Mordhau can be an intimidating game for brand new players. Its combat system is deep and alien to those who have spent a lot of time in other Battle Royales. With so much to learn, it can be difficult to jump straight into the game. Before you jump straight into matches it will be helpful to learn a little bit about how Mordhau works so you can get the most out of it. Understanding the basics of combat will help you learn advanced strategies quicker and start to win more matches in Mordhau. This Mordhau beginners guide will go over all of the basics that you need to know.
It will teach you how to start competently in duels so you don’t waste any time learning the ropes. The first thing Mordhau beginners have to do is ensure their settings are optimised for the game.
There are two main types of attack in the game; strikes and stabs. Strikes are a strike of a blade of weapon that moves across in any direction. A stab is stabbing forward with a weapon. Different weapons will be optimised for each type of attack, but they are all capable of being used in each way. Each of these attacks can be used in a different direction. The movement of your mouse determines this. This makes it possible to do an upward strike from below or a left strike from above. This lets you use your weapon to block attacks from any direction and use a direction that will counter your enemies attack direction. Mordhau beginners should get accustomed to attacking with every direction.
The Stamina System for Mordhau Beginners
To actually fight, you need stamina. This is a resource which decides how much energy you have to do anything. If you run out of stamina during a fight, you won’t survive too long. All movements drain your stamina aside from basic slash and stab attacks. You will spend most of your time in combat using different techniques to these basic attacks, so stamina management is important for Mordhau beginners.
Missing any type of attack will cause you to lose stamina. This is a penalty to discourage you from constantly spamming attacks. It forces you to think a bit more about your attacks and your plan for a fight. After this happens, you have a recovery period. In this time, you can’t parry or attack. This leaves you defenceless. If you’re hit with an attack during this period, you will drop your melee weapon and be left wide open.
Attacks are rendered in real-time. This means what you’re seeing on the screen is exactly what is happening in combat. If your swords are clashing, the game will actually respond to this. This can make Mordhau beginners struggle to keep track of the action, but it is a quick adjustment. Real-time feedback of how your attacks will go allows you to manipulate your movement while attacking. Doing this gives you many options for throwing your opponent off or defending. You can move during an attack to get a different angle to still hit despite defences, or dodge an attack that is coming in after you miss.
Attacking and Combos
Starting an attack while another attack is in progress will allow you to move straight from one attack into another. Doing this lets you perform combos of different types of strikes and get a lot of damage in on your opponents. Like any fighting game, combos are important for Mordhau beginners. This is a fairly different system of combat compared with shooter Battle Royales. Combos consume quite a bit more stamina than a regular attack if they miss. This makes them a little riskier. If you miss more than one combo in a row, the amount of stamina you lose will increase exponentially. This stacks with every missed combo, a bad run can leave you defenceless.
Combos always go in opposing directions. If you start your combo with a left to right slash, the second move will be a right to left slash. You have to factor this into your decision of when to attempt a combo.
A parry attack is a slash or stab that blocks an enemies attack. If you time this right and are aiming at their attack, you can block it and open them up for a counter attack. It is also possible to parry ranged attacks, but this is a bit harder to time. After parrying you can riposte. This is an attack that comes out of a successful parry. It cannot be interrupted or clashed, which makes it a powerful tool available to Mordhau beginners. You should try and perfect the timing of getting these attacks in, it is key to change from a defensive position to attacking.
Feints and Chambers for Mordhau Beginners
Each attack begins with a wind-up animation. This is a brief period as you are positioning yourself for an attack. During this period, you can cancel your attack to feint. This gives your enemy the impression that you are attacking, usually causing them to attempt to dodge or parry. As you cancel your attack, you’re then setting them up to leave themselves open to a bigger attack without a proper defence. Feinting does cost stamina so you can’t spam this move. You cannot feint a riposte! This would be a mixture of attacks and movements that would make combat even more complicated. However, anything else can be feinted.
You can progress straight from a feint into a parry if you need to. Another good defensive move is a chamber. This one isn’t as guaranteed as parry so is even riskier, but the rewards can be greater. A chamber is where your attack clashes with that of your opponents. It both deflects their attack and lets you take the advantage. A chamber will knock an enemy back and interrupt their attack, leaving you an opening for an attack of your own. It is performed similarly to a parry.
As your opponent is attacking, you need to also attack but mirrored. You need to b performing a mirror image of their attack to clash with them in the right way, the timing is around the same as a parry. If you have an attack coming in, you need to decide which of these defensive moves will give you the advantage. Mordhau should practise all of these moves to get comfortable with throwing some variation into their fighting style.
Kicking and Bludgeoning
The techniques we’ve covered so far all have a degree of dignity to them, these ones don’t. If sword clashing and well thought out combat isn’t what you want, you can also kick and bludgeon. You can lick at your enemies to throw them off and ruin your skilful sword fighting. Similarly, you can beat your enemies with a blunt object rather than engaging in constructive duelling. Mordhau beginners need to learn these techniques since not everyone you run into is going to play by duelling rules, some are going to go for cheap kicks and whacks with something heavy. You can kick at enemies to throw off attacks, and block incoming kicks by kicking yourself. You can also kick from a feint, but the movement is slower while you reposition yourself.
Most weapons can be adjusted in how you hold them for other purposes. With swords and other short items, this means flipping them around. With the handle pointed outwards you can perform normal attacks with the blunt end of a weapon. This gives you some different tactics to use in fights.
Other Mechanics for Mordhau Beginners
There are some other things Mordhau beginners should keep in mind that don’t need a deep strategy to use:
- A great sword can be held halfway down the blade to make a short sword. This does more damage with less range.
- Holding a spear or pole halfway up will effect damage and speed.
- You can throw any weapon to try and do some ranged damage.
- Weapons with a defined blade will cut opponents, blunt ones will not.
- You can climb over objects and up walls. You perform this by jumping and holding space next to a wall or object low enough for this to work with.
- If you fall or are knocked down while doing this, you will take damage and lay on the floor for a while exposed.
You should practise all of the techniques for combat mentioned and the movement and stamina mechanics. If you can perfect these techniques and learn how to manage your stamina, you will be set up to start winning more games in Mordhau. Mordhau is complex but anyone can master it. If you spend some time practising, even Mordhau beginners can win games.