Sword fighting tip

[Ryan_Brook]

I'm going to let you know of some things I use to make my sword fighting better against huge groups.

Example 1: You have a sword [duh], you see an enemy maybe at a castle wall, under you with stairs in the between.
What you do is, to put your swing either to slash from above, or thrust, and jump to the enemy. It's pretty 50-50 chance to hit him, but if you do. He'll go down, and fast.

Same thing with the other swings, from left/right side, you jump, make a 360' in the air, and slash them to bits and peaces.

 

[Jezze]

works good atheavy armored enemies

 

[Ludial]

... and while you jump, some loon with a big axe or glaive, whom you didn't see, chops you with even greater force and the fight is over for you while I myself am a blade dancer in the game, such tricks a la "Les Trois Musquetaires" are not my thing - too rash, inconsiderate and relying on chance.

What I use as a style is something I call the "Serpent's Dance", greatly influenced by eastern swordsmen such as the sikhs and turkic nations.
Basically:
take a balanced scimitar - the fastest not-knife one hander, also the most powerful compared to its weight and length;
either go naked or equip some very light armor; what I use is high grade nomad armor(the biggest weight to protection ratio), high grade segmented helmet, high grade leather gloves, high grade ankle boots, the same argument as the armor being valid for all of these(technically, light leather boots have the highest weight to protection ratio for boots, but they look simply hideous when combined with everything else but light leather, which is next in my list of best light armors). As you can see already, I rely strongly on this minmaxing which relates effectiveness of gear to its manageability. If your gear is too heavy and slows you down, there's no use for it, no matter how powerful it is, or at least that's my philosophy.

next thing is to max out your char's AGI as much as possible(power strike 3 or 4 is about enough for halfway decent damage), and max out your Athletics and Weapon master skills(for speed and weapon proficiency).

now that you're as fast as hell, both in moving and slashing, you just go around, sliding across the terrain and past your enemies' attacks, while your curved blade slides through the enemies' throats. and there you have it; it's simple, but it takes skill and a certain mindset as fighter to perform. oh, and don't forget to move a lot, that's your only asset against strong bastards with long and powerful, but slow weapons.

 

[Zoltanus]

one thing which will propably be a charm on the multiplayer:

1.Hold left mouse button to charge your attack (no matter for direction).
2.right click slightly and move the mouse so that your attack will come from another direction.
3.repeat until opponent tries to attack or you think that he doesn't block the direction your attacking from (release left mouse button  )

as long as your holding left mouse button you will have your attack charged and it is very hard for opponent to attack faster. This tactic only works of course if you can keep yourself close to the enemy. With practice you can wave your blade very fastly from side to side and this isn't really even hard. The only problem of this strategy is that it may take much time to get one hit.

 

[Ludial]

one thing which will propably be a charm on the multiplayer:

1.Hold left mouse button to charge your attack (no matter for direction).
2.right click slightly and move the mouse so that your attack will come from another direction.
3.repeat until opponent tries to attack or you think that he doesn't block the direction your attacking from (release left mouse button  )

as long as your holding left mouse button you will have your attack charged and it is very hard for opponent to attack faster. This tactic only works of course if you can keep yourself close to the enemy. With practice you can wave your blade very fastly from side to side and this isn't really even hard. The only problem of this strategy is that it may take much time to get one hit.

this would be great to apply! the trick I use now on NPCs in order to force them to make an empty attack and open themselves for attack is to bang on their shield or weapon once(when they're blocking), after which they usually get punished with a slash through the throat

 

[Dark Death]

Except from th fact I prefer fighting with bow ( I have 25 out of 34 arrows in target) I tried your trick and I have to say: I am imprresed!


I would like to tell you a secret about fighting on horseback with sword: approach the enemy with your sword ready to hit. First, charge the enemy with the horse and then hit him with the sword. If you hit him, he will die instantly.

 

[Ludial]

Except from th fact I prefer fighting with bow ( I have 25 out of 34 arrows in target) I tried your trick and I have to say: I am imprresed!


I would like to tell you a secret about fighting on horseback with sword: approach the enemy with your sword ready to hit. First, charge the enemy with the horse and then hit him with the sword. If you hit him, he will die instantly.

the bow is my main weapon too; and I do the horse trick whenever I can - charging with the horse disables their block. The only trick is to just brush them while moving with very high speed and you'll gib them, otherwise you'll just push them out of your way, AND slow your horse down. A good horse archer always fights at high speed

 

[Venitius]

A tip: Don't jump a lot. During a battle, I jumped to attack a dismounted horseman, and while in the air, got shot 3 times by enemy missile troops, and then I fell and hit the ground face-flat. While I was on the ground, the dismounted horseman knocked me unconscious.

 

[Lord Shields]

The only time I jump is to clear the breach of a siege. I leap over the group with my men in tow and hack at their backs while my guys hit their front. Jumping in this game otherwise is ridiculous. I could see bunnyhopping becoming an issue in the multiplayer expansion. :\

 

[Zoltanus]

A tip: Don't jump a lot. During a battle, I jumped to attack a dismounted horseman, and while in the air, got shot 3 times by enemy missile troops, and then I fell and hit the ground face-flat. While I was on the ground, the dismounted horseman knocked me unconscious.

It may be true that you get hit more easily if you jump, but its much more easy to take mounted enemies by jumping. While in air horses can't knock you so there is no real advantage for the horseman.

BTW I think that its a huge bug that horses cannot knock you while your jumping. If it stays that way it will be a major glitch in the multiplayer 

 

[Seff]

The easiest swordfighting trick to use is simply to twist while slashing, this making the sword move faster, and thereby enlarging the speed bonus.

 

[Virmin]

When on foot I tend to run past my target and hit them while passing them. So I don't even look straight at them, I look to the left of them and run by them on that side and releasing my swing when they attempt to swing and I usually one-shot them while continuing to move past them.

 

[Ludial]

The easiest swordfighting trick to use is simply to twist while slashing, this making the sword move faster, and thereby enlarging the speed bonus.

I do that all the time.

When on foot I tend to run past my target and hit them while passing them. So I don't even look straight at them, I look to the left of them and run by them on that side and releasing my swing when they attempt to swing and I usually one-shot them while continuing to move past them.

I also do that a lot of the time

 

[AlienKnight]

What I use as a style is something I call the "Serpent's Dance", greatly influenced by eastern swordsmen such as the sikhs and turkic nations.
...

now that you're as fast as hell, both in moving and slashing, you just go around, sliding across the terrain and past your enemies' attacks, while your curved blade slides through the enemies' throats. and there you have it; it's simple, but it takes skill and a certain mindset as fighter to perform. oh, and don't forget to move a lot, that's your only asset against strong bastards with long and powerful, but slow weapons.

Quite nice, I do exactly the opposite .
Get myself heavily armed, take the largest 2H sword I can find and rely on timing and distance control - prepare to hit and wait when the opponent thinks the time is right for him to attack (how long can one stay behind the shield anyway?) then I make the swing moving in or out (and usually aside at the same time) to get him within the range of my sword (120 at the moment) but to remain out of his range if possible. Works fine for me. The only problem with direct combat is if I get in the middle of a bunch of enemies all alone.

Good weapon proficiency + a powerful 2H weapon is 1 swing - 1 dead, unless the enemy has a heavy armour. Then it may take 2 or 3 hits to get him down.

 

[Ludial]

What I use as a style is something I call the "Serpent's Dance", greatly influenced by eastern swordsmen such as the sikhs and turkic nations.
...

now that you're as fast as hell, both in moving and slashing, you just go around, sliding across the terrain and past your enemies' attacks, while your curved blade slides through the enemies' throats. and there you have it; it's simple, but it takes skill and a certain mindset as fighter to perform. oh, and don't forget to move a lot, that's your only asset against strong bastards with long and powerful, but slow weapons.

Quite nice, I do exactly the opposite .
Get myself heavily armed, take the largest 2H sword I can find and rely on timing and distance control - prepare to hit and wait when the opponent thinks the time is right for him to attack (how long can one stay behind the shield anyway?) then I make the swing moving in or out (and usually aside at the same time) to get him within the range of my sword (120 at the moment) but to remain out of his range if possible. Works fine for me. The only problem with direct combat is if I get in the middle of a bunch of enemies all alone.

Good weapon proficiency + a powerful 2H weapon is 1 swing - 1 dead, unless the enemy has a heavy armour. Then it may take 2 or 3 hits to get him down.

I have a blade dancer with sword of war - the longest 2H in the game. Works as a charm. One of the things I like to do with him is go to a certain Rhodok village that has a terrain perfect for dancing, slay the entire population and then raze the village. I assure you, there's no way you can do that in heavy armor. The farmers will just swarm you and bring you down in the matter of seconds, they might even bring you down with stones before they engage; we're talking about 60 on 1 here
And exactly the big gangs of enemies is why I prefer to dance than to put on heavy armor - since I solo most of the time, I fight alone vs. groups very often. Hence mobility is key for me

 

[AlienKnight]

I have a blade dancer with sword of war - the longest 2H in the game. Works as a charm. One of the things I like to do with him is go to a certain Rhodok village that has a terrain perfect for dancing, slay the entire population and then raze the village. I assure you, there's no way you can do that in heavy armor. The farmers will just swarm you and bring you down in the matter of seconds, they might even bring you down with stones before they engage; we're talking about 60 on 1 here
And exactly the big gangs of enemies is why I prefer to dance than to put on heavy armor - since I solo most of the time, I fight alone vs. groups very often. Hence mobility is key for me

You are right, mobility is the only chance when surrounded afoot. I always fight mounted (and then mostly with lance) when alone against a large group (except sieges, of course).

 

[Virmin]

Give yourself 300 agility at the start of a game and you can solo entire armies while on foot even if they are all mounted. I find it loads of fun even if it is cheating lol. I just imagine that I am like a super hero that has amazing speed. Give yourself 300 strength and you will be able to solo them without a weapon even by just using your fists.

 

[AlienKnight]

Give yourself 300 agility at the start of a game and you can solo entire armies while on foot even if they are all mounted. I find it loads of fun even if it is cheating lol. I just imagine that I am like a super hero that has amazing speed. Give yourself 300 strength and you will be able to solo them without a weapon even by just using your fists.

Nice hint, thanks.  But I do not cheat (except the use of game saves when got beaten ultimately, hardly to be found cheating). It takes away all the fun not to do the things yourself. What I find one of the most attractive features of M&B is that you get as close to reality as a computer game can provide (still far far away from reality though ). And I strongly hope (expect?) that M&B 2 (if or when it comes) would take it even further.

 

[Ludial]

cheating is retarded so I don't use it.
and there's no way you can solo a village on a horse - too much terrain getting in the way, and from a horse you can't hit that often; not to mention you're an easier target for the stone throwers :shudder:

 

[Millenium80]

Stone throwers

I usually slash with my axe while running backwards- it makes the villagers form into a line and allows you to fight them 1-1, though that's too hard for most