How to Use Morph Strike in Deathbound

The ability to Morph between different characters is basically the core gimmick of Deathbound, a Soulslike set in this post-apocalyptic religious cult setting made by the developers at Trialforge Studios. In Deathbound, players will start out as one Therone Guillaumen, a devout follower of the Church of Death fighting against the Essencemancers who are trying to give humanity their immortality back. Not long after Therone starts his war against the Essencemancers in the Forbidden City, he stumbles into the middle of one of the Essencemancer's most important rituals. From there, Therone is changed, and his Essence or 'soul' is tampered with, allowing him to now pull other specific Essences into his body.

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By Oluwafemi Famutimi

As you progress through Deathbound, you'll steadily gain more and more characters to swap between, each with their own unique playstyles, moves, and specializations. The combat of Deathbound can be pretty rough, but Morph Strikes can make a lot of combat encounters in this game a whole lot easier. So with that in mind, let's go over exactly how this mechanic works in this game, why you should use it, and how best to use it during combat.

Morph Strike System

How It Works & What It Uses

To elaborate, Morph Strikes in Deathbound are when you swap between your different characters (or 'Essences' as they're called in-universe) mid-attack in order to gain I-frames during this transition and also to unleash a more powerful strike with the Essence you swap too. To use Morph Strikes, all you have to do is press the direction to swap to a different Essence (either the Essence's specifically bound direction or the quick swap button) during any of your attack animations. When done correctly, you'll finish your attack on the current Essence and then automatically swap to (and attack) with the next essence, allowing you to keep the pressure on in a situation where you normally wouldn't have enough stamina.

The only resource you'll need to keep track of to make use of Morph Strikes is the Sync Bar at the bottom of your screen. As you deal damage and take damage, these individual sections of the bar will fill, and each Morph Dodge and Morph Strike will use one 'pip' of this bar. Not only that, but Deathbound also has Ultra Morph Strikes, which are empowered Morph Strikes that use the entirety of your Syn Bar. These attacks have more flair in their animation, deal more damage, and have more Attack Weight too.

Why Morph Strikes Are Worth Using

All The Reasons to Utilize This Mechanic

Now for the main question, are Morph Strikes actually worth using often in Deathbound? The answer is absolutely they are. Morph Strikes are honestly the strongest tool you have at your disposal. With proper usage of Morph Strikes, you can essentially unleash an infinite combo all while expertly avoiding the enemy's attacks, allowing you to burn through some bosses incredibly quickly. To elaborate a bit more on the actual mechanical benefits of Morph Strikes over Morph Dodges:

During a Morph Strike transition, you typically have some i-frames.
Every Essence has a Talent that has to do with their Morph Strikes, an early example being Therone's Talent which gives his Morph Strikes additional Lifesteal.
Each Essence has their own Stamina Bar to keep track of (which is shared with their HP) but if you use Morph Strikes to switch between, you can keep attacking while using up to 4 different Stamina Bars instead of one.
Dealing damage with a character will heal your inactive characters with each hit and/or kill, so by utilizing Morph Strikes you'll be keeping all of your Essences relatively topped up on Health.
Depending on the enemy, you can keep them infinitely staggered thanks to Morph Strikes

Geniuenly, Morph Strikes only get stronger the further you get into Deathbound, especially if you pick the right Talents for each Essence. And, both Morph Strikes and Morph Dodges should be used as often as possible to make this otherwise gruelingly difficult game a lot more bearable. Ultra Morph Strikes, in particular, are a lot easier to charge up the Sync for than you might think, especially if you find the right Artefact or Ring. This Ultra variant of the attack is incredibly strong, has a ton of I-frames, and is typically worth saving up for whenever possible.

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