Mount and Blade Warband dueling group

Mount and Blade Warband dueling tips
Blocking: Blocking is by far the most important skill when it comes to dueling. From my experiences if you can’t block you can’t win in any melee. Putting up the wrong block results in death most of the time and a lot of people put up the wrong block because they either get nervous, move their mouse rapidly as they try to follow the feints and then can’t see the end swing, or the feint is one they have not yet adjusted to and can’t comprehend what their opponent is doing in time to block. I have developed some basic tips to help improve blocking.
1. Relax. Don’t worry about messing up; it happens even to the top players. Just do your best and focus on being able to block feints more consistently. It’s easy to get this kind of practice in cause everyone feints at some point.

2. Keep the mouse movements small. By keeping mouse movements small your screen will move less which makes it easier to see and easier to block more often. Some players reduce their sensitivity so that their screen doesn’t move at all when they make small mouse movements. If you are having trouble controlling your screen when you block try turning down your sensitivity. It helped me out tremendously.

3. Back up. A lot of people think backing up or (Skeying) as they call it is a bad tactic and also because it is annoying to fight against. However, don’t be bothered by the people who say this. Backing up and creating space is a key factor when it comes to blocking. If you are standing right in front of your opponent you will see his attacks much less clearly than you would at a distance. When I duel after every attack I back up to create space. Against people who I know will have very strong feints at close range I start backing up just before my attack hits. Also keep in mind that backing up too much sacrifices your offense which you will need because offense and defense are both equally important. So only back up a lot if you really cannot handle your opponent’s feints at a decently close range, but you want to try to stay close enough that you can get into their face and use your feints when you get a chance.

4. Blocking spam and unorthodox offense. Some people think that you have to attack back after every block. . .This is not the case. Sometimes if you are fighting someone that has an unorthodox offense or just blind offense that you can’t predict. Then just sit back and relax. One of the most important parts of dueling is analyzing your opponent and looking for when they mess up so you can kill them. People with crazy spinning and feint heavy offenses are generally open a lot more while they are attacking. So just take your time, no need to rush.

5. Blocking chambers. Once again spacing is key here. There is nothing in this game that can’t be blocked if you have the right footwork. Some things are harder to block than others, but everything can be blocked. Chambers are often the overly-aggressive player’s worst nightmare because at point blank range there is no escaping a chamber unless you get lucky. With the right footwork you can avoid the swing until the last second so that you have time to block. If you are positioned so that the first part of the opponents swing will hit you then you will more than likely die.


Offense: Offense is just what it is. . .Offense. It can be used to apply pressure, get people off of you, dish out damage, and cause hesitation. Offense used incorrectly will result in death quite often as I too still have this problem. Like with everything practicing will help you improve your offense and you will start using it to kill more than it is used to kill you.

1. Feinting: A lot of players just use blind offense and feints without really thinking about where they are placing their feints and how repetitive or ineffective they are. Looking down at the ground and right clicking while moving the mouse is the easiest feint you can do that has an illusion to it, but its also the most common and easiest to block. Now in my opinion. The whole point of feinting. Is to make a stab look like a swing and make a swing look like a stab (This is what someone told me when I first started dueling.) The most consistent way to achieve this is using odd angles and different feinting tempos to confuse people. Unfortunately this game only allows you to attack with four different directions so every feint can be blocked no matter what. It’s just a matter of whether or not your opponent has a fast reaction time and can read feints well. Don’t be discouraged by this though. Feinting is still an important part of dueling and feints do still break even the best defenses at some point. The feint may not be the killing blow, it may just glance, or it may be blocked. The fact that you did it is what matters because it forced your opponent to exert some physical and mental energy to block it. Believe it or not in prolonged duels people do tire out and miss a block after blocking for a whole minute. Don’t worry about feints too much, just be creative with them. Think of feints like a blank canvas that is only limited by your imagination and the games mechanics. The more varied in duration, angles, and tempo your feints are. The more powerful they will be.

2. Holds: Another very important aspect to winning a melee fight in general is holds. Holds mess with the timing and duration of your attack. They can be used to make your opponent drop their guard early and they are also great for controlling your opponent’s footwork as well as allow you to have the space and control of the fight so you can do what you want to do. Holding in between your feints can be extremely powerful because it changes the tempo and some people who don’t stay calm will rush and end up getting them killed and you will barely need to do anything.