Why a roadmap beats random tips
New players drown in advice: “farm this,” “reroll that,” “this boss is easy,” “that one is impossible.” The truth is simpler: early progress comes from clean inputs and predictable loops. Your build matters—but your habits matter more. This roadmap prioritizes habits first, then upgrades, then rerolls. Follow it in order, and you’ll clear your first boss with less gear and fewer deaths than most.
Phase 1 — Inputs and camera literacy (30–60 minutes)
- Bind wisely: put dodge on a finger that never conflicts with movement; avoid chorded inputs for core survival.
- Calibrate sensitivity: you should 180° flick in one clean motion without over‑aiming.
- Drill a safe string: two light chains → dodge cancel → re‑center → repeat. Never let recovery frames strand you.
- Camera honesty: keep enemies in frame edges, not dead center; you’ll see wind‑ups earlier.
Your goal isn’t damage yet—it’s uptime. If you can attack 20% less but die 80% less, you will level faster overall.
Phase 2 — Stable resources and routing (60–120 minutes)
Pick three zones: a warm‑up lane for safe pulls, a main farm with the best XP/min for your kit, and an overflow route near a boss or event timer. Rotate them without downtime. If a spot is contested, shift lanes instead of fighting for tags—over 30 minutes you’ll win by consistency.
- Upgrade order: survivability → mobility → damage. Prevent one‑shots first; damage is worthless when dead.
- Cooldown awareness: align your two highest value buttons; avoid half‑strings that leak time.
- Spin discipline: save rerolls until you understand spacing and burst windows with a baseline kit.
Phase 3 — First boss literacy
Treat bosses like scripts: opener → harassment → burst → reset. Spend your first two pulls watching rather than racing for a kill. Log three facts: what you always dodge, when you safely punish, and which mechanics force disengage. Map these to your kit: keep one emergency button unspent, place long cooldowns only in confirmed punish windows, and never corner yourself.
Record a pull and review frame‑by‑frame: which telegraphs are fake‑outs, which have lingering hitboxes, and which recoveries are abusable. Even one review session can cut deaths in half.
Minimal build that overperforms
- A modest health bump to survive chip plus one mistake.
- One mobility tool you practice canceling with dodge or jump.
- A short, consistent combo you can land from multiple angles.
- A panic button you never spend greedily—this saves runs.
Players who commit to this minimal kit often clear earlier than those chasing perfect drops. Consistency beats variance.
Checklist before your first clear
- You can chain two light strings and dodge cancel without thinking.
- You know two guaranteed punish windows from memory.
- You have an exit path planned for each arena quadrant.
- Your highest cooldown is only used on confirmed staggers.
After the clear—compounding gains
Post‑clear, set a cadence: one survivability upgrade for every two offensive upgrades; one new combo lab per boss unlocked; one reroll weekly only if it unlocks a new plan you’ll actually run. Keep your loop tight, your inputs honest, and your camera disciplined. That’s how you scale into harder content without ever feeling stuck.