Wiki / Combat
Light and heavy attacks
One attack button: a tap is a light attack, a hold is a heavy one.
Status: Built · Last checked: 14 Nov 2026
There is one attack button. Tap it and your hero makes a quick, small attack (a light). Hold it and your hero winds up a slow, strong attack (a heavy).
How to do it
| Device | Attack button |
|---|---|
| Keyboard | A |
| Gamepad | X |
| Phone | ATK |
| Press | Result |
|---|---|
| A tap | A light attack, however quickly taps follow each other |
| A hold | The attack becomes its heavy, and starts loading |
| Keep holding | The heavy loads and gets stronger, up to a full load after about a second |
| Hold even longer | The heavy strikes by itself |
| Let go while loading | The heavy strikes with the load it has |
When to use which
| Light | Heavy | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Fast | Slow: the enemy can see it coming |
| Damage | Small | Big: this is what knocks out |
| Best for | Starting a string, raising the enemy's damage | Finishing, once the enemy's damage is high |
| If it misses | Costs some stamina | Costs a lot of stamina |
Which light or heavy you get depends on the direction held and on how fast you are moving: see strings and directional and air attacks.
What beats what
- A light interrupts a heavy that is still loading.
- A heavy drains a lot of stamina through a guard, and a fully loaded heavy breaks a guard. See guard.
- A guard, above all a perfect guard, turns a light attack around.
Good to know
- A tap stays a tap even right next to a target: the instant the fight freezes on a hit never counts toward a hold.
- An attack pressed a moment early still comes out as soon as it can.
The full move list with damage is on Hand and shield; each other weapon has its own page under fighting styles.
Nerd section: the exact numbers
| Press | Result |
|---|---|
| Shorter than a third of a second (up to 19 frames) | A light attack |
| Held a third of a second (20 frames) or more | The attack becomes its heavy, and starts loading |
| Kept held for up to one more second (60 frames) | The heavy loads: up to 40% more damage and launch when full |
| Held half a second (30 frames) past a full load | The heavy strikes by itself |
| Let go at any point while loading | The heavy strikes with the load it has |
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| An attack pressed early is remembered | Up to a tenth of a second (6 frames) |
| An attack that hits nothing costs | 10 stamina for a light, 22 to 30 for a heavy |
| Time frozen on a hit | Never counts toward a hold |
| A fully loaded heavy | Breaks a guard |