Tips for meleeing?

[PointBlank9]

You've really just got to learn to mix it up. Once I learned to delay my swings that's all I thought about doing.I forgot to feint while fighting. Then I started to focus on feiting and I forgot to delay my swings. Just mix it up more. Delay. Feint. Feint. Delay. Feint. Think about what would fuck you up blocking the most and use that on your opponent.

Also remember to stay balanced with your opponent. Don't let him move around you. Stay in front of him, so that you can block him more easily and see his swings more visibly.

[Overdriven]

I always find it amusing when some nutter comes up to you feinting manically and you just overhead them once.

I find footwork the most important. Screw feinting, delayed attack ect. I find that simply moving around them and learning which direction to go depending on their swings is the best thing. If you're fast at blocking you can really pull of some good stuff with footwork.

And if you really want to get crazy, throw some spin attacks in, or even a jump slash/jump overhead. I've caught more than a few players off guard by just being boring and following a pattern and then throwing a jump attack in. It's risky but worth it if it pays off and you get them in the head.

[MrShine]

When it's "your turn" to swing you have a few options.

Simple swing
-fastest, can catch people trying to do something fancy
-easiest to block/chamber

Delayed swing
-slower, but can break up the rhythm of a fight and catch someone off-guard.
-if held the right amount of time can do extra damage
-can be easy to block if used too often; someone trying to get multiple swings will catch you looking
-can counter someone who's trying to chamber you

Feint swings
-slower than a simple swing, but can throw off the enemy's block if you change direction (or even if you keep the same direction)
-can get caught if the enemy is trying to chamber you (their 'chamber attempt' swing will hit you before your second feint comes in)

Do nothing for a second/simple swing
-will make the enemy who is expecting a response to get confused and believe it to be 'their turn' to attack.  This can land you a simple swing blow if they hesitated
-probably shouldn't do this to start fights, only if it's going longer and a pattern is established; you've shown that you can be respected as can't be spammed to death

Then there are all sorts of things like chambering (I'm bad at and rarely use) trying to get double swings in based on enemy hesitation or positioning/swing choice, kicking, abusing the reach of your weapon/backpeddling.  These are essentially ways steal a turn from the enemy and often net you a solid hit.

Working on mixing things up with the above will go a long way I think.  I typically keep things pretty simple until I get into a complicated fight with someone.  Going too crazy too soon will probably let someone burn you with simple fast stuff.

[Xant]

You can discuss techniques, timing and mechanics all day long - but all of those things just comes with practice.

The most important thing (imo) when transcending from a "decent" melee fighter to a "good" one is that you develop a style that is your own.

I see way too many people who either 1. Know how to block good, and got the timing down, but really don't put any creativity into their fighting but rely on their weapon/agi to get past the opponent (these guys usually reach for the scims eventually) or 2. copy their style from others. Lots of wannabe Phyrexes/Bjords etc. running around using the exact same techiques, but worse (most often MUCH worse). These guys are never going to "be" anything, and they're exceptionally boring (and easy) to fight.

In short: As Vibe said - invent your own funky techniques, be creative.

On the contrary, there's no reason to re-invent the wheel. A lot of people bitch and moan about it, but if you want to be good, first you steal the good shit from the best players and then you go about fitting them into your own style. Many people have gotten good just by copying.

[Christo]

Very, very good suggestions here.

Thanks guys. 

[Kafein]

Awww don't mention that Christo.


You just made me realise how better I was doing when feints worked all the time on the usual rabble


Now it's all about "I have more reach and agi than you blah", "I can run through you and hit you in the back for some reason" or that kind of crap. If you want to be a really good fighter, you need to learn every way of stealing a turn, and you need to be able to rely on only the two firsts if you want to be good with all weapons and builds.

Feints, because they still work sometimes. Polearms are crappy for those but still.
Holds, very good alternative.
Clever spam. That's often more about knowing your opponent than really striking fast. When he will hold, feint etc.
Footwork. Either for the first strike or when you just got blocked, go to the other side preparing a swing, waiting for your opponent to miss.
Kicks. When you learned the typical behaviors of opponents, you can predict where they'll go. You need a little bit of practice to learn the timing of the strike after the kick. Don't forget you can block when you kick !!!
Chambers. Not that usefull, most people will block in time. Good against people with few attack directions. Needs an awful lot of practice.

If you have a short weapon, you have to learn how to counter the reach and footwork of your opponents. The best way to protect your back is trying to keep your opponent in the same direction all the time. You can acheive that by imitating his movements. Their's no secret about how to counter reach abuse. Just stay extremely focused. That's why it works so well when you can use it.

Finally, the most effective way of fighting is still not fighting at all. Backstabbing high profile enemies will help your team a lot more than trying to take out a group by yourself.


Also, even if that's tempting, don't try to rush fights too much :

Going too crazy too soon will probably let someone burn you with simple fast stuff.

That got me killed quite a few times.

I found that the ideal moment for releasing a holded swing is just before your opponent's "turn" to strike. You have to hold a very short time, more like 1/3 of second, depending on the weapons.

[RandomDude]

i found it hard to adapt a little after my first absence

the average skill level of crpg players definately went up

i used to get most kill from just using overheads - the hardest direction to block for novices usually

Formless made some good points - especially about the fighting in crowds and moving around like a maniac to confuse them although lately I move myself into rape groups and die so sometimes backpedalling and just focusing on blocking works until I only have to fight 1/2 players that are in front of me.

Most of my kills come playing like a piker. I used to do this a lot before most people were aware of it and nowadays it's usually a lot harder. Basically waiting till a friendly player is being attacked and then attack their attacker. If you can keep an eye on multiple opponents during a fight you can use this quite well, as well as defending yourself from similar tactics.

Chamber blocking can work in extended duels, usually when they try to feint from a side swing, but a lot of people hold their attack now and it's only good vs people trying to get a quick strike in. Also I wouldnt ever advise a flamberger to chamber block an overhead - even if you time it correctly and they feint to a side swing you get hit before the do.

I hate fighting long duels. I just run from ally to ally trying to finish their opponent off from behind or after my ally has been attacked. You dont even need to be good at duels to place highly in the score boards, just good at these tactics and getting the last strike on an enemy.

[MrShine]

I hate fighting long duels. I just run from ally to ally trying to finish their opponent off from behind or after my ally has been attacked. You dont even need to be good at duels to place highly in the score boards, just good at these tactics and getting the last strike on an enemy.

Honestly, this is probably how I get the majority of my kills.  I do decently well in 1v1 situations but if you can break off and gang up on someone during battle you'll find your battle awareness goes a looong way.

[Teeth]

basically melee works in turns:   Your turn, His turn, Your turn, His turn and so forth.

The faster you drop the idea that its in turns the better, I am so fixed at this turn system that spam attacks and hiltslashes mostly kill me, I'm trying to get rid of the idea, but its rooted pretty deep. Do not trust its your turn after you've done an attack.

The average player skill, especially on the duel server, went way up. I believe average cRPG skill surpassed average Native skill quite a while ago now. I've been long trying to get really good at this game, but I can't get it done, whilst I am intelligent, have fast reflexes and a good hand-eye coördination.

Lately I've grown tired of duelling and I started focusing on my battlefield awareness. I just spectated good players, see how they reacted to certain situations. How they survived their counter classes and preyed on the weak. Now I do pretty good in battle, I think battle awareness is almost as important as duelling skill.

Although maybe youre just talking about duelling. I know the feeling. One day you suck really bad, and you think you just have a bad day. But there are only bad days after that and you feel you have to relearn duelling.

[Kafein]

My best advice when you start to feel like you don't kill enough/die too soon : play an alt for some time. You are probably just getting tired of playing in the same way all the time. When you come back to your main, you will be more focused and more imaginative. Playing alts is also a good idea because it improves your reflexes faster (less predicting than your main because you are less used to the timing) and your skills in other categories than what you use as your main. If someday your favorite playstyle is nerfed too much, you can switch without loosing everything you learned.

[[ptx]]

Alts also give you a fresh perspective of things and thus lets you improve with other classes. Without anyone teaching you, you most probably won't learn all the tricks of one class, by playing only that.

[Xant]

The faster you drop the idea that its in turns the better, I am so fixed at this turn system that spam attacks and hiltslashes mostly kill me, I'm trying to get rid of the idea, but its rooted pretty deep. Do not trust its your turn after you've done an attack.

Actually, if you go by "your turn, his turn" you'll never get spammed - unless you feint. If you strictly exchange blow for blow and don't fail footwork, spam or hiltslashes won't get you.

, but I can't get it done, whilst I am intelligent, have fast reflexes and a good hand-eye coördination.

You forgot to mention that you're also modest.

[Vibe]

You forgot to mention that you're also modest.

 

[Teeth]

Actually, if you go by "your turn, his turn" you'll never get spammed - unless you feint. If you strictly exchange blow for blow and don't fail footwork, spam or hiltslashes won't get you.
You forgot to mention that you're also modest.

Meh, I don't mind stating facts about myself. 

[Chasey]

if you want to be good in battles, its all about picking your fights, sit back for 2 mins and let all the cannon fodder go in first and get shot/spammed to death, plus by the time you move in alot of people will be low hp. I think picking your fights would be the most useful for you, know what your capable of and what your not, and if you think you cant win in a certain situation,walk away and fight somebody else.Your more help to the team if you can turn around and go fight somebody else who you have more of a chance of beating, then dying hopelessly to a really good dueler or a 3v1 situation.

 Thats my 2 cents even a below average player can be more use to the team if he does this.