Need Help! Using your mouse for Blocking and Attacking control

[wonka11]

I'm new to cRPG and find the mod very fun when I play with friends. That said, being new of course means I am incredibly novice at the game and have been attempting to ask as many people for advice and reading the forums nonstop.

Lately though, I've been in a worse slump than usual and it is in regards to my blocking and attacking accuracy. I have been practicing a great amount since I started cRPG but I'm still running into the problem with using my mouse to turn my character but also using it for the directional swings and blocks. Even when I am not moving, and attempt to carefully move my mouse left or right, sometimes it will block up or down instead. When moving, if I am strafing and turning right, it makes it impossible for me to slash or block left without stopping which allows my opponent to circle behind and land free hits.

I was wondering what people may have done here to train their hands or adjust to the movement better when they were first leaning to play as well. I've messed around with sensitivity, but the same problems still exist.

Have any of you ever had the problem of attempting to block a certain direction but the mouse and computer responds with a completely different direction than the one you intended?

Any advice on how to train myself to be a better attacker and blocker or to improve on my fundamentals would be greatly appreciated. So far all I have been doing is dueling on the dueling server, with little to no improvement.

Thank you for your time.

P.S. Also another issue, is that when I block/attack one way, my character seems slow to block/attack in another direction. For example I slash or get hit on the right and block it, my character is slow to respond to block an attack on the left. What can I do to improve this as well?

[Mallets]

I have the same issues!  In my mind I'm blocking the correct way, but apparently my hand movements don't quite respond the same!

Also, I'm not sure what actually constitutes "good footwork".  I know "good footwork" will make a world of difference, but I'm not sure exactly what that looks like.  Though I have found much more success in melee when I move into (towards) opponents instead of back-peddling (being defensive and scared to be aggressive for fear of dying).  Usually back-peddling, I end of dying.

Now I thought I just suck because I've never been on the duel servers.  I've had some much fun in battles (even with sucking and dying), that I've not taken the time to really train).  However, you're saying that it's only helped you minimally, if at all.  So I'm not sure what gives!

Maybe joining a faction and having some of their better swordsman personally train you... maybe that'll help?

[Vexus]

Only "solution" is to lower sensitivity ingame since warband doesn't seem to fully detect high sensitivity.

It sucks.

[Grumbs]

Keep practising, it will all come together eventually given enough time. This is just how I learned it, might not be 100% optimal

Go on the duel server and try to find players on the lower end of the scoreboard and duel them. Concentrate on blocking with simple attacks for now. Attacking is a whole other beast and will be what takes the longest time to learn imo with depth you might not have seen initially. Blocking has a steep initial learning curve but you get over the hump pretty fast

Try to separate looking from blocking. Concentrate on looking in the right general direction, then get the right block direction and then aim it. Rather than trying to do it all in 1 movement. If you try to do too much at once you will make some mistake. So as soon as you see the attack coming don't worry about aiming yet just get the correct block direction, then point it where you need it. It will feel more natural later on. Don't give the other player too much leeway though, you have to be constantly attacking yourself so they don't feel they can dictate the fight. You only block when you have to and can interrupt your attacks to do so.

Don't drop the block until you hear it clash (people will hold the attack and anticipate you assuming the hit will come sooner).

Use a high speed weapon and high WPF so you block fast. Don't use "unbalanced" weapons as they make it so you can't block after the first half of the attack animation. Something like Long Sword or 2 handed sword for 2 handers. Others are fine too, but speed helps to learn imo

Don't try to make learning the game a chore. Its important to have fun when you play, and to not get too obsessed with improving. For this reason I wouldn't really go with what others might say about playing single player tutorials. Maybe to get some very basic idea of blocking but I wouldn't want anyone to get burned out on it. It should be fun at the end of the day and something you improve as you play the main game. Blocking is only 1/10 of the actual skills in the game, and personal dueling type stuff is probably only a small % too

[Vodner]

Make sure you're holding your mouse straight - holding it at an angle will make you miss blocks.

Try to 'follow through' a bit on your mouse movement. So if you're blocking right, continue moving the mouse to the right for a brief moment after hitting your block button.

Also, try to center your camera before the enemy swings. This avoids awkward situations where you need to block and control your camera simultaneously.

I find blocking is best when you're looking down at about a 15 degree angle, centered on your opponent. You need to move your camera up before attacking if you're playing 1h, however (for headshots).

When moving, if I am strafing and turning right, it makes it impossible for me to slash or block left without stopping which allows my opponent to circle behind and land free hits.

Personally I use inverse mouse attacks, which makes a left swing the attack when turning right. Be aware that this makes chambering more difficult to learn (since the mouse movements are opposite that of manual blocking).


As an aside, note that you're always going to have off rounds (or days) where you play poorly, and miss a lot of blocks. Best way to mitigate this is to warm up in duel before playing battle or siege, and to avoid playing while tired.

[Shatter]

If you are starting out, it might help to lower your mouse sensitivity at first and then gradually raise it over time until you find something comfortable. Also, try to block "smoothly" instead of trying to move the mouse as fast as possible to your desired block direction.

The most important thing is practice, practice, practice though.

[RibaldRon]

Disabling Microsoft "Enhanced Pointed Precision" along with mouse sensitivity helped me lot.

I still frequently get attack/block direction desync with the client though - i.e. everyone but me will see a downblock as actually being a left block.  That has  to do with latency and server stability though, it happens to a lot of people.


I'd recommend disabling Enhanced Pointer Precision, fooling with mouse sensitivity & positioning, and then hopping on the duel server for a bit with your friends.  Have your friend log into a new alt with a crappy weapon and train block together.

[San]

You might want to take it a step back and lower the amount of things to consider when moving your mouse to block.

When I was new to learning blocking, I would try to move my character in a way so my opponent is always center on screen, so I don't have to move my mouse as much to turn and look at them so I could focus on the block direction more than camera manipulation. For example, if my opponent was slightly to my left, I would strafe left instead of trying to turn, since a sudden swing could mess up your inputs. Once I got better, I didn't need to rely on using this as much.

The more you use your mouse for everything, the more complex/precise your mouse movements need to be in order to accomplish everything-attacking, blocking, turning.

[MayPeX]

In regards of getting better, spend only sometime on the duel servers, but not too long.

Once you are used to one on one fights, you'll find it harder to fight in groups. So after you got slightly good in duels, play siege or battle games for now on. Fighting in groups is a whole new spectrum then duelling.

[Quallen]

As others noted first make sure that you're holding your mouse straight. Just out of curiosity what mouse do you use?

As you noted battles are chaotic. Duels are simpler but when your opponent is immensely better than you, you are still left trying to do everything as fast as possible just to keep up. What I've done with a few guild mates is go to duel and have them just practice blocking with an extreme focus on correctness. Have a friend start nice and slow and then slowly ramp up towards normal combat speed.  The goal is to commit the block directions to muscle memory. At the very least after you sleep on it you'll see some improvement.

Sans footwork advice is sound. If you can get your sparring partner to recreate the situations you're having trouble with (getting circled) you can probably work out how you need to fix your reaction. Its alot easier learning in a controlled environment than it is trying to learn on the fly in battle. When learning siege can be great as it gives you the chaos of a battle but gets you more fights faster.

[Lobster]

Go to Nditions duel server, its Native. find the naked two handed NPC, duel him but dont attack, only block. Practice your blocking against him and learn to keep my mouse level and straight with your wrist. once you can block the guy for 5mins without dieing then go to the crpg duel servers.

Good luck

[Chris_P_Bacon]

In general, I just try to consciously make smaller movement while I play. If I get overzealous I no longer know what the fuck is going on.

[Formaldehyde Junkie]

P.S. Also another issue, is that when I block/attack one way, my character seems slow to block/attack in another direction. For example I slash or get hit on the right and block it, my character is slow to respond to block an attack on the left. What can I do to improve this as well?

This sounds like weapon stun. If you happen to be using a lighter weapon and your opponent attacks you with a held swing from a heavier weapon, there is a delay.
You may not be able to counter attack right away but you should be able to block again without hesitance.

[engurrand]

Disabling Microsoft "Enhanced Pointed Precision" along with mouse sensitivity helped me lot.

I still frequently get attack/block direction desync with the client though - i.e. everyone but me will see a downblock as actually being a left block.  That has  to do with latency and server stability though, it happens to a lot of people.


I'd recommend disabling Enhanced Pointer Precision, fooling with mouse sensitivity & positioning, and then hopping on the duel server for a bit with your friends.  Have your friend log into a new alt with a crappy weapon and train block together.

best post so far ... wow.... turn that shit OFFF IT FUCKS YOUR SPEED AND DIRECTION UP

[Akynos]

For sensitivity, go on duel, dont fight anyone, just move your mouse around. Feel your movement and your swings. You have to feel like your mouse movement is completely in harmony with the swing, almost to the point where you can imagine the mouse is the sword itself. Then you will have found the perfect sensitivity. For me, it is at around 60% max. sensitivity.

To keep up between your view and block direction: Keep your hand steady. Try not to make sudden movements, it will blur your vision and you'll get lost. The technique is to move the mouse smoothly, and then a sudden movement in the right direction for the block. Sudden, but short. this will allow you to have the angle of vision you want and be able to block at the same time.

To be better in general: As others have said: Training, training and more training. Start by blocking the bot in single player tutorial. then move on to native. Once you are on CRPG,unlike other people, I would recommend having a full strength build and heavy armor for duel: The pace will be slower, because you will not respond as fast as the opponent wants, so the swings/response won't be as overwhelming ( be careful not to be spammed though). You will be able to make a few mistakes, and you can be sure that if you hit, you hit hard, and that's the fun bit. Nothing like seeing a guy fall, holding his bloody face between his hands. Trust me

Wrong block directions: Can be because of ping or simply because you failed your block. Many times I thought I blocked in the right direction. I was wrong. Train a bit more, then see how it goes. If it is the ping, well...you'll have to have a deeper look into your connection.

Slow to block/respond:
I don't see really what you mean here. It could be weapon stun, bad ping, or simply that you don't respond as fast as needed. Many possibilities, need details.

Hope it helps !