Art of Battle

The Art of Battle refers to the battle system designed by Ubisoft Montreal specifically for For Honor.

This innovative fight control system allows players to be the warriors they always wanted to be. It was created by combining two passions - weapon handling and multiplayer games. Its design gives the player a believable feeling of control. This presents a whole new challenge but in a way that is fun and rewarding. Players are able to block using three different stances in "Guard mode", along with being able to strategize and quickly adapt to incoming strikes through parries and feints.

There is no "block" button for blocking attacks. Players will need to read their opponents carefully and react with the proper stance and abilities to deflect and counterattack. As an example, with a controller, moving the right stick to the left places the weapon to the left side of the character's body. Moving it to the right moves the weapon to the right side. By reading the stance and weapon position of the enemy, players will be able to determine their next intended move. Again, there is a triangular symbol showing one's current stance while showing with a flickering red flash when an enemy is striking from a given direction.

Below we will go over the basic and advanced strikes and counters available to every warrior. For quick information on which buttons to use on your PC or console, see Controls. For information on the different modes, see Game Modes. 

Basic Moves

Term	Description
Guard mode	Guard mode is the designated mode where the three stances are used, meant for a Hero to duel with another opposing Hero. Without Guard mode, a Hero cannot appropriately block incoming attacks or use the entirety of their combat kit. Movement and attacks are different between being in Guard mode and not.
Movement	Players can move their warrior in four different directions: front, back, left and right. Outside of Guard mode, they allows them to freely move around, while in Guard mode, it allows for maneuverability while facing enemies.
Dodge	Dodging allows the warrior to move in a specified direction, much further than if they were to simply walk in that direction. Dodging to the side and back has I-frames during their start-up (166-300ms into the Dodge), making the Hero invulnerable to incoming attacks that are not Undodgeable. There are three types of Dodges: No Block, Superior Block and Deflect. By default, most Heroes have a No Block dodge, where during a dodge, the Hero loses their guard. Heroes with Superior Block or Deflect Guard will receive a special Guard in the direction that they dodge, rewarding the Hero with a counterattack if the Guard connects with an attack. While all Heroes are capable of adequate levels of dodging, some of more well-versed at it than others.
Light Attack	A Light Attack, also known more simply as a Light, is a basic weapon strike. Light Attacks are speedy, but deal minimal damage. When blocked by an opponent who is not Exhausted, the attack will bounce off (superior blocked), dealing no chip damage and preventing the Hero from continuing their combo. If a Light Attack is enhanced, they will not bounce off, being treated akin to a Heavy Attack.
Heavy Attack	A Heavy Attack, also known more simply as a Heavy, is slightly slower to activate but does a fair amount of damage. Within a chain of attacks, Heavy Attacks are more likely to have special effects and properties, and typically can be cancelled with a feint (see Feint & Cancels below). A Hero can continue attacking even if their Heavy Attack is blocked, unlike Light Attacks that are blocked by a non-exhausted enemy. They are also able to execute enemies.
Guard and Blocks	Self explanatory, Guards and Blocks are all resolved as "deflects" (not the move, Deflect) within the game. By holding the designated Guard direction, a Hero can fend off incoming attacks from that specific direction. Blocking attacks is critical in preventing most incoming damaging, as lighter attacks will even bounce off the guard; this is especially the case when Out of Stamina, as most other actions besides Blocking can be risky (see Stamina below). Upon a successful block, the Hero will briefly gain an all-around block, allowing them to block all incoming attacks for that moment, especially when faced with external enemies. Check External Block below.
Guard Break	Performing a Guard Break allows the players to push through the opposing warrior's defensive stance, but has lower priority if the opponent is also attacking. It can be combined with a grab and throw maneuver, or an offensive follow-up. See more on its dedicated page here.
Zone Attack	A Zone Attack is a move that all Heroes have access to, inputted by pressing Light and Heavy attack inputs at the same time. For most Heroes, it is their main tool to either mow down minions in the midlane or to deal with multiple enemies. Zone Attacks typically deal slightly more damage to than a Light and don't even bounce on Superior Block, but cost more Stamina. Some Zone Attacks are single hit attacks while others are multi-hit. Some heroes have Zone attacks with special properties or can be used in a chain
Stamina	Aside from health, stamina is another important factor of combat. All attack moves cost Stamina to be initiated, with Stamina regenerating naturally when not performing Stamina-costing actions. Each Hero has a set amount of Stamina that determines for how long they can maintain continuous offense. Once one's stamina is gone, a Hero is Exhausted for a duration, becoming unable to use combos, cannot sprint (unless they have the Iron Lungs Feat) and will be knocked down from throws and parries, so are limited to playing defensively in order to regain their stamina. Players should be cautious not to find themselves exhausted too often. When knocked down, Stamina will be fully restored.

Mode Specific

Term	Game Mode	Description
Capturing a Zone	Dominion, Breach	Killing all enemies within a Zone is required to capture a specified territorial zone. Staying within a captured Zone will double the zone's point output for one's team; this does not apply for the center Zone that Soldiers compete in. While being competed, Zones will not reward points to either team. Some Heroes have skills that allow them to capture Zones faster. Typically, each team has a Zone that is located closer to their spawn than their Opponents. If not, then all Zones are equally displaced from each team. In Breach, Archer Points replace Capture Zones as objectives. Defenders have control of all Zones at the start of each phase, and Attackers have to take them. Whoever holds an Archer Point will have Archers that will shoot at opposing Pikemen. See more on the Breach page.
Soldiers/Pikemen	Dominion, Breach	Soldiers are the team's 'minions'. They will spawn at the team's respective spawn zone, moving forward towards the center Zone. They will accumulate in the center Zone, their primary purpose being to assist with conquering and holding that area of the map. Although they cannot be targeted with Guard Mode, Players can kill them in and outside of their Guard stances. Although weak and disposable, a horde of Soldiers can be the end of a careless Hero. In the Breach gamemode, Pikemen replace Soldiers, having more health and dealing more damage. As a result, they are much more dangerous than their less counterpart.Soldiers and Pikemen can also interrupt executions and specific attacks so be careful when fighting in the midlane.
Buffs	Elimination, Breach	Buffs are located in the noted game modes, granting one of four statistical buffs: running speed, offense, defense and Four Star (this one is Elimination mode only). While the first three are self-explanatory, the last one is just as good of a buff as the others. It grants the Hero access to all four of their Feats, especially their powerful Fourth Feat, something that will not always be accessed during the duration of a round. This last buff is powerful as it can give a team a head-start advantage in terms of battle power.
Offerings/Banners	Tribute, Breach	An offering, also known as banners, is a neutral objective in the two noted gamemode that can be picked up by either sides, carried by Heroes to be deliver them to the team's shrine. Once placed in the shrine, the team gains a certain bonus. If a Hero carrying the banner is hit, they will drop the banner. When carrying an offering, the Hero is slowed down and are visible to both teams. They can still fight back against enemies trying to claim the offering, although, as noted above, being hit will cause them to drop the offering. While in Tribute, offerings can be taken out of the shrine, Offerings in Breach are consumed once placed in a Shrine and cannot be removed.

Advanced Moves

Each class has attack chains that allow a certain variety of attacks with their specific weapon. These chains are accomplished using a combination light and heavy attacks. Additional tactics can be deployed by combining sprint, dodge and basic attacks. To view class specific attacks and learn how to use them, click on the Customize tab from the main menu, select Heroes and visit How to Fight. The Moveset option will display hero specific moves.

Term	Description
Guard Break Counter	A Guard Break Counter, also known as the Guard Break Interrupt, is a way of preventing being Guard Broken, performed by initiating a well timed Guard Break right as the Opponent Guard Breaks you. This window to counter a Guard Break is between the opponent landing their Guardbreak (normal Guardbreak is 400ms, feint and quick guardbreaks are 300ms) and before they have a full hold of your Hero (300ms after the Guard Break lands). If the interrupt is successful, the opposing player fails their guard break attempt and is forced to take a step or two backward (basically a 'push'), which can cause them to fall into hazards such as a ledge or spikes.
Parry	To parry an attack, the player will need to match the enemy's guard as if to block the incoming attack, proceeding to input the Heavy Attack button 300 to 100ms before the enemy's attack lands. This will negate the opponent's attack, including unblockables, to allow the Hero to strike with their own. While light attacks are harder to parry due to how quick they are, it is more rewarding than parrying a heavy attack as the one parried will be staggered more. Some Heroes have Parry follow-ups that they can use to punish their opponents.
Feint & Cancels	A Feint (also known as a "hard feint" or "cancels") can be enacted by pressing the designated Feint key or button during the start-up of most attacks (Light attacks, most dodge attacks and most single-strike Zone attacks cannot be feinted). This can either be followed by a move in any direction, or be used as a cancel when desiring to fool one's enemy. A number of Heroes have a "soft-feint" which is an inbuilt feint ability that allows the Hero to move from one move to another (ie. heavy to a guard break) or into a move that can only be accessed through the soft feint (Kensei's Pommel Strike). Some Heroes are able to perform Recovery Cancels, where they cancel the recovery of an attack (the after-frames) instead of the start-up; chain attacks operate off cancelling the recovery of previous attacks. These Recovery Cancels tend to help the Hero in keeping up an offensive or enter a defensive stance in the middle of their offense.
Dodge Attacks	A Dodge Attack is a move that is performed from a Dodge by pressing either Light or Heavy for an attack or Guardbreak for a Bash maneuver. Some Side Dodge Attacks possess I-frames which allow them to extend a warrior's state of invulnerability from a Dodge, unless they are attacked by an Undodgeable attack. While Forward Dodge Attacks follow the same Parry and Recovery rules, Side Dodge Attacks are meant to be vulnerable to counterattacks, with non-feintable Dodge Attacks being counted as Light Parries while Dodge Bashes cannot continue into a Chain Attack and are Guardbreak Vulnerable.
External Blocks	Players faced with another warrior can still block flanking attacks using the Guard mode feature. External Blocks are performed either on the Left or Right side, and never from the Top; the direction to block is based on which side of the Hero the other enemies stand. As with all abilities, timing is essential. On a higher level of External Blocking, it is also possible to block incoming attacks from the same directional stance they take instead of from which direction they will strike you. This requires reading the bodily stance of the enemy, and is less successful especially when misread. However, this allows a Hero to cover two angles of attacks.
Target Swapping	Target Swapping, also known as Target Cycling, refers to a teamfight tactic where, when fighting multiple enemy Heroes, a player switches who they are targeting. While the use of External Blocks and Parrying can be useful in fending off multiple enemies, Target Swapping allows the player to perform better when the threat of each enemy Hero changes over the course of a fight (such as the use of new tactics or as a result of one enemy retreating to let another attack). This tactic is also useful when attempting to pull a counteroffensive by attacking each enemy individually instead of relying on external hitboxes on their Hero's attacks (if the Hero even has wide hitting hitboxes), particularly when the player activates their Revenge. Lastly, Target Swapping can be used with certain Heroes with attacks that has target swapping capabilities to fake-out which target the player intends to hit with said attack. Attacks that possess this trait either are chargeable moves, such as Shugoki's Charged Heavy, or are multi-hit attacks that allow for target swapping between each hit, such as Centurion's Zone Attack.
Revenge Meter	Defensive actions fill a bar called a Revenge Meter. The bar is yellow and is displayed around their Hero Emblem. Once the bar is full, the player can activate the bar using (R) on PC or (Y) on console. Players will receive a short boost to Attack, Defense, unlimited Stamina and auto-Parries during activation time. Note:The Revenge meter is only filled when 2 or more enemies are attacking you and only when you get hit or block an attack. Some Heroes have perks or feats that works in tandem with Revenge.

Hero-specific Moves

Not all types of moves are available to every Hero. The list below outlines some basic knowledge for class-specific traits that have not been already explained. These Moves will help the player use their class or Hero to the best of their ability.

Term	Applicable Heroes	Description
Charge	Listed in descriptions	A Charged Attack is a move that grants the Hero either an improved attack or a unique one. Charged Attacks are initiated by holding the designated button before releasing it to initiate the move, having stages depending on how long the input is held. There are two types of Charges: Standard and Held. Standard Charged Attacks are time-limited charge moves which increase the effectiveness of the base move. Most of these moves have benefits to fully charging the attack, such as Centurion's punch which will knock down enemies if fully charged. Heroes with this are Warden, Centurion, Shugoki and Hitokiri. Held Charged Attacks, unlike standard charge moves, can be held indefinitely, although at the loss of defensive properties. The Conqueror can charge their flail for an unblockable Heavy attack; the Shinobi used to have a Charge attack, but was removed with their Hero Refresh. Moves by the Valkyrie, Shaman and Orochi where they hold a stance before attacking are not considered as a Charged attack.
Superior Block	Warden, Black Prior, Warlord, Valkyrie, Highlander, Kensei, Kyoshin, Tiandi, Shaolin, Zhanhu	A Superior Block is an attribute for the Full Block Stance, certain dodge moves, along with certain Light/Heavy Attacks for select Heroes. A Superior Block causes all attacks (except those with Zone properties) to bounce off, negating any damage and preventing the opponent from continuing their combo. However, Superior Block cannot block Unblockable attacks. In the case that it is a property of an Attack, Superior Block will allow the Attack to function as if an Uninterruptible attack, only with additional properties of blocking incoming attacks along with making your attack unblockable (and for some Heroes, enhance the Attack's damage). This allows the Attack to be very efficient for trading blows without taking damage. The state of a superior block also occurs when a Hero blocks an incoming Light Attack when not exhausted. As a result, the Hero will not receive any chip damage.
Deflect	Assassins & certain Assassin Hybrids	Deflects is the Assassins' unique counterattack tool. While all Heroes have the option to block, dodge or parry an incoming attack, Assassins can choose to time their dodge into an attack (ie. dodge left when an attack comes from the left) for the last second, initiate a unique animation to indicate a successful deflect. All Deflects has a designated follow-up on a Hero which typically rewards a generous counterattack opportunity, be it in the form of a high damage attack or even a guaranteed guardbreak.
Bleed	Assassins & certain Assassin Hybrids	Bleed refers to the overtime damage effect some Heroes have, either innately in their moveset or by a Feat. Bleed is a deceptive manner of inflicting damage, as they are usually applied to moves that have a base damage lower than the other moves of the Hero, but overtime deals much more total damage. There are only a handful of means to stop bleeding, and it can be the bane of Heroes without any means to heal up during a Duel. Nobushi, Peacekeeper and Shaman receive special traits against a Bleeding opponent, while the latter also gains a new move. Hybrid Heroes who have Moves or Feats that utilize Bleed are Centurion, Valkyrie, Nobushi, and Aramusha.
Stances	List in Stance page.	Some Heroes have accesses to Stances, a mode they can enter for certain benefits, typically done through the designated Stance input. There are three types of Stances: Step Back, Full Block and Augmented. Step Back lets the Hero take a step back, dodging attacks during the startup. While stepped back, the Hero can perform certain moves they are only allowed to perform during the stance. Heroes with Full Block can block attacks from all sides automatically. Holding this stance typically consumes Stamina, but can also give the Hero a set of moves to counterattack with. Augmented Stances use a special input that is not the dedicated Stance button to change the moveset the Hero has access to semi-permanently, usually into moves that have special properties (such as Unblockable), typically with less Defensive properties. Take note that the three above do not include "pseudo-stances" which are stance-like moves that certain Heroes have, although the moves are not exactly full "stances." Refer to the Stance page for more.
Stamina Combat	Centurion, Gladiator, Jiang Jun	While all Heroes have a means to drain their opponent's stamina, either through a bash move or a guardbreak, some Heroes have a few more moves to drain stamina, such as bashes or unique throws. A handful of Heroes though are great duelists for Stamina Combat, as they either have effective means to drain stamina or can maintain their own better than most Heroes. All Heroes who are excellent for Stamina Combat are listed to the left. Heroes with a Stun move are not listed, but are also able to deal Stamina damage, therefore being effective Stamina fighters.