Quick combat tips
Melee combat in Gloria Victis is skill-based, non-target, with 4 attack and 3 block directions. Combat is tactical and somehow turn-based. What this means is that you need to learn when your moment to strike an enemy is. You have to focus on blocking enemy attacks and refrain from spamming. It doesn't matter if you fight another player or just an NPC. You have to follow the combat basics, otherwise you will die quickly and often.
When it's my turn
Your turn to launch an attack is after your successful block of an enemy strike. To block successfully, focus on the marks that indicate which side the enemy attack is coming from.
Watch out for your stamina
Stamina is very important, sometimes more than your health. Without stamina, you won't be able to perform solid attacks. First of all, you won't be able to load a heavy attack. Your attacks will be weak and exhausted, which means if the enemy blocks this attack, you will be staggered.
- This effect lasts long enough that it allows your enemy to perform a full heavy attack on you, dealing a lot of damage.
Your weak attacks are not a threat to your enemy. Once he notices that you run out of stamina, he will most likely become more aggressive, knowing that if you try to hit him, he will block your attack again, applying the stagger effect on you, or will just exchange attacks with you. He will deal you heavy attacks, while yours will just tickle him.
TIP: Observe your stamina bar or listen to your character. Once stamina reaches a certain threshold, you will hear that your characters' breath is heavy. This means you are running out of stamina.
Regaining stamina during combat
First, you need to know which actions drain your stamina and when it is regenerating.
- Draining when: Sprinting, blocking, attacking, kicking, and swimming.
- Regenerating when: In combat mode, standing still, moving at a walk (capslock), and moving at a jog (W).
TIP: Some actions drain more stamina than others. The same thing is with different stances. Standing still regenerates more than moving at a jog.
So, how to regenerate stamina while being in a fight with the enemy? In a 1vs1 scenario, stop attacking, focus on blocking and stand still or walk. Blocking is draining your stamina, but in between your block and the next enemy attack, you will regenerate more stamina than you lose on a block. That's the foundation of the stamina management.
Kick
During the fight with your opponent, you can try kicking him. Kick deals only 10 basic damage, but if you land a successful kick on the player's raised block, you will stun him for a while, allowing you to deal him a full attack. The default kick button is [Q].
How to avoid enemy kicks?
- Avoid having your block raised all the time. If the enemy does not perform attacks, there is no reason to keep the block raised. Moreover, the raised block keeps you in "combat mode", which makes you unable to regenerate your health.
- Observe the block indicators, because when the enemy performs a kick, the indicator disappears.
- Observing indicators is overall a good method, but you also have to pay attention to the animations of your opponent.
TIPS
- If you are hit with a fully charged attack, your own attack charge gets interrupted. You can counter this by unlocking the Battle Rage skill: Your attacks cannot be interrupted for the first 15 seconds that your health is below 60%.
- If you don't feel like fighting with mouse settings, you can bind your blocks and attacks to keybinds and fight that way. Most people bind at least a stab attack.
