Overview
To use “the most versatile weapon ever invented” you will pay great costs. The Lawbringer learning curve is steep but you will be rewarded. In this guide we will cover each of his combos, mix up potential, and strategy, I will also cover some specific characters you will need to change your strategy for. This Extensive Guide was created by The Blackstone Legion. This Guide was made over a year ago and some information may be wrong, that said it is still very informative and a lot of the info holds true!
Lawbringer: Movesets
[Legend : R1 = RB/LMB | R2 = RT/RMB]
– [Chain Attack] – Book, Chapter and Verse (BCV)
R1, R2, R1
BCV is going to become your bread and butter in one on one situations, this attack should come out fluently and in many different directions.
– [Chain Attack/Unblockable] – Judge, Jury and Executioner (JJE)
R1, R2, R2
JJE is most commonly the best thing to do when ganking (grouping up) against an opponent, because it ends with an unblockable.
– [Chain Attack] – Swift Justice
R2, R1, R2
Swift Justice when fully landed is your most damaging combo, but with very slow moves and starting with an R2 will not be landed easily, even on newer players.
– [Chain Attack] – Swift Justice Finisher (Swift Justice F)
R2, R1,(Direction input UP) R2, R1
The addition to Swift Justice, Swift Justice F FORCES you to do a top heavy and rewards you by adding a top light to the combo, if you can get off the first R2 you might as well just go for Swift Justice F rather than Swift Justice.
– [Push back] – Impaling Charge (Not in Guard Mode)
(Sprinting) R2
Impailing Charge, most common start off attack from the Lawbringer, its easily blocked but presents much mix up ability in this easy to read and very predictable attack.
– [Push back/Riposte] – Impaling Riposte
Parry, (Direction input SIDE) R2
[WARNING: NOT GUARANTEED DAMAGE] Yes, as you can see from the sign this is not guaranteed damage even though its from a parry, now if you parry a light attack as its intended then it IS guaranteed damage. This attack will impale and allow you to carry your target after a parry. Its upmost guaranteed you will not land this attack unless you parry a LIGHT attack.
– [Unblockable/Stun] – Blind Justice
Parry, (Direction input UP) R2
[WARNING: NOT GUARANTEED DAMAGE] unless you parry a light attack, I would reccomend you do this attack if you parry a light attack. If you parry a heavy and do this, you will get parried back and lose a huge amount of stanima.
– [Riposte] – Light Riposte
Parry, R1
This is the only guaranteed damage you have out of parrying a heavy attack unless you guardbreak. It does just as much damage as the side heavy (Impaling Riposte) opens up to combos.
– [Zone Attack] – Make Way
R1+R2
This Zone Attack has absurd range but is very slow, easily parried and lacks damage, a given that it takes half your stanima to use. What can I say? it does its job to clear out infantry as intended. What is interesting about this attack as well as most (if not ALL) zone attacks. It forces you opponent to stumble and can knock them off ledges and into spikes or fire. Its difficult to punish unless you run out of stanima.
Moving to the more defensive side of things…..
– [Unblockable/Knocked Down] – The Long Arm
(Movement input DOWN) Guardbreak
The Long Arm will flip your opponent over you unless they are in a state of uninterruptability. I.E. Shugoki (Rock Steady) Warlord (Hyper Armor/Uninterruptible Heavies) You can be Guardbroken during this animation if done in the early stages. Make note that with a bit of timing this attack will combo into itself without the opponent being able to roll out of it, keeping note that on its own does ZERO damage. This attack is most useful when ganking someone.
– [Unblockable/Push back] – Shove
(ANY Direction) Dodge, Guardbreak
This attack is meant to open up mixup ability but has no guarenteed damage out of it, most reliably at early levels is Guardbreak but with experienced players that will land 1/20 times. Make note that Shove and all its counterparts will NEGATE the FIRST ATTACK of ANY COMBO, meaning to do JJE you only have to do 2 heavies to get the unblockable. This is a suprise to some adept player and should be exploited. When in revenge mode, shove and all its counterparts will knock people onto the ground, leaving them exposed for an attack
– [Unblockable/Push back] – Shove Alternative (Shove A)
Block, Guardbreak
This is the more useful form of shove, out of a block it comes out fast and the follow up will too, I recommend doing a light to heavy combo out of it due to the speed, this will suprise your opponents because of how slow Lawbringer is but how fast that combo will come out. Note that it won’t combo a third heavy due to the Shove negating the first attack.
– [Unblockable/Push back] – Shove Mix Up (Shove MU)
(Successful) R2, Guardbreak
This is a useful form of Shove that you will most likely use a lot, its the most reliable way to stay on the offensive out of most combos and leads into a combo that chains into itself, while reliable in early leves, the vortex combo can easiy and predictably be Cancel Guardbroken due to the need to guardbreak for the combo to work.
Everything here will be covered more indepth in the strategy section.
Now on to Feats.
Lawbringer: Feats
[Legend Tier # = T#]
Tier 1.
Conqueror – Passive – Capture control zones faster & boosts last longer
From my experience, this ability will make boosts last for about 50% longer, I find it very useful inside Skirmish and somewhat inside Elimination, depending on you Gear stats and following Feats. For instance Conqueror in conjunction with Igneus Imber or Pugno Mortis can aid early game by letting you get the boost that unlocks all your abilities for a limited time, allowing you to run in while everyone is fighting and lay a bombardement of gernades off, I find myself being able to let off two Igneus Imber(T3) before running out. While without it, I can only get off 1. Each one of those is basically a kill. If you find yourself in Elimination always being last alive or if you prefer to run and join a team mate then Conqueror is for you, just to add the edge you need in a boost. I would not use this in dominion despite what it does, it just doesn’t add an edge in the fight from what I’ve experienced.
Harsh Judgment – Reduce target’s stamina for a short moment
Harsh Judgement is my go-to for Elimination, I can always use it in the first fight and it will be ready for my next. This evens the playing field a bit with Lawbringer having such a small stanima pool.
Body Count – Passive – Killing soldiers grants you health & stamina
This is a very solid choice for dominion due to conqueror not really making a great difference when capping points, with sitting on a point giving HP at a consistent rate, this will aid in your mid time of fights or even exploite to regen some hp mid fight in the Combat Zone, but if you find yourself near always sitting on the point defending then it may be best to go with another Feat. This seems rather pointless to have when playing Elimination or Skirmish to the lack of infantry in those game modes.
Tier 2.
Righteous Deflection – Passive – Parry to gain high damage reduction for a short time
This is my chosen feat due to the necessity of Parrying as a Lawbringer, if you parry attacks often you will often have high damage reduction, it only lasts a few seconds, but it lasts long enough to be useful. This is an insurance policy to be simple. You might get hit or punished after your parry due to unforeseen events.
Fiat Lux (“let there be light”) – Throws a flash grenade that blinds enemies for a few seconds
I rarely used this flash grenade due to finding it more of a problem than a solution but if your playstyle has a nack for discombobulating and striking your foe then do it.
Juggernaut – You’re slowed and gain high damage reduction
This ability is a risk versus reward, its extremely useful when being ganked but chances are you will parry the onslaught of attackers which would make more use of Righteous Deflection by not being slowed and still gaining the same reward. You can use it in a one on one situation but they may just run away and you WILL be left in the dust. I can see it being a nice insurance policy when defending a point in Dominion, holding them at the edge of the point and being a living wall. I can also see this being a good combo when paired with Protected Revive.
Tier 3.
Protected Revive – Passive – Your revive is protected & grants allies health
Protected being that you can’t be stumbled and adds some damage reduction, grants allies health as in it gives them a second level to they’re hp bar. (Yellow Bar) Be very careful as there was (maybe still is) a big where if you revive someone while locked onto an enemy then the enemy will recive the hp buff NOT your ally. This is quite a nice Feat to have in Elimination due to the ability to bring back your teammates stronger than they were before.
Pugno Mortis (“fist of death”) – Throw an explosive that deals moderate damage in an area
This is the offensive ability on this list, if you find yourself constantly on the assualt, alone on the front lines then this may be a great option for the most offensive of player, also very useful for when making a hasty retreat.
Second Wind – Recover some of your health
The most commonly chose Feat, you’ll never go wrong with this no matter what game mode, hp recovery mid fight is an amazing thing that deserves appreciation.
Tier 4.
Igneus Imber (“fiery storm”) – Several grenades that deal moderate damage over an area
This is my preferred ability over the other two, despite the Catapult dealing more damage, this Feat is ready to use again in just mere seconds and deals more than enough damage to guarantee a win against even the tankiest of opponents.
Catapult – Call a catapult strike to deal massive damage over an area
This ability is most nearly a guaranteed kill against anyone, exploit and enjoy. Has a long time to re-activate, but if you play Elimination and know how to unlock this Feat from the very beginning, you basically secured a kill at the start of every round.
Regenerate – Passive – Regenerate your health when out of combat
Regen has its use if your in any game mode besides Dominion and find a lack of healing aid around you, but with boosts offering hp and points offering constant regen, this ability is rather lack luster.
To finish, Strategy.
Lawbringer: Gear
If you find youself often thorwing around those grenades we all love, it’s probably a great idea to max out feat cool down reduction and just rain hell down on your opponents.
Something I think is very specific for any Lawbringer build besides Revenge is to max out Stanima Regen and Stamina Cost Reduction. Lawbringer has very little stanima and this will surely save you from many headaches.
I would not reccomend doing Sprint Speed as it doesn’t affect much when your already the 2nd slowest and largest character in the game, your not getting away from anyone friend.
If you use Protected revive, getting revive speed up will be a god send upon you and especially your teammates who will quickly grow attached to you, but if you do this it will be very wise to get Defense up, you’ll be a mobile reviving fortress.
For (a less) Honor(able mention). Lawbringer has a long innate throw distance due to his size, adding more to that may get quite the ridiculously far throw
I don’t reccomend exploitation of bugs in this game but currently theres a bug where Debuff Resistance shortens the amount of helpless frames you have when getting parried, splatted against a wall, and released from a guardbreak. Maybe even when getting knocked on the floor or stumbled.
- Block Damage Resistance – This affects the amount of chip damage, however, this is specifically towards heavy attacks only.
- Revive Speed – How fast or slow you can resurrect someone that hasn’t been executed or killed by an environmental hazard.
- Stamina Regen – This stat tracks how fast your stamina will return in For Honor when you are not directly attacking, dodging, or blocking an attack.
- Execution Health Regen –After you perform an execution this will determine the amount of health you receive instantly after the kill.
- Block Damage – When you attack an enemy this will showcase how much damage you either do to an opponent’s stamina or health if you’re a specialized unit like the Shugoki.
- Sprint Speed – How fast you will move while sprinting around the battlefield.
- Debuff Resistance – This stat determines how effective or ineffective certain abilities like Bleed will be against your hero.
- Revenge Mode Duration – How long your hero will stay in Revenge mode once it’s activated.
- Throw Distance – How far you can throw or shove an enemy after you perform a guard break.
- Revenge Mode Attack – Determines how much extra damage you will inflict once Revenge Mode is activated.
- Revenge Gained by Injury – How much of your Revenge meter is increased by taking damage by opponents.
- Feat Cooldown Reduction – This will determine how long it takes for your various Feats to come off cooldown and become usable once more.
- Revenge Mode Defense – How strong your defense and blocking is when you are in Revenge mode.
- Revenge Gained by Defense – How much of your Revenge meter is increased by blocking incoming damage.
- Attack – How much your base attack is raised in For Honor.
- Defense – Determines your base increase for defense when on the battlefield.
- Stamina Cost Reduction – How much stamina will be used when attacking, blocking, and dodging.
- Exhaustion Recovery – How quickly your stamina comes back after you deplete it all and enter the black and white coloration.
Lawbringer: General Strategy & Prep
Strategy, the most important thing to being a good Lawbringer(or any class)
To start, if anything I say doesn’t make sense to you, please check the Sources and Special thanks, it will link to a few videos I believe explain as best as possible how to do certain combos, mix ups, and special tricks. If you have questions that only I can answer(I don’t think there are any), friend me and I will.
General Strategy and Prep
It’s a general rule of thumb that you know that this class revolves around parries, guardbreaks, and knockdowns. You will need to use all of these if you want to keep up with your opponent, because no you don’t have any stanima, no you don’t deal good damage, and no your attacks are not fast. You NEED to be defensive unless the time calls that they are open for an attack. Your light attacks can and will be consistently parried by experienced players and they will punish your lack of stanima, you need to know how to bend they’re playstyle to your actions.
To begin, you need to be good at parrying, especially parrying light attacks. (This may be difficult at first but once you get it, you are lethal.)
You need to be great at guard break canceling
You should learn your spacing, you have very long reach and can easily punish people’s missed guard breaks with a guardbreak of your own. If they parry you while your a good distance away, chances are they will miss the guardbreak and you can punish.
When at low HP try to bide time for your regen to give you some insurance, it won’t take long and will give you 1-2 light attacks and if your lucky, a weak heavy. You have the best innate damage reduction and the 2nd largest health pool in the game.
Strategy: Combat
Know-How
The Lawbringer in rage mode can shove people on the ground. works off any shove (use and abuse)
Top light comes out faster after blocking a top light.
Due to your low stanima it’s important to note that every time you start a new attack you lose a moderate portion of stanima but every attack that combos after the initial costs less and less, if you can consistenly land combos then stanima will be less of a worry for you.
Your GuardBreak will normally take priority.
Your top light comes out fast enough to stop someone’s guardbreak.
Mix ups are the most common strat for Lawbringer and in reality they are just feinting a hit and [Insert Here].
The Best thing you can do out of a Feint is Light attack quickly or Guardbreak. A good mix up to that is to immediatley do another heavy, after a feint.(Does solid damage but if done enough will become predictable)
Mix ups are always good, predictability can be good, if used properly.
The “Infinite” [Inf]
Shove, Guardbreak, Side Heavy, Repeat or Guardbreak, Side Heavy, Shove Repeat.
I’m sure you know this, its easy, predicatable, exploitable, and most of all useless against any player with a bit of skill or experience. You combo it after any shove or guardbreak. But if you think you can land it, its worth a try. Something to keep in mind is that your Top Heavy is stronger than your side heavy but will NOT combo after a guardbreak, what you can do is after the Guardbreak, throw them against the wall and do the top heavy. If your opponent splats against a wall then they are stunned long enough for you to let out a top heavy (this is true for any class).
The “Infinite” Mix Up [Inf MU]
Shove, Guardbreak, Side Heavy, Shove, Long Arm, Side Light, [Insert Here]
A slightly different rendition of Inf with some added flare and mix up potential, this is rather common as well and isn’t guaranteed if they see it coming. This is exponential to your mix ups opportunities, I prefer to follow this up with a heavy, shove heavy [feint], Light [from different direction] you can also just go into the JJE combo. You can combo Vortex MU into anything you want, they’re firmly planted on the floor but only a side light is guaranteed
The Stanima Breaker [TSB]
Shove, Guard Break, Side Heavy, Shove, Long Arm, Side Light, Guard Break, Throw
Stanima = 0
Dodge towards them, Top Heavy, Guardbreak, Throw, Reapeat
This combo will break your opponents stanima, it may be difficult to land on any player that can Guardbreak Cancel or knows how to dodge your Long Arm.
Slugger
Shove, Heavy, Heavy
The second heavy is an unblockable and this as the name suggests does a ton of damage
Impaling Charge – The Guide
The Impaling charge on its own is quite something but people seem to misunderstand just how shiny it is. First it’s not nicknamed the magnet pole for nothing, it will gravitate toward your opponent and almost pull them into it on its own, but hey, they shouldn’t have been wearing metal armor right?
The average new Lawbringer charges in with this attack and ‘when’ he whiffs he will lose ALL of his stanima. Yes, if you are blocked you will lose 75% of your stanima. To block this attack, simply guard left. If you are parried, you will lose all your stanima.
This attack has absurd reach and will carry your opponent a mile and then some, so when you charge at someone its always nice to add a bit of curve during as to not line yourself up, making it look like you won’t impale them, but Magnet pole will guide its course despite this, also if they are an Assassin type class then they will not have a resting guard, this means you can use the absurd distance this attack reaches to your advantage, you can be 20ft+ and still connect with them, meaning they probably don’t have theyre guard up yet for it.
Impaling Charge Mix Up
A great thing to do is after you’ve done the impaling charge once, you can bait it out by running towards them and instead guardbreaking them, do not lock on, just sprint and grab them to be as fast as possible so they can’t react. if they cancel your guard break or if they are an assassin and do a side dodge you need to be prepared for the punish and act accordingly
You can also instead run up to them and do a light attack. Make sure have your stance pointing in a different direction than they are blocking and don’t go into guard mode as to be fast as possible. (This almost always works once) This opens up combos following the light attack.
The Bait into JJE (TBJ)
Step back while doing a Light into a Heavy and step forward into the Unblockable Heavy. They should be moving toward you to punish after your second swing and the third will catch them, this is easy to read but hard to punish and effective atleast once.
The Shove Wall Mix Up
Guardbreak, throw against wall, Top heavy, side light, opposite side heavy(feint), [insert here] EX: (Guardbreak, throw into wall, side heavy, top light, side heavy) (light, heavy, heavy)
The JJE Mix Up
Light, Heavy(Feint), Heavy [Insert Here] people will realize the parry is coming at the third heavy, sometimes it’s best to feint the second instead of the third.
TBJ Mix Up
Step back while doing a Light into a Heavy and step forward into the Unblockable Heavy(feint), [insert here]
After doing the TBJ its good to use this later into the fight to mix things up.
More class specific strategies are further in the guide.
Strategy: Class Specific
When fighting against certain classes its best to change you style to suit they’re “needs”
Remember, certain players have very different playstyles, this is for the general rule of thumb and average playstyle
General Strategy
Pole arm characters have longer reach and if they space themselves properly then you will NOT guardbreak them out of parry, you won’t have the reach. Its safest to get the light riposte
Characters with poise/hyper armor are best stuck on defensive since they will be more likely to be offensive and trying to trade. (Parry them and guardbreak them)
When fighting the fastest characters its best to block the lights into Shove Mix Ups and parry heavies
When fighting characters with infinite combos, its best to roll out if they try to lock you into it.
Keep your spacing advantage and punish failed guardbreaks with a guardbreak of your own.
Warden
The Two most important things to note are Guard stance and Dodge.
Remember the wardens fastest and farthest reaching attack is his zone attack, keep your guard left if not blocking something else. Watch out for baits to hit you will the zone attack and punish failed attempts with a parry.
Many Wardens rely on the infinite combo, its best to just roll out and not deal with it but if you know how to deal with it, do a light attack to cancel they’re tackle or guardbreak.
Don’t do Top lights, it may be your fastest attack but its still easily parriable and predictable, go for side lights instead or else they will do a fire strike that chunks your HP.
Kensei
Watch out for Unblockable cancels
While it may not seem so, the Kensei when properly spacing can’t be grabbed out of a parry, be mindful of this and instead do a light riposte
Raider
If they drop you on the floor or kick your head in, they will almost always go for the unblockable. attempt to dodge it rather than parry, it will come out too fast for you to be on your feet. It’s best to be ready for a guard break or charge.
Conqueror
Watch out for shoulder bash combo (Vortex) and Lights come out fast but heavies look a lot like Lights, dont mix them up and get punished for trying to do something bad out of a parry. Best to just go for Light Riposte or guardbreak.
Shugoki
Shugoki’s often mistake they’re poise for uninterruptible. A good and easy combo is to shove light [insert here]. the shove breaks the Rock Steady and the light interupts they’re attack.
Mix it up by doing shove guardbreak. You only need a parry or two to exhaust they’re stanima
Warlord
Warlords are better in most ways at disabling and trading, it’s best to parry they’re easy to read combos and to top light attack consistently in order to halt any attempt to headbutt
Peacekeeper
Be Defensive in approach and offensive when close, keep spacing. When Peacekeeper is relatively far away keep your guard up to parry they’re dash attack, be prepared to guardbreak cancel because that will be they’re next go to. most assassins will spam lights due to your slow stance change, its easy to land a parry off them but it can be annoying. A skilled Peacekeeper will keep mix ups strong and often revert to a heavy, light, [insert here] EX (Zone Attack[cancel]) (Guardbreak [bleed]). “Be Defensive” – That Guy Circa 2017
Orochi
Its best not to Impaling charge them, they will go for a dodge attack most often. Play defensive, light attacks are easy to parry and punish against Orochi
Berserker
Be careful of this glass cannon light combos, they’re infinite and after 4 light attacks they get uninterruptability. It’s key not to get hit by a top heavy as it does 55 damage after a combo. if you see this attack coming, remember it is slow and parry it. The light combo will be hard to keep up with but the damage is negligible and can be parried. Be careful for baits, if they go from a light to a heavy, best to light attack them
Lawbringers
When playing against another Lawbringer, remember to punish they’re failed attempts and look out for the Shove combo, most people who play Lawbringer rely far to heavily on Guardbreaks, try not too.
Nobushi
Remember that this charachter has longer reach than you and fast attacks, but they’re light attacks can be parried with a faster reflex, and will basically guarantee a win
Valkyrie
Be very careful of they’re infinite combo, you can dodge the leg sweep but it takes perfect timing and good NET code. It’s safest to roll but you can’t easily punish them if you roll away. I find it easiest to dodge the leg sweep by as soon as they hit you spam the dodge button to avoid the sweep, try to avoid rolling, you can now guardbreak them and punish. Be very careful over the side light combo, it comes out very fast but can be punished if you see it coming, if you get hit by it avoid the leg sweep. if tripped, once you stand back up, spam dodge to avoid an oncoming attack or shoulder bash
Now, for something not so honorable….
For Honor; No Honor
With the impale having such great reach and carry distance you can take someone halfway across the map and toss them off, if they don’t make it all the way, shove them the last bit, if your back is to the wall long arm them into it or off a cliff, while shoving you can’t be grabbed so you can easily drag someone wherever you want them to be and give them a firm push to boot.
Remember when ganking that your long arm combos into itself, constantly flip the enemy over you while your teammates beat them to death. Also keep in mind that in revenge mode your shove will knock someone to the ground, allowing you to pummel them repeatedly.
Sources & Special Thanks!
I reccomend you also read and watch every link posted here, my guide merely sums it all up with my own personal opinion and experience.
Special Thanks to
-Spliced for showing me many tips and tricks as a Lawbringer
(Youtube Channel)
https://www.youtube.com/user/Spliced117/featured
(His Video Tutorial)
(Gear Stats Guide)
-Azbolg the Gaming Orc for a visual video guide to the Lawbringer combos
-Berke for his small tutorial of small useful tech
-rooflemonger for a guide to guaranteed damage after a shove and my original view of damage values
(Shove Damage Guide)
(Damage Values)
-For Honor Wiki for basic information on attacks, characters and a quote from the game.
[link]
[link]
-Reddit for descriptive and detailed For Honor info including Damage Values and bugs in the game, relations directly to Lawbringer.
(Damage Values)
Complete Damage Values For All Currently Released Heroes from CompetitiveForHonor
(Revive Bug)
(Solutions to buff Lawbringer)
A list of recommended Lawbringer changes and buffs (from r/competitiveforhonor) from forhonor
-Twinfinite for its Gear list and detailed info
[link]