Accels Voiceover

accels

accel is short for 'accelerated attack'

an accelerated attack is simply one that hits the opponent as soon as possible

this is achieved by positioning the attack so that as soon as it starts dealing damage, it's already hitting the enemy

you might have been hit by a big slow weapon before when you thought you should have hit them first, becaue your weapon is faster

well, they were most likely doing an accel in order to hit you first

let's see some examples...

---

this is a regular overhead strike

the attack starts dealing damage here...

and hits the opponent here...

the weapon had to travel all this distance after it started dealing damage

now, let's see an accel

the attack starts dealing damage here

and hits the opponent here...

notice how the weapon is much closer to the opponent when the attack starts dealing damage...

and therefore hits right after the character grunts

let's see a comparison...

it may seem like a minimal difference

but Mordhau is all about timing and reaction

we'll see how useful accels are later in the video...

-----

now, how to do them

the exact movement you need to do depends on the angle of your swing, but the basics are the same:

first, you turn into your attack, so that it's already touching your opponent when it starts to deal damage

so if you're doing a right overhead, you need to look down and slightly left

for a right horizontal, simply look to the left

and for a right uppercut, look upwards and slightly to the left

obviously, for left strikes, you need to look to the right instead of to the left.

now, ideally, you want to do this as subtly and as late as possible, so that you don't telegraph the attack too much

remember that attacks start dealing damage when the character grunts

this accel is very telegraphed, and easy to read

this one is much harder to read, and it's just as fast

the second step is closing the gap, by simply sprinting forward

this will ensure your weapon needs to travel as little distance as possible before hitting the opponent,

and make it harder for your opponent to see what you're doing

you can also sprint diagonally with the attack to position it on your opponent

this allows you to move your camera less to get the same amount of acceleration, without telegraphing it as much

and can make it harder for the opponent to keep track of you

you might not always want to use footwork to accelerate, like when playing defensively or in 1vX situations where positioning is extremely important

you can use either or both steps to accelerate, so experiment with them and find out what is most effective for you


---

you can accelerate any swing. this means, of course, that you can accelerate ripostes and chambers.

this makes for very fast attacks, especially when accelerating a long chamber

you can also accel morphs... and combos.

---

the main use for accels is keeping your opponent on edge to setup future morphs, feints, and delays

by constantly throwing accels at the opponent, you force them to parry earlier than against regular attacks, therefore making them susceptible to delays

and giving them less time to read your morphs and feints

you can even do fake accels to trick your opponent into parrying early, and punishing them with a morph, feint, or delay

---

another use is to simply hit your opponent before they hit you

like in a clash...

or after a counter-kick...

in these situations, you want to accel while also moving away from your opponent's weapon

---

now, as everything in Mordhau, accels have their weak points

their main weakness is that you lose visibility of your opponent

good players will capitalise on this, so you need to learn how to quickly recover focus of your enemy without panic-parrying

you should avoid over-accelerating in order to minimise this weakness:

try to find the sweet-spot for each swing, where it deals damage as soon as possible, without over-accelerating

you should also reposition yourself if your accel gets parried, so that you can read the opponent's counter-attack

now, you can get really creative with this

you could, of course, simply backpedal after your accel gets parried, and defend normally

but, if you were sprinting with the accel, like in this clip, and it gets parried, you might want to keep sprinting and run around your opponent.

this will force them to keep rotating to keep track of you, reducing their ability to accel or delay you and maybe even forcing a miss on them

you can also go backwards and backpedal *around* them. they might think you're going to keep sprinting forwards, and they will have to readjust their aim, giving you a better chance of defending yourself or, again, forcing a miss

these footwork tactics are especially useful for dealing with ground-sniffers, because it punishes them for not keeping you in their sight

again, experiment and find what works for you

-

that is pretty much all there is to know about accels

if you found the video useful, consider subscribing, as there are much more guides coming in the future

now go get good