Exanima combat manual/advice - Story mode (coming soon) and Arena
All information is correct at time of writing. Game is early access and is prone to change. I will edit as is relevant. This is a work in progress and will be edited as I learn more about the game.

Exanima is a Dungeon crawler and Arena "Simulator" that uses the resources that will apply to Sui Generis when the game is eventually released. Some information will apply to Sui Generis, whereas some will not. If you're taking the time to read this, I assume you'll be smart enough to transfer which information applies and which doesn't when the main game is released. The main purpose of the project is to create a totally unique and immersive experience for players, thus the title Sui Generis, Latin for; "In a class of it's own and totally unique". The team compiled all of the resources from the ground up to forge the experience into something that will be familiar to roleplaying veterans, but also sufficiently unique to leave a massive impact and have you drooling for the main game. The crew's website is Bare Mettle[www.baremettle.com]. The most recent update occurred 2 months ago, so the project is still alive, from what I can tell. Also note, the game is a side project away from the crew's main jobs as programmers and developers at other companies, so the updates occur when they have time and like in the game itself, it probably doesn't hurt to have some patience. Without any further adieu, I present my collective experiences with the game in the form of a combat manual, which I've named The Lessons of our Forefathers because of many of these concept's tendencies to pop up in actual combat manuals in HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts)

I will provide some relevant screenshots, mostly pertaining to concepts and VERY new players.

There are several tools available at your disposal during combat in Exanima, and all of these things should be considered and practiced to ensure you have well-rounded combat affinity and don't simply fall into habits like a mindless clicking game (It isn't Diablo). Especially once Sui Generis is released and there are multiplayer components, and as the AI develops, your mindless swining at wads of meat will prove less effective. I'll try to outline some aspects of combat below, the variance in their features and how you can use these components to your advantage, or how you can mitigate disadvantages you may have.


Base range of my weapon



A short backstep (Tap S)



A long backstep (Hold S)



Please note in the above images: Both actions take the same amount of time. The key to mastering footwork is not not waste actions.

Footwork is probably one of the very early skills to learn in Exanima. I found that, especially earlier on, I was making a lot of unneccisary movements which caused the combat to behave in a very erratic manner. If your opponent isn't moving, there isn't a lot of need for you to move either and it simply creates weaknesses for your opponent to exploit and makes your attacks less accurate. Footwork is a very important skill to master early, as the game's physics engine allows you to make the most rudimentary of attacks into a savage blow simply by stepping the right way at the right time as you attack, with no mouse accuracy required. Opponent misses, put your pointer on their head and hold A and Left click. You'll step in with the blow. Adding twist to your torso later will increase the savagery. Remember, tapping S will perform a short step. Depending on your distance and the enemy's range (Explained ahead), this can totally mitigate your opponent's ability to hit you while keeping them within your damage arc (Explained ahead), especially with polearms. Remember, try to predict your opponent's range. Sometimes, a single short step backward by tapping S and then a long step forward by holding W can produce amazing results, especially if you have an advantage in terms of range.


Your character's height should be fairly self explainatory, but taller characters have more range and a higher point of leverage on vertical attacks, but a skilled opponent is more easily able to crouch under your horizonal attacks and punish your legs, which are often less armoured overall than the torso and easier to hit than the head. A short character is exceptional at Pugilism and with shortswords/daggers and shield and a very tall character's attacks quite frequently glance over their heads unless aimed low. For standard fighting, I prefer Polearms on my taller characters and shortsword and shield on shorter characters, but I'll elaborate more on specific combat styles and weapons in a later segment. I am as of yet unaware if a character's weight and build contribute to damage at all, but from what I can tell, they do not. A safe bet is to simply leave your character's height as standard, recieving neither the benefits nor the disadvantages that height may provide.


Apologies for my editing skills

The narrow damage arc of an axe requires more accuracy in terms of footwork and judging range



Despite being a short sword, swords have EXTREMELY wide damage arcs for their length, making even a short one effective in a wider arc than an axe...



...And even compared to a Polearm, which, when balanced, can still inflict damage with the wooden haft



Distance ties Footwork and Height (Arm length) to produce an effective range and a damage arc. "Damage arc" is a term I've coined myself, but is essentially the optimal striking point to the point of the weapon where it is no longer effective. I use the term "Arc" because it pertains to the swing and not neccisarily to the weapon itself. For example, on a Maul, you more or less need to hit the enemy character directly with the head of the weapon to deal any real damage. Even slightly stepping too far forward will totally mitigate the potential of your attack and backwards will miss, so using a maul requires careful footwork and a knowledge of your range. However, a two handed warhammer, also a novice 2 handed blunt polearm, despite having a smaller head, is actually effective further down the wood haft, able to produce damage further from the point of the weapon, thanks largely to it's superior balance stat. In this, I would note that a 2 handed warhammer has a wider damage arc than a maul, but both are fairly similar in terms of clean impact damage and blunt force ability. The Bardiche, on the other hand, has a damage arc much further down the instrument, nearer the middle of the blade, and the far tip is mostly effective for it's thrusting potential. The Bariche's damage arc is quite similar to the warhammer, but the weapon is held much closer to the business end, reducing the range somewhat. The earlier arena combatants are a great place to view these principals, as they often move in a manner that seems like turn-based real time compared to more skilled opponents, especially if you intentionally stand just outside their range. They will initiate an attack and move at the same time, then pause for a moment and initiate the next attack. It's the perfect opportunity to practice simply tapping your S button to take a short step back, to dodge an attack. Stay in or just out of your opponent's range and they won't move. If you keep stepping back, they will keep following you and put you on the back foot. Remember on more skilled opponents, though, that many will have Remise and a Second attack will follow it, others will feign and some will be far more relentless. Will a short step be far enough or do you need to take two? Will one large step be more wise as you wind up a power strike on your hammer or are two small steps and a quick dash back in (W) with your shortsword thrust more your flavour? My advice is to practice all of these things and understand the concepts before advancing past "Adept" in the arena. Simply "recruit" (Not hire) more fighters. It can't hurt to have spares in case someone cops a stray hammer to the side of the head and their lights go out. These concepts have a similar relevence in the campaign and against beasts. If you stand too close to the Golems, for example, their wide swinging attacks can hit you in the side and be impossible to parry. Step right back so the attack and the remise are in "Front" of you and then close the gap again

The balance stat works with the weight of the weapon to determine two distinct aspects in regard to timing. The first is how long it takes to complete a full attack or how fast the weapon moves, and the second is how long it takes to recover if an attack is unsuccessful. Again using extreme examples, the extremely heavy and unbalanced Maul moves exceptionally slowly and if you miss, you're left struggling with the weight or turning to expose your back to your opponent (Don't do that unless you're VERY confident, but DO note that it can be done and is effective in very specific circumstances) in order to recover in time to parry a counter attack. On the other end of the spectrum, a dagger or short sword that is very well balanced and light moves very quickly, often capable of completing a full remise in the same time it takes to swing the hammer once. If you miss, almost as soon as you release the mouse button your character is prepared to defend themselves (ignoring shields and techniques for now). How you use your timing depends on your weapon range and your damage arc and your opponent's weapons and playstyle. For example, when using a hammer against an opponent with a short sword, I try to stand just outside their weapon's range. The moment they attack, you step back and hold left click. They often continue the remise, so you let your first attack swing at air, and then aim to hit them with the return blow after their own remise, as your weapon is slower and will complete both attacks in a larger amount of time, your attack will arrive in the opening where their's ends. The superior range of your hammer will allow you to stay outside of their strike zone during their attacks and then use a long forward step to close the gap when you're ready. As such, skills such as Remise and Fend are more important on heavier and more unbalanced weapons, in my opinion, as they mitigate some of the disadvantages of timing on weapons that are severely effected by it. An aspect of timing that should also be considered is how long your opponent is left exposed during actions that cause them to lower their guard, especially attacking. How much time do you actually have after an attack to land your strike? Should you swing the moment he swings and rely on footwork or your weapon to stay out of his range, or wait until the middle of his Remise to interrupt him? Does your opponent possess the security skill, and therefore, will a light stab interrupt him, or will he just bulldoze you if you don't lay on the hurt? All of these things are dependent on a lot of factors, but the Balance and Weight of the weapon in question has the most direct mechanical impact.


The curvature of your weapon is the primary indicator of it's capacity to push cut or draw cut, as well as your effective range for slashing among other things. These concepts aren't exactly hugely relevant in game because of the lack of any real "Slicing" mechanics, but have very specific applications to leverage which the game uses to calulate damage. Basically, if the blade's curvature is directed back toward the user as in a Bariche, Saber or Katana (Not featured in game I believe, just an example), the blade is designed to make a standing or advancing strike, and is effective from a closer range than a straight weapon of the same length. This means that it's most effective if you're stepping TOWARD your opponent as you swing it. A forward curvature, where the blade curves AWAY from the user, as in the Bill or the Two handed Falcion are very effective when stepping AWAY from your opponent because the point can catch them behind their guard, but the damage arc is reduced as a result, requiring finer accuracy during these actions. This actually makes the Bill an extremely underrated ingame polearm in my opinion, with massive leverage being able to be applied to the tip while still stepping away from your opponent, important for opponents who seek to close the gap on your polearm wielding butt. If you want to experiment, try attacking while stepping backwards with both the Bardiche and the Bill (The most extreme examples of this principal I know of ingame) and you'll quickly realize how this all applies to the game's combat. Straight blades are effective at both, but obviously apply more damage while advancing into the strike because of inertia. This has very minor effects dependant on the shape of the weapon if it's not a bladed weapon. For example, a warhammer can become caught behind someone's helmet and quick reactions in swinging your body can actually pull them off balance and see, especially a heavily armoured opponent, spawl on the ground and kiss cobble. The effect is far more relevent when moving away from your opponent, as you're pulling them with your whole body and not just your arm. It also depends on the shape of the weapon, and I've only found this to be reliable in the case of the 1 handed warhammer and axes, and even so, quite difficult to consistently perform.


It was a little hard to hold alt, left click and press the screenshot button with the correct timing. I tried for some time, but hopefully these two similar images are sufficient

A thrust aimed at the head. Note, the tip of the weapon was directly in the center of the circle, hit the target, then glanced to the left...



...Similarly with this image, which is why I used both of them. Experiment like this yourself to get a better idea. Also note my footwork didn't change but my stroke was severly limited with me unable to apply my full arm's leverage into the thrust. Footwork.



I've watched a few videos on youtube and often see people making very similar mistakes, and that's overmovement of the mouse (Though mouse tracking has been improved remarkably since earlier versions, from what I can tell). Directing your blows and turning your character can be acheived with very subtle movements and you don't need to move your mouse right out to the edge of the screen and try to make huge, swipining movements, as ensuring your pointer is on the enemy character at the moment of impact, or at the point you intend to follow through to, is the most crucial aspect of accuracy. A method I have adopted which seems to be effective is to assume your mouse pointer is the tip of your weapon and not the rotation of your character, and your character simply rotates to follow the tip of the weapon. This is applied on ALL axes (Plural of Axis not Axe). So with a thrust, you assume the red circle is the tip of your weapon. This allows you to aim at a height (Center of mass is very easy to achieve with a thrust, but helmets and legs generally offer less piercing resistance) and a lateral point, for example the left side of your opponent's body when they have just struck to the right. Overheads are fairly simple and mostly seem to rely on footwork and positioning. If your opponent is getting up, aim where their feet are for more consistent results, because that's where their body will be when they stand and the rest is down to the timing and range of your weapon for clean headshots on opponents that are standing up from being knocked over. If you're using a weapon that has knocked your opponent off their feet, you really need to do the "Dishonourable" thing and strike them when they can't defend themselves. It's one of very few advantages larger, slower weapons possess and your enemy would do the same. With Horizonal attacks, you achieve the same results from right next to your character as you do the edge of the screen with less movement. I practiced this by using the early 2 handed hammers, Maul and Sledgehammer, and simply drawing the same arc the weapon follows as it strikes, very tight and close to your character, tidy and slow.

In all honesty, this aspect of the game took me far too long to fully master and requires some level of prediction or it can end up being a dizzying experience, but it's safe enough to assume in more advanced fights, you'll want to get the hang of this. It especially became relevent when I started to realize the actual accuracy I was capable of achieving with weapons, and that came from extensive use of thrusts with swords against armoured opponents and against the training dummies in one of the Arena rooms.

From here on, I will assume that players are VERY new. Experienced players can refer to the appendix to acquire specific information they require if it's available or peruse at their leisure.

I advise all new players to mess around in the arena mode for a while to get the hang of the game. These are some tips and tricks that will get you started in Arena mode, help you start considering build types and realize some more basic principals you can apply before heading off on your dungeon crawling adventures

So, before I begin on a breakdown of Arena Mode, which will largely be my analysis of different weapon and damage types that apply to the above information, the rules of Arena, different mission types and so forth, I'll give a brief introduction to the totally new player. I would like to also make some interesting notes about the Arena setting. Firstly, the combat dummies in the room adjacent to the main shopkeeper are fully functional. You can use them the practice your accuracy on a static target before taking what you've learned into the arena itself. I found it was particularly effective with practicing the accuracy of my stabs (A lot of armour has low pierce resistance and legs and head are particularly unarmoured compared to the body) because the range and effectiveness of thrusts can vary wildly dependent on your weapon. Secondly, as was demonstrated in the Sui Generis pre alpha, the devs fully intend you to customize your own settings. That means you can hang weapons on the abundant racks as you start to generate more funds. While this can be a little tricky, it's very satisfying in the long run.


Start with the practice mode until you're comfortable.

Before you start getting too far into Arena, it's worth noting that the first character you create is your Manager. If this person dies, you lose all of your progress and have to start Arena mode again. As such, I suggest using the "Recruit" function on your roster (Next to the shopkeeper) to recruit a mook to do your bidding (The "Hire" function hires NPCs needed for the more complex arena modes, but we'll stick with single fighter concepts for now). When you eventually have enough coins to max out your Manager's armour for each class, it's probably safe to advance them, if you want your manager to eventually be a master of the Arena as well. Otherwise, keep them out of the fights. If your manager is taking serious RED damage, FORFEIT THE FIGHT. You're better off losing some silver then copping a stray hammer to the side of the skull and losing all of your progress. Your mooks will be somewhat more expendable, because if they die, your manager recovers all of their armour and weapons and the game continues, but the higher level ones, in particular, are worth trying to preserve. The easiest weapon to start with, in my opinion, is the metal bar, and the hardest is the quarterstaff. If you have a preference for shorter weapons, you're also provided with a cleaver and a hammer if you so choose, but this largely depends on preference, as all of the beginner weapons are fairly awful. You can always purchase a wooden hammer (Cudgel) from the shop later on, the first 2 handed hammer available to the Inept rank fighters, but if it's your first time, start with the metal bar.

Have a few fights and earn some silver coins. Mostly try to stick to duels, pugilism and frays to begin with. Start checking the "Hire" section in your roster. You'll notice at the top left, the hirelings are noted as being a "Combatant" or a "Merchant". If you hire a merchant, they will stand next to the other merchant, and you can make requests for them to acquire certain items for you based off your rank and their type (Weapon, Armour/Clothes, Both and Each rank, Inept > Master on two dropboxes). This is very useful as you progress and you need certain classes of items for your characters.

Now that you've messed around a bit, it's time to consider how you will build your characters, because you're limited by achieving the rank of "Master" and can therefore not acquire all of the skills, without even considering that Ranged will likely be added in coming patches. Though with a master possessing a total of 13 mastered techniques, you have a little room to breathe. There are three distinct forms worth considering currently, though the choice is ultimately yours. Personally, I like to recruit many fighters and play many different styles as practice, but you're obviously free to do as you please.

One handed weapons with shield is a versatile form that allows you to control the pace of the fighting. Be it offensive or defensively orientated, the main bonus granted, weapon not considered, is the ability to generally pace yourself as you wish. An aggressive opponent can be stepped in to and forced backward behind the cover of your shield or shoved into terrain, while laying in some quick strikes, especially together with Counter, Synchrony and Persist (Shield skills). These three skills will allow you to remain relatively safe behind your shield, as long as your arm doesn't tire too much from repeated savage blows, as you chip away at your opponent.

+ Excellent control of the combat zone
+ Guard against multiple attackers, keep the shield facing one guy and you can almost ignore him
+ Defence is easier
+ Brutal armour peircing thrusts can be employed without being totally exposed

- Heavier shields reduce mobility
- Shield arm tires
- Can be harder to apply decent leverage to attacks without good footwork

Two handed weapons is a largely defensive form that often requires careful note, especially prediction, in the footwork regard. Polearm users frequently make large strides backward and pace around their opponent, waiting for an opportunity to strike from outside of their range. Both polearms and axes can be extremely effective if you actively plan for your timing and footwork for the first strike to miss and strike back hard with the Remise, but other notable skills include Fend and Riposte, as well as the armour skills Security and Deflection. Note that you can take both as well as Mobility in Armor III to ensure that heavily armoured enemies cannot advance on you too quickly for you to pace your attacks. Your main weakness as a long weapon user is people who advance and attack extremely quickly, such as a shortsword dual wielder, because of the lack of a pommel/butt/haft strike. The main mechanical way to combat this is to simply carry a sidearm. Because of the curvature of the blade and relatively short haft, the bill is an excellent polearm for close encounters where you're constantly in retreat, but most of AI enemies (I try to consider if PvP becomes an option as well) can generally be managed quite effectively with feigns, footwork and skill with remise. You swing, they "notice" an opening because your weapon is long, step in to attack, you predict this, take a short step backward and then a step forward (depending on positioning) and punish them with the remise.

+ Exception range and leverage, brutal outright damage
+ Most advanced, well balanced weapons have an exceptional damage arc, less accuracy required
+ Punish larger and armoured enemies, crown enemies or knock their legs from under them easily

- Extremely close combat is difficult, especially if the enemy possesses an advantage in speed
- Missing creates larger openings in your guard
- Confined spaces and weapons becoming caught on enemy's weapons can be crippling

Dual Wielding is an interesting form that is historically only effective in a 1 on 1 duel. Still, dual wielding offers an extremely rapidly advancing style that can prove far too much for many humanoid opponents to handle. Additionally, dual wielders can equip two different weapons to allow for wild variations in their attack patterns, which can prove to be extremely effective for a practiced user and chaotic for an opponent. The dual wield skill and it's prerequisites are obviously required, but also of note would be the security skill and manoeverability in armour. Dual wielding is unique in that it allows for an attack and a parry to be performed simultaneously. This can cause some savage riposte and remise returns when mastered.

+ 1 on 1 against humans
+ Different damage types and weapons can be equipped
+ One weapon's strengths can cover the other's weaknesses
+ You look cool :^)

- Close quarters nature can make you prone to attack from the side that bypass your guard
- Short weapons but a heavily offensive style in a physics based game
- Mutiple opponents (You can't step back too far to herd them and can't defend from the sides)

Weapons types vary wildly, even between weapons of the same class, but I'll try to provide some rough outlines of each type, as well as their inherent advantages and disadvantages. I would love to see a "Grip" button in future installments so that the weapons could be held in different ways, such as a 2 handed sword held by the blade and used as a club (murder stroke), or half-swording, a technique where the blade of a sword is held so the tip can be more accurately controlled, the weapon can be used at very close range and more force can be applied to thrusts. But also, using the butt of your axe to cause blunt damage or turning your warhammer around and using the spiky end to punch through plate as per it's design. For now, I'll outline the raw advantages in terms of gameplay.

Stats. What do they actually mean? - I've seen VERY simple explainations as to what stats do around the place, and I wanted to elaborate more on how they interact with each other and the environment and gameplay. Every stat on your weapon effects every other stats, and picking higher numbers because they're higher isn't sufficient for anyone who seeks to achieve mastery or intends to engage in PvP (when available).

Weight – The weight of a weapon is mutiplied by it's impact and modified by it's Balance. For example, axes are quite often lighter than sword (They're mostly wood) but possess a similar ability to slash. This is because of their impact per strike. Their low balance is a result of them being tip-heavy (Metal is heavier than wood), so they leave the user more exposed during openings when you attack or miss an attack. They're also usually only effective on the blade, so their damage arc is usually quite limited in a way that further balancing wouldn't provide more advantage.

Impact – Effects the potential of the weapon's weight, and is especially relevant when applied to the damage types (Slash, Crush, Pierce/Thrust). Impact is the maximum potential momentum of the weapon, which is multiplied by the weight to produce it's force, and modified by it's balance. A weapon that is tip heavy, such as a hammer, is far more effected by impact than a weapon that is guard heavy, such as a Shortsword.

Balance – Balance, as noted above, modifies weight and impact in some ways. A well balanced weapon leaves one less exposed when they miss an attack and can be recovered quickly, but can reduce the potential leverage that can be applied. Depending on the design, it can also increase the damage arc, such as when a Maul and Warhammer are compared. The haft of a maul typically does little or no damage, but a Warhammer can still be devastating even if the head doesn't directly impact, as the weapon's weight is more evenly distributed along it's entire shape. In this, a warhammer sacrifices some of it's outright brutal damage output to allow more give in terms of accuracy.

Slash – Is a weapon's ability to apply cutting damage once it's potential force is accounted for. Once it's force is applied, it's then multiplied by the Slash stat to produce a total amount of slash damage inflicted on the given body part. This damage is then reduce by the opponent's armour and it's slash resistance. Remember, an enemy typically wears cloth, chain, pad then plate, especially on the body, so slash damage is very reduced to this area. More versatile slashing instruments also have an option to thrust (Where no grip options are available)

Crush – Is a weapon's ability to apply blunt force trauma as a main source of damage once the weapon's force is accounted for. Once it's force is applied, it's then multiplied by the Crush stat to produce the total amount of blunt force trauma applied to a given body part. Hands, arms and head are typically quite exposed to Crush damage, and crush is probably more affected by impact than any other damage type (I haven't seen the maths on the programming, but logically it should be).

Pierce – Is largely a secondary damage type attached to some weapons. Piercing attacks, especially high impact ones, are typically very good at penetrating armour of their class at any point on the body and are particularly effective against Chain. I have trouble testing this, but I imagine the Piercing stat implies the amount of penetration that is applied to the weapon, as in the case of spiked club vs spiked mace. Though capable of piercing padded armour, a spiked club would do relatively little to plate, so it's pierce stat is lower. It has a smaller penetrative depth.

Thrust – While similar in principal to pierce, Thrust would apply the calulated force directly to the attack in the same way that slash and Crush do. This is because the actual penetrative ability of Thrusting attacks depends on the momentum and design of the weapon and isn't neccisarily as limited by how short or effective the actual spikes are. Thrust attacks, similarly, should penetrate armour rather effectively but often require more percision, timing and more careful footwork to pull off well. This can, however, cause Daggers to seem like they do far too much damage, especially mid to late, as they're specialized thrusting instruments which excel at bypassing armour.

Swords or blades earned their place as the peak of ancient weaponry, and rightly so. A sword is an extremely versatile instrument that can cause brutal slashing injuries, especially to unarmoured opponents, but with enough leverage, even chopping attacks can cause severe blunt force trauma to an armoured opponent, though historically, fighers were known to grasp the blade and use the pommel and crossguard as a bludgeon. Swords are typically extremely well balanced, meaning there is a far narrower gap in which a sword user is vulnerable compared to other weapons of a similar size. Swords also feature some of the most variance in terms of design, from the short sword to the two handed falchion and blunt-tip twohander (Exclusive to story mode). Many swords also possess a Thrusting attack, which causes penetrative damage that armour can be ineffective at mitigating. Two handed swords can be and are grasped by the blade ingame to increase your body's momentum and provide for attacks that can decimate armour. Swords that are ineffective at thrusting often possess enough impact to knock an opponent around, though generally less than an axe. Swords are the most forgiving weapons encountered, with footwork and timing being less crucial than some other weapons and wildly swinging a 2 handed sword being effective against armoured opponents (in reality, it isn't at all). Finally, swords have among the widest damage arcs in the game, with their effectiveness beginning at the very tip of the weapon and ending just before the halfway point (Though maximum leverage is applied closer to the tip. Decent swords taper to the point, near the hilt is known as the thick and nearer the point the thin of the blade). The main disadvantage of a sword is that they can require very precise accuracy to deal with armoured opponents if they are capable of going toe-to-toe with you in terms of range and understand your timing.

+ Versatile
+ Very easy to use
+ Variety of designs for taste
+ Many can thrust
+ Widest damage arc for length of weapons, requires less accuracy
+ Balance

- Slashing damage greatly mitigated on armoured targets
- No "Grip" options such as half swording or murder stroke reduce the real-life versatility
- Shape of blade produces as many weaknesses as strengths
- Knowledge required to identify your preferred or optimal style

Blunt weapons cause severe blunt force trauma. They often possess decimating impact, but as a result of their design, are very poorly balanced compared to similar weapons in design. Certain blunt weapons, such as the warhammer or bar mace, possess greater balance, increasing their damage arc, but at the expense of weight or impact (Weight x Impact x Momentum = Force). Helmets and armour in general typically provide very little blunt resistance, denting easily and transferring force to the squishy bits beneath, and heavy armoured opponents can be felled with a few decent head blows or knocked over with a single clean blow. An interesting subcategory of blunt weapons are penetrating blunt weapons such as the spiked club and spiked mace. These weapons typically almost entirely ignore armour of their class (Not as effective on higher class), so clean shots can crown opponents very easily if these weapons are mastered, but their damage arc is generally very limited. Spiked blunt weapons were a typical response to armoured fighting on the battlefield, where wrestling techniques weren't viable, historically.

+ Force
+ Potential damage applied
+ Some are penetrative, the rest dent armour readily
+ Large enough amounts of force can tranfer to an opponent's shield arm or tire them

- Hard to master, hard to use against skilled opponents
- Generally slow compared to similar weapons
- Generally needs to be "poorly" balanced to produce maximum results, tip heavy
- Exposed for longer when you miss
- Often requires very accurate and methodical approach to combat
- No "Grip" option on warhammer to use the spike for it's designer purpose

Axes are savage tools that never met particular use in combat except in specific cultures. The Danish, for example, during the age of Vikings, used axes in combat to shatter wooden shields and break the bones of enemies wearing chainmail, and the pronounced tip of a Danish axe was sufficient at penetrating all but plate armour. Most of the advantages of using an axe in combat aren't particularly relevant ingame, but there are a few key advantages. An axe wielded in your main hand during dual wielding techniques can hook on the top of your oponent's shield and rake it away, creating a small opening in their guard for a remise. They can also hook around some weapons and prevent your opponent from using them particularly effectively or parrying. Axes offer similar Slashing ability as swords, and often weigh similar amounts, but because of the tip-heavy nature of their balancing, provide far more impact with the same weight, so can punish armoured opponents more. Axes are particularly effective at remise attacks and when used in combination with a shield or dual wielded with a faster weapon to cover the opening created when you attack.

+ Slashing weapons, high comparative force and leverage
+ Savage strikes to unarmoured targets
+ Can hook weapons, shields and armour and interrupt combat when mastered
+ Wood chopping

- Missing can be devastating without a "Two phase" approach to combat that includes remise and prediciton of footwork
- Slashing damage
- No "grip" option to turn it around and use it as a club
- Weapon getting caught can be as much a disadvantage as an advantage to the unskilled user

Polearms vary wildly in design, even moreso than swords. The single aspect that all polearms share is a range advantage over other weapons of their class. A poleaxe outranges an axe, a Bardiche outranges a Falchion, a 2 handed warhammer outranges a warhammer, ect. Generally, a polearm's advantages can be compared to it's non polearm counterpart plus range, minus recovery from misses, though certain Poleaxes (Halberd design) also possess a spear tip for penetrating armour on top of their original design. Polearms can apply massive leverage when used correctly and because of the physics based engine, are some of the most devastating tools in the game when mastered.

+/- Longer version of their non polearm counterpart. Generally just another weapon on a stick. Refer to above.

So this might be common knowledge, but I thought I would touch on it anyway. Armour can be layered in many combinations to produce optimal results. The game doesn't feature a "Slot" system for layering armour, but instead features a collision system, where certain armours "collide" with each other as they logically would. You can't wear a thick leather vest with rivets underneath a breastplate, for example, as they both possess similar bulk. Having a good resistance to as many damage types as you can is important, especially the damage type you're dealing with, as it will prevent those damage types from inflicting red damage on you. Please note, armour will never completely stop yellow damage and strong strikes can still knock you around. To simplify the importance of layering with armour, though, imagine having a metal bucket on your head and then having someone hit the bucket with a piece of wood. Painful. But then imagine if you stuffed a pillow inside the bucket and wrapped it around your head when you put the bucket on your head and did the same. This is an extremely simplified explaination of the importance of layering, and especially ensuring your underlayers or Inept, Aspirant and Novice tier armours are complete (And hopefully of a superior craftsmanship) before moving on.

Here I am wearing a full set of armour I have collected throughout the main adventure. It doesn't seem like much until...



... Later on, when I'm checking all of my gear in preperation for a fight. In this image, I take off all of my armour and lay out my weapons as I ensure everything is in order.



As you can see, I'm actually wearing quite a lot of gear under there. All of this will combine to reduce the effects of attacks later on. Especially in the more difficult fights to come, this will stop me from being killed outright and having to run around and collect everything anew (Especially since I got lucky here with a third potion drop). I'll go through it from top to bottom.

Plate Helm - Plate armour provides decent resistance to most damage types, especially slashing. It is vulnerable to piercing and bludgeoning, as is my skull.

Chain Coif - A coif is a kind of hood made of chainmail that prevents weaker slashing and stabbing attacks from damaging your throat and areas uncovered by your helm. Chain offers very little in the way of resistance to force and blunt attacks though. So, while chain will resist the cut of a sword, if the strike it strong enough, it will still crush your windpipe.

Arming Cap - A padded cap that wraps around your entire head. It prevents force applied to your helm being transferred to your head. It's not foolproof, and a hammer to the top of your skull with full impact will still break your neck, but it will be far more likely that you suffer an unconcious injury, rather than severe brain trauma.

Plate Spalders - Moving down, we have shoulderpads known as Spalders. There are particularly important, because a great deal of attacks that bypass your guard come from the sides.

Plate Breastplate - A superior breastplate I picked up in my adventure (5 1/2 slashing resist!). While it leaves me slightly more exposed than some other breastplates, it covers the parts important to my playstyle (Ribs and chest) and offers excellent resistances

Tunic - A tunic describes a great many style of upper body clothing in ancient europe, but generally a simple shirt of some design. In this case, it's an overshirt worn over chain, often to display some kind of insignia by Knights or to stop the chain heating up in the sun.

Chain Longsleeve shirt - Standard Proctor chain, unfortunately. Still, provides decent resistance to Slashing attacks for the fights to come.

Gambeson - A gambeson is a padded undershirt that replaces your standard clothing option. Similar to the arming cap, it's cushioning prevents force from travelling through your armour.

Belt - Stops your pants falling off, provides minimal protection to your lower torso. Also prevents chain from moving about, bunching up or being a nuisance beneath your armour.

Coutiers - I'm not wearing any in the picture, but worth a mention. Armour elbowpads to prevent attacks from the sides striking your bony elbow.

Vambraces - Protects the area roughly from your wrist to your forearm below the elbow, but depends on coverage.

Chain Gauntlets - Gauntlets protect the hands from glacing strikes that may occur. While chain isn't optimal, I haven't found any plate gauntlets this playthrough. My playstyle and where I am in the game imply that hand damage isn't particularly an issue and it's more relevant in the arena.

Plate leggings - Again, nor pictured, but worn over the top of the chain leggings to protect the upper legs from most forms of damage. "Leggings" ingame often includes Cuisses (Leg armour) and Poleyns (Knee armour), and sometimes Greaves (Below). I haven't yet seen Poleyns as an independant item, but since I've encountered Cuisses, I assume they're around.

Chain leggings - The same as the rest of your chain. Protects you from cuts where your plate doesn't cover, or provides additional metal for your enemy to need to penetrate should they breach your armour.

Padded leggings - Padding to wear beneath your chain. Protects the legs in a similar way to the arming cap and Gambeson.

Greaves - Greaves protect the lower legs and shins from extremely low directed attacks. Not consistently an issue, but can prevent a warhammer from inflicting red health, shattering your shinbone and ending your fighting career (No real bone surgery back then, especially complex fractures).

Sabatons - Sabatons are armoured shoes that prevents your enemy from stabbing your feet. I honestly think they're a little bit redundant in-game, but walking around barefoot seems a little odd.

So, in the above section I described some of the specific types of armour and tried to paint a picture of WHY you're actually wearing them for a roleplaying perspective, so here, I will break down the stats and pertain those concepts to the game world.


Understanding the statistics is important for optimally equipping armour, especially for specific encounters. Now that you understand that armour is layered and why, it's time to apply the game mechanics to that knowledge.

Coverage is the overall level of protection to an entire section of body, based off the armour piece. For example, an open-faced helm would have a lower level of coverage than a fully enclosed helm. (Story spoiler) This would be especailly relevant for, say, the Golems, who are very tall and strike your head frequently. Equip your fully enclosed Plate helm from the Sir level and you will see a drop in red damage, as your face is now protected from the savage corners of the golem's halberd. Your nightvision helm isn't as applicable here. Another example may be fully enclosed greaves compared to a "metal shinpad". Having low coverage creates weaknesses for your enemy to exploit and can sometimes be less advantageous than higher stats.

Impact is a given armour piece's ability to resist raw impact damage. I don't have the mathematics on the programming, but it seems to lower the YELLOW damage that is inflicted from raw impact force, after red damage has been calculated. For example, if your armour has completely resisted Slashing damage but possesses a low resistance to the impact, you are still quite likely to become injured or knocked unconcious by the strike. You may not be fatally wounded, but certainly incapacitated enough to fight.

Slash is your armour piece's ability to resist RED slashing damage, impact force notwithstanding. A high slash resist will prevent slashing weapons such as a sword, axe or bardiche from inflicting fatal damage on your character through cutting. This is why a 2 handed sword can still knock out someone in full armour. Armour of this design typically posseses a very large resistance to slashing damage. Imagine trying to cut through a metal breastplate, chainmail and a gambeson. It's physically impossible. It's not physically impossible, however, to injure the person beneath enough that they can no longer fight.

Crush is your armour's ability to resist crushing blows such as those from a mace or warhammer. Armour typically posseses little crushing resistance, and realistically, it's obvious why. To apply an analogy I used in a previous section, if you're wearing a metal bucket on your head and someone hits it with a piece of wood, you're going to feel it - and hard. Perhaps not as hard as without the bucket, but still quite badly. Chain, with it's flexibility, offers almost no resistance to crush at all. Wearing a chain coif or "Hood" will not prevent the wood impacting the bucket from injuring you. However, wearing a padded cap designed to be worn beneath a helm, known as an Arming cap, will provide some minimal resistance when coupled with the armour itself. Crush is typically difficult to resist, even for heavily armoured opponents, so a good head blow (Especially low crush resist on head armour) could potentially wound you, and will certainly cause you to fall closer to unconciousness/incapacitation than a hit to the body. Two good swings with a polehammer can quite readily put a fully armoured opponent to sleep ingame.

Pierce is the armour's ability to resist piercing attacks. This includes damage from both the pierce and thrust category. Armour typically offers moderate to low resistance to piercing. The main danger of Piercing damage, especially thrusting, is that it is extremely accurate and can exploit weaknesses in your armour. If you're not wearing a full-face helm, your opponent can put their sword directly in your face if they're skilled at anticipating your actions and more or less make a strike as though you are unarmoured. This is particularly relevant in an image in the above section, because my arms and legs are unplated and are largely exposed to piercing damage. (Story spoiler) Thankfully, I'm gearing to fight the Golems who aren't particularly accurate with their thrusts, nor can they predict because they're A.I. , so it isn't a huge issue there. The second danger of thrusting damage is that it's very easy to apply large amounts of force to the attack. Put the mouse where you want to stab and step forward as you do so. No mouse movements required, no follow through and no tricks. Alt, leftclick, W. If you can predict when you opponent will step forward as well, as in the case of the zombies in the story, you can seriously lay down some hurt. I've gotten to the point I can quite easily knock zombies to the ground with thrust attacks from a "Sharp sword" (Proctor sword. Arming sword, I think. Longer than shortsword, shorter than longsword), with knockdowns not being particularly consistent even with a 2 handed sword, space limitations notwithstanding. Every second zombie you fight with a sharp sword, when practiced at thrusting, will fall when you strike them. Some will get up, get stabbed and fall over again. You are able to easily apply a large amount of impact to a thrust with relatively no skill except prediction of your enemy's movements.

Encumberance is fairly self explainatory, but it describes how restrictive on your movements your armour is. This includes running speed, footwork in combat (Distance of short and long steps) and, from what I can tell, weapon speed to a lesser extent (Certianly less than weight and balance, the weapon stats). Thankfully, the techniques Mobility in armour I, II and III reduce this effect to somewhat minimal levels. A man wearing full plate is never going to be able to move like a man wearing leather armour, but with correct practice and "experience" wearing armour, he will learn his limitations and be able to move with less restriction and more naturally.

So, you've messed around in Arena mode and are ready to actually start playing the game. Here is my breakdown of the progression of Arena mode.

Arena combatants are allocated a Rank based off the number of skills they've mastered (2 techniques = 1 rank). The progression of ranks are:

• Inept (0 or 1 techniques)
  
• Aspirant (2 or 3 techniques)
  
• Novice (4 or 5 techniques)
  
• Adept (6 or 7 techniques)
  
• Expert (8 or 9 techniques)
  
• Master (10-13 techniques)

The main effects of rank are the equipment you're allowed to use and the opponents you can face. You gain experience by employing the technique you're training, and generally through winning arena fights (You can level up your shield techniques doing nothing but pugilism, for example). By mastery of your Arena career, you will possess 13 techniques, enough to achieve total mastery in TWO of the three currently available skills, Close Combat, Armour and Shield, though some of the skills are yet incomplete or irrelevant in Exanima and apply to Sui Generis (One of the armour skills looks like sneaking). Generally, you want to master Close Combat and Armour, unless you use a shield, in which case Shield and Armour. Note the option is entirely your own, and some skills are transferrable across builds, such as remise on a shield user. However, some are not, such as Riposte and Counter. If you have a shield, you generally aren't parrying, if you don't, you aren't blocking with a shield. Consider the form and type of weapon you want that fighter to specialize in and stick to it to avoid wasting points. Want to try something else? Recruit another fighter. It's 1 silver and no upkeep, which can be earned from 2 aspirant pugilism matches.


Lineup

"Tier" is the level of your opponents. Your opponents are randomly allocated skills based off the tier you're participating in and their rank.

"Rank" is the rank of weapons allowed to be used and the required level of your participant. For example, Master ranked opponents could be matched against each other using only Inept tier weapons if the "Tier" is Master and "Rank" is inept. This means your full plate armour will have to sit in the back room as you don your peasant garb and metal bar, but also that your opponent will be FAR more skilled than a typical Inept fighter, as well. You will earn more money than the same fight in the Inept tier.

"Entry fee" and "Prize" probably explain themselves. One is the amount you must pay to enter the fight, and the amount you lose should you meet defeat, and the other is the prize money you will recieve should you win (Minus the entry fee). These are generally higher at higher Tiers and increase based off the difficulty of the match

Match types are generally more or less difficult dependent on their objective and the rank of the fighters. Next to the match types, you'll see a number of different headings, explained above.

Solo

Pugilism is a straight up, no armour fight until one person is unconcious (You cannot die as a result of pugilism, making it safe for injured fighters to participate in). Being the lowest risk and "easiest" match type, puglism generally offers quite a low reward. However, if you have limited recruits or injured recruits, it's a good way to slowly recover health while earning small gains.

Duel is the next easiest match type. A 1 on 1 fight based off the Tier and Rank. Straightforward stuff.

Fray is next, a 6 man free-for-all with no teams. Last man standing takes the prize, which is generally fairly decent considering you can usually just watch them fight one another and duel the injured final person, or step in on a fight already in progress for unblockable attacks from behind. Note that if you inflict damage on an opponent, they can shift their aggro to you, and if the person they're fighting decides to do the same, you can find yourself outnumbered quite easily. Be wary of bodies on the ground, as tripping at the wrong time can lose you the match.

Elmination pits you consecutively against 5 opponents with no rest in between, save for a short time to recover your missing Yellow health. Elimination matches are generally far riskier early or without Tier-appropriate armour, but are managable enough with skill. They offer substantial prizes over the other matches so far.

Challenger simply allocates a tier but no rank. Basically, any equipment can be used against an opponent of the selected tier. You can use your master weapons against Inept opponents or, as was probably intended, your lower level weapons against higher level opponents to "Challenge" yourself.

Team Fights

Once you earn a bit of gold, head to your roster and have a look through some of the fighters available in the "Hire" section. These hirelings are NPC controlled, but are required to participate in Team fights. They can also be equipped and managed like your regular fighters, though more often than not, it's easier to simply hire new NPCs and fire redundant ones. When you hire a fighter, you're also paying for all their gear. Should you dismiss them or they die, all of their gear is yours.

Remember, "Recruit" player controlled characters, "Hire" NPCs. Hirelings require an amount of "Maintainence" per fight as a wage to remain in your service. Please note that Inept hirelings are generally just as stupid as inept NPCs and aren't very reliable.

Doubles is fairly simple. A 2 vs 2 fight between You and one of your hirelings and 2 opponents. Remember in these types of fights that you CAN strike your own hirelings, and they can similarly strike you, as can the enemies

Skirmish is a 3 v 3 fight following the principals above. Call it "Triples" if that makes it easier.

Beast mode is a 3v1 mode pitting yourself and 2 hirelings against a massive Ogre. The mode is generally quite expensive to enter (You have to pay for the Ogre I guess? They don't just pop out of the ground, so someone gotta get paid for bringing it to the Arena) but offers VERY lucrative rewards. A single fight against a beast can net huge sums of gold depending on the tier, the minimum of which is Novice with an 6 gold (60 silver, 600 copper) prize (I believe). Conquering Master Tier beasts in combat and fully equipping your main fighter(s) with an entire set of Superior Plate armour, Superior padding beneath, Superior chain and then superior cloth underlay is likely the ultimate aspiration of most Arena combatants, unless a PvP mode is released.

As you progress through Arena, you'll be able to purchase more (Exceptional) items and fight stronger opponents. Here is my advice on the "Easiest" (Of course, it's also down to your style) weapons for each of these tiers. (Working on screenshots. I just got my manager killed trying to get him to master :') )

Not a lot of choice here, but my preferred weapon is the Cudgel, a kind of wooden hammer. It offers a decent amount of damage without being exceptionally slow to recover like other hammers.


Out of the Aspirant items, I find the Bill to be among the strongest. High leverage slashing attacks with decent balance so recovery isn't poor. For 1 handed weapons or dual wield, the 1 gold Dagger is an easy choice that will readily carry you to Adept if you don't wish to upgrade or are rush levelling a character.



The Novice division is interesting, because we start to see an abundance of shields from here on. Your Bill or Dagger will suffice in this division as there is no serious armour. However, if you have an abundance of gold, I suggest an upgrade. Dagger/Shortsword users should be working on their accuracy at this point, especially being able to consistently hit the low-armour and terrible shield coverage legs of an opponent, but the "Sword" is the only weapon I've managed to literally kill an enemy in a single shot, and that was to the head. Bill users can often swing high and late and clip an opponent's head over the top of their shield. Otherwise, batter the shield with a 2h warhammer from outside their range until their arm is tired.

This weapon, called only "Sword" is extremely strong until master tier if you learn to consistently thrust accurately



To me, the only remarkable difference between Novice and Adept is helmets and chainmail. We start to see an increase in the variety of items, ranging from swords to flanged maces and a voulge-type polearm, but a decrease in the effectiveness of slashing weapons that don't rely on impact. If you picked up a "Sword" (or 2) as a single weapon fighter, you don't really need to upgrade until Master, but you can take a "Thrusting sword" for a little extra range and weight to your blows. We're introduced to the 2-handed swords at this point, probably the best weapon in the game for a parry/riposte playstyle, but we're also about to see the introduction of plate and splint armour, rendering those weapons near-obsolete. Two-handed mace deserves a mention here for 2 handed form.


Expert tier and beyond features highly skilled enemies possessing a variety of items and armour sets and it's more or less impossible to pick outstanding items. The Expert tier Polehammer is the only item that particularly impresses me, being ridiculously long and powerful, and I use it to farm Expert and Master tier fights for gold. The shortsword is still viable to an extent, especially in Expert 1v1s, but the fights are long and bloody and an elimination is just painful, considering you could do 3 challenger matches and an adept elimination in the same amount of time. As such, I suggest 1 handed users to swtich to blunt items at this stage, as well. The Flanged Mace and Warhammer (1 handed variant) are both viable options

I think armour deserves a mention, because it can have serious impacts depending on character. For example, in adept, dual wield and sword and board users will find themselves lacking in points to equip a entire set of armour. It's important to decide what you do and don't need in terms of your layering.

Head armour should be an immediate priority. Buy a cap as soon as you enter aspirant and start looking for an Exceptional Arming cap from then on. An arming cap is a padded cap worn underneath a helm to reduce blunt force trauma (Read my armour sections for a description of armours)

Shoulder and arm protection such as vambraces, spalders, coutiers and gloves should be your next priority. Many stray hits that manage to strike you later on will hit your arms or shoulders as the AI is particularly fond of left-click attacks.

Body armour isn't generally as important (to me) as other types of armour. Upgrade to a Longsleever chainmail shirt as soon as possible, but otherwise a good shirt, gambeson and surcoat (Simply called "Coat" and described as "A long coat" ingame) will likely suffice until you have a plate cuirass.

Leg armour is entirely dependant on your character's height. If you're short, you can be naked from the waist down and it's probably not going to bother you too much. If you're tall, left click strikes can easily slip below your cuirass and it's generally more important. Padded or Quilted Leggings (Not trousers) are a must and chain is a must beyond Expert. Cuisses are advised. Generally, I never get any use out of Greaves or Foot armour (Boots or Sabatons) so feel free to leave them until the end and only worry about them when you have the gold to afford to be concerned with aesthetics.

Pretty simple concept, but I'll put it at the top of the advanced section because I reference it a lot here. A "Clash" is an encounter with your enemy, for better or for worse. Fights are typically a series of short encounters rather than a relentlessly pressing attack that never ends, so I call these concepts a "Clash" and then a "Rest" phase (I'll explain phasing ahead).


Since the game's defensive mechanisms are largely automated, simply wildly attacking your opponent will provide insufficient results. However, whenever a character attacks, they're presented with a moment of vulnerability which varies based off their weapon, largely it's balance characteristic. This applies from their wind-up, when they first drop their guard, until recovery, when their weapon has returned to it's stance position. However, certain factors augment this. The shield technique "Synchrony" eliminates the moment of vulnerability during wind-up, and "Ward" elminates the vulnerability during the attack, leaving only the recovery phase for you to land a strike if they have both skills. This means that shield users are extremely proficient at pressing an attack without being harmed at the same time. A dual wielder has a similar ability in that their second weapon is always at the ready for a parry. This is especially important during a remise, where one weapon's vulnerability during the recovery phase is covered by the second weapon's attack. This also allows dual wielders more tenacity in terms of their attack patterns, but not as much as a shield user.


Another one of my own concepts, phasing can essentially be broken down as the sequence of events that occurs during a clash or fighting sequence. There are two styles of phasing, but one requires the "Remise" technique. When you enter a clash and phasing begins, if your opponent is already performing an action or if you feign an attack, I refer to this as a Prephase action. Any footwork, repositioning, an enemy's remise or otherwise, that occurs after your main attack, is the postphase.

Single phase fighting is when you pick a moment to strike, perform your attack and then begin the next phase and/or retreat. This is especially relevant for shortsword wielders, thrusters (No remise) or users of faster weapons, as generally your tactics revolve around landing a number of less damaging blows over a series of clashes. Single phase encounters follow the basic outline of; Prephase, Phase, Postphase, Rest. So, as an example, Prephase is an enemy attack which you respond to with a short backwards prephase step, then your main phase is a long step forward with a thrust to take advantage of your enemy's vulnerability, your postphase is turning to block his strike because you happen to know the enemy possesses the Security and Remise techniques (Maybe he bopped you in the head with an earler remise?).

Dualphase fighting relies on remise and can be a little trickier to master. Dual phase fighting RELIES on the completion of a full remise to be successful, so the general outline of the strategy is to aim to miss your first shot. This style of fighting is especially relevant on long weapons and weapons that are extremely tip-heavy like axes. The general idea is to use your first attack from outside your own range to draw your enemy in, then step back as part of your first phase and step in as part of the return phase. Dual phasing is generally only particularly effective if you have a range advantage over your opponent which allows you to use footwork alone to defend yourself, as you're creating extensive windows of vulnerability during this technique.


This is a principal taught largely in knife fighting. Every blow doesn't have to be a killing blow. Each strike doesn't need to be with full force. If you cut your opponent 1000 times lightly, they will die the same as if you land the perfect strike. In this, we can ascertain that landing hits and not being hit is by and large more important than dealing damage per-hit. Speed, accuracy and defence are more important when fighting humans than any other skills.


To Rake an opponent, use a weapon with a protruding edge such as an axe, warhammer or bill. Use a standard left click attack and as it connects, step "past" your enemy but turn your character to face them. The movement of your character's body will drag the opponent in the direction of the blow. This is an especially important skill to learn for polearm users, as it allows you to effectively swap positions with your enemy when you're backed into a corner. Try to combine this theory with parries to control your opponent's positioning, as you want to avoid a close and messy fight with polearms.

Bullying an opponent requires a short weapon, but is easiest to do with a shield. Forward steps are always faster than back steps, so you can effectively press an assault without any real danger. Stay too close for your opponent to get any leverage on their blows. Especially relevant for dagger/shortsword and shield users against polearms.

Shoving your opponent requires that your character be heavier than the opponent (still working out if their build is an issue, if muscle is heavier than fat or imparts strength, ect, but height DEFINITELY contributes). Shoving is stronger when moving backward, which makes it quite risky, but can get you out of a bind if used correctly. Turn away from your opponent and hold S and you will move them, even if they try to step forward. It can be amusing to shove enemies backward into bodies and the like, but always be wary of attacks to your back. You can often crouch under any blows to maintain the shove, but I only advise it be used sparingly. Note: If your character is shorter than your enemy, this doesn't really work all that well. This technique requires extensive practice in footwork, knowledge of weapon range and shouldn't be practiced as a fundamental technique.

Shield bashing CAN be achieved, although it doesn't do any damage and only particularly serves to interrupt your opponent without creating a vulnerability. Since control of the fight, and especially vulnerability manipulation are a shield user's forte, learning to interrupt your opponent without dropping your guard can be essential, especially later on when your opponents frequently possess the "Security" technique, so attacking to interrupt will only cause you to suck on metal. I advise "Mobility in armour 3" and "Shield mobility" for this technique to work with larger shields (To be honest, I just stop at square shield. It's good enough, so I haven't extensively tested it, feel free to leave input). Essentially, when your opponent attacks, you flick your mouse in the direction of the attack as you step into them. Your player character will agressively turn their body and lift their shield, blocking the blow and allowing you to either move your opponent into a better position, stab them in the ribs or slap their own shield out of the way. This technique is particularly useful if you're a silly funsox who insists on using daggers and shortswords in the master division.

I've heard and read a few complains about the shields in this game, and in a lot of ways, I agree, so I think it deserves it's own section in with concepts.

The first thing to note about shields is that they were used extensively, historically. This means that they worked, because using something that isn't effective made you dead. Shield users are proficient at preventing an enemy from being able to kill them while they attempt to kill him. It's almost always going to be harder to kill someone carrying a shield, so patience is your first and most important weapon. Beyond that, there are five reliable strategies that I employ. Mix and match and try these, or develop your own methods.

Stay too close is a pretty simple concept in theory, but in practice, it can be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hard in this game. Equip a shortsword or dagger and shield. Walk right into your enemy's face so your character model is pushing his shield into his own character model and he can no longer move his arm, then stab him in the kidney. I'm not sure if this works because you're actively preventing his shield from functioning or simply because you're so close that the attack is considered to be coming from the "Side", so the passive blocking doesn't work, but Ive had remarkable success simply bullying shield users, especially those using bucklers, heater shields or square shields. The scandanavian styled shields, the Viking Round shield and Norman Kite shield can offer a little more resistance due to sheer size, but frankly, kite shields are designed for mounted use and a round shield with a reinforced rim without a center grip and with no shield bash function or unit to shieldwall with is as effective as wearing a piece of bread on your arm and is more cumbersome and unyieldy than the good it serves by the nature of it's design.

Stay too far away is another one that sounds nice on paper, but actually requires quite a lot of skill and practice to pull off consistently. Essentially, you're using a polearm weapon and footwork to stay JUST outside your own range. When your enemy steps forward to attack, you step away in turn, then wind up your next strike so the timing hits them during their remise. At the end of a remise, there is a fairly long moment of vulnerability where the character turns their body and moves the shield back and away from them. You're essentially aiming for that gap. You can also manage to get stray hits off when they poke their head forward, as well. Alternatively, you can attempt to strike their hands when they attack, which will always be beyond the line of defence their shield offers, but this is so darn hard I don't think it's worth anything but a footnote.

Batter it down requires a weapon with a decent level of impact. Essentially, you just wail on the shield at EVERY given opportunity. Eventually, their arm will tire and your attacks will get through, especially if you're aiming high. The problem with this style is that you create a LOT of vulnerabilities for yourself and your opponent can capitalize on that, so I don't advise it if your opponent has a well-balanced weapon like a sword, as they will punish you with quick strikes.

Accurate thrusts can, believe it or not, totally bypass a shield. Just aim at their right leg (your left. The side their shield isnt on) and every time they attempt to strike, stab them in that leg. Their shield will generally not have the coverage to block the hit, though they can often Fend and parry. You can also bypass bucklers with headshots or aim for the shoulder of their weapon arm.

Step around is the last one I'll mention. This method requires extensive practice in the fundamental skill of footwork, but it's easily the most reliable option. Essentially, you want to point your character to either side of your opponent, not directly at them. You perform a large forward step (Or a W + D or W + A , long diagonal step if they have a longer weapon like a warhammer, spiked club or axe), which they often respond to with a strike. Essentially, you need to be SURE of their range and aim your step accordingly. When their attack misses, you're free to swing at their exposed side or back because they'll be attempting to recover from their swing and you'll be stepping "Past" them as they swing at where you were. If you get good at this, especially with polearms, you can add a near 180 degree spin on the return and put some serious force into your return swing. It's important to note that if they attack from the side that you're stepping toward, your parry will catch the blow and you'll be unscathed. If they swing from the other way, it can often come short of even hitting you at all (Depending on their weapon range) so the sidestep could be unnecciary. You'll need to experiment with this a little bit and work out weapon ranges, but if perfected, this technique can make shield users seem like they're not even carrying one.

After playing around with some builds for the better part of 4 hours, I've come up with a few that might be fun for you to try. Practicing with different builds that you may be unfamiliar with is a great way to improve your overall skill. Emulating other ancient warriors may give you some insights into combat in general.

(I'll add some screenshots to this section when I have everything looking the way I want it to and have a more comprehensive collection of items)

The Madman/The Sleepless Gamer
You will need: To forget to equip the next tier of gear when you rank up
Loadout: Fists
Armour: Underwear or peasant rags
Technique: Swear at yourself a lot as you desperately circle around the arena, flailing to survive. Somehow manage to block a 2 handed mace with your bare hands, become more confident, duck and weave, and use your A, D and C keys liberally. Knock your fully armoured opponent out with your fists of iron :^)



The Spartan(ish)
You will need: A fighter skilled with shields, Expert rank+
Loadout: A round shield, A short sword (Your Xiphos), a Spear (Your Dory)
Armour: A spartany looking helm, Plate body or similar (I used the Splint Cuirass), Plate Spalders, Plate Vambraces, A Gambeson (Just because you're relatively exposed without chain), Plate Greaves and Sandals
Technique: Abuse the hell out of your crouch function so your shield has higher coverage. Remember not to neglect your repositioning. When fighting an opponent with a two-handed weapon, use your Xiphos and close the gap as quickly as you can. Stay within his range to bait his attacks into hitting your shield and stab him, or aim your stabs between his remise. Your thrusts are amazingly fast and have fantastic range, considering the length of your weapon, and are also quite effective even if you're too close to swing. Remember to always try to step forward as you thrust and keep the camera to your back for accurate, powerful stabs, especially to areas your enemy's armour leaves exposed. When fighting most other opponents, equip your spear. Use your swipes to control their pace and your mighty thrusts when it is safe to do so.

The Artful Dodger
You will need: A novice fighter+ skilled with shields or dual wielding
Loadout: A dagger and/or shortsword with an optional buckler or two daggers
Armour: Keep your armour light and leather/padded, try to fight in higher tier matches than your armour is designed for (Adept or expert).
Technique: Fairly straightforward. Use your immense advantage in agility and outmanouver your opponents. Requires a little more caution than the Spartan, but can certainly close gaps and make life miserable for polearm users. Use your fast hand speed to interrupt attacks (If possible, be wary of techniques) and penetrate your opponent's armour where it's weak. Try to aim your thrusts at their legs because of the low armour and it's under shield coverage. Be ready to forfeit if you take large amounts of red damage due to not wearing armour.

The Knight
You will need: An Expert or Master fighter skilled in armour and shields, remise optional.
Loadout: A heater shield and a decent Sword, preferably an Arming sword, not a shortsword and/or a Mace (Spiked or flanged)
Armour: Plate everything (Expensive!), Padded underlays, A chain longsleeve shirt, Chain leggings, a chain coif and high quality clothes and belt.
Technique: Never see red health again as you charge in for king and country! Consider everything you've learned and bring honour to your kingdom and your banner. You can't die.

The Princess
You will need: To buy every pink item you ever see in the store. Spend large amounts of time in the arena and check the shops after every fight, recruit a female fighter with long hair.
Loadout: A shortsword
Armour: The pink stuff you spent 2 days collecting
Technique: Only fight in frays. Wait until everyone has massacred each other and then wildly swing your weapon at the sole survivor while screaming for help.

This guide is not fully complete. As I play the game, experience more, as patches are released, balances are made and as I discuss topics with members of the community, I will invariably be making changes and adding, removing and editing certain parts of this guide. I may have just plain forgot something important. As I learn more about HEMA (I'm by no means a skilled practitioner and it's simply a strong interest of mine), some of my theories may also change to an extent. I hope that this guide will eventually be a comprehensive combat manual that can be studied for players to understand their own weaknesses and improve, and I am eager to see the general level of skill within the community improve as time passes, and hope my theories, philosophies and experience eventually are passed on to the "Meta". If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave your suggestions. If a topic isn't elaborate on enough, let me know. If more screenshots are required, I'll give it a go.

For now, I have no plans of making a map or a walkthrough for the story mode, as I believe there are plenty out there.

Plans

-Skills and Techniques breakdown (ingame concepts)

-A "playstyles" section, breaking down forms into individual builds to be practiced by players

-A deeper look into the Story Mode, an experience I beleive is one of the richest I've ever experienced in a game in my life (27 years) and rivalling the titanic series Dark Souls in terms of sheer scope, magnitude and even far outweighing it in terms of immersion. It makes me drool even THINKING about Sui Generis.

-To work with the community to improve this guide and make it a comprehensive combat manual and not simply an explaination of how to left click NPCs that's 20 pages long.

Changes from Previous versions

-Added Armour section to version 0.2

-Added Arena Progression and Advanced concepts sections to version 0.3


Historical youtubers such as Skallagrim, The Metatron, Knyght Errant and Shadiversity for helping to fuel my interests

Youtuber Mr. Lilac for kicking off my interest in the game and mentioning my combat manual in his tutorial video (Upcoming)

And Thanks to YOU for reading