When new people are fighting a vet, it must seem like magic when the vet kills them all, even though they were badly outnumbered (3:1, 5:1, 10+:1). The short version is, it's not. I've made a fighting career out of pretty much opting to only fight at really bad odds with the expectation that about half the time I'm just going to be horribly murdered because some particular sleight of hand went awry. However, fighting against bad odds isn't by any means impossible, and the secrets to success are more sleight of hand then any kind of real magic tricks. This post is going to be about how to win or have advantage on those moments when it's all gone wrong.
Step 1: Fight me like movie ninja's
The short version of how to win while fighting outnumbered is... don't do it. Don't ever fight more then one person AT A TIME. The usual mistake people make is they assume that if they all charge at the same time they'll win. The problem with this is that everyone runs at a different speed, so what this lets me actually do is fight a series of 1 on 1 battles very quickly. Against most noobs I can throw one swing and win. I can throw a shot every half a second with a blue in one hand, I can throw a shot every tenth of a second if I'm florentine and pumped, with a red weapon I can throw a shot every half second to every three quarters of a second, but from much further away. A person charging me one a time is going to have to absorb quite a few blows in a short period of time unless they can force me to block. Chances are, if you're new and charging alone, you'll be dead before you can contribute to the fight. Having new people fight me one at a time is my favorite thing. If I get especially lucky a person who is injured will throw themselves at me first, giving me a much easier time as far as getting the kill in. Once a person is injured I can hit them anywhere, I'm not required to land a torso swing or a double tap.
Step 2: Pacing
Everyone moves at their own pace. My idea of a steady walk is going to get me to a place at a different speed the the next guys idea of a steady walk. This comes down mostly to how our bodies are shaped and how fast we move by default. A person with short legs doesn't move the same speed as a guy who is 6' tall with long legs. Even if they are going at the same relative pace there will still be disparity. For those two to learn how to move at the same speed is going to be very difficult unless they've drilled at it extensively. Chances are, if you're a vet fighting a bunch of new people, they don't have this experience. If you can make them move AT ALL, they will often separate themselves so that you can fighting them one at a time again (back to step 1). You can either make them split up by running backwards, at which point the fastest people will keep up with you and the slowest will fall behind. Or you can do this by moving to one or the other side as they advance, causing them to have to pivot to line back up against you. Once a person has been drawn out, you can get some free shots.
Regardless of the pacing of your opponents you can also manipulate your OWN pacing and tempo. Start by moving slowly and getting your opponents to follow you. Feint one direction with your body, then go twice that speed the other direction. Or just keep circling your opponents, changing the speed at which you move, so that people start standing in the wrong place. This will give you those 1 on 1's that you've been looking for or it will open up angles that you wouldn't normally have (see step 5).
Step 3: No support
Assuming the team is working together and hasn't spread out to give you 1v1's and they haven't made the mistake of chasing you then it means you'll have to do the work of slowly picking them off instead. In this situation the first thing to take care of is anyone who has more reach then the rest of the people still standing. A good team is going to protect their polearm and not actually fight you. They're just going to stand their while their support weapons try and end you because that's the right call. The trick then is trying to isolate the support weapon, whether that's a spear, glaive or an archer so that you can fight them alone. In my experience red users are often more aggressive then the rest of the team, so if you can convince them to engage you by staying just outside of their range often they will step out of line with their teammates. When they do, you can close with them and kill them without having to worry about the rest of their teammates taking free shots at you. Another trick that sometimes works is trying to rotate the remaining enemy so that the polearm eventually is on the end of the line as the rest of their teammates are trying to sort themselves around your new angles (see step 2).
Step 4: Gain Mobility
The easiest way to fight a series of 1v1 fights is to simply snipe everyone's legs. A person without legs can no longer maneuver, which means you get to choose when and how you want to fight them. This doesn't mean they're dead or useless by any means however, so keep an eye on them. I see vets get killed by legged people they've forgotten about ALL THE TIME. So watch your backs out there. It's important to note with leg snipes that you want to do this from a position of relative safety. You can either leg snipe a person at the edge of a line, or you can snipe a leg while you are dodging to safety. Never, EVER, step into the center of a line to try and pick off a leg. Opening up angles to your sides is what gets you dead. Leg sniping can also be used to pick off opponent that are legged. Often when a gimp is gimping along the ground they will allow both of their knees to hit the ground. When this happens if you get a leg snipe it's a kill instead of just a leg. The important note for this is that you have to get them moving towards you first (back to step 2).
Step 5: Angles
A great way to not have to fight more then one person at a time is to force your opponents to have to fight through one another. This is subtly different from pacing and where they're standing. It means tracing the lines where people can swing and making sure that those lines intersect with teammates. If two people are lined up so that one is facing you and the other is directly behind them, you are pretty much fighting 1 on 1 unless that second person is a support weapon. This situation often occurs while you rotate around a group of enemies.
The reverse of this is opening up yourself for good angles, this works especially well if there are 2 vets against an arbitrary number of new people. As you rotate the person who is nearest to engage you will shift. Often the people who are not in a position to engage you stop paying attention and leave themselves vulnerable to strikes. Most of these shots aren't immediately obvious and require you to step into them, but if you can get a leg snipe on someone who is focused on moving that's a relatively easy kill. It's also relatively safe if that person is on the outside because you don't have to worry about backup coming.
Step 6: Feints / Tricks
When all else fails... it's time for dirty old man tricks and mind games. Most of the feints that I use are to get my opponents to go one direction while I then head the other direction. Feinting that you're about to engage with your enemy is often useful in it's own right as it can cause them to freeze. If your opponent knows you're better then they are and you pretend to aggress, often they will fall back.
One of my favorites is the side to side feint. You take a light step in one direction and then take a heavy step in the exact opposite direction. Generally if you step left first then you pile onto whoever is on your right immediately following this. Typically I feint towards the middle of the cluster of enemies to see if I can get them to freeze and then pile into a person on the outside of the line in an attempt to execute them quickly. I do sometimes go the opposite direction where I feint to the outside and then try and get a leg snipe on someone in the middle of the line as they step forward to protect the person I initially appeared to aggress towards. For example if you have fighters 1, 2 and 3 in a line where 1 is on my left, 2 is in the center and 3 is on my right I feint towards 1 or 3, which causes 2 to step forward, and then I leg snipe 2 while dodging away from 1 or 3.
You can also go backwards and then forwards as a body feint. I'll use this to try and convince a polearm to overextend, where I pretend to doge backwards to get them to swing at me, and then as soon as they do, I instead advance into them. This can also be used for a leg snipe, especially if your opponents have one mobile person and several gimps. The mobile person will often try to get the engage if you pretend to dodge backwards because it looks like they have advantage. As they step forward, take the leg snipe and then spin off. Now you can work your way back through the gimps.
Another easy trick is to try line up against one opponent and then swing at a different one. In the previous example with fighters 1, 2 and 3 you set up to engage 2, and then swing at 1 or 3 when they aren't paying attention / are moving to catch up. Remember that whenever you swing at someone you need to move so that worst case scenario you're fighting 2 of those people as you swing, rather then all 3.
Step 7: If it's stupid but it works...
(It's not stupid). Here are some things I've seen work that I feel really shouldn't have. Shouting "behind you" at your opponent when you're the only one left. Looking over their shoulder as though someone is approaching them. Making a verbal grunt like "HUH" as though you are about to swing, sometimes your opponents will swing or guard and cringe for a shot that you haven't even begun to throw.
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