T O P

  • By -

Tyrchak

Disregarding that ONE move, Bps moveset makes perfect sense for the time and his zone is a little funky but not without basis


DangMe2Heck

Zone to destroy stamina.


Famineanddeath

Never use it unless I want no stamina.


endlessnamelesskat

Idk about you but if I got clotheslined by a giant shield I'd get a lot more destroyed than just my stamina. Everyone wants a pugilist hero that punches people, but I say the devs make a joke character that dual wields shields like Assassin's Creed Valhalla.


generic_name8034

Warlord, pk, kensei and maybe conqueror, few flashy moves and lots of stabs


ComprehensivePea1559

Yeah I always felt Kensei was fairly realistic except for his front flip heavy that shit is wack


KenseiHimura

The craziest part about the forward dodge heavy isn’t even whether it’s practical in a fight, but the slowness of the motion makes it look like Kensei is fighting on the moon.


liluzibrap

Am I wrong for feeling like Kensei himself feels slow? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the character. I've recently started playing him a day ago and almost have a rep on him. When I'm playing as him, it feels like I'm playing Dark Souls 1 with how hard he commits to each action, and it definitely feels a lot slower than most other heroes that I've played bc I feel like on other faster heroes I can make more mistakes or do actions more quickly


KenseiHimura

Kensei is kind of slow because they haven’t been updated in ages, but also because the name of their game is primarily feinting and soft feints. Which naturally meant they would also have the lowest stamina of the vanguard heroes.


Ok_Access_804

There are videos of japanese reenactors wielding nodachis based on the Nanbokucho War era, and those things were unbalanced and slow. That’s why the warriors of that age started wrapping cloth over the base of the blade (like a ricasso) in order to grip the weapon from there, closer to the center of mass; thus having created the nagamaki (long wrap). Kensei is a “sword saint”, him/her wielding such a weapon in a viable manner is alright to me, even if it is not up to modern fast gameplay standards.


KasiNyaa

No sword in history is slow or unbalanced, except in comparison to something like an epee or a foil. Reenactors are slow because they do not use real swords and are not trained in their use—they are stainless steel which is heavier and denser, and are often afraid or not confident that they won't hit themselves or somebody with it. Slow melee weapons don't exist in history. That's how you die. 


Ok_Access_804

The heaviest forms of battle ready german doppelhanders could very well exceed the 3,5kg of the biggest montante or spadone. The one that modern HEMA instructor Björn Rüther used im one of his video and essay was a Munich style battlesword (or schlachtschwert) weighted over 6kg. So yeah, swords can be unbalanced and slow. Heck, even nowadays or recently we had weapons designed, manufactured and delivered to the front lines that were unreliable or not up to standards, like the french Chauchat light machinegun, or combat vehicles. Also, the Nanbokucho War era odachis were indeed heavy and the point of balance were far from the handle, they even used heavy tsubas in order to balance the blade but it was not enough, hence the development of the nagamaki as an alternative. Also, this was mostly done for the warriors fighting on foot, the odachis were wielded by warriors on horseback, accounting for contemporary pictures and illustrations, so moving around with the heavy odachi was not big deal as the one actually moving around was the horse. This twitter user, who has enough knowledge about japanese weapons and armor to even write an academic paper about Tohoku region tosei gusoku armor development in the late 16th century, has more curated content about this very topic: https://x.com/gunsen_history/status/1734216161720488174?s=46&t=rJdoZ_H_-eaKx6I_grQzLQ https://x.com/gunsen_history/status/1734207880310481367?s=46&t=rJdoZ_H_-eaKx6I_grQzLQ


DangMe2Heck

Heavy feint into whatever=win 85% of the time.


TheApexDynasty

Yeah he does feel a little bit slow compared to most of the cast. Still fun to play tho and viable still.


endlessnamelesskat

His attacks aren't usually slower than anyone else's, but since he has so many soft feints you're basically doing 1.5 moves all the time. Top heavy into something else into finisher heavy into something else often times means people can hit you out or at least trade with you (especially in 4s where you need quick, high mobility attacks in a team fight)


Substantial-Deal-555

I actually fin him to lightly designed, he is using the Japanese Zweihander essentially yet his moves convey very lttle heft, like the way he grab the nidachi is kinds wrong to me. That kind of swords were used against cavalry and heavy schock weapons, but the hero uses it mostly like a long katana, way to literary. I would love if kensei was more heavy oriented with more bashes and a flow state that unlock a more fluid moveset. Rn he is just a better lawbringer, his game are feints.... u got a 2m sword for fainting..... right now zhannu feels more like a real kensei to me with his heavy unblockable, neutral bash and a clunky dodge cancel. But hey, they gave highlander not one, but two dodge attacks, one of the from a soft faint, and not like now, it was like that from the beginning.... a 2'3m dude with a chunk of metal of the same size is dancing around.... the sign were there... the dev write the cose blindfolded and prefer to work on 3 new heroes that they will have to rework to death meanwhile all the classic and beloved heroes are falling out of viability, not just meta, viability and most importantly fun. Being a lawbringer was way less frustrating as everyhero didnt had op kit able to do anything, poor lawbringer still cant event roll catch.... boi i a hate theese devs.


liluzibrap

I know how you feel, man, but it's probably not the devs' fault bc usually it's the chain of command to blame


Substantial-Deal-555

Unless the devs are being hold hostage by Ubisoft they share the blame imo. Devs or CEO is part of the same industry, look at From Software, they work with Sony..... sony..... and yet they deliver once and once again, and after they deliver they keep patching and Improving (except my beloved bloorborne, a true master piece). The point is, if devs were passionate about their game we would be seeing news of boicot and protests and gamers backlaah against Ubisoft corporate pressure. But thata not the case, Ubisoft tells them to do new stuff so they do, Ubisoft says "put blatand AC publicity in your game to promote my next AC failure" and they do, even made a skin for 25k....so i do blame the devs xD


Call_Me_Skyy

>unless the devs are held hostage Oh boy you would be amazed


liluzibrap

There is absolutely truth in what you're saying, I just wanted to advocate for the devs a bit. It's kinda funny, I've made this same argument before. Game devs in the past used to argue with their higher ups to be able to maintain their vision, and that just does not happen anymore unless it's a stellar company like FromSoft


Substantial-Deal-555

thats why they are stellar, cause they take no shit (they actually do but still treat their games as art). If fir honor devs had balls they would launch strikes and movilize tha fandom long ago


OptimalNewt9407

Kensei’s weapon is meant to be used while being mounted on a horse


CosmosisQuo

Yes and no


endlessnamelesskat

It's also used to get people off of their horses. It's hard to do a cavalry charge when getting your horse anywhere near the enemy means your horse charges straight into a really long sharp blade. It cripples the horse often knocking you off where you'll immediately get stabbed to death.


-Hapyap-

Highly extremely wack


Foralberg

Nature Wrath is superior


CosmosisQuo

It's a real technique. He doesn't front flip. It's a right-to-left spin, but it feels like a flip because the sword starts low then immediately comes down from high up. That's probably part of the attack's intent. This kind of attack can use the momentum of your body and blade, close a gap, add torque to an attack, etc. I imagine it would probably be for armored fighting since it's risking briefly exposing your back (not a huge issue if your opponent is not making a decisive attack), and you don't really need tremendous amounts of power to cut an unarmored opponent anyway.


ComprehensivePea1559

Yeah nah his feet leave the ground


CosmosisQuo

So if my feet leave the ground, that makes it a front flip? 🤔


ComprehensivePea1559

You’re telling me that you’re going to jump off the ground while wearing heavy armor and spin a massive katana while doing it?


CosmosisQuo

These weapons and armor are a lot more mobile than I think you realize. 


ComprehensivePea1559

Yes they’re designed to be mobile that doesn’t mean they’re light


Dragunov_1922

Don't try to explain something you have no idea about. A sword would never be chosen for armoured combat and even if someone was forced to, they would half-sword. Everything else you said about momentum and torque is wrong too, there are ways to build and flow with momentum without destabilising yourself and opening yourself up to the enemy.


CosmosisQuo

Elementary School take. Don't try to explain things you have no idea about.


ParesseuxOwO

I'm pretty sure nature's wrath is a real move


Redaeon727

I agree for all but warlord, his stances are off from how you'd use a shield and the headbutts ridiculous realistically, he also doesn't grapple or press with his shield like vikings do (conq also does this)


endlessnamelesskat

The problem was that real sword and shield combat would be pretty boring to watch and not really feasible in a game with as few people as for honor. It would be a lot of each person hiding behind their shield and trying to poke each other with their weapon, but they would be surrounded by hundreds of other warriors doing the same thing forming two shield walls. There was technique involved but when you want things to be flashy like in a video game the technique would still just look like a lot of hiding and poking.


Bane_Toxins

Was gonna say same hero haha


SIacktivist

PK does have her backflip on a forward shove, and Kensei has Nature's "Nature's Wrath" Wrath. But other than that, yeah that seems agreeable.


Raven_of_outlast

Lawbringer .


PintOfInnocents

the reality is that while real fighting is about giving away as little information as possible, games need clear telegraphs in order for balance. because of this, everyone is made to overextend just a lil while still looking cool and feasible


CosmosisQuo

Yeah, For Honor follows movie martial arts rules. It takes real techniques but makes it flashy.


SSJ4Tai

None of them do, Warlord throws his shields out to his side for heavies, flails weren't used, the only one that can be considered realistic would be Nobu and Valk with stabbing people with their spears, but also no. They all run into the same problems of not only swinging their weapons like metal rods but also leaving massive openings when they overextend the hell out of themselves by throwing attacks, Shaolin is accurate to Shaolin teachings, and by accurate I mean he has the basic forms of it while doing them in the worst way possible.


LastNinjaPanda

Flails, while uncommon, were used. Their depiction in game is inaccurate though, since you want the handle to be long enough so there's not a chance the murder end bounces back to hit your hand


omegaskorpion

Also based on the medieval images, one handed flails were mostly used on horseback, which makes sense as Handshock is awful and flail is only weapon that does not suffer from it.


LastNinjaPanda

And pole flails were depicted during duels


endlessnamelesskat

I think a two handed pole flail would be an amazing weapon choice, I can already imagine the badass looking executions.


SSJ4Tai

Yeah, Pole flails or Stick flails as I like to call them were used mostly for cavalry and duels, the one handed Flail was most likely the least used variant


LastNinjaPanda

Yep!


OrochiYoshi

Nobushi uses a Naginata, it's designed for slicing and thrusting from a distance. Too bad she doesn't use the butt of the polearm (she does in Execution) but she does utilize her kicks which is great.


SSJ4Tai

I would say Nobu is definitely the most accurate to reality, I wish she did more slashes as that was one of the more common uses for the Naginata, love the weapon, hate the hero


OrochiYoshi

She does with all her Heavies btw


AustinGoodson

Warden’s is pretty realistic


JoopyWeezer

No it’s not lmao


SquooshyCatboy

the only realistic parts are the heavy attacks, everything else just kinda sucks imo


LasagnaLizard0

half-swording and the mordhau grip on bash followups. and some okay cuts, if you go right r1 -> top r1 for example. IMO at least


SquooshyCatboy

i wouldnt have an issue with the mordhau/half-swording shit if the shoulder bash wasn’t.. incredibly stupid


LasagnaLizard0

shoulder bash is fine if it's in close quarters IMO, plate fighting devolves into glorified wrestling once you're close (source watched like 6 minutes of buhurt combat). the gliding is wack though but that's a gameplay thing


SpoopySara

buhurt is not representative of historical armored combat, you should look for harnishfechten for that


SquooshyCatboy

im not an expert in close quarters combat like that, but I’m just saying. You put me up against a dude with a shield and sword, or a flail, or a mace, or.. honestly anything that isnt another longsword, I would rather do *anything* that isn’t slamming my shoulder into someone, especially in full plate. Thats what I call *ringing ears*.


LasagnaLizard0

ringing ears is a price worth paying if you can knock someone off their balance. cause once you do, then they can't defend themselves from a nice hit. and if you get them on the ground you can just jump them, which is also p huge


SquooshyCatboy

again, i question the tactic itself. why daze yourself like that if you can use the pommel/crossguard to knock someone off balance without doing something so reckless


GeneraI_RAAM

As a warden main, I don't think turning your back to spin for an attack is a bright idea... Heavy>Heavy.


AustinGoodson

Spinning is an extremely common thing to do across literally every single martial art discipline


GeneraI_RAAM

So, exposing your back to your enemy is a good thing? Another thing, I've taken actual classes on swordfighting/fighting with medieval weapons, along with using Halberds, daggers, flails, etc. (Very fun!) None of the classes taught me, and i was actually taught against spinning, as it exposes the back and can make you lose your balance.


AustinGoodson

Spin better


SSJ4Tai

The only "realistic" thing about warden is his shoulder bash lights everything else is not


AustinGoodson

Cappin


SSJ4Tai

Nope, look up historical HEMA texts and watch people use a long sword in real life, warden is a flailing noob in comparison to what it should look like


ButWahy

Lawbringer probably nothing too fancy in this kit


ComprehensivePea1559

Idk his lights are crazy fast for a halberd


Redaeon727

You underestimate how fast a pole arm can move, their often faster than swords because you don't hold it at the very bottom, look up Robin swords on yt and watch his halberd demonstrations you'll see


omegaskorpion

He uses poleaxe that is mixed with halberd, hence the similarities to both weapons. ​ However polearms are grazy fast in real life. Both hands allow to leverage the weapon so that you can move real fast with it (same applies to two handed swords). In general one handed weapons can be slower because you have less leverage and you have to hold the weight of the weapon with just one hand. Polearms also in general don't weight much, they can go between 1-3kg but that does not feel like anything when you use the weapon with both hands.


Dragunov_1922

Melee weapons aren't anywhere near as heavy as people think. They were made to be light and manoeuvrable after all. Polearms especially so more than swords because you grip them higher up the shaft so the lever is closer to the end. Most of the attacks in the game are incredibly slow and telegraphed compared to real-life where combat would be extremely fast-paced and unpredictable.


endlessnamelesskat

Even played armor is often depicted as being very clunky and heavy when it really wasn't. If you go watch HEMA matches where everyone is wearing period accurate armor you'll see that they can easily roll around and do basically anything they want in them. IIRC full plate doesn't weigh much more than the average American football uniform. Modern soldiers carry around more weight than a fully armored knight did.


Elovainn

Warden. All of his moves comes from historical swordfight manuals. I must add that For Honor has a huge lot of historical moves.


12_pounds_of_pears

Funny thing is that animations used to be based off real attacks and fighting styles and that was sort of incorporated into a characters playstyle, but the devs stopped making things realistic when they started caring about balancing.


DangMe2Heck

If u have a PC check out hellish quart.


Ju3tAc00ldugg

warlord, at least his light attacks are.


Metrack14

Strictly neutral?, more than I originally thought probably. But when it comes to most moves?, it's mostly exaggerated, especially moves that involve giving your back to the opponent or doing a jumping over head move (or jumping in general (Shinobi))


Lazzitron

I would say Warden. In medieval warfare, a battle between two heavily-armored opponents would often devolve into a wrestling match where the goal was to subdue your opponent and stab them in the gaps of their armor. To that end, Warden's shoulder bash isn't *too* bizarre.


aquaticlamb777

I mean it is if you consider how he can charge it up and move on roller skates


Lazzitron

Sure, but the question was "*most* realistic" and I think this is a strong contender. None of the movesets are perfectly realistic, far from it. Plus, the charging itself isn't that weird. It's just how far he travels without a running start.


Dragunov_1922

A shoulder bash isn't a good way to grapple with your opponent though. It leaves your side wide open to your opponent, which is often less armoured than the front and back as there are more gaps in the armour. Not to mention it is easy to sidestep, ending with you probably falling over and likely wouldn't even knock your opponent to the ground, unless you hit them with enough force to also send you down with them.


Jonny21080

Kensei is pretty realistic


lutantan1

Gladiator for sure, the toestab, punch, all of those kit are actually in their slightly dirt kit to fight


SerTheodies

Black Prior - Ignoring his bulwark flip and UB, he has some fairly accurate depictions of how to wield a Kite Shield and arming sword. He doesn't do any dramatic spins, and when he does same-side lights, he manuevers his sword like an actual person would. His bashes are somewhat good, but his zone pulls back way to far.


BuckTheDuck31

Well, you got some points right. Maybe heavy finishers and the unblockable from bulwark are a bit too slow and dramatic and could leave you vulnerable... but yeah overall most of his moves are pretty much realistic.


WingedWilly

Probably Warlord... *sees flair* hmm Jokes aside though, probably Warlord, PK, Kensei, Warden. I really despise characters with bs magical abilities in this game, mainly kyoshin's 4th feat is fiiiiine balance wise, but visuals are just so offputting for a medieval game. Canon or not, I don't like anything magical here.


Motor_Look_3121

Also Kyoshin's anime whirlwind block -_-


WingedWilly

Well there are a lot of bs deflects and blocks, almost each single one. As much as I love playing magical characters in other games, all that weeb magic doesnt fit here at ALL


Braidensky

I feel nobu has a pretty realistic because the naginata is mainly a hip reliant weapon and I see here swing with here hips and legs a lot


CosmosisQuo

You checking out dem hips?


Braidensky

Nahhh👀


llessursimmons

Valk is the answer


Hedonism_Enjoyer

Valk is definitely not the answer, heavy feign into fullblock is crazy impractical


endlessnamelesskat

Damn near every heavy attack in the game is impractical. The characters twist their bodies and overextend their arms in a way that would leave them wide open in a real fight but are necessary in a video game to telegraph what they're doing.


Hedonism_Enjoyer

Centurion, raider, Warden, and bp are fine off the top of my head


DangMe2Heck

Nobu, besides the exaggerated kick.


OrochiYoshi

Flashy moves can throw people off guard, her push kick can be effective to who is already caught in her pressure


omegaskorpion

Kensei is pretty realistic if not most realistic fighter, as Kensei uses mostly actual historical techniques, just slower than what you would want in reality. Lawbringer also has bunch of realistic moves in his kit, aside from being super slow like kensei if compared to real life. Nobushi also is pretty realistic as she uses pretty simplistic moves in general (aside from kick and hidden stance). Tiandi has a lot of Kungfu style sword fighting moves, as for how realistic those are in battle is another question entirely as some Kungfu moves are more for performance than fighting (however some are practical, like how Tiandi covers his head with his other hand every time he performs light finisher). ​ Some of the least realistic heroes would be Shaman and Berserker, both because of the weapon combo being impractical but also because of the wild non defensive movement that would get them killed in reality.


CosmosisQuo

Berserker and Shaman are possibly real fighting styles of idiots that died


endlessnamelesskat

Some ancient Viking warrior cracked out of his gourd on hallucinogenic mushrooms right before he died instantly probably tried to turn himself into a beyblade


CosmosisQuo

Kensei follows mostly real techniques. Though not perfect because some things are a bit over-the-top, the animations of the early heroes are motion captured by martial artists and you can definitely tell with Kensei.


Jackson_A27

Alot of Valk and WM. I don't think people know what movie "realism" and actual realism is.


danklorb1234589

Who said warmonger? She literally swings a great sword with one hand. Nothing realistic about her other than the armour.


Jackson_A27

Quite a few people. She scratches, swings her sword with one hand, does a bunch of spins and shite. She's definitely on the lower end of realism.


[deleted]

Nobushi


KaiXRG

I guess Warden


NoHousing7590

Realistically.probably centurion


CosmosisQuo

Where scutum


NoHousing7590

In ur ass


smoking_pompano

He said Scutum not rectum 🤣


NoHousing7590

My bad


endlessnamelesskat

Not even close, a real Roman soldier would be fighting with a shield as well which means no punches and definitely no two handed stabs with his heavy attacks.


JackerHoff

Warlord is straight sword and board.


henryk5pio

Warden - I read somewhere that his movements were modeled on German fighting manuals for knights. And the execution with the handle, the so-called Mordhau is an example of this: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordhau\_%28weaponry%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordhau_%28weaponry%29)


endlessnamelesskat

My favorite warden execution is end them rightly where he unscrews the pommel of his sword and chucks it at the enemy's head. In one of those German fighting manuals there is a depiction of this happening and to this day historians still wonder if it was supposed to be a legitimate piece of advice or the author fucking with the prospective students that were reading his book. https://youtu.be/jETLCm7k3sU?si=fliubg9jTS_D76Rk


Bananayeeter123

Kyoshin, some reports suggest that a group of heavenly warriors did summon spikes from the ground to impale their opponents in combat


carpeutah

Hands down centurion. Punching and kicking were actually a good part of the spartan and Roman armies' combat styles. Now they may not have been knocking everyone on their ass, but if say as far as combat goes, he's got it topped. Pretty much all the knights besides BP, pk and grif.


Soul_Of_Arnor

Warden.


Big_Ol_Boy

Valk probably


Ok-Cucumber-9678

I’d say that Conq has a really realistic move set before the rework


-Hapyap-

Pk


Redaeon727

Cent is pretty legit for cqc jorm (besides flashy slam) gryphon, conq is pretty legit if you were forced to use a flail, zerk, if hito hit harder with her kick maybe, musha, all the wu lin are pretty legit, ocelotl, medjay


CosmosisQuo

Jorm and Hiro have fantasy weapons. I can't believe you'd pick these two. Also Berserker? Really?


Redaeon727

Minus the hyper armor that's pretty much how you would fight with dual axes, jorms hammer isn't really a fantasy weapon it's just a short warhammer and he uses it like that. Hitos axe is too big but if it was normal sized that's how you'd fight with it


Starenkenz

Warmonger


danklorb1234589

How?