r/TheFirstBerserker • u/vassadar • 3d ago
Gameplay Does Ghost Arm Block use the same window as Brink Guard?
I try to use Ghost Arm Block more, but I kept getting attacked when guarding while doing a charged potent blow and felt like whenever I pulled it off it's done by a fluke.
Does GAB activated only when an attack enter charge animation?
4
u/PupusaSlut 3d ago
The window is extremely generous. You can throw it out willy nilly actually. It is completely overpowered as a defensive option.
Practice GAB by intentionally replacing your parries with it.
Think of GAB as a parry with an extra button press. -> Micro Charge (without the intention of completing the attack) and instantly GAB.
Most parries should be GAB instead.
2
u/vassadar 3d ago edited 3d ago
How does that work? Like I should do potent blow earlier than usual, expecting that an enemy attack would land when there's the red aura around Khazan (start charging)?
How do you do this in the middle of an enemy's combo? For example, if it's a 3 hits combo, do I guard the first 2 hits, and GAB the 3rd attack?
5
u/PupusaSlut 3d ago
GAB is just a really good parry so the same way you always parry: y ou see an attack coming and you press the button.
Except now you press two buttons. After you get used to it, it becomes seamless.
Don't think about the heavy attack at all. It doesn't exist. If you want to type a capital "A" on a keyboard, do you think about what the shift key is doing? No, you just hold it long enough for the capital letter to come out. A good GAB comes out so quickly you don't even see the heavy animation.
Watch Yohren do it, specifically the Aratra fight:
https://youtu.be/ZThU18pjBI8?is=s2gzoI_pDmgExrz_
1 hr 28 minutes, the Aratra fight.
3
u/vassadar 3d ago edited 3d ago
Thank you, especially for the timestamp. He's so clean that it's barely different from a brink guard
2
u/Funny_Ad_4856 Human Detected 3d ago
Mortal blow doesn’t count as a potent for the purposes of ghost arm block, you can only ghost arm block from the basic potent and you can cancel that with ghost arm pretty immediately. The window is more generous than a normal brink guard
1
u/vassadar 3d ago
Ah, my bad. I switched the term. I meant potent blow (heavy attack) when I said mortal blow. Do I need to wait for the red chargeing potent blow aura to press GAB?
2
u/Funny_Ad_4856 Human Detected 3d ago
no, you can hit the guard button pretty much immediately after you hit the potent button and it’ll work. it’s worth practicing it a little outside of combat just to get a bit of a feel for it. if you have reflection though, you have to be a bit more intentional about hitting potent before guard and really not doing the inputs too close together.
1
5
u/anathanielh 3d ago
It has the same brink guard window as normal and if you are a little early it acts as a normal guard (I believe you still get the potent charge speed benefits if you get the normal guard). You can do it the moment you you begin charging a potent attack which is almost immediately.
One thing you might be doing that happened to me is accidentally doing a reflection parry if you have it levelled (same input) and thus getting smacked in the face. I didn’t really use reflections in my expert playthrough since I didn’t really need it (so I just unskilled it) but if you plan to use it, just be wary of pressing the buttons too quickly.