PvP Combat Guide [Old Haven]

[Ninijutsu]

UA = Unarmed Combat
MC = Melee Combat
B12 = Battleaxe of the Twelfth Bay

COMBAT STATS (strictly pvp implications)

Strength
Influences how much damage you deal with attacks.
Allows you to deal more damage when destroying objects.

Agility
Shortens your ability cooldowns and lengthens your opponents'.
Decreases damage from arrows.
Decreases travel weariness inflicted by teleportation.

Intelligence
Makes your scents more difficult to see, in combination with Stealth.

Constitution
Provides health points.
Allows you to swim across rivers safely at 100+.

Perception
Increases ability to see scents produced by stealthy characters.
Increases minimum damage with ranged weaponry.

Charisma
Increases the effectiveness of abilities that affect your party.

Martial/Peaceful
Switching to full martial from full peaceful yields a 40% boost to all damage dealt.

Death/Life
Full death grants 20% extra grevious damage and 20% less max hit points, while full Life does the opposite. Grevious damage is HHP damage, and is generally not important for the vast majority of combat situations.

Barbarism/Civilization
Full Barbarism increases constitution and strength by 30%, but decreases intelligence and charisma by the same amount. It's usually better to go full Barbarism but full Civilization has its merits in the PvP world.


COMBAT FACTORS

Attack Bar
When attacking, your attack bar is fully consumed. The higher your attack bar was when you attacked, the harder your attack will hit. Dealing damage also reduces the combat intensity slightly.
If your attack goes through the enemy defense bar, your damage is reduced by the percentage of your attack bar that was consumed by the defense bar before the attack was able to connect. Here's an example: The attacker has 50 attack bar, and the defender has 10 defense bar. The attacker hits the defender with a valorous strike. 10 of the attacker's attack bar was consumed by the defender's defense bar before the attack connected (20% of his attack bar), so the attacker, who can deal a maximum of 1000 damage, will deal 20% less damage (800 damage).

Defense Bar
This is a buffer that reduces the impact of enemy attacks to nothing, until depleted. Once depleted, you may take damage to your armor and HP from enemy attacks. It is important that you keep as much defense bar as you can so that you do not start taking damage from attacks.

Weight
This is how much your Unarmed or Melee Combat stat will affect your attack. Against an opponent with equal stats, a full attack bar will make a 100% weight attack hit for 50% of the opponent's defense bar. Sting and Chop are examples of abilities which use 100% weight. Some abilities hit for less or more weight than normal, like Punch and Valorous Strike respectively.

Delta
This is used in the calculation of the effectiveness of Maneuvers. Basically, if your opponent has more Unarmed than you, your maneuvers will have a weaker positive effect and theirs will have a greater positive effect.

Combat Initiative
This is used to power some moves and attacks. Build this up when you can, you'll need it.

Combat Intensity
The longer a fight goes on, the shorter all cooldowns get. This caps at 10, and will essentially speed up the fight. This is also a resource/requirement for a few abilities.

Combat Advantage
The default advantage is 0. If you have more advantage than your opponent, the number will be positive. If your opponent has more advantage than you, it will be negative. This is a resource that increases or decreases your stats for the calculation of weight AND delta. You gain advantage for hitting your opponent for health or through the use of certain abilities. In fights where you have inferior stats, it is important to try to build this up to even the playing field.

Armor Class
When your attack goes through your opponent's defense bar and hits them directly, you must first penetrate through their armor. If you deal 1000 damage and they have 1000 or more total armor class, you will *ping* them and only potentially damage their armor (unless you are punching, chopping or cleaving, in which case a small portion of your total damage will ignore armor and hit for health damage). Armor class has two values: Reflection and Absorption. If someone has 100/250 armor class, and they take 100 damage or less, their armor will not be hurt. If they take more than 100 damage, their armor will be damaged slightly, and if they take more than 350, they will lose health. Armor breaks when it runs out of hitpoints from absorbing too much damage.


ATTACKS

Punch
The most basic attack, this hits with slightly less than your whole unarmed weight and deals damage based on strength. This move will be essential to most combat styles, as it is a cheap and immediate way of removing defense with its lack of cost.

Knock His Teeth Out
For 6 initiative, you can hit an opponent for double damage with your punch. Effective as a finisher or general hard-hitter if you are a completely unarmed fighter.

Strangle
Pretty useless. If combat intensity is low and you have nothing equipped in your hands, you can hit an opponent for low unarmed weight and higher unarmed damage. Nobody will never use this due to the hands-free requirement.

Sting:
Requires a sword. For 2 initiative, you hit your opponent for your melee combat in weight and damage him based on your strength and the quality of your sword. This is the Punch of full melee combat fighters. Although it has a small initiative cost, it is more effective than a Punch in both weight and damage.

Valorous Strike:
Requires a sword or axe. For 6 initiative, you will reset the combat advantage to zero and hit your opponent for almost twice the weight of Sting and the same amount of damage. This move is used to reset advantage when your opponent has gained an insurmountable lead, and to just hit your opponent really hard.

Chop:
Requires an axe. For 4 initiative, you hit your opponent for your melee combat in weight and damage them based on your strength and the quality of your axe. This is the Battle Axe wielder's equivalent to Sting. It costs more initiative, but the B12 has a higher base damage than the Soldier's Sword. Axes also pierce a percentage of armor, making this attack quite devastating.

Cleave:
Requires an axe and 3 combat advantage. For a whopping 8 initiative, uses 150% weight and does normal damage. Has the longest cooldown of all attacks. This skill is generally useless unless you are sure it will be the last hit you deal. It is generally inferior to Chop if you want to keep advantage and inferior to Valorous Strike if advantage doesn't matter (in which case you won't be able to use Cleave anyway). The only reason you would use this is if you are coming out of a long buildup of initiative and advantage from movement combat.


STANCES
(formally called Maneuvers)

-Note that Maneuvers will only trigger if you A: are standing right next to your opponent or B: have a move in queue on your opponent-

Dodge
This stance has no special effect, but will respond to enemy attacks with your full unarmed weight. Generally you will not be using this stance often, unless you are anticipating an attack.

Shield
The MC version of Dodge. This uses more of your weight than Dodge does, making full melee tankier than full unarmed. However, this is the only stance you can use effectively as full MC.

Bloodlust
Your opponent's moves will grant you attack bar, however, you will respond to attacks with only half of your unarmed weight. It is dangerous to remain in this stance when your opponent is able to strike, but very favorable when they are low on attack bar or are on the defensive. You will be in this stance when you are pressuring your opponent. Use it wisely, and never be caught with it during a meaningful strike.

Oak Stance
Your opponent's moves will restore some of your defense bar, at the cost of your attack bar. This move is not efficient like Slide, as it only restores half of what it costs in attack bar (on equal footing). Try to avoid using this too often. You will be in this stance when you are being pressured hard by your opponent.

Death or Glory
Your opponent's moves will drain your defense bar and grant you Initiative. Useful for quickly building up Initiative, but dangerous. Make sure you don't deplete your defense bar too much.

Combat Meditation
Your opponent's moves will grant him combat advantage. In return, your next ability's cooldown will be reduced depending on how many charges you stack (up to 100% reduction). If you stack this ability to max and use an ability, you will be able to use another ability instantly.


MOVES
(no cost unless specifically mentioned)
Basic Moves

Jump
Grants attack bar. Very short cooldown.

Flex
Unlocked at 6 initiative. Grants attack bar faster than Jump, but gives opponent .5 advantage. Only use when you don't need advantage, like for finishing off dying enemies.

Dash
Grants initiative and defense bar. Moderate cooldown, very safe way to gain initiative.

Charge
Grants initiative and negligible amounts of attack bar at the cost of defense bar. This is on a much shorter cooldown than Dash, but will drain defense bar. Useful for quickly gaining initiative, but keep it in moderation.

Slide
Converts attack bar into defense bar. Very reliable and efficient way to restore defense bar. Coupled with Bloodlust, you can quickly top it off in static combat.

Push the Advantage
Useless.

Feign Flight
Useless.


Advanced Moves

Invocation of Skuld
Unlocked at 10 initiative, costs 3 initiative. Restores a good portion of attack bar and grants combat advantage. This is the best way to gain advantage when you cannot get through their defense bar. If you have the initiative built up, it is pretty cheap for the amazing effect. Useful for preparing a Sting.

Sting like a Bee
At the cost of 6 initiative, consumes combat intensity to replenish attack bar. This ability grants full attack bar when combat intensity is at 10 (as it usually will be), as well as resetting the intensity to 1. Useful for two attacks in quick succession. Example: Sting - Sting like a Bee - Sting

Throw Sand
Unlocked at 1 initiative. At the cost of attack bar, reduces your opponent's initiative slightly. Pretty useless.

Float like a Butterfly
Restores some attack bar, defense bar, and grants advantage on the same cooldown as Dash. Good for emergency situations where you need an immediate boost in defense.

No Pain No Gain
Depletes half of your current soft HP to restore a large amount of your attack bar and reduce the enemy's defense bar. This ability is very dangerous to use due to depleting your health, but it is very useful for preparing a damaging blow, usually in rapid succession of another. If your opponent is already at low defense, you can pummel them with massive damage to their HP by using this. Only use this ability if you are 100% confident in your ability to maintain your defense bar, or if you know you can end the fight quickly with it.


Movement Combat

Call Down the Thunder
Grants initiative. Can be used from far away, but has a relatively long cooldown. This is your main method of gaining initiative in movement combat.

Evil Eye
At the cost of 2 initiative, fully depletes your opponent's attack bar. This ability has an absurdly long cooldown. Pretty self-explanatory.

Stern Order
Grants combat advantage at the cost of initiative. This is coupled with Call Down the Thunder to gain advantage on your opponent before attacking. You get more advantage the higher your charisma is compared to your opponent's charisma.

Opportunity Knocks
Reduces an opponent's defense at the cost of initiative. Useful for preparing attacks in certain situations where it is preferable not to waste time lowering their defense bar by actually attacking. Also very useful for movement combat (where you have tons of initiative) and against high level enemies.

Battle Cry
Unlocked at 14 initiative, you gain a great deal of combat advantage and fully regenerate your attack bar at the cost of 7 initiative and 50% of your defense bar. This is used to quickly obliterate an opponent with two attacks in quick succession. You're left extremely vulnerable after battle crying, so it's best to temper it with a few stacks of combat meditation so you get a devastating blow off very quickly.

Seize the Day!
Requiring 75% or higher attack bar and high combat intensity, this ability grants combat advantage and reduces your opponent's attack bar at the cost of defense bar. You can use this as a moderately safe way of gaining advantage (difficult for opponent to capitalize). Combo'd very well with Float like a Butterfly.

Build Fire
I'm not joking. Let me explain: Let's say you are running from someone, and they have a move queued on you. If you put a sign between you, he will stop moving and his move will not go off, but you can then use a move on him through the sign before he can.


COMBAT BUILDS

There isn't much choice now, 50%~ UA and 50%~ MC with a B12 is pretty much what's optimal now (with only slight variation in stat allocation).

If you absolutely can't afford a B12 and must use a Soldier's Sword, go 30% UA (to avoid excessively powerful enemy maneuvers) and 70% MC and use a shield. You'll ramp up slower with call down the thunder and you have to use movement combat, AND swords deal much less damage thanks to a nerf in world 7, but it's recommended (seriously, get a B12).


STATIC COMBAT AND MOVEMENT COMBAT

In combat situations where you and your opponent are standing still, you are engaged in what is referred to as Static Combat. If you're high MC low UA, static combat is much harder because maneuvers will matter a lot.

When you and your opponent are moving around constantly, it is referred to as Movement Combat. You must keep drinking water to continue to maneuver around your opponent, or else you will run out of stamina and become a sitting duck. If you plan on fighting or leaving your village at all, you should carry at least 2 buckets of high quality water and a waterskin or waterflask with you, so you can maintain stamina levels when running around or running away.


Combat Technique
I can't tell you how to make every correct move in a game of speed chess. All I can do is tell you is good squares for your pieces, how to fork, etc, and then you have to figure it out on the fly yourself.

Know what all the abilities do, use all of them, spar a lot, and you'll get used to it.


Group Combat

In multi-fighter combat, everything changes. Your attack bar, defense bar, and maneuver are globally shared among every combatant, but your advantage, initiative, and intensity are different for individual enemies. For instance, if you are at 50% defense bar and you dash somebody, your defense bar goes up for every enemy, but your initiative only goes up for that one enemy. If you switch to another enemy, you will not have the initiative you just gained on the other.

If you are with friends, you need to know which one of your party has the highest Charisma. You will need to coordinate with them on when it is appropriate to Call to Arms! and Stern Order. This will give your party a much needed edge on the enemy when used at the right time. Try to surround the toughest target and zerg him down with heavy attacks and opp knocks. If you are the one being focused, don't worry about doing anything but keeping your defense bar up; your friends will do the killing.


Team Combat Advanced Tactics

Make sure you are in a spar with all of your team members. Lower level team members who don't offer much help can support you by spamming jump on you, intensifying your combat maneuvers.

Slide: You can slide your allies instead of your opponent, having the same effect on you while not allowing your opponent's maneuver to trigger.

Flex: Build attack bar really quickly without the drawbacks.





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Example of a high level fight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp1UWgUUFpc
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Special thanks to my main sparring partners, who are indirect contributors to this guide.

[Tiberium]

Nice guide

[Amanda44]

Really well explained, i'm so glad you did this, I've had no end of problems trying to understand the combat in this game, all those moves, lol, I find it very confusing and complicated.
This has broken it down nicely and made sense of a lot of it, now I just need someone to try it out on.

Thanks Ninijutsu.

P.s. R.I.P -

[Ninijutsu]

Really well explained, i'm so glad you did this, I've had no end of problems trying to understand the combat in this game, all those moves, lol, I find it very confusing and complicated.
This has broken it down nicely and made sense of a lot of it, now I just need someone to try it out on.

Thanks Ninijutsu.

P.s. R.I.P -

Yeah, ironic how I die the day after I post this

Glad I could help.

[Fobia]

Really well explained, i'm so glad you did this, I've had no end of problems trying to understand the combat in this game, all those moves, lol, I find it very confusing and complicated.
This has broken it down nicely and made sense of a lot of it, now I just need someone to try it out on.

Thanks Ninijutsu.

P.s. R.I.P -

Yeah, ironic how I die the day after I post this

Glad I could help.

And the worst part is you didn't pay attention to your own rules of bringing at least two buckets of quality water, man, you had one bucket of q10 water D:.

But nice guide and very well explained.

[Ninijutsu]

Really well explained, i'm so glad you did this, I've had no end of problems trying to understand the combat in this game, all those moves, lol, I find it very confusing and complicated.
This has broken it down nicely and made sense of a lot of it, now I just need someone to try it out on.

Thanks Ninijutsu.

P.s. R.I.P -

Yeah, ironic how I die the day after I post this

Glad I could help.

And the worst part is you didn't pay attention to your own rules of bringing at least two buckets of quality water, man, you had one bucket of q10 water D:.

But nice guide and very well explained.

Didn't have any water, I came to Brodgar with nothing but the clothes on my back.

[Dill]

Nice guide.

[Slaya15]

Thank you SOOO much for a more comprehensive, explained guide. Usually when I get attacked by another player, there are two hits. Them hitting me, and me hitting the floor. Of course there are some stance swaps and some IP build and stuff in between but it's still a very much one-sided fight lol. Hopefully I can study this better and suit a combat bar to it. THANK YOU!

[Armis]

Well written and very informative for a newbie, 9/10 will read again.

[kaizokuroof]

SOME INCOHERINT RABLINGS OF MADMAN:

OP, troll the how too section and include bits that kambert mastahz like NaoWut, Valten, JordanClarke, Vigilonce, NeptuneJoe (to name a few) and not to toot my own horn, but amidst all the bullshit I spout, there is tons of useful information out there to tackle even the most formidable foes.

Some basic rules in combat:

Stay calm under pressure - Yes, you got one fucking life, the pressure is great, but it doesn't change the fact you've got one fucking life. Just be cool, put on some relaxing tunes and fight like you've never fought before.

Always wait for them to attack. Defenders have the advantage, you've been attacked? no fucking problem! Run away, you have no idea what stats they have, but stats don't mean SHIT. As long as you don't get one hit by your opponent, you're good to go. A nice little tactic is having them auto queue a move on you, you run behind a tree, then when they click to move around the tree you complete the full circle around the tree with an attack ready and BAM, you've just scored a successful hit. (see pic below)

________________________________
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---------------p-----------------------------
------------------o--------------------------
--------Z------o-----o--X-------------------
----------A-------o--------------------------
---------------------------------------------
--------------------------------K-----------
________________________________

So to explain above pic, you're running north (top left of corner on your screen) you are the "K" and the tree hitbox is the 0's. You move past the right of the tree (x) then ajust to P (click far so they think you're gonna keep going) wait for them to adjust for you click and BAM, click to Z and get your attack ready, click picture, watch as your opponent freaks out and gets hit.

Obviously the above tactic is fairly basic and movement combat has been around for a while now, so if you come up against someone who knows what they're doing they may not fall for this one. Another thing I should mention, is that this works well when they are chasing close behind you, the trick is making them think they have you, when they really don't - High risk, high rewards.

Always, Always go with a buddy if possible. You'd be surprised how much easier it is to get out of sticky situations if you have more than just yourself there, even if they're shit at combat, or have lower stats, they're still a distraction and they will still do dmg on a movement hit/0 def hit.

Can't stress this enough: carry as many buckets as you can, you may find you just gotta keep running, np, just keep cool, keep clipping on tree's and watch the minimap for cliffs. If you're losing someone, do not go into jungle, sprint where possible and use claims to clip as well. Mountains are also not too bad for escaping foe's.

Never give up, so FUCKING WHAT you got hit by a punch and now you're QQ'ing you've lost your beloved character, buck up kiddo, keep running you just might get away.

YOU CAN PUNCH AS A MELEE COMBATANT, if you're going for a movement hit, then you're gonna hit them anyways right? Why waste your IP if you're not sure you've got a clean hit, you'll also not risk a stink pink (Sting ping)

it IS okay to take a hit, just make sure you have enough HP to tank the blow and or no one else is going to follow up with an attack on you. although with Evil Eye 1 v 1 you should never take any hit, unless it's movement. Which leads me on to some nice information about this move. Evil eye has a crazy cool down, it's still pretty long even when you've used combat med, but you can use this to your advantage, you've just evil eye'd them, they have 0 attack, they either need to get their attack back some way, be it no pain no gain, flexing, jumping, charging :S :S whatever, just click far enough away from them (so that you won't have to click again in a reasonable amount of time (preferably close to something you can clip on like a tree) and then use the move "Call down the thunder" on your opponent, this move is a ranged move and won't stop you in your tracks. It will count as if you have full defence, but you will be moving, it's similar to thunder charge, see below.

ATTACKING!!!!?!?!?

THUNDERCHARGE: Eipc name no? well, when chasing someone you risk getting stung/punched with nothing stopping their blow except your armor class, this is known as a movement hit. If you have a move queue'd on ANYTHING, be it an enemy, a friend an animal you don't risk this delcious hit, so how do you keep up with your enemy but still keep safe well!!!!! as the name suggests you, you use call down the thunder on them and right as you use it, switch to charge, this will auto follow the target you're targeting! Great no? Well there is more, when the cool down has finished, if you're not in range for charge, then you can quickly hit call down the thunder and switch back to charge, this means you've not risked a movement hit and you can call down the thunder while moving and quickly.

If I'm exceptionally bored later, I'll troll the forums and look for some other tidbits of information.

AND I DID TROLL 4 U:

Basically, shield stance is a way for you to transfer your MC's offensive power into a form of defense. It effectively turns your melee skill into a UA defense by multiplying your MC by 1.25.
If you have 100 mc and are in shield stance it's the same as if you're being hit with 125 ua.

Another reason why MC is used is because of the offensive weights of the moves. Punch is .75 weight, sting is 1.00, and val strike is 1.75 iirc. This means that MC moves will lower your opponents defense bar better than a punch which is the preferred attack for UA users. The up side to MC fighters is that it is much quicker to become competitive in pvp because of how much rings and armor help to increase the stat. On top of this your skill is multiplied by 1.25. The downside to being an MC character is that people who are full UA (the majority of players) will have the advantage of being able to use maneuvers against you, and they will most likely be able to get full benefit from those maneuvers. Since most MC users have low UA and high MC, it means that someone with 2-3 times more UA them are able to get the most out of their maneuvers when using them against the MC character. An example being that Death Or Glory will give them more IP every time you use a move on them and etc. It's not exactly straight fact but maneuver delta depends on your UA vs the opponent's UA. I would say that in order to get full delta on someone you'd need to be about 3x's their UA. As a general rule for an MC character you'll want to have at least 300 UA because otherwise everyone will be able to rape you with their maneuvers, DoG, Bloodlust, Oak stance, all giving full potential to your opponent while you're stuck in shield stance. The reason why I say 300 ua is because 3x's that is 900 which isn't common unless they're in a larger faction. Another reason why it's good to have some UA is that if you're hit outside of shield stance, you'll be hit based on how much UA you have an not based on how much MC defense you have.

Lastly, you will need high strength, a high quality sword, and you will need to be full martial in order to do anything as an MC character. Typical armor class these days is around 1400-1600 so you will need to be able to sting for higher than that in order to do damage to your opponent. Without being full martial you can almost forget about it.

LOL NO, COLEZ suX AGAIn. Punch weight is .87 not .75... COLEZ iz A ScRub, PAy NO AttEnTion 2 Wut HE SAYz if U WUnt the BESSTES7 inFormATIon CONTACT me VIA PM wiTH ur KWeStiONz and I wiLL anZer ApPRoprIaTl3y.

MoveMEnt COmBAT ALlOWs u to BEvcome CompEtatIVe regardless of STATS (EXCLUDING STR IF MC USER) The aim of MOvemNT ComBAT iz 2 clip on an object. A melee combatants best terrain IS forrest, because of the many trees and such that are around. Simple method is zig zagging through north/south and watching the clicks of your opponents. If they dont' have a move queued as you go around a corner, use a sting on them and if UR lUKy POW right in TH E KISSER, assuming ur SWORD is gud and ur str high, it should KO them andu can finish them off with punch (as u have no defensive weight on the ground)

Combat knowledge in DIS isn't WELL known beCAUSe they rely on multiple people queuing punch, which will take down any opponents.

AGAIN lOL @ SCRUB inFORmATion ProvideD bY COLEs and EAT A Dix AmAndA, this IZ a COMBAT thrEAD and U clearly KNOE nOTHinG.

2 SUM UP THE THREAD

Melee combat is the greatest form of combat, when coupled with da movements, the problem with is are.

- It's FUKKEn SLow
- To attk people you need 2 use IP, where as UA opponents can punch flex combo
- Melee COmbaT is FOR the BeTTEr TypES OF PEOple

IN THE COMING DAYS i WIlL RITE up A COmBAT GuiDE foR ALl U SCRUBS (DIS INCLUDED) so YOU cAN alSO HAve tHE kNOWledge ANd BE Az Gud Az the MAstAh hIMZeLf KAyZokUrOWfUUuf

so kaizo, let me see if i am understanding your melee strategies correctly. you are suggesting a pure melee build, stacking 23 IP and firing 4 op knocks (assuming they aren't in oak stance for some reason), and ducking in and out of behind trees? this is your pro melee strategy? first off, a UA character can do any of these things just as well as a melee build, with the exception of sting.

it may be easy to stack 23 IP while you're in a boat, or big open field with 6 buckets of water, but what about closed combat situations, say in a house or a snakey mine tunnel? your 500 melee dude will get eaten alive by equal UA, plain and simple. without movement combats, you stand no chance against oak stance + flex. and going toe to toe, you lose the initiative race against death or glory - your UA opponent will have 23 long before you if they so desire.

i do not recommend the pure melee build - sure it's fun to sting naked farmers for 2000 dmg but in real combat you are going to need UA, if for no other reason than you are going to need to understand the many advantages that UA or even a UA-melee hybrid will have over pure melee.

This will usually mean, they haven't got a maneuver active on you and that they won't be able to auto follow with a move, thus you avoid the hit.

maneuvers are still activated anytime the opponent makes a move, even if there's no "offensive" move queued for the defending player. to see what i mean, turn on death or glory and attack an ant hill. then click "off" the fight to clear your offensive move. death or glory will still work. no?

e: nm, i think i understand what you mean. you can run around in circles calling thunders, as long as he doesn't stand still or have a move queued his maneuver doesn't activate. in general though it is going to be much much more difficult for the melee user to get 23 IP vs 6 for the UA user (which appears to be most of the time, all of the inits a UA fighter needs)

Hi Bitza,

No this is not my "pro" strategy, as I said, it was a basic combo, just to give some people an idea on how to string some moves together. There are other strategies, that you'll understand if I don't share ^_^ but you're right, MC is under-powered toe-to-toe with UA, after all the defensive weight really doesn't make up for much when someone can use double the moves on you and that's where moving comes into play. (also see rule # 1 of combat)

You are correct in understanding what I mean, whenever you move without a move queued, your maneuvers will not activate if someone uses a move against you and you would be surprised how easy it actually is to not actually let someone get a maneuver off. If the player is standing still and has a maneuver selected then that maneuver WILL become ACTIVE if you use a move on them. One other thing to note with the above tactic is that Call down the thunder only works within a certain tile range, even if someone is following you, you can stop them from using this move by keeping far enough away from you (they will still auto follow you) meaning you can pull them into a tree, all you need to do is wait for them to navigate around the tree (using GOB path turned on makes this easier) and use your move on them, thus eliminating that maneuver bonus and if you're really good and lag is at a minimum, you can pull them into another tree before they get into range of you again, essentially denying them of all IP.

Personally I don't bother and just stack and keep them away from me, after all I fight with extremely low stated characters in terms of both skill points and attributes; you also need to know that It doesn't really matter how much IP they have, past a certain point, all you need to know is what moves they can use when you're moving in for attack. Fighting is all about throwing a spanner into the other persons combo/strategy.

Rule #1 of combat, NEVER put yourself into a situation you can't escape from, this is especially important for a Pure Melee Combatant. If you are fighting inside a village, make sure you can retreat through the opening you came in, if you're with multiple people, have someone stand guard where you rammed/palibashed, so that it cannot be blocked with faggit tactics, like alt spawning, or just to lure people away form there if they are forming an ambush.

Avoid caves/mines when you can as again, they are limited in terms of clipping objects, however, you can place sign posts if you're in dire need of something to clip them on.

Mountains are okay for melee fighters, and are generally suited for those that are running away, rather than chasing, due to rocks and cliffs that you can use to clip and as long as the person you are fighting does not have re-enforcement and can flank/come round from different location.

IMO the best possible fighting location for a MC user, is Forrest terrain, because of the amount of objects you can use to clip other players and cause disruption to their chase.

River fighting is also a viable solution..... WHAT do I mean by River fighting WELL

When ever you enter the water, you lose the ability to queue moves and drink water, now lets set the scene, you're being followed by someone who outstats you by 1500 UA, you're basically going to be one hit regardless of movement hit or not, so you've lured them through forests and you're running low on water and you've hit the rivers edge. Well that's not a problem, if you have a little distance on, cross the river, when you make it to the other side, exit the shallows and move a little to the left or right, stop and drink, as you moved left or right from the shore, did they auto follow(home in on where you moved)? If not, you've got an easy kill, queue sting or punch on the combatant and watch them get stung/punched for full dmg in the water. If they did queue a move, use an auto follow move, like slide or dash (preferably something with quick cool down) and immediately after it's queued, select an attack move. This should allow you to queue a move and also set one on to your mouse (where is turns into a sword icon and you can click their portrait to attack). What will then happen is that you will return to the water, if you have enough defense/HP you'll be able to tank the hit and they will be forced to either move and you can click their portrait with sting/punch and hit them for damage, or it's a test of CON, in which you will both wait it out until one of you dies, or alternatively you can return to shore and hope they didn't do the same as you.

You are right though, you can apply these tactics to a UA or Hybrid build.

FYI; I was fairly weak stated when I had this fight and was still able to break AC: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=28856&start=50#p373833

With regards to getting stuck in a house and fighting, as long as you can keep an object between you and the other player, you should be okay. That said, moving in a house is MUCH more restricting then in the forest and your chances of survival/winning start to decrease. It's still possible though.

My final note on Melee Combat, after all my fights with it, I would definitely use it as a support class, so always take a buddy with you (like the grim reefah) and if you can't break their AC with sting/Valorus Strike, you can always movement punch them

*FINAL EDIT*

One thing to take note, with the world in it's current state, with the ridiculousness of high stats that most players have, you will not be able to one shot someone with a MC build, unless you're rocking over 1000 str and a boss sword.