In one of your previous posts you said you got killed because one of the cumans slipped in your back. That’s because you’re not controlling your space.
My personal technique in this situation is the opposite of what I called the “circle of death”, I call it the “circle of life”, contrary to the “circle of death” where you get closer and closer of your enemy by going left or right, this technique Is specific to combats against more than one opponent.
Turn into circles, watch from which side the enemies try to flank you and move in the opposite direction in circles. This will force the opponents behind the one you have in front of you to catch you. They won’t be able to hit you, turning the 1 vs multiple opponents into a 1vs1. BEWARE, this technique won’t save you from being surrounded if you stay static. The enemy in front of you will force you to fight him turning you into a sitting duck. Strike with one thrust then step back and change your target to the one that is inside the circle so that you always have only 1 adversary in front of you. If you strike 3 or 4 times the others will have the time to surround you. When you fight against multiple enemies always target the weakest on one side of the pack, not the one in the middle and start to turn around him. If you turn to the right while stepping backwards the pack will likely try to run after you on the left side, if the pack goes on your right start turning on the left so that you always have 1 opponent in front of you. Remember to control your space, this also includes obstacles behind you like a wall that could prevent you from moving, you really need to be aware of the combat space around you.
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You really need to fight “dirty” poison your sword, switch to the opponent that is on the outside and start the circling, target the face with a quick thrust. By that time, you should have two opponents on each side trying to surround you, step back, switch to the new adversary that is the closest to you and repeat. There’s no honorable fight but the one you win and it’s a game of patience. If your sword is poisoned it won’t take too long for the one you hit to die or give up, the goal is to reduce the number of swords in front of you whatever the means not to do a sword fight like in the movies that lasts 5 minutes. That’s how you get killed; too static, not controlling your space and not fighting dirty
Hmm… thats for “realistic combat system”. running backwards in circles and try to thrust for the face. 
It´s really a shame how this combat system ruins such a great game.
I´ll try to stick to light armour currently as i can´t afford a full plate. But i managed to get chainmail for head, body and legs. values are 15 to 20 now.
So combos, etc. are all just for nothing as you can´t really use it in 1 vs multiple? what a shame.
You can use combos all the time, the only condition with them is that you can’t use a short sword combo with a longsword and vice versa and you can’t use a longsword combo with a longsword and a shield. But to do a combo in a 1 vs multiples you have to have some skill, you need to be able to do it without failure or you will be surrounded. It’s realistic, what would you do with 5 guys full plate coming your way and about to surround you? You probably start running in circles to avoid being overwhelmed.
Problem is i can´t manage combos even in a 1 vs 1 when the game is slowed down to to 25% via cheat engine. I really don´t know how anyone could manage such a fast pace. If i´m lucky i get the 2nd strick every 10th try. I also can´t understand why there are no difficulty settings at all. it´s like “be as cool as we are or you looser are not allowed to play.”
And it is a shame there is put such much efford in the 1 vs 1 part of the fighting with all the animations and moves and such but then were are close to all encounters 1 vs N with absolutly no combataction is dedicated to more than 1 opponent.
I’m using axes. Even if blocked, enemies tend to stumble
Then don’t try combos, 90% of the time you’ll fight outnumbered and you have to adapt, find a good technique that suits you. I shared you mine, it’s not perfect but I can definitely tell you that you can land combos and do nice combats. BUT first you have to have a technique that allows you to survive. A technique that “puts food on the table” on a daily basis, so to speak, something you can rely on to finish the combats quickly if need be and once you have more experience you can try nice combos or a more traditional combat style.
I think you’re trying too hard to do the right things while your opponent is just trying to kill you as fast as possible.
In a 1vs 1 you have the time to see the attack coming, remember Bernard’s advices! Once the enemy starts his attack you have to act. Forget about parrying or blocking, in a sword fight if you have to parry or block it’s because you failed your positioning, it means you put yourself in a situation where the enemy has an opportunity to attempt a strike. You need to dodge attacks by either stepping aside or stepping backwards. The enemy will fail to hit you and he’ll be defenseless for a short moment. That’s why I insist on not parrying or blocking. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t parry or block if you forgot to move when it was the time, but it should be your last resort.
In a 1vs multi things are different. The opponents will 100% of the time try to surround you, so there’s no time for a nice 1vs1, here the goal is to survive and reduce as quickly as possible the number of enemies in front of you. Thus, the technique in circles where you lock/unlock your enemies with TAB as fast as possible to attack the enemy closest to you. With the help of poison and perks that increase the bleeding chance this allows you to quickly take down one or two opponents.
But both combats require you remain mobile, get close, dodge, in a 1vs1 you can do a swing strike because you have more time. In a 1vs multiple when you have 5 guys around you, the thrust strike is faster. Strike, then step back to “break” the lock that sticks you to your opponent. Unlike movies where the hero has the time to chain attacks on the facing opponent while the others wait for their turn instead of bashing him to death, KDC is realistic they’ll surround you, hit you and incapacitate or kill you in a matter of seconds. That’s the way it is, do not try to resist the game mechanic but adapt instead.
Reducing the difficulty in your situation won’t help, because you resist the mechanics of the game, you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do at the right moment, even if you slow down to 10% of the speed but still do the wrong thing like blocking instead of dodging the result will be the same.
As I was writing this, I just met 4 Cumans that were robbing merchants, the combat lasted 40 seconds, they managed to hit me just once. It wasn’t a nice fight, I charged the first one, an archer, 2 swings because he was unprepared, the 3 others tried to surround me, a quick thrust in the neck of another archer and I only had the last 2 armored dudes to kill, I stepped back trying to line them in front of me, thrust then swing on the first while the other with the pole tried to flank me but by the time he did that his friend was dead too and then a simple dodge, with a pole he’s slow, a thrust and a swing + swing in a quick succession and they were all dead. Damn I wish these merchants would give me something, say something instead of standing with the arms like that.
Olaf, seriously, switch to full plate so that you don’t get killed too quickly. Search “treasure map locations” on google and go get the pieces of plate that you can find in these chests. It will also force you to level up lockpicking that is a must have skill. You need to do something else before the combat system drives you crazy and treasure hunting is a nice rewarding activity.
i don´t think is my technique. Its plain and simple that i´m too slow. I can´t even reliable perform a that master strick ther you hve nothing to da but stand still and press one button as fast as the devs want me to do it. I´m not able to do it. I´m just to slow by far.
That’s why a good treasure hunt will change a bit your mind. If you already went hunting with Capon you should have a horse by now. Time to get some cash and gear for free from these treasures. Then you can buy the best horse in the game in Merhojed from the stables: Warhorse Jenda, he’s way faster and more enduring than the horse they give you with the hunting quest and he can carry twice the loot.
Another tip to quickly get the best gear early in game is to look for these ambushes between bandits and town guards or Cumans, hide in the bushes at good distance, especially if your stealth skill is low because otherwise the winners will spot you. Wait for the battle to finish so that you can loot the corpses. You can access your inventory as you get encumbered to transfer the loot to your horse so that you can grab every single piece of something you can and store it in Rattay or from taverns, you can rent a bed for the night and access your chest in Rattay to drop the stuff. These fights are the best source of revenue early in the game. Especially these in the northern west part of the map near Skalitz. There’s a road following the river near a treasure map location, at the crossroads you’ll often spot guards or bandits fighting each other, it’s a permanent ambush spot so whenever you need a “long noble hauberk” or any other top tier gear you can come to this spot. Go north from Samopesh through the woods, you’ll find the river/stream I’m talking about. Usually you can be sure there will be a fight there every night.
but huw does this make any sense if i´m so slow to perform any action needed in combat but a normal block.
my (Henrys) combat skills are at level 15 now and i (Not Henry) still hit nothing even with master strike.
How is a plate mail about to change this?
Having a full plate armor will make you last longer, thus you’ll have more opportunities to land a hit. It’s only through combat that you’ll get the hang of it but if you train with Bernard will real weapons, he’ll destroy you and you’ll have to pay 4000 groschen to repair. So fighting against a bunch of peasants in full plate will make the fight last longer, you’ll have the time to switch enemies with TAB to avoid being flanked, you’ll get hit but with a “Aqua Vitalis” you shouldn’t be injured too badly as it reduces the damage by 2 turning you into a “tank”.
You will not be able to progress in the game if you don’t solve that problem, so now it’s time for the real thing and you might as well want to be as powerful as possible to have the opportunity to learn the sword fighting trade.
The first time I played the game I finished it but without understanding a single thing on how to fight, I was just randomly clicking and the quests that required I kill people were a real chore, I was full plate running like a chicken because the opponents were destroying me, having to switch to the bow to kill them when they were 1 meter away from me. It was pathetic. Then in my second game, with the experience, I went get the treasures as soon as I had the horse and go straight to see Bernard to learn to fight. It wasn’t sufficient as I had to actually learn how to fight to avoid playing like I did in the first game so I was saving the game right in front of the bandit camp south east of Rattay along the river and I tried, I died, I reloaded the game until I managed to actually be able to do something, to understand what I was doing and these guys aren’t much of a threat when you know how to fight. It took me quite some time to learn how to position myself in front of the enemy, dodge, strike. To avoid repair costs, I was just reloading until I was an “ok” fighter and able to kill them all without dying. The next camps were a bit more difficult and once again I had a lot of troubles not being wrecked so I did the same thing, save and reload until I was able to take them down. This gave me the required experience to know who to attack first, the importance of dodging the attacks of heavily geared enemies, especially those who fight with war hammers, beware at war hammers, they’ll open your helmet and skull as easily as a can of tuna.
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If Henry is 15 in sword and it’s true that you literally are not able to land a single hit . . . well, then, I recommend you give up. On the combat, I mean. Roleplay the game to avoid combat. You’ll just need to kill one dude, so make sure you have a save point before going to a battle with Radzig. You’ll need to make sure you have a PLENTY of potions before going to that.
Walls and hedges also protect you from being attacked from the rear. They can be quite useful.
Thanks for all the help but the plain and simple fact is: My reactions are just to slow for this combat system as it is implemented.
I´ve modded the game to give me just 10% more time to react and now everything is fine.
its still a far better and more realistic combat than that skirim thing but not that hardcore fast o that i can handle it.
One day you’ll forget to enable the speedhack on cheat engine and you’ll manage to fight without it 
. What matters is that you can play the game and enjoy it. Last tip, do not progress too fast in the main story, give yourself the time to level up, if it’s not already the case, Alchemy, stealth and reading. They matter mid-game