Hi Guys,
as I am a really enthusiastic duelist, I thought I could share some of my thoughts on this matter and perhaps get tips from other players too.
I won´t do something like the Infantry Primer, cause I think everyone here knows the basics.
Everybody that doesnt know it, should read it, as it is a really good guide and the new video might give you a better view of what to do then some theoretical writing.
Dueling when your partner has a weapon not much longer then yours:
The first thing I want to address is how to initiate a duel.
I don´t mean the greeting, but your first attack.
Do a Thrust! There is no better attack then this. Thats because you have the longest reach and it´s piercing damage.
If your opponent comes at you with a right swing, advance to his left and with a left swing, do the opposite. If he comes at you with an overhead, just carefully march into him.
If your opponent clearly blocks your thrust, march near enough to change to a swing or overhead.
You can variate that, of course, but I would advice you to do it only when you have advanced close enough to hit him without problems. Even when your opponent sees and such knows you will do a thrust, he can only do so himself or block, doing a swing or overhead will! result in his death, if your timing is right.
After the first strike, try to learn something about your opponent.
How does he play? Does he do feints, does he jump or kick? Is he only spamming or does he exchange blows in an identical way every time?
Thats quite crucial for a duel, because even a newby can kill a veteran if he makes a mistake. Mostly because the veteran feints, but the newby doesn´t even know feints, so he just attacks.
But I want to speak mostly about players who know to play, so I won´t really say much to duelling with newbys.
There are a couple of things you can do to make a clean hit on your opponent:
[list type=decimal]
[*]Feinting. Most guys feint right/left swings or left/right. You can do three or more repetitive feints, but be careful, if you feint too much, you may have a chance of confusing your opponent, but he may just attack between two of your feints, which will most likely be your death. If you can read your opponents moves, you can anticipate his move and attack, without doing the feint, that would lead to your death, but I find that really hard to do.
[*]Double feint. Its not a feint that changes directions, but a feint that comes from the same direction a second time. For example: An overhead is quite easy to block, as it is a slow strike, but if you do an overhead-feint, with a overhead coming directly after, most guys will be hit. Because your strike animation has not changed, they think they should have blocked your overhead, but because the strike comes at a later date, many will let go of their block and try to attack you, which will lead to their death.
[*]Holding. Holds are easy to do, as you just have to hold your button a while longer, but against most players, it can be rather useful. Do it when your duel lasts a couple of strikes or if you have duelt the same guy a couple of times. Because after a certain time, everybody gets a timing for the strikes of your opponent, and a hold changes that timing greatly. Most players will think, they should have blocked your strike, but because it comes half a second later, it will go through, because your opponent will let go of their block to go on the offensive.
[*]Jump. I myself dont do it often and I dont really like to do it, as it is quite unrealistic, but sometimes it can be quite handy. Especially because you have a much greater reach while jumping. You can close really fast to the enemy and that can be enough to catch him of guard. Or you can try to jump past him and attack him from behind. But be careful, good players even anticipate jumps and they will most likely kill you while you are in mid-air.
[*]Kicking. When you get the timing and aiming right, kicking will be a really great weapon, especially against facehuggers like myself. If you use a spear, it can really win you a great deal of duels, because most will try to get as close to you as they can. So if you can kick your opponent you will get a free strike at him, if he isnt fast enough. But it can be really dangerous to you too, because when you cant hit your opponent, you are completely open for their strike to hit you. Against shield users, it can be your greatest weapon.
[*]Chamber blocks. Chamber blocks are quite nice, as you use your weapon to block the weapon of your opponent: So you can strike directly after blocking, without going in a striking position, because you already are in striking position. Most players dont anticipate a chamber, so they will get hit by your strike. They are not as easy to do as a normal block, because they require a really good timing and if you get it wrong, you yourself will get hit, so they carry a great danger too. Especially against good players they can come in handy, but some players even expect chambers and can block them. To learn chamber, start with the overhead strike, because thats the slowest strike and you can get the timing down the fastest. Keep in mind that you can chamber overheads with overhands and thrusts, and thrusts with thrusts and overheads.
[*]Back away. To back away can be really useful sometimes. You back out of the range of your opponents weapons, and then, after he misses by a hair, you quickly move forward and hit him. This is most effective with a thrust because of the longest reach of that attack.
[*]Charge. To charge can be quite useful too. When your opponent tries to hit you and thinks you will back away, he will hold his swing, because he thinks you will be out of range and then he goes after you. Now you can charge into him, as best with a quick thrust. That thrust will reach him first, if you got the timing right. It will mostly not do so much damage, because you are not far enough away from your opponent, but it can stun your opponent, which gives you the time to go past him and slash him. Keep in mind that with heavy armour, he will not be stunned most of the time because you simply do no damage. So his swing will reach you and you dont have time to block that.
[*]Go past. To go past your opponent will enable you to strike him from behind. With good players, its not so easy to do, but if you play against an aggressive player or a facehugger, you can use him as he charges at you, wait for him to come and at the last second charge through besides him, turn around with a swing and hit him. Be careful, as this allows him to go past you too. While turning, you can overcome his block with a reversed attack. As you turn right, you will most likely use a left strike to hit your opponent. As he sees that left strike, he will try to block it with a right block, but you can turn left instead of right, even with a left strike. You will turn as far as his block goes and then use that left strike to hit his unguarded side. Note that this will not do much damage, because you two stand too close (Hope this is understandable, I will try to explain it better, when I get the time and the words to do it ^^).
[*]Always use the attack to which side your opponent stands. If your opponent stands left from you, use a left strike and the other way round. That will enable you to hit your enemy the fastest you can possibly do.
[*]Blocking. Blocking is essential, all the good moves wont bring you anything if you cant manually block, and, if you are a really good blocker, most of these tips wont work against you. So practice your blocking, especially blocking feints and such should become a habit for you, otherwise you will quickly be obliterated by your opponent.
[*]Weapon reach. Know the weapon reach of all the weapons, thats really important for backing away and such. Keep in mind that your opponent can make the range farther with a quick step in.
[*]Circling. Use circling with swings that are close to you opponents position. If you circle right, use left swings and the other way round. If you get a hit in, dont stop, as due to your movement, you can get past the block and hit your opponent in the side, if he doesnt turn fast enough. Circling is used to confuse your opponent and try to get behind his block, which you can do.
[*]Side stepping. You can step to the side if your opponent uses a swing, mostly if he uses the swing, thats on the farthest side from your point. While side stepping, do a swing yourself, but with the side nearest to the opponent, this can give you a clean hit, because while swinging, your opponent cant defend.
[*]Hearing. Something very valuable is to hear the clashing of the two weapons. Because if you dont hear it, your opponent has either done a feint or hold and if you let go of your block, you will be hit, or he simply missed, which you will most likely see. So its essential to lower your block only! if you hear the clashing sound. Keep track of your opponent and be aware of any changes in his attack direction until you hear that sound, only then will it be wise to attack back.
[*]Movement. Movement is essential in every duel. Every swing that misses you is the best thing that can happen! So try to outmaneuver your opponent and hit him when his swings miss. Try to get a good position, that lets you get in the back or on the side of your opponent, because that will enable you to go besides his block. If you stand still, your opponent can go around as he pleases, so its not really wise to stand sill. Do it only when your opponent needs a couple of moments to get into striking reach and wait calmly for him to approach and then use your timing to move at the last second, surprise him and kill him with a bit of luck.
[*]Aiming. As you do more or less damage depending on where you hit your opponent, aiming will be really useful. Try to hit high, so that you hit the head of your opponent. Without a helmet, this will most of the time result in instant death. Aiming low can be a method too, mostly because you have not much armour there and to confuse your opponent. Jumping will enable you to be high enough to hit him from above even with a thrust or swing, so you have a better chance of hitting the head, but I have to say, that this is quite dangerous to yourself too.
[*]Zooming. Little Trick for all that dont know it. You can zoom out a bit, not much, but it enables you too see more. For that, hit -, thats the normal key for it.
[*]Rhythm. That depends on how you use it. Against good players you might notice a rhythm in the attack patterns of both of you. This may enable you to read your opponent and use that to your advantage, or you can break it intentionally to catch you opponent of guard. Be careful, every other player can to this to you too, if you are to caught up in your own rhythm.
[*]Standing still. Standing still without blocking or attacking can confuse your opponent gravely. If you make your move when he last expects it, or when he thinks he has already hit you, because you are not doing anything, you can catch him of guard. With a quick step in or a chamberblock in the last second. This lets you observe your opponent too and may calm you down after a heated and confusing duel. Note that most people will think you are afk, got disconnected or something like that, so they may just walk away to a moving opponent. New player may even think they did something wrong or didnt greet properly or something, so you should use it with that in mind.
[*]Variations/Patterns. Most of the time, it is wise to variate all your attacks. Dont do the same over and over again, your opponent might see through your pattern and will attack accordingly. But you can use that pattern to your advantage as well, if you are careful enough. When you think he has seen through your pattern and is ready to strike you when you are right into your pattern, then change it! For this, you will need experience, but when you can catch him off guard, while he expected you to be off guard, you will most likely kill him.
[/list]
All these tips can be used with every weapon, in most situation.
Note: Blocking is the most useful skill overall, good blocking can counter all of these tricks. If you have someone really great at blocking, the only thing left is to surprise him.
But keep in mind a couple things more:
[*]Against longer weapons, blocking the first strike is essential. Dont attack, you will get hit first. Try to close the distance, but be aware of kicks. If you can, kick him yourself. Be careful of spears. They are really annoying weapons, even in close combat, as they stun you really great with their swings and the thrusts do great damage.
[*]Against players with short weapons, back away, use your superior reach and try to hit him from a distance.
[*]Against shield users, best is to hold your distance, if you have a longer weapon, try to break his shield, then he will be killed easily. If he comes to close to you, try to kick him, or use feints to get him of guard. Trying to go behind him is a good tactic too. Note that if he is a really experienced player, you will have a hard time getting him off guard and it will be a very hard duel.
[*]Against hammer weapons, be very aware of a overhead, as this will crush through your block. They are mostly slow weapons, so try to get away from an overhead, or get close enough to kick. Im not sure if chambers work with such weapons, but that could be an alternative too. Best is to keep your distance so you can get away fast enough.
[*]Sometimes you may want to duel horsemen too. For that, grab a long weapon, if not a spear, use a great sword or something like that. Try to thrust your weapon in the horses head and then kill it. Now one hit on the opponent on the ground should suffice. If he has a really long spear and is thrusting himself, block it and then try to hit his horse with a swing in the side, try to kill the horse first and then do as described. Sometimes you want to kill the horseguy directly. For that, jump and to a thrust, if you time that correctly you can kill him, but I carries great risks. Or you can let him miss his thrust by side stepping and then jumping after him with a swing. Timed correctly, it can hit him. That too carries great risk.
[*]Be careful of Tanks, strikes that would hit an opponent with no or less armour and stun him, can just bounce off the heavy armour and since it wont stun him, you will get a hit yourself. Fighting them you will need to hit the head, to do enough damage to end a duel in a couple of swings. Even a helmet wont help them survive many of this strikes. If you use an axe or a piercing/blunt weapon, armour wont be as much of a burden as it is with swords.
[*]Range. Note that if you stand too close to your opponent, your attacks wont do any damage!
If there is anything that is not clear enough, that is completely wrong or if you have a question, just ask. I dont think what I have written is now law or anything, it may be completely wrong or something, or it is written in such bad English, that nobody understands it.
I just wanted to help players who love to duel like myself and hope these players learn something they didnt know before.
It can help new players too, as they may understand, what the veterans are doing and why and can try to copy that, to get better.
On a side note I have to address two things:
Firstly I would advice you to read the Gentlemen´s guide to dueling, which is really great.
Secondly I will address something really annoying!:
DONT EVER KICK SOMEONE TO GAIN HIS ATTENTION!
This is really bad manners! It damages your opponent and its really not needed to get him to become aware of you. You can without a problem move before him or change your weapon so he hears the sound. And after that, if he doesnt greet you back, dont do anything to him! He may be afk for a second, writing something or he simply doesnt want to duel you, which you will have to accept. Most of the players notice you fast enough so that no kicking is needed, keep that in mind, please.
I have to thank all the guys from IG to help me develop the first version of the guide into this advanced version with more tips and less mistakes =)
With my utmost respect to all the players of warband and especially the multiplayer community,
Valdarr
as I am a really enthusiastic duelist, I thought I could share some of my thoughts on this matter and perhaps get tips from other players too.
I won´t do something like the Infantry Primer, cause I think everyone here knows the basics.
Everybody that doesnt know it, should read it, as it is a really good guide and the new video might give you a better view of what to do then some theoretical writing.
Dueling when your partner has a weapon not much longer then yours:
The first thing I want to address is how to initiate a duel.
I don´t mean the greeting, but your first attack.
Do a Thrust! There is no better attack then this. Thats because you have the longest reach and it´s piercing damage.
If your opponent comes at you with a right swing, advance to his left and with a left swing, do the opposite. If he comes at you with an overhead, just carefully march into him.
If your opponent clearly blocks your thrust, march near enough to change to a swing or overhead.
You can variate that, of course, but I would advice you to do it only when you have advanced close enough to hit him without problems. Even when your opponent sees and such knows you will do a thrust, he can only do so himself or block, doing a swing or overhead will! result in his death, if your timing is right.
After the first strike, try to learn something about your opponent.
How does he play? Does he do feints, does he jump or kick? Is he only spamming or does he exchange blows in an identical way every time?
Thats quite crucial for a duel, because even a newby can kill a veteran if he makes a mistake. Mostly because the veteran feints, but the newby doesn´t even know feints, so he just attacks.
But I want to speak mostly about players who know to play, so I won´t really say much to duelling with newbys.
There are a couple of things you can do to make a clean hit on your opponent:
[list type=decimal]
[*]Feinting. Most guys feint right/left swings or left/right. You can do three or more repetitive feints, but be careful, if you feint too much, you may have a chance of confusing your opponent, but he may just attack between two of your feints, which will most likely be your death. If you can read your opponents moves, you can anticipate his move and attack, without doing the feint, that would lead to your death, but I find that really hard to do.
[*]Double feint. Its not a feint that changes directions, but a feint that comes from the same direction a second time. For example: An overhead is quite easy to block, as it is a slow strike, but if you do an overhead-feint, with a overhead coming directly after, most guys will be hit. Because your strike animation has not changed, they think they should have blocked your overhead, but because the strike comes at a later date, many will let go of their block and try to attack you, which will lead to their death.
[*]Holding. Holds are easy to do, as you just have to hold your button a while longer, but against most players, it can be rather useful. Do it when your duel lasts a couple of strikes or if you have duelt the same guy a couple of times. Because after a certain time, everybody gets a timing for the strikes of your opponent, and a hold changes that timing greatly. Most players will think, they should have blocked your strike, but because it comes half a second later, it will go through, because your opponent will let go of their block to go on the offensive.
[*]Jump. I myself dont do it often and I dont really like to do it, as it is quite unrealistic, but sometimes it can be quite handy. Especially because you have a much greater reach while jumping. You can close really fast to the enemy and that can be enough to catch him of guard. Or you can try to jump past him and attack him from behind. But be careful, good players even anticipate jumps and they will most likely kill you while you are in mid-air.
[*]Kicking. When you get the timing and aiming right, kicking will be a really great weapon, especially against facehuggers like myself. If you use a spear, it can really win you a great deal of duels, because most will try to get as close to you as they can. So if you can kick your opponent you will get a free strike at him, if he isnt fast enough. But it can be really dangerous to you too, because when you cant hit your opponent, you are completely open for their strike to hit you. Against shield users, it can be your greatest weapon.
[*]Chamber blocks. Chamber blocks are quite nice, as you use your weapon to block the weapon of your opponent: So you can strike directly after blocking, without going in a striking position, because you already are in striking position. Most players dont anticipate a chamber, so they will get hit by your strike. They are not as easy to do as a normal block, because they require a really good timing and if you get it wrong, you yourself will get hit, so they carry a great danger too. Especially against good players they can come in handy, but some players even expect chambers and can block them. To learn chamber, start with the overhead strike, because thats the slowest strike and you can get the timing down the fastest. Keep in mind that you can chamber overheads with overhands and thrusts, and thrusts with thrusts and overheads.
[*]Back away. To back away can be really useful sometimes. You back out of the range of your opponents weapons, and then, after he misses by a hair, you quickly move forward and hit him. This is most effective with a thrust because of the longest reach of that attack.
[*]Charge. To charge can be quite useful too. When your opponent tries to hit you and thinks you will back away, he will hold his swing, because he thinks you will be out of range and then he goes after you. Now you can charge into him, as best with a quick thrust. That thrust will reach him first, if you got the timing right. It will mostly not do so much damage, because you are not far enough away from your opponent, but it can stun your opponent, which gives you the time to go past him and slash him. Keep in mind that with heavy armour, he will not be stunned most of the time because you simply do no damage. So his swing will reach you and you dont have time to block that.
[*]Go past. To go past your opponent will enable you to strike him from behind. With good players, its not so easy to do, but if you play against an aggressive player or a facehugger, you can use him as he charges at you, wait for him to come and at the last second charge through besides him, turn around with a swing and hit him. Be careful, as this allows him to go past you too. While turning, you can overcome his block with a reversed attack. As you turn right, you will most likely use a left strike to hit your opponent. As he sees that left strike, he will try to block it with a right block, but you can turn left instead of right, even with a left strike. You will turn as far as his block goes and then use that left strike to hit his unguarded side. Note that this will not do much damage, because you two stand too close (Hope this is understandable, I will try to explain it better, when I get the time and the words to do it ^^).
[*]Always use the attack to which side your opponent stands. If your opponent stands left from you, use a left strike and the other way round. That will enable you to hit your enemy the fastest you can possibly do.
[*]Blocking. Blocking is essential, all the good moves wont bring you anything if you cant manually block, and, if you are a really good blocker, most of these tips wont work against you. So practice your blocking, especially blocking feints and such should become a habit for you, otherwise you will quickly be obliterated by your opponent.
[*]Weapon reach. Know the weapon reach of all the weapons, thats really important for backing away and such. Keep in mind that your opponent can make the range farther with a quick step in.
[*]Circling. Use circling with swings that are close to you opponents position. If you circle right, use left swings and the other way round. If you get a hit in, dont stop, as due to your movement, you can get past the block and hit your opponent in the side, if he doesnt turn fast enough. Circling is used to confuse your opponent and try to get behind his block, which you can do.
[*]Side stepping. You can step to the side if your opponent uses a swing, mostly if he uses the swing, thats on the farthest side from your point. While side stepping, do a swing yourself, but with the side nearest to the opponent, this can give you a clean hit, because while swinging, your opponent cant defend.
[*]Hearing. Something very valuable is to hear the clashing of the two weapons. Because if you dont hear it, your opponent has either done a feint or hold and if you let go of your block, you will be hit, or he simply missed, which you will most likely see. So its essential to lower your block only! if you hear the clashing sound. Keep track of your opponent and be aware of any changes in his attack direction until you hear that sound, only then will it be wise to attack back.
[*]Movement. Movement is essential in every duel. Every swing that misses you is the best thing that can happen! So try to outmaneuver your opponent and hit him when his swings miss. Try to get a good position, that lets you get in the back or on the side of your opponent, because that will enable you to go besides his block. If you stand still, your opponent can go around as he pleases, so its not really wise to stand sill. Do it only when your opponent needs a couple of moments to get into striking reach and wait calmly for him to approach and then use your timing to move at the last second, surprise him and kill him with a bit of luck.
[*]Aiming. As you do more or less damage depending on where you hit your opponent, aiming will be really useful. Try to hit high, so that you hit the head of your opponent. Without a helmet, this will most of the time result in instant death. Aiming low can be a method too, mostly because you have not much armour there and to confuse your opponent. Jumping will enable you to be high enough to hit him from above even with a thrust or swing, so you have a better chance of hitting the head, but I have to say, that this is quite dangerous to yourself too.
[*]Zooming. Little Trick for all that dont know it. You can zoom out a bit, not much, but it enables you too see more. For that, hit -, thats the normal key for it.
[*]Rhythm. That depends on how you use it. Against good players you might notice a rhythm in the attack patterns of both of you. This may enable you to read your opponent and use that to your advantage, or you can break it intentionally to catch you opponent of guard. Be careful, every other player can to this to you too, if you are to caught up in your own rhythm.
[*]Standing still. Standing still without blocking or attacking can confuse your opponent gravely. If you make your move when he last expects it, or when he thinks he has already hit you, because you are not doing anything, you can catch him of guard. With a quick step in or a chamberblock in the last second. This lets you observe your opponent too and may calm you down after a heated and confusing duel. Note that most people will think you are afk, got disconnected or something like that, so they may just walk away to a moving opponent. New player may even think they did something wrong or didnt greet properly or something, so you should use it with that in mind.
[*]Variations/Patterns. Most of the time, it is wise to variate all your attacks. Dont do the same over and over again, your opponent might see through your pattern and will attack accordingly. But you can use that pattern to your advantage as well, if you are careful enough. When you think he has seen through your pattern and is ready to strike you when you are right into your pattern, then change it! For this, you will need experience, but when you can catch him off guard, while he expected you to be off guard, you will most likely kill him.
[/list]
All these tips can be used with every weapon, in most situation.
Note: Blocking is the most useful skill overall, good blocking can counter all of these tricks. If you have someone really great at blocking, the only thing left is to surprise him.
But keep in mind a couple things more:
[*]Against longer weapons, blocking the first strike is essential. Dont attack, you will get hit first. Try to close the distance, but be aware of kicks. If you can, kick him yourself. Be careful of spears. They are really annoying weapons, even in close combat, as they stun you really great with their swings and the thrusts do great damage.
[*]Against players with short weapons, back away, use your superior reach and try to hit him from a distance.
[*]Against shield users, best is to hold your distance, if you have a longer weapon, try to break his shield, then he will be killed easily. If he comes to close to you, try to kick him, or use feints to get him of guard. Trying to go behind him is a good tactic too. Note that if he is a really experienced player, you will have a hard time getting him off guard and it will be a very hard duel.
[*]Against hammer weapons, be very aware of a overhead, as this will crush through your block. They are mostly slow weapons, so try to get away from an overhead, or get close enough to kick. Im not sure if chambers work with such weapons, but that could be an alternative too. Best is to keep your distance so you can get away fast enough.
[*]Sometimes you may want to duel horsemen too. For that, grab a long weapon, if not a spear, use a great sword or something like that. Try to thrust your weapon in the horses head and then kill it. Now one hit on the opponent on the ground should suffice. If he has a really long spear and is thrusting himself, block it and then try to hit his horse with a swing in the side, try to kill the horse first and then do as described. Sometimes you want to kill the horseguy directly. For that, jump and to a thrust, if you time that correctly you can kill him, but I carries great risks. Or you can let him miss his thrust by side stepping and then jumping after him with a swing. Timed correctly, it can hit him. That too carries great risk.
[*]Be careful of Tanks, strikes that would hit an opponent with no or less armour and stun him, can just bounce off the heavy armour and since it wont stun him, you will get a hit yourself. Fighting them you will need to hit the head, to do enough damage to end a duel in a couple of swings. Even a helmet wont help them survive many of this strikes. If you use an axe or a piercing/blunt weapon, armour wont be as much of a burden as it is with swords.
[*]Range. Note that if you stand too close to your opponent, your attacks wont do any damage!
If there is anything that is not clear enough, that is completely wrong or if you have a question, just ask. I dont think what I have written is now law or anything, it may be completely wrong or something, or it is written in such bad English, that nobody understands it.
I just wanted to help players who love to duel like myself and hope these players learn something they didnt know before.
It can help new players too, as they may understand, what the veterans are doing and why and can try to copy that, to get better.
On a side note I have to address two things:
Firstly I would advice you to read the Gentlemen´s guide to dueling, which is really great.
Secondly I will address something really annoying!:
DONT EVER KICK SOMEONE TO GAIN HIS ATTENTION!
This is really bad manners! It damages your opponent and its really not needed to get him to become aware of you. You can without a problem move before him or change your weapon so he hears the sound. And after that, if he doesnt greet you back, dont do anything to him! He may be afk for a second, writing something or he simply doesnt want to duel you, which you will have to accept. Most of the players notice you fast enough so that no kicking is needed, keep that in mind, please.
I have to thank all the guys from IG to help me develop the first version of the guide into this advanced version with more tips and less mistakes =)
With my utmost respect to all the players of warband and especially the multiplayer community,
Valdarr
