Battlerite-lookalike walk animations

So I'm new to the whole mecanim system, and animation blending as a whole as I've only ever worked within 2D animation, and while i have done a bit of 3D animation it's been within the FSM animation system.

So my question is this, if i were to make a top down game where the player is supposed to have controls similar to that of a game such as bloodline champions or battlerite with the strafing and backpeddling depending on the current forward position of the player, how would i do this the most effective way.

I'm assuming that i need to do updates where i take in the forward direction of the player, depending on the input I'll decide where the player will be going, whether it's backwards, forwards or sideways compared to the forward direction, and then finally set variables for the animator depending on the outcome of that movement.

Is this the easiest way to accomplish this or is there an easier way?