Solo John has to create his own damage windows. There is nobody else clearing the ranged enemy while he's occupied with the one in front of his shield. That makes target selecti…

Solo John has to create his own damage windows. There is nobody else clearing the ranged enemy while he's occupied with the one in front of his shield. That makes target selection important. If something behind the melee group is repeatedly forcing you to defend, consider changing the angle of the fight rather than patiently absorbing the entire pattern. In co-op, a defensive John can give a ranged partner more room to work. Linda is a clear example: a steadier firing opportunity helps her use the stationary side of her kit. But don't treat John as a guaranteed enemy magnet. Positioning together and paying attention to who enemies are actually pursuing matters more than assigning someone the word 'tank.' The online advice isn't completely uniform. ElCid's John guide leans into fighting directly with timely blocks. A separate Steam discussion by Arvandor2 emphasizes moving while guarding and avoiding attacks that drain too much stamina. Those approaches share a useful point: a block should be deliberate, not your default response to every threat. There's also community discussion of using the shield to cancel attack recovery. That's an advanced technique to experiment with after the fundamentals, not a promise of identical timing on every control setup. Try it somewhere forgiving before building an entire playstyle around it. Faster attacks won't compensate for losing track of your surroundings.