I've played Chivalry for a while now, and I keep seeing other players make poor judement decisions that make them die more than they kill. I am making this guide as a way to help people who want to become better at fighting as well as through general strategy and mindset.

One thing I'd like to say before I begin is that for many people the performance(mainly framerate) of the game slows down immensly. An easy way to fix this is to use the 32-bit version. For certain reasons the default 64-bit version of the game doesn't run very well. As such there is an option in the game launcher to force the 32-bit version of the game to be used. You can find this option in the bottom left of the launcher.

1.Know your fights.
Sometimes it's not the best idea to run into a group of enemies considering how outnumbered you are. It's okay to retreat back into an area and give yourself more time to plan out your counterattack. This can come from teammates coming to your aid or being able to set a trap when your enemy thinks they have the upper hand in battle and left their guard down, leaving them open to attack.

2.Be Patient
Sometimes there's going to be a break in fighting, that's okay. There will be enemies coming soon enough and as such you shouldn't be rushing into battle at a disadvantage. This is especially true when defending an objective.

2a. Watch your health and stamina
A problem I see in some beginners is that they don't allow for their health to replenish after a fight. They sprint into the next battle and die almost immdiately afterwards. Don't do this, take some time to walk it out and wait for your health to replenish. On that note...

2b. Do not always sprint
Sprinting halts your health and stamina and as such shouldn't be used all the time. A topic related to this is the toggle sprint function. Do not use this option, it will only teach you bad habits through sprinting everywhere without allowing yourself to recover. Besides, your pinky can handle holding on to a button for a short while.

3. Experiement!
Each weapon offers it's own take on speed, power, and range. Just because the weapon has to be unlocked doesn't mean it is better for your playstyle. Try everything and take note of the weapons you like.

1.Combos
Sometimes an absolute beginner will only know or will mainly rely on horizontal attacks, or side swings(the attack defaultly mapped to the left mouse button) as I normally call them, and this is a habit you must break. At times the other attack are better and more damaging. The 3 attacks are,

a.Side swing- fast, covers a lot of area, alright.
b.Overhead swing- powerful, slightly slower, useful.
c.Stab- longest reach, small area of attack coverage, useful or worthless depending on the weapon(no good on axes and blunt weapons)

Spears get a different attack instead of an overhead, a slower build up yet stronger stab.

There are alternate versions of the side swing and the overhead, allowing them to be swung from the opposite side. Note that after the first attack these alternate attacks don't matter as the next combo move will follow the pattern of alternating sides.

All 3 of them are useful in their own manners, but to truly be great you must use combos to your advantage. Here are the basics of combos

-Perform an attack while doing an attack to combo into another attack.
-combos can continue forever as long as you have enough stamina and do different attacks
-Stamina isn't used if you are able to hit the body of someone.
-Side swings and overheads can only be performed 3 times consecutively before the combo ends on its own.
-Stabs can't be done consecutively

As such combos are extremely powerful once you get the hang of them.

2.Weapon and class types
There are 3 main different weapon types in the game, blunt, swing, and piercing. Each are more useful against different classes.

Knights are vulnerable to blunt attacks(maces, hammers, clubs)
Vanguards are vulnerable to piercing (mostly stabs of swords, spears)
Archers are vulnerable to swing (swords, axes)
Man at Arms aren't vulnerable to any one type, but generally get killed easily

You can use any weapon to kill an enemy, but be warned that it will take slightly longer to kill the enemy than it would if you had their weapon weakness. Plan accordingly and try to stay ready for anything by having a blunt and swing weapon if possible.

3.Weapon range
An extremely useful move is ability to save stamina by avoiding attacks through staying out of their range. Why waste time and energy when the attack won't even hit you. If you time it really well you can even run in after the attack has finished and attack them before they can respond.

4.Stunning the enemy
When someone is performing an attack, time must be taken to "wind up" and prepare the attack. If someone were to get hit during this phase the attack will be stopped and not be allowed to finish. This is a great strategy if you have a faster weapon which can hit the enemy first since they won't be able to attack. Note that you can mess up and attack too late, causing the attack to still go through and possible killing you.

5.Ripostes
When you parry someone's weapon with your own weapon, if you attack immediately afterwards your attack will be faster than usual. This is known as a riposte and can be extremely useful. Many like to do stabs or overheads for a riposte and oftentimes it will hit the enemy before he can block it. Note that you can't do Ripostes when blocking with a shield.

6.The rhythm of combat and pauses
Consider 2 guys are in the heat of battle, both are parrying each other's attacks until one of them finally runs out of stamina and gets killed. This situation can be easily ended earlier if one of them took the opportunity to fake the opponent into parrying too early so that they can attack. Now, usually this is where feints come in, allowing the attacker to fake an attack, but sometimes if the enemy gets too invested in the rhythm of the fight a simple pause can make him parry too early. This works better because no stamina is used faking him out, and also works well if they are able to block your ripostes(they need to block early in order to stop a riposte, use that to your advantage)

7.Shields and projectiles
Shields have a great feature of blocking any projectile(arrow, spear, axe, throwing knife) no matter where they are on the body. This means that you don't have to be blocking with it in order to block projectiles. A risky tactic is to put your shield on your back and walk backwards into the archer, sprinting when you can see that he missed his shot before walking backwards again. This can be potentially dangerous since your feet are still not protected by the shield and as such take caution took keep moving around to not get hit.

These are only a few tips to help you out in the game of Chivalry and avoid beginner mistakes many make. There is still a lot to learn in this game but the fundamentals are crucial to building a stable foundation to build upon. While this guide is primarily for Medievel Warfare, most of these tips still apply to Deadliest Warrior. Always remember, if you have to fight, fight smart.