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.