How do I block?!?

[Matey]

Watch their feet.  Since you have to move in the same direction as a hit to get maximum damage, most players almost always move with their strike.  So even if they're feinting another way, their feet will tell you where it's really going.  The only downside is that its a little tougher to tell against 1h, and overheads and thrusts both benefit from moving forward.  Most players are left/right heavy, though.

this will also get you really fucking dead when fighting people who have inverted attack directions like cy and saul. it isn't a bad skill to have though, you often gut reaction block based on what swing you just threw and what direction you and your enemy are moving as it often makes one attack direction far more likely than the other... so if you have to quickly guess a block in a bad situation then it might do the trick.

[Kafein]

Most people often mimic the attack they just blocked, you can use that at your advantage to guess which way they'll attack.

[Cyber]

The way I learned at the beginning was just go on a duel server, go off by myself and just try blocking in different directions by myself. I didn't try to fight anyone, just told myself I want to block right, block left etc and tryed to execute it and did it till I didn't make any mistakes, in the very beginning just getting the mouse movement right is a challenge (or atleast it was for me) and it's something that helped me. This ofc is probably not too productive if you already know the basics.

[Tears of Destiny]

What Cyber said is really good advice, half of the problems with people not being good blockers is that they are holding their mouse funny/angled and don't compensate.

[oohillac]

Do a generation or two as Longspear or Pike.  When pressured you are forced to block, as those weapons are unsuitable for fighting back in close range.

You'll find a huge improvement in your blocking in a short time.


I also used to hold my mouse sort of angled inward (like this  \    \  ), this made blocking harder.  The trick was moving my keyboard closer to the mouse so my mouse stays vertical (like this |   | ), as my arms are closer to my sides.  Maybe that is what you need to do too.

[Equal]

Overall, being confident will help you block more hits. More importantly is that when you do get hit is to stay focused and make sure to block the next hit. You can't flinch or else suddenly the other player will have landed 2-3 hits on you and you're dead. I've had some of my best rounds in battle start off with a couched lance blackbar me. If I let my health bar make me change my playstyle I wouldn't have been as effective!

I do agree that mouse posture is important, when I was learning how to block I knew which direction I wanted to block before I could properly block that direction in time, when I straightened up my mouse posture I did notice better results. That still happens to me & everyone everyday - like I said it's important to stay calm collected and focused on the next hit so you don't let your opponent land a string of hits on you.

Unfortunately, it is a lot of just practice & muscle memory, but everyone has been in your position before. If you're than peasant lady throwing rocks it would be wise to switch to a melee oriented class so you can take some punishment rather than chopped in half in one swing.

I'm a slow learner, and I like to think I'm a decent player now - if I can do it so can you. Good luck!

[Ellie]

That is me throwing stones, but I do have a melee character. I usually use my melee character early in the morning when there's only a handful on, or practicing on duel with friends/random people and getting my butt kicked, trying to learn something :p

Editing so no double post: I'm starting to realize one of my issues. When I'm dueling, any time someone feints or holds, I let go after a second, reflexively expecting a hit, and move into a swing of my own. But since there's no hit, I end up getting smacked down when I try my swing. Kept noticing I was doing that over, and over earlier. Gonna have to break that habit

[CrazyCracka420]

It's helpful to wait until you hear the sound of you blocking the enemies hit before releasing your block, obviously that's easier said than done.  I still mainly rely on my eyes than sound and that gets me in trouble sometimes. 

[Elindor]

I'm starting to realize one of my issues. When I'm dueling, any time someone feints or holds, I let go after a second, reflexively expecting a hit, and move into a swing of my own. But since there's no hit, I end up getting smacked down when I try my swing. Kept noticing I was doing that over, and over earlier. Gonna have to break that habit

This is a common mistake, and you will learn to adjust for it with practice....of course everyone has moments where they fall for it, but inexperienced players tend to fall for it over and over until they figure it out

[San]

It's simple to initiate a block, but with everything that goes on around you and in a melee fight can make it difficult in certain situations.

Other than time, the best thing for me was how I orient my mouse and how to minimize how much I move my mouse when fighting. I had a bad habit of twisting my hand when trying to turn in game, and after 10-15 seconds my mouse was turned all the way to the left and my blocks started to mess up. You have to find a position that's comfortable for you and allows you to block easily. For me, I got accustomed to keeping my mouse pointed up, and adjust myself when it starts to turn too much. People know how to play where they mess up your timing and blocks (ex having to block right and turn left while moving your character, or block up/down and turn quickly, both tricky).

Another tip is to also learn how to keep pressure up with your own attacks. If you try to play too defensively and block all the time, you won't get much done. This can only be attained through practice, trial & error, and asking questions. It's very much a cognitive process where you keep track of what actions/strategies work for you. You also have to recognize when you try to attack too late after your block or other factors where you lose your attack phase. People say otherwise, but I use my eyes to block so I can retaliate as soon as possible.

[stryker montgomery]

Play normal Warband(Native) and start the tutorial. Spar with the bots there and focus on manual blocking. Start with the slowest combat speed in the options and increase it as you progress in skill and reflexes. Block while standing still first, then try it while running around. When you can defend against everything on fastest while moving around without breaking a sweat you can block in crpg too. Then play on the duel server and ask someone to train with you.

What game spead does C-RPG play on?

[Paul]

Normal, but when playing offline there is no latency.

[stryker montgomery]

Normal, but when playing offline there is no latency.

Thanks.. was just wondering what game speed i should practice at to simulate it the most.

Now I just need to figure my way around the magic voodo greatsword polearms that seem to animation cancel in ways that I never even considered possibly and cant even do in a non-combat situation.

[Camaris]

I learned to block when i started to duel every day until it worked. You cant learn to block in battle and its hard to learn it on siege (you probably could learn it on both but it takes a lot and a lot more of your time). My advice is duel server. Duel everybody. When you start to be able to block those (90% of the time) who killed you within some seconds before your training you have almost done it.

[Bittersteel]

I laughed quite alot about the seizure comment.