four weapons, it’s easy to dedicate one as your “parry weapon.”

No Traditional Stats: Upgrade Through Exploration

There are no traditional stats in Blades of Fire like strength, dexterity, or intelligence. Instead, you increase health and stamina by collecting shards throughout the game.

Finding four of each will increase your health or stamina pool. Explore thoroughly to find these shards—they’ll make combat easier.

Weapon Types & Damage Mechanics

Now let’s talk about weapon types, damage typesand how to unlock new weapons and weapon totems.

There are seven weapon types:

Each weapon usually deals one or more types of damage—like slashing or piercing—depending on your stance.

You can switch stances to find the effective damage typebut not every weapon in a category is the same. Some have unique damage profiles.

You unlock weapons by defeating certain enemies multiple times. Some enemies have counters indicating how many more you need to defeat to unlock their weapon.

If an enemy uses a weapon you’ve never seen, you can probably unlock it by defeating enough of them.

Each weapon within a type may differ in reach, damage, or damage type.

Daggers are fast but short-range, while polearms are slower but longer.

When crafting, you can also change properties. You might want a weapon for each damage type—blunt, slashing, piercing—so you can switch based on the enemy you’re facing.

Enemies with a red glow will take little to no damage from your current weapon, so switch stances or weapons.

Green glow means high damage potential, and orange is acceptable but not ideal.

Learn to identify and target weak points using directional attacks—left, right, or top—based on enemy positioning.

Weapon Crafting – Stats, Totems & Upgrades

Crafting and gear management are core parts of the game. You’ll be collecting materials and upgrading weapons to improve damage, block/parry timing, reach, stamina cost, and other stats.

Be mindful of the stamina stat: boosting damage might lower stamina, and that trade-off can hurt you in the long run. A powerful hit is pointless if you can’t move or defend afterward. So early on, prioritize stamina-friendly upgrades.

Weapon totems scattered across the game give you valuable materials when used with the correct weapon type.

If you don’t have the right weapon, the game will mark the totem on your map so you can come back later.

Try to always carry different weapon types (you can equip four at once) to maximize your chances of interacting with these totems.

Crafting Mini-Game Tips – Hammer with Precision

Crafting itself includes a mini-game that can be challenging.

Different weapons have different shapes, and you must match the pattern accurately.

Some are harder than others, so start with simpler ones early on. If you mess up, reheating the weapon lets you retry, but it reduces the number of strikes and max durability. You can also angle the hammer to hit a smaller or wider area depending on your needs.

One crafting tip: work left to right, using wide hammer strikes to match the pattern. If needed, reheat to fix errors. This has worked best for me so far.

That wraps up our video on getting started tips for Blades of Fire. Some of these things will become second nature as you play, and others just need a bit of practice. Big shoutout to Mercury Steam and 505 for sponsoring this guide. If you like what you’ve seen, use our link below to support the channel.

Play the Demo Now!

1. Epic: http://bit.ly/3F3ipcV

2. Xbox : http://bit.ly/42YR8kZ

3. PS5: http://bit.ly/4mjBXum

Are you playing Blades of Fire? Did you try the demo? Let me know what you think in the comments!