Junior Member
Hey everyone. PS4 player here.
I just got my raider to rep 5 and figured it was time to try something else. And I kinda want to try and get good with the highlander. Even with his flaws as a class. Main one being GB distance and a low healthpool in my opinion.
Anyway, I always seem to fall short in 1v1 battles. I try to play him defensively, 'cuz I get punished 9/10 times I enter offensive stance.
Anyone who would take the time to give some tips and tricks? Thanks in advance!
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@Eightballer
Rep 7 Highlander here.
1.Usually I use baiting strategy: I intentionally missed my first attack and I continue to hit them with heavy. A lot of players will tricked by this, mostly low-mid skilled players. High skilled player will easyly block or parry this
2.Dont be affraid to spam your light. Its Crushing Counter traits will make other players hesitate to attack. If you lucky or time it good then it will be a succesfull counter.
3.Dont use Celtic Curse everytime for opening. Use it sparringly. Many experienced player know how to counter this. I usually just dodge until he finish the 2nd chain and I will GB him after that. If you decide to use Celtic Curse then dont always follow up with UI Heavy, you can also switch to Offensive form after the first attack.
4.Switch to offensive after first attack. For example after light attack in defensive form you can switch to offensive. Most of the time this will surprised opponent and throw their rythm off. Light in offensive also very good for poking. Its very fast
5.Use feint often and wait enemies to attack and then counter with light.
6.His kick is also very fast. In offensive form, I recommend kicking after doging their attack.
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Rep 27 Highlander here (but on PC, so some things might be more difficult at 30fps)
Like Nufrancis mentioned, baiting is a solid strategy that some people are not prepared for. Whiffing (intentionally missing) an attack into a heavy can give you some pretty quick hyper armor to trade with if your opponent is too hasty and goes all in on you when they see you missed. Can't tell you how many times it works, even against good players. An interesting fact about Highlander's light attacks is that you can move backward and then forward during a single light attack that occasionally forces an opponent to attempt a parry, but they will be out of range and you will hit them instead because you moved back forward. This is extremely situational but I've proven that it can work.
Spamming lights, however, is dangerous especially as you get into more skilled play, as people will just back off while you continuously drain your stamina. If you see someone doing this rather than trying to get closer to you, stop doing it.
Celtic Curse should ALMOST NEVER be used. It's a great move for chasing and catching dodge rolls, but it's too predictable and easy to parry to be used often. The main times I'll use it is if I force a dodge roll using offensive heavies, cancel into defensive stance, and immediately go for it. Works a lot more often than you think.
After an attack (no matter what it is), going into offensive stance and immediately cancelling back to defensive is a faster recovery than simply letting the attack go. Mastering this skill is CRITICAL to avoid being guard broken after a missed move. On top of this, it also makes being in offensive stance more dangerous to your enemy since they won't know for sure whether you'll cancel immediately into a guard break (which a lot of people will dodge into, trying to avoid kicks or tosses preemptively when they see you in offensive stance) or go aggressive in offensive stance itself. It's one of Highlander's best mixups that is difficult for someone to punish depending on the speed of their character's attacks.
Don't be afraid to go into offensive stance without using a move. Yes, it takes a small amount of time and you are vulnerable for a split second, but a lot of people will act (usually guard break or a light attack) immediately when they see you in offensive stance, especially if you're right next to them. If you can learn to go into offensive stance, cancel, and parry whatever they throw at you, you'll be a much more dangerous Highlander player.
Kick can be used during any dodge except back dodges, so if you're decent at dodging moves, you can use it to drain your opponent's stamina and guarantee an offensive heavy. This is pretty complicated to do, so I wouldn't aim for it often.
While a decent distance away from your opponent, going into offensive stance can occasionally make them act aggressively, which you can cancel into a parry. If not, you can use your soft feints in the stance (either offensive heavy -> Kick, Kick -> Toss, or offensive heavy -> Toss) to try to force your opponent to dodge. Using the kick -> toss combo takes a bit of timing, and is somewhat inconsistent due to different dodge distances between opponents. I tend to use Offensive heavy -> Toss more often since it has a built in delay due to feinting the attack itself first. Spacing is extremely important with this strategy, since Caber Toss has a range that is inconsistent with dodges. You'll want to practice this against a friend to get a feel for the distance you need to be at to make it work properly. I personally suggest about 1.5x the range of your top heavy. Far enough to be safe from an enemy's heavy attacks, but not much farther.
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One point to offencive stance. Use it and use it often.
LOT of players a rly affraid of ur stance. And you keep distance, they usually try to do some fastest and longest attack to interupt that. If u know that, u can simply side dodge some jump attack, after dodge kick and heavy. If u fight against assasins or just fast heroes, side dodge and do offensive light and stay in offensive. Sometimes do this, sometimes do kick to grab feint, sometimes just cancel offensive stance.
More mindgames, more possibilities! GL.
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