!!! First off, with this guide I'm simply sharing how I managed to "win" the arena. This is not an all-encompassing guide and it will require you to play a very specific way !!!

I'll be doing a step by step guide from the position of a completely new arena game. This part is useful for all new players even if you're not going to follow the rest of the guide.

First off, we start a new arena save. On the character creation screen there are two important factors. Height and body type. I generally prefer tall, but not freakishly tall. Strong, but lean.

Get fend as your starting skill. Being able to cancel an attack to defend yourself can be very useful. As for starting gear I prefer the metal bar. A little slow, but reliable.

Now we find ourselves within the tavern, our hub. There are only three things of interest here and they can all be reached from the very position you spawned in. No need to move, just click. There's the shop, which restocks after each fight. The roster and recruitment board. And lastly the match list, where you pick your fights.

First off, recruit (don't hire) a character. I recommend making him the same body type as your main character. This recruited character will be your champion, the one who fights most of your fights. Your main character cannot risk fighting (except puglism, we'll get to that in a bit) because death for your main character means game over. Now click the match board. It's time to pick our first fight. And with that we move on to the second chapter of this guide.

Looking at the match board there are a few things to note:

Match types, which determines what kind of fight you will have (fist fight, group fight or 1v1 etc).
Tier determines what rank your opponents will be. The ranking goes as follows: inept > aspirant > novice > adept > expert > master. Your rank is determined by how many skills you have learned. Every two skills you learn earns you a new rank. There's another separate column for rank which determines if you can participate in the fight and what tier of gear you (and your opponents) can wear.

Here's the list of the different matchtypes and a short description of them:

• Puglism - 1 on 1 fist fight, no armour.
  
• Duel - 1 on 1 fight.
  
• Challenger - 1 on 1 fight. No rank requirement to participate.
  
• Fray - Group fight, free for all.
  
• Elimination - A series of duels without any healing between each fight.
  
• Doubles - Two vs two fight, you must bring a hired AI to fight with you.
  
• Skirmish - Same as a double, but three vs three instead.

If you thought the tier/rank thing was a bit confusing here are a few examples to help clarify:
Duel(match) / expert(tier) / aspirant(rank) <- This will be a 1v1 fight with an expert level opponent, but you can join this with an aspirant character. You will both be using aspirant level armour/weapons.
Fray / master / master <- This is a group fight between plate armoured masters. To join this you yourself have to be a master.
Challenger / master / ---- (no rank) <- This is a 1v1 fight against a full plate master, but because it has no rank requirement you can join this with any character.

Now what should you look for? Puglism, duel, challenger and fray.
Pugilism / Highest tier on the list for the most cash reward / Is always inept rank so you can do any puglism fight you find.
Duel / As high a tier as you can do and feel comfortable with / Any rank
Challenger / I prefer master tier which means fighting slow armoured knights / Never has a rank requirement
Fray / There's more money in higher tiers / No matter the rank you can always loot armour off dead opponents so they won't have an advantage over you


!! A new fight type has been added in a recent patch, beast matches! They are high risk, high reward fights that require 2 hired (AI controlled) allies + yourself to fight. Attempt at your own risk, there is a decent chance that one of your fighters will die !!

So how do you win in arena consistently? You stab your opponents to death with a pitchfork. Why not just swing wildly with any other weapon? Because weapon swings are often just blocked or deflected by armour, making them unreliable. Overhead swings? Rarely deflected by armour, but difficult to land. Stabs have the same problem, but the pitchfork solves that. How? It has 3 prongs next to each other making it a lot easier to land each hit, hits which the enemy will most likely try to side step instead of block. The pitchfork is also a low level weapon (aspirant) and very cheap, about 8 silver. These factors make the pitchfork the best weapon in arena.

To increase the chance of the pitchfork appearing in the shop click the recruitment roster and hire a merchant. This only costs something like 3-4 silver.

Your merchant will appear in your hub area. Talk to him and make him look for aspirant weapons only. You will have to fight a couple of matches to make the shop refresh itself, but it shouldn't take long before the pitchfork appears.

When you have a recruited aspirant wielding a pitchfork you are all set for taking down the most powerful foes of the arena. But first, let's talk some strategy:

When fighting in frays it's just a matter of staying out of the fight until there is one opponent left. Gang up on opponents you feel pose a threat, sword & shield users for example. Loot fallen enemies for the temporary benfit of better gear.

For pugilism just make sure you don't get tangled up with your opponent. Step in and hit, step back out, repeat. No getting fancy with upper cuts or left hand punches.

The same goes for any other 1 on 1, step in and hit, step back out. If you don't connect with anything on your stabs it can be smart to simply continue moving forward and out of enemy reach instead of trying to back out. Another tactic you can use is to get very close and personal with your opponent, rendering them unable to attack you, before stepping out again. Something I've learned, but don't show very well in this video is to keep your enemies slightly on your right side. This makes it so the AI will often dodge to the right and makes it easier to hit them as a result. I showcase this better in the video below.

Put further skill points you get into armour skills as we have very little use for anything else. Eventually you will become confident enough to do eliminations.

Hope this helps you. Feel free to ask questions and/or give feedback on the guide. Remember that there are other guides out there with more indepth information on arena, pugilism, fighting techniques etc, so go check them out too.