Improving Lawbringer with 15th and 16th century fighting manuscripts
Aside from giving him some well deserved hyper-armor (given that he's a giant in full plate), I've got a variety of techniques that could potentially be used to improve this character from historical manuals, and with what in-game tools could in theory be used to execute the techniques, i.e. crushing counter.
(Also the clothing depicted looks a little goofy.)
Lawbringer, as a knight, should really have some grappling and be the brutal counter-attacker he could be. The pollaxe is excellent for this:
From Hans Talhoffer from the 15th century, this plate reads:
As they both hit from the roof, from the binding on he then falls around his neck and wrenches him.
By allowing the opponent's weapon to glance off the left man's axe, he steps his foot behind his opponents leg, and places the hilt around the throat, and then pulls his opponent's upper body weight backwards over the foot, tripping him.
In-game, and according to the text, this makes the most sense as a top crushing counter, and would be non-damaging, but would cause the opponent to fall momentarily. Other possibilities could be a parry punish or a trap, though it could work as a guardbreak punish, ignoring the setting aside of the other weapon, and giving the player the option to hook the neck and control where to drop them to the ground, regardless of whether or not they are out of stamina. This could allow for a rapid light follow-up, and teammates getting a hit in or two.
Another plate reads:
The displaced made-up strike, and wrenching therefrom.
Here the man on the left attempts either a strike from the side, or a thrust, which the man on the right displaces, keeping the weapon between his body and his opponent's weapon, he presses the axe forward and hooks the left man at the back of the knee, pulling his leg out from under him; not at all unlike one of Lawbringer's executions.
In-game, this could be another crushing counter, but from the sides. The hook and trip could also in theory be performed from a combo, like Valk's sweep, which would improve his offensive strength with some nasty mix-up potential. It would work the same way as the previous, with bringing the opponent to the ground temporarily without direct damage. Same deal with the follow-up hits as the previous as well.
These two plates display catching the opponents weapon at the bottom end of the axe, and using his opponent's force to power a counter-attack to the back of the neck, or
simply set aside the weapon and hook the neck, introducing their face to the dirt.
This in-game could be a possible crushing counter or a parry punish but this one would be damaging. The crushing counter and parry ideas would work identically: Lawbringer catches the weapon and displaces its strike, immediately following up with whichever of the two counter attacks, be it strike or hook. Either way both are going to damage the opponent and both have face-dirt. I think here I would prefer the strike over the hook. Unlike the previous two, I feel that since it's doing direct damage, the opponent should be getting back into the fight much sooner. I feel that if this were done straight from the parry rather than the crushing counter, it could end up overpowered.
This one is from Paulus Hector Mair, from the 16th century. A soft feint is possible, via converting a heavy attack into a rapid stab from above. I couldn't find the right picture, which is from Joachim Meyer, also 16th century, but this one appears quite similar.
Striking from above, aiming for the opponent's head, the arm nearest to the bottom end of the axe is raised above the front, and the position of the arms would be as depicted, effectively converting the method of attack and changing the target location, getting around the opponent's attempt at defense. Striking from either side and performing the thrust would result in the arms crossed, at least if striking with the front end. Lawbringer does have a butt-spike on his pollaxe, I would imagine it would avoid confusion if that were used to jab forward during the attack startup instead for the side attacks, as the arms would end up positioned in a more similar way as depicted; it would be much more difficult to describe the method of attack otherwise.
This could be a soft feint, and in theory be unblockable, but I think that could make it pretty overpowered if not careful.
Alternatively, this could function like Nuxia's trap, which I imagine wouldn't be op, given the warning before it impacts.
MEMAG demonstrates these techniques and a few more that I hadn't listed, I highly recommend you watch it; it'll help visualize the techniques in a slow, safe, and controlled manner.
With any of these lawbringer could be a much greater threat on the battlefield. One of these could probably be good to replace Long Arm, as it's for the most part pretty much useless outside of ganking, as it would do the same thing: bring the opponent to the ground, but it would do so far more effectively, at least imo. If any of these were used with a parry, it would of course have to remove the quick light smackerdoodle to the face.
Thanks for listening to this martial artist ramble!
3 people found this helpful
Junior Member
Member
