Melee: aiming your swing
Flick the mouse to choose the swing, hold to wind up, release to strike. Where it lands matters.
Every melee swing has a direction, and you choose it with the mouse. Just before you click, move the mouse the way you want the blade to travel:
| Mouse movement | Swing | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Up | Overhead (crushing) | ×1.5 |
| Down | Stab (piercing) | ×2 |
| Left or right | Slash (slashing) | ×1 |
If you have not moved the mouse, you repeat your last direction. Options → Attack direction indicator shows the swing you have picked on screen.
Wind up, then strike
- Press Left Mouse to begin the wind-up.
- Hold to keep the weapon chambered. Moving the mouse now still changes the direction.
- Release to strike. Your turning is limited while the blow lands: you cannot spin the blade onto someone.
Press Right Mouse during a wind-up to feint: you drop the attack and raise your guard. A feint costs 4 stamina and delays your next swing slightly.
Spears and halberds have no wind-up: each press strikes at once with a move of their own, chosen by the mouse direction and how you are moving. See Weapon sets and stances.
A one-handed weapon with nothing in the other hand fences instead: tap to strike fast, hold for a slower, heavier blow. See Weapon sets and stances.
Where the blow lands
| Hit | Damage |
|---|---|
| Head | ×3, and stuns for 4 seconds |
| Body | ×2 |
| Arms and legs | ×1 |
| From behind | ×2 more (a backstab) |
| Two-handed weapon or polearm | ×1.3 more damage over time (each swing slower and heavier) |
| Charging in | Up to ×2 more when you close on your target; less when you back away |
Stamina
- A swing costs stamina by how long it takes: 8 with a one-handed sword, about 7 with a dagger, about 10 with a two-handed sword and up to 15 with a spear or pike, whose moves are longer. Every weapon spends the same stamina a second. With less than a swing's cost you cannot swing.
- Stamina comes back at 6 a second on the ground.
- A swing hits one target: there is no cleave.
- Each weapon swings at its own speed: a fast one hits lighter and a slow one harder, so speed alone does not change the damage it deals over time. Reach does: a longer weapon deals a little less over time than a shorter one. Its quality and your skill with it count too (Weapons, armour and what you can use). The tooltip shows its damage a swing, swing rate and reach.
Taking a hit
- Most hits only jolt you: you keep moving, and a swing you are making carries on.
- A harder hit breaks a swing you are still winding up.
- Only a heavy blow staggers you back. It breaks any swing and holds you for a moment, then you can move or strike again.
- Armour decides how heavy a blow has to be: plate shrugs off what staggers a robe.
- After a stagger you cannot be staggered again for 3 seconds.
Dodging
With a one-handed or two-handed weapon, a spear or a halberd drawn, double-tap A, D or S to dodge left, right or back: about three metres with a one-handed weapon, a little less to the side with a two-handed one. A dodge costs 18 stamina. You cannot swing or raise your guard until the step is done; then move, strike or guard to come out of it at once. Fists dodge too (Fighting with your fists).