Beginners Guide to Chivalrous Etiquette

A collection of explanations & tips to help out newer players learn how to improve their (and other's) gaming experience with Chivalry: Medieval Warfare.

Intro

The following is a collection of explanations & tips to help out newer players learn how to improve their (and others) gaming experience with Chivalry: Medieval Warfare.

What is Chivalry: Medieval Warfare?

Chivalry is a First-Person Slasher, a melee fighting take on the first-person shooter genre. You'll play as a medieval warrior and engage in Hollywood-style swordfights on your way to storm or defend castles, burn villages, or engage in intense duels. You will find iconic weapons and armour spanning the Dark Ages to the Rennaissance, all used upon the same battlefield.

What Chivalry Is Not

Chivalry is NOT intended as a realistic fighting simulator. The fights are based off of exciting action movies from Hollywood, with clashing swords and bloody dismemberment. It is not intended to mimic Historical European Martial Arts, Fencing, or other real martial arts.


Chivalry is a difficult game to learn, and you'll spend a lot of time tyring to learn how to do well. Many players have gone through exactly what you're going through and we can help you if you're willing to put in the time & practice.

Just like in the movies or other video games, do not expect "realistic" moves and expect that the game's mechanics will be used against you by veterans.

This video by Happy Gloom is an excellent introduction to Chivalry.

Lore

Chivalry Lore & Backstory is located in a few places.

The Official Lore trailer

A short video sums up the backstory rather well.

An interactive Chivalry Lore site[liveweb.archive.org] has backstory, geography, and details about Agathians, Masons, and their leaders.

The Chivalry Medieval Warfare User Manual[web.archive.org] is a bit outdated for graphics or weapon balances, but is still an interesting read and contains lots of general info and tips about how to play.


A player has created a fantastic, unofficial timeline of all the battles in Chivalry!

Community

The Chivalry community resides in a few locations;

In-game

This includes all the game servers, official or private. Individual regions may have different preferences or opinions for what playstyles and tactics are "acceptable". Some items of note are use of 3rd person, feints, "spin attacks", etc. Pay attention to what happens in your matches to other players to figure out what your region prefers and follow the majority.

Official Servers are run by Torn Banner[www.tornbanner.com], the developer of Chivalry. These servers are enforced by Torn Banner's Official Server Administrators; if you feel require assistance, please contact an official administrator[forums.tornbanner.com]. These servers are not subject to national freedom of speech laws; you may not use racial or derogatory slurs in the chatbox. You can be permanently banned for using such language. For more information, please see the Official Server Rules[forums.tornbanner.com].

Private or unofficial servers are run by various third parties and are not supported or endorsed by Torn Banner. These servers may have their own rules, enforced by private administrators who may operate the servers as they wish. Private servers often run custom maps or modifications from Chivalry's Steam Workshop. If you are interested in running a Chivalry server, SimRai offers decent options[www.simrai.com] and you can find information on operating your own server on the official game forum[forums.tornbanner.com].

Official Forum

The Official Forum for Chivalry[forums.tornbanner.com] is owned, operated & moderated by Torn Banner. You can find a great deal of information here about Official News[forums.tornbanner.com], Technical Support[forums.tornbanner.com], Tactics & Tutorials[forums.tornbanner.com], and other info.

Steam Community Hub

The Steam Community Hub for Chivalry hosts forums (Discussions), player screenshots & videos, guides, and workshop modifications & maps. The Discussions board is moderated by both Torn Banner representatives and Steam moderators. While you're there, click the Follow button[i.imgur.com] to receive a free hat, some free weapon skins in-game and unlock a team symbol. You can equip the hat, weapons, and symbol in the Customization panel (See below for more info).

Check out our Frequently Asked Questions guide for basic troubleshooting or general questions;

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=710683961

Reddit

There is a very active community on the /r/ChivalryGame subreddit. The sidebar is full of useful links, from rank calculators to tutorial videos. Many players who stream Chivalry or create Youtube videos post their stream announcements or video releases here. The subreddit runs a TeamSpeak 3 server at 198.50.28.170:9988.
There is also a player-run Discord server that you can join here; https://discord.gg/0bE4ax5Wpo9w46M4

Note: Chivalry does not currently support in-game voice chat; much of the Chivalry community (typically clans or groups of friends) use Discord, TeamSpeak 3 or Mumble for communication in-game.

Competitive Play

Chivalry is home to a group of competitive players, often recognizable by clan tags (shortened clan names) in front of their names. These clans are very well practiced at the game and their members are often considered top-players within Chivalry. Clans are often segregated by continent due to latency, resulting in various levels of competitive activity in each region.

See Training below for more info about clans.

Community Content

Here is a list of great community content!

The Chivalry Community Hub holds Artwork, Videos, Guides, and more!

Be sure to check out the Steam Workshop for Chivalry and vote for your favourite pieces to see them added to the game.

Pilgore Productions - Machinima for your enjoyment.

Blood Axis | The Ride - guaranteed to get you into the mood for Chivalry!

Moonriser, a video from one of Chivalry's top competitive players in North America; Spook.

Crush-tage, by Crushed, one of Chivalry's top EU competitive players.

Basics - 1

“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”

Tutorials

If you haven't already played through it, play the tutorial; it'll get you through the most basic of basics. I recommend playing it through two or three times and making sure you found all the different activities.

Tip: In the tutorial, one of the more difficult training tasks is to hit Captain Neckhole three times while his shield is up. Try strafing to his left (your right) and using the Thrust attack (Scroll Up) or strafe to his right (your left) and using the Overhead attack (Scroll Down).

Check out the Official Tutorials[www.tornbanner.com] and teripper (start here) on Youtube. An older, but still useful video showing off many techniques can be found on HEXEN's Youtube channel.

Team Information

Sometimes it's difficult to tell the teams apart; go into your Customization panel and take a look at the different colours and armour for Agatha (Lion symbol, primarily blue, with white & gold) and Mason (Eagle symbol, primarily red, with black & brown, though they can have some shades of dark grey). When a player is damaged, they get bloodied; Blue can look like red if they're hurt enough, so be careful not to kill your teammates.

If they are white, grey, or light coloured, they are on Agatha. If they are dark grey or black, they are on Mason.





There are two vanguard skins that have a different armour style than the rest of the skins; the Mason skin in particular can use a grey that looks very faintly blue-ish, but it's still a dark grey colour. Try to get used to how these look.



Some more hints/tips for telling the teams apart:

The enemy team never spawns beside you at the start of a match.

You will often capture an enemy spawn point in Team Objective matches; it is possible for there to be an enemy there when you spawn forward (either automatically or when you press F1); if you see an enemy in your spawn area, try not to hit any teammates who are nearby.

If you're ever unsure, there's a few things you can do;

• Watch their behaviour while staying ready for anything; if they're not attacking you, they're probably friendly
  
• Put your cursor on them; if it goes red, they're an enemy

You will be killed many times. Sometimes you will not know how it happened. This is part of the game and learning how to play. Try to understand what happened and why it happened. Look at the "You were killed by" box that pops up and at the kill feed in the upper-right corner for more info.

When you're around teammates, use your mousewheel (scroll up/down) for attacks, not the left mouse button (it's called LMB around the Chivalry community).

There will be times when you accidentally strike a teammate or are hit by one. Accidents happen, and when players get wounded, their vision goes dark and grey, making if difficult to tell teammates from enemies. When your vision goes dark, try to recognizes which team an approaching player is on by the shape & style of their armour to avoid attacking teammates, or defending yourself when necessary.

If you accidentally kill a teammate, apologize to them in the team chat (press "T"). Likewise, if you are killed by a teammate, assume that it's an accident and watch for their apology in the chat box. DO NOT RETALIATE A TEAM KILL BY ATTACKING YOUR TEAMMATES! This will probably get you votekicked from the server. Yes, even for archers.

If you have a teammate who is deliberately attacking their own team, check their rank on the Scoreboard (hold Tab). If they are a low rank, they are likely confused and think this is a Free for All match. Inform them that it's a team match using the chatbox. If they persist on attacking teammates (regardless of rank), use the Votekick option; press Esc > Player List, click on the offending player's name in the list and select Vote Kick. A Votekick window will appear above the Chatbox listing the player name, their current team damage, their current ping (latency time to the server) and how long they've been idling.

Do not abuse the Votekick system; this system is in place to assist players in dealing with players with high ping, trolls, griefers and blatant hackers when an official administrator is not currently in the server. Attempting to vote a player out of a server because they can defeat you is NOT an appropriate use and can result in a ban from Offical Servers. Taking over an Official Server with a group of friends and voting out anyone else is also votekick abuse and can result in a ban from Official Servers.

Basics - 2

Attack & Defense Basics

Use the right mouse button (RMB) to Parry incoming attacks. It's not an automatic parry; you have to time them properly AND look towards the tip of the weapon for a parry to work.

This is an excellent parrying tutorial by Sir Pink.

Your melee weapons have three different types of Attack; Slash, Overhead, and Thrust. Slash (Left Mouse Button, called LMB) typically swings from right to left and deals normal damage for the weapon. Overheads (Mousewheel Scroll Down, called OH) start above your right or left shoulder (varies by weapon) and moves down towards the opposite hip, dealing more damage than the other attacks. Thrust (Mousewheel Scroll Up) starts at your right or left side (varies by weapon) and pushes straight out in front of you, giving you the greatest reach and usually the least amount of damage for most weapons.
You can use the Alt attacks (hold Alt key while attacking) to make the Slash or overhead start from the opposite side - Left to right for slash or from over the other shoulder for overheads (varies by weapon). Some weapons (polearms) start their alternate overhead as an underhanded swipe, which can surprise people. You naturally perform these as part of a combo (see Combos, below), but using the right attack in the right situation can catch an opponent off guard, avoid hitting an obstacle or teammate, or get your weapon around a shield or teammate.

Dragging

Your attacks are controlled by where you point your crosshairs; you can speed up or delay attacks by moving the cursor to the left or right or up & down. This will change the timing on when and where your strikes land. Use this to try to make the opponent parry too soon or too late. This is called dragging; you drag your cursor to change the attack. You will see many players using these techniques to try to trick you into blocking too early or too late. It is part of how the game was designed, so don't get angry when it is used. Youtuber Moe Pork has an excellent dragging tutorial.

Explained very well in the Moe Pork vids, but here's the text version. Because your attacks are "real-time" and move with your mouse cursor, you can manipulate your swings to land faster or slower to confuse your opponent into parrying early or late. Your parry is up for about .5 seconds, so you've got to beat them to the parry (Accelerate) or slow (Delay) your swing around that parry window.

Delayed Dragging; Your slash swing typically moves from Right to Left. Moving your cursor to the right of the enemy will delay the impact of your swing. Works best with slow weapons. You can delay drag overheads by looking up (Delayed Maul/Zwei/Messer/Halberd Overheads are super slow and hard to read properly). You can even delay drag thrusts with weapons by moving the cursor away from the enemy, then back at the very end of the release phase. Delaying the impact of an attack does not lengthen the duration of the release phase, just changes the timing of when (and where!) the parry needs to happen for it to be a successful block.

Accelerated Dragging; As above, but put your cursor to the left and your swing will impact sooner, possibly before the enemy expects an attack at all. Accelerate an overhead by looking down (called a Look-Down Overhead). Accelerate even more by crouching when looking down, but this doesn't add much of a boost. Thrusts can be accelerated by sprinting forward and turning slightly to the left.

Adjusting your mouse sensitivity does not let you turn/spin faster while attacking; the game has a turn-speed limit that prevents players from performing 1080 spins while they are attacking. Increasing your sensitivity only means you don't have to move your hand as far on your mousepad, which is recommended since you may run out of mouse room while trying a 360 drag.

The secret to a full 360 is to move your mouse at the same speed as the turn cap. This will take some practice, but I've heard it described as "try spinning slowly to spin fast." Learning when to try this manoeuvre will take some time and practice; expect to be punished by your opponent for attempting this at the wrong time.

Turning on your weapon tracers will help. Open the console with the tilde key (` located above Tab) and type aoc_drawtracer 1. Red tracers will show the damage portion of your swing. Try to make a complete circle with them.

Experienced players (often wearing black or gold helmets) may spin or look down or up before or during an attack to change where and when their strikes will hit you. Again, this is part of the game, but it will take some practice to learn to avoid getting hit.
These kinds of attacks use the very beginning or very end of the damage-dealing portion of the attack (release). You try avoiding these attacks by keeping your distance and waiting for them to run out of stamina, or trying to parry only when an attack is about to hit you, not when you see the wind-up animation start.

A dragging tutorial.

Some examples of drags you can perform.

Health & Armour

Your health bar has 100 hit points; all classes have the same amount of health, but some classes have heavier armour than others, and all classes have vulnerabilities and resistances to some damage types.
You will start to regain health after a few seconds if you are not sprinting, attacking, parrying, or jumping. You can walk or crouch while regenerating health, and I highly recommend finding some cover to protect yourself from archers.

Stamina

Stamina and stamina management is very important part in this game.
Some tips on stamina management;

• Remember to let go of the Sprint key (shift); you can't regen stamina while sprinting
  
• Back up and let the opponent miss while you regain some stamina; it starts regenerating quickly after a few seconds
  
• Don't attack when you're obviously out of range
  
• Don't jump when you don't need to; jumping attacks might land you an occasional hit, but they'll wear you out very quickly since you're nearly doubling the amount of stamina your attacks are using
  
• If you hear the opponent breathing heavily, press your advantage and force them to parry until they are stunned (stam out), then hit them
  
• If you're playing Man at Arms, don't dodge without purpose; dodge only to save your life and don't dodge when a parry or a feint will have the same effect (parry and feint both cost less stamina than a dodge)

Basics - 3

Feints

Feinting an attack is also part of the game. It's most basic use is covered in the tutorial, so don't be surprised or upset if someone uses it against you. Successfully blocking a feinted attack at the right time is called "reading feints" in the community and it takes a lot of practice to learn. By practice, I mean "getting smashed in the face after a feint and feeling like an idiot for falling for it."

Sometimes you will get used to a particular player's attack style and you can predict that their next attack will be feinted. If you attack while you're predicting an opponent will feint or if you're simply not sure if an attack is a feint or real attack and you just choose to attack you are "gambling" and hoping to hit them and interrupt whatever they are doing. This is also called "gambles."

Many people consider feints to be bad form, so try to figure out if your region or server favours feinting before using them. I've witnessed votekicks started against "dirty feinters." This isn't right, but it can happen if there is no in-game moderator present.

Some other uses for feints are to cancel an attack to avoid hitting a teammate or to stop your attack when the opponent is out of your weapon range.

An advanced use for feints is to cancel an attack so you can parry. This is called "Feint to Parry" (FtP) and is useful for when you are low on health or do not wish to trade hits with the opponent. It costs a significant amount of stamina, but is useful. You can perform this in the middle of a combo attack; this is called "Combo Feint to Parry" or CFtP. You can perform a Feint to Parry by quickly double-clicking the Right Mouse Button while your attack is still in the windup phase.

Chase Mechanic

There is a balance mechanic built into the game that prevents opponents from running away endlessly from you, meaning a knight can catch up to an archer or man at arms. This is to encourage you to stand and fight and prevents people from breaking the Duels game mode.
To activate the Chase Mechanic, sprint forward and hold your cursor over the opponent who is running. As long as the opponent is just running (not swinging, parrying, dodging, etc.), you will accelerate and eventually overtake them.

Shields

Shields have benefits and limitations. A shield can boost your defense by;

• Defending against multiple opponents at once
  
• Worry less about timing your parries or reading feints
  
• Passive & active defense against projectiles; a shield on your arm or back will block arrows/bolts, javelins, throwing axes and throwing knives
  
• Slightly speed up the release phase of your attack
  
• May change the animations of your attacks

Drawbacks of a shield are;

• No ripostes makes it harder to punish attackers and regain initiative (control of the fight)
  
• Makes you vulnerable to being stunned with a heavy kick (Hold down F to Heavy Kick)
  
• Occupies a portion of your field of view
  
• Holding a shield up prevents stamina regeneration
  
• Slightly decrease the speed of your windup

I find that most shield users tend not turn far enough to defend against an attack, giving them a false sense of safety.

I recommend picking up a shield later on in your Chivalry career, or simply not using one; Feint to Heavy Kick is a well-known tactic for most players and you really do need to learn when to parry properly.

Perspective

You can switch between 1st person perspective or three different viewpoints for 3rd person. The default key to switch between 1st Person and the Default 3rd Person is L while in-game. Alternately, you can switch between all three external viewpoints and 1st Person using P. Both perspectives offer advantages and disadvantages concerning situational awareness and attack/defense accuracy.

1st Person offers a much more immersive view of the action the game offers and makes it easier to aim attacks and parries by putting you into your character model's head. You can more easily judge distance and accurately see your attacks and incoming attacks at the cost of possibly not seeing someone come up behind or beside you. You can broaden your situational awareness with practice (look around more, use your ears to hear people behind you, etc.) and by widening your Field of View (see below).

Note: 1st Person is the only perspective allowed in North American Competitive Play; all scrims are played with 3rd Person disabled on the server. Other regions may vary.

3rd Person offers an external view with a viewpoint camera locked to your crosshairs. This allows you to view more of your immediate surroundings to your sides and back while making it a little harder to accurately judge distances, aim your attacks or parries, and read feints.

My personal preference is to use 1st person, but you should play in whichever mode makes you feel comfortable.

Field of View

Your field of view is defaulted to 105 degrees. You can widen or narrow this FOV by using the Configuration > Video Panel and adjusting the FOV slider up or down, then clicking Save. I recommend that you play with a minimum of 105, but you must find your personal preference.
If you adjust your FOV in-game, you must either respawn or switch weapons for it to lock onto the new FOV.

A good demonstration of FOV can be found in this video (the user interface has been updated since this video was made, and the defalt FOV is now 105).

Ranks

Advancing your rank doesn't give you more health or damage. You don't get upgrades in this game. Ranks are earned only by kills and assists. Ranks typically mean only time spent in the game and higher ranks have spent more time learning how the game works. You earn some helmets when you reach certain ranks (silver, black, and gold). You will be killed many times by these players, so be cautious around them; the helmets are like the patterns on a snake to tell you that they're dangerous.

Weapon, helmet or character skins don't provide any bonuses; they are purely cosmetic. Check out all the various cosmetics in the Customization menu (see below for more info).

There are archers in this game. This means you will be shot from halfway across the map with little chance for retaliation. You will also be accidentally shot in the back by an archer on your team, probably just when you are about to win a fight. This is frustrating. Please understand that your teammate was trying to help you; again, DO NOT RETALIATE A TEAM KILL BY ATTACKING YOUR TEAMMATES!

Sometimes, a teammate might choose to stand in a narrow chokepoint or doorway, blocking your path. You can try pressing Z 2 to shout "Keep Moving!" If they don't move within a couple seconds, tap the F key to kick them out of the way. Do not use your weapons or try to kill them.

Please review Chivalry's Official Server Rules[forums.tornbanner.com] prior to joining a match. The short version is "Don't be a jerk."

Before You Join a Match

Your First Class

The tutorial picks Man at Arms for you to start, but this is not a great class to use at first; they're too fragile and their weapons don't do as much damage, requiring you to hit the enemy several times to defeat them. Start off using a Knight with Longsword until you get the hang of the mechanics. You'll have lots of health, which means you'll survive a bit longer to learn more from each life.
Alternately, Vanguard with Greatsword is also an easy way to start off.

• Charge Attacks

  Try them out in the tutorial. Get used to how the attack works. You do not have to use the charge attack to release it; you can just stop sprinting. Don't use the charge attack when teammates are around. Consider rebinding the Charge key to something other than Left Mouse Button; V is a good option.

Weapon selection

In-game weapon selection is done through the Class Selection screen, which is presented at the beginning of the a match or if you press the 'M' key.



Animated version[gfycat.com].

You unlock weapons as you gain kills with them. The number of kills you need to unlock the next weapon are shown in the Class > Weapon Selection menu (view it by pressing 'M' in game). You can earn kills using any weapon in that category.

The weapons you unlock are not necessarily better than others; each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses in the form of reach, speed, and damage (and type of damage dealt). Try to find a weapon you like and practice with it for a while.

Character & Weapon Skins

Weapons, Helmet, & Character all have alternate Skins that can be selected through the Customization menu; you must have the skin either unlocked or purchased to exit the menu after you select it. Issues with this are frequent for new players; please check the Frequently Asked Questions thread for updated support-related info.

Purchasing new skins is done through the Customization Panel, either from the Main Menu or in-game by pressing Esc.

Select faction (Agatha, Mason, or Free for All), then select a class. Each class has a section for customizing your appearance in various ways.

You can purchase new skins for helmets, weapons, or armour. For helmets and armour, just click on the item in the list.

For weapons, click on the weapon name, then select a skin from the panel that opens.
You can preview items in the character display panel on the left.

Anything that you do not purchase, you must reset to the default item; the menu won't let you leave with a skin equipped that you do not own.
Weapons deal damage differently depending on where you hit your target; Legs take the least amount of damage, arms & torsos take normal damage, and heads take more damage than normal. Weapon damage types also affect each class differently;

Weapon Damage

Slash damage is effective vs. Man at Arms & Archers, and less effective vs. Knight & Vanguard.
Piercing damage is effective vs. Vanguard, and normal against other classes.
Blunt damage is effective vs. Knight & Vanguard, and less effective against Man at Arms & Archer.
Chopping damage is a combination of Slash & Blunt and is the type of damage dealt by Axes and some of the two handed swords.

Your attacks can be interrupted or halted if you strike a building, tree, or rock before you hit your target. Thrown projectiles can cause your attack to be interrupted if you are in the wind-up phase of attack (before your swing starts to deal damage).

Joining Your First Server

Click the Join Game button on the main menu. You should see the server list start to populate with many servers. Many will be different colours. Check the legend at the top of the Server list to see what these mean. A large number of servers may be empty.



In the lower right side of the screen, you'll see the Advanced Filters button. Click it and make the following change;

• Set Max Ping to < 100
  
  • This will show servers that you have a decent connection to, helping to make the game more enjoyable for you and anyone you play with
  
  
• Click Save

Match this screenshot for best results:


You can check the "Hide Empty Servers" box to further reduce the list.
This will drastically reduce the number of available servers, and depending on the time of day or region you live in, you may find that there are no servers up. I suggest showing Empty Servers, joining a server and hoping that someone shows up. You can try increasing the Ping filter to "<200", but I don't really recommend this; you'll probably be kicked for high ping.

You can try jumping into an empty server that you have a decent connection to and using Steam's Invite feature (from the Steam Friends List) if you have friends that play Chivalry, or hope that other people in your area will see a populated server and join yours.

Further notes on Ping

Chivalry really needs less than 100ms response to the server to be considered playable. Over 110ms, you start to see rubber-banding or teleporting of other players, it becomes difficult to see their attacks in time to defend yourself, and otherwise destroys any sense of enjoyable gameplay for you and others you're currently playing with.
A good ping for Chivalry is 12-55ms. 55-80 is decent. 80-100 is playable.

If your ping is over 120, you may be votekicked from the server by other players.

Experience Points (XP)

These are tracked throughout the match, so you can leave at any time without fear of losing progress. The XP bar at the end of the match only shows you how much you gained during this match and you will likely see your rank increase in game as you make a kill or assist.



The XP you gain is different from the score on the scoreboard; that score is a combination of in-match kills, assists, and objective points and is not the same as XP gained for ranks. It is possible to top the scoreboard on a Team Objective match with few kills just by completing objectives.

In-match Scoreboard:
1 Kill = 10 points
1 Assist = 5 points
1 Team Kill = -10 points
Assisting/completing Objectives is variable

XP Earned
1 Kill = 200 XP
1 Assist = 100 XP
Team Kills are not tracked
Objectives are not tracked

Only Kills count towards Weapon Unlocks; assists or objective points will not make progress.

You do not gain XP while playing on modded servers (coloured yellow/brown on server page) and kills gained here do not count towards unlocking new weapons.

Training

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is a difficult game to master, often requiring a few hundred hours spent in various game modes. This is true if you are a new solo player, or with another friend who is also new to the game.

Here are some ways to fast-track your training;

Low Rank Servers

These are full of new players who know little to nothing about the game and teach you very little about how to play. For good examples of how to play, you must play in the severs open to any rank; you'll find experienced players that you can watch, follow, and ask questions.

If you find an experienced player who seems to defeat you effortlessly every time you encounter them, do not get angry; ask them for tips or help!

Playing against stronger opponents WILL make you a better player, even if it's frustrating and it doesn't seem like you're learning.

The more you fight stronger opponents, you (should) instinctively pick up on what's happening to you, even if you don't realize it. You'll get better, but you'll be unfocused and probably will take longer to see an improvement, or at least won't understand any improvements that are happening. Try to pay attention to what happened when you get killed; ask yourself whether you made a mistake or could have done things differently.
If the more skilled player gives you some feedback, you will gain some insight into which of your abilities you need to work on. Usually, the list for newer players is pretty short; work on timing your parries correctly vs. drags or feints and try no to panic parry.
Good practice for parrying is go into an FFA and don't worry about getting any kills; focus on parrying everything and try not to die even once.

Official Duels:

Official Duels offers a 1 vs. 1, matchmaking mode. You can encounter many different playstyles and all classes and weapons here. This is a good way to practice with a particular class and weapon, or to unlock weapons. Duels will likely increase your individual skill-level faster than in a Team Objective or FFA match.

Classic Duels

In the Server Browser, look for servers (coloured purple) that are of FFA type and running a Map called Duelyard (or something similar; if it has duels in the map name, it's a dueling yard of some kind). These are NOT actually Free for All matches; if you wish to challenge someone, bow to them and wait for them to bow back. Do not attack someone if they have not bowed or acknowledged your challenge; these kinds of attacks will be considered "random" or "randoming" and you will likely be votekicked out of the server for poor etiquette. This certainly includes archers.

Feel free to use the in-game voice commands to get their attention; X 1 will make your character shout "Yes!" You can bow by looking down at the floor, then back up at the player.

If you are challenged and do not wish to fight, do not bow; shake your character left and right and press X 2 to shout a "No!"

You can often find many players from competitive clans practicing within these servers. Some are visitors, some are hosts of the servers. These players are often have more advanced skills in the game than the players you find on official servers; think of them as pro or semi-pro athletes vs. a recreational league player. Try dueling them a few times, then asking politely for some advice. Do not complain about the tactics or techniques you find them using; in competitive-level play, almost any technique that isn't an outright hack is encouraged.

Playing against stronger opponents WILL make you a better player, even if it's frustrating and it doesn't seem like you're learning.

Shadow an Experienced Player

In Team Objective mode, find an experienced player on your team, follow them around and try to guard their back and generally help them. Watch what they do and try not to hit them with your attacks (use overhead or thrust attacks when trying to help). Look for someone who is either topping the scoreboard (hold down the Tab key and look for player names at the top of your team's list) or wearing a black or gold helmet.

An experienced player tends to "play smarter", meaning they will pick their battles rather than blindly charging into a large fight. Try to think about how and where you can be most effective in a team fight;

• pick fights you have a chance of winning; you probably can't win against 4 opponents wearing black and gold helmets, and you might be able to win against one opponent, but you and a teammate vs. a single opponent is much better for you
  
• standing shoulder to shoulder in a team fight may not always be the best way; spread out if you can, and try to surround your opponent(s), whether they're a single opponent or a group of them close together
  
• approach where the enemy isn't looking (flanking); they can't block what they can't see, and if you can get close before they see you, you'll get at least one free hit on an archer before they can change weapons
  
• support your teammates; rather than just throwing attacks at the enemy, try to time your attacks so that you're striking when your allies aren't. This prevents the opponent from blocking every attack and can even cancel (flinch) their attacks before it starts. You can use this kind of teamwork to take down a strong opponent
  
• it's OK to fall back to a more defensible position or wait for more allies to spawn to travel in a group

Asking for Help

There are many experienced players who are willing to take on new players and train them in all aspects of the game. You can ask in-game; experienced players may be willing to answer questions, though remember that they are also trying to play the game. The official forum[forums.tornbanner.com] and subreddit have many players willing to answer questions and people will have more time to answer you.
We have a pinned Ask a Veteran thread on the Chivalry Community Hub.

See this thread for more about KILA's training classes.

Joining a Clan

Once you've got some practice in the game and if you have an interest, you may consider joining a competitive clan. Competitive players can get some of the best training the game has to offer from their clanmates. The best way to join a clan is to play in Classic Duel server (see above) and get to know some of the clan members that practice there. If you can perform decently against some of them (this is by their judgement, not necessarily yours), ask them if they are recruiting. They may have certain requirements before they accept a new member, however, so be sure to ask about those (minimum rank, minimum ability level, minimum age, etc.)

YouTube

There are many tutorial or how-to-play style videos available with a YouTube search. Some good search strings include;

• "Chivalry how to"
  
• "Chivalry tips"
  
• "Chivalry tutorial"
  
• "Chivalry advanced"

Please note the dates on these videos when searching; anything dating back before summer of 2014 may not necessarily apply due to updates changing game mechanics or weapons.

Closing

Yes, this is a hack and slash game, but it's more than just spamming basic slash attacks; this tactic might get you far in the low rank servers, but you'll just train yourself to use bad habits that won't work in the regular servers. Feel free to ask questions in the game's chat (press "Y" so everyone can see what you'll say, or "T" for just your teammates) or in any of the communities I listed above, or ask me in the comments below.

I do not intend for this guide to be static; if it seems like I missed something or you have a specific question, let me know in the comments and I'll consider adding it to the guide. I have been making frequent updates, so be sure to check back and see if there's anything new.

A note on Classes: I originally intended to include classes in this guide, but the scope became too large; if I talk about one class, I have to talk about all of them. There's currently other guides available for classes, or perhaps I'll write a general guide to classes in the future.

My guide inspired a fellow player to write the Intermediate Guide to Chivalrous Etiquette; please check it out for some tips on combat, weapons, and classes. Another good read for general mechanics and tips is this Advanced Combat Mechanics guide.

If this guide has helped you, please Rate and Favourite to improve this guide's visibility to others looking for help or otherwise let people know about the guide. Click Follow to be notified when my next project is published.

For tips on improving your FPS or latency, please see my Latency vs. FPS Guide.

It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life.
Jean Luc Picard

I hope to see you in-game!


R

Easter Eggs

Chivalry is full of secrets and Easter Eggs!

Taunts
Every taunt is a taunt from Shakespeare.

Cows
There is a stone statues of a cow in many of the maps; try to find them all.
Hint: you may need to go into Spectator mode to access them.

Stoneshill Outhouse
Strike the outhouse in Stoneshill and listen to the peasant inside!
Be sure to check out the ceiling in the throne room; it's epic.

An Agathian Bot
Dark Forest has a peasant that hides outside of the caves and moves around from time to time. See if you can find him.

The Bots
The non-player Bots are all named after developers from Torn Banner Studios

Moor
Try to find the Mushroom Man on Moor

Gravestones
Read the various gravestones. Don't step too close to some of them!

Spectral Echo
Try to raise the dead on Hillside!

Yarnu's Doghouse
A doghouse on Cove is a tribute to Yarnu the Dog, a Chivalry player who once made many Youtube videos.

If you know of other Easter Eggs not mentioned here, please let me know in the comments below!

[THANK YOU [B]ROTHER]

Thanks

[Reiður]

Keep your distance and be ready to parry. They only get you because you're not prepared for it.

[Lavoroxan]

But how do you counter the spin-dodging-crouch-feint combo things that i've seen many people do? it absolutely tears my asshole open

[Gandasth]

Very nice tutorial.

[Reiður]

Blocking is done with a shield and you can hold it up as long as you have stamina. You still have to turn to face your opponent's weapon when using a shield or they will be able to swing around it. This is also defaulted to Right Click (RMB).

Parrying is using the RMB without a shield. This is a timed defense and cannot be held up. Try watching the video that was linked in the Basics-2 section for a demonstration on proper parrying, or check out our official training videos. [www.tornbanner.com]

[Flytrap]

So basically parry is the function of right click and block is when you succesfully blocked someone's attack

[Reiður]

This is explained under Basics - 2.

[Flytrap]

Whats the difference between a block and a parry?

[lucfle97]

alas, the mushroom man... It's a damn shame he couldn't read. Rest in spaghetti, never forgetti

[TintEcho]

If you didn't see already , there is player which is called "Farmer".You usually spot him on =SM= server.He is a epic Easter Egg :D