How to be a good Cav?

[KaMiKaZe_JoE]

As others have said, be careful with your bumps.

Know your targets. Kill archers and any infantry armed with weapons shorter than your (probably) heavy lance. The safest of targets are shielders, who are unable to defend themselves. If they try to block your thrust, you can bump them. If they try to attack your horse, you can thrust them (or just bump them). Stay away from ranged cavalry, throwers, or people with long, pointy weapons.

Use your weapon to its fullest potential. The heavy lance is really long; always try to attack using the weapon at its maximum range, whereby risk of damage to yourself or your horse is minimized. Try to avoid charging head-onwards towards any targets, whether they be enemy cavalry or infantry.

For killing cavalry: go for their horses. The horses head sticks out like a large, easily poked target, as does its rump. Don't be afraid to slow down in order to maneuver around your opponent, and always keep in mind the limits of your lance.

Final tip: slow-speed maneuverability is your friend. I love nothing more than engaging a large clump of infantry and prancing in circles around them, staying just out of range, but (as Daergar sort of described) attacking while I veer just out of range. Get familiar with the veer-thrust movement, whereby you slow down and turn left (or right) while stabbing in such a way that you get maximum reach.

[Chagan_Arslan]

start doing joga and meditation, before any m&b session, also play some ambient waterfall in the background and turn off game sounds

it helps! ;]

[Christo]

Indeed. Hunt down ranged while flanking.
It's your top priority.

Also, if you enjoy assassination, like I did in my Cav days, try to take out the top players of the Enemy team, or Horse Archers.
Your team will love your for this, as you drastically increase chances of a victoire.

Do as much damage as you can. Couch into shielders for fun, and to weaken their Huscarl shields, it will hurt them heavily, and your mates can open them persistent facehuggers much faster.

For cav vs cav, do what everyone said, turn, turn, turn. Learn your effective speed, manouvering ability is a must. Always, I mean ALWAYS slow down when you turn around, it will take less time, and can give you the finishing blow against an enemy horseman who just pressed W+A/D like an idiot. Learn the range of your lance, obviously. Practice releasing before you meet the target, you will feel when to do after some time, I can assure you. Don't be afraid of Couching: It is your trump card, use it wisely.

Don't be afraid of straight charges either! Sometimes, it can shake the enemy, and for once, you fought well, with glory and courage, to strike into a wall of ranged, and pole weapons. The risk is high, though, but if you manage to kill an MvP while you do it, it was well worth it.

Also, learn how to annoy the enemy cavalry, when they pursue you. I managed to annoy 10 enemy cav for 5 minutes in native, they weren't able to catch me, I just had to circle around them, and use their predictable movements against them. It's so much fun, I always enjoyed being chased. 

[Akryn]

If this is RichBaby_(lots of 0s), you have to be trolling. You are one of best horsemen I see playing. You are an inspiration to those who suck at being cav (just me). No asslicking intended.

Thanks Christo,Phazey, Daergar, KaMiKaZe_JoE & Tears_of_Destiny for the tips as well though, even if they aren't directed to me they will surely help!

[Kryser]

I love when people try and chase my champ courser, just to the point when i switch to a sword and rear my horse on purpose in the middle of a field, watch them pass...... with a now dead horse because they didn't expect the unexpected.

[Joxer]

Go die in a fire. That's a good cav 

[Kafein]

Why are so many cav kind of obsessed with lances and pointy things ?

Right know I would estimate the melee cav population like this :
80% of lancers with over-maneuvrable horses like the sarranid
15% of traditional bump-slashers (just like Bluegreen mentioned above) with more charge-oriented horses
5% of lowlevels/trolls

And the goal of many horsemen on the battlefield seems to be to kill enemy cav. That's the worst thing you can do as a cav. In most cases, cav duels are extremely risky, just for one enemy cav down. Don't loose your time and risk your life duelling with other cav, the thing you are good at is poking archers and unaware infantry in general. As a cav, you should consider yourself precious and allways try to survive as long as possible. You will likely have much more opportunities to land a cheap kill than any other class so the longer you live, the better you do.

Killing other cavs with 1h works very well too, just block the enemy horse and swing. An important thing to note is that hunting HA's (something you should normally avoid at all costs) goes much easier with slashing weapons on horse (and you need the overhead slash for those moments when the opponent is right in front of you).

[RichBaby]

Sound like you want to be a cav that's good against other cav? A heavy lance and polearm skill is really nice against other cav. Practice on the duel server with some other cav friend to get the timing and subtleties right.

Use a maneuverable horse like the sarranid or steppe horse. Consider going throwing + horse archery, it's a great cav-vs-cav build. Go for maximum riding skill always.

A nice trick i use a lot is to body-block their horse with yours, forcing them to stop. Combined with a maneuverable horse and high riding skill, you should be able to get behind them and slash or stab them once or twice before they can escape you. Risky move though, if they are on to you they'll just aim for your horse instead of you.

Edit: one more important tip for cav versus cav: always try to move in front of other cav. Never cut in behind, always cut along their front. Server latency and mechanics seem to favor the guy that swings or stabs really early and aims slightly ahead of where they are displayed on your screen.

Thanks Phazey. Really helpful detailed advice!

[Zisa]

Why are so many cav kind of obsessed with lances and pointy things ?

Right know I would estimate the melee cav population like this :
80% of lancers with over-maneuvrable horses like the sarranid
15% of traditional bump-slashers (just like Bluegreen mentioned above) with more charge-oriented horses
5% of lowlevels/trolls

And the goal of many horsemen on the battlefield seems to be to kill enemy cav. That's the worst thing you can do as a cav. In most cases, cav duels are extremely risky, just for one enemy cav down. Don't loose your time and risk your life duelling with other cav, the thing you are good at is poking archers and unaware infantry in general. As a cav, you should consider yourself precious and allways try to survive as long as possible. You will likely have much more opportunities to land a cheap kill than any other class so the longer you live, the better you do.

Killing other cavs with 1h works very well too, just block the enemy horse and swing. An important thing to note is that hunting HA's (something you should normally avoid at all costs) goes much easier with slashing weapons on horse (and you need the overhead slash for those moments when the opponent is right in front of you).

Sorry, the most fun as cav is.. lancer vs lancer. I tend to get bored when there is no enemy cav left.

[RichBaby]

Meh, you've killed me enough times to know by now .

I should have asked earlier, but just figured out how to register today..

I admit that you are the first to inspire me to be a Cav, nice lancing just like sending a billiard ball to its hole, I adore you.

Then I saw Templar_Tommy who often had 30-40 kills every round, very stable.

I also saw vernadian made 50+ kills the highest record I've ever seen.

So think cannot call myself a good cav unless can kill you guys most of the time...em..I know, maybe mission impossible!

Oberyn, if you know any trick to kill an infantry pointing heavy lance at you, do please let me know 

[RichBaby]

I consider you  a pretty decent cav

Thank you, though any pikeman can easily kill me.

[RichBaby]

Rich is pretty good.
Just want to stress .. avoid bumping friendlies like the plague. Melees tend to get antsy and may swing before seeing the flag over a horseman's head after the tenth 'friendly' bump.

I trust I have not done so often, and I want to say the similar thing to friendly archers. Sometimes they don't bother to stop shooting at an enemy surrounding by teammates.

[Gnjus]

I admit that you are the first to inspire me to be a Cav, nice lancing just like sending a billiard ball to its hole, I adore you.

Then I saw Templar_Tommy who often had 30-40 kills every round, very stable.

I also saw vernadian made 50+ kills the highest record I've ever seen.

So think cannot call myself a good cav unless can kill you guys most of the time...em..I know, maybe mission impossible!

Oberyn, if you know any trick to kill an infantry pointing heavy lance at you, do please let me know 

Sorry to disappoint you mate but it's not that hard to be a "good" cavalry guy, all you need to do is hunt down all those unaware/blind fools that just go straightforward and.....die........you backstabb 'em and they.....die.....their life sucks and then they just....die..........
As for the Tommy/Oberyn/Ujin......give 'em a half-decent opponent (one who is not blind/stupid/incompetent/unaware) and they just......die..........   

(click to show/hide)

Not to mention Bluegreen.....i have yet to see this guy kill someone who actually faces him frontal.....all he does is backstabbing and i dont really count that as "being skillful"......its more down to having loads of luck that so many blind/stupid/incompetent/unaware people play this mod.....

[Tears of Destiny]

With all due respect if you attack a guy face on and repeatedly do it as a cav, then you are a blooming thrice damned idiot.

In a straight fight a cav player is at a disadvatage due to that ugly massive clumsy horse that can actually get in the own rider's way. At least BlueGreen can defend himself when dismounted and still get kills.

Gnjus, there is a difference between an effective cav player, and a "skilled" one who is macho and does nothing but forward attacks and gets his horse cut down from him due to any sane 2Her outreaching him with a stab, or a Piker saying "shove it" and stopping the horse, or even a 1hander doing a jack-in-the-box jump and slicing off the head of the horse.

Stick with playing your 2Her with crushthrough (Because god knows your wooden hammer needs massive amounts of skill) and be a dear and stop diving into cavalry threads.

[RichBaby]

Server latency and mechanics seem to favor the guy that swings or stabs really early and aims slightly ahead of where they are displayed on your screen.

Phazey, you have pointed out one thing I ve always found odd. This explains why sometimes I expected to be killed but got kills instead..