Ah the Lawbringer, my old main and favorite hero in the game. The mighty keeper of the peace is anything but peaceful, however, Ubisoft has done everything they can to make him basically unplayable. If you are immersed in the For Honor community then you will know that no matter how many times heroes are nerfed or buffed people will complain about gameplay balance. I have surrendered to the reality that it is impossible to make this game feel truly balanced, but the Lawbringer has always been truly broken.
First of all he is a HYBRID hero of the knights faction… Take a good look at my mans and tell me he is not the heaviest freaking guy around. What use is there for a heavy class if a literal walking metal tank is not classified as one! Due to his lack of tank feints and lack of attack openers he has always been ranked as one of the worst heroes in the game. However, I am here to tell you that he can easily become the most fun hero if you learn how to play him correctly!
Beginner Tips
It is all but certain at this point that the valiant Lawbringer will never get the rework he deserves. Because of this you have to learn the heroes weaknesses before you utilize his strengths. The Lawbringer lacks openers as his starting striked are both slow and easily telegraphed. The most common opener is the side dodge breaker, but again this is slow and most experienced players see it coming from a mile away. So, how do you begin the fight? You don’t. You let them make the first move and you better be dang sure you parry it.
1. Face Stab and Grab:
I can personally say that the Lawbringer saw me through the COVID Lockdown year and a majority of the reason I loved to play as him was listening to my father watch me in the background screaming "FACE JAB THAT GUY FACE JAB!"
The Lawbringer's fastest opening attack is a light attack in the up direction. This will have him strike his opponent quickly in the face with the butt of his halberd. (Hence face jab). While I do not recommend being toxic with it as you could very well end up playing against me, a solid move is to face jab and then attempt to breaker your opponent. Almost all of your face jab attempts will land due to the speed of the attack which will hopefully allow you to successfully pull off a breaker. Once you have done this can throw your opponent off balance and begin a longer combination without fear of getting parried right off the bat.
2. Parry the Fools:
Look if you cannot parry then you have two choices as the Lawbringer, get good or break your controller in a fit of rage. To become a successful Lawbringer you HAVE to be a parry machine and play on the defensive for the majority of each fight. He does allow you to counter parries with very quick light attacks that stun your enemy with a shot to the head and can be followed up with an unblockable heavy. Not only is this a must for you to be successful in dealing damage as the Lawbringer, but it will also help you throw the opponent off their own strategies when you parry every attack they initially throw your way.
3. Breaker and Stamina Drain:
The Lawbringer can be a big bully if you learn how to properly drain your opponent's stamina. Again, this is best done by fighting reactively and not letting yourself get sucked into blindly striking at a parry machine. When you parry your opponents follow up with a breaker to use your weapon to push them towards the nearest wall. From here you can follow up with a guaranteed light attack and proceed to breaker them again. As a Lawbringer you want to parry and breaker more than you actually strike at the opponent as doing these things will help you land strikes and other attack combinations.
Advanced Tips
1. Make Your Own Opener:
As I said before one of Lawbringers biggest weaknesses is his lack of openers which leads to beginner players struggling to play him successfully. However, there is a way to play on the offensive and that is to make your own openers by wasting a few early swings. This strategy can be dangerous as you could easily run out of stamina should the opponent parry you once you get in close, but if you keep your moveset fresh it can payoff for some solid damage.
Because of the Lawbringer’s ability to strike at such a long range players will be weary of approaching you when you start swinging just out of their range. When you do this you can get one or two of the slower starts to his combo attacks out of the way and then begin a full frontal assault that could leave your enemy dead in the dirt.
2. Cancel Out of Attacks:
Canceling out of attacks is nothing new, but is crucial to each and every hero, the Lawbringer being no exception. The best part about this hero is his unpredictability. When an experienced player runs up on a hero they will immediately have a strategy in mind and know to expect a list of moves from the opponent. The Lawbringer has the tools to break that process if you play them right and this helps even more if you start to cancel out attacks.
When you begin to cancel out of your attacks it just adds one extra layer of confusion to the enemy and the more they overthink on their end the better your chances of cutting them down.
3. Devastate with Heavies:
While often criticized for their slow get off times the Lawbringers heavy attacks deal some of the most damage in the game. While I do suggest you feint out of them to keep your enemies on their toes you need to be able to land a couple of them per fight. While all of the above strategies will help you land these attacks I want to discuss what types of heavy strikes he has and when they are best used.
For starters the Lawbringer can deliver heavies from either side and overtop like all other heroes. His side heavy lands a little faster than the overhead which makes them more than ideal to start with when breaking an opponent into a wall. Doing this will let you automatically land the heavy strikes and you will not have to worry about getting parried.
The overhead heavy attack does the most damage and can be immediately followed by another unblockable overhead. This strike will deal the most damage and will also stun the opponent giving you the chance to follow up with breakers. The unblockable overhead is deadly to the uninitiated as it has a delayed hit time and will destroy those who try to parry it with normal heavy timing. That said most veterans know the delayed timing and can prepared for it. That is why this strike is best used when an opponent has been knocked down out of stamina. You can combo chain into this and deliver crucial damage before the enemy gets back on their feet.
The Lawbringer has another unblockable strike that will sweep the whole area in front of him side to side style. This attack seems to have more success landing when an opponent gets punished by you canceling out of it multiple times. So, charge the attack up and cancel out of it with an overhead light. Once you pull this off a few times the enemy will most likely anticipate it and be devastated by your heavy.
4. Out of Stamina Management:
If you are properly utilizing all of the above skills then you will find yourself in the perfect position of having opponents drained of stamina. Using the lanceover ability here or simply breakering them to the ground will result in your opponent flailing to the ground and you will have the chance to do either a double heavy (the second heavy not guaranteed) or a guaranteed light heavy attack, but either way both do a devastating amount of damage. If you decide to go for the double heavy and you feel as though your enemy will jump right back up to parry you simply get off the first heavy, go for the second, and then cancel out of it for another breaker. Continuing a cycle like this will guarantee you successful matches and make your opponents break their controllers for once.
-
The Lawbringer is a super fun character to play as! In my opinion he has some of the best armor sets in the game, he stands more intimidating than the Game of Thrones Mountain, and he can be used to punish most opponents if played correctly. However, unless some serious reworks are done I do believe that he will always rank in the lower tiers as far as best heroes go, but with the above strategies you can surely hang with the best of them and teach those mongroles to fear the Lawbringer. If you want some more For Honor content check out the rest of my articles, especially the how to play Kyoshin like a pro!
