for honor tips and tricks by yours truly v6!

Haz's tips for you!: v6!!
Frame is a thing in this game and they are.

3 frame stances: Neutral, Plus, Negative (Dis).
All of which indicate what is guaranteed, impossible, possible or not.
Frame advantage can vary from move to move, but in general it is 100ms. (To make use of this, buffer attack. That is, attack as fast as possible. Make sure your guard is where you were.)

Here are some cases that create frame without attacking:
Guardbreak: counter GBing allows you to get advantage, guaranteeing a heavy (IF YOU DO NOT FEINT IT, THAT IS.)

What affects these is hitstun, of which:

Hitstun matters all that much.
It can be the reason you dodge or be guard broken.
Here's how:
You have 3 levels of hitstun: light, medium, heavy.

This is like math. Light has a value of 1. Medium has 2, heavy is 3.
Blocking has the value of 2 and neutral is 0, meaning if you block a light stun move (for example a light attack), blocking means you have become frame plus! Now, what do you do? That is up to you and how the opponent plays. For example, if you both light, your light will land, his will not, due to you being in frame plus and him being in frame dis. That is your rule of thumb on hitstun. If you want to look at what level of hitstun certain moves are, go check the For Honor info hub.

I'll explain in math terms.
We will use Lawbringer as an example:
Top light = 1 (low hitstun)
Heavy = 2 (medium hitstun)
Finisher heavy = 3 (heavy hitstun)
Block = 2
Body = 0
1-0 = 1 - you are in frame dis
2-1 = 1 - you are in frame plus
2 - 2 = 0 - you are neutral
2 - 3 = 1 - you are in frame dis

Examples of hitstun moves that are odd:
Gryphon's chain light has medium hitstun (guaranteed one).
Highlander offensive stance light has low hitstun yet wins due to its speed.
Any light that has enhanced properties (i.e., blocking doesn't stop its chain) have medium hitstun.

GB vulnerabilities:
Dodging: puts you on frame DIS, allowing for a GB for the opponent. (Slightly different from forward dodge, however.)
Whiffing a light or heavy without chaining, or let's say you finished your chain, puts you in GB vulnerability.
And the statistics for those are:
All heavy opener attacks have 433ms GB vulnerability.

All chain attacks have 100ms GB vulnerability.

All Out of Stamina heavies have 600ms GB vulnerability.

For other attacks, GB vulnerability varies with the attack speed:
0-700ms attacks - 0-100ms Guard Break vulnerability
800-1000ms attacks - 0-400ms Guard Break vulnerability
1100-1300ms attacks - 0-600ms Guard Break vulnerability
1400ms+ attacks - 0-800ms Guard Break vulnerability

Parries have their windows. These allow you to parry and not to parry at all.
And so:
Attacks that are locked onto you can be parried by pressing heavy attack during the Parry window. This window starts 300ms before an attack connects (Just past feint window), and ends 100ms before an attack connects.

Therefore 500ms attack's parry window looks like this:

P P -
Each " - " equals 100ms, P = Parry Window Active (which also is 100ms in value)

Stagger for having your Lights Parried is 900ms, whilst the stagger for having your Heavies Parried is 600ms. Unfeintable side dodge attacks also grant a light parry punish when parried.

Parry animation lasts for 800ms and whilst you cannot dodge during it, any other attacks that hit during that time will be parried automatically, extending the parry animation.

Parry animation can be cancelled if the Hero has a Parry Riposte, or if extended by a multi-parry.

I-frames and recovery last until 300ms. Other moves that have i-frames have varying amounts.

Dodge i-frames start after 166ms and last until 300ms.
Character's side dodge recoveries are 633ms, and back dodge recoveries are 800ms.

Collision Stagger/Knockdown:
Stagger after being thrown into a wall/another player is 1200ms.

Knock down duration when being thrown to the ground (Either when OOS or when opponent is in revenge) is 2500ms.

Each bash has its own stagger duration.

Stagger rule with hitstun:
Hit and Block stun refers to the stagger a Hero takes when they are hit by an attack or when they block an attack. During this time, the Hero cannot take any action other than buffer a guard switch, but GBs will bounce off them. There are varying recovery times for certain actions depending on Hit Reaction level of the attack that caused the hit/block stun. Normal attacks can have 3 levels of hit reaction - light, medium, and heavy. Each bash has its own stagger duration.

Most importantly, ANYTHING can be GBed if it is not guaranteed.

However, you can screw around and:

Reactions:
There are 2 types of reactions:
Flash and animations.

Which are easier is up to personal experience,
but in general it's said that animation is easier.

We'll start with flash as it's more simple.

Flash is 166ms and occurs when the attack reaches the point of no return - much easier and for lazy people, or those with the keen eye.

Here are some things to note about it:

Flash is harder to appear on unblockables.
It can appear randomly if there is a lag spike, or not appear at all.
In the end, use it as a way to confirm a parry if you have no idea what you're doing as a reactor.

Animation:
Animation-based reactions are much more accurate and skillful. They allow you to react to things usually not possible, such as Afeera's ENTIRE chain, Tiandi's kick (if you're like that),
Nuxia's trap,
Zerk chain light,
Khatun's soft feint and so on.

Animation is more accurate and less likely to make you miss a parry.

However, if you only depend on animation,

your biggest enemy will be JJ since reacting to him is nigh impossible due to his weird animations.

Things to note about animations:
Much safer and easier to react to (300ms) rather than the brutal 166ms for flash.

You can't. And I mean it. You won't react to forward bash. Seriously. It's coded for you not to be able to.

Most unblockables have their weapon's blade or end glow orange at the end.

To differ if someone bashes or not (i.e., side bashes or Gryphon chain bash or chain bashes in general), just train yourself to differ the colors.

Same thing applies to undodgeables, hyper armor, etc.

Guard switch and blocking/superior block:
Guard switch takes 100ms on all Heroes. As of Season 10, all characters can attack, dodge, and GB immediately after guard switch (i.e., 100ms).

Parrying & counter guard breaking ignores guard switch time & post-guard switch recovery. Blocking ignores post-guard switch recovery.

Blocks can allow an attack chain to continue, or can prevent attack chaining, and this is known as a "superior block". Regular blocking will superior block normal light attacks, unless they have the enhanced property. Some special moves will superior block any blockable attacks (except zone attacks) preventing them from chaining.

If an attack can chain after being blocked, it will also do 18% of its base damage as chip damage. Chip damage cannot kill a character.

Upon Blocking, your Hero receives all-block, and much like Parrying, this allows you to block multiple attacks in that window, each of which will extend the all-block. On superior blocks this autoblock is 400ms, but it is 600ms on regular blocks. (See Hit/Block stun in the next segment). During this all block, you cannot dodge, but you can parry another incoming attack. Attacks that have superior block property during the attack (e.g., crushing counter light on Highlander) do not gain this all block after superior blocking an attack.

Attack recoveries and chain linking:
Attack Recoveries vary between Heroes and the designated move, but all of them have three different timings: Recovery to Block(Guard Switch), Recovery to Dodge and Recovery to Guardbreak/Attack.

These values will always be noted in this order in the infohub, and in general, with the community.

A Chain Link refers to the timing window between linkable attacks in a combo. Chain Links essentially function as a Recovery Cancel, as they allow a Hero to bypass the Recoveries.

The default minimum chain links speed seems to be 200ms, but they can be as fast as 100ms or as slow as 366ms in some cases. Most chain links can also be extended beyond the minimum link by delaying the input, and this is known as the "delay window."

Next up is reads.

Honestly, I can't help you on this because reads are genuine game logic you build up via playing or either watching
comp players. Otherwise, I cannot help you.

But what I can do is give you a list of tips that you can memorize.

Recovery varies from hero to hero.

In general, however, most heroes can recover at around 600ms after whiffing.

Next up is a list of stuff unwritten but do work:

Dodging has iframes, but dodge attacking extends your iframes,
but most dodge bashes don't give iframes.

Misc:
AS ZERK IF U GET DEFLECTED DO A CHAIN HEAVY IN THE OTHER DIRECTION
Dodging a bash on lvl 2 is most safe since it works against lvl 2 and lvl 3 feint to GB and if they let it go, but loses to lvl 1 bash.
On wake up your frame is neutral nearly every time.
Landing a heavy of medium or heavy hitstun then GBing afterwards has higher range, but on unblock it does not.
Any zone that possesses medium hitstun (similar to JJ's) can make the mix up a true 50/50.
Blocking any move that has medium or heavy hitstun makes the mix up a true 50/50.
Superior guard can sometimes beat frame even if you're in DISADVANTAGE.
You can switch guards after GBing.
Attacking someone on wake up (getting right up after being thrown or parried OOS) will give the opponent super armor and allow them to GB you out of your chain or light you safely.
Missing a forward dodge bash and your opponent lights allows for a parry for you if it's not a pre-dodge or buffered light.
Trying to parry while low stam being GBed will put you out of stam.
Baiting a bash via dodge without bashing then lighting is a good way to get damage off safely. However, the more you do it, the more obvious it gets.
Any attack with light hitstun will NOT ledge, but any higher will.
Khatun's charge/running stance can be guard broken if they don't do anything for a small bit.
You can parry after whiffing a kick on Orochi (can't be a buffer light from the opponent).
Triple hipswitch with Zerk is possible via switching guard 3 times then lighting.
Side dodging gives you iframes, and dodge bashes and dodge attacks extend them.

Warden's bashes can be fully countered by dodging then rolling (safe from GB while rolling).
Warden: delay heavy can be interrupted safely.
Warden: zone on whiff can allow for a parry if not buffer.
Warden: finisher heavies have heavy hitstun.
Warden: max punish is zone into top heavy for both GB and parry.
Warden: loses to delayed dodge attack.
Warden loses to Shaman and Orochi.

PK's soft feint to bleed is 300ms.
PK's soft feint to bleed allows for a deflect on dodge attack and light if not on buffer.
PK's chain light is 400ms.
On PK you can just block.
PK does have high hitstun on her finisher heavy.
PK doesn't need a counter.

Conqueror: chain mix is differable even on 60.
Conqueror doesn't have heavy hitstun on any of his moves.
Whiffing a side bash with Conq into stance has slightly worse recovery, but regardless go into fullguard if u whiff.
Conqueror max punish is side heavy into top heavy on GB and light into heavy on parry.
Conqueror doesn't need a counter, but just in case it's Ocelotl.

Lawbringer: top finisher light is undodgeable.
Lawbringer: chain bash is hard to diff.
Lawbringer: forward dodge heavy got whacky hitbox.
Lawbringer impale guaranteed on light parry.
Lawbringer: you can flicker the zone by feinting heavy into zone instantly. (Better with bad ping.)
All Lawbringer finishers have high hitstun.
Lawbringer: max punish on parry is light into heavy into top light and on GB it's (heavy heavy same direction where your guard was).
Lawbringer doesn't need a counter, but just in case be patient.

Centurion allows a lvl 3 punch on parry if you hit a wall.
Centurion: light into any lvl of punch is safe and doesn't allow an interrupt.
Centurion can roll catch opponents, allowing for a full ZONE (all 3 hits).
Centurion's jumping strike after lvl 3 revives your stam bar entirely (useful).
Centurion: lvl 3 punch can be used to trade with hyper armor moves like Shugo's.
Centurion can delay dodge attack.
Centurion: punch after heavy is only safe on lvl 1.
Centurion: punch after second heavy guarantees a GB on whiff and you can only do lvl 1, otherwise not safe.
Centurion: impale (charged second heavy) has a lot of delay.
Centurion: charged heavy as the final move before you are out of stam results in your heavy animation glitching out.
Centurion: impale (charged second heavy) doesn't have heavy hitstun (has pin).
Centurion: zone whiff can work as a parry and if deflected against parryable moves such as Nuxia's deflect (if they don't buffer the deflect).
Centurion: max punish on OOS is light into charge heavy or kick into heavy or heavy heavy if you tech it.
Centurion gets countered by recovery-based heroes such as Jiang Jun.

Gladiator: finisher heavy is semi undodgeable.
Gladiator: chain lights are 433ms.
Gladiator allows parry on toestab whiff if not buffered light.
Gladiator dodge bash is delayable.
Gladiator: best punish is letting the impale go and not throwing them into the wall (unless they are low HP).
Gladiator: max punish on OOS is heavy heavy for parry and GB.
Gladiator doesn't need a counter.

Black Prior: guard changes depending on where u dodge.
Black Prior can counter Warden by side dodging then doing a stance UB if they try to GB or a flip if they let it go.
Black Prior can flicker stance UB into zone.
Black Prior: max punish on parry is forward dodge heavy into top heavy finisher and for GB light into top finisher.
Black Prior doesn't have a proper hard counter, but Shinobi deals with him quite well.

Warmonger is similar to Warden in finishers.
Warmonger: highest dmg on light parry is impale.
Warmonger possesses a lot of delay in her mix up.
Warmonger: finishers are heavy hitstun.
Warmonger can look slightly different in the forward dodge mix, i.e., the bash or the undodgeable.
Warmonger gets countered by Berserker.

Gryphon: chain light has medium hitstun so it allows for a ledge.
Gryphon: mixup is nearly unreactable for most people.
Gryphon: finisher light should only be done on top if u face anyone with a deflect or a superior dodge.
Missing a dodge light guarantees a kick unless the opponent has dodge recovery (for example, Nobushi).
Gryphon: finisher heavy and heavy after kick have heavy hitstun.
Max punish for Gryphon is up to preference, but here it is:
On parry it's zone light kick or double light into kick and on GB forward dodge light into kick or Back Throw Neutral Light Different Guard Chain Light Kick Heavy.
Gryphon gets countered by Nobu, believe it or not.

Raider: his 2nd unblockable is somewhat unreactable with storming tap.
Raider: his stunning tap mix can be delayed and is nearly unreactable for most people.
Raider: his weakness is dodging and dodge attacking.
Raider: max punish on GB has to be near a wall and it's doing the forward charge into light.
Raider: always have your guard on top.
Raider: his heavy finishers and zone have heavy hitstun.
Raider: max punish OOS is on GB (guard has to be top if you want the top heavy) GB throw behind you then buffer heavy into heavy again (you have to be walking forward) if you do a feint UB into the GB make sure to switch guards after GBing and on parry it's stunning tap into top heavy.
Raider gets countered by Shaman heavily.

Berserker can do a triple hipswitch that lands most of the time.
Berserker: top finisher is reactable but some can't react to it.
Berserker: you can deflect on almost any whiff of your attacks therefore if u can't differ here's a funny trick. Try parrying everything from neutral if it's a heavy soft feint your parry attempt into a dodge and deflect :)
Berserker: you can delay chain light.
Berserker: you can use his dodge attack as a counter for feint into GB if you can react to GB, that is.
Berserker: all finisher heavies have heavy hitstun.
Berserker: you can dodge the second hit on his zone after all the hits.
Berserker: on light hitstun you can't deflect after missing your UB but after being blocked then whiffing the UB and your opponent does a dodge attack it does work.
This applies to Orochi too.
Berserker: on low hitstun (getting hit by a light) you can dodge afterwards and any feint to GB on the UB won't work if u buffer dodge, that is.
Berserker: on feint to light you can just back dodge.
Berserker: max punish for parry is dodge light into side heavy into chain light or into finisher heavy if u want maximum dmg on GB it's (has to be a side heavy and that side has to be the same side where u GBed switching guard WILL NOT WORK) GB throw to side heavy into finisher.
Berserker gets countered by any full guard hero.

Warlord: you can differ his mixup by looks if he gets hyper armor or not (for chain too).
Warlord: you can bait bash into zone.
Warlord: guard functions weird.
Warlord: recovery on whiff is horrible.
Warlord: all of his finishers have heavy hitstun.
Warlord: if you land a finisher heavy you can land a bash safely without getting lighted.
Warlord: max punishes for WL on GB it's 2 things if you throw normally it's light into side heavy but if u throw into a wall it's side heavy into heavy. If you throw as well without the wall and your guard was top you can do top heavy into side heavy.
Warlord gets countered by Glad and Cent.

Valkyrie can flicker her stance bash by holding the stance longer then getting out of it (this personally is some bullcrap).
Valkyrie has no heavy hitstun moves.
Valkyrie: hitting her stance with a heavy guarantees a gb.
Valkyrie: Deflect Will Interrupt Hyper Armor.
Valkyrie: Her gb deflect has physical damage but costs more stamina.
Valkyrie max punish on parry is dodge light into light into sweep and on gb it's light heavy.
Valkyrie doesn't need a counter; she needs a rework.

Highlander: his stance lights are low hitstun but still win even though they aren't winning in frame advantage.
Highlander: his zone can beat frame advantage (i.e., someone counter GBed you and they try to GB you expecting you to heavy or so. The zone beats it).
Highlander: you can GB him after he whiffs light in stance.
Highlander: once counters his feint kick into grab by using his stance after dodge.
Highlander: you can parry on whiffing light from stance (if they don't light again but anything else will fail).
Highlander: doing top heavy after being counter GB'd will win due to its speed (this shouldn't happen but oh well).
Highlander: you can soft feint into stance (no need to light you goobers :D).
Highlander can dodge quickly and out of his stance so it works for a bait too.
Highlander: baiting forward dodge into kick is guaranteed.
Highlander: if the opponent rolls your kick u can grab them after the roll.
Highlander: to parry on stance you have to switch your guard otherwise you can't.
Highlander: for the emote it's the same emote change guard parry.
Highlander: if you wish to get consistent parries then here. On light parry do your UB. It removes the stance delay so the opponent can't light you out of your stance. Compared to doing a regular heavy you have the stance delay and so you could be lighted.
Highlander: to cancel the kick properly you must click square let go of the trigger button then click circle. This won't do the random heavy you do.
Highlander: max punishes are simple light into heavy.
Highlander gets countered by Glad.

Shaman: you can parry after getting out of stance.
Shaman: UB can be delayed.
Shaman: stance can beat any bash if you're not frame dis.
Shaman: max punishes are a bit to preference but general it's light UB into finisher light but if they are bleeding it's stance running heavy feint UB into bite.

Jormungandr: you can utilize his zone for doing so many different things.
Jormungandr: chain can be delayed.
Jormungandr: finishers have heavy hitstun but that doesn't matter because they throw anyway.
Jormungandr: if you land the chain bash buffer zone into the hit to continue the chain you must also let the sweep go and while it's doing the animation you smash zone.
Jormungandr: max punishes on throw is the GB button punish into the hammer slam and the same for parry but if you are near a wall whiff zone into unblockable and the rest is up to you.
Jormungandr is countered by bash-based heroes.

Varangian Guard: you can land your heavy after doing the stance bash by buffering top heavy.
Varangian Guard: max punishes are zone top heavy.
Varangian doesn't have a hard counter.

Kensei: he falls in the bottom line of potential due to being balanced.
Kensei: his bash mix up is somewhat hard to differ.
Kensei: he possesses a ton of delay nearly as much as Nobu.
Kensei: max punishes for parry is zone feint into nature's wrath and back to the mix up or for max dmg it's forward light into the UB for GB it's into UB.
Kensei can GB side heavy from Zerk and BP on neutral.
Kensei doesn't need a counter.

Shugoki: you can flicker his UB via listening to redditking :) (feinting UB into zone).
Shugoki: max punishes zone into top UB.
Shugo gets countered by BP, Zerk and Shinobi and CENT.

Orochi: as I said before whiffing kick allows for a parry.
Orochi: you can dodge attack safely if u have some distance.
Orochi: max punishes are same direction heavy into top heavy for both GB and parry.
Orochi gets countered by BP and HL.

Nobushi can glitch tech her kick by going out of stance then kicking right before the animation ends.
Nobushi can cause insane flickers and glitches with her mixups by just delaying.
Nobushi: you can tech kick by kick right after getting out of stance.
Nobushi: max punish dodge light into top heavy (35 dmg).
Nobushi doesn't need a counter.

Aramusha allows for recovery that is 100ms having the best recovery stance in the game and so you can just light in frame dis then into stance if the opponent has a hyper armor heavy.
Aramusha: max punishes are light heavy other direction for the chain.
Aramusha doesn't need a counter.

Shinobi can deal with heroes that use bash or undodgeable for their chain, i.e., BP Shaolin or Kyoshin. It can work via double dodge!
Shinobi gets frame on almost any move.
Shinobi: if Shino does his third hit after stabbing with his UB or undodgeable you can walk back and he's unable to hit you due to losing his frame but on the second hit you're on frame plus.
Shinobi: mix up is near unreactable.
Shinobi has insane range on lights.
Shinobi loses to inf chain heroes.

Hitokiri: the only thing I can mention is baiting your kick mix up is feinting kick/sweep in heavy buffer heavy.
Hitokiri: max punishes: light finisher heavy.
Hito loses to characters with quick bashes or recovery.

Kyoshin: zone makes his chain less reactable.
Kyoshin: you can make his bash really insane in hitbox by back dodging out of stance into the bash (unsure).
Kyoshin: you can beat any lvl 2 or lvl 3 bash by using stance light after blocking a zone or enhanced light.
Kyoshin: he can counter nearly hyper armor chain with his stance.
Kyoshin: max punishes are zone into top heavy for all.
Kyoshin loses to Shinobi.

Sohei: his zone can work similar to Highlander as I said before. And so feinting zone into GB against an opponent that tried to feint a UB or bash into GB can work against them.
Sohei: light into zone but you should focus on getting the souls rather than dmg.
Sohei gets countered by full block heroes Conq and BP.

Tiandi: his forward dodge mix up is fully safe (RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH).
Tiandi: his kick can be reacted to.
Tiandi: max punishes are zone first hit into top heavy but it's up to you.
Tiandi gets beat by Glad.

Nuxia: u can punish her trap with GB if u diff it.
Nuxia: her deflect is parryable.
Nuxia: it's generally said to dodge away to the other side from the heavy so you don't risk the trap or the heavy itself.
Nuxia: max punish are light heavy light.
Nuxia doesn't need a counter.

Jiang Jun: the hardest to diff in animation.
Jiang Jun: his parry punish near a wall is choke into wall side heavy.
Jiang Jun: he is capable of recovering rather quickly similar to Nobu but doesn't outperform her.
Jiang Jun: dodge forward side light catches dodge bash dodge attack and dodge in general.
Jiang Jun: choke punish on OOS is back light delayed top heavy (insane).
Jiang Jun: max punishes: for parry it's light into top heavy and for throws side heavy into heavy that is if u don't guard switch. (Meaning u must guard switch mid GB.)
Jiang loses to heroes with quick recoveries and counters best example is BP.

Shaolin can flicker any move in qi stance by clicking light then heavy at the same time but slightly off. This applies to bash too.
Shaolin: max punish is light heavy light for all.
Shaolin loses to Berserker a lot.

Zhanhu: delay and zone make him powerful.
Zhanhu: follow the things I added for Kyoshin onto Zhanhu they are nearly the same in fundamentals.
Zhanhu: max punishes are zone into finisher heavy.
Zhanhu gets beaten by heroes with quick recoveries.

Afeera: hard countered by Shinobi and Tiandi, Black Prior and Zerk.
Afeera can do a zone tech by going out of stance walking slightly then zone it increases range and tracking.
Afeera: her animations are insanely obvious.
Afeera: max punishes vary if you're near a wall light wait a second then shield bash into a wall.
Afeera gets countered by Shinobi and Zerk.

Pirate: her gun shot isn't a 50/50 it resets frame to neutral.
Pirate: max punishes are zone into top heavy mostly with the pistol since on wake up they are neutral.
Pirate gets countered somewhat by Glad due to his toestab.

Medjay: he can do his staff stance heavy by unlocking heavy and letting it go and this is if you are not actually in staff stance.
Medjay has the fastest bash in game via animation.
Medjay: max punishes are heavy into top heavy.
Medjay doesn't need a counter.

Ocelotl: one of the few heroes that makes u need to be more offensive to him than defensive to win.
Ocelotl: max punish are zone into heavy for parry and for throw it's heavy heavy.
Ocelotl doesn't have a true hard counter.

Khatun: max punishes are on throw light heavy soft feint heavy and on parry light dodge slight delay heavy into another heavy.
Khatun loses to any hyper armor-based hero.

Most of all my biggest tip to you is, whoever reads this:

Don't take the game so painfully serious.
Don't be so pissed at who you lost to.
Regardless of how toxic,
how annoying,
or what they played like.
Learn from your experience and move on.

Your biggest source of help will be the infohub and finding stuff out yourself.
https://forhonorinfohub.com/
G'day