Combat tips for The Surge

In this chapter of guide to The Surge you will find useful advice that will help you start the game and learn good combat habits. It also contains information about executions and the potential death of the protagonist.

• Advice
• Death
• Executions

Advice

Combat scenes look impressive, especially during an execution

1. You use two keys to attack - horizontal and vertical attack. Early in the game you won't notice much difference between these attacks, but after some time, once you determine a specific fight style (mostly based on the equipment you wear), you will be able to perform some advanced combinations. By holding a key you increase attack strength but delay its activation.
2. The protagonist cannot climb or jump; he can only jump over obstacles.
3. You should attack while running - this will give you more strength and you might appear behind opponent's back. However, it is not an effective way while dragging heavy equipment.
4. Your attack can cancel enemy attack attempt. After some time you will learn to recognize the right time to perform a dodge, to defend yourself and to dodge opponent's attack. However, it is highly dependent on the weapon you use and your equipment (general speed of the character).
5. Learn to jump back - you will save stamina that is used during defence. The defense stance won't protect you from every attack type.
6. The tracking system will enable you to switch between the limbs of the opponent (if he is a humanoid). However, it doesn't matter too much if the opponent is fully armored. But when a limb isn't armored (blue color), you will deal double the damage.
7. Using a single type of weapon (like single handed ones) will impact your familiarity with it, which can increase the speed of attacks and the number of damage you deal. The bar that represents this parameter is shown in the bottom left corner of the screen.
8. The fights with bosses or mini bosses differ from regular fights. During them you must guess what the best way of fighting the opponent is or where you should attack him. Frequently you must use your surroundings or try to defeat the enemy with his own weapon.

Death

The player doesn't die permanently. After his health bar drops to zero, he is taken to a MedBay and the scrap he gathered is dropped. In the right corner of the screen, information appears that shows you how much time you have to gather the items.

When you die, all enemies in the area respawn, so if a given stage is too hard for you, fight the local opponents to gain more experience / materials for better equipment.

Executions

In executions you cut down the limbs you targeted

By using the E key you can finish the opponent in a spectacular way with a special attack (execution). This attack doesn't have special requirements, but it cannot be used on all opponents (for example, it doesn't work on flying robots). The only requirement is for the enemy to have low health (about 10-20% of the health bar). This attack has two purposes: it enables you to use an attack that doesn't deplete stamina or to obtain resources / schematics. Let's focus on the latter: by performing execution on a specific limb, you will randomly receive a damaged piece of a part, material of which it is constructed or a diagram if you don't have it yet. Attacking an armored limb is harder, so you can attack the opponent wherever you want and switch to the selected limb once you can perform the execution.