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Aggro Crab’s latest titleAnother Crab’s Treasureis a deceptively brutal game. Its cute and colorful setting is starkly contrasted bythe difficult Soulslike mechanics, which feel as difficult as one would expect of a game in such a traditionally unforgiving genre.
There are plenty of accessibility options and Assist Mode settings to make the game easier, but knowing the bestAnother Crab’s Treasurecombat tips can turn the tides without lowering the difficulty. Many of these tips apply to all Soulslike games, butAnother Crab’s Treasuredoes a lot to differentiate itselfand make combat feel uniquely engaging – if you can keep up with it.
5Prioritize Vitality To Raise Your HP
Raise Your HP To Gain Survivability & More Chances In Combat
Players will have a tough time getting through the early parts of the game with just the base amount of HP. Enemy attacks hit hard, and come out fast, and you’re just as likely to die from a pack of small enemies as you are a boss fight.
But if you raise your HP, Kril can withstand more, and you’ll have more wiggle room in combat – being killed in two hits makes things much harder than they need to be.
Of the four stats you can level up, prioritize Vitality over the other three to most effectively help raise your HP. There are some Stowaways that raise HP, but you won’t get these until later in the game. Get Vitality to around 5 or 6 before you consider putting points in the other three skills.
4Memorize Enemy Attack Patterns
And Learn Your Own Attack Patterns & Speeds
Just like in most soulslike games,Another Crab’s Treasurefeatures enemies with unique attack patterns that can be learned and countered. When entering combat against a new enemy for the first time, spend a moment learning what their attack patterns are so that you can attack and dodge with correct timing.
For example, the Royal Shellsplitter – a miniboss near Fort Slacktide – has a Fear attack that you have to run away from, and a telegraphed slam attack with its Bike Lock weapon. Regular crabs around the area will wind up before they attack with their pincers, and sometimes attack twice. The pufferfish enemies will slam down and give you a few seconds to strike back, but are difficult to avoid.
If you are having trouble against an enemy, spend some time learning their attack patterns, memorize the tells for their abilities, and see how they move around the arena. Additionally, spend some time getting used to Kril’s moveset, as using the wrong move at the wrong time can spell all but certain death as you struggle to recover and dodge incoming attacks.
Combat inAnother Crab’s Treasureis justas strategic as theSoulsgames, so be sure to treat it with the same approach.
3Dodge Into Attacks
Another Crab’s Treasure Has I-Frames
Speaking of similar approaches,Another Crab’s Treasureisa soulslike that uses a dodge rollsystem that utilizes I-Frames. I-Frames, or invincibility frames, nullify attacks that would have normally connected with you. Because of this mechanic, it’s actually better to dodge into enemy attacks rather than away from them.
If you dodge away, you could come out of the dodge animation before the attack connects. But if you dodge toward attacks, the time frame that your hitbox and the attack hitbox connect is significantly shorter, meaning less chance of accidentally being clipped.
InAnother Crab’s Treasuredodge timing depends on your current shell’s size. Small shells let you dodge further, faster, and with more I-Frames, while Heavy shell dodges are shorter, slower, and have fewer I-Frames.
2Be Aggressive In Combat
Continuously Build Stagger To Knock Enemies Down
ThoughAnother Crab’s Treasureis described by most as a soulslike, it’s actually closer toaSekiro: Shadows Die Twice-likebecause of its Stagger mechanic. When you attack any enemy, a small yellow bar will build beneath their normal red HP bar. This yellow bar represents Stagger, and when the entire name is surrounded with a yellow outline, you can Stun enemies for a few moments.
However, if your attacks cease for just a few moments, the bar will start to shrink. Though it might feel correct to play this game defensively, it’s better to try to stay engaged in combat as much as possible.
One good way to preserve your Stagger bar on an enemy is the Can Shell ability, which releases small bubbles that hone toward a target. You can also sprint in and perform a quick slash, then dash away, witha skill that can be unlockedafter meeting the Moon Snail.
1Learn How To Parry & Riposte
The Best Offense Is A Good Defense
Part of stayingaggressive in Soulslike combatis knowing when the right time to attack is, and when the right time to block is. With the game’s Parry and Riposte system, it’s possible to blend defense and offense into a single move – but it can be hard to master.
Players can learn Parry and Riposte by progressing the skill tree. To Parry, you must release your block the moment that an enemy’s attack makes contact with Kril (not press block, you must already be blocking to trigger a Parry).
If performed correctly, the enemy will reel backward and be vulnerable for a few seconds. If you quickly press the Attack input after Parrying an enemy, you will perform a Riposte follow-up, which deals an enormous amount of damage in one swing.
Though this only works against some Boss moves, it works on almost every other enemy’s attacks in the game. Every enemy attack has a different timing to learn and respond to correctly, but if you can master the Parry, you can easily continue to deal damage and build Stagger while maintaining a strong defense.
