Mordhau Starting Guide: Tips and Tricks for Beginners

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Mordhau is a medieval first & third person multiplayer slasher. Enter a hectic battlefield of up to 64 players as a mercenary in a fictional, but realistic world, where you will get to experience the brutal and satisfying melee combat that will have you always coming back for more.

Mordhau Console Commands

Mordhau console can be opened by pressing one of the following keyboard hotkeys: (`), (~) or (End). Type a command into the text box and hit enter to send it. Happy cheating!

Note: You must be logged in as an Administrator in order to make use of this commands, otherwise you won’t be able to use them.

adminlogin <password> // required to perform any other admin command
adminlist // lists current admins
adminadd <STEAMID64> // adds a new admin to the adminlist
removeadmin <STEAMID64> // removes specified admin from the admin list
changelevel <map name> // Changes the map
restartlevel // restarts the current map
addbots <integer> // adds desired number of bots
removebots <integer> // kills desired number of bots
kick <user name / steamid64>
ban <user name / steamid64)
unban <user name / steamid64)
banlist – lists banned players.
exit // exits Mordhau game program
disconnect – disconnects you from the server.
demorec name – records a demo.
demostop – stops a demo.
demoplay – plays a demo.
Stat FPS – Shows the FPS counter
slomo <value> – added as an admin command in Alpha build #2). slomo .5 will get you 50% speed. slomo 2 will get you 200% speed.
Slomo x – Chuck a number after this one, it will change the speed of the game. (Slomo 2 for double speed, slomo .5 for half speed). Useful for practicing chambers/drags against bots, but obviously it won’t work in multiplayer.
PlayersOnly – Freezes all the bots, but lets you keep walking around. This one is a toggle, so enter it again to unfreeze everyone. Again, singleplayer only.
ChangeSize x – Another singleplayer only command for obvious reasons, this one changes the size of your character. Yes, you can set it to 100, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Also goes both ways, so ChangeSize .5 will put you at half height.
m.ShowCrosshair 0 – To disable crosshair. Needs to be typed again after game relaunch.
m.inverseattackdirection 1 – Good for one that want to invert their required attack direction (default is moving toward windup direction for an attack, and command make it so you can just move mouse in direction of your attack).

Mordhau Armory

Mordhau uses a points based loadout system. You start with a total of 16 points, which you are free to spend on Weapons, Armour, and Perks.

The Mordhau Armory has a wide variety of weapons and armour in its arsenal. The weapons and armour you equip will [usually] influence how you predominantly play. There are general (all purpose) weapons; There are also more specialized weapons for dueling & support roles.

Weapons

There are 3 slots to equip weapons/utilities. The first slot is usually your primary weapon, second slot is secondary, and third slot is tertiary. The best way to categorize weapons is through their point-cost.

1-3 point weapons: Side arms & backup weapons, either they lack damage or reach, but can really help out if you just need to land one more hit on someone.

3-5 point weapons: Dueling Weapons. These fill the role of backup or primary; these weapons are usually suited more towards duels, but can be used in teamfights pretty well, especially the longsword and the messer.

6-8 point weapons: Middle-ground weapons. Bardiche, greatsword, poleaxe and battleaxe are pretty great in every situation, especially if you use the alternate modes.

8+ points weapons: Support weapons. These tend to shine in team fights, with great reach and good damage. Eveningstar packs a massive punch but is slow, while something like the spear can get super quick stabs in from crazy far away. Halberd/zwei are awesome cleaving weapons and work best when you don’t stick to a 1v1, instead switching around to get kills on people who are fighting someone else.

”Blunt or Bladed weapons?”

Blunt weapons usually deal the most damage to armored opponents, but can only hit one person at a time due to hitstop. (this does not apply if you kill the opponent, where your swing continues fully through release.) Hitstop helps the player conserve stamina in 1vX situations, because they don’t have to CFTP to protect themselves.

Sword/Spearlike weapons deal the most damage to unarmoured/light opponents, while remaining fast and being able to cut through multiple enemies, but require more stamina to play in 1vX situations

Alternate-Grip

Most weapons have an alternate-grip. Pressing ‘R’ will switch to your weapons alternate grip.

The alternate-grip allows you to wield your weapon at a different range. It usually gives you more speed at the cost of less damage & range (or vice versa). Some examples of Alternate-Grips are:

Mordhau Grip (Longsword/Estoc)
Half-sword Grip (Greatsword/Zweihänder),
Choked Grip (Battleaxe/Poleaxe)
Short/Long Grip (Spear/Halberd)

If a weapon doesn’t have an alternate-grip (such as most 1-Hander’s); Pressing ‘R’ will throw your weapon.

Throwables & Utilities

Mordhau offers a variety of throwables you can equip:

Weapons that don’t have an alternate-grip can be thrown.
Throwing Knives/Axes are great at both weakening an approaching enemy or finishing off wounded ones that are retreating.
Oil pots are an AoE attack that causes damage over time. They should be thrown at choke points, large groups of enemies, and used to prevent health regen. The oil pot does 23 damage PER tick, independent of armor. Cannot be blocked.
Smoke pots can provide a smoke screen to ruin an archers day. They can be thrown directly at the engagement to cause confusion or at the sides to assist your flank.
Bear-Traps are self-explanatory. Great behind doors, tops of ladders and choke-points.
Toolbox: can be used to construct fortifications. Use alt mode to switch through the available buildings. Currently has a wall providing cover and a spike wall, which deals damage and can impale people, based on their velocity.
Repair Hammer: used to repair objects.
Bandages/Medbags: healing items.

Armour

There are 3 slots to equip armour,

The first slot is your head, second slot is chest, and third slot is legs.

Armour is important, as it will mitigate damage dealt to those parts of your body.

There are 4 tiers of armour in Mordhau.

Each armour tier has progressing amounts of damage mitigation, at the cost of footspeed.
Cosmetic/T0 items are purely aesthetic, as their name implies.

For example, Heavy Armour will slow you down the most but you can take more punishment. You may mix and match armour tiers in your loadout.

[T0] Cloth

Footspeed:++++
Protection:

[T1] Light Armor

Footspeed:+++
Protection:+

[T2] Medium Armor

Footspeed:++
Protection:++

[T3] Heavy Armor

Footspeed:+
Protection:+++

Players commonly refer to their armour loadouts with numerical terms. For example, full heavy (head, torso, legs) would be 3/3/3. Mix match would be 2/3/1. No armour would be 0/0/0, etc.

Which armour should I use?
That depends on your playstyle you want for that loadout. 3/3/3 would be the epitome of ‘stand your ground’ playstyle’. Whereas 0/0/0 would be the ‘run away and bait playstyle’. A lot of players like to strike a balance between the two with mix matching. Many new players are drawn to using little armour & big weapons (like the Chivalry Vanguard). Beware of this as many weapons can easily cut through Tier 1 & 2 armour. I would recommend at least a Tier 3 chest-piece.

Also, if you are new, wear a helmet. Good players will identify your weakness and target your head. The helmet and torso/chestpiece are two of the most important pieces of armour.

Perks

Player Perks offer unique passive buffs & abilities for your character. Each perk you choose has an associated point cost with it; so you must choose wisely.

Excellent Tier (You’d trade a sidearm or even a piece of armor for these)

Second Wind – One of the best perks in the game right now, especially for duels.
Bloodlust – This perk can often be the difference between winning a 1vX and losing it.
Tenacious – You’ll spend less time out of combat and more time hitting things, making you that much more useful to your team.
Huntsman – Virtually a requirement for archers, and an excellent perk for anyone using throwables as well.
Ranger – If you plan to be mostly engaging other archers, this will give you a lot more survivability than 1 point of armor will.
Friendly – Most people will write this one off as a useless perk, but think about how often you get shot in the back by an allied archer. This perk essentially increases your max HP in big team games, and may even allow you to take 1 extra hit that would otherwise kill you. Its effectiveness falls off if your allies are very good, though. Furthermore, this is great for archers who like to fire into engagements and don’t wanna hurt their team as much.
Dodge – Very powerful perk, balanced by it’s very high cost. Slow, short-ranged weapons (i.e. Maul) are devastated by this perk.

Good Tier (You’ll take these to fill out your extra points)

Fury – Can be good in larger games where you’re getting a lot of kills, it’ll keep you in the fight pretty much endlessly as long as you’re playing well. However considering you already get a lot of stamina on hit, and stamina in general has been made less important, it might not be necessary.
Fireproof – Allows you to run through your own fire as a sort of escape mechanism; even better if there’s a lot of firebomb spam going on. Honestly really good for only 1 point.
Cat – For only 1 point it’s not bad if you use it correctly. Fight in high places and use the lessened fall damage to your advantage. Trick opponents into jumping off of things to chase you. Very fun perk that changes your play-style a lot.
Rush – I could see this being overpowered in the hands of a very good player, though at 3 points it could be fairly hard to squeeze into your build. In order to fully utilize the sprint effect you must be ready to use it the second you secure that kill, which can be difficult at times. Naked Zwei players will probably always take this perk.
Scavenger – Rather situational. This perk can either be worthless or amazing depending on what loadouts your opponents have.

Meme Tier (You’d be better off spending the points on a good sidearm)

Brawler – A dagger would be better for less points.
Acrobat – It’s not terrible but there are better perks to spend the point on.
Flesh Wound – Hilarious but not really worth 3 points. Very fun though.
Rat – Cswic will equip this on all of his characters. You probably shouldn’t.
Wrecker – Currently has no purpose outside of testing.
Smith – Currently has no purpose outside of testing.
Peasant – Yeet.

List of perks by point cost

[1] Acrobat (Jump Stamina cost reduced by 50%)
[1] Fireproof (Reduces fire damage by 80%)
[1] Friendly (50% Damage reduction to dealt and received team damage)
[1] Cat (Reduces fall damage by 50%)
[1] Scavenger (Killing enemies causes them to drop everything they are carrying, including holstered equipment)
[1] Ranger (Allows you to move 15% quicker while aiming a bow or crossbow)
[1] Wrecker (Melee damage against structures increased 50%)
[1] Smith (Repair effectiveness increased 50%)
[2] Tenacious (Passive Health regeneration is 40% faster)
[2] Second Wind (Stamina gain on hit increased 30%)
[2] Bloodlust (Health on Kill increased 50%)
[2] Fury (Stamina on kill increased 66%)
[2] Brawler (Increases Fist damage)
[2] Huntsman (Projectiles deal 200% damage against enemies wearing a quiver)
[2] Rat (Crouch movement speed increased 10%, Footstep volume reduced 75%)
[3] Rush (Instantly get a movement sprint boost upon killing an enemy)
[3] Flesh Wound (Fatal melee and projectile damage, except for headshots, does not kill you immediately, but 5 seconds later. Limb integrity during this time is not guaranteed.
[8] Peasant (Restricts equipment & wearables to things a peasant would use & allows you to spawn with makeshift weapons)
[10] Dodge (Jumping backward or to the sides will perform a dodge instead of a jump)

Some possible changes to certain perks?

Brawler – Make it also increase kick damage (or stamina drain). This will make a lot less situational.
Acrobat – Bake Acrobat and Cat into the same perk OR lessen the extra damage taken while midair.
Flesh Wound – Honestly I think this perk is fine as is. It’s very fun, and if buffed too much it might just be annoying to deal with.
Scavenger – In addition to its other effects: when picking up a ranged weapon, get 3 ammo instead of 1 (implies that the default would be changed to 1)

Mordhau Vehicles

Horses are extemely powerful vehicles located on the battlefield. Horses have a few purposes.

1. Use it to trample players. If the Horse is traveling fast enough, it will damage and flinch players upon impact (damage depends on speed of horse).

2. Couching – Using a lance or polearm to skewer players along your path.

3. Speed/Traveling – Using the horse to quickly get to a critical objective or location.

You can wield any weapon/shield while on a horse, however, only some of them are couchable, like a lance (or other polearms). Calvary has momentum based damage; The faster you are riding, the more damage you and your enemy will receive from attacks.

Couch: to lower (a weapon) into position for attack.

Lances
You will usually find lances next to stables.
You can only couch a Lance when you are traveling fast enough.
You cannot parry with the lance. However, you may perform basic attacks with it.

There are 3 types of horses:

Light Horse:
Speed: +++
Protection: +

Medium Horse:
Speed: ++
Protection: ++

Heavy Horse:
Speed: +
Protection: +++

Controls:

‘E’ to mount/dismount.
‘W’ to increase your horse’s speed.
‘S’ to decrease your horse’s speed.
‘F’ to enter couch mode with lance (or polearm).

Strategy

Horses are best utilized by making a circuit around the battlefield.
Horses are extremely powerful if kept alive and used tactically. Horses do not heal, so be careful with them. You do not want to stay in the middle of the engagement/battle while on a horse. This will leave you more vulnerable to getting dismounted; Instead, perform ‘hit & run’ charge tactics on unsuspecting enemies.
Another strategy is to simply run through the engagement and trample enemies. Just beware of Polearms, as their hits will ‘dismount’ you.

Jousting

Jousting is a martial game between two horsemen wielding lances.
Light horses will typically win in jousting due to faster footspeed, thus their lance connecting with you sooner.
Lances will typically win in jousting due to their length, causing it to hit sooner than the shorter polearms.

Siege

Catapult:
Launches a large rock and causes AoE damage. Anyone within the radius of the impact will die. The best way to use catapults is to shoot them at castle/fort chokepoints such as wall openings, gates & bridges. Once youve ‘dialed’ in the distance to the chokepoints, launch rocks at it. Beware not to hit your allies!

Ballista:
Launches a large bolt over a great distance. Scoring a hit on an enemy will instantly kill them, but also requires greater accuracy over the catapult. Ballistas are best used for sniping enemies off walls, chokepoints, and taking down horses.

Ladders:
You can climb up ladders, for obvious reasons.You may also fight on a ladder by equiping a 1-hander weapon.

Fortifications:
Fortifications can be built by players with a Toolbox. The Toolbox has a total of 6 ammo. You always start off with 3 ammo, making Ammo Crates an important resource to utilize for engineer loadouts. Press ‘R’ to toggle between the different fortifications.

Spikes
Spikes are used to injure players that brush up against them (with momentum based damage). Also a great way to ruin a Horses’ day and lock down choke points.
Mantlet
A wood-planked wall with an archer-loop, affording the hard protection of a wooden structure but still being mobile; They can be used to provide individual cover or placed side by side to create a makeshift wall.
Mini-Ballista:
A construct-able semi-automatic ballista that launches 5 small bolt’s over a great distance. Ammo recharges over a bit of time. Requires the Toolbox to construct and consumes 6 ammo. Great for locking down choke points.