Forspoken Combat Tips and Tricks – Beginner’s Guide

Forspoken, developed by Square Enix and Luminous Productions, is set in a huge world called Athia, full of enemies and natural obstacles that you have to conquer using your magical parkour and combat skills.

Protagonist Frey, a young New Yorker who gets magically transported into this fantastical environment, has numerous skills and abilities at her disposal—thanks to her bracelet sidekick, Cuff. Figuring out how to best the many dangerous creatures of Athia can be overwhelming, especially for those new to the game, so here is a beginner’s guide with Forspoken combat tips and tricks to make your journey easier.

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Go for a Balance Between Offensive and Support Magic

Frey can learn four different types of magic throughout the game, with each type having two sets of spells: attack/offensive and support/defensive spells. Naturally, you don’t have access to all these spells and magic types, but even the mechanics you need to use as a beginner take some time to get used to.

One of the best combat methods you can practice is to make use of your defensive spells first (L1 to select, L2 to use). As they cool down, hit enemies with your offensive magic that doesn’t deplete and that speeds up the cooldown timer (R1 to select, R2 to use). Alternate between these two spell wheels and, when the bottom right triangle fills up, unleash powerful surge attacks by hitting L2 and R2 together.

Use Your Parkour Skills—Extensively

One of the most appealing aspects of Forspoken is its magical parkour. It is fun to use it to traverse great expanses of Athia, but it is also super useful in combat. You can evade even the most powerful attacks by zooming around the battlefield instead of trying to block everything—especially because you won’t be able to stop the attacks coming from enemies that flare up red.

Scan Your Surroundings by Using Cuff

Good planning is half the battle. Since Athia brings many nasty surprises you can stumble into while exploring, it is a good idea to occasionally scan your surroundings by hitting Up on the D-pad. This way, you will get to see where the enemies are in your vicinity, and you can also discover other points of interest.

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Explore Accessibility Settings

Loads of Forspoken accessibility settings can help you navigate combat more easily without changing the difficulty. If you find it difficult to shuffle between evading and engaging in direct combat, you can have Frey evade incoming attacks automatically. The game can also switch to another support spell immediately after you use one that goes into a cooldown period.

Players can also choose to stop time completely when switching between different types of magic, instead of just slowing everything down. This setting can provide a welcome breather in a particularly difficult battle.

Upgrade Spells via Spellcrafting Challenges

Completing Spellcrafting Challenges is a great way to master different spells and abilities in Forspoken, while upgrading them at the same time. There are more than 100 of these challenges, and you can start exploring them by visiting a Pilgrim’s Refuge and interacting with a bookshelf.

For example, one challenge will require you to deal 1,500 damage to your enemies within 60 seconds, while another will ask you to attack enemies from behind 45 times, so completing them makes for a great tutorial on how to use particular skills.

There you go. With these beginner’s tips and tricks, you should be mastering combat in Forspoken in no time. For more Forspoken assistance, check out our dedicated section.