Combat

Melee combat in Gloria Victis is skill based, non-target combat with directional attacks and blocks.

This page is meant to be an explanation of the basic principles of melee combat beginning with the UI. Also see: Archery.

Check out these excellent combat guide videos too.

Combat Mode

• Being in combat mode includes swinging your weapon, attacking, taking damage, and blocking.
• You cannot sprint in combat mode.
• Health and stamina regenerate slower in combat mode.
• Health and stamina do not regenerate if you are actively swinging, attacking, blocking or taking damage.
• Disengage from combat to heal and regenerate stamina faster.
• It takes 3 seconds to leave combat mode after the last combat action was completed.
• The ability Survival Instinct shortens Combat Mode to 2 seconds.

Directional Attacks

Melee weapons may be swung in 4 directions:

• from the left
• from the right
• overhead
• stab

Directional attacks are determined either by mouse movement or by keybinds set in the Options menu.

Some weapons are best used in specific ways - spears are best for stabbing, for example - while others have more well rounded utility. Mouseover a weapon icon to see that weapon’s directional attack modifiers and damage type in each directional attack. Higher modifiers will result in more damage. See the weapons page to learn about each weapon's attacks and damage types.

In order to block attacks, players will need to counter with either a shield block or the appropriate directional block with a weapon.

Keybinding directional attacks - particularly the stab and overhead attacks - is highly recommended.

Attacks may be chambered (parried) instead of blocked.

Attack Strength

Hold down the attack button to see the color distribution as your attack power increases, maximizes and then decreases. A stronger attack deals more damage. It's important to release your attack at the right moment. Maybe a quick attack is ok, or perhaps you should do a strong attack to interrupt your enemy.

As you hold down the attack button, a series of indicators will pop up in succession:

• Dash = weak. This occurs after holding an attack "too long" or attacking without having stamina. A weak attack will cause the attacker to be staggered if the attack is blocked.
• Green = Medium attack
• Gold. = Strong attack. This can interrupt an enemy's attack.
• Gold with a crescent = Maximum power. An attack can be held at this stage for between .4 and 1 second, depending on the weapon.

This is the full attack power distribution sequence:

Weak Attacks

A weak left swing attack

A white dash mark indicates you will do a weak attack.

An attack can be "weak" for three reasons:
1.) Swinging without any stamina.
2.) Holding a Swing too long so that it goes from full power, to strong, to weak. (this takes around 2 seconds.)
3.) Clicking the mouse or keybind to attack without holding the button down to charge the attack.

• If blocked, a weak attack will cause the attacker to be staggered.

Medium Attacks

The green crescent indicates you will do a medium power attack.

A medium left swing attack

Strong Attacks

The gold crescent indicates a strong attack. This is the briefest of the phases. A strong or full power attack will interrupt the enemy's attack.

Full Power Attacks

The full power attack is a golden crescent with a white outer edge. It indicates that the strongest attack is ready to be released. An attack can be held at this stage for between .4 and 1 second, depending on the weapon. A full power attack will interrupt an enemy's attack.

This is a full power left swing attack.

The Mouse Indicator

When the player is in combat mode, the dash signals which direction that attack would begin from if an attack was started at that moment. This moves along with the mouse directions.

The Block Indicator

The block indicator is a crescent shape that pops up when there is an incoming attack. The indicator tells the direction but not the strength of the incoming attack.

The color of the block indicator can be changed, but by default an unblocked attack will show up red, while a blocked attack will show up bright green. This indicator is a vital part of combat awareness, and it may be more helpful to focus on in some cases than the animations of the enemy. Choosing which attacks to block and which to allow through is an important aspect of fighting. Not every attack needs to be blocked.

Perfect Blocks

A perfect block is blocking an incoming attack within 300ms (milliseconds) of the time the block button was pressed. This is the opposite of simply holding down the block button for an extended period of time (turtling).

A perfect block with a shield uses less Shield Resistance. Running out of Shield Resistance means you can no longer use your shield to block.

A perfect block with a weapon uses less Weapon Resistance. Running out of Weapon Resistance means you can no longer use your weapon to block.

When budgeting these resources during a fight, it's important to not hold down blocks for too long depleting these resistance scores.

Weapon block resistance

Weapons and shields has its block resistance which is no more or less then a weapon and shield health. If it drops to 0, you are unable to block with a shield and additionally attack with a weapon.

• Weapon strikes on the enemy regenerate our block resistance for weapons. After the shield strength is depleted, we can still block with the weapon, and similarly, when our weapon cannot block anymore, we can use the shield and defend with it.

Holding

Holding is the act of queueing up an attack and then not releasing it at the expected time, making the enemy think there is an opening for him to strike or throwing his timing off. Each type of weapon can be held at full status for a small amount of time. When the weapon is fully charged, the attack indicator crescent will have a white glow. The weapon can continue to be held after the glow fades, but the attack will be weaker.

Full Power Hold Times

• Daggers: 0.4s
• 1h weapons: 0.75s
• 2h swords: 0.75s
• 2h axes: 1s
• 2h hammers: 1s
• 2h spears: 1s

Feinting

Feinting is the act of queueing up an attack and then not attacking. This can be done by switching to a block or by using the "Cancel attack" key. Feints cost 5 stamina.

Sound Feinting

Sound feinting is the result of queueing up an attack and canceling it at the moment when its sound still plays for the opponent. This can cause the opponent to react to an attack which does not actually occur. A sound feint costs 5 stamina.

Directional Blocking

Weapons have a much smaller blocking angle than shields and must intercept the attacker’s swing at the proper angle in order to effectively block.

There are 4 directional attacks, but there are only 3 directional blocks: Left, right and center. Center block will block both overhead and stab attacks. Blocks are executed by mouse movements or keybinds.

Directional blocking with a weapon can provide excellent coverage for skilled two handed fighters. Many players find it especially helpful to keybind their blocks, but especially the center block.

Attacks may be chambered (parried) instead of blocked. If the opponent chambers you, your attack is canceled, and their attack will hit you. So being chambered is a net loss for you.

When using a shield to block, there are no directional blocks, just a single block with a wide angle of protection.

Special Moves

There are a few special moves that can impact a fight.

Chamber

Chambering is the act of interrupting the enemy’s attack with a counterattack. This will cancel their attack and enable you to deal damage. To chamber, begin a weapon swing that mirrors your opponent’s just as they are about to release their swing. There will be an audio indicator and "chamber" will appear on screen when you successfully chamber an opponent. It is also possible to chamber with a shield bash, because a shield bash is an attack. Shield bashes can also be chambered by opponents.

Chambers do not consume Weapon Block Resistance.

Chambers can be achieved with:

(You/opponent)

• Left/left
• Left/right
• Right/right
• right/left
• overhead/overhead
• stab/stab

Kick

Kick is bound to Q by default. A kick is a short range attack that does not deliver much damage on its own, but it will stun or stagger an enemy that is blocking, providing an opportunity for another attack. It can be very difficult to kick players who are moving backward away from you. Kicks are costly in stamina.

Shield Bash

Shield Bash is the leftmost skill on the bottom of the abilities tree, and gives players the ability to swing their shield like a weapon and hit an enemy for a small amount of damage and stagger or stun them for a moment. Players without this skill cannot shield bash. There is a short cooldown to prevent spamming and stunlocking enemies.

Hold down RMB and then click LMB to perform a shield bash. It is not possible to keybind this ability.

Shield bashes are directional attacks and can be done from the left, right, overhead or stab motions. They are all the same speed, but the stab attack is a bit harder for enemies to easily see because the shield does not physically move around as much. Shield bashes can be used to chamber enemy attacks.

Shield bash can be used to chamber an enemy's attacks, but a shield bash can also be chambered.

Stun

Stuns are the result of being kicked while blocking or being shield bashed. When stunned you are immobilized and cannot block or attack. If you find yourself being stunned a lot, you're probably holding up your block too long, too often. Remember, you don't *have* to attempt to block everything. Stuns can be changed to staggers with the Unstoppable ability.

Stagger

A stagger allows the player to move but not attack or block. The top-tier ability "Unstoppable" changes stuns to staggers. A weak attack will result in the attacker being staggered if the attack is blocked.

Ally Damage Debuff

Ally damage occurs when you swing your weapon through your allies. Notification highlighted in yellow.

Hitting an ally with your weapon before hitting your enemy greatly reduces your damage on the enemy.

When you swing your weapon through an ally player in order to hit an NPC enemy or player, you will receive the ally damage instant debuff. This has 2 effects:

1.) Reduces the damage of that swing by 70% for 1 handed weapons. Swinging through an ally first, before hitting an enemy with a 1h, looks like this:

• Ally >> Enemy = None >> 30%

2.) consumes a "stack" of cleave on 2 handed weapons. If you have 5 points in the Reaper ability, you can hit 3 enemies with 1 swing. However, hitting an ally consumes one of your cleaves, so you can then hit 2 enemies with that swing. You can potentially swing and hit up to 3 allies and and up doing no damage to any enemies because all the cleaves were absorbed by allies.

Here is a comparison of weapon damage between a "clean" cleave which hits 3 enemies, and a cleave which hits an ally:

• Enemy >> Enemy >> Enemy = 100% >> 60% >> 30%

• Ally >> Enemy >> Enemy = None >> 30% >> 30%

You do not technically have to hit "through" your ally, if you simply hit too close to them you can still receive an ally damage debuff. The "bubble" of where ally damage can occur around you is quite large.

To avoid the ally damage debuff, allies should stand apart from one another and use weapon movements that do not intersect with other allies.

"Ally damage" does not cause harm to your allies. It reduces your own damage. Take care to stand out of your allies' way so they can get clean hits for max damage, too.

13 Mass Combat Tips for New Warriors

Open world siege style combat can be fast paced and the tide of battle can turn at any moment. Communication with the party and knowing your own role are keys to success. Mass combat has a big learning curve. Don't despair if you fall a lot in your early days or get caught out of position, or don't know how to use something, or what to do.

1. Know that defending a location is easier than attacking it. You can defend with fewer people than the attacking force and still win the battle. You will have guards, ballistas, boiling oil, and doorways on your side.

2. Hold W for the win. A relentless force pushing forward will often break the morale of an enemy group. Once they are pressing S, they are losing and you are winning. Watch out for "fake retreats" by the enemy though!

3. Don't chase shieldmen. A shieldman will be happy to draw off 3 or 4 of your teammates and have you banging on their shield for several minutes wasting time and splitting up your party.

4. Stay tight with the party! If you over extend, you're going to get caught in a bad place and quickly find yourself surrounded with enemies. Read party chat and look for X's on the map to know where to go.

5. Know bait when you see it. Enemies will try to lure you out and pick you off. After you fall victim to this a few times, you'll get the hang of it.

6. Stay grouped up. Don't "trickle in" to a siege. If you look at your map and your party is strung out like a pearl necklace across 2 miles of territory, you're probably gonna have a bad time!

7. Prepare for the long haul. Bring TENTS, BANDAGES, and BARRICADES with you to every fight. Don't come hungry, you'll be weaker. Share your supplies with allies. Tents give you a respawn which may be much closer to the battle than the nearest flag.

8. Know your role. What are you built to do? Do that! If you're a tank, it's not your job to be trying to rack up kills. If you're a medic, you need to be alive to rezz your friends, so stay safe!

9. Use terrain to your advantage. Create chokepoints, use the high ground, make the enemy waste stamina getting to you.

10. Manage your stamina and health. One of the biggest reasons people fall in battle is they ran out of stamina to attack, block or sprint with and they just get shredded. Use consumables to buff your health, stam and regen. It's ok to run off to heal. Get somewhere safe.

11. Know when and how to retreat. Sometimes its better to quit while you're ahead. Sometimes turning tail and running is the right way to get out, and sometimes a more measured retreat is better. Retreating poorly can cause a lot of your teammates or you to get caught and killed trying to extricate. Watch party chat carefully. If experienced folks think the fight is not winnable, they will try and get people out safely together.

12. Having good logistics is important. People running siege equipment like catapults and rams, and everyone having tents set up can make a huge difference.

13. Change targets frequently. This isn't an epic final movie scene where the main character squares off with the villain. This is, for the most part, a wild brawl, and getting hits in on as many enemies as possible and not letting yourself be a focused target is more beneficial than focusing on one guy.

Also see: Weapons | Armor | Character Statistics | Video Combat Guide | Ally Damage Debuff | Movement