Large and in charge, the Lawbringer in For Honor is the Knight faction’s heavy hitting brute. Slow and plodding, don’t get your hopes up by thinking you’ll be dashing around from objective to objective like some iron gazelle. Instead, the Lawbringer likes to pick a spot and take on anything passing through it. They are stoic in presence, and their huge range, mixed with their disruptive skills and devastating counter attacks, makes them the best blend of both the Heavy and Vanguard classes.
Chain Attacks
When wading into combat, the Lawbringer’s side-heavy attacks cover a lot of ground, which makes hitting multiple enemies with one blow a a breeze. When hitting with top-heavy attacks, you will actually stun the opponent for a short amount of time. A stunned opponent cannot see your guard, which is a perfect time to mix it up on them. When ending chains with a top-heavy attack, you can actually get an extra guaranteed light attack up top as well in the form of a pommel bash.
The first chain, Book, Chapter, and Verse (light, heavy, light), is a quick way to capitalize on making your opponent top cautious with all of those stun hits. A quick horizontal swing leads into a heavy follow-up, which ends in a quick poke. This is also a good way to introduce a stunning blow in the middle of the combo, but starting on the sides and transitioning to the top on the second hit. They wont be able to see the third.
The second chain, Judge, Jury, and Executioner (light, heavy, heavy), is an all-in, big damage chain featuring three horizontal attacks. It’s most important feature is that the last hit is unblockable. When an opponent is off-balance or out of stamina and can’t dodge your onslaught, this is a good go-to to force some damage onto them. It is quite slow after the first hit, though, so be wary. Be especially cautious with this one around faster Assassins who would love to poke at you in the eve of those massive swings. Like the first chain, though, this is another good combo to bait a guard into giving you that top heavy stun – but with the last hit being unblockable, it’s not so important that they can’t see which direction it’s coming from.
The last chain, Swift Justice (heavy, light, heavy), isn’t as fast as it sounds, but it is very powerful. The opening heavy attack may be hard to land on enemies who are blocking and dodging well, so committing to this chain when enemies have high stamina might be a mistake. That said, the damage potential is very high. The last heavy attack has a huge range and is very difficult to get away from when swung from the sides.
Other Attacks
The Lawbringer has a smattering of unique attacks that make him incredibly dangerous to stand and square up with.
When not in guard mode, the Lawbringer can rush into battle with his Impaling Charge (sprint, heavy) and run through the first target he hits. He will continue running, posting the poor victim on the tip of his halberd like a Game of Thrones-level hood ornament. This does light damage, but it’s great for running targets off of ledges or out of combat with someone else. And it looks cool. More importantly, whenever a Lawbringer is in play, the entire enemy team has to keep their head on a swivel looking for that charging Knight.
The Long Arm (away, guard break) is a great displacement tool. After connecting with an unblockable lunge forward, the enemy is hoisted up and dumped behind the Lawbringer, knocking the enemy down. While recovering, the opponent is left wide open for a free hit or two. This is also a great option when your back is against a ledge.
When you need to create some real space or want to put the enemy on the backfoot, Shove (left/right/towards + dodge, guard break) is the right tool for the job. This big heave is unblockable and will push enemies back a great deal. Better still, when you land the Shove, it can initiate chains. Putting a Shove in right before your Swift Justice will help land that chain more often. Shove can also be used to mix up foes, so after you hit with it, execute another guardbreak and throw them even further off balance. It’s good for mind-gaming those folks with good guards.
The most signature attacks the Lawbringer has to offer are its many counter attacks. Blind Justice is maybe the primary one, where on Parry and pressing towards with heavy attack, the Bringer unleashes a huge strike that stuns the target. Left and Right + heavy attack will activate a counter version of the Impaling Charge. On block, the Lawbringer can also Parry with a Shove just by pressing guard break.
Tips
- Getting the Parry system down if very important for unlocking the efficiency of the Lawbringer. He is slow and loses stamina quickly, but when you can open enemies up by trashing their timing through Parries, you really save time and energy when delivering successful beatdowns, especially in Duels.
- In Dominion, your Zone Attack is perfect for The Front, as it’s one of the best tools in the game to kill soldiers. Don’t spam it too much, though – you don’t want to be at a loss for stamina when the enemy heroes show up.
- Your very first feat, Conqueror, allows you to capture control zones faster and extends the length of your boosts, meaning you should be leaning heavily on point control during your Dominion rounds.
- In any team mode, your range will give you a distinct advantage against 2-on-1 situations for as long as your stamina holds up. Dont be afraid to be the tank you resemble while waiting for a flanker.
- Do not underestimate the power of the Shove. Especially when coming off of a block, that quick push is sometimes all you need to break up an onslaught of hard-to-Parry attacks. Work Shoves into your strategy early and often to make opponents take attacking you very seriously and to force opportunities that were previously eluding you.
The blending of pushing around the opponent and bashing them with heavy attacks and keeping them at long range while countering wayward blows makes the Lawbringer both a difficult man to master and fight against. With practice, though, your Lawbringer has the tools to single-handedly sway tense Dominion games and Brawls alike. If you want more information, come to our For Honor Wiki.