Combat systems

This is the most action-oriented game in the series, and its achievement list is the clearest description of the combat anyone has published — because each one names a system and then tells you, by its unlock rate, how many people ever engage with it.

Sophia mid-swing with a sword against four armed enemies in a grove of dead trees, one of them carrying a round shield
Four at once, one of them shielded. This is the fight the parry achievements are describing.
Sophia leaps at an armoured soldier with her sword raised inside a burning medieval interior
The medieval present, and the more aggressive combat this entry is built around.

What the game asks you to do

Every bar is the share of owners who hold that achievement, so the list doubles as a ranking of which combat systems players actually use.

  • Returning the favor

    29.9%

    Kill an Archer with a throwing knife

  • Sharp enough for you?

    26.2%

    Kill 25 enemies with a critical strike

  • Cannon fodder

    15.7%

    Lure a Brute into killing 1 soldier while in a rage

  • Untouchable

    15.3%

    Successfully parry 6 attacks in a row

  • Skilled maneuverer

    10.4%

    Stun 3 enemies at the same time using the skill Echo's Return

  • Overboard

    8.4%

    Kill 20 enemies by pushing them down a drop

  • No holds barred

    7.8%

    Stun 20 enemies with throwables

  • Inherited brutality

    1.6%

    Kill 4 enemies simultaneously with a Focus attack

  • Adaptable

    0.7%

    Kill at least 1 enemy with each blade

The systems, named

Every entry below is taken from an achievement description, so each one is the game’s own vocabulary rather than a reviewer’s.

  • Parry

    Six successful parries in a row is its own achievement, so the window is generous enough to chain.

  • Focus attack

    Can kill four enemies at once — the achievement for doing so is one of the rarest in the game.

  • Echo's Return

    A skill that stuns; three enemies at once is achievable.

  • Throwing knives

    Effective against Archers specifically.

  • Critical strikes

    The most-held combat achievement asks for twenty-five of them, which makes this the one system nearly everyone meets.

  • Throwables

    Stun rather than kill.

  • Environmental kills

    Enemies can be pushed down drops.

  • Brutes

    Can be enraged and pointed at their own side.

  • Six mastery branches

    Unlocking all six is rarer than finishing the game.

  • Multiple blades

    Each blade can score a kill, and using every one is the rarest achievement of all.

What the spread tells you

The achievements players do hold are the ones you get by fighting normally — throwing a knife at an archer, landing critical strikes. The ones almost nobody holds ask you to set something up: four enemies in one Focus attack, six parries without a mistake, a kill with every blade. That gap is the difference between the combat you will meet by default and the combat the systems are actually built for.

Where to go next