Junior Member
So I'm trying to git gud with the Lawbringer, watching the required vids and whatnot. However, the only law I'm bringing is that of gravity.
The only people I can consistently beat are those that don't know how to dodge or guardbreak counter. Also I'm having a LOT of trouble even just blocking things, the guard switch is just so slow that I can't even block the attacks I can see from a mile away, that wouldn't even concern me on my Warlord.
This of course also means I'm having a hell of a time parrying even slow heavy attacks that would make the Warlord giggle with shield combo anticipation.
How exactly are people doing well with this class, against people who have played this game for more than 2 days?
(Don't even get me started on the peacekeeper, can't even come close to keeping up with those alternating lights.)
Junior Member
Member
Junior Member
Lawbringer is best in team fights like 2v3s and 2v4s where he can disable his opponents even though he's outmatched. In 1v1s however..... yeah, good luck against a Valk or PK who knows what she's doing. Lawbringers kit is just too damn slow to pull of anything better than a block>shoulderbash>light attack combo because everything else can and will be dodged.
Member
Peacekeepers aren't too bad, but I main PK so I might have an advantage.
You're going to want to Shove after every block because you need to shut her down. PKs aren't good at conserving their stamina so you will want to do what you do best and drain their stamina to the point of exhaustion. Shove them, shove them a lot. The only thing you'll have a hard time blocking are the light attacks. If they are not in your face than hold the top guard. If they dodge than block to the direction of their dodge. Other than this the only thing they can do is spam light attacks or try to grab you. Defending against the grab is basic, either you can do it reliably or you can't.
What you need to focus on is getting a single block on their light attacks which really isn't that hard. Once you get the block do a shove and follow up the shove with a guard break and throw them into a wall for a top heavy or go for the side heavy if there is no wall. Follow up with more shoves. All you need is to start the shoving chain and then you'll start eating away at their health and stamina.
Every single Peacekeeper has the same reaction to being hit by an attack, especially by the shove. The reaction is to dodge backwards. As soon as a peacekeeper is no longer the one dealing damage they are going to dodge away to regain the neutral zone. At this point just hold the top guard and wait for their approach. They're going to either do the forward lunge (stupid, stupid idea) or they're going to walk up to you and light attack you on one of your sides. Despite what people claim or from what you've experienced, it's not impossible to block PK's attacks. What happens is you start getting hit over and over and you get frantic and can't keep up because you're living in the past and not focusing on the moment.
Try constantly switching guards as fast as you can while you wait for her to attack. They have a really hard time with that. Just remember that she needs to hit you like 10 times and you only really need like 4 good smacks to her face. Be patient and don't stop shoving her.
Member
I'm a pretty damn good Lawbringer so I'll see if I can't help you out at all.
First of all though, this class is serverely outmatched by almost all other charcters. You're always gonna be fighting an uphill battle and in any competitive play, you're gonna have to put your heart and soul into it just to get a little chip damage while they don't break a sweat getting fast hits in. Don't ever be upset if you lose to the top 4 or if you lose a lot in general. I'd lose 2/3rds of my fights until I was halfway done with rep level 1. Stick through it, learn mechanics, learn characters, and learn your opponent.
Get good at blocking the first hit and counterguard breaking or you're gonna have a helluva hard time. Show them that you're gonna shut down anything they attempt. Punish almost any attack you block with your guaranteed shove. Against most players, you can get an instant guardbreak after and hit them with another guaranteed side heavy which leads into another guaranteed shove and repeat. The guardbreak can be countered and they can roll out of it, but its staggering the amount of players that don't or can't. You can thank them not knowing the character well enough for that. Some players will know it and they will try to counterguard break you. If they do it once, the next time you get them in that situation, just go for a long arm attack and take the guaranteed light. Keep things mixed up.
Keep your guards switching up to confuse your opponent, and occasionally throw in a top light, even if they block half of them. It's your best poking tool. Just don't keep spamming it. If they're at a distance, a random side heavy occasionally clips somebody, it has hella range and some players don't even look for the block or parry because they don't expect it to connect.
There's tons of other little tips I can give you, (I think I'm 60 something in the world with him on Xbone) so if you need more help, just say so man.
Junior Member
Here is some guard change advice that may assist some of you.
For those that are struggling, or having problems with slower guard change classes, chances are, you're playing the class a bit incorrectly during engagement.
First, you need to understand there is a drastic difference between the speed of changing your guard position, and the duration you're locked into a guard direction before you're allowed to make another change. For the Lawbringer, Raider, etc. changing guard stance is in fact instant, but the issue lies with not being able to immediately change again. So no, you will not be able to rotate your guard at the same speed as a faster class. But you can still block, parry, and adapt to their speed; just not using the same tactics those classes use to engage.
For the Lawbringer, you will want to hold your guard to a given direction depending on the class you're fighting, typically their most common attack direction, or their zone attack direction, and hold it there. DO NOT rotate your guard around to attempt to mirror theirs during the fight. This will cause you to be locked to a guard direction when they switch faster than you, and attack in your off position. Wait until they attack and move your guard at that time to block. Because you've held your guard in a given position and are well passed the lock duration, the change in guard to a new position will be instantaneous.
Should you be able to successfully change your guard and block their attack, every class has a recovery timer when their attacks are blocked. This recovery timer takes longer than that the guard lock on the position the Lawbringer has just changed to. Now you can choose what to do next, return to your previous guard position, counter (Lawbringer can shove, Nobushi can disengage, and so on), or attack. Eventually, the idea is to reset to neutral, and return your guard to the preferred side, hold it there, and be able to react instantly to any new attack.
Yes, it's bad that we can't just mimic what another hero can do when it comes to guard change, but we are also not helpless. We are just a different style of play. The classes with a longer guard position lock timers (such as Lawbring, Raider, Nobushi) need to understand that we shouldn't be switching our guard that often. When we do, it should be deliberate, and be because we are reacting, or taking the initiative to engage.
Some of you may find that if you quit attempting to mirror the playstyle of a faster guard change class, and instead make fewer and more deliberate actions, then you will probably start to see increased success.
