The Callisto Protocol How to Dodge

The Callisto Protocol uses a lot of melee combat. Learning how to dodge enemy attacks is essential to your survival. This guide explains how dodging works in The Callisto Protocol to avoid getting hit. We will also teach you how to string combos and counter-attacks together in the most efficient manner.

There’s a short tutorial how dodging works when you encounter the first enemy but the game doesn’t do a good job of explaining it. So it can be a bit confusing at first and takes some practice to fully understand.

How to Dodge:

You dodge by HOLDING (not tapping/short-pressing) the LEFT STICK. On each attack you must ALTERNATE between holding the left stick LEFT ( ) and RIGHT ( ). It doesn’t matter from which side the enemy is attacking or whether you first dodge left or the right. The only thing that matters is that between each attack you switch between HOLDING LEFT and HOLDING RIGHT ( > > > and so on).
Basically, you are walking to the side the entire time to dodge. You will be alternating between walking to the left and walking to the right. Keep alternating the direction between each hit until the enemy is done performing their combo. Then you can counter-attack.
You can only dodge enemies in front of you. You cannot dodge enemies behind you or to the side of you. You can only dodge one enemy at a time. Ranged projectiles can’t be dodged.
If you enable the Accessibility Setting “Auto-Dodge”: you no longer need to alternate between holding Left and Right. Auto-Dodge makes it so you can hold in the same direction the entire time to auto-dodge all incoming attacks. So simply hold the entire time (no need to switch sides), and it will dodge all attacks by the enemy in front of you. However, it will not dodge attacks by any enemies behind you or to the side of you. You can only dodge the enemy that you are aiming at in front of you. “Auto-Dodge” is actually a misnomer in the accessibility menu because you still need to hold the left stick in one direction, it’s not fully automatic.

How to Counter-Attack:

After you dodge an enemy’s combo, you can counter. Strike 3 times with your melee weapon ( > > / > > ).
Do note that in the early game enemies will only strike once or twice. Later at around Chapter 5 the enemies will attempt 3-hit combos and some bosses use even 5-6 strike combos.
Enemies who have an arm torn off will only attempt 1 strike, they will not attempt longer combos. This makes them less dangerous.
Once you unlock a gun you can string longer combos together that keep enemies locked into an infinite loop, leaving them unable to attack you again. You do this by striking them 3 times, then they stumble back and it will show a blue reticle on them (only after unlocking a gun). You must then aim your gun to fire 1 shot and immediately melee attack them again. Press + / + to shoot a gun. So the full combo button press is (3 melee) > + (shoot) > repeat / (3 melee) > + (shoot) > repeat.
It is best to save your ammo to bind together long melee combos, instead of blasting an entire clip into an enemy. Especially at Maximum Security difficulty this conserves ammo and does more damage.
If you enable the Accessibility Setting “Melee Assist”: Instead of TAPPING / 3 times, you can now HOLD the button to automatically perform a 3-hit combo. This saves you many clicks throughout the game and is a bit more player-friendly. So feel free to activate this under accessibility options. The only difference with this option is that you can hold the button instead of pressing it repeatedly.