A Guide on using the Pike

[Zerran]

I'm not talking about thrust, it's the overhead that is really deadly. Held overheads can stun a shield user in order to completely remove the shields effect - as if it wasn't there - which enables a teammate to quickly follow up with an attack that will hit clean. Furthermore, to really make this useful in a teamwork situation, you can actually make an overhead attack THROUGH your teammate and hit the enemy he is facing.

Ohh no, pikes in C-rpg don't have the overhead anymore, it was removed. They can only thrust.

[CrazyCracka420]

Nice guide, and for the record as a cav lancer, if there's a group of infantry I'm trying to slowly pick off the weaklings (i.e. people who can't hurt me or stop my horse), but if I notice that a pikeman or long spearman is not paying attention or is distracted I'll go out of my way to attack them.  Usually I try to take out whoever looks like they will give our infantry the most trouble, but if I can prevent someone from stopping my horse in the future by killing them now, I will go out of my way to do it every time.  They become my highest priority when scanning a group of enemies.

So you're correct in that respect.

[_Tak_]

put tis in guides

[Kekn]

Ohh no, pikes in C-rpg don't have the overhead anymore, it was removed. They can only thrust.

Nice, glad to hear that; yet another proof I haven't played cRPG a long time ;)

[Kafein]

Nice guide, and for the record as a cav lancer, if there's a group of infantry I'm trying to slowly pick off the weaklings (i.e. people who can't hurt me or stop my horse), but if I notice that a pikeman or long spearman is not paying attention or is distracted I'll go out of my way to attack them.  Usually I try to take out whoever looks like they will give our infantry the most trouble, but if I can prevent someone from stopping my horse in the future by killing them now, I will go out of my way to do it every time.  They become my highest priority when scanning a group of enemies.

So you're correct in that respect.

I agree. As cav, pikemen that look unaware are a near-top priority target. But I alway stay very careful when I try a pikeman kill. Yet they usually are surrounded by other enemies so it has to be quite fast and surprising for everyone. It can be very tricky.

[OzyTheSage]

I haven't really been playing long enough since the patches so I'm really rusty... So, another thing to note is that your attacks will be chambered slightly to the right. So, if you need to stab past teammates or walls, standing to the right of them and curving the stab from right to left tends to do the trick. This also means that if there is a teammate standing directly to the right you may accidentally hit them even though it doesn't seem like you would, but this applies more to shorter weapons. You can also stab over the heads of your teamates, but then you risk accidentally hitting your teammate in the head, and even if it's just a glancing hit, it will polestun them and leave them open to attack from enemies. This is especially devastating in a shield wall, where the enemy can kill the shielder and break through the wall. You could also try stabbing from the upper right down to the left to attack over their shoulder.

Oh yeah, shield walls, if the shielders are standing huddled together, you should try to make a staggered line. This way, you should be standing behind two shielders instead of directly behind one, giving you a small space to stab between them at enemies on the other side. It's also generally safer to use jumping stabs over teammates for less risk of hitting them in these situations since enemies will probably not be able to attack you directly after your jump.

EDIT: I forgot to mention something that applies to just about everybody, but is useful for pikers to switch to their sidearm. If you can't get away from an enemy to switch to your weapons and they keep blocking your attacks, there's a way to switch but it requires good timing. As soon as their weapon hits your block you have to switch to your sidearm and then block their next attack. It won't work if you're switching to a weapon that has the longer unsheathing animations, but that shouldn't apply to pikers.

[Oggrinsky]

Beautiful Pike-man guide Caita. Thank you!

[Bobthehero]

Pike can be good agaisnt archer to some extend, with a high strenght build most archer will not survive a stab to the head, and they often underestimate the reach of the pike.

[Tanken]

Absolutely love the Pike. Caita, we must start playing on the same schedule my Pike brother.

You missed this evening, we had about 6 KUTTs on, 2 infantry shielders, 2 hoplites, myself, and para in his 2hand build and man...it was doing well. As for the one-hit comment (not going to take time to quote it) It is possible if you're fighting lower-level people or lower-geared individuals. I found myself in a situation this evening of 4 vs. 8, we were losing, and I was able to effectively 1 hit 4 of the 8 people before my damn .8 second delay between shots fucked me over.


One thing I might add to your guide Caita is an effective strategy of teams including a Pikeman amongst it. One thing that should be done is for your team to anchor onto the Pikeman. If you are a shielder, another polearm user, or a 2handed user, you need to be 100% aware of where your pikeman is at ALL TIMES. They are going to deal a lot of damage in your group, but without your support (as others have mentioned) they will fall quickly if swarmed. Also, work as a group to get packs of people separated. Pick a target, and try and coerce them away from their group of nearest allies. This can easiest be the most effective strategy in dealing with groups of 4-5 people who may otherwise outmatch you. Find them, engage them, if you can't kill them, start strafing to the side of the group and bait them so they follow--THEN get your Shielder or whatever allies you have (assuming they're competent) to engage that individual immediately and take their attention away from their current target.

As Caita mentioned, switching targets in group fights is easily one of the best strategies to do. I always like to picture myself weaving in and out of my teammate's fights to sink in shots and keep moving. This gives me two things; A) The ability to quickly eliminate a target that my teammates are in the process of fighting and they MAY or MAY NOT even know a Pikeman is in the midst, B) It keeps you constantly surveying. Even when fighting infantry you need to keep your eyes up and keep your screen moving. C) HELP. Kill the infantry that is causing the most harm to your teammate. Nothing is more disappointing than a Pikeman, meant for support, engaging an enemy too long and NOT helping kill an otherwise easy infantry kill for the Pikeman. and D) NEVER MISS A HORSE. That horse you missed trampling one of your teammates because you got Tunnel Vision? Guess what, that horse was Huey Newton, or Badplayer, or Rohypnol planting a bolt in someone's dome...You just fucked it up and now you'll be lucky to have another chance to catch them.

One last thing for group fighting, PAIR UP WITH YOUR FAVORITE SHIELDER. If you can communicate with them effectively (skype, ventrilo, ts, whatever) EVEN BETTER. Let them know you are using them for cover. There are few things more startling to enemies than seeing a Pikeman paired effectively with a shielder...get a shield wall with a few pikeman behind and you can hear the piss filling their plated boots. When your team engages, let them engage in front of you. If you can't manage to weave in and out of the line and keep your distance--JUMP. Step 10 feet back from the line, pick a target, and prepare an attack. Then, rush forward and jump and bring the pike down. There has been so many times I would have otherwise struck a teammate or missed if I had not employed jump-tactics with the Pike.




One final note for pike users, don't let people get to you. They will complain about this being a broken weapon, or a noob weapon, or just OP in general. The facts speak for themselves, and the amount of skill needed to use this weapon effectively and top score boards with it is immense. There are a handful of people in NA I can think of that are great Pike Users, Caita is one of them. A lot of people will pick up a pike and use it, but until you dedicate a generation or more to it really feeling it out and really fully learning it--you'll never appreciate it's beauties, strengths, and understand it's flaws and limits.


- Tanken_KUTT

[[ptx]]

Very well written guide, i approve.
What i could add is that as far as fights between pikes, long spears, bamboo spears and hoplites go, the longer weapon almost always beats the shorter one. Pike is the ultimate anti-long spear weapon, long spear is the ultimate anti-bamboo spear/hoplite weapon. In a group fight, one of these effectively renders enemies with shorter stabbers completely helpless.

[Zerran]

Absolutely love the Pike. Caita, we must start playing on the same schedule my Pike brother.

You missed this evening, we had about 6 KUTTs on, 2 infantry shielders, 2 hoplites, myself, and para in his 2hand build and man...it was doing well. As for the one-hit comment (not going to take time to quote it) It is possible if you're fighting lower-level people or lower-geared individuals. I found myself in a situation this evening of 4 vs. 8, we were losing, and I was able to effectively 1 hit 4 of the 8 people before my damn .8 second delay between shots fucked me over.

Wish I had been there. Unfortunately I crashed really early yesterday.  Also, I added a bunch of your post to the guide.

Very well written guide, i approve.
What i could add is that as far as fights between pikes, long spears, bamboo spears and hoplites go, the longer weapon almost always beats the shorter one. Pike is the ultimate anti-long spear weapon, long spear is the ultimate anti-bamboo spear/hoplite weapon. In a group fight, one of these effectively renders enemies with shorter stabbers completely helpless.

Gah! I can't believe I forgot to add this. Thank you sir, I put your quote in. 

[oohillac]

Nice guide! Caita is great!

I'd suggest, for those having trouble with the pike or longspear (like I do), also give the bamboo a shot. It's very fast, and the guide is still applicable.

[ShinySpoons]

The nice thing about bamboo is the overhead. A Heavy/light lance also makes a halfway decent pike/hoplite weapon.