Mount & Blade Warband Infantry Primer

[Reapy]

Watch the tutorial video for a little bit more explanation for chamber blocking to help out with timing.

You can block people's chamber block swings most of the time except sometimes thrust attack.

This is more of a tactic for multiplayer than single player vs bots since bots will let you hit them from time to time. For people it is good to throw off their timing or for those hits that just cant be blocked sometimes.

 

[sumguy720]

Here's a helpful hint that people might not be aware of: Knives cannot block, but they CAN chamber block. Lances too as far as I can tell. If daggers ever get implemented, or if people ever want a character with knives in SP, this is a cool way to go about combat.

 

[astat]

Okay, thank you guys.

 

[evif]

To add to that, your fists can chamber block.  You take no damage in doing so.

So, if you really need to embarrass someone, press \ and go for it!

 

[infua]

First, thank you very much for this great tutorial and the videos!

But I want to know:
1. Why sometimes chamber block not working also against tutorial bot?
And if your chamber don't work against long axes you will die by first hit.
2. Why sometimes a guy  with 1h sword/sabre can strike 2 times in row, first against my shield and when I try immediately to counterattack with my 1h axe I get his second strike? It's physically not possible to swing two times in a row but it happened to me in game with different people.
3. How is a speed of weapon works in combat, f.Ex. sabre 101 and axe 96, can I strike twice with sabre or will sabre simply first reach the target?
4. 2h weapon make lighter 1h stunned, but if I use the shield, can I strike back or make 2h weapon also stunned a guy with shield? If I have a long axe/berdiche… and always hold a mouse

sorry for my maybe not best English..)

 

[Nobody]

As a new player, I really appreciate this guide, the advice vs. different playstyles is invaluable.

 

[Reapy]

1. Why sometimes chamber block not working also against tutorial bot?
And if your chamber don't work against long axes you will die by first hit.

-- It could be that your timing is off. It is a somewhat small window to do it. Physically their weapon has to slam into yours as you pull back the weapon to strike, but the timing is basically to attack just after the whiff sound from theirs wing.

2. Why sometimes a guy  with 1h sword/sabre can strike 2 times in row, first against my shield and when I try immediately to counterattack with my 1h axe I get his second strike? It's physically not possible to swing two times in a row but it happened to me in game with different people.
3. How is a speed of weapon works in combat, f.Ex. sabre 101 and axe 96, can I strike twice with sabre or will sabre simply first reach the target?

--When you have a shield you have a 30% speed penalty so you will swing a lot slower. The main thing might be where a person is standing. You have to make sure that you try to hit them in the early part of your swing. So if you counter attack with a right swing, make sure you have the guy over your right shoulder so you hit them on that part of the swing. Also you really have to counter immediately, even a slight hesitation and fast weapon can still beat you. So again, good position to hit them, and a fast reaction, and you should be able to connect.

4. 2h weapon make lighter 1h stunned, but if I use the shield, can I strike back or make 2h weapon also stunned a guy with shield? If I have a long axe/berdiche… and always hold a mouse

--Hrmm not sure here actually how stun translates onto the shield. I think you should be ok to retaliate but don't quote me on that if you are left clicking and the sword doesn't come back to strike immediately is how you can tell if you are stunned. But I think for the most part that with a shield there is minimal stun.

 

[Genava]

Hi, I have a question.
How to fight the good players who use the polearm with a shield and one-handed weapon?
Long Bardiche, Pike, Glaive etc. Numerous weapons which transform a player in a really invincible man. I try several tricks against but that didn't work.
1- I try to charge against him, to impede its movement. It didn't work. The player kicked me and hit me faster than I pull up my shield, certainly due to a rotary movement and by the speed penalty caused by my shield. Really impossible to protect myself after a kick.
2- I try to kick him. But it's really hard and not effective. I must kick only during a very short time  between his several fast hits. Generally, he kick me first and I die after a slash. Sometimes I succeded to kick first, but it's not effective because I can't hit fast with shield+one-handed, he always blocks my strike.
3- I try to move behind him, but his ****ing weapon strikes from behind the player. Impossible to hit him before he turns.

My tricks work fine against several others weapons but I can't find a solution in this case. Some help would be welcome. Thanks.

 

[Reapy]

As usual it really depends on who is holding the weapon. Long weapons can be tricky and a really good player can be very difficult to close in on.

A good polearm user will kick you as you close, or keep backing up then stop abruptly and move forward into kick range.

You have to rely on the basic rules that after a block you will have time to counter attack, unfortunately you have to be in range of that counter attack. This means that you need to advance on the guy to the point you are outside kick range but inside strike range with your 1h weapon, which is usually a very tiny area.

After that you can retaliate and put pressure on them, but it takes a lot of paying attention. You can also try to move left and right to generate a miss from them, but pike battles always feel like you are advancing up the corridor full of pike until you get into range.

If you feel comfortable you can also chamber block them and use the window of time there to advance and hit.

So all this is down to the practitioner holding the pike. People might be slow or mess up the kick as you close, but if you come up against someone who is very talented in general, it will be just as hard a battle with them as it would be if they were holding a normal weapon.

But again in general, advance carefully, stay out of kick range, but stay in your own strike range, and you can somewhat treat pikes normally.

 

[Reapy]

Whoops I read that wrong, well the stuff above is good for long polearm battles.

For glaive, spear etc you just have to treat them like long weapons. They do have some pretty wide swing arcs and good reach and they can hit you at odd angles sometimes.

You just have to keep in mind that you will not land the first blow against them if they are ready since they have range on you, and they can almost get two swings at you for free as you close in to strike range.

The same general advice applies here, in that you need to close to your strike range and try to stay there to duel them 'normally'. Don't go in too much as you can get kicked, and long weapon users who want to keep range will generally be more prepared to kick then other people.

So really close in with your shield up to just outside kick range and then duel normally. You can still wrap around behind people like normal, just be aware their weapon has big angles as well.

But the only difference these guys have are the deeper left/right swing arcs and the range, and you don't have to worry too much about the back angles against a person since if you get in that spot anyway, you are in a good place to hit his back as well.

So get in a place to neutralize his range, and you should be fighting on equal ground.

 

[doomsayer]

There are basically two styles that are succesfull imo.

1) Facehugging

I.e. trying to stick in the face of your enemy and attacking as much as possible with some but not overly much feinting.
This is equivalent to the Aggression style reapy mentioned, with two differences.
Firstly your attacks are slower, so the amount of pressure you can put on your enemy is smaller. But a good shield can make the combat last really long and takes a lot of pressure from you, so you are putting some good amount of pressure on him for a long time to wear him down.

Good against: Long low damage weapons
Bad against: Axes, Bardiches (bonus to break shields), unsafe combat areas (enemy can keep your back turned to one of his allies), kick


2) Heavy Footwork

It's the same as in the OP, you try not to be hit through dodging rather then blocking (means your shield can really last long). When you are in safe range, ready an attack (that way it doesn't matter that your attack takes longer to ready).
When you are closing in try first to evade his attack - backstepping generally, against overheads and thrusts sidestepping works (some players will turn, though), sometimes you can even sidestep a horizontal slash. If you can, close in and hit. If not (or you are not certain) use your shield to block and follow up with an attack. Do not feint (only if you have tried it 5 times and he blocked every time).
The shield will allow you to take advantage of range missassesments more aggressively, also players are generally quite happy to attack someone with a shield while he opens himself up.
The trick to this is imo to always think one second ahead. If I'm moving towards him I try to stop just out of his weapon range. He will expect me to be in his range the next second and attack, possible turning into his strike.

Good against: Unbalanced weapons (this are mostly those that have a bonus vs shields, basically they can't block when committed to a failed attack), Heavy loadouts (slows them down)
Bad against: Long weapons (the distance between where you are save and where you can attack him is just to large to really work with), tight situations

 

[Ruthven]

If you want to work on your footwork I'd suggest finding a duel server and trying to get all your kills in one hit (I prefer to use overheads but it doesn't matter much, though you'll have to go for the head if you want a sure one-hit with any weapon) just strafe around, close the distance fast then back out before they swing. Wait until they swing at you when you're out of reach and it just barely misses, then run in and bash 'em.

 

[infua]

When I see a guy moving forward and kicking me then slashing with glaive or something, I go backwards at this time, how is it possible?
As I understood the tutorial right then it should not be possible...

 

[Reapy]

Well the point in the tutorial was like you have to slow down past a certain forward velocity before you can do the kick. People can come into your range and kick if they come in under cover of their own swing. So if they attack at you, and you stand there and block, they will now be slowed down enough to kick. You have to be aware of people coming into your space, or aware enough to create enough space so they can't kick you after they slow down.

Some people will just make you work harder for that 'free' kick as they come in than others.

 

[ell_geezy]

quick question reapy  , Out of all your styles which one would you say you are? me i see my self as a heavy foot worker, with a small aggressive streak.

Uthred

 

[Reapy]

I don't know I've been trying to figure out for a long while which one I am. I think I'm landing on jack of all trades but master of none. I think I have a natural aversion to doing the same thing over and over again even though it might work over and over again.

But who knows, I have a tendency to also get overly aggressive a lot too and die running after things swinging. That might be why I like tdm/respawn games so much, I usually die a bunch but kill a lot of people too. Then on the flip side when I try to be defensive and patient I tend to do better overall, but I always seem to tend towards aggression, though I know for sure I am nowhere near as fast as some of the other strong players.

So yeah, I'll let you know when I figure it out There are more styles of things too, but those are just the ones I've seen in the US, though again I don't play as often or as in as many modes as other players.

 

[ares007]

Yeah, through my experience in various types of competition (martial arts, chess, tennis, video games), I'm finding that "style" is actually a pretty complex thing and is comprised of your character/personality, what tools you are good at using, what tools you are not good at using, etc

For example, in martial arts, I've got a good head kick, so a lot of my "style" has to do with setting up the head kick (or using the head kick to set up other things). But I've also got a wrestling background and some decent takedown skills so that changes how I fight. So while I might be considered a "wrestler with some striking" or a "Karate guy with some wrestling", it is actually more complicated than that. It comes down to detail like what kinds of strikes I use for different setups and in what combinations. How do I move around? What is my stance? How do I like to control pace/timing? There's a lot of things that make up what "style" you are and it's always going to be a little bit different than everyone else.

So you can generalize:
-chamber blocker
-spammer
-blocker
-etc
but ultimately, everyone is a little bit different and really has their own unique way of playing. I would even go so far as saying that anyone who can really be stereotyped into a role like that is inferior. And it also depends on what weapons people like to use as well.

Now personally? I find that I've always been pretty good at timing and maneuvering. I've got decent blocking skills, not very good chamber-blocking skills, an alright kick-slash, not great accuracy, pretty good at feints (not feint spamming), and good understanding of mechanics. I also don't like to be on the defensive. (also note that I haven't really "trained" much at all the past few months. Give me a little time and I'll be pretty good at blocking and chambering and aiming too )

 

[ell_geezy]

i agree about the generalising the styles, i tend to find myself doing a few in the one fight sometimes. although I have never really found the need to chamber block. I am quite good at it, but i think the risk of trying to attempt it far is by far worse than the rewards, its really easy to block a chamber imo. Although a thrust chamber is pretty much unblockble, most of the time it the hit is a bounce hit doing no damage best of just blocking to be on the safe  side.


Uthred

 

[Ruthven]

Eh, sometimes picking a certain way to play against a single player is what I do. Against someone who feints a lot, you want to barely feint at all and block robotically; block every swing, one counter hit (of course you have to draw it out a bit or feint once or twice) that way they feint and get hit by your swings. If someone just swings one direction or feints a small amount and doesn't hold anything or anything similar, chamberblock them. If someone outreaches you, run in towards them blocking everything they throw at you and feint like a bastard when you're within their reach. (Just watch out for kicks.)

Against pikes, keep moving back and forth so they won't always hit you with their stabs, and chamber any overheads they throw at you (because it's usually pretty easy.) If you're using a pike, keep strafing to one side and jabbing. I did some... Tests, earlier today, where I went into the nK duel server, grabbed an Ashwood pike and raped some people. If you backpedal constantly, they will eventually get in your range. So move sideways, and try to not let them block your attacks at all. If they have a block up, feint. If they get too close, kick. Just holding a stab and watching for their block to move can be a simple way of killing someone with very little risk, as Reapy certainly did a good job of teaching me the other day. 

 

[GNGC_Spook]

Although not many people practice it exclusively, and although most people do some of it, I think another type of players should be added to dueling. The Counter.

Most duelers I have met, even the best of the best tend to stick to a style. They are very good at a few tricks, and they have it practiced to perfection. The style I like most, and I also practice it, is the counter. Basically, if the confrontation is not resolved in a few exchanges, then the advantage belongs to the counter.

The counter is master of no technique, his weapon is analysis and rhythm control. They will play defensively for a few exchanges or even attack to poke for reactions, they analyze the opponent's style, and strike at the perceived weaknesses. Or, force a rhythm of combat on the opponent, and just as the opponent gets used to it, the rhythm is changed.

The main weakness of this style is against aggressive players, that is, the first duel. The latter ones will all favor the counter.