On blocking

[Recycled Human]

On blocking

Has anyone else noticed blocking seems to sporadically fail?

I've spent a substantial amount of time using my pure melée combatant and found myself relying on principles of blocking before flourishing or reversing. Now I never seem to have a problem with those kinds of blocks but strangely if I throw up a block and wait for an enemy to attack I can still get hit.

Has anyone else noticed this? Here's an example after chaining three strikes against a balverine it often flees and pops behind you, so I started blocking to prevent their nearly unstoppable rush (I was using a rusty longsword at the time so I don't know if that was the problem...) unfortunately around 1/3 of the time my blocks would fail and I'd end up getting ripped to shreds.

In another example, I was facing multiple bandits and was waiting for one to get pushed back by my block when it spontaneously hit me. For the record bandits seem to only have one 'flourish' and it wasn't one of those that broke my guard.

My reason for being so curious about blocking was for weapon morphing in the next game. My theory is that weapon morphing will rely on and change based on information like how many times you successfully blocked/reversed/chained etc.

Any confirmation or additional information would be appreciated.

 

[Ryu_the_fox]

Re: On blocking

Well, I never block, but if I were to, I wouldn't wait for someone to attack my block, I'd practice blocking when seeing the enemy about to attack. Like what you said about blocking a balverine and waiting for an attack, well it sounds very futile, like they aren't even the type of beasts I'd block against, it would be more wise to move around, seeing as they always move around to hit you in your open spots, you gotta keep it from being open. Like blocking should come in certain situations, not all the time, like sometimes you just gotta keep slicing and dicing. But when you notice an oncoming attack, you should turn in that direction and block.

 

[Recycled Human]

Re: On blocking

Great advice ryu and the thing is, I know you are right. Block is so severely outclassed by dodge roll. Which has 100% effectiveness when depressing the left trigger.

And I just want to clarify my position on why blocking interests me. Blocking and waiting for the opponents pattern gives you a chance at timing nearly perfect reversals. If I said I could reverse every attack swung against me I could kill every enemy by pressing the x button twice with virtually any weapon, however even the most gifted chain attacker with the best weapon in the game would still need more than those two hits to kill an enemy.

As a side note the direction you are facing has no effect on whether an attack is blocked or not (like in the case of balverines), which is why I say blocking looks so cool because the hero parries attacks from behind the back!

As for the balverine, try a block against them it almost completely stops them in their tracks!

 

[Arc Caster]

Re: On blocking

It's awful. Really. Just buy roll and Ninja your enemies.

I might recommend buying it just to look cool, as said previously, It blocks 360. But it fails miserably most times.

 

[Recycled Human]

Re: On blocking

Thank you arc caster, I knew it was flawed. I was hoping it wasn't just me.

The thing is, I speculate that it will be an important part of the weapon morphing (that is if lionhead doesn't just give you an auto block...)

 

[Ryu_the_fox]

Re: On blocking

As a side note the direction you are facing has no effect on whether an attack is blocked or not

When You block you leave your back open and possibly your sides.

 

[Recycled Human]

Re: On blocking

Maybe mines glitched after all... My hero blocks from any direction and yours doesn't. But that would explain why it might fail. I'll have to test that more.

 

[Arc Caster]

Re: On blocking

Actually, If you want to use blocking, stock up on the lucky and luck and skill type augments. They dramatically boosted my character's blocking ratio. And there's less of a chance to back-block then front, it depends on the enemy. I just spent two-hours testing this.

 

[Recycled Human]

Re: On blocking

Did you get a chance to test different weapon grades or types? I hate to ask so much of you but I greatly appreciate your findings! (trying out the augment advice!)

 

[Arc Caster]

Re: On blocking

They all seem to block equally, it may be that weapon speed is involved but my katana blocked the most. 7/10 Against a Balverine. With three different luck type augments.

Edit: Grades all work equally, Types are slightly different.