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.
These tips go beyond the basics. They're the strategies experienced players use to play more efficiently, the hidden mechanics most people miss, and the optimizations that compound over a full playthrough. If you're just starting, check our beginner's guide first.
Essential Tips
1. Watch the opponent's guard indicator rather than their animation
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.
2. Never commit an attack into a full Revenge meter
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.
3. Spend the first fifty hours on exactly one hero
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.
4. Clear the minion lane in Dominion
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.
5. Learn one punish per hero you fight rather than a full matchup
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.
6. Fight near ledges deliberately, not accidentally
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.
7. Manage stamina like ammunition
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.
8. Play ranked Duels to improve fastest
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.
9. In Breach, protect the ram rather than duelling on the walls
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.
10. Turn off attack indicators only after you understand them, never before
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.
Advanced Strategies
Role Optimization
The difference between an average build and an optimized one is massive. See our builds guide for full breakdowns.
For Knights (A-Tier):
- Focus on Art of Battle three stance guard combinations for maximum output.
- Core gear: Warden longsword
- Stat priority: Offensive stats first
For Vikings (A-Tier):
- Versatile approach that handles any situation.
- Core gear: Kensei nodachi
- Stat priority: Balanced stats
Mechanic Interactions
Understanding how FOR HONOR's systems interact is where the real optimization lives. Our combat guide covers this in detail.
Art of Battle three stance guard + Revenge meter: 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. Combined with 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.
Stamina and exhaustion + Feats earned through Renown: Attacks, dodges and guard breaks all cost stamina. When paired with Feats earned through Renown, renown builds from kills, assists, minion clearing and zone captures, and it unlocks four tiers of feats during a match.
Gear stats disabled in duels scaling: 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.
Weapons Efficiency
| Weapon | Best Use Case | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Warden longsword | Learning the Art of Battle without fighting your own moveset | A straightforward European longsword with average reach and speed, paired with the charged Shoulder Bash that forces a reaction. |
| Kensei nodachi | Spacing control and punishing overextension | A two handed Japanese greatsword with the longest reach among the Vanguard heroes, ending its chain in an unblockable top heavy. |
| Lawbringer poleaxe | Punishing impatient opponents in one against one fights | A long polearm suited to a counter attacking Hybrid who wants to be attacked rather than to open. |
| Berserker dual axes | Relentless pressure and trading through light attack spam | Fast paired axes carrying hyper armour on chained heavy attacks, so the swing continues through hits that would stop another hero. |
| Nobushi naginata | Zone control in four against four modes and holding a capture point | The longest reach in the Samurai roster, built around poking from outside the opponent's range and applying bleed. |
Location Efficiency
Citadel Gate (All modes, Dominion and Breach): 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 (All modes, Dominion): 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 (All modes, Dominion): 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 (All modes, Dominion and Skirmish): 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 (All modes, Dominion): 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.
Mistakes Even Veterans Make
- 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.
Pro Quick Tips
- 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.
- Start with Vikings, switch to Knights when ready
- Invest in Warden longsword above everything else
- Clear areas in order: Citadel Gate → Temple Garden → River Fort → Sentinel → High Fort. See our maps guide
- Art of Battle three stance guard + Revenge meter together are stronger than either alone
More FOR HONOR Guides
- FOR HONOR FOR HONOR Overview
- FOR HONOR Best Builds
- FOR HONOR Tier List
- FOR HONOR Walkthrough
- FOR HONOR Beginner's Guide
- FOR HONOR Weapons Guide
- FOR HONOR Combat Guide
- FOR HONOR Boss Guide
- FOR HONOR Maps & Locations
- FOR HONOR Crafting Guide
- FOR HONOR Classes & Characters
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