Anti-Cavalry

Stopping cavalry from harassing a party is an important job, as cavalry moves quickly and does a lot of damage. They can quickly get behind your lines and destroy siege tents, tents, respawning players, and back cap flags.

Unlike in the movies where heavily armoured cavalry charges into a mass of infantry and runs them over, in GV, cavalry can wear light armor and work the outer edges of a battle, picking off strays, solo players, archers, respawning players, people bringing siege. Catching footmen who are "caught out" is generally how cavalry players get their kills. They can also wear medium or heavy and dive deep into a melee like a "classic" medieval cavalryman, but not without significant risk.

Dedicated anti-cavalry players are typically breaker builds or cavalry, and are equipped with spears, halberds, and reflex bows, although anyone can help deal with cavalry.

Anti-Cavalry Tips

• Slowing the horse is key. Once slowed, swarm him with several infantry to prevent his escape.
• Mounted players hitting cav with a full power yellow attack will slow the cav. You do not need to be a cav spec to be an effective mounted anti-cav unit.
• Archers can slow horse with a full power red shot. Shoot the horse, not the rider. Reflex bows have a higher rate of fire and larger quivers.
• Red power bar weapon swings will slow cavalry. Long 2 handed weapons such as halberds are best for this.
• Focus the horse, not the rider. Without the horse, the player is as good as dead.
• If you're not cav, don't chase cav. Cav players usually have a ton of stamina (Conditioning) on their horse plus abilities that boost it even more. If you're not also cav, you will run out of stamina first and never catch the cav player.
• Use barricades, trees, and uneven terrain to your advantage. Horses are slowed for a brief moment when they bump into anything or encounter steep terrain. A cav's best friend is an open field of flowers with a disorganized bunch of terrified footmen scrambling around in it.
• Horses are slowed when moving up steep hills
• Ballistas deal 600 damage to the horse, and 300 damage to the rider, and they cause the horse to stop and rear up, providing opportunities for other ground forces to finish him.
• Riders can be dismounted with a 2 handed stab aimed at the rider coming head on. Light armor wearers are easier to dismount than heavy armor wearer.
• Use spears to cause rears. A horse can be reared which brings it to an immediate stop by stabbing it in the chest with a spear. Only a spear works for this. Spears have a delayed release time. Timing is critical.

Also see: Cavalry | Builds | Mounts