Tips and Tricks
IGN has the tips and tricks, strategies, and secrets you need to succeed in Metroid Dread. These include both combat-focused essential tips, as well as tricks to keep in mind when exploring the various regions of Planet ZDR.
Combat Tips and Tricks
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- Melee Counters can be one of your most important tools. Many creatures you face will lunge, charge, or swipe at you - and many of these attacks can be countered for a near instant kill that also gives you tons of energy back. You can even counter while climbing and hanging from ledges, should certain attackers try to ambush you.
- There's a reason your main collectible will be Missile Tanks - they're meant to be used! Use Missiles all the time, to speed up destroying regular enemies and bosses alike. Most enemies will drop missiles when they die, and when coupled with melee counters, you'll be regaining missiles as fast as you use them!
- Most bosses have a key attack that can be countered, which can trigger a quick time event - hold down that R button and let loose as many missiles as possible!
- Swarms of tiny fish or gnat-like enemies can be a pain to gun down, but a melee swipe can clear huge chunks of them at a time. Run up first to employ a dashing strike that will cleave as you move.
- Against certain enemies, Flash Shift will become your most important ability. It allows you to quickly dodge out of harm’s way, or close the distance, and recharges fast. Utilize it to get around behind tough enemies and out of the way of attacks that are otherwise unavoidable.
- Hiding from the E.M.M.I. (EMMI) robots can be challenging, even once you have the cloaking ability - if they bump into you. Remember that you can tilt up to flatten yourself against ceilings when hanging on them.
- You have two chances to counter an EMMI, but the timing has to be right when it flashes, not after. One flash will occur soon after it looms up in front of you, and another will be after its head plate opens up to prepare to jab you. You'll have to anticipate the action and counter it, rather than reacting to the indicator - but if successful, you can briefly stun and slide under the robot.
- Places to hide from an inquisitive EMMI are sometimes in short supply, as they can bumpb into you even while you're cloaked. Some EMMI Zones have tiny alcoves you can wedge into in Morph Ball form, use them to stay out of its way.
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- The Phantom Cloak ability drains a lot of Aeion power and recovers slowly - and not at all when standing still. However but moving speeds up energy recovery much faster - at the cost of potentially alerting the EMMI. The more you move around once the EMMI has left, the faster you'll be able to cloak again.
- In most cases, you'll want to avoid making noise when the EMMI is nearby, lest you attract unwanted attention. You may also stumble into mines in certain EMMI Zones that will explode loudly and alert the EMMI regardless of your position. You can use the Phantom Cloak to bypass them - or you may find a use in triggering them intentionally to lure the EMMI to that spot while you run the opposite direction.
Exploration Tips and Tricks
- Remember the color coding on your map - white rooms are EMMI Zones (green when the EMMI has been destroyed), yellow are station rooms, purple are transports to other regions, dark blue are freezing areas, and red are hot areas. Some areas may even change based on what you interact with, so check back to see how certain areas may change.
- Your Speed Booster allows you to build up extreme speed before storing the energy and then launching in any direction as a "Shinespark". This can work even when in Morph Ball form, allowing you to move at high speeds through tight areas.
- While Save Stations and Replenishing Stations are spread pretty evenly, you may run into situations where health is hard to come by. Some creatures that lurk in the walls like centipedes will continually spawn - and can be used to replenish resources.
- When entering a super hot or cold room you can’t survive in yet - check the map for how big the room is. Sometimes you can dash through it or grab something with enough health, other times it's best to come back later.
- Remember you can manually aim with the Grappling Beam from ledges, rather than having to jump first.
- Your map will color code blocks that require certain upgrades to get past, but you won’t know what they are until you find the needed upgrade.
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- Certain areas that require you to swing from grapple points can be bypassed by Flash Shifting instead to rapidly move across a horizontal plane - up to three times per flash!
- Certain sections of your adventure will prevent you from back-tracking, so remember the spots where upgrades were just out of reach for when you are able to come back and more freely explore old regions
- Most times an area will flash on the map if it has secrets, but this is not always the case. If you see an oddly placed series of blocks or walls, hit them with missiles just to be sure!
- It is possible to sequence break certain areas to gain upgrades before you can technically use them. Tactics like wall jumping, dashing, and bomb-jumping can be used to explore beyond normal parameters.