Summary
Stellar Blade’s combat will feel familiar to Soulslike fans, putting an emphasis on precise timing for attacks, parries, and dodges with a limited number of checkpoints to fall back on. AlthoughStellar Bladeisn’t a true Soulslike, these mechanics have clear roots in titles likeDark Souls,Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, andElden Ring, adapting them to fit a more approachable style of gameplay. Unfortunately, one commonality thatStellar Bladehas withElden Ringis the lack of useful ranged build options, despite having a fairly in-depth drone gun system.
WhileStellar Bladeplayers will mostly be using EVE’s blade for combat, they will get access to thedrone gun after reaching Xion, which gives them access to a ranged option. This drone gun is complete with its own upgrade tree that allows players to unlock the use of several types of ammo, including slugs, shotgun shells, blaster cells, and stingers. However, even with these different build options,Stellar Blade’s ranged combat has a hard time being viable against a lot of the game’s major enemies, similar to the problemsElden Ring’s ranged combat runs into.
Ranged Builds Have a Tough Time Being Viable in Stellar Blade and Elden Ring
Elden Ringhas a massive armory of weapons for players to collect, including ranged options likeLight Bows, Great Bows, and Crossbows. While these weapons are great for picking off enemies from a distance or getting chip damage on them before fully engaging in melee combat, it’s hard to craft anElden Ringbuild that fully relies on these ranged weapons. The main reason ranged weapons fall short inElden Ringis due to the need for significant space when engaging larger enemies, whose erratic attack patterns can make it difficult to create the necessary space to safely fire off arrows or bolts.
Stellar Bladehas a similar problemwith its ranged combat due to the size and aggressive movements of many of the game’s bosses. The drone gun requires players to switch to a zoomed-in targeting reticle when pressing the R2 button, which doesn’t allow players to lock onto their targets while attempting to aim. When players create enough distances to safely fire the drone gun at an enemy, it ends up removing the game’s melee lock-on mechanic from them, making it difficult to follow up with melee strikes since the camera position has now changed to a potentially unfavorable spot.
How Stellar Blade Could Make Ranged Builds More Viable
One benefitElden Ring’s ranged combathas overStellar Blade’s is the ability to lock onto enemies while wielding a ranged weapon. This system allows players to maintain the lock on their target while swapping between a ranged weapon and a melee weapon, giving them some amount of versatility when dealing with an enemy that is moving unpredictably.Stellar Blade’s ranged combat could be greatly improved if it followed inElden Ring’s footsteps and allowed players to lock onto enemies while using the drone gun, instead of requiring them to use the free-aim targeting system.
The places whereStellar Blade’s ranged combat shines are in dungeons likeAltess Levoire, where players are only allowed to use the drone gun since EVE’s blade is not available during the dungeon. What makes this section work so well is that all the enemy encounters are designed specifically around the use of the drone gun, so players don’t have to worry about swapping between ranged and melee combat while losing their target lock. The Altess Levoire dungeon is a great showcase of the potentialStellar Bladedrone gun has as a ranged weapon, but it’s a shame the gun’s mechanics don’t translate as nicely to the combat of the rest of the game.
