Ubisoft Montreal shipped For Honor on 14 February 2017 built around the Art of Battle, a melee system where every guard and every attack lives in one of three stances: top, left or right. The 18 mission campaign runs three chapters against Apollyon and her Blackstone Legion, and multiplayer has grown past 30 heroes split between the Knights, Vikings, Samurai, Wu Lin and Outlanders. Marching Fire added the Wu Lin in October 2018 along with Breach, the four against four castle assault mode.
This guide covers everything you need: core mechanics, the best characters, weapons worth investing in, location progression, and the tips that actually make a difference.
Core Mechanics
Art of Battle three stance guard
Guard, light attacks and heavy attacks all sit in a top, left or right stance, and an incoming attack only lands if your guard is not already covering that side. Assassins drop their guard after a moment rather than holding it, which is the trade for having a Deflect the other classes do not get.
Revenge meter
Blocking, absorbing hits and fighting outnumbered fill a meter that, when triggered, knocks everyone around you off their feet and grants both damage resistance and extra damage. Piling four players onto one is the fastest way to hand that player a free Revenge activation and lose the fight.
Stamina and exhaustion
Attacks, dodges and guard breaks all cost stamina. Empty the bar and you move slower, stagger when you block and cannot dodge at all, which is why strong players spend a fight baiting swings rather than trading them.
Feats earned through Renown
Renown builds from kills, assists, minion clearing and zone captures, and it unlocks four tiers of Feats during a match. A tier four Feat can end a Dominion round outright, so clearing the minion lane is worth more to the scoreboard than chasing a duel across the map.
Gear stats disabled in duels
Gear stats only apply in the four against four modes. Duel, Brawl and ranked play strip them out completely, so a high reputation account has no numerical advantage over a fresh one in a one against one match.
For a deeper dive into how these systems interact, see our FOR HONOR combat guide.
Characters Overview
| Role | Tier | Playstyle | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knights | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Vikings | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Samurai | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Wu Lin | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Outlanders | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
For full build breakdowns with gear and stat priorities, see our FOR HONOR builds guide. For rankings, check the tier list.
Weapons Guide
| Weapon | Why It Matters | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Warden longsword | A straightforward European longsword with average reach and speed, paired with the charged Shoulder Bash that forces a reaction. | Learning the Art of Battle without fighting your own moveset |
| Kensei nodachi | A two handed Japanese greatsword with the longest reach among the Vanguard heroes, ending its chain in an unblockable top heavy. | Spacing control and punishing overextension |
| Lawbringer poleaxe | A long polearm suited to a counter attacking Hybrid who wants to be attacked rather than to open. | Punishing impatient opponents in one against one fights |
| Berserker dual axes | Fast paired axes carrying hyper armour on chained heavy attacks, so the swing continues through hits that would stop another hero. | Relentless pressure and trading through light attack spam |
| Nobushi naginata | The longest reach in the Samurai roster, built around poking from outside the opponent's range and applying bleed. | Zone control in four against four modes and holding a capture point |
Warden longsword: A straightforward European longsword with average reach and speed, paired with the charged Shoulder Bash that forces a reaction. It is the reference point new players measure every other hero against.
Kensei nodachi: A two handed Japanese greatsword with the longest reach among the Vanguard heroes, ending its chain in an unblockable top heavy. The reach lets a Kensei punish attacks that whiff outside everyone else's range.
Lawbringer poleaxe: A long polearm suited to a counter attacking Hybrid who wants to be attacked rather than to open. Parries and guard break follow ups do most of the work, so patient players get far more out of it than aggressive ones.
Berserker dual axes: Fast paired axes carrying hyper armour on chained heavy attacks, so the swing continues through hits that would stop another hero. In exchange the Berserker has no dependable defensive option outside Deflect.
Nobushi naginata: The longest reach in the Samurai roster, built around poking from outside the opponent's range and applying bleed. She is fragile up close, so the whole game is keeping the gap open.
Full breakdowns in our FOR HONOR weapons guide.
Location Progression
| Location | Level Range | Key Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Citadel Gate | All modes, Dominion and Breach | Ledge kills at the gatehouse, strong minion lane control |
| Temple Garden | All modes, Dominion | Fast rotations, few environmental hazards to punish mistakes |
| River Fort | All modes, Dominion | Catapults, plentiful ledges and water hazards |
| Sentinel | All modes, Dominion and Skirmish | Close quarters advantage for Heavies, short rotation times |
| High Fort | All modes, Dominion | High ground control, multiple ledge kill opportunities |
Citadel Gate: A Knight castle map under assault by a battering ram, split into the Gatehouse, the Battlefield and the Barracks. The three areas are very different fights, with the open middle favouring reach heroes and the interiors favouring anyone who can push others off ledges.
Temple Garden: The Samurai map most players name as the best looking in the game, with open lanes and clean sightlines between zones. Its layout makes rotations quick, so a team that captures two zones can defend both.
River Fort: A Viking fort with working catapults and a great deal of water. Environmental kills are unusually common here because so many walkways end in a drop, which rewards heroes with bashes and throws.
Sentinel: A tight Knight map where fights compress into corridors and stairwells rather than open ground. Long reach weapons lose value in the interior, and heroes that can bash opponents into walls gain it.
High Fort: Elevated Knight fortification with a strong vertical element and several exposed edges. Holding the upper zone gives a team the movement advantage, since defenders always arrive downhill and outnumbered.
See our maps & locations guide for detailed area breakdowns and our walkthrough for the optimal progression path.
Tips That Actually Matter
- Watch the opponent's guard indicator rather than their animation. The Art of Battle resolves on stance, so an attack coming from their right side is blocked by putting your guard on that side regardless of how the swing looks, and reading animations will make you late every time.
- Never commit an attack into a full Revenge meter. Activated Revenge knocks everyone around the player down, grants damage resistance and boosts their damage, so the correct answer to a teammate who has fed someone Revenge is to back off and let it expire.
- Spend the first fifty hours on exactly one hero. For Honor has more than 30 heroes with distinct chains and punishes, and the fundamentals of guard switching, parry timing and stamina management transfer far better than a shallow knowledge of five movesets.
- Clear the minion lane in Dominion. Zone B is worth points and Renown, and Renown is what unlocks your tier three and tier four Feats. Players who ignore minions spend the whole match with tier one Feats while the opposing team is calling in artillery.
- Learn one punish per hero you fight rather than a full matchup. Knowing that a parried heavy gives you a guaranteed heavy of your own is worth more than memorising an entire chain tree, because that punish appears in every single fight.
- Fight near ledges deliberately, not accidentally. Environmental kills ignore health entirely, so heroes with a bash or a throw win fights on Citadel Gate and River Fort that they would lose on flat ground, and standing with your own back to a drop hands that same advantage away.
- Manage stamina like ammunition. Attacking into a block costs stamina and gains nothing, and an exhausted player staggers on block and cannot dodge, which is a free heavy attack for the opponent. Stop swinging at roughly a quarter bar and recover.
- Play ranked Duels to improve fastest. Gear stats are disabled in Duel and Brawl, so wins and losses reflect the mechanics you actually control rather than the equipment you happen to have equipped.
- In Breach, protect the ram rather than duelling on the walls. The attacking team only progresses while the ram advances, and a four against four fight away from the objective is a stall that always favours the defenders.
- Turn off attack indicators only after you understand them, never before. The indicator is the intended information channel, and players who hide it early to look advanced simply stop learning which stance each hero opens from.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Ganking a player whose Revenge meter is already full, which knocks the whole team down and reverses the fight.
- Switching heroes every few matches, so the fundamentals never accumulate and no punish becomes automatic.
- Chasing kills across the map in Dominion while the minion lane and zones go uncontested and Feats stay locked at tier one.
- Attacking into a block until stamina hits zero, then being staggered and killed during the recovery.
- Assuming gear stats matter in Duel, then blaming losses on equipment in a mode where all gear stats are switched off.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many heroes does For Honor have?
More than 30, spread across the Knights, Vikings, Samurai, Wu Lin and Outlanders. Each hero belongs to one of four classes: Vanguard, Assassin, Heavy or Hybrid, and every Outlander released so far is a Hybrid.
Which hero should a beginner pick?
Warden, Kensei or Lawbringer. All three teach stance switching, parries and guard break punishes without relying on hero specific stance systems, and all three remain competitive at high skill levels rather than being training wheels you outgrow.
Does gear give paying players an advantage?
Not in one against one play. Gear stats apply only to the four against four modes such as Dominion and Breach; Duel, Brawl and ranked play disable them entirely, so those modes are decided purely by mechanics.
Is the single player campaign worth playing?
As a tutorial, yes. The 18 missions across three chapters follow Apollyon and the Blackstone Legion and force you through each faction's mechanics, which is a gentler introduction than being dropped into Dominion against reputation 40 players.
What is the difference between Dominion and Breach?
Dominion is a four against four zone control mode with a minion lane in the middle, played to 1000 points. Breach, added with Marching Fire in October 2018, is an attack and defend castle assault where attackers escort a battering ram and then fight through to kill the defending Commander.
More FOR HONOR Guides
- FOR HONOR Best Builds
- FOR HONOR Tier List
- FOR HONOR Walkthrough
- FOR HONOR Beginner's Guide
- FOR HONOR Tips & Tricks
- FOR HONOR Weapons Guide
- FOR HONOR Combat Guide
- FOR HONOR Boss Guide
- FOR HONOR Maps & Locations
- FOR HONOR Crafting Guide
- FOR HONOR Classes & Characters
Similar Games
If you enjoy FOR HONOR, check out these related guides:
- Helldivers 2 Guide: action game with similar mechanics
- Black Myth: Wukong Guide: action game with similar mechanics
- Monster Hunter Wilds Guide: action game with similar mechanics
