Aztez was designed to be easy to pick up and play for casual players, but eventually you will run into some difficulty enemies. The first obstacle you'll face is the enemies with shields. This guide explores how to deal with them. It's also a light discussion of how beat 'em up animations and controls work. You might learn something in the process!

In addition to the basic buttons like grab, block, and dash, the guide uses the following terms you should be familiar with from the tutorial:

A attack - press X on an X360 controller, square on a DS4, or Z on keyboard
B attack (also called bash) - press Y on an X360 controller, triangle on a DS4, or X on keyboard
Down attack (usually a leg sweep) - hold the left stick down or press the down key, and use one of the two attack buttons
Up attack (usually a launcher) - hold the left stick up or press the up key, and use one of the two attack buttons

The two standard ways to deal with shield enemies are grabbing them and using a leg sweep.

Grabbing is simple. Walk up to a shield enemy and hit the grab button. You can then mash the attack buttons to do a special combo while grabbing. The downside with this method is that you can’t quickly leave the grab state in order to block. So this works for isolated enemies, but usually you’ll want to leg sweep.

Another method is to grab, then immediately do a launcher (up + A attack) and jump to do a follow-up combo. The air is very safe in the early game.

For the leg sweep, it’s easy enough to hit down + A attack to sweep the shield enemies. The tricky part comes after that. By the time the sweep attack animation is done, the enemies have already recovered. Therefore, you must cancel the end of the animation so you can continue hitting them while they’re briefly suspended in air. The sections below describe ways to do that.

The easiest way to do this is with the sword, so I recommend using that weapon until you’re comfortable with the game. With the sword, you can cancel the animation with movement. Simply do a leg sweep, then hold the left stick toward the enemy, then mash attack buttons. The move cancel gives you just enough time to start attacking before the enemy falls to the ground. This is what I recommend for beginners. Everything else here is just for fun.

For a more advanced move, you can block cancel the follow-through animation. Do the leg sweep, then tap the block button (don't hold it!) and immediately start attacking. Block cancelling can be used almost anywhere to string together sweet-looking combos.

Some weapons cannot use a move cancel and you must use a block cancel. For example, with the spear weapon you must block cancel the sweep attack since it does a long slide animation.

Some weapons can dash cancel. This is easy to see with the club. If you stand a little bit away from a shield enemy and do a “sweep” attack with the club, it will do a ground pound that staggers shield enemies. Since you are far away from them, you can’t just attack or you’ll whiff. Instead you have to dash and attack. If you dash and do an A attack with the club, it will launch them far away. But if you dash and do a B attack, it will spin them around for a follow-up combo.

The last method is to do the leg sweep with a down A attack and let them fall to the ground. Then use the down B attack to bounce them off the ground. (You may need to walk forward slightly first.) The enemy will be suspended in the air for a moment so you can start a combo. You have to be quick though! If the enemy is in the process of standing up, the ground pound attack will miss.

Note that just about every weapon has a sweep for the down A attack and a ground bounce for the down B button.

There are other ways to address shield enemies. You can use a parry-counter or a god attack, for example. Be sure to experiment once you've mastered the basics from this guide. Finding ways to link moves together is part of the experience.

Also note that some weapons, such as the knife, do not have a leg sweep. In that case, you could do a grab attack instead. Experiment!

Note that shielded enemies have a special property: when they drop their shield to start an attack, you must use a down A attack to interrupt them. Other standard ground attacks will connect and do damage but the enemy will continue his attack uninterrupted.

Don’t be overwhelmed by this long explanation. It just shows that you have a lot of options in this combat system. You’ll discover most of these things as you play. If you're a beginner, I recommend starting with the sword. Do a down + A attack for a leg sweep, then immediately move toward the enemy and mash the attack buttons for a follow-up combo.