Combat Move List

Learn every offensive and defensive combat move in Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. Master Fast Strikes, Heavy Strikes, Melee Attacks, Evade, Block, Run, and Focus to survive.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice features a deep and intricate combat system with a vast move set. The game offers no in-game tutorials, leaving players to discover its mechanics independently. This guide details every offensive and defensive combat move available to Senua.

Basic Controls

While the game displays basic controls, here's a more detailed explanation:

• Fast Strike: Quick attacks dealing minimal damage. Useful for staggering enemies, especially after a successful finisher or against already stunned opponents. Stringing too many fast strikes can be countered by enemies. Blocking and repeated fast attacks may lead to a parry and counter-attack.
• Heavy Strike: Deals significant damage and staggers most enemies. These are slow and can be interrupted if overused. Heavy Strikes can break an enemy's guard, allowing subsequent attacks to connect.
• Melee Attack: Typically kicks, but can include punches or shoulder charges. Melee attacks do no damage but guarantee a stun on normal-sized enemies. They can also be used to push enemies off ledges for an instant kill. Large enemies are unaffected. Melee attacks are crucial for breaking a Defender's guard.
• Evade: Allows Senua to slide backward to avoid damage. If timed correctly, even an incoming attack will not harm Senua during the evade animation.
• Block: Nullifies incoming damage from most attacks. Blocking powerful attacks may break Senua's guard or knock her down, but no damage is taken from the blocked hit itself. Follow-up attacks may still hit before recovery.
• Run: A powerful combat tool that isn't always obvious.
• Focus: Unlocked during the first boss fight. Activating Focus stuns all enemies and slows them down, creating an opening for attack.

Taking Damage and Recovery

When Senua is knocked to the ground, mashing face buttons can speed up her recovery. If knocked to her knees from taking damage, she is vulnerable and can be killed if attacked again before regaining her feet. Senua also recovers health over time if she avoids taking damage for a short period. When critically low on health, indicated by a red screen and heartbeat, Senua becomes weakened, losing abilities like parrying and double evades, and can only perform basic attacks. Using Focus instantly restores Senua to full health and can immediately get her to her feet if knocked down, serving as a defensive recovery tool.

Basic Combos

Combos are formed by chaining Fast Attacks and Heavy Attacks, typically consisting of 4 button presses. The exception is the heavy combo ( , , ), which is 3 presses. There are 15 distinct combos. Understanding combo construction is more beneficial than memorizing each one, allowing for improvisation and the use of go-to combos in various situations.

First Hit

The initial input of a combo can be either a Fast Attack or a Heavy Attack.