Avowed: Normal vs Power Attacks explained

In Avowed, all non-spellcasting combat has two basic offense maneuvers: Normal Attacks and Power Attacks. While conceptually simple enough, not all of its mechanical quirks are explained at the outset. Learning about their situaiotnal utilties can often make the difference in emerging victorious, as the AI in Obisidan's latest game can be a tad challenging to battle.

This guide explains the basics of normal and power attacks in Avowed, so you have a better idea of when to use which.

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What are Normal Attacks and Power Attacks in Avowed?

Use Power Attacks to deal heavy damage to foes (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

Normal Attacks are basic attacks that can be changed to string together a combo, like slashes of a sword or a barrage of magic attacks. Tapping the primary button will execute a normal attack and consume some Stamina based on the weapon type. Here's everything you need to know about Normal Attacks in Avowed:

• The wand and all melee weapons come with a 3-hit combo, and some specific unique weapons such as The Philosopher's Riddle have bonuses tied to the combo system.
• Arquebuses, bows, and pistols need to be reloaded/redrawn after unleashing an attack, so there's no combo system with these.
• Melee attacks have a wind-up that allows you to cancel out of them by blocking (if block is available), or dodging. As long as the melee hitframes (the part of the animation that actually does the melee swing) have been initiated, Stamina will not be consumed from a cancelled attack.
• You can also cancel out of Arquebus reload animations by dodging, and also by switching to your other weapon set (default PC keybind is Alt).

Power Attacks, meanwhile, are a charged variant of Normal Attacks. Pressing and holding the Primary Attack button will cause the character to wind up their attack briefly before unleashing a powerful move, be it a harder swing of steel or a flashier burst of magic. Here are the main things to note about Power Attacks in Avowed:

• Power Attacks cannot be cancelled. Once you begin the wind-up, you have no alternatives other than committing into it.
• Power Attacks consume twice as much Stamina as Normal attacks, and have some forced forward momentum.
• Power attacks deal significantly more Stun damage (the yellow bar under enemy health). Filling up the stun meter opens an enemy up to Special attack (execution).
• Power attacks can break through shield blocks and similar defensive stances.
• Power Attacks deal nearly twice the damage both with melee weapons and ranged weapons.
• Charging the wind-up for longer increases the damage. However, due to the reload system, this is only efficient for arquebuses, bows, and pistols. For other weapon types, charging the minimum amount needed to execute a power attack may be more efficient for overall DPS.

Do note that foes also can react to incoming Normal Attacks by blocking or dodging, but since Normal Attacks can be cancelled, you can prevent Stamina wastage once you're used to the combat system.

Power Attacks can break blocked stances and stagger enemies (generally, shielded enemies will have purple health bars), but since you cannot cancel them, actively engaged combatants can punish it by dodging out of your swing.

Generally, using either one as a primary method of dealing damage to enemies results in similar average damage output, in a tradeoff between raw damage and wind-up downtimes. As you figure out your build, the unique equipment enchantments tend to dictate whether a melee build should lean more into normal or power attacks in Avowed.

Note that Abilities and Spells (be it from Grimoires or those inherited as Abilities) are not related to this regular attack mechanics, so the Normal Attack vs Power Attack dichotomy has no bearing on them.

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Avowed is available on PC and Xbox Series X|S platforms. Check out our other guides on the game:

• Avowed Background choices, explained
• All Avowed Attributes: Which stats should you take in the beginning?
• Avowed: All missions list
• How does Second Wind work?
• How to find the Ring of Slow Essence in Avowed