Combat plays a vital role in Prince of Persia: The Last Crown and it is vital that you learn everything it has to offer as soon as possible. Depending on your difficulty selected, the game picks up the difficulty pace quickly as you progress and if you are not good at combat, you will struggle a lot in even the basic fights because the smallest enemy in the game hits hard. Even on lower difficulties, the boss battles are tough so your only chance is to understand how the combat works and how you can get better at it quickly. This Prince of Persia: The Last Crown Combat Guide will help you get better at the game and understand the basics and some advanced combat tactics.
Combat Guide – Prince of Persia: The Last Crown
Prince of Persia: The Last Crown is a Metroidvania by design and this brings some fresh gameplay mechanics into play for the franchise because it switches to 2D from 3D. The following tips and tricks in our Prince of Persia: The Last Crown Combat Guide will help you understand everything that you need to know about combat in the game.
Understand Your Basic Attack Combos
While you will unlock many advanced moves and abilities as you progress in the game, Sargon is fairly decent at landing combos using his basic weapons of choice Qays & Layla. This deadly duo of swords will be your main weapon of choice throughout the game, and you will continue to upgrade them. Your basic moveset is fairly straightforward right from the start of the game and if you understand and learn all of these moves quickly, you will be killing enemies without much trouble right from the start of the game.
Below you will find some basic and advanced combos that you can land using your primary weapon:
- Base Combo Ground: Attack > Attack > Up Attack (hold)
- Base Combo Air (After Jumping): Attack > Attack > Down Attack (hold)
- Base Combo Ground: Down Attack (sweep) > Up Attack (tap) > Shahbaz’s Spirit (anti air)
- Advanced Combo Ground: Attack > Attack > Up Attack (tap) > Shoot Arrows > Jump > Chain
- Advanced Combo Air (After Making Enemy Airborne from ground): Attack > Attack > Attack > Shoot Arrows > Air Dash > Chain
- Advanced Combo Air (In the air): Attack > Attack > Down Attack (hold) > Athra Surge
Mix Athra Surges in Your Basic Combos
Like I detailed in the section above, mixing Athra Surges with your basic combos not only look cool but they also act as cool finishers. Basic attacks and combos will allow you to build up your Athra meter and once you have one or two bars filled, you can start mixing your unlocked Athra Surges into your basic combos. After your first Athra Surge, you will continue to unlock more as you progress into the main story. At one time, you can only equip two different Athra Surges and some of them are Level 2 and some of them are Level 1. You can only switch and equip Athra Surges at Wak-Wak trees so make sure that you choose the ones that you need for the upcoming area or fight.
Level 1 Athra Surges require 1 full bar while Level 2 Athra Surges require 2 full bars. In your Athra Surges tab in the pause menu, you can decide which ones you want to equip. The best strategy is to keep them shuffling depending on your location and upcoming fights. If you are going against boss fights, go for ones that land the most damage while ensuring that they give you breathing space too because boss fights are challenging. You also need to know which ones can be triggered in the air and which ones cannot because some of the abilities can be triggered while you are in the air as well giving you even more to play around with.
Choose Your Build Carefully
While it is no RPG, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown allows you to have certain builds by equipping certain Athra Surges and Amulets. Depending on your choices, you can go full offensive, full defensive, or a balanced option. Some of the Amulets are defensive such as the Horned Viper that reduces incoming poison damage or the Shield of Mithra that allows you to create a time bubble when parrying to slow down time around you. Some of the Amulets are offensive such as the Four Royal Stars which increases your melee damage while you are in the air.
Similarly, the Athra Surges are both offensive and defensive as well. Bahman’s Breath allows you to create a healing zone that will restore your health over time. On the other hand, Athra Surges such as Verethragna’s Smite are so powerful when it comes to offense that they will break any defenses as well to deal maximum damage to your enemies. By playing around with Athra Surges and Amulets, you can create your very own unique builds catering to your own gameplay style.
Master the Art of Parrying
I cannot emphasize how important Parry is in Prince of Persia: The Last Crown. It is a vital element when it comes to fighting and no matter how hard or easy the enemy is, the best way of defeating them if parrying. It not only stops incoming attacks, but it also staggers the enemy which opens a window for you to counterattack them and finish them off. If you see the eyes of your enemy glow with a bright golden light, it means that a super parry opportunity is coming up. Parry this attack and you will finish off the enemy with a cool animation.
However, not all attacks can be parried so you must keep this in mind. Bosses as well as normal enemies will often get a red glare in their eyes, and this shows an unblockable attack. You cannot parry these attacks and if you try to parry them, you will receive damage. The only way to avoid these attacks is to dodge out of their way. You should make a habit of parrying incoming attacks and when you stagger the enemy, you can land a complete combo without the doubt of retaliation.
Prepare Before Boss Battles
The boss battles in Prince of Persia: The Last Crown are tough to the extent that even on the lowest difficulty, you might have a tough time defeating them if you are not prepared well. Before the boss battles, switch up Athra Charges and Amulets, equip those that exploit their weaknesses, and refill on your health potions. Visit a Wak-Wak Tree and you will get everything. If you have Time Crystals, you can purchase Health Potion upgrades at the Magi Emporium or upgrade your Amulets as well at the Goddess Kaheva’s forge to increase their effectiveness in combat. Both can be found in Haven. Never go into boss battles unprepared unless you are trying to take on a challenge.
Learn to Dodge at the Right Time
Dodge also works if you are having a hard time understanding the basics of parrying. Parrying requires precise input however if you want something with a little more flexibility, you can try mastering dodge instead which also gives you a small invincibility period. No matter how big the incoming attack is, you can dodge right through it if you dodge at the right moment. Unlike parrying, dodge also requires a little spacing from your enemies and some of the enemies can block your dodge approach as well, so you need to be vary of this. For the red glare attacks, your best bet is to dodge as well because you cannot parry them, so you need to find a good balance between dodging and parrying incoming attacks.
Check Out Free Training and Challenges
If you want to learn the basics as well as advanced combat mechanics, head to Haven and speak with Artaban. If you want to practice freely, you can choose Free Training where you can practice with enemies without the worry of dying and if you want some extra Time Crystals and want to learn everything there is about combat, you can complete the Challenges section. It not only teaches you basics but also advanced combat mechanics and once you acquire new gear and abilities, you can unlock new Challenges that allow you to learn using your new weapons and abilities and integrate them into your combat. This is a highly recommended task that you must complete in the game even if you are comfortable with your combat skills.
Use Your Bow in Combat
After certain progression in the main story, you unlock Menolias’s Bow which allows you to shoot arrows in platforming sections. However, you can use it in combat as well. While the damage is lower than your swords, your bow is excellent when it comes to hitting airborne enemies. The airborne enemies are some of the most annoying enemies in the game because their only task is to annoy you as you fight other enemies, but you can quickly shoot arrows at them and kill them.
The other function your bow serves is using it as a Chakram which is a charged weapon, and you can not only use it on gears to make them spin but you can throw it at enemies to deal damage to them. The Chakram goes through enemies and then comes back which means that it deals damage to them twice. Once when you throw it at them and then once it is coming back to you. Even then, you can parry your chakram and it will go back for a second round of damage dealing. It is a very cool move, and you can use it to defeat enemies from afar.
That is all for this guide. We have additional The Last Crown guides such as the Fast Travel Guide, Boss Battles Guide, or the Beginner’s Guide as well if you are just starting the game.
This concludes our Prince of Persia: The Last Crown Combat Guide. If you want to add anything to this guide, feel free to use the comments section below.
