anyone else feels combos are a touch useless?

[Honor Guard]

I just feel like when you would want to use them, they get master striked by the enemy

[Yakito]

Yes. Very much.

Oddly, and I'm not defending this jank combat, my Kenjutsu sensei teaches us that the attacker is usually at a disadvantage. Often I'd you go first you're the one at greatest risk.
Just to justify this jank in my head...

[Echolecter]

Henry' skill levels are probably of great influence whether or not you can land a combo. I never bothered about them that much and just strike from random angles. Most of the time it's better to step back again after landing a hit. You can train combos for the achievement with Bernard. He actually lets you perform them, no defense.

[Pure Vanilla]

Honestly I recommend getting a mod that either removes entirely or lowers the probability of master strikes, including for the player. It makes combat MUCH more enjoyable and rewards you for actually knowing the combat systems instead of spamming master strike / being repeatedly master-striked.

[Judeo-communism]

You are exactly correct. However, if you manage to pass the RNG checks, they are the fastest way to deal damage and the final Combo hit animation will bypass a "Normal Block" RNG result.

[Crayzus]

yep, you can't use them. You pretty much spam master strikes to win. If you attack first to start a combo, the enemy master strikes you instead. Better off waiting for them to attack first. I hope the second game improves the combat.

[Valden21]

Originally posted by Pure Vanilla:

Honestly I recommend getting a mod that either removes entirely or lowers the probability of master strikes, including for the player. It makes combat MUCH more enjoyable and rewards you for actually knowing the combat systems instead of spamming master strike / being repeatedly master-striked.

You don't need a mod for that. You just need to develop a good ability to detect openings in your opponents defenses. Attacking when an opponent's defenses are down = not getting Master Striked. Yeesh, Bernard even teaches you a move designed to get around an opponent's defenses; that's what feinting is.

[Judeo-communism]

Originally posted by Valden21:

Originally posted by Pure Vanilla:

Honestly I recommend getting a mod that either removes entirely or lowers the probability of master strikes, including for the player. It makes combat MUCH more enjoyable and rewards you for actually knowing the combat systems instead of spamming master strike / being repeatedly master-striked.

You don't need a mod for that. You just need to develop a good ability to detect openings in your opponents defenses. Attacking when an opponent's defenses are down = not getting Master Striked. Yeesh, Bernard even teaches you a move designed to get around an opponent's defenses; that's what feinting is.

This guy has been spouting misinformation about how the combat actually works for years. Ignore him.

[Anvil of War]

At lower stats IE Strength, Vitality, Agility and your relative weapon skill to the target you are attacking I'd agree that combos are harder to do and you are more likely to be countered or the skill chain broken. Feint and after your own Master strike since you often get a window of opportunity for a follow up attack is a good place to attempt a combo. I would also say that due to how the system works, 3 hit combos are the ones you should be using, the 4 strikes are often broken by their defense.

[sooshon]

try the better combat mod or whatever its called. It majorly nerfs master strikes and makes them very difficult to pull off (it requires matching your defensive zone to the opponents attack a la mount and blade and narrowing the timing window) and combat becomes a lot more combo-oriented. It's a fun improvement on the combat once you get bored of master striking everything to death.

[Rufus Aloysius]

Originally posted by sooshon:

try the better combat mod or whatever its called. It majorly nerfs master strikes and makes them very difficult to pull off (it requires matching your defensive zone to the opponents attack a la mount and blade and narrowing the timing window) and combat becomes a lot more combo-oriented. It's a fun improvement on the combat once you get bored of master striking everything to death.

Are you talking about the MASTER STRIKES BEGONE mod? or is there another one?

[sooshon]

Originally posted by Rufus Aloysius:

Originally posted by sooshon:

try the better combat mod or whatever its called. It majorly nerfs master strikes and makes them very difficult to pull off (it requires matching your defensive zone to the opponents attack a la mount and blade and narrowing the timing window) and combat becomes a lot more combo-oriented. It's a fun improvement on the combat once you get bored of master striking everything to death.

Are you talking about the MASTER STRIKES BEGONE mod? or is there another one?

I think on nexus mods it's "Better Combat and Immersion Compilation" but it does come in a package with quite a few changes, you will have to read its documentation a bit and customize it to your liking for the parts you wouldn't want to include.

[Rufus Aloysius]

Originally posted by sooshon:

Originally posted by Rufus Aloysius:

Are you talking about the MASTER STRIKES BEGONE mod? or is there another one?

I think on nexus mods it's "Better Combat and Immersion Compilation" but it does come in a package with quite a few changes, you will have to read its documentation a bit and customize it to your liking for the parts you wouldn't want to include.

Oh, ok gotcha!

Thanks for the info friend, going to take a look at it now :)

[Pure Vanilla]

Originally posted by Rufus Aloysius:

Originally posted by sooshon:

try the better combat mod or whatever its called. It majorly nerfs master strikes and makes them very difficult to pull off (it requires matching your defensive zone to the opponents attack a la mount and blade and narrowing the timing window) and combat becomes a lot more combo-oriented. It's a fun improvement on the combat once you get bored of master striking everything to death.

Are you talking about the MASTER STRIKES BEGONE mod? or is there another one?

Sorry for late reply but yeah this one! There's also No Slo Mo which has an option to lower the odds instead of removing the ability altogether, however it also removes all slow motion which makes combat faster and honestly more fun.

[MF]

Personally I love the combat in this game and don't find it janky at all. I also suck with a sword, preferring to crush with an axe or mace. I don't think I've ever pulled off a combo (on purpose) and yet have still found a number of techniques that work for me. Almost 800 hours spent in-game and I have zero issues.

FWIW I used to cry about how hard the lockpicking was as well. I just got better at it and have no issues. It got so easy I thought they'd nerfed it but no, it was me.

[spartakisteqc]

They're not completely useless as they allow you to hit specific areas of the enemy's body like the head, torso or arms and they also stagger them, opening them for more attacks, but they're more of a gimmick than anything else.

My understanding is that the higher is your warfare stat, the more difficult that it is for them to perfect block/masterstrike you, but the higher their defense is in comparison to your warfare, the harder is it for you to get through their defense.

Honestly, I find them so flashy that I can't help, but try to do them in combat. It usually fails, but I will get one or two off by fight unless they die quickly. But they can be safely ignored. In addition, it's really a bad idea to try to use them when facing multiple opponents. Hopefully, they will overhaul the system in KCD II to make them more useful and easier to get off.