Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is here, and the Massive-Entertainment-developed game is surprisingly complex, offering a huge open world, survival mechanics, crafting system, combat, and more. It can all be a lot to take in at first, but we’re here to help.
For the purposes of this guide, we’re going to be focusing on Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s combat, which, honestly, can be a bit idiosyncratic and frustrating at times. The game lacks some features, making it not quite feel like a full-fledged shooter or stealth game, but once you know your way around the game’s quirks, success shouldn’t be so hard to come by. Here’s how to take it to the RDA in style…
Don’t frustrate yourself with stealth
Let’s just get this out of the way – yes, you can technically stealth your way through RDA outposts, and you will get some bonus items for doing so, but trying will likely just frustrate you. Aside from being able to crouch, you don’t really have a lot of real stealth skills, enemies are arranged it such a way that it’s almost impossible to pick everyone off without somebody else seeing, and once they do, they immediately alert the whole base. If you want to challenge yourself to stealth an outpost, go ahead, but if it’s driving you crazy, drop it. The game isn’t really designed for stealth.
Make sure you’re leveled up enough
You have a power level in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and unlike some open-world games, it really matters. Every mission will tell you what the required power level is, and you should be at least at that level to take it on. In fact, given the somewhat janky nature of this game’s combat, I often give myself some breathing room and go up an extra level. If you’re dying from just a few bullets and your attacks are pinging off enemies, go level up your skills, craft some new gear, and come back.
Get a handle on how Energy, Health, and food works
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has a somewhat unique life system – in addition to a standard green Health bar you also have an Energy bar, which is replenished by consuming food. So what’s Energy do? Well, how full your Energy bar is determines how quickly your Health auto-regenerates. At first, eating may not seem that important, but having a full Energy bar and quickly-regenerating Health bar can mean the difference between life and death when things get hairy. Also, a lot of foods confer handy extra buffs, so chow down.
Make sure you’ve got plenty of ammo crafting materials and health packs
All the skills in the world won’t matter if you don’t go in prepared. You can carry a certain limited number of “Heath Packs” by collecting RDA Med Kits or harvesting Dapophet fruit. Particularly early on, you’ll also have to do a lot of crafting of arrows and other ammo mid-battle, so make sure you have all the required materials to do so with you.
Keep moving and run away if you need to
What’s the best approach once it’s time to mix it up? As mentioned, your stealth options are limited. There’s also no cover system and while you’re a towering 9-foot-tall Na’vi, you’re fairly frail, particularly when going up against big RDA mechs. So, stick and move – dodge, slide, jump – RDA soldiers aren’t great shots as long as you’re in motion. And if you get overwhelmed? Hightail it into the bush. Eventually, enemies will break off their pursuit and you can heal up and plot a new approach.
Use your Na’vi Senses to scout the area and find weak spots
Speaking of plotting a new approach, before you charge into an RDA outpost, make sure to use your Na’vi senses to get a lay of the land. This will let you view and mark enemies and get an idea where item caches are. You can also find the weak spots for the bigger mech enemies.
Find a good vantage point
If you don’t want to get right into the middle of things, one good option (particularly once you get the long-range heavy bow) is to find a high spot near the RDA base and so some sniping. You may be able to pick off a pretty good percentage of the outpost’s guards before they get wise and track you down.
Make judicious use of stun grenades and the Staffsling
If your regular bows and guns aren’t getting the job done, don’t forget about your other tools. Stun grenades will freeze any AMP mechs on your tail for a few seconds allowing you to take them out. Meanwhile, the Staffsling may not look particularly badass, but it lets you plant explosive mines from afar, which can be very useful if used strategically.
Use the environment to your advantage
And if you don’t have any grenades or Staffsling ammo, keep an eye out for explosive objects in the environment. For instance, any red RDA objects laying around will explode and green egglike plants will douse your enemies in toxic gas. If you see something suspicious, shoot it and see what it does.
Hack and deactivate turrets
Finally, don’t forget about you SID hacking device! This item is used for completing various mission-related tasks, but it can also be used for things like deactivating turrets and even hacking AMPs once you’ve unlocked the required skill.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is available now on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5. You can check out Wccftech’s other Avatar guides here.
