Kingdom Come: Deliverance Combat Guide | Strategy, Tips, and Tricks

Brush up on your combat skills so you don’t get burned. Here’s everything you should know before your first fight.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a complicated game, as you’re no doubt well aware. But one of the most trying systems for newcomers is undoubtedly the complex combat system that you need to learn before you can make any kind of meaningful progress. If you’re looking to make a dent in any of the enemies you encounter across your journey throughout Bohemia, you’ll need to heed these important tips. Whether you’re a seasoned adventurer or need a little extra help making your way across the landscape, you’d do well to heed these tips. 

How your HUD and health system works

There’s a tutorial in the game that will explain this in a meaningful, visceral way to you, but just in case you need extra help, this basic explanation of the barebones fighting details that you need to keep in mind when approaching enemies. 

You have a HUD with a yellow bar for stamina, red bar for health, and purple bar for your opponent’s overall health. Your most important focal point here is your red health bar. Keep an eye on it, because if you get hurt without your stamina bar being full, you’ll see health being depleted. Your stamina will recharge, unlike your health. 

If you take damage while your stamina bar has been depleted, you’ll lose health points. This brings you one step closer to death. You can keep an eye on your injuries by watching for an icon on the left of your HUD by the bottom of the screen which will denote wounds and other injuries like bleeding or poison. 

Unlike the way most games approach health systems, simply popping a potion or other panacea won’t heal you or get rid of status effects. Injuries like bleeding will require a Bandage so you can slowly begin to start healing. Otherwise, you’ll just bleed to death. You need to care for your wounds as soon as possible, because otherwise you may as well be a sitting duck. 

These are just the basics, however. The combat itself that you need to engage in is a little more difficult than familiarizing yourself with a few different meters and bars. 

How combat works

Combat is a lot more than just swinging your sword hoping to hit something. Keep in mind that you have two different kinds of attacks to use: strong attacks that require more stamina, and quicker attacks that require less stamina and are easier for you to pull off. You can target one enemy at a time, so it’s a constant battle of choosing the right attack and executing it, for the most part. You also need to make sure you choose the right direction. 

The direction in which you execute your attack is chosen via the reticle that appears when you start fighting. It has five different directions that you can move in, with one of the spikes flashing red if you choose that way. Keep in mind which direction you’re aiming your attacks in, because you will need to know this when it’s time to block your attackers. You can equip swords and other helpful items later on in your journey that you can use to block, but keep it in mind the entire time you play—you need to make sure you’re always trying to block when able. 

To keep an opponent in your sights, and to consider when trying to block, you may want to use targeting. You can completely forgo targeting or locking on to enemies to instead wander the landscape willy-nilly, or you can lock on and start wailing on your enemies. Locking on will mean you don’t have to worry about the direction of your attack, and you should not miss when landing blows. If you’re just starting out and need to start building new strategies for blocking and attacking or doing both in tandem, this method of play should work well for you.

You’re going to want to make sure you don’t approach battles going forward as if you’ll live forever, even as you learn more advanced techniques in the future. Entering a battle well-educated and well-equipped is the key to victory, and keeping Henry alive. 

Just getting started? Check out everything you need to know about Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s basics with our beginner’s guide.