Using monsters in combat

[Derper]

Are there any quick and easy charts or instructions about how to use monsters in combat.

I find some things difficult like knowing which attacks are secondary, how flanking works on really big creatures?

[Weables]

Reading the chapter on combat would be recommended.

If you could be more specific with a monster in terms of natural primary vs secondary attacks, we could clear it up, but generally its indicated in the stat block, since it provides full attack bonuses for you

[Bwang]

several bestiaries have brief blurbs on 'standard' tactics for certain monsters. Such advice can be swapped with another beastie provided they have similar powers.

[karkon]

Usually the first attack listed is the primary attack. There is a diagram in the combat section that explains how flanking works with large creatures.

Flanking image

[doctor_wu]

Most thing usually have at least one primary attack and the secondary attacks are the ones with a minus 5 penalty to them compared to primary. this is before things like weapon focus that give bonuses to hit kick in.