How to Reduce Chances of Enemies Master Blocking/Parrying?

[TwoTonTuna]

I noticed that higher-level enemies tend to parry/MB a lot. I also know that I can clinch to open up an opportunity to attack.

Feinting doesn't seem to do anything as skilled AI (like Capt Bernard) seem to parry/MB all attacks regardless of angle. I even tried that thing where you hold your attack, cancel it with E, then quickly switch to another stance.

Other than that though, what can I do to prevent/reduce the chances that an enemy parries/master blocks? I heard that you can minimize the chances of a parry/MB when you strike on the side opposite your enemy's stance, but this doesn't seem to work with Bernard.

[Mr.I]

The only thing you can do is using a mod.

Theoretically, high warfare level and high weapon skill level should reduce enemy Master Strike chance, but I found that's not the case. Even though with high warfare and weapon skill level (both 18+) high level enemies can still spam MS on you no matter what you do. If you spam right click, it's very easy to trigger 3 continuous MS of a high level enemy, like Captain Bernard.

Low level enemies can also MS you no matter what combat level you have. Perhaps because of their low defense level, they don't spam MS. They have a fair chance to give you 1 MS per combat, if you don't kill they with one hit.

[Valden21]

In my own experience, the best way is to exercise caution when you fight. I advise that you look for openings in their defenses, use feints and clinches, that sort of thing. There's no absolute way to reduce the chances to 0% outside of mods, but being careful when you fight reduces the chances by quite a bit.

[MacSuibhne]

This ^

I suspect that's where the problem lies--not being tactically aware. And if you stand still or move only occasionally you will get MS'd more often as well. All strikes on Henry depend on being in a place where the opponent / AI can create an opening. Moving backwards and maybe to the right, reduces those opening. Same in reverse--you have to look for create opening for your own strikes.

It's well to remember, too, that RL combat is not scripted. Things happen. One mistake in positioning and you lose.

IMO...

[PafunaMT]

The most common cause of getting MS'd in this game is your position, because no matter how high your skill, nor how low the opponent's, if your weapon or body stance is out of position, that leaves the opening for the AI opponent to begin the Master Strike sequence.

For example, in this case with using a longsword, you position your weapon high over your right shoulder, while your opponent positions his high off his left shoulder. His weapon is on the same side as your weapon, so it is 'guarding' that vector where your sword would travel. Once you attack, you are now leaving that space on your right high side open, where his weapon is on the same side while your weapon is now descending away from his attack vector, leaving you open.

The same principle works in defending; generally, if your weapon is on the same side as the opponent's, as soon as he attacks you'll hit your block key, and you will likely see the same effect, as your weapon will now be facing his undefended side once he attacks. So you'll probably roll the odds of a Master Strike.

A good rule of thumb is to mirror your opponent's weapon position; if he's holding it over his head, you do the same. Notice that when you move your weapon, the AI opponent will move his to cover. Watch that action and you'll eventually see how it opens him up to your attack. If he's holding low left, hold yours low right. Doing this increases your chances of blocking at attack, and also sets up other potential attacks using Feints.

Practice this with Bernard, and you'll probably see a reduction in master strikes against you. Once you get the hang of it, throw in a Feint and see what happens.

*Feints are easy: for PC, hold the LMB down and move your weapon to the opposite side of your opponent. He'll likely move his weapon to cover (mirroring you). Once he does that, while still holding down the LMB, move your weapon to the opposite side of his and release the LMB (i.e. if he moves low left, you move high right).

No mods needed, just learn how positions work and you'll be fine.

Hope this helps, let us know if you see any results.

[TwoTonTuna]

Originally posted by PafunaMT:

The most common cause of getting MS'd in this game is your position, because no matter how high your skill, nor how low the opponent's, if your weapon or body stance is out of position, that leaves the opening for the AI opponent to begin the Master Strike sequence.

For example, in this case with using a longsword, you position your weapon high over your right shoulder, while your opponent positions his high off his left shoulder. His weapon is on the same side as your weapon, so it is 'guarding' that vector where your sword would travel. Once you attack, you are now leaving that space on your right high side open, where his weapon is on the same side while your weapon is now descending away from his attack vector, leaving you open.

The same principle works in defending; generally, if your weapon is on the same side as the opponent's, as soon as he attacks you'll hit your block key, and you will likely see the same effect, as your weapon will now be facing his undefended side once he attacks. So you'll probably roll the odds of a Master Strike.

A good rule of thumb is to mirror your opponent's weapon position; if he's holding it over his head, you do the same. Notice that when you move your weapon, the AI opponent will move his to cover. Watch that action and you'll eventually see how it opens him up to your attack. If he's holding low left, hold yours low right. Doing this increases your chances of blocking at attack, and also sets up other potential attacks using Feints.

Practice this with Bernard, and you'll probably see a reduction in master strikes against you. Once you get the hang of it, throw in a Feint and see what happens.

*Feints are easy: for PC, hold the LMB down and move your weapon to the opposite side of your opponent. He'll likely move his weapon to cover (mirroring you). Once he does that, while still holding down the LMB, move your weapon to the opposite side of his and release the LMB (i.e. if he moves low left, you move high right).

No mods needed, just learn how positions work and you'll be fine.

Hope this helps, let us know if you see any results.

This. This is EXACTLY what I was looking for.

Thanks for the tips! I'll copy them on a txt file and alt-tab to them while practicing with Bernard. Will come back later to give my feedback.

edit: just to clarify, if my enemy is holding his weapon in the following stances, should i strike/feint from the indicated sides?

*enemy stance = where i should strike from

overhead = ???
upper left on my screen = aim for my lower or upper left?
upper right on my screen = aim for my lower or upper right?
lower left on my screen = aim for my upper or lower left?
lower right on my screen = aim for my upper or lower right?
stabbing = ???

edit2:
i've spent the last two hours sparring longswords with bernard. got my swords up to 20 in the process.

mirroring his stance allows me to master strike pretty consistently. like you said: pressing block once will auto-mirror his stance, making it easy to MS him if you're patient enough.

tldr: press Q to mirror, then press Q as soon as green shield appears to MS

clinching no longer guarantees a hit on my end. he can even MS me right after i sock him with a clinch. this happens often when i keep my cursor 'aimed' at one part of his body for too long. he also tends to MS if you hit the same part two or more times in a row. he also *really* loves to MS if you try to combo out of a clinch.

tldr: clinch, then strike once. vary up each individual strike zone. avoid following up into a combo as bernard tends to MS on the second hit.

breaking through bernard's MS guard, however, is much more inconsistent.

for starters, feinting just doesn't work. bernard holds his sword on the upper-left stance in my screen. i feint, holding my sword on my upper-left position to mirror his stance. i hold it there for a second, rapidly flick my mouse to the lower-right position... and he master strikes me.

standing still seems to greatly increase the chance, almost guaranteeing that every hit is an MS. moving backward and strafing left to right lets me get a few hits in. I try feinting and hitting opposite their stance, but every strike feels like a gamble.

i do notice, however, that you can hit bernard if you catch him where he is *not* guarding. the problem is that bernard very rarely tightens his grip to a block. he keeps his stance loose, preferring to parry/MS rather than hold block.

will keep dueling to update this post, this time with maces and shields to level mace.

[Four Little Diamonds]

Originally posted by PafunaMT:

The most common cause of getting MS'd in this game is your position, because no matter how high your skill, nor how low the opponent's, if your weapon or body stance is out of position, that leaves the opening for the AI opponent to begin the Master Strike sequence.

I dunno I tried this myself and I didn't notice much difference in master strike chance when mirroring the enemy's stance. Besides half the time they launched a strike they feinted anyways and if enemy feints work the way they do for the player then it would negate the chance of the player's master strike for that first feint attack. The feint would negate the mirroring advantage because you are technically no longer mirroring the enemies stance after they feint. They changed stances right before they launched their attack leaving the player no time to mirror their new feint stance. I dunno how much emphasis should be placed on mirroring if the enemy will just feint in the end.

Concerning the text above, I was using this mod,

https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/651

and the combat modifications in it shortens the master strike window considerably for the player and enemies chances at master striking making it much harder for either to master strike. The mod also says it works the way you describe by having to mirror or match certain stances in order to master strike, or be master struck but I'm not sure the mod functions that way since I seem to be able to master strike regardless of stance, its just less likely and a smaller window.

I tried it without the mod and I had forgotten how large the default window was for performing a master strike. It felt like 80-90% of my blocks were master strikes; the enemies stance clearly wasn't of any concern with those odds. Compared to the mod I was able to hit the block key much later in the enemies attack animation and yet the master strike would still execute too. With the mod I would just perfect block, not master strike if I hit the block key too late.

I also noticed how much more often the enemy performed them on the player. Many more of my attacks were master struck, even my feints, which is probably the main reason I sought out a mod to begin with because the rate the enemy does it is quite excessive especially when the point of feinting is to avoid a master strike; made them feel pointless to me.

I'll just say that I really like that mod, makes master strikes much less common; combat isn't just a series of locked animations and counter-fests with it.

I fought against the expert opponent at the pribyslavits guardhouse for this.

[TwoTonTuna]

Originally posted by Clown World HONK! HONK!:

Originally posted by PafunaMT:

The most common cause of getting MS'd in this game is your position, because no matter how high your skill, nor how low the opponent's, if your weapon or body stance is out of position, that leaves the opening for the AI opponent to begin the Master Strike sequence.

I dunno I tried this myself and I didn't notice much difference in master strike chance when mirroring the enemy's stance. Besides half the time they launched a strike they feinted anyways and if enemy feints work the way they do for the player then it would negate the chance of the player's master strike for that first feint attack. The feint would negate the mirroring advantage because you are technically no longer mirroring the enemies stance after they feint. They changed stances right before they launched their attack leaving the player no time to mirror their new feint stance. I dunno how much emphasis should be placed on mirroring if the enemy will just feint in the end.

Concerning the text above, I was using this mod,

https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/651

and the combat modifications in it shortens the master strike window considerably for the player and enemies chances at master striking making it much harder for either to master strike. The mod also says it works the way you describe by having to mirror or match certain stances in order to master strike, or be master struck but I'm not sure the mod functions that way since I seem to be able to master strike regardless of stance, its just less likely and a smaller window.

I tried it without the mod and I had forgotten how large the default window was for performing a master strike. It felt like 80-90% of my blocks were master strikes; the enemies stance clearly wasn't of any concern with those odds. Compared to the mod I was able to hit the block key much later in the enemies attack animation and yet the master strike would still execute too. With the mod I would just perfect block, not master strike if I hit the block key too late.

I also noticed how much more often the enemy performed them on the player. Many more of my attacks were master struck, even my feints, which is probably the main reason I sought out a mod to begin with because the rate the enemy does it is quite excessive especially when the point of feinting is to avoid a master strike; made them feel pointless to me.

I'll just say that I really like that mod, makes master strikes much less common; combat isn't just a series of locked animations and counter-fests with it.

I fought against the expert opponent at the pribyslavits guardhouse for this.

Thanks for the pointers. And yes, I am beginning to hate how the game forces me to fight reactively instead of proactively. In a duel, clinching and striking carries the day. Against multiple opponents, I just backpedal and master-strike the whole time. Any normal attack is immediately punished by a master strike around 80% of the time when against higher-level opponents.

I'm really only looking to reduce MS/PB chances though, so I'll look up other combat mods. I'll try the full immersion mods later, if ever i start another playthrough

[Four Little Diamonds]

Originally posted by Kodesh:

Thanks for the pointers. And yes, I am beginning to hate how the game forces me to fight reactively instead of proactively. In a duel, clinching and striking carries the day. Against multiple opponents, I just backpedal and master-strike the whole time. Any normal attack is immediately punished by a master strike around 80% of the time when against higher-level opponents.

lol yea I feel ya when it comes to dueling and multiple opponents, I end up fighting the same way.

Originally posted by Kodesh:

I'm really only looking to reduce MS/PB chances though, so I'll look up other combat mods. I'll try the full immersion mods later, if ever i start another playthrough

Yea there are plenty of mods to choose from. Might even be able to reverse engineer a mod; remove all the aspects you don't want and only leave the MS/PB changes.

This mod would probably do the trick for you though.

https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/621?tab=description

The text below is from a user's post (EkErilaz) in the post section of that mod page describing the commands for reverse engineering, you might just like the default settings though.




Your values compared to Vanilla's and mine:

<row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoAttackDelayIncreasePerAttacker" rpg_param_value="0.8" /> [VANILLA = 0.8] [MY MOD = 0]

This one makes fighting several opponents much harder. The higher it is, the more attack delay per enemy is added, so the AI will become passive when ganging up on you. Turn it down to zero and they'll go at you without mercy or hesitation. Perhaps my value is a bit extreme, but you get the idea.

<row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoMaxAttackDelay" rpg_param_value="6" /> [VANILLA = 6] [MY MOD = 6]

Basic AI attack sequence (how much delay between each attack). This is the one that is increased with the value above.


All of these are relative to each other:

<row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoDodgeWeight" rpg_param_value="1.475" /> [VANILLA = 1.1] [MY MOD = 1.1]
AI dodging chance.

<row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoNoDefenseWeight" rpg_param_value="0.4" /> [VANILLA = 0.4] [MY MOD = 0.3]
AI no defence chance.

<row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoNormalBWeight" rpg_param_value="3.64" /> [VANILLA = 2.8] [MY MOD = 2.2]
AI normal block chance.

<row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoPBWeight" rpg_param_value="3.25" /> [VANILLA = 2.5] [MY MOD = 4.4]
AI perfect block chance.

<row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoSPBWeight" rpg_param_value="0.75" /> [VANILLA = 1.5] [MY MOD = 0.3]
AI master strike chance.

[kaylo7]

All of these posts suggesting guard position vs. attack position or feinting or standing still or ANYTHING else affects NPC's MS chance is just wrong. The only things that affect it are set default values, modified by your weapon and warfare stats vs. the NPC's stats. That's it.

<row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoAttackDelayIncreasePerAttacker" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoDodgeWeight" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoMaxAttackDelay" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoNoDefenseWeight" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoNormalBWeight" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoPBWeight" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoSPBWeight" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="MaxPerfectBlockSlotModifier" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="MaxSpecialPerfectBlockSlotModifier" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoUnarmedBlockProb" rpg_param_value="x" />

The above is all that affects whether an NPC blocks or dodges, and what type. It's all stat based. There is no "strategy" or "technique" that does anything.

The base game does not care what direction you attack vs. what the NPC's current guard position is. This does not affect anything. Whether you're moving, strafing, whatever - doesn't matter. You CAN however mod your game so that guard position matters; Better Combat and Immersion Compilation [www.nexusmods.com] does this.

[Four Little Diamonds]

Originally posted by kaylo7:

All of these posts suggesting guard position vs. attack position or feinting or standing still or ANYTHING else affects NPC's MS chance is just wrong. The only things that affect it are set default values, modified by your weapon and warfare stats vs. the NPC's stats. That's it.

<row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoAttackDelayIncreasePerAttacker" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoDodgeWeight" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoMaxAttackDelay" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoNoDefenseWeight" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoNormalBWeight" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoPBWeight" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoSPBWeight" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="MaxPerfectBlockSlotModifier" rpg_param_value="x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="MaxSpecialPerfectBlockSlotModifier" rpg_param_value="0x" /> 
      <row rpg_param_key="CombatAutoUnarmedBlockProb" rpg_param_value="x" />

The above is all that affects whether an NPC blocks or dodges, and what type. It's all stat based. There is no "strategy" or "technique" that does anything.

The base game does not care what direction you attack vs. what the NPC's current guard position is. This does not affect anything. Whether you're moving, strafing, whatever - doesn't matter. You CAN however mod your game so that guard position matters; Better Combat and Immersion Compilation [www.nexusmods.com] does this.

This is what I thought this whole time honestly, was news to me that stance or attack direction would alter the chance of perfect blocks or master strikes. Especially when there is no indication of it in the rpg_param file. Not exactly sure what a feint would even do when these parameters aren't effected by it.

Same mod I suggested up above too.

[Xanth™]

The Modified Combat Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] which has directional blocking for Perfect Blocks and Master Strikes is great in my opinion. It makes combos and feints useful, since you can avoid PB and MS if you're quick enough. Normal BCAIC only has directional block for MS but not for PB which makes feints and also combos not much better then in vanilla since the AI can just PB you if its rng decided to use a PB.

[kaylo7]

Originally posted by Xanth™:

The Modified Combat Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] which has directional blocking for Perfect Blocks and Master Strikes is great in my opinion. It makes combos and feints useful, since you can avoid PB and MS if you're quick enough. Normal BCAIC only has directional block for MS but not for PB which makes feints and also combos not much better then in vanilla since the AI can just PB you if its rng decided to use a PB.

I personally added side-dependent PB edits to the Better Combat and Immersion Compilation mod, so I have to mirror exactly for MS but only per side for PB. I also reduced MS and PB chance and increased dodge and standard block instead.

[munderfire]

this game is not about your skill it's about lvling up game stats of your character so you can spend 10 hours in ratae to train with bernard

[PURPLE TRAIN]

You can reduce it by not putting yourself in that situation. Use feints, use clinches, use dodge, bait master strikes of your own. Play the damned game 🤦🏿‍♂️😭

[Azor]

1 nice necro
2 get used to playing defensively or install a mod that makes master strikes zone-dependent