Guard Break

Guard Break is a gameplay mechanic in For Honor. Using Guard Break allows the player to make an attempt at disrupting the opposing player's stance. If successful, the player can follow up with either a throw in a desired direction, or an attack. Any hesitation will negate the opportunity as the opponent will counter guard break.

Mechanic

A Guard Break (also written as Guardbreak or GB) is a maneuver that attempts to break the opponent's stance as your Hero grabs hold of them. Guardbreak typically have strong tracking and forward momentum, preventing players from simply dodging the maneuver unless they move greatly out of range (such as through backrolling). A Guard Break is initiated either through the (X) button for XB1, ⬜ for the PS4, or the Middle Mouse Button (MMB) for PC.

Guard Breaks are 400ms in speed, but become 300ms if performed right after a Feint or when designated as "Quick Guardbreak" (currently limited to Kensei and Pirate). They cost 15 Stamina, even if Counter Guard Broken. However, if it misses, it will cost an extra 11 Stamina for a total of 26 Stamina.

While the main purpose of the Guard Break is to be used on Heroes, it can also be used on NPCs such as the Commander and even Minions.

Follow-ups

Upon a successful Guard Break, the opponent will be in Guard Break stun, allowing you 800ms to perform any action before the opponent performs an Auto Counter Guard Break. Upon performing an action during the stun, the Guard Break stun is extended; this allows follow-up attacks to be delayable.

During this stun, you can throw the opponent in a desired direction with the Guard Break + Direction inputs. Throwing a Hero into a wall or another Hero will stun that Hero temporarily (if thrown into another Hero, both Heroes will be stunned), giving a chance to spring an attack on them. However, while they are staggered, they are also Guard Break Invulnerable to prevent Guard Break spamming.

Throwing costs 17 additional Stamina, but inflicts 20 Stamina damage on your opponent. Throw distance depends on the Hero, with some being able to throw really far away while others only throw short distance. While throwing your opponent, you will not flinch from normal attacks (Bashes will knock you back).

All Heroes are able to perform a Light, Heavy or Zone Attack upon Guard Breaking the opponent. All Lights are guaranteed, with Zones and Heavy attacks faster than 800ms also being guaranteed; moves slower than 800ms can be blocked or dodged as the Guard Break stun expires. Certain Heroes will have special follow-ups instead that only they can perform. More listed in the Tactics section below.

Countering Guard Breaks

When an opponent tries to Guard Break, it is possible to perform a Counter Guard Break (CGB) where you shove them back. A Counter Guard Break is performed with the same button as the normal Guard Break. This sweetspot is 300ms long and starts immediately when the Guard Break lands. Trying to press the Guard Break in response too early or too late will cause the CGB to fail; a CGB will also fail when Guard Broken either during the Guard Vulnerable start-up or recovery frames of a move.

You will also perform an automatic Counter Guard Break if the opponent doesn't take action after landing their Guard Break. When this happens, manually or automatically, the one who Counter Guard Broke will have frame advantage (if both players perform a Light, the one who CGBed will land their attack first); this prevents the opponent from mindlessly Guard Breaking to have an unfair advantage.

All attacks are also invulnerable to Guard Breaks, except during a portion of their start-up and during their recoveries. Fast attacks have a small window (as little as 100ms) while slow attacks such as Heavy Openers have much more vulnerability to Guard Breaks. Recovery vulnerability varies between moves. Use this invulnerability to counter opponents who often try to Guardbreak you. When an enemy tries to Guard Break you during any of the Guard Break Invulnerability states, the Guard Break bounce off and the opponent is in recovery (1000ms to block, 900ms for all other actions).

While not advised, backrolling is a possible strategy in avoiding a Guard Break as the latter half of a backroll is invulnerable to Guardbreaks unlike normal Dodges.

Revenge

While in Revenge Mode, your Guard Break will ignore the target's Guard Break Invulnerability window. Together with the Uninterruptible Stance you get through Revenge, this allows you to Guard Break an opponent who is performing a chain of attacks.

Throwing an opponent while in Revenge will also cause them to fall to the ground as if they are Exhausted.

Tactics

Guard Breaks are useful in performing mix-ups, especially once you have mastered Feinting. Because Guard Breaks after a Feint are faster than a Guard Break from neutral, you can use this to fool an opponent to parry your Heavy Attack, only to feint into a Guard Break. This is especially useful for Exhausted or almost Exhausted Opponents, since they cannot cancel their parry attempt, and when thrown by a Guard Break, they will fall to the ground.

Guard Break Throws are also a useful tool for displacing an opponent. This is particularly the case when you can throw them into a wall for a Stagger or, better yet, into map hazards. Many map hazards exist in For Honor, and should be taken advantage of when you can throw your opponent into them.

• Spiked barricades or walls, which are featured in many maps such as Beachhead, a lethal to anyone thrown into them.
• Bodies of water or lava, and open cliffs, are lethal as the Hero will plunge to their death. These are available on many maps.
• High ledges can be harmful, either through the act of falling or the potential that the Hero who just threw you off can perform a Plunge Attack on you. Available on all maps.
• Geysers on Cathedral are dangerous. If you get knocked against an active Geyser, you will receive medium damage as you bounce off. Standing above a Geyser when it activates will instantly kill you.
• Open fires may not kill instantly, but they deal overtime damage and will cause targets of the throw to be staggered upon landing on such hazards.
• On maps such as Shipyard and Forge, there are working machinery that are lethal if thrown into (Sawblades and Hammer Press, respectively).

The following Heroes have special follow-ups to Guard Breaking an opponent that they can use to their advantage:

• Upon Guard Breaking or Throwing their opponent, an assortment of Heroes have access to special follow-ups.
  • Upon Guard Breaking an opponent, Peacekeeper and Centurion can follow up with three timed strikes: Bleed Stabs with Light for Peacekeeper, pommel strikes to inflict Stamina Damage for Centurion. They can also throw their opponent after the first or second strike, but will end the move once the third is performed or if they mistime any of the strikes.
  • Jormungandr can input a Light upon Guard Breaking an opponent to perform Jotunn Gift, dealing stamina damage or even sending their target to the ground if they are Exhausted. If the target is not exhausted, Jormungandr can follow up Jotunn Gift with a throw.
  • Shugoki has the ability to send his Guard Broken opponent flying with Demon Ball when he performs a Heavy input.
  • After a Guard Break or Throw, Kensei and Gryphon will access their Chain or Finisher attacks respectively. Centurion can access his Light Opener or Heavy Finisher after a throw. This allows them to access higher damage potentials than what some Heroes are allowed.
  • The following Heroes have follow-up attacks upon throwing an enemy: Valkyrie (Sweep), Shaman (Wild Cat's Rage/Predator's Hunger), Centurion (Legion Kick), and Shugoki (Demon Embrace).
  • Centurion and Jormungandr have special interactions with opponents who are downed, which can happen if you throw an Exhausted opponent. They can perform a special Heavy move that deals a lot of damage.
• Both Raider and Warlord have special Throws:
  • Raider's Forward Throw has them carry the opponent on their shoulder for a Stampede Charge, while their Side and Back Throws have them spin the opponent around as their Stamina gets drained.
  • Warlord is able to push his opponent a very long distance with his shield instead of simply throwing them immediately.
• A few Heroes have stunning properties on their Guard Break Throws, such as Kensei and Shaolin.

• A number of Heroes have in-built soft-feints from an attack (usually a Heavy) into a Guard Break. These soft-feints allows for ease-of-use for the Hero, along with bypassing the 200ms Hard Feint recovery window.
  • Kensei's Top Finisher Heavy and Pirate's Walk the Plank have a special "Quick Guardbreak" for their soft feint. This Quick Guardbreak is essentially 100ms faster than a normal Soft-Feint GB, and 200ms faster than a Hard Feint GB.
  • The following Heroes have either a soft-feint GB or Quick GB somewhere in their kit: Conqueror, Peacekeeper, Centurion, Raider, Shaman, Jormungandr, Kensei, Jiang Jun, Zhanhu, and Pirate.

Trivia

• For a number of Heroes, their back Throws will have the Hero leap over or move around their opponent before pushing them in the backwards direction. As a result, instead of the target being displaced, both Heroes are displaced from their original position. In particular, the back throws can cause the Hero to essentially switch places. Some examples of this are Shinobi and Zhanhu.
  • Some Heroes though has this on their other throws, particularly Orochi's Forward Throw and the Side Throws of Peacekeeper and Nobushi. When they throw their opponent, they will push their target back while leaping away. By doing this, they launch themselves away from their target more than they push their opponent back, displacing themselves away from their original position.
  • Peacekeeper and Nobushi's cases are very apparent as it occurs during their Side Throws. Before push-kicking their opponents away, they will shuffle over to their opponent's side. Peacekeeper particularly performs a big leap upon pushing her target, greatly displaces herself from her own original position. Nobushi is similar, but due to her leap being less exaggerated, her displacement is not as far or obvious
• While players are allowed to Guard Break NPCs, there are in-game measurement taken to deter abuse of unintended behaviors.
  • For non-Hero NPCs such as Soldiers, Pikemen and Archers, together with the Captains and Shield Captains seen in gamemodes such as Skirmish, continuously Guard Breaking them will cause them to die to prevent diverging them away from their path. Whoever last Guard Broke them will still receive the kill bonus.
  • For the objective-oriented NPCs such as the Commander or Guardian, if moved out of their territory (the space they are meant to occupy and fight in), they will receive infinite Revenge activation, Slippery (automatic Counter Guard Breaking) and regain health as long as they remain outside.
  • The Officers, the Breach-variant of Captains, are the only exception to this rule as they will not die or gain any form of immunity if they are moved away from their intended path.