There are an INFINITE number of combos. There is no possible way for me to cover every conceivable series of shots. Even if I start with 30 basic swings I think I'll be doing you a disservice. So instead I'm going to talk about the big meta picture of all the ways you can make combos and then leave you to make your own. In the process of trying to get there though I'll leave you with more then a few examples so that you've got some building blocks to work with at the very least. What I often did when training people is that I'd teach them one series of shots, ranging from 2 to 5 swings and then, once they'd learn that I'd ask them to modify that setup by changing their target locations. If you can get the basics of a combo down, like the timing and footwork of the swings, then changing out the target locations for where you swing is easy enough. There's 4 basic things you can attempt to accomplish by stringing together a series of shots (a combination). The first thing that you can attempt to accomplish with a combo is to fire shots off fast enough at target locations that are far away from each other (divide). (I'll unpack that I swear). The second strategy is to manipulate your opponents defense in order to get around it (overwhelm). The third strategy is get your opponent to follow you only to then go in the opposite direction that you set up (outsmart). The fourth strategy is the bait and switch which I've talked about in the past under the heading of the 3 split in which one shot can easily become 3 other similar swings.
Divide
To unpack that first piece I'm going to have to spend some time setting up terms. The first one is quadrants. You can divide a person into 4 target zones that go left to right and then top to bottom in the same way you'd set up a graph. This provides you with two high quadrants, one left, one right and two low quadrants, one left, one right. Your goal when trying to exploit the first strategy for combos is to make sure that when you throw shots you don't have any 2 land in the same quadrant. As a concrete example of this, so I don't lose anyone, there's a shot that's been pretty commonly referred to as the tick-tock. You start on one side of a person's body with your first throw (let's say quadrant II [top, and right]) then you immediately transfer the momentum from the rebound from that first shot by flipping your wrist to immediately take a shot to the opposite side of their body (per our example you go to quadrant I). This shot is pretty easy to execute which is probably why it's both so well known and so popular. But a better version of the same shot would transfer from quadrant II to quadrant III, so that in addition to switching from left to right you also switch from high to low. This type of combination shot relies on a person either leaving their guard in place so that they don't move their guard to absorb the second shot, OR if you get really lucky, they overblock the first swing, causing your second swing to have an even bigger opening. While the one shot example I've listed off is a 2 shot series you can basically arbitrarily chain shots together in order to accomplish the same thing. A 3 shot version of the same idea would be to go quadrant II (high right), quadrant I (high left), quadrant 4 (low right) or shoulder, high cross, hip wrap. I'm just talking about big ideas for now so rather then see any example as "the best thing ever" just try to absorb the concept. Generally speaking if your first shot is on the right side your second shot should be on the left (unless we're discussing the second style of combo). If your first shot is high your second shot should be low, yesterday I was able to repeatedly land a (missed) should shot into a leg sweep. The person responded to the shoulder pick by raising their shield they left their lower half open making the leg sweep a sure thing. (Bait and Switch)
Overwhelm
The second combo strategy is about forcing your way through a person's defense. Rather then try to give your opponent bad information by throwing to one side and then the other you're more likely to target the same zone repeatedly with just minor changes to your shots or your shot placement. With a red weapon a common strategy for this is to go for the shield side shoulder twice in a row. The first shot is simply thrown to swat the shield down, while the second shot is designed to get the kill. The beauty of doing this shot with a red is that so long as there is sufficient force on both swings even if you fuck up the combo you can still have broken the shield. A similar sort of technique with a florentine set is to instead target your opponents sword (something I normally rail against) with one hand, only to immediately follow up with the other hand. If you can pin their weapon, or knock it down you can then bypass their guard by following up with a shot immediately. That particular strategy to beat a person's sword arm is almost uniquely a setup that's granted by fighting florentine, as with any other weapon set you don't have get a second swing after you pin their weapon. A one handed version of this shot is to strike at a person's hand outside their guard in order to get them to pull their guard out. Once you've thrown that shot a number of times, if your opponent does not fully return to guard, then you'll have an available shot at that arm. Other versions of this particular tactic can involve deliberately missing a shot in order to mis-portray your range, only to then throw the exact same shot but at your maximum reach. To execute that shot simply choke up on your weapon for the first swing then pull your hand down towards the pommel for the second swing. There's a lot more you can do to increase your range. If you're curious check out the book of rift on page 50 under cheating with range. I'm not sure I've yet written that out somewhere else... so perhaps another time :-P. You can also throw a shot to a target location (like their weapon) and then throw the same shot but turn your wrist (turn a slash into a half wrap) to bypass the angle of their guard (turning a shot on their weapon into a half-wrap onto their arm). This works especially well if a person thinks you don't actually know how to throw that kind of shot.
Outsmart
The third strategy for a combo is to feint in one direction and then move in another direction. It's as though you followed the first strategy without actually throwing the first shot. This is a higher level skill relative to the other two strategies, but if you can convincingly threaten/feint shots it's also infinitely safer because you aren't worried about being exposed. One of the perhaps more obvious examples of this was recently taught to some Norcalians by Bhakdar in his tutorials on feinting. I think he called it the body feint, but even if he didn't... that's what it is. When you move to engage your opponent you shift your body weight in one direction - you lean that way, you look that way, you move your arms in that direction and then - you throw a shot to the other side. One example I can think of from a florentine setup is to feint a wrap with your right hand (usually against a right handed sword and board fighter) while sliding to the right. Once the person reacts to this movement (usually by turning and stepping back the other way) you drop in a stab with your left hand towards their gut. You can throw this same shot flatfooted but the deviousness of doing it with the method I've just described is that often your opponent will step directly into your stab so that even if you were going to miss, or not have enough force for the stab in the first place, you'll wind up having enough force and good placement simply because of their movement. If all you do is plant that stab and move to the right your opponent may do the rest of the work for you.
Bait and Switch
Bait and switch is the idea that you set someone up for one swing knowing in advance that you won't necessarily take that swing, because you can also take up to 3 other target locations from that same motion or from that same starting shot. If you step in towards someone that only really tells them that you are about to swing at them. It may hint that you're going to go for a wrap, as that's often a good setup for a scorpion wrap (shoulder pick thrown high), a side wrap (wrap thrown wide around the shield/guard) or a booty wrap (wrap thrown under and up around a shield/guard) but without a person knowing which one you're going to throw ahead of time they are at a disadvantage. For instance if they tilt back to absorb a shoulder wrap but I'm throwing a booty wrap instead they have just made my life much easier. In that case instead of throwing a wrap I may even be able to just throw a flat wrap to that person's hip instead.
There is no right answer
Any way that you string a combo together is valid if it works. Hell, even when it doesn't work in one particular instance doesn't make it a bad combo. Sometimes you just get read when you try to do something tricky, sometimes your opponent just beats you to the punch as you start throwing shots. Whatever the case may be, don't get discouraged if at first you don't succeed. Putting together a combo is a matter of getting all the right component pieces that you can gather and then remixing them so that you eventually throw something your opponent hasn't seen before and doesn't know how to block. While I've talked about the generally strategy for throwing shots, there's more to a combo then just where you strike. A combo also takes into account your footwork which controls where you stand relative to your opponent so that you can modify the angles you get to swing at, when talking about a divide strategy if you can step right and then left quickly, you can amplify that distance between your swings to make that strategy more effective. Timing is also a part of a combo as changing the tempo of your swings, or waiting for your opponents reaction to a certain movement can set you up for success. Blocking, is often also part of a combo as you mix your offense and defense so that after you throw a strike you are also prepared to block, or that somehow your block comes out of your swing. As one example if you chop a target with your right hand, thereby exposing that arm to be struck, it may be possible to flip your pommel up as the shot starts to come back, thereby turning your return from the shot into a high guard for your arm. This in turn can become it's own bait to catch out your opponent even if, as a guard, it's not something you'd normally use. I was watching a video a while back in which the guy teaching the class said something along the lines of "I feel like offense is a result of a person's own creative mix, because you need to be creative with offense, but for defense I can't think of a good reason to be fancy, for defense it's good to keep it simple". I also totally stole that bit about quadrants from him as it's useful imagery.
In an ideal world you don't rely solely on one of the above strategies in the same way that you don't develop one set style. The ultimate form of mastery is to know how to do all the things so that you can flow seamlessly between them as you discover what works best against the opponent directly in front of you. If a person has extremely fast hands doing a divide strategy is going to get you killed while you look for an opening. But if that opponent is slow it may be a great idea. Against an opponent that doesn't move much trying to feint them out with a bunch of movement may just waste your energy making an outsmart strategy a poor plan, while using a divide strategy may pay larger dividends. The reverse of course is also true with a person with fast hands. If they're able to easily snipe your limbs when you throw at extreme angles it also probably means they'll be more active and more susceptible to feints so trying to outsmart them or get them to flinch may work better. In the end it's up to you how you want to chain shots together. As before it's about thinking it through so that you at least have a plan as you attempt to mix your offense up. Since combos tend to be both relatively complex and can involve many technical shots it's often best to commit a combo to memory before you have to use it in a fight. This means taking the time to come up with a combo and then taking the time to actually practice that combo so that you can execute on it consistently. As with most things to become really excellent at fighting you just have to put the time in. If you want to become a top tier fighting it involves a lot of work. That may not be for you and it's possible to still become a good fighter without having to devote all your free time to fighting. My goal in telling you this is not to try to get you to spend all your free time training, it's to make sure you know that you get out of fighting what you put in. Reading this blog may help, but not if you don't practice and apply what you learn.
Stay vicious my friends.
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