Divine Knockout (DKO) 5 Best Starter Tips: The Ultimate Guide

by Mike Alexander / Game Guides, Popular Posts, Slider, Tips & Tricks / 03 Jan 2024

Super Smash Bros might have the market cornered on the platform fighting genre, but that doesn’t mean other games aren’t giving it a run for its money. Just this year we’ve gotten Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl and Multiversus, and another new platform fighter just arrived with an interesting new twist.

Divine Knockout from Red Beard Games and Hi-Rez Studios is a platform fighter that takes place entirely in third person. Whereas the typical Smash Bros format limits you to a 2D sidescrolling perspective, Divine Knockout lets you see all of the action in full 3D. The extra vision is definitely welcome, but that doesn’t mean DKO is an easy game.

You’ll be facing off against other players online, and with each player taking control of a mythical god, things will get very tense and challenging. You’re going to need some practice, but you can also progress faster with some guidance. Join us for this Divine Knockout Beginner’s Guide and get ready to rumble.

Use the Dodge Strategically

When the competition gets heated, you’ll want to get out of the way of attacks and create some distance as often as you can. This is understandable, but it is also important to maximize your dodge’s effectiveness. There is a slight pause in between dodge uses, and if you dodge too early, you might find yourself in the middle of an ultimate attack with no way to escape.

Avoiding this is definitely an important part of playing DKO at any level, so try to memorize the timing for certain powerful attacks. Knowing when a move will strike and how long its wind-up is will allow you to properly time your dodge and prevent losing health.

Know When to Use Ultimates

If you’ve played Smash or any other platform fighter, you know that saving that powerful strike to use on an enemy that already has high damage is the best feeling in the world. Watching your attack connect and send them careening off the screen is always satisfying, and you can do that in DKO as well.

In this game, it is called your Ultimate move, and it does a high amount of damage to any target it connects with. However, if it is a target with low damage, it won’t have that satisfying, powerful effect that it would have on an enemy with 80% damage or more. Remember to use your ultimates on these enemies, and you’ll be climbing the leaderboards in no time.

Learn Ledge Guarding

Ledge guarding is a crucial tactic in any platform fighter, and DKO is no different. Ledge guarding is the process of sending an enemy off of a platform and then continuing your attacks to keep them from making their way back to safety, causing them to fall to their death or be sent off the screen. It’s a pretty cruel tactic, but one that ensures an elimination in almost every case.

When you have an enemy off the platform, you can use your projectile attack if your character has one, or you can fight them at close range in the air, as long as you have the skills to get back without falling to the same fate.

Recovery is Key

Recovering in a platformer is almost as if not more important than actually knowing how to fight. Recovering is the process of getting back to the stage after a powerful hit sends you flying. How you recover will depend on the character you are using and what kind of moves they have.

Generally, you would want some kind of dash move, or a lunging attack to use in conjunction with a jump to gain some height and close the gap between yourself and the stage. Sometimes, you will just be too far to save yourself, but it’s important that you try anyways to keep those eliminations away from your opponents.

Be Aware

This final tip might seem silly and obvious, but think about how many times an opponent has surprised you with an attack you didn’t see coming. Remember, this isn’t Smash Bros, DKO’s third-person perspective only shows you what is in front of you generally, which means you have a pretty huge blind spot.

Remember to pan the camera and keep track of your teammates as well as your opponents to make sure you aren’t surprised by any attacks, and that you are able to help out a friend when they are being overwhelmed. They might return the favor later on!

Mike Alexander

Mike has been playing video games since he was able to hold a controller, having been fascinated by Sonic 2 on his mom’s Sega Genesis. That fascination and passion for the art form has grown exponentially nearly 30 years later, and he doesn’t see that fading away anytime soon.
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