Melee Combat

Melee combat involves four directions of attack and four directions of block. A player's movement or mouse direction decides which direction they attack or block in.

Charging Attacks

Charge Attack

Press and hold Mouse1 to ready and charge an attack, release Mouse1 to swing.

The longer you charge an attack, the more damage it deals. Fully charged attacks deal the most damage. If you hold a fully charged attack for too long, its charge and damage will start to decay.

Break Blocks

Fully charged attacks break through parries and blocks, deal partial damage, and stun the parrier/blocker.

Clash

Two players that hit each other simultaneously with fully charged attacks are both stunned.

Cancel Attack

Attacks can be canceled by pressing Mouse2.

Attack Directions

Overhead

Stand still or move forward to ready an Overhead Strike.

DAMAGE

Highest

DIFFICULTY

High

Leftward Slash

Move left to ready a Leftward Slash.

DAMAGE

Inconsistent

DIFFICULTY

Easy

Rightward Slash

Move right to ready a Rightward Slash.

DAMAGE

Inconsistent

DIFFICULTY

Easy

Thrust

Move backwards to ready a Thrust.

DAMAGE

High

DIFFICULTY

High

Attack Momentum

Attack while moving to deal increased damage. The higher your velocity, the higher the damage bonus. Attacks are weakest when standing still.

Tip

To change the way you attack, navigate to the Options Menu, select the PVKII tab, and click the Advanced… button. The three options are Movement Keys, Movement Keys Inverted, and Mouse Motion. The default setting is Movement Keys.

Parrying

Parry Attack

Press and hold Mouse2 to parry. Like attacking, parry direction is determined by movement. Parry incoming attacks to mitigate the damage you recieve.

Perfect Parry

Try to match your parry direction with the enemy’s attack direction to achieve a “Perfect Parry”.

A Perfect Parry mitigates all damage, stuns your attacker, allows you to “Counter Attack”, and gives you a short boost of move speed.

Parries with mismatched directions are less effective and only mitigate partial damage, there's also a chance you will be stunned.

Glowing melee attacks are fully charged and cannot be Perfect Parried. You will be stunned and take partial damage.

Counter Attacking

Counter Attack

Press Mouse1 to follow up a Perfect Parry with a Counter Attack.

Like normal attacks, Counter Attacks have four attack directions. Counter Attacks have a blue charge bar that starts full and decays rapidly. If you don’t use the Counter Attack before the blue charge bar drains, the Counter Attack will be lost.

Weapon Sizes

The size of a weapon determines which weapons it can Perfect Parry. Large weapons can Perfect Parry any weapon, medium weapons can Perfect Parry medium and small weapons, and small weapons can only Perfect Parry other small weapons. Successfully parrying larger weapons will still reduce the damage you receive, it just won’t be as effective.

small

medium

large

Shields

Shields can be used to block both melee and ranged weapons.

Blocking

Press and hold Mouse2 to block with your shield.

shields are medium weapons

Shields have their own Health Points which varies depending on the class. A shield breaks once it runs out of HP, after which you can only use their accompanying weapon. You can repair a damaged shield or gain back a broken one by grabbing an Armor pickup. You can holster and unholster your shield at any time by pressing R.

Shield Bashing

Shield Bashes knock enemies back and deal minor damage. Fully charged Shield Bashes stun enemies, knock them further back, and force them to drop chests.

Bashing

Press and hold Mouse1 while blocking with Mouse2 to ready and charge a Shield Bash.

Counter Attack

A successful Shield Bash grants you a follow up Counter Attack. These Counter Attacks are functionally identical to those granted by Perfect Parries but can only ever be Overhead Strikes.

Tip

Your move speed is lowered while blocking. You are also totally vulnerable while charging and performing a Shield Bash, but your shield won’t take any damage.