However silly Half Sword’s combat might look, it is a physics-based game, which alone makes the mechanics difficult to master.
Combat is everything in a title where you are pitted against NPCs and must beat them to rise in ranks. I died a lot on my first few runs before finally cutting down the aimless, mindless, and hasty sword swings.
To master offensive combat in this indie fighter, you should be able to utilize most of your character’s attacking mechanics. If you want to get better at attacking because you can’t get good, consistent hits yet, this is the perfect place. With the help of this guide and some practice, you will be able to master attacking in no time.
How To Get Better At Offensive Combat In Half Sword
A few hours into the game, I realized that it was not my offense or defense that failed me during my early runs, but the footwork that kept messing up my character’s balance.
To avoid tripping over or banging your head against the wall after getting yourself killed in-game because you fell on your axe, hold Shift at all times. This is the default sprint key in the game, which gets your character to maintain a fighting stance that improves balance.
Now that your character is standing firm, it is time to focus on how it can deal damage and the different ways to go about it.
Slash Attacks
Attacking in Half Sword, in its simplest form, is a slash attack. This is the most versatile method of dealing damage since you can slash an enemy in any direction by flicking your mouse. However, mindless swinging, as you do in a generic hack-and-slash title, won’t help here. Shift walk to maintain balance and dodge attacks, and wait for the perfect opportunity.
Once you find an opening, flick your mouse in the direction you want to slash. The slashes can be diagonal, horizontal, or straight overhead to give you some variation.
As I ranked up, I learned that the combat in this game is more about reading your enemy and attacking at the slightest opening. Similarly, defending and waiting for a guard break is the way to go before aiming to land slash attacks.
Stab Attacks
While you can double-click the LMB to raise your weapon and stab the enemies by dashing into them, the more efficient way would involve holding the Alt button (stab stance). The first method is quite glitchy and has a low success rate, especially if you don’t time your attack right.
While holding Alt, pull the mouse back towards yourself and flick it forward in a stabbing motion to perform the attack.
NOTE: Remember that flicking the mouse forward while holding the Alt button alone won’t work. You must flick it back and forward in one motion to perform the stab attack successfully.
Grab Attacks
Press Q or E to grab your enemy, depending on the hand you prefer to use to grapple your opponent with. In this stance, you can hit your enemy with the free hand/weapon.
Grab attacks are very versatile since you can chain them with a combination of slashes (with the free hand) and kicks to bring your opponent down.
Throwing Weapons
Although throwing weapons or items cannot be categorized as combat, a player’s primary goal in the game is to deal damage to enemies. At times, throwing weapons gets the job done, especially when you are low on Health.
Press Q or E while swinging your weapon of choice at your enemy from a distance. You must time the buttons right and swing in the direction of your enemy at the same time to successfully land a hit. The weapon misses your target if you press the buttons too early or too late, midway through the swing animation.
Kicking
When learning about offensive combat in Half Sword, you must expect the player to fight with a sword, or at least some weapon. However, you would be surprised at how well kicking works in the game, especially when you are up against someone using a heavy weapon like a Mace in Half Sword.
Press Spacebar to kick your enemies. Yes, it’s a weird button to be assigned for a kick function, and you can’t change it since the mechanic itself is not available in the Key Bindings. Thus, you need to work around it, given how overpowered the move is.
Overall, the key to mastering offensive combat lies in reading your enemies and utilizing all the offensive mechanics whenever you find an appropriate opening that calls for it.
