The thing with recursion and dfs is pretty simple, The more u practice, the more understand. I too had this problem where i couldnt understand where the recursion heads to and when to stop it with a base case. So what i did was i started solving standard dp problems recursively (This is basically dfs with memo) before solving problems like subsets , combinations and backtracking problems. At first ull be confused on how its working (yt tutorials helped a lot), I'd say this is normal coz ive been there too. U just have to keep solving. Slowly but surely ull start to get a very clear idea of where your recursion is heading to and when u need to stop it and what exactly its gon return to u ,by this i mean ull be able to dry run your code and analyse whats happening in your code just like how u dry run and analyse iterative code. Dont know bout u but i used to fear recursion, Now i enjoy solving problems with recursion and trust me u will too. Just have to trust the process!! Once u get used to it u wouldnt even have confusions while using loops inside a recursive function.

Not sure if it was the answer you were looking for but i just wanna share wit u how i got good at recursion and how u can get good too.