Wiki / Combat
Strings by movement
Tapping attack gives a different string of light hits when standing, running or sprinting.
Status: Built · Last checked: 14 Nov 2026
A string is a set of light attacks that follow each other when you keep tapping attack. Which string starts depends only on how fast your hero is moving forward at the first tap. The names here are for Hand and shield; every weapon has its own strings on its own page.
The three strings
| You are | The string | What it is good for |
|---|---|---|
| Standing or walking | Slash, Back slash, Shield punch | The everyday string. The last hit pushes the enemy a short way |
| Running | Running slash, Driving thrust | Two hits while sliding on. The second pushes the enemy away along the ground |
| In a super sprint | Shield ram, Leaping cut | The ram staggers the enemy and carries them along; the cut launches them up and away. Slow to recover |
How to do it
- Tap attack again and again. Once a string has started, more taps carry it on.
- Hold the way you face during the standing string and your hero keeps walking forward through all three hits.
- From a standstill, a sideways direction pressed together with attack gives the Thrust instead of the string. Once you are already walking, attack starts the string.
- Up or down at the first tap give their own lights: see directional attacks.
- Holding attack from a run or a sprint gives the Lunging stab (a heavy).
Mashing and timing
Mashing the button chains as fast as careful play, but only the first hit does much. The later hits do far more when pressed on the weapon's blink, and a perfectly timed last hit throws the enemy further. That timing is the perfect chain.
What beats it
- A guard: every hit of a string can be blocked.
- With ordinary timing there are small gaps between the hits, in which the enemy can guard, dodge or hit back.
- A miss: the sprint string is slow to recover, and a missed Leaping cut costs extra stamina.
Nerd section: the exact numbers
Damage
| Moving | String | Damage, ordinary taps | Damage, perfect chain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standing or walking | Slash, Back slash, Shield punch | 1 + 1 + 2 = 4% | 1 + 3 + 5 = 9% |
| Running | Running slash, Driving thrust | 2 + 1 = 3% | 2 + 5 = 7% |
| Super sprint | Shield ram, Leaping cut | 3 + 1 = 4% | 3 + 6 = 9% |
Details
- Standing or walking. Holding the way you face keeps the hero walking forward through all three hits, at about three quarters of walking speed.
- Running. The hero keeps sliding through both hits.
- Sprinting. The Shield ram staggers the enemy for at least a third of a second (20 frames). A missed Leaping cut costs 14 stamina.
- The speed you had is still remembered for a tenth of a second (6 frames) after it drops, so letting go of sprint just before the tap still gives the sprint string.
- The last hit of a perfect string throws 30% further, once the enemy is at 35% or more.
- The next hit of the standing string can be pressed 11 and 14 frames into the first and the second hit.
- Naming: the third hit of the standing string is "Shield punch" since 14 Nov 2026; it was called "Shield bash" before, a name now kept for guard + attack.
- Frame-by-frame timings of every hit are on Hand and shield.