As you go through South of Midnight, you’ll regularly run into Haints, living embodiments of trauma who want hook-wielding protagonist Hazel dead. Luckily, you have plenty of tools to deal with them, including a snappy dodge that, with proper timing, can deal damage to your attackers.
Perfect Dodges can be tricky to pull off, but if you master the timing, you can get through many early-game fights without having to swing your hooks. Here’s how to pull off a Perfect Dodge in South of Midnight.
How Perfect Dodges work in South of Midnight
You learn how to dodge during your first encounter with a Haint, and it’s a pretty bread-and-butter mechanic. Just hit the dodge button (the Circle button on the PlayStation 5 DualShock controller, in my case) while the Haint winds up its attack, and Hazel will roll out of the way. You’ll get away just fine with proper timing. Executing a Perfect Dodge, however, asks a bit more of you.
To perform a Perfect Dodge, you need to dodge the instant before an enemy takes a swing at you. If you’re successful, Hazel lets out a burst of Thread energy that deals a healthy dose of damage to her attacker.
As is the tradition in action-adventure combat, judging when an enemy or boss is about to attack relies on careful observation and practice. Thankfully, South of Midnight‘s Perfect Dodge timing is more forgiving than Sekiro or Lies of P’s Perfect Parries. I’ve been playing Soulslike games for years, so I quickly mastered the timing.
Tips on how to use Perfect Dodging in South of Midnight
Once you’ve got the timing for the Perfect Dodge down, it becomes one of the best tools in your arsenal. The damage you deal with a Perfect Dodge is a burst, so if you time it right, you can hit multiple enemies with the rebound damage.
One of South of Midnight’s earliest level-up skills, the Rending Step, pairs up with Perfect Dodge. With this ability, you can dash into a forward slash after a successful dodge. It also works with a Perfect Dodge, so you can quickly deal a healthy chunk of damage if you sharpen your dodging game.
