Lawbringer guide to gear and strategies against match-ups | Forums

[mrmistark]

After extensive play with the lawbringer, I realized there are many good videos and forums about the lawbringer in general but as many of us are starting to become renown or at least working our way up to it, the basic "this is how to use this character" guide isn't helping any more, so I will try to bring a guide with helpful tips and info that I hope will help you.


Starting off first with gear. It is hard to judge the gear in this game simply because there is no numbers, which is aggravating, but after extensive trial and errors I have in general figured out the affects of gear in general. If you have ever played the game you will know that almost every item, from what I've seen, (haven't reached any legendary gear) only one stat really goes up and the rest more or less go down. This means you have to choose a specific area of interest for almost every item. Now before I get into this, THIS IS YOUR CHARACTER. If none of this appeals to your play style then play what works for you, however these are just a general gear overview of what I run and recommend after testing for quite some time. Let's take an extensive look, but first let's go over a few of the lawbringers strengths and weaknesses to further understand why some gear is better than others:

Strengths: Revenge mode is big. Every attack that you block becomes auto parried which is amazing for this guy as he has many moves that start out with a parry. He has top heavy stun attacks, which guarantee you a quick attack. Shove is unblockable!! Not to mention all of his throws have considerable distance. He hits hard, is good at creating distance with shoves, and he can take a lot of punishment. He is a counter attacker of sorts so you don't have to worry about your guard breaking most cases as you will be going for parry into counter attacks a lot. It is also important to note that his feats have 3 total ways you can heal if you choose.

Weaknesses: simply put, super slow, bulky, and he gets exhausted quickly. He tends to get beat by players that are *key word here* good with their quick characters. With a few match ups it can very easily come down to one thing, blocking/ parrying to create just enough of an opening to kick off a series of combos.

Neither good or bad, but most successful play with this character in general is what we call tactical patience; waiting for that opening, timing moves right, the whole 9 yards relies very heavily on your ability to be patient in comparison to most other characters, but more about this later.

So with these weaknesses and strengths in mind, what do we have to worry about and what do we not? This is a list you should mentally make when looking at gear for every character.
We know we don't have to worry about our throw distance, block damage resistance (how long you can guard against attacks before your guard breaks) as much. Things we DEFINITELY need is stamina, the ability to stay alive against multiple attacker which goes into our revenge gain so we can go strait into all the parry combos when blocking.

Now into the meat and potatoes.

Feats: (p) is for a passive ability
1. Conqueror (p), harsh judgement, body count (p)
For feats having passives are nice as it is one less stat you would want to improve for your shaft. I honestly can say body count takes the cake. Starting out its good to kill soldiers to take the middle objective and boost your feat meter to unlock the other feats and it will heal you very quickly. For other modes than dominion pick harsh judgement.
2. Righteous deflection (p), flat lux, juggernaut
This was a tough one between righteous and juggernaut but righteous came out on top for one reason. When you're fighting Juggernaut is amazing, but when you kill the enemy and want to chase someone down, go cap an objective, revive a teammate ex. You literally saunter the speed of a slug. Righteous is very strong and increases your revenge mode exponentially as our blocks become auto parries and is just in general overall solid.
3. Protected revive (p), pugno mortis, second wind
Second wind is just too good. 2 increments of health whenever you need it is very strong. Pugno is tempting, but at least for me when testing hurting the enemy almost always went hand in hand with hurting friendly or missing the attack in general.
4. Igneous imber, catapult, regenerate (p)
For this I went regenerate. Again igneous has too big of a target area, and catapult not enough for me personally and gaining health while running around is very nice. Duels is the only time I use and sort of catapult or grenade effect but feel free to try it out, you may very good with it.

Helm: debuff resistance, revenge mode duration or exhaustion recovery.
No brainer, exhaustion recovery. You get exhausted fast and with lawbringer it feels like days before he's fit to jump back in. My opinion on the others, revenge mode duration is nice, but in most cases when you get it with this guy you're either almost dead because you got double teamed or the enemy is going to get wrecked and not far from dying himself, true to 2v1 as well, the biggest thing with any character is the ability to kill 1 making it 1v1 which lawbringer excels or holding out until help can come. Debuff resistance I find difficult to place. I suspect this will become prevalent when everyone becomes renowned and poison/ bleeding is through the roof, but as everyone's character stands and the inconsistent match ups against said characters with these abilities is too inconsistent to main the debuff resistance, and I would place it on a new load out once you gain renown for those match ups for the next round if we see the debuffs increase in popularity.

Chest: execution health regen, block damage, sprint speed
Here I went block damage. I tried execution for a bit but realized the executions are too slow which causes problems as they are easily interrupted by an incoming opponent, our feats can heal us anyways. Sprint speed, well we are slow anyways, I also tried this, and lets be real, just own the slowness, it doesn't make a big enough impact to warrant not playing into our tank roots and with impaling charge with such good range chasing down enemies isn't as hard as you might be led to believe. Go for block damage, you won't regret it.

Arms: block damage resistance, revive speed, stamina regen
Stamina regen is definitely the priority here. As we said our block damage resistance is more or less irrelevant here. Revive speed is cool, and can help, I'll get into that later, but for this build just doesn't cut it.

Axe: attack, defense, stamina cost reduction
It is important to note that with this particular item, after testing all attack, defense, and stamina regent focused heads, that each seems to even out. I know this sounds ridiculous but hear me out. At first I swore up and down by stamina cost reduction. After testing the others I found between all three it simply depends on your play style exceedingly more than any other item. I went with attack for this reason based on all items being same stats just in different places: attack and stamina are about the same in the fact that you will over time deal the same amount of damage (attack just hits harder, stamina build are weak hits but can chain combo multiple times over) the difference I found was in how long you fight the enemy. If you're playing on a map that has many spots to throw off your opponent stamina is a good choice as you conserve that stamina from the guard break and throw and may help you to survive against a fast incoming enemy, however, in all other cases attack prevails. With the higher attack you are able to kill enemies much faster. You can guard break and combo into loops with stamina, but a couple combos with boosted attack tends to do the trick. Now defense will allow you to take a ton of damage and is meant for a very patient type. I rather dish damage than take it, if I'm slow I want to make each hit count.

Shaft: feat cooldown reduction, revenge mode defense, revenge gain by defense
For this definitely revenge gain as parrying counts towards defense and it is better to go into revenge mode more than have better defense in it as each block turns into a parry to off balance the enemy which already makes handling 2v1 easier enough. Feat cooldown reduction just isn't good enough to warrant wasting anything on revenge especially with our passives.

Spike: throw distance, revenge mode attack, revenge gained by injury
So we already got that our throw distance is good already and creates enough space. Really it comes down to revenge mode attack or gain. Now I've tested both very extensively more than any other equipment, even the axe heads which had been a meticulous adventure. I then decided to go for attack and my reasoning is this: yes gaining revenge is very important, but I found with my revenge gained by defense I was getting it just as fast than having both and realized my revenge meter fills almost strictly from my blocking and parrying, even 2v1 due to external blocks. Also I almost always got revenge mode 2v1 which means I need to somehow make it 1v1 or I will most likely die eventually. Quick kills over minimum revenge gain (for me as a player personally) is worth the trade off. This however also depends on your experience in the game. I think as someone still learning the ropes and timing, especially for parrying, revenge gain may be better for you until you hone your skills.

Alternative gear loadouts:

For the patient defender: swap the axe's attack for defense, and revenge gained by injury spike

For the combat reviver: swap arms to have revive speed and your spike for throw distance, and your third feat to be protective revive. It's really funny throwing your opponent super far and then reviving your comrades before the enemy can hit you. (Swapping chest for sprint speed may be smart if you fully commit to doing almost exclusively this, and is also good to cap objectives)

For the troll everyone hates: swap spike for throw distance and throw people off cliffs.


Now that we have our gear in order and strengths/weaknesses in mind let's take a look at our match ups. But first the blanket combos and tips.

If you are playing against a decent player with a quick character they will probably dodge your impaling charge and punish you for it. In game test your opponent a couple of times. Practice the range of the impalement too, it has amazing range that will help you be successful against the majority of characters. The A button IS YOUR BEST FRIEND (for Xbox 1, it's quick dodge step in any direction). With incoming over head attacks, or side stepping opposite of a side attack, not only do they waste that stamina, but you have taken no damage and the best part is the fact that by quickly pressing X (guard break) you now execute a shove, which is unblockable and sets you up for a combo and a chained shove after said combo. This is something I recommend all of you master especially with the lawbringer, the sidestep into shove. Now we know that the lawbringers heavy overhead attacks stun. This is going to be very important as well. After a shove should come a combo with an attempt of an overhead heavy in the mix. This does 1 of 2 things, opens them up for a free light attack into either book chapter verse (well call it bcv from now on), or judge jury executioner (jje), or it will create time to bounce back by double tapping A and back to create space to refill your stamina. It is important to know that JJE is unblockable. This should be your bread butter combo when you can. Though slow if the first two hits are successful the last hit is unblockable and should be overhead to stun theming possible.

It is important to note that the biggest thing here with the lawbringer is momentum. Once you gain the momentum over your opponent you have the advantage, but getting to that momentum is about 55% of the battle (LEARN TO PARRY!!!), 25% stamina control (if they are low health commit to finishing them off or if not bounce back and create space) and the remaining 20% is your skill with each combo and application of such.

So the basic combo here that I do is either charging impale into a heavy attack, into JJR into guard break into a throw or another combo, and depending on stamina jump back and wait or keep going due to overwhelming health differences. When I jump back I create a big opening almost to where I can't target them anymore and wait for them to come to me. Most of the time they will be hesitant due to the low health, which is good because here comes our stamina. If they come right at us (usually my stamina is regenerated by now, but for lower level just keep jumping back as they come) now side step dodge opposite the attack or for overhead either way and immediately from here we can go into shove and combo again and by then 9/10 times finish them off.

So let's look at the tiers here that I've made for speed and general weapon type, please note this is not an indication of any class being better, it is simply speed, strength, and weapon reach ex. And assuming it is 1v1 and the enemy is at least somewhat knowledgeable in their character and how to play it.

Easy match ups:
Includes Warden, Raider

So these guys are the best match ups for us. They are slow enough to parry easily and to bounce away from when our stamina is low, which means we can be less worried about that last stun move or shove. Take my general outline of chains above and you should be good. Be mindful of the raiders guard break "pick you up and carry across Timbuktu" move though.

Medium match ups:
Shugoki, Lawbringer, conqueror

These guys again are slow so decently easy to parry. Be wary of the shugoki's hits though as they hurt very bad. Other lawbringers is all about getting the jump and side step shoving during his overhead attacks. I have no idea why but it's just a relatively easy match up. Conqueror is just tough to hit. Guard breaks and chain shoves followed by light attacks and combos.


Hard match ups:
Berserker, Valkyrie, peacekeeper

Surprisingly the very fast characters aren't that difficult, they are hard but doable. The hard part is hitting them. Your best bet is to impaling charge them into light attacks and hopefully be able to throw in a jjr or bcv somewhere. You'll have better luck with the later as it is much faster. Once you do the series of chained combos almost always does them in. Think of this as the equivalent of us fighting a shugoki but the other way around. If we hit them they are in for some pain, but that hit is a necessity. Side step into shove again will be your best friend. If you can't impale them wait for them to come to you and do the side step. Fast characters are cocky against beefy slows like us, they'll come about 8/10 times. For fast characters mostly try to just block, parrying is very difficult, this my friends is where you shove them like the bully in school who got held back like 4 times. In general parry, if they are fast characters attempt the parry at your own risk and transition into shoves instead.

Very hard match ups:
Warlord, nobushi

This is one of those where you know deep down you'll probably loose but can hold your own and pray that someone arrives or fight it out with about a 40% win rate against them considering they aren't a bad player. Now nobushi is close to Valkyrie, except has poison damage, is harder to tell which direction her attacks are coming from and just overall slightly faster and ranged enough to be a bigger problem and when we get her close to death she always runs away while we are slowly losing another increment of health from her poison. For her in her mid rushing combos dodge roll away from her and then try to shove or impaling charge or just get the up on her and impale her at the beginning if you can. Warlord is also a problem. Remember the conqueror who I said was just hard to get a hit on? Yeah same thing but now add a quick attack to interrupt a lot of our combos mid attack. Shoves area your best friend and frankly best hope too.

The "Oh F*#% mama didn't raise no B^*#% though" match ups:
Orochi, kenei

Now these guys, I hate to say it because I hate complainers but they do need to be slightly tweaked (I purpose Kensei should be slightly slower, a warden type but very slightly faster, and orochi should loose slight attack as both seem to play to me and against me very similarly as far as speed and strength go, I'm done complaining now) but anyways, yeah the quickness of the double strike is just a killer. It's hard to parry, hard to dodge and hard to be able to even shove. Best bet? Impale them off a cliff. You usually can go about even if you gain momentum, but most of them time that is just waiting for them to make a mistake and capitalizing on it. They are too quick to parry most of the time so Revenge mode with blocking will help get your combos off better and turn the tide.



Hope this guide is helpful and in depth enough for you guys. Let me know your thoughts and any suggestions!

[Aarpian]

Let me know your thoughts and any suggestions!

Play something else until they fix him

[mrmistark]

Play something else until they fix him

How do you mean? I have had no problems minus countering guard breaks

[TTVPappusGaming]

How do you mean? I have had no problems minus countering guard breaks

The only thing the lawbringer brings to the table is being a cc-machine for someone else. He has no mechanic that is inherently his that works.

Shove? No follow-up, dodgeable on reaction into punish
Counter-parries? Mostly parryable unless you parried a light, then you have still the same punishment table as pretty much the whole cast in the game. For heavies you often have worse punishes, because you cant even get the guardbreak.

He is weak against fighting because of the slow block swap time.

Ultimately he is a weaker version of the raider since they both play virtually the same. Heck you even default to the same block direction against them both

[mrmistark]

The only thing the lawbringer brings to the table is being a cc-machine for someone else. He has no mechanic that is inherently his that works.

Shove? No follow-up, dodgeable on reaction into punish
Counter-parries? Mostly parryable unless you parried a light, then you have still the same punishment table as pretty much the whole cast in the game. For heavies you often have worse punishes, because you cant even get the guardbreak.

He is weak against fighting because of the slow block swap time.

Ultimately he is a weaker version of the raider since they both play virtually the same. Heck you even default to the same block direction against them both

Perhaps you are playing too aggressively with him? Shove is very easy to do and is an easy quick attack follow up. I am having trouble being able to combo after the shove sometimes though, it will do just normal attacks instead of JJE or BCV. This is very annoying and should be fixed. For the slow stance changes that's what bounding back or side stepping is forand follow up with a punishing combo. Just practice and try out different things. He's a character you need to excercise patience with and learn the timing of his moves.

[mrmistark]

I think your problem is THAT you are treating him like a raider. They can be similar, but play style is completely different.

[TCTF_SWAT]

Orochi impossible for Lb? I'm really confused on that one.

[Ilxus]

Did somebody else notice that if you read matchup list in reverse characters get ordered by frequency of encounters from most often met to least or is it just my luck?

I'd advise to mix judge jury executioner (the combo which ends with unblockable) with other things often or to cancel out last attack because better players will have enough time to notice it incoming, take a while to remember that you can riposte it, switch guard into correct direction and riposte it - the only chance of them not doing it is if they get impatient after all the waiting and attack too early.

Also remember that only thing you have that is sure hit is light attack after parry/wall throw/that halberd throw, everything else is rather easy to block or dodge. And don't rely on overhead attack too much, trust me, I had it riposted or avoided so many times it's sad.

[RLTygurr]

Orochi impossible for Lb? I'm really confused on that one.

Orochi is far from impossible to beat as LB, actually, it's pretty easy once you learn how. The trick is to not attack for anything but using shove, and waiting until they throw attacks at you. Any dodge attacks to the side? Easy parry into a free unblockable or an impaling charge since parry time for light attacks is slightly longer. Basically just bait out easy parries, and practice predicting them. Generally they'll always attack from overhead since that's their most damaging move (hits 2 times, does considerably larger damage than you'd expect), and the only other safe-ish move they have is their zone attack, which comes from your right.

In short, guard top constantly, bait for parries, watch for dodge attacks, and go to town on that little weeb.