Trouble dealing with wolves

[Top]

hey all. I'm pretty new to the game and all seems to be okay except when it comes to wolves. I've been through the tutorial several times and looked at strategy tips on Wikipedia. It feels like I'm doing everything it suggests, at least to some extent, but wolves always manage to take me out. Usually pretty quickly. Anything I should know?

[Darwinian]

be quick on that shift key

[Thrain]

Wolves are hard, 'cuz they're supposed to be: faster, stronger, more preceptive (they hear and smell you farther away) with natural sharp weapons (claws) and the ability to teleport and tackle you from a distance if you're moving in a normal way.

But they aren't impossible, even Alphas. To beat a wolf, you must damage them while preventing damage to yourself. Self-evident I know, but it's an organizing method.

To take the second point first, learn to:
- Avoid being detected early:
* Sneak from behind, and downwind
+ Learn the wind direction by looking at grass, trees, sand and snow

* Don't carry bloody weapons
+ Clean them by crouching and stabbing in snow, sand or dirt

* Leap from a long distance and land near, preferably directly behind, the wolf

* Don't approach a wolf when they're near a dead enemy; they detect you sooner (applies to all foes)

* Learn to duck; this works for strikes and round-house kicks

* Learn to block - even claw slashes can be blocked, and reversals will damage the foe
+ Timing is the key; recognize the type of attack and respond appropriately.
= Blocks against claw strikes are easiest
= Blocks against leg-sweeps are harder (try jumping)
= Blocks against round-house kicks are hardest

* Learn to avoid a foe's block and counter-strike - it's difficult but possible with correct timing by counter-blocking or ducking

* Learn to back-dodge - Wolves can't teleport-tackle when you're back-dodging (but they can hit you with a kick or claw-slash)

* Leap around like a ninja - wolves don't often catch you in mid-jump, though they try, and sometimes collide with you

To damage wolves, learn to:
- Block and counter-punch
* Once a slash has been blocked, counter strike immediately
+ Once a counter-strike has staggered the wolf, quickly run around to the left or right rear and hit them with a round-house
= Once you hit them with a round-house, follow the flying body and soccer-kick it
^ Stand close behind as they get up and hold your attack button down; you'll hit them as they stand or may kick them as they roll. Standing a little farther away can lead to a U or double-punch

- Use Weapons
* Swords are most effective
+ 2 or 3 slashes will kill any wolf; 5 will kill an Alpha
+ Release the attack button between slashes to hlep avoid a reversal and disarm
+ Knock them down, crouch and stab

* Staffs are also effective
+ Knock the wolf down and strike again while on the ground; 2 or 3 should do the trick

* Knives can be dangerous (to you)
+ A slash against a lightly injured wolf will not prevent an immediate and deadly claw slash in response
= Wait until the wolf is close to death; you may get an puncture, though not always
+ Knife throws often miss or get snatched out of the air
= Learn the ninja style: jump towards the wolf, sail until you get close, then flip and throw at the same time. This increases the chance of a strike, but won't kill them
^ While the knife is stuck in the wolf, leg sweep or knock them down, then roll over them while holding the draw button: instant kill
+ Knock them down, crouch and stab

* Backstab or Trach after jumping close

- Learn to leg-cannon
* Always approach from downwind
+ Exception: sometimes you can catch a wolf running towards you with a cannon from the front; if so, follow up with one or two more: they usually connect more easily after the first one

* Once you've leg cannoned one, leap to a nearby block and wait motionless; the wolf will usually stop and wait, while you sneak up from downwind again. This works any time, not just after cannons

* Cannon into a nearby wall for an instant kill
+ Jump against a wall, kick and flip above and behind the foe: cannon!

- Learn to wall-kick
* Never miss a chance to use blocks to wall-kick: it's most effective on rabbits, but will work on wolves 2 or 3 times in a row; after that they learn to duck

* Flip during a wall kick to freeze foes

* Remember wolves can slash or kick you in the middle of a wall-kick; it's best to try them from behind
* Trees can be used for wall kicks, too

An effective way to give yourself an advantage against the Alpha in the main campaign is to get on top of the nearby block immediately. At the end of the dialogue scenes, hold Left and Jump; you'll leap and catch the block edge before the wolf gets to you. Climb up; the wolf just stands below looking away from you. Either get off the block and try a bunch of cannons from downwind (the wind blows from the arched rocks towards the main camp here) or jump right behind for a spinecrush. Or just keep jumping on his head for a Death From Above, regain the block, keep it up until he dies. Repetitious but fun.

That's all I know about killing wolves.

[Top]

thanks! I think I got it now. I just had to practice using shift at the right times and varying my attacks. Then for the alpha I wasn't trying the technique where you stand over them when they're knocked down holding the mouse button...I had just been trying to swipe at him here and there. I had no problem knocking him down, it's just I didn't realize I could "puppy guard" him like that.

[BunnyWithStick]

I always found leg sweeps to be the easiest to reverse, roundhouse kicks to be slightly harder and claw strikes to be the hardest of all, due to the fact that wolves immediately follow up with another claw strike the instant you block the first.

[Thrain]

That's why I immediately follow with a strike; it staggers them backwards, allowing you to run behind for a roundhouse.

[Misanthropy]

Allroight. The giant post above explained most of it but a bit on attacks:

After you block a slash immediately roll away or you'll get kicked in the face which dies crazy damage.

If you get swiped and crouch block it, immediately roundhouse.

And finally..

Leg vault wolves into other wolves/rabbits! I can't stress how important this is. It's insanely damaging.

[XerxesQ]

In cases where there was more than one wolf in a level, I found myself trying to get the attention of one of them and then jump-flipping backwards a lot to lure it away from any others. And even then, one misplaced attack or one millisecond of Shift-holding too long could be my downfall, especially since you don't recover from claw attacks until the level is over. This can be frustrating after killing the first wolf finally after your fifth retry and then realizing there are 5 left and you got clawed three times with the first one.

No, I didn't enjoy the wolf levels very much.

Another tip: the wolf cubs in the Den level will die with one roundhouse kick. This requires you to be able to pull off a roundhouse kick on one of them, which is not something that happens 100% of the time.

[Misanthropy]

In cases where there was more than one wolf in a level, I found myself trying to get the attention of one of them and then jump-flipping backwards a lot to lure it away from any others. And even then, one misplaced attack or one millisecond of Shift-holding too long could be my downfall, especially since you don't recover from claw attacks until the level is over. This can be frustrating after killing the first wolf finally after your fifth retry and then realizing there are 5 left and you got clawed three times with the first one.

No, I didn't enjoy the wolf levels very much.

Another tip: the wolf cubs in the Den level will die with one roundhouse kick. This requires you to be able to pull off a roundhouse kick on one of them, which is not something that happens 100% of the time.

Here's how to defeat whatever number of wolves you need

Get them all in a close proximity to eachother as they follow you. Then, jump-backflip until they all stop and then quickly leg vault the one in front. It'll set off a chain reaction and kill all of them. I've killed 8 wolves in one vault using this method.

[Lotus Wolf]

Wolves are hard, 'cuz they're supposed to be: faster, stronger, more preceptive (they hear and smell you farther away) with natural sharp weapons (claws) and the ability to teleport and tackle you from a distance if you're moving in a normal way.

i made the text bold because it's kinda... no, wolves cannot teleport, they can run feral style very fast, when the wolves run, and your running away, you can't see them running, but that doesn't mean they teleport. believe me, i play as a wolf a lot, i'd know if they could teleport.

[Misanthropy]

Wolves are hard, 'cuz they're supposed to be: faster, stronger, more preceptive (they hear and smell you farther away) with natural sharp weapons (claws) and the ability to teleport and tackle you from a distance if you're moving in a normal way.

i made the text bold because it's kinda... no, wolves cannot teleport, they can run feral style very fast, when the wolves run, and your running away, you can't see them running, but that doesn't mean they teleport. believe me, i play as a wolf a lot, i'd know if they could teleport.

They do teleport. The AI do, the player wolf is just a reskin of the bunny.

[Lotus Wolf]

its true that the player wouldn't be able to, i realize that, however, i dont believe the wolves teleport, i've unhooked the camera for fights before, and the wolves can always be seen running, they've never teleported, and i've played a lot of wolf fights with the unhooked camera being about 50 yards away, so i would be able to see the wolves, never seen one teleport.

[Misanthropy]

its true that the player wouldn't be able to, i realize that, however, i dont believe the wolves teleport, i've unhooked the camera for fights before, and the wolves can always be seen running, they've never teleported, and i've played a lot of wolf fights with the unhooked camera being about 50 yards away, so i would be able to see the wolves, never seen one teleport.

Well. In third person they tele tackle me.

[Lotus Wolf]

In third person how would you know if they are teleporting? like i said, the just run really fast, it happens so quickly that its understandable that people assume that they can teleport, it just seems to me that when David was aiming for a good physics game, why would he have made the wolves teleport after you? try pressing C then running up to a wolf, and running away, you should see the entire run and tackle sequence, very fast, but tis all there.

[Count Roland]

try pressing b with debug enabled. it should go slo mo and you can see them running, and tackling.