Combat

Fighting in Feedback is built on the same idea as everything else: what a blow does comes from physical figures, not from a fixed list of items. A weapon's reach, mass and balance (see Tools and Weapons) decide its swept hit, its parry and how hard it staggers. A mob's weight is worked out from its size. Nothing is keyed on the name of a weapon.

Every figure on this page is a placeholder that is still being felt out in play. The structure is settled; the numbers will move.

Keys

All of these can be rebound under the Feedback category in Controls.

Key	Action
G	Parry
Left Alt	Roll
X	Kick
C	Grab (needs a glove)
Z, held	Gun melee stance
K	Skill tree
(unbound)	Off-hand attack

Swung weapons hit what they sweep

A melee swing covers a volume in front of you, as long as the weapon's reach and as wide as its balance makes it (a spear is a thin deep box, a maul a wide one). Everything in it is hit, not only the thing under the crosshair, and a swing at empty air still hits something that was standing in the volume. A block between you and the target stops it. Traits and material perks apply to each target hit.

Parry

Press G to open a short window in which a blow aimed at you is turned aside.

What can parry: a blade, mace or spear that isn't broken, in the main hand or else the off hand. A buckler parries too, and a kite shield turns projectiles back (see Shields). A bow, a tool, a gun or a plain shield does not. With a Feedbacker worn you can parry bare-handed.

Window and recovery come from the weapon's heft (its mass, lengthened by its reach):

Weapon	Window	Recovery
Dagger (lightest)	about 3 ticks	about 10 ticks
Greatsword (heaviest)	about 7 ticks	about 35 ticks

Heavy and long is a wide window and a long lockout: it sweeps across a lot of angle, and it is slow to bring back when it misses. Latency is covered by up to 2 extra ticks, never more, so ping can't buy a parry. The window only covers a frontal cone: 35° either side of your look for a pointlike weapon, up to 90° for a head-heavy one.

When it lands, the blow is cancelled before any trait or perk sees it, and the attacker is staggered: held back and slowed to 40% for a time set by the impact of their blow against their own mass (between 0.2 and 2 seconds). A heavy mob stumbles less than a light one. A parried arrow or other projectile is turned back at 1.5× its speed.

What it costs: a clean parry takes 1 point of wear on your weapon. If the blow was heavier than the weapon's joint is built for (60 Work per Mu of its own mass) it takes 4 more for every whole multiple it was over. A parry that misses leaves you in recovery, open. If you press at a bad moment (still recovering, or on the roll's cooldown) you get a small click and nothing happens.

Parry bonuses

Riposte (a skill): after a weapon parry, your next hit within 1.5 seconds does 1.5× damage.
A bracer from combat gear widens the window by up to 2 ticks.

A bar under the crosshair shows the window and the recovery.

Shields

Buckler: parries a melee blow whole on G (a 4-tick window), throws the attacker back and costs 1 wear. It guards a narrow arc.
Kite shield: on G, returns arrows and bolts the way you look. Melee still lands. It no longer returns arrows just by being raised.
Tower and plain shields: block as before and don't parry.

Roll

Press Left Alt to roll in the direction you are moving (forward if you aren't).

The whole 8-tick roll is invulnerable: it cancels every damage event, including fire and other ticking damage, though not the void or /kill.
It slides about 3 blocks on flat ground.
Afterwards you're open for 12 ticks of recovery, then there is a 30 tick cooldown before you can roll, kick or parry again.

A sash lengthens the roll and shortens recovery. Dodging a real blow earns Veil skill points.

Wall kick

A skill in the Veil tree. Sprint on the ground or roll, then jump, and jump again against a wall while in the air (within 0.75 seconds of leaving the ground): you kick up and away from it. You can do it once per sprint, and it costs a little hunger.

Kick

Press X to kick whatever is in front of you, low (about waist height, so under a raised shield's face), within 1.6 blocks.

It does 2 damage: the kick is for position, not killing.
It shoves by the kick's impact against the target's mass, and staggers targets light enough to be moved. An iron golem is only shoved.
A target with a raised shield loses its guard: the shield is put on cooldown (1 to 5 seconds, longer the lighter the target) and the target staggers.
A kick costs hunger, and shares the 30 tick cooldown with the roll and the parry. The leg visibly kicks.

Grab

Press C to take hold of something within 2 blocks. You need a glove in the Curios hands slot (leather gloves will do): grabbing isn't a free hook on anything, it needs a source.

A grab is a short rope (1.5 blocks) with no reel. The held thing is pinned close, can't parry or roll, and takes 25% more damage. The hold ends when:

you press C again,
3 seconds pass (a skill lengthens it),
it gets more than 3 blocks away (you rolled, or one of you was flung),
you take a single hit of 4 or more damage,
either of you dies or leaves.

A thing more than twice your weight cannot be held: it yanks you instead. Mass is the same stand-in as the parry's (the size of its box). With no glove, you get a deny click.

Off-hand weapons

You can dual wield. Right-click with a weapon in the off hand and nothing else wants the click (a chest still opens, a shield still blocks) and the off hand swings, by its own damage, speed and reach, with its own cooldown, its own traits and perks, and its own wear. There is also an Off-hand attack key, unbound by default. The off-hand swing hits one target along your look rather than sweeping. Guns work the same way with the stance key.

Tethers

A tether is a line that holds a living thing. A harpoon barb, a grapple hook and a grab are all tethers. A tethered creature takes extra damage while held, but the extra is the largest of its tethers, not the sum: two harpoons in one mob wound it no more than one, and one letting go leaves the other's bonus standing.

How a hit feels

Landing a parry gives an impact frame: a one-to-two-frame white flash, a camera roll and field-of-view pop, sparks, and a sound that's heavier for a heavy blow. The two fighters get all of it; bystanders within 16 blocks get a third of the flash. There is no hit-stop (the world never freezes). Missed windows thud dully, a press you can't use clicks, and a faint tick tells you when you're free again.

Fighters also move: the arm raises for a parry (a dagger fast, a greatsword slow and low), you tumble through a roll, and a stagger recoils the body.

Commands

Operator-only testing commands:

/feedback combat: prints the window, recovery and cone your held weapon would parry with, and what your worn gear adds.
/feedback feel light|heavy|custom ...: plays the impact feel at the look point.
/feedback skill grant <tree> <points>: gives skill points.

Better Combat (required)

Feedback needs Better Combat and its Cloth Config installed. It supplies the animation player, the clips and the swing sounds; Feedback decides everything else (what a swing hits, how hard, how fast). Report any problem to Feedback, never to Better Combat's author.

The upswing

A blade, mace, spear or bare hand does not strike the instant you click. The swing winds up first, and the blow lands at the clip's strike, a fraction of the way through the swing: quick for a dagger, late for a maul. A new swing waits until the weapon is about half recharged, and a stagger or a parry, roll or kick during the windup cancels it.

Two hands, or one in each

A spear, a heavy mace (a maul) and a heavy blade (a claymore) take both hands: while you hold one, your off hand is shut, so no off-hand strike and no dual wielding. A one-handed strike weapon in each hand lets you dual wield: left click always swings your main hand and right click your off hand, each with its own swing, and you attack about a fifth faster. The off hand's own attack speed sets its pace. Holding the click does not repeat a swing: let go and press again.

A two-handed weapon is also held differently when you are not swinging: a claymore across the body, a spear at the ready, a bow or crossbow braced.