The First Berserker: Khazan is Neople's souls-like, released on 27 March 2025 and set in the same Arad universe as Dungeon Fighter Online. Khazan is a decorated general of the Pell Los Empire who is framed for treason, crippled, and left to die in the snow until a spirit called the Blade Phantom keeps him alive. The campaign runs 16 main missions across four regions, from the Charnak Mountain Range through the Pell Los Plateau and the Heart of Pell Los to Vitalon, capital of the empire, with 24 bonus missions hanging off the same mission map. There are no character classes. You choose between Greatsword, Dual Wield and Spear, and you can respec every skill point at a Blade Nexus for free, as many times as you like.
Starting The First Berserker: Khazan can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
The First Berserker: Khazan is a action game built around Brink Guard and Reflect and Stamina and stance breaking. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Role
| Role | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Greatsword | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Dual Wield | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Spear | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Brink Guard counter build | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Spirit skill build | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with Dual Wield. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Spirit skill build as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn Brink Guard and Reflect
Holding guard blocks at a heavy stamina cost. Tapping it on the exact frame the attack lands triggers a Brink Guard instead: the hit is negated, your stamina barely moves, and the enemy's stamina bar takes the damage. Reflect is the upgraded version that interrupts an ongoing combo and breaks the attacker's stance outright. Every main boss is built around this one input, so a player who never learns it will run out of healing long before the boss runs out of health.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Brink Guard and Reflect works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to Charnak Mountain Range
The opening region, covering Banished Hero, Trials of the Frozen Mountain, Forgotten Temple, First Act of Revenge and Strange Stench. Yetuga is the first wall most players hit, and the region is where the game decides whether you have understood Brink Guard.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Dual Wield blades: it's the most accessible early upgrade. The fastest of the three, with attack strings that keep the spirit gauge topped up. It scales off Willpower with Strength secondary, and it wants you standing inside the boss rather than reacting from outside.
Step 4: Understand Stamina and stance breaking
Khazan and every enemy carry a stamina bar alongside health. Your attacks, dodges and guards spend yours, while Brink Guards and Brink Dodges drain theirs. Empty an enemy's bar and their stance breaks, opening a critical finisher that does more damage than a dozen normal swings. Against the 16 main bosses, stance damage is the real health bar you are working on.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Pell Los Plateau
The second region, running Traitor Revealed, Veiled Knives, Devoured Village and Inconceivable Truth. Traitor Revealed takes Khazan into the city of Palemion for the first act of his revenge, and the enemy mix shifts from beasts to trained soldiers who punish sloppy guard timing.
Essential Mechanics Explained
Brink Guard and Reflect
Holding guard blocks at a heavy stamina cost. Tapping it on the exact frame the attack lands triggers a Brink Guard instead: the hit is negated, your stamina barely moves, and the enemy's stamina bar takes the damage. Reflect is the upgraded version that interrupts an ongoing combo and breaks the attacker's stance outright. Every main boss is built around this one input, so a player who never learns it will run out of healing long before the boss runs out of health.
Stamina and stance breaking
Khazan and every enemy carry a stamina bar alongside health. Your attacks, dodges and guards spend yours, while Brink Guards and Brink Dodges drain theirs. Empty an enemy's bar and their stance breaks, opening a critical finisher that does more damage than a dozen normal swings. Against the 16 main bosses, stance damage is the real health bar you are working on.
Spirit gauge skills
Skills do not cost stamina. They spend charges from a separate spirit gauge that fills as you deal damage, take damage, Brink Guard or Brink Dodge. Nodes in the skill trees raise how fast the gauge builds, which means an aggressive player gets noticeably more skill casts per fight than a cautious one, and defensive play still pays because a clean Brink Guard also feeds the gauge.
Lacrima and the Blade Nexus
Lacrima drops from enemies and behaves like souls in FromSoftware games. You spend it at a Blade Nexus checkpoint on five stats: Vitality, Endurance, Strength, Willpower and Proficiency. Resting at a Nexus restores health, refills consumables and respawns every ordinary enemy in the area. The hub Nexus at the Crevice is where recruited NPCs set up, including the blacksmith Qazumaka.
Three weapon skill trees
The skill menu holds four tabs: Greatsword, Dual Wield, Spear and Common. Skill points are earned by landing hits with a weapon rather than by levelling, and respec costs nothing, so switching weapons mid-campaign only costs you the time to relearn its timings. Scaling is fixed: Greatsword leans on Strength, Dual Wield on Willpower, Spear on Proficiency.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Treating guard as a hold-to-block button
Holding drains stamina fast, and the punish window opens the moment the bar empties.
2. Levelling Strength on a Spear or Dual Wield build because it sounds like the damage stat
Spear scales off Proficiency and Dual Wield off Willpower.
3. Skipping all 24 bonus missions and then blaming the difficulty curve when Vitalon enemies take three times as long to kill
4. Dodging everything
Brink Dodge does far less stamina damage than a Brink Guard, so a pure dodge run leaves bosses at full stance and fights running twice as long.
5. Hoarding Lacrima into a boss arena
Death drops it on the floor, and boss runbacks are exactly where players lose the largest piles.
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Brink Guard and Reflect and Stamina and stance breaking
- Choose Dual Wield as starting role
- Clear Charnak Mountain Range main content
- Acquire Dual Wield blades or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Pell Los Plateau
- Bonus missions are not optional content. There are 24 of them across the four regions and they are the intended source of Lacrima and blacksmith Scrolls, so a player who runs only the 16 main missions arrives at the Heart of Pell Los badly under-geared.
- Brink Guard is timed to the moment of impact, not the wind-up. Watch the weapon rather than the character, and count the rhythm of a combo on your first attempt instead of trying to react to every hit.
Tips for New Players
- Bonus missions are not optional content. There are 24 of them across the four regions and they are the intended source of Lacrima and blacksmith Scrolls, so a player who runs only the 16 main missions arrives at the Heart of Pell Los badly under-geared.
- Brink Guard is timed to the moment of impact, not the wind-up. Watch the weapon rather than the character, and count the rhythm of a combo on your first attempt instead of trying to react to every hit.
- Skill points come from landing hits, not from levelling. If a tree feels empty, go clear a bonus mission with that weapon equipped rather than grinding levels at a Blade Nexus.
- Respec is free and unlimited. Test all three weapons in the Charnak Mountain Range before you commit, because the difference between Greatsword and Dual Wield is far bigger than the difference between two weapons in most souls-likes.
- Some heavy attacks cannot be blocked at all. Guarding them drains the entire stamina bar and leaves you open, so learn which moves in a boss set demand a dodge and treat guard as the wrong answer to them.
- Wear one full Qazumaka set rather than the five highest defence pieces you own. Set bonuses are worth more than the raw defence difference through most of the campaign.
- The spirit gauge fills on damage taken as well as damage dealt, so a fight you are losing still generates skill charges. Spending them to reset spacing is usually better than saving them for a stance break you may never reach.
- Vitality and Endurance carry you further than any scaling stat for the first twenty or so levels. Damage stats only start paying once you survive long enough to use the openings.
- Resting at a Blade Nexus respawns every ordinary enemy in the area, so clear a route to a boss, then decide whether the healing refill is worth walking the route again.
- Recruit every NPC you find and send them to the Crevice. The hub vendors, including Qazumaka, unlock through recruitment rather than through story progress, and missing one costs you a whole crafting line.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many bosses are in The First Berserker: Khazan?
There are 16 main bosses tied to the 16 main missions, plus roughly 20 side bosses encountered mostly through the 24 bonus missions. Once a main boss has been beaten, it can be refought from the mission map.
Which weapon should I start with?
Spear for a first run, because its reach forgives bad reads. Greatsword ends bosses fastest through stance damage and Dual Wield rewards the most aggressive play. Since respec is free and skill points come from hitting things, you can hold all three trees before the game is over.
Do I need to have played Dungeon Fighter Online?
No. Khazan shares the Arad setting and a few names with Neople's long-running action game, but the story of Khazan's betrayal by the Pell Los Empire is self-contained and explained in the opening mission.
What does Lacrima do?
Lacrima is the experience and currency drop from enemies. You spend it at a Blade Nexus on Vitality, Endurance, Strength, Willpower or Proficiency, and you lose your carried pile on death until you retrieve it.
Is Brink Guard required, or can I dodge everything?
You can dodge, but fights get much longer. Brink Guard does the heavy stamina damage that leads to a stance break and a critical finisher, and stance breaks are where most of your damage on a boss actually comes from.
More The First Berserker: Khazan Guides
- The First Berserker: Khazan The First Berserker: Khazan Overview
- The First Berserker: Khazan Best Builds
- The First Berserker: Khazan Tier List
- The First Berserker: Khazan Walkthrough
- The First Berserker: Khazan Tips & Tricks
- The First Berserker: Khazan Weapons Guide
- The First Berserker: Khazan Combat Guide
- The First Berserker: Khazan Boss Guide
- The First Berserker: Khazan Maps & Locations
- The First Berserker: Khazan Crafting Guide
- The First Berserker: Khazan Classes & Characters
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