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There’s a heavy emphasis on magic inAvowed, but that doesn’t mean that players who enjoy pure, visceral melee combat have nothing to look forward to. Instead of just hacking and poking away at an enemy until their health bar disappears, players can also stun targets, opening up new avenues for different builds and playstyles.
The stun mechanic inAvowedisn’t that different fromother RPG games. It’s a completely optional way of fighting, but if you want to take on the game’s hardest difficulty, you’ll want to know how to take full advantage of the stun mechanic. Here’s what you need to know about it.
How Stun Works in Avowed
Every enemy in the game has a meter below their health bars thatrepresents their current stun accumulation. If this bar is filled completely, the target is Stunned for a few seconds, rendering them immobile and vulnerable to a powerful attack.
Hitting enemies with physical attacksbuilds up their stun meter to varying degrees. As a rule of thumb, the slower the weapon or the attack is, the more stun is built up on impact.Maces, rifles, and two-handed hammersdeal the most amount of Stun damage, while swords, pistols, and daggers deal the least. Axes are firmly in the middle, with spears and bows trodding just slightly behind. There are quite a fewearly game items inAvowedthat could help with stun-oriented builds.
Upgrading weapons will increase all of their stats, including Stun damage, so always attempt to upgrade your gear by salvaging unwanted items and collecting as many materials as you can. You’ll need high-quality equipment in order to fight against higher-level enemies.
Stunning Abilities
There are also a number of abilities that can cause high levels of stun.Charge, Barbaric Shout,andShield Bashfrom the Fighter tree are arguably the best ones for stunning targets, and if you’re playing as a Ranger or Wizard, you can use skills like Staggering Shot and Blast.
The Ranger’s line of skills includes Parry, which lets players deal Stun damage by perfectly blocking incoming attacks.
Enemies can also be stunned by yourcompanions inAvowed. Kai is pretty much the best when it comes to crowd control — his Fire and Ire and Leap of Daring abilities are particularly good at stunning targtes, and both skills taunt enemies too.
Unique Weapons
Some unique weapons are designed for playstyles that make heavy use of the stun mechanic. The Horsecutter greatsword (found in a cove along the southern coast of the Emerald Stair) deals increased Stun damage with the final hit of its combo. Many melee weapons can also be enchanted to deal more Stun damage with a parry.
