Ready to try Dark Souls 3 PvP? Here's a great combos primer
Hitstun. Combos. What does it all mean?
Ready to try Dark Souls 3 PvP? Here's a great primer
Dark Souls 3 can be beaten with determination and patience; you do not ever have to git gud. But if you want to try your luck in PvP - to advance through a covenant, protect yourself from invaders, or just experience some of the most interesting gameplay the franchise offers - you're going to have to step it up a bit.
Observing what weapons, armour and abilities your opponents use or looking up builds is all very well, but when you first have a go against real people it's often over so quickly you're unable to absorb what happened. Unlike mobs and even NPCs and bosses, other players will parry and riposte you constantly, and unleash weapon arts that lock you in place and hammer you with repeated blows.
YouTuber neptunusequester has put together a handy primer. It does assume some background knowledge of the game's mechanics, but starts with an optional explanation of hit stun before going on to examine a number of combos for use in PvP. The meta shifts regularly but with a working knowledge of combos you'll find it much easier to understand what your opponents are doing and how to counter it while duelling.
Don't be that chump spamming R1 and being eaten alive by opponents: get a handle on this business and you'll soon be seeing genuine applause rather than sarcastic claps when you rock up to Fight Club.