ATLYSS: Fighter Tank guide/general walkthrough

please be advised that as a social online game, tanks are generally very easy targets for toxic behavior. people normally expect tanks to always be the most knowledgeable, know what to do every area, when to stun to avoid damage, where to stand, to stand completely still as much as possible so everyone else can easily damage stuff, and in general are in a very accident prone role. it’s always best to ignore rude comments or learn if there’s anything constructive in them, but you shouldn’t lash back, if they’re getting to you then just don’t play with them in the future, or in stand out cases, mute and avoid them in general.

tanks shoulder the most “blame”, followed by healer types not healing right or getting unlucky, and then dps can just kind of fly around and gaslight.

atlyss isn’t as hardcore as some other games but the general mindset will remain so it’s just something to keep in mind, not as something that should be expected or even very common but it is a thing, sometimes even with good friends. just how it is. you will make mistakes, you might not ever be mentally fast enough to parry everything or memorize all patterns, and that’s ok. just do the best you can, avoid jerks, and avoid becoming a jerk yourself.

race doesn’t matter, but changs ability to auto parry for a short window is very nice. however any race can learn any default skill, a bit later on, and you can’t change races following the games rules, so prioritize what race you like first. as a general rule of thumb, i recommend 2 strength, 1 vitality every level, which will make you end up with a total of 53 strength and 27 vitality as of the 25 cap. you have multiple means to restore hp, consumables, high defenses, and safety buttons, so an eventual max hp of around 230 is plenty. but as a rule, you want enough tankiness you always have time to react plus a bit of a cushion, but also damage to make everything faster and to be more self reliant in solo play. if you need more hp until you become more confident or reach good gear, that’s fine. leveling equal str and vit also works. i wouldn’t prioritize vit though because you wind up becoming reliant on other people and have a harder time alone.

i recommend starting with a sword (1 handed wooden stick) and equipping a shield asap. you can also play with a 2 hander. generally sword and shield is faster and easier to move or quickly attack and block with, and also has access to shield bash (stun enemies) and a chance to auto block attacks under a certain number (which can prevent panicking from rapid small damage) also more defense. “heavy” 2 handers have more damage and access to cyclone for more threat generation, but are point blank and slower. spear-type 2 handers have similar damage to swords but instead are longer reach and fast and have multi hit attacks. honestly though while fun they’re a bit more try hard required compared to just sticking with a shield for extra defenses or a hammer for more power.

early on (before you can choose your class) prioritize learning recovery and sturdy (if you have it). recovery is surprisingly useful, and since it only stops if you actually get damaged and not in combat, if you get confident in dodging you can pop it in combat and sprint away to heal. you want to also prioritize the “bun” line of healing items, very early the 25 hp one, but then eventually jars (50 hp) for minor injuries and bags (150) for emergencies. any hp item is useful, however it can get kind of stressful managing 5 hotkeys and varying numbers, so ive found no issue relying on 50 and 150 as of current. generally though all consumables are fair game, just for this guide i currently only find easy use of those and maybe another 50 hp item on the end. however, always keep at least 1 angela’s tear on hand for emergency revivals.

make sure you keep most anything not used in your box, at least 1 stack, and when in doubt more. you can make decent money from selling but it’s generally better to keep than sell if it’s something useable later. i believe the chest is also shareable between all characters, but im not 100% sure because i’ve just leveled one character. main thing is to keep made weapons and armor from quests at the shop, some are used for further quests and it can be annoying to backtrack.

generally getting to around level 10 for your class is kind of the most annoying/difficult part, you have to just wing some of it. you don’t have access to fun stuff so it’s kind of painful. but, rock toss does pretty decent damage, recovery and sturdy work solidly, and if you learn how to parry pretty good, you can actually do some very surprising content. like higher leveled geists in the catacombs etc. not a issue if you can’t reliably do that, main thing is following the quests for your level, and if you get stuck, repeating ones near your level you know you can do. don’t be afraid of dying, there’s currently no penalties for it except remaining enemies recovering hp or toxic team mates.

since the game is in flux, it’s difficult to give a stable leveling guide, but in general basics apply, do quests at your level, if they go past them, make sure you didn’t miss any or repeat earlier ones, if you’re taking too much damage or not dealing enough, try to repeat the hardest dungeon you can and get items close to your level. make sure your items are primarily “attack power” and not dex or mag power, and make sure you buy as many consumable hp items as you can comfortably afford.

take time when leveling to practice parrying (block shortly before enemies hit you), generally telegraphed by them being purple etc. some enemies are very hard to tell or very fast, so don’t be discouraged when learning or if some you just can’t reliably stop. main thing is to know how to block a good amount or reliably block slow enemies that hit really hard.

when you get a notification to choose your class, pick fighter (white fur ***less loincloth guy), and then you start getting the fun stuff.

stomp will be your bread and butter ability, threat generation (enemies go to you), aoe, good damage, slow, defense down, low cooldown.

shield bash is also very good, decent damage and 2.5 second stun on common enemies, believe less on bosses, most all statuses are much less on bosses. very good for naturally stopping enemy attacks.

blood gush, good damage, damage over time. honestly not very crazy about it, it’s by no means bad, just all options here are kind of meh, especially for a physical tank. you currently wind up choosing gush, lethal strike (dash attack +evasion) or execute (same direct damage as gush but instead of bleed, 20% chance of outright killing enemies below 30% hp, including bosses). execute is better for bosses mostly since the dot is severely handicapped against bosses, but gush is more reliable in general. lethal strike’s evasion and damage is nice but annoying having to reposition. kind of wish there was another physical defensive/offensive ability like damage dealt and a small shield or something.

anyway, after that we’ve got rage. rage is surprisingly sexy, it lasts 30 seconds with a 30 second cooldown, aoe for team mates, and it affects *all* power stats, not just attack, which is very important for a current trump card which leads to

divine, aoe damage and heal under your feet. it’s magical, and you don’t have points for it naturally, however using rage before it makes it function fairly normally. this can replace recover as your survival ability, however it takes longer in the game to get, either from crescent grove chests as a scroll or a vendor past it at the wall of stars, so recovery is fine til then and even beyond to a point. main thing is recovery’s cooldown suuuuuckssss and divine’s doesn’t as much. siphon leech is also pretty sexy looking, but requires enemies and relies on a status effect. also it’s very easy to support one mana ability beside rage and sturdy, not as much 2 or more.

speaking of, when gearing, rule number 1 is you want minimum 1 item with “manafont” on it equipped. more doesn’t hurt you but does nothing extra, but you need a total of 50 minimum mana. 15 for rage, 20 for divine, 15 for sturdy. even if you blow them all, their cooldowns coincide with mana recovery, so you should never wind up needing any, as long as you use one item for manafont. you *can* also put points into mind instead, however you would wind up using a ridiculous investment and harming your stamina, common damage and/or hp.

for your ability bar, 1-6. i recommend stomp, shield bash, blood gush, rage, divine, and sturdy. it helps keeps spammable stuff easy and rage before divine.

beside that, focus on items that by default only have your main stats. if it’s locked to fighters only, that’s a good sign. some items currently have other stats along with them and are still superior (like the colossus earthwoken ring drop), however generally always good to minimize them. it’s nothing to fret over too much as long as you use basic sense, more dmg on sword = good, more defense on armor = good, less useless stats for us like dex power, meaning more in things we can use = good.

a good set to aim for past the colossus for example is knightguard halo (def, m def, hp, stamina) cobblerage cloak (m def, attack) berserker chest (def, m def, hp, attack power, crit) berserker leggings (def, m def, hp, attack) serrated blade (hp, attack power) rustweary shield (attack power) and then the earthwoken ring or the orbos ring if you already did the quest before a recent update. the coldgeist blade is also a nice option but has less physical stuff for more magical. you don’t need any extra magic stats for divine, rage does that for you and it’s plenty of healing (main purpose) and decent damage. when you have money and resources to blow, besides one manafont enchantment, aim for primarily killer (more attack/crit) guardian (to help cover your low magic defense) energetic (for stamina) and lively (for hp). always one manafont, the rest is kind of decent but not really going to be a game changer for the most part. with high strength you should have pretty great stamina already, killer is generally always useful for the crit add up, guardian can help spells from hurting you quite as bad, lively can help cushion your hp some. i really wouldn’t worry about them too much with how fast equipment can change.

can’t think of anything else i can add at the moment, hope it helps someone