Here is a video made by DavidiansLair (Not me)
giving you tips about combat, and things in this guide.
BTW: Davidian only made this video, I got inspired by it and made the guide below this video.

So, you've gotten into the meat and potatoes of Pirates, Vikings and Knights II, but you can't seem
to do very well. If you don't know already, blocking and parrying are very important skills that you need to use in this game to win. Below are some guides on how to do it. If you follow those steps you'll start rising the scoreboard and soon become a pro.

Parrying is using your blade to stop another blade from hitting you. You right click to parry, unless you are using a sword/langseax and shield combo, where you can only block. This also works vice-versa, as weapons that parry cannot block. When you parry, you will notice that you will be going a bit slower than normal, so do not parry when you don't need to. You can't parry or block with ranged weapons, and you cannot parry a projectile to stop it from hurting you, that will do nothing.

There is such a thing called Perfect Parry (PP) that you can perform where the enemy player is temporarily stunned and you can perform a quick counter-attack. You can PP by successfully executing a parry. If you don't get a PP but still execute a parry, then you will take a small amount of damage (Not as much as if you didn't parry) and you will not stun the enemy.

In case you don't know already, there are four directions which a weapon can strike. Forward (The person hold the blade above their head when charging and swings down when striking), backward (The player holds the weapon close to them when charging and strikes with a stab), left (The player holds their weapon to the right of them and strikes by swinging left) and right (The player holds their weapon to the left and strikes by swinging right). *Note: the Gestir's spear does not attack like this* There are even some helpful little red arrows near the bottom of the screen that appear when you start your attack, that point in the direction you will strike.
The direction you swing your weapon is judged by the direction you are moving in when you start your attack. This is the same with parrying, there are four directions for parrying.

The direction the enemy is striking in will need to be the opposite of the direction you are parrying in. *Note: To parry like I am going to tell you, you will have to turn off auto-parrying by going into options>multiplayer>advanced and ticking the box that says choose blocking direction manually*
For example, if the player is walking forward when they start their attack, parry when walking backwards, and you will parry them. (So just stay parralel to them the whole time. Haha, 'parry'lel)


Yes, there are still some more things I need to tell you.
One of those things I still need to tell you is that one-handed weapons can only PP one-handed weapons, but two-handed weapons can PP both two-handed weapons and one-handed weapons. If you try to PP a two-handed weapon with a one-handed weapon, you will only get a normal parry.

Two-handed weapons include:
The Heavy Knights big sword
The Beserker's big axe
The Huscarl's big waraxe

One-handed weapons include:
The Sharpshooter's dagger
The Skirmisher's cutlass
The Captain's cutlass
Any sword/langseax and shield combo (secondary weapons for the
Heavy Knight, the Huscarl and the Gestir, cannot parry)
The Beserker's sword and axe combo
The Archer's shortsword
The Gestir's melee spear
The Captain's fist and hook

Here are some exceptions:
When a Beserker is beserked, he cannot be PPed at all.
The Captain's fist and hook cannot parry.
The Sharpshooter's dagger cannot PP (It can still parry though)

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, you cannot PP fully charged attacks,
even if you are parrying with a two-handed weapon and the enemy
is attacking with a one-handed weapon.

If you payed attention, you will now be able to parry
with ease, fight the good fight, and win the good fight!

Blocking is hiding behind a shield you're holding to not get hit by things.
Only some classes can block, because only some classes have shields.

• The Heavy Knight's sword and shield
  
• The Huscarl's sword and shield
  
• The Gestir's langseax and shield

You cannot parry with a sword/langseax and shield combo, you can only block. Like parrying, right click to block. Blocking is also like parrying because you are slowed down whilst blocking.

Aha, here's the important part. You cannot parry a ranged projectile or an explosion. That won't work. You have to block to stop ranged projectiles and explosions from hurting you. But don't worry, you can block melee attacks as well, but your shield takes a small amount of damage from uncharged ones. Charged ones hurt you directly, instead of your shield. You also take a small amount of damage from crossbow bolts and rifle bullet whilst blocking. When blocking, your shield absorbs all (Or most depending on the weapon) of the damage that was going to hurt you. In the bottom right of the screen, there is a shield icon with a percentage on it. This percentage is the health of your shield. When this reaches zero, you will not be able to use the shield anymore. The remaining damage from the attack that broke your shield will transfer to you and hurt you. A shield is valuable, so if you can, try to parry melee attacks instead. You can also pick up shield packs to regain shield health.

Nope, fortunately for you, the shield can block any type of weapon or projectile, and there are no blocking directions you need to know about. Obviously, you can hit people with the one-handed sword or langseax. The shield can also be used as a weapon. If you left click whilst blocking, you can shield bash an enemy. It won't do much damage (About 5), but will knock them back and stun them. When you are shield bashing, you are NOT still blocking. Immediately after a successful shield bash, you will be given the opportunity to do a quick attack with your sword/langseax. This can be very useful in some situtations.

That is all there is to know about blocking. Now you can stop all those things in the air and big hot red loud things (explosions) from giving you booboos and third degree burns!

Well, now you've learnt self defence with the arts of parrying and blocking. Now go out there and practice, then put your new skills to good use!