There are a total of 14 attacks avaialble to the player:

• 3 Quick Punches (QP)
  
• 3 Hard Punches (HP)
  
• 3 Quick Kicks (QK)
  
• 3 Hard Kicks (HK)
  
• Running Punch & Running Kick (RP & RK)

The player cycles through 3 slots/variants— after you do the third attack, you loop back to the first slot, so doing a Quick Punch after QP 3 would result in QP 1.
It's worth keeping an internal counter: 1 → 2 → 3 → 1 → 2 → 3 → 1

Things of note:

• Parrying instantly puts you in the third slot, setting you up for a HP3/HK3, which are both Launch attacks.
  
• All Kicks (except for HK3) can wallsplat, so if an enemy is close to a wall, it's worth attacking them with kicks specifically.
  
• Hard attacks always interrupt enemy attacks - use this to your advantage.
  
• Running attacks are considered Hard attacks - which means they can interrupt enemies and knock them out when they're dazed.

For more information, check out the Attacks (Player)[docs.google.com] section of my spreadsheet.

Sneak attacks give you a hefty score bonus, and reduce the attacked enemy's health by half. There's no reason not to use them.

The noise you make is only determined by whether or not you pressed the crouch button - how slowly you move doesn't matter if you're still standing completely upright. So, press the button, and off you go.

Not being in sneaking mode is still useful — since crouching zooms in your camera and limits your view, standing up does... well, the opposite of that. This allows you to scout more of the area before engaging in a fight, or check for patrolling guards.

What room the fight takes place in is determined by who initiated the fight:

Originally posted by a16.5 Patch Notes:

The room that combat starts in is dependent on who initiated combat – if the player initiates combat, it will start in the room the attacked guard was in. If the guard initiates combat, it will start in the room the player was in.

The shadow system itself is very binary — either you're in shadow, or you aren't. It's easy to tell by the player model becoming black and white. Don't be fooled by the faint half-lit surfaces — you're just as visible on them as you would be elsewhere.

When spotted, the player can either break line of sight, or hide in a shadow. If the player was seen going into shadow, there's a timer of 0.75 seconds, during which the player is still visible to the guard. After that timer passes, the player becomes invisible, safely hidden away.

Even without any of the gear or gadgets, every player is already equipped with all the tools necessary to handle a crowded fights, whether it be a 1v2, or 1v10. All that matters is using them right.

Hard Attacks are, without a doubt, your best friends here. 8 out of 14 of your moves are Hard, you gotta use them.
Their benefits include:

• Interrupting enemy attacks. Literally every single enemy and boss, unless they're NG+ Elite Guards, can be interrupted with a hard attack. This is huge for starting your offensive, gaining the advantage in a fight, and keeping multiple enemies in check, as you're denying them the opportunity to hit you... by hitting them instead.
  
• Wide range. The hitboxes on hard attacks are huge, especially HK1 and HK2. Those two kicks alone will take care of anyone standing in front of you, and can reliably hit 3 or more enemies at a time.
  
• Big damage. Self-explanatory, really. The DPS isn't as good, of course, but sometimes landing slow, decisive strikes matters more than pummeling a single enemy.

Running Kick is also considered a Hard Attack. Not only does it allow you to close the gap, but it can launch multple enemies at once, briefly thinning out the fight.

Aside from using Hard Attacks as much as possible, here are some good habits to have in mind:

• Launch and Send, constantly. Keep as much distance as possible between yourself and the guards, so that you can only focus on one guard in particular.
  
• Parry to set up for said launches. You can also do it out of Dodge, but it's not as practical or efficient.
  
• Juggle and Wallsplat, when possible. These are the only two ways to do permanent damage (unless you also count the dazed state), and permanent damage is exactly the advantage you need to wittle the guards down.
  
• Use Electromagnets if you have any. Aside from Tear Modules, they're the most useful gadget in group fights, disabling a guard for a very long while. Just don't actually hit a guard out of it.

Managing Heat is also important when dealing with multiple opponents. The more Heat an enemy has, the more likely they are to block, and continuious Heat buildup will eventually cause them to parry your attack.

• The game takes your last 10 inputs, splits them into two sets of 5, and compares them. If the two sets match, your attack increases the enemy's heat. If they don't, your attack decreases the enemy's heat instead. The game only cares whether the attack was quick/hard, or a punch/kick, so you've got 4 variables to work with. (Running Attacks are treated as Hard Attacks)
  
• The enemies are more likely to block the more Heat they have.
  
• The red vein appears when their Heat is above 50.
  
• The enemy is guaranteed to parry when their Heat is above 70, even if your next attack should've lowered the Heat.

There is no block button in this game, so these two defensive tools are your only options to avoid taking damage. Here's an overview of each of them.

Dodge:

• 0.07s startup; 0.2s active frames
  
• Technically easier to use, due to the longer invulnerability window.
  
• Does not reduce the enemy's heat, meaning they'll still keep blocking and parrying your attacks, unless you mix up your attacks, or parry.
  
• Spot Dodge and Directional Dodge have the exact same framedata — the only benefit is positioning and getting out of the range of an attack (which may or may not be beneficial).

Parry:

• No startup; 0.15s active frames
  
• Slightly harder to use, but with a greater reward.
  
• Completely resets the enemy's heat to 0, allowing you to restart your offense and hit them even more.
  
• A successful parry sets you in the 3rd position in the combo; Parry → Hard Attack is a guaranteed Launch.
  
• Boss-specific mechanic: Bosses have to be parried three times in a row. Two parries are called "Weak parries", the third parry is a proper one that interrupts the boss and resets their heat.

Any attack, except for RP/RK, can be cancelled into a dodge/parry at any point. Successful dodges/parries can be cancelled into consecutive dodges/parries — just press the button again.

Loot drops are based entirely on your combat rank — the better it is, the more grymite you'll get, and the bigger the chances of getting a better gadget or a piece of gear.

You can consult the loot tables in the "Loot Table" sheet here.[docs.google.com]

Additionally, the loot drops are affected by the "Luck" stat, from two specific pieces of gear: Expensive Shoes, and Gold-Plated Vest. Luck allows you to access a loot table from a higher rank — for example, if you get "Deadly", you might be able to get the loot table for "Visceral" rank instead. There's also "Raw+" and "Raw++", if you get the "Raw" rank and your Luck lets you go above that.

The bosses have specific gear drops tied to them:

• Trevor — Grymite Armor
  
• Aren — Critical Strike Gauntlets
  
• Elizabeth — Adrenaline Mask
  
• Abyssal Scavenger — Danger Boots

The rest can be found naturally from any guard or container. You're equally likely to find any piece of gear, since they're all in the same loot pool.

All of your gadgets have their uses both in stealth and in combat, although their effectiveness may vary both objectively, and depending on your playstyle. Here's what all of them can do, at least on paper:

Almost unanimously considered to be one of the best gadgets.

In Stealth: Can temporarily disable lights and cameras. You can also shoot a guard, temporarily stunning them. If a guard spotted you, you can tase them and then either run out of sight, or perform a Sneak Attack on them. Stunned guards can be sneak attacked, despite the fact that they very blatantly saw you.

In Combat: Stuns enemies on hit, and slightly decreases their Heat. Additionally, they somewhat reduce Trevor's shield (which isn't particularly useful with how fast it regens), and builds up Aren's overheat bar.

A gadget with a great area of effect! It's like the taser, but slightly better, and with a small delay.

In Stealth: Can stun guards, temporarily blinding them. If you get spotted, you can throw a grenade down, making your pursuers lose track of you, allowing for an easy escape. Especially useful when you've got multiple guards chasing you, as just one Taser Dart won't be anywhere near as useful for a situation like that.

In Combat: Can stun and wallsplat enemies. With the right gear, they can also deal permanent damage and knock out dazed guards.

Beep boop.

In Stealth: Makes noises and attracts guards to wherever it went off. If you want to intentionally attract guards to your position, though, you can save a Noisemaker by sprinting in place instead.

In Combat: Increases the enemy's heat, and prompts them to instantly attack you. Very useful if you don't want to wait for someone to attack you. If you want a quick counterhit/punish, just throw this one down.

It's a landmine, but it doesn't go boom.

Functions identically both in stealth and in combat — stuns whoever is caught for ~15 ish seconds. The important thing to keep in mind that enemies can see electromagnets when they're placed in light. If you want enemies to walk into them, you have to place them in shadow. Otherwise, you could also just knock the enemy into one with a hard attack.

Likewise, work kinda the same in both stealth and combat. They can send either you or a guard to a completely random room on the map. If you get sent into a locked room, like a Forge or a Storage room, you can open it from the inside without needing a keycard. You can also spend a tear module to instantly get out of any fight, or to thin out the number of guards in the current fight.

Your main adversaries in the mines, apart from the bosses. Each variation brings something to the table, even if the differences aren't exactly stark. Let's outline their main features.

...well, they're just that, really. They have 100 HP, and only one attack — a Swing. Stronger in numbers.

A far more formiddable foe, with 110 HP and two attacks — a Swing, and a Taser Gun shot. They'll constantly try to back away from you and create distance for a shot, so they should be a high priority target for you! Don't let them get far, keep close to them.

The Taser Gun shot can be either dodged or parried. Parrying the shot launches it into a nearby light source, taking it out much like with your own darts. You can take advantage of that darkness by placing electromagnets, or very temporarily de-aggroing the guards.

In stealth, taser guards will prioritise shooting you over chasing you. Getting tased will allow other guards to catch you, or for the taser guard to catch up to you (though with sufficient distance, you can get tased and still run away. The solution is the same — press the dodge button in stealth, and time it with the shot! Well, that, or run behind a wall.

Functionally identical to standard guards in Combat — 120 HP, and only a single Swing.

In stealth, however, they have a large green circle surrounding them, with a line slowly scanning for any intruders. Getting caught by that line, even through a wall, will instantly reveal your position to the radar guard, and will more than likely get you caught. Stay away, or be strategic about your sneak attacks.

Living up to their name, they're truly the best of the best. They have a faster running speed (they can and will catch up with you), they have 200 HP, and they have two attacks! Well, it's just one attack, a Swing, but it can be followed up with an additional second swing — very easy to get caught off-guard by! Stay alert for that one.

In NG+, Elite Guards also have super armor, meaning that your Hard Attacks won't interrupt them. Unless you hit them with a Launch, that is.

You have to get up in Trevor's face and constantly pummel at him in order to succeed. Backing away just means that he'll regen both his shield and his health very quickly, putting you back to square one.

There are essentially two "stages" to his fight — before his shield breaks, and after his shield breaks.

Just spam quick attacks. No, seriously, there's nothing else you can really do here. Spam quick attacks, dodge his swings, spam some more. Quick Punches are especially useful, since they're the fastest, and his shield depletes at a flat rate, no matter what damage your attack actually does.

Now this is where the fight really opens up. You've got a lot more options to work with here to give you a great advantage:

• Trevor is now susceptible to Hard Attacks— you can constantly interrupt him, or launch him with a HP3/HK3 and set up for a juggle/wallsplat, in order to deal permanent damage.
  
• You can also spam quick attacks for consistent DPS.
  
• Trevor can be stunned with a Taser Dart or a Concussion Grenade, further interrupting him.

Trevor can chain more attacks together, making for longer and more frequent combos. He also gets one additional attack — a grab, which can be either dodged or parried.

A single strike from the side.

Startup: 0.6s
Transitions into: Spin
Recommended: Spot Dodge/Parry
An attack that launches on hit. After being launched, the player is hit with a non-damaging Jab, and is sent flying towards the nearest wall.

Startup: 0.6s
Transitions into: Jab, Grab
Recommended: Spot Dodge/Parry
A two-hit attack. If you got hit by the first swing, the second one doesn't deal any damage.

Startup: 1s, 0.55s
Transitions into: Earthshatter, Grab
Recommended: Spot Dodge/Parry
A devastating vertical strike.

Startup: 0.75s
Transitions into: Uppercut
Recommended: Spot Dodge/Parry

A command grab that plays a short cutscene. Functionally similar to the Uppercut → Jab string.

Startup: 0.8s
Transitions into:
Recommended: Spot Dodge
When the player is a certain distance away, Trevor will throw his pickaxe at them. The pickaxe then returns to Trevor. The throw and the return are two separate attacks, and as such can hit you twice.

Startup: 0.95s
Transitions into:
Recommended: Directional Dodge

Aren's main gimmick is his Overload bar, which fills up whenever he attacks — regardless whether the attack hits or whiffs. His Overload bar can also be increased by shooting him with taser darts. Once he... overloads, he is completely disabled for a set amount of time, allowing you to attack with no hesitation. He is also the only boss to not have a Heat bar!

The recommended approach is to constantly do Directional Dodge (not Spot Dodge!) against him, making him whiff and creating distance between you and him. You can Spot Dodge or even Parry his attacks, and hit him for a bit afterwards, but I would only recommend you do that once you familiarise yourself with his moveset.

Also, you can only hit him on counterhit. In neutral, he'll just avoid your attacks 100% of the time (although he won't punish you for any of them).

Trying to "just hit her" is going to get you punished. Hard. You've got to be strategic and patient about it — lucky for us, Elizabeth doesn't have passive health regen, so we can take our time between our strikes. She'll heal off of you instead :)

She attacks with both fists and legs. Fist attacks won't damage you, but will heal her on every successful hit. Leg attacks, however, will damage you, and you should dodge/parry those.

Elizabeth has two "modes" — Standoff, and Normal Mode.
Elizabeth will keep her distance away from you. constantly backing away or circling. She can't be hit in this state, and any attempt to hit her will backfire. She also has three tells: Tightening her gloves, adjusting her tie, and clasping her hands.

It's possible to play it risky — you can bait a counter out of her by attacking her and quickly dodging away, allowing you to punish her attacks. But as mentioned, it's a risky thing to do. Just let her be in this state for a while, she'll switch back to Normal Mode soon enough.
Elizabeth starts walking towards you, closing the distance. As she approaches, you can stagger her with a Hard attack when she gets in range, or dodge/parry her combo, and then punish that. If you're unencumbered, you can even punish her very first starter attack!

This is where you can start your offense in any way you like — the ball's in your court now, and your attempts to attack her won't get punished. Just don't get hit, y'know? And rely on Hard attacks for staggers.

The strategy I use is as follows:
1) Be unencumbered (the lighter the better)
2) Wait for her to approach
3) Parry the first attack, Launch (HP3/HK3), combo
4) Repeat

Here's a cool flowchart (may be outdated after recent updates) (click on it for a full view):