The howtokillthatguy guide

[Sawbone]

Hey folks,

Some of you may have seen me lurking the bottom of the NA scoreboard for a few months now - so first off a quick hello and thanks to the modders for this digital crack.

Now, some of you are just insanely skilled players - not going to start naming people because for me it's 90% of the community. But just for fun and tips:

Please tell me your weakness(es)! Or the ones you have found regarding other players.

To start off, my problems are:

- I shit my pants against aggressive players and start trying to block everything and end up never trying to attack... just survivin' for as long as I can. That doesn't last very long usually.
- Can't dodge archers or xbow man (but trying reaal hard - I do carry a shield to lessen that weakness)
- Can't manage more than 2 opponents, even 2 opponents is a real pain in the ass and I end up dead most of the time. 3v1 is instant doom.
- I don't have loomed items so if we attack at the same time, you're going to hit me most of the time (unless I move properly, you can rest assured that this does not occur very often).
- Many others, but I think that's enough.

Cheers and see you guys in-game!

PS - not related to a copy cat named BoneSaw... ;)

[Turboflex]

2v1 or higher is very hard, do a kind of a circular backpeddle so you are only facing one at a time, with the rest constantly trying to get around him. If you're really good though you can weave through them, block most of the time and give hits when you have one blocking the others (especially when that one has just swing at you). Bonus, if they're dumb they will be teamhitting each other. That's easier to do if you are a shielder...

As for killing, first practice your footwork, make sure you are turning with your swings. You also want to know your weapons' range well. Try to work on combos too. Switch up your attacks a lot. If someone is a good blocker, give him 2-3  left swings to lull him into complacency, then give him an overhead. Overheads I find people have the hardest time blocking since they don't expect them, they also tend to do the most damage,e specially with headshots. After the overhead try a quick left swing maybe you'll catch him sleeping, follow it up with another overhead or a right swing.

[Penitent]

- I shit my pants against aggressive players and start trying to block everything and end up never trying to attack... just survivin' for as long as I can. That doesn't last very long usually.

These are the types of players I have the hardest time with too.  I call them ninjas, regardless of their equipment setup.  They are usually agi builds that are very aggressive because 1) they can out-spam you, and 2) because of fast footwork can out-range and dance around you.  Playing as a 1h/shield user that prefers short powerful weapons (like me)...makes them particularly difficult.

My only advice is to bring a "fly swatter."  A long reach weapon that can swat the bastards out of orbit as they buzz around you.  A Nordic War Sword works nicely, but anything much slower won't work as well.  So, when you see them approaching, switch to your longer weapon.  When they spam, just block and bide your time until you think you can get a quick shot in.  Their speed usually means they have less hps/armor and can't take a lot of punishment.

Also, incessantly aim for the head, as these aggressive type builds often wear little or no head protection.

Aggressive med/heavy armored opponents are a different story though.

[Kafein]

- Can't dodge archers or xbow man (but trying reaal hard - I do carry a shield to lessen than weakness)

With a shield, this should be no problem. Try to align them when there are multiple archers. If you can't, just memorise their rythm to change your shield direction toward the archer that will shoot next.

Without a shield, this is much more complicated, especially if you lack agi. First thing to know, your zigzags must be both very smooth (to avoid loosing speed), not predicable and also not going in any particular direction (except towards the ranged when you want to do that).

If you aren't smooth enough, they will just shoot towards you and hit because you don't move that much (even though your direction changes fast, you don't have enough speed). If you follow a predictable pattern, they will try to use it. If you "sidetrack" (on average, of course you still do zigzags and whatnot) towards the left or towards the right, they will adjust their aim somewhere where they think you will go and wait for you to go into that trap.


Also, very important : don't jump. You are helpless when you land.

[Tzar]

Press S and backpedal n  spam

Or go archer

[B3RS3RK]

For fighting more than one opponent: Try to win yourself through them like a snake.You know, use the gaps between them, turn around and stick the pointy end in their face.If you do that, the Enemy will often Teamkill or worse.

[MrShine]

Some quick tips:
Archers - Some people try to dodge archers by moving slightly to a side as soon as the archer is about to fire.  Therefore some smart archers simply wait a second until you make your move, and then track your path from there.  The way to stop archers is to be as random as you can with your movements, and keep them short and quick while still moving forwards towards them.  Long looping dodging can be tracked much easier than short slight movements.

2v1s - Against good players you're going to be in trouble.  The best thing to do is try to isolate the fight through backpeddling or whatever and make the fight a 1v1 for as much time as you can.  Another good trick is to change targets after a block; usually the other opponent is chambering an attack but won't expect you to turn around and swing.  This doesn't work very well against spears or people with a thrust at the ready, but it can be quite effective in other situations.

I also want to mention that looms will very rarely be the difference between life and death.  The more I've played the more I've learned that positioning, timing, and picking the correct attack accounts for 90% of melee combat success.  If you and another player swing at the same time try to turn into your swing to get it to strike earlier.  You should never be truly 'spammed' by someone unless you a) get hiltslashed (bad positioning) b) hesitate after your block or c) are using a really slow weapon (like a long maul) or are using a thrusting weapon at point blank (like a pike/long spear).  Outside of the longmaul/great maul situations getting spammed is your own fault, not the fault of someone having a bunch of looms.

So keep practicing and getting familiar with the mechanics and I'm sure you'll get it!

[Sawbone]

Thanks very much for the feedback guys.

Agreed that loomed/non loomed items should never be an excuse.

[Dexxtaa]

Thanks very much for the feedback guys.

Agreed that loomed/non loomed items should never be an excuse.

SawBone, are you going to be online today? I'll be online around 1pm EST.

I'd be happy to jump on the duel server with you and work with you on your fighting

Let me know!
dexxt

~

- Just reading your initial post right now, fighting a 2v1 is really hard, I sometimes get lucky and nail those down, but that generally takes a lot of prioritizing and hopes, dreams, spit and four-letter words.

- Your weapon vs the weapon the other guy is using determines your initial fighting style. If yours is shorter, then you block first. If longer, you may get the attack initiative.

- Don't get caught up in blocking. This game is based (generally) around a you-hit-I-hit dynamic. Read this thread for reference, it helped me a lot. http://forum.c-rpg.net/index.php/topic,1545.0.html

Let me know, and we'll hop on the duel server for practice! I'm sure you're a fine fighter, you just need to get over the mind block ^_^

[Sawbone]

SawBone, are you going to be online today? I'll be online around 1pm EST.

Hi Dexxtaa! Thanks for the offer, much appreciated

I won't be online before later tonight though - stuck@work at the moment.

[Dexxtaa]

That's no worries. The girlfriend is working tonight, so I get the whole day (pretty much, besides getting my car from le mechanic) to kill. So it'll probably desperately scrounging for exp for most of the day.

Let me know when you're on, and we'll hop on!

[Penitent]

Dodging arrows tip:

If you don't have a shield (which you should!) then this is what I use to dodge arrows as I am approaching an archer.  While you are far away, simple random dodging or zig-zagging works.  As you get closer and get in the kill zone try this:

Run straight at them while they are reloading.  When they start drawing their bow, zig-zag around.  Right before you think they are about to fire, turn around and run away from them, while zigzagging or going off at an angle. After the shot goes off, run straight at them again.

This really throws them off.  They are waiting for you to dodge left or right and rarely (if ever) expect their oncoming melee target to take a trajectory that increases the distance between you!  Works for me.

Once you get close enough, they stop reloading and pull their melee weapon.

[Penitent]

Also, regarding people spamming (or hitting you twice before you can hit once) I notice that this definitely does happen.  It is footwork, but also swing direction, weapon, and build.

Normally it is possible to strike back after you block if you are in the right position, but if you are facing an enemy with high athletics, high wpf, a fast weapon, AND good footwork...you will probably not be able to.  If you get in the right position via footwork you can strike back...but against such an opponent it might take you 3, 4, or even 5 hits before you are able to wrestle the guy down and get in position for a strike.

What i mean is, it's not like "ok, i blocked a hit, now I need to get the right footwork and strike...oh shit I got hit again I guess it was bad footwork on my part lets wait for the next strike."  It is likely that is was not even possible for you to get in the right position for the next strike because of the way your opponent was moving and the speed of his strikes.  Sometimes you have no choice but to weather through a few attacks before you attack back, depending on your build (i'm speaking form experience in 5/6 athletics). 

What does the "right position" look like?  I don't know, I'm still kind of feeling that out and going on gut instinct.

TL;DR? I feel like I'm rambling on, but what I'm trying to say is not every step your enemy makes has an appropriate counter-step you can take to ensure you will be able to hit him after you block.  He may be much faster moving, or much faster swinging (or both) and can put you (through his footwork) into positions where you CAN be spammed, and because of your lower athletics or wpf you can do nothing about this until you get in to position to strike...which is always possible if you have the patience and the practice.

Tip for getting in the right position:
As a shielder this can be tough for me, but this tip can work for anyone.  Use the terrain and surroundings.  Get them on to an incline, or into a hallway, bridge, against a wall, or even near a tree.  This limits their footwork options and lets you get in position easier. 

[SixThumbs]

I came into this thread only to say that I am a master range and cav dodger and for god's sake right angles!

[Tears of Destiny]

Please tell me your weakness(es)!

Talk to me in Steam and I will die often due to being distracted and bringing up my steam chat.
Carry a conversation with me on TeamSpeak and my mind will go away from the game and I start doing weird things like auto walking towards the enemy.
Report problems in Admin chat and I stand there dumbly typing back, and get killed.

Those are my main weaknesses, which is sometimes why I am at the top quarter of the scoreboard... and other times am -2/7