Dauntless, a brand new (and free) monster-slaying title, gives you a solid handful of different weapons to use, learn, and master during your never-ending quest to kill as many Behemoth monsters as possible for loot and glory. Here's our guide to each of the six different weapons and what their strengths and weaknesses are, as well as some tips for how to use them effectively.
Slay the beasts
Dauntless
Hunt, forge, craft, and do it all again
Dauntless is an engaging and addictive co-op monster hunting game that features thrilling combat and the ability to personalize builds with crafting.
The bread-and-butter: Slashing weapons
Four of the six weapons in Dauntless are of the Slashing variety, which means that they do a high amount of Part damage to Behemoth body parts specifically, especially if the part in question is also Wounded. In addition, they can also do a low amount of Stagger damage, too, although you won't be able to actually stagger or stun a Behemoth unless multiple Slashing weapon users are hitting the same spot together quickly. Because two-thirds of the weapons are Slashing, it can be considered the "standard" weapon type of Dauntless. Here's what all of the Slashing weapons are:
Sword: The jack-of-all-trades weapon of Dauntless. Offering a well-rounded balance of medium damage, medium speed, and medium range, the Sword is the most versatile weapon in the game. There's never a situation where the Sword is a bad choice, although there are plenty of situations where other weapons would be better. The Sword's special attacks revolve around consistent damage output and aggressive harassment of the target, and you can dodge decently fast to evade Behemoth attack. The combos are simple and easy to learn, which makes the Sword a fantastic choice for a new player.
Axe: The Axe is the heaviest-hitting of all the Slashing weapons, causing large amounts of damage with each blow that lands. However, this comes with a trade-off: speed. The Axe, by far, is the slowest Slashing weapon in Dauntless. This speed reduction means you're likely to get hit more often than if you were to use another weapon, so choosing to attack at the right moment is crucial with the Axe. Once you get the Axe's combo going, however, you get special status effects that give you both multiplied damage and the ability to shrug off a Behemoth's stuns. In short, initiation with the Axe is tough, but once you get going, you're going good. You get to throw the Axe for your special attack, which, while not as damaging as melee, can be a great way to do damage from range or land some hits on a particularly elusive Behemoth.
Chain Blades: Essentially, the Chain Blades are the opposite of the Axe in every way. They have some of the lowest raw damage output in Dauntless, but the benefit of the Chain Blades is that they give you maximum mobility and attack speed, which allows you to endlessly harass Behemoths with chip damage even better than the Sword can. The Chain Blades also have some solid range options since they can be thrown as well as swung, and the special attacks of the Chain Blades emphasize weaving in and out of a Behemoth's attack range, constantly doing damage. Against a slow-moving Behemoth especially, the Chain Blades are an incredibly powerful tool.
Ostian Repeaters: It's a bit silly that these dual revolvers are classified as Slashing weapons, but I digress. The Ostian Repeaters are somewhat of a mix between the Axe and the Chain Blades, and the fact that they're guns means that they're good at range, but they also fire slowly. In some ways, they're a risk-reward type of weapon, as reloading close to a Behemoth gives you a brief period of double damage, giving you an incentive to get closer than you need to. They're the most customizable weapon in the game, and changing the barrels, grips, magazine, and internal energy of the revolvers can increase your reload speed, allow you to fire an explosive mine, and more.
The other two weapons in Dauntless' arsenal are primarily geared towards players looking to help maximize the damage output of their team overall, and not just their own. That doesn't mean that these weapons can't dish out pain, however; it simply means that their mechanics aren't designed entirely around raw damage potential.
Hammer: The Hammer is the closest thing Dauntless has to a stun-focused weapon, as its heavily-damaging Blunt strikes can do tremendous Stagger damage and will stagger or even knock Behemoths off their feet outright if you hit them in the head or the legs. This allows both you and the rest of your team to start beating the snot out of the Behemoth while it can't move for a little bit, which is incredibly valuable. However, like the Axe, it's very slow and you'll need to time your attack chains with it carefully. Unlike the Axe, though, the combos are pretty hard to learn, so you'll need to practice them for a while. Its alternate attack is a support-style artillery cannon that can be used to pepper a Behemoth from afar, and the Hammer's special attacks allow you to either add a Stagger damage effect to said cannon or create an aura that buffs teammates' damage.
War Pike: The War Pike is perhaps Dauntless' most underrated weapon. It only has medium damage and a slow attack speed, which means that it's not great at all for high damage output for the user. However, it has the unique ability to do Wound damage to Behemoth body parts, which will cause a part to become Wounded if enough Wound damage is applied. Wounded body parts take significantly more damage from all Part damage, which works exceptionally with teammates using Slashing weapons. A group of teammates with Slashing weapons attacking a Wounded body part over and over (this is where a Hammer knockdown would be great!) can absolutely shred a Behemoth's health bar. Its combos are moderately difficult to learn, and its special attacks are similar to the Hammer's, allowing you to fire beam attacks at Behemoth's from afar.
What do you think of all of the different weapons in Dauntless? Let me know, and make sure you check out my guide on
Slay the beasts
Dauntless
Hunt, forge, craft, and do it all again
Dauntless is an engaging and addictive co-op monster hunting game that features thrilling combat and the ability to personalize builds with crafting.
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