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 typically 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.
Although it is possible to build a "heavy cav" for the purpose of charging into a group of players, this is not the dominant playstyle. Cavalry tend to be "light cav" and do large amounts of damage in drive-by style attacks.
Dedicated anti-cavalry players are typically breaker builds or cavalry, and are equipped with spears, 2 handed weapons, 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 him. You do not need to be a cav spec to be an effective mounted anti-cav unit, but a non-cav will not win a "chase the cav" scenario.
- Archers can slow down a horse if they hit it with a full power shot. Shoot the horse, not the rider. Reflex bows have a higher rate of fire and larger quivers.
- Footman red powerbar swings will slow cavalry. Long 2 handed weapons such as halberds are best for this.
- Footman Spears cause a horse to stop and rear in place if stabbed in the chest.
- Focus the horse, not the rider. Without the horse, the player is as good as dead.
- Understand cav playstyle: They rely on high damage, mobility, and picking off players on the edges of the fight. Be aware of where you are and where the cav is.
- If you're not cav, don't chase cav. Cav players usually have a ton of stamina (Conditioning) on their horse. 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. Cav's best friend is an open field of flowers with a disorganized bunch of terrified footmen scrambling around in it.
