In my recent review of For Honor there were some issues that I felt held it back from greatness, but I had generally favourable things to say about it. Since release I have become part of an online community of For Honor fans, and while for the most part this group is saltier than a sack full of League of Legend players wrapped in fried bacon at the bottom of the Red Sea, they also like to highlight the importance of fighting honourably in the game. Perhaps all my years of not playing the objective in Call of Duty have dulled my sense of virtual morality, but deliberately disadvantaging myself for some fabricated code of honour in an online adversarial game is simply not my cup of tea. So here it is, my tips for being a scumbag in For Honor.
Utilise the Power of Gravity
So you’re up against a bunch of people with gear scores of 108, you’re scared but you’re determined and don’t mind dabbling in some unfair play. Well luckily gravity doesn’t care about your gear score, so play your cards right and you’ll be able to send any character into oblivion no matter how shiny their armour. Any character is capable of throwing another character by guard breaking with Square and then pressing Square again with the direction you intend to throw them held on the left thumbstick. Some heroes are better at it than others, and some heroes are straight up born to push people off ledges. The Viking Warlord, Viking Raider and Knight Lawbringer can all pick people up from a run and then hurtle towards an edge and throw them off. Other characters like the Knight Warden and Knight Conqueror can do hefty shoulder barges which can send people sprawling too.
Throwing people off the edge is great because it doesn’t require too much skill, however the problem is that the initial guard break can be potentially countered. To maximise your chances, make sure the person you intend to throw to their death is busy fighting another team mate as they’re less likely to be able to counter you in the confusion. This is especially useful when picking up people on the run as mentioned before. Nothing makes honourable folk angrier than fighting mano a mano (or mano a womano or womano a womano) only to be picked up and thrown into a pit by someone who has just charged in. Also, if you don’t think you can beat someone legitimately in a 1v1 situation, run to a part of the map with an edge and wait for them there.
Never Fight Alone
The dirty fighter’s worst enemy is relying on purely their own skill to defeat an opponent. Fighting at least 2v1 is a much safer option, but the more the merrier. The only thing you have to be aware of is that an opponent’s Revenge meter will charge very quickly when there are multiple attackers, so look out for when they go to activate this and coordinate strikes with your team mates to make quick work of it. This tactic is also totally viable in 2v2 Brawls, where you can turn the tide in a round by having both of you rushing a single opponent rather than facing off against an individual combatant.
You’ll also probably notice people in 2v2 brawls who kill their first opponent and then wait passively for their team mate to finish their battle without stepping in. It goes without saying that this is the very opposite of what you want to be doing. If you’ve dispatched your opponent, double up on the other opponent with your team mate. Don’t forget that a 2v1 is a great opportunity to throw people off ledges or pick them up and smash them against walls.
The Art of Advanced Taunting
Since time immemorial players have been taunting one another after victory. If there was a way to teabag in Pong you can be 100% sure someone would have done it. For Honor gives a dedicated taunt button, where you can press Triangle to perform a character-specific victory movement. By themselves these movements are kind of boring, but if you spam the Triangle button while moving the left analogue stick a whole world of possibilities opens up. Doing this will put your hero into an awkward loop where they continuously initiate the victory movements, with some funny results. A few heroes have particularly denigrating advanced spam taunts, such as the Raider’s repeating thrust, or the Warlord’s Hokey Pokey left-leg-in-left-leg-out dance. By far the most offensive spam taunt is the Warden’s, which looks like they’re having a cheeky tug over your lifeless corpse. The vulgarity of the Warden Wank is only matched by how hilarious it looks. Prove your disdain for sportsmanlike conduct and try it.
Running Away Like Craig David
People will tell you that a fight in For Honor is to the death, but it doesn’t have to be. If you find yourself on the back foot in a match up, don’t stand and wait for them to annihilate you, turn tail and run for the hills! In the absence of gear that increases sprint speed, all heroes move at a similar pace, meaning they can chase you to the ends of the Earth but won’t ever catch you. Better yet, increase your sprint speed by equipping the right gear and turn yourself into a master of deserting fights that get too heavy. Try running away and find one of your team mates in order to indulge in some 2v1 to even the odds. In Team Deatchmatch, be sure to run away and grab some power-ups if things go awry (especially the defensive shield and health), then return and have another crack (preferably when they’ve forgotten about you and are fighting one of your team mates).
These are just some of the basic manoeuvres you can use to cheaply obtain and celebrate victory in For Honor at the same time as showing your lack of moral fibre. Do you have any tips for aspiring lowlives? Let us know in the comments. Oh, I almost forgot…
Use Terrible, Unstable P2P Hosting Despite the Fact It’s 2017
…This one’s on you Ubisoft.
