How to counter-attack?

[очень хорошо]

I've already played 40 hours, but still cannot make any counter-attack as I've seen in many videos. An enemy tries to hit me, I successfully press Q button, press LMB and my character just won't hit the enemy immediately... He is waiting for the enemy to be ready to block my hit... That makes fighting so stupid.

[LoveIsHere]

You have to learn it from Cpt Bernard

[очень хорошо]

Originally posted by LoveIsHere:

You have to learn it from Cpt Bernard

what lvl do I need to get?

[Lieste]

It can be done after Train Hard, Fight Easy, and before completing Keeping the Peace - following Bernard's instructions to the letter (and the quest title of the quest you just finished).

If not then you won't get an opportunity until Mysterious Ways or On The Scent at the earliest.

You have two counterattacks -
Parry-Riposte - a simple timed parry, followed by a player attack during the slowdown effect - this is counterable in it's turn. Two actions performed.
Masterstrike - a simple timed parry, performed earlier and which acts as it's own attack without an additional player action, not counterable by the original attacker. (Note that it can be interrupted by an attack by another NPC). One action performed (defence only).

Defence actions are a brief 'tap' holding them sets a simple block instead, and is the most common cause of timed parries not working when done at the correct time. You have to not panic and hold buttons.

In addition to masterstrikes you also get the option to attempt to learn combinatory devices.

[Knatternick]

Take a Bow and kill Cpt. Bernhard asap
Every Peasant with a rusty Sword is better than my Full plate Son of a Smith ;-)

[ULTRA]

You just need high defense and to exhaust all the training with Captain Bernard. After that it will be like 1/3-1/2 chance of an active riposte upon perfect block.

[Shaabhekh]

someone had previously mentioned to get your weapon at level 4/5 when asking Bernard about Master strikes and that seemed to help me.

You still need to know what you are doing when youre fighting him, since he wants you to 'beat him' - so its not a case of following a command to attack from above then from the right etc, you basically have a proper 1v1 so you'll need to know what youre doing.

only just managed to learn Master strike the other night, and even then i had a hard time applying them in combat with Bernard since he's got such op capability, lol.

But i'll be checking out what Lieste has said about tapping/holding the block button and seeing if that indeed makes a difference (im also under the impression that 'perfect blocking' as soon as the green shield pops up is the way to initiate a master strike rather than just at any point during the green shield popping up)

[очень хорошо]

Originally posted by Groggy:

someone had previously mentioned to get your weapon at level 4/5 when asking Bernard about Master strikes and that seemed to help me.

You still need to know what you are doing when youre fighting him, since he wants you to 'beat him' - so its not a case of following a command to attack from above then from the right etc, you basically have a proper 1v1 so you'll need to know what youre doing.

only just managed to learn Master strike the other night, and even then i had a hard time applying them in combat with Bernard since he's got such op capability, lol.

But i'll be checking out what Lieste has said about tapping/holding the block button and seeing if that indeed makes a difference (im also under the impression that 'perfect blocking' as soon as the green shield pops up is the way to initiate a master strike rather than just at any point during the green shield popping up)

How does this rank-up system work? I've bought lvl 3 mastery, but I can't buy lvl 4 because Bernard says I'm not good enough to learn lvl 4...

[Peyhah]

read the damn selection options, they say what level is required to purchase training from the guy.

[Wabbajack]

Originally posted by ratttttt:

Originally posted by Groggy:

someone had previously mentioned to get your weapon at level 4/5 when asking Bernard about Master strikes and that seemed to help me.

You still need to know what you are doing when youre fighting him, since he wants you to 'beat him' - so its not a case of following a command to attack from above then from the right etc, you basically have a proper 1v1 so you'll need to know what youre doing.

only just managed to learn Master strike the other night, and even then i had a hard time applying them in combat with Bernard since he's got such op capability, lol.

But i'll be checking out what Lieste has said about tapping/holding the block button and seeing if that indeed makes a difference (im also under the impression that 'perfect blocking' as soon as the green shield pops up is the way to initiate a master strike rather than just at any point during the green shield popping up)

How does this rank-up system work? I've bought lvl 3 mastery, but I can't buy lvl 4 because Bernard says I'm not good enough to learn lvl 4...

It doesnt matter what your level is. As long you are able to defeat Bernard to prove your worth he will teach it to you. And press "Q" in the perfect moment is easy to learn but hard to master.