Have you ever looked at an enemy in For Honor and thought "Man, I really wish I could bite their fingers off?" Well I can happily report that one such hero can grant that request and that hero is none other than Shaman. This little ball of insanity will bite through flesh, leather, chain mail, and plate armor. If anything in For Honor get's plot armor it is the Shaman's teeth.
However, she is one of the characters that typically goes through a few changes each year. Some months she gets nerfed and others she is restored to her rightful glory. The way she gets changed up is her speed. At the time of this article the Shaman is currently at peak strength and speed but note that there is always the possibility that she will get nerfed again in the future.
The key to playing as the Shaman well is constantly canceling attacks and utilizing her quick stab attack in order to bleed opponents. Anyone with half a brain panics in For Honor when the shaman inflicts her bleed damage because this is when she can perform her bite ability. Hopefully these tips will help you play successfully as the brutal viking assassin.
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. Heroes are Food Not Friends:
When it comes to using the Shaman to the best of her ability you have to start with utilizing her bite abilities. This is what takes her from a one dimensional assassin hero to a terrifying master of death. If you dodge backwards and hit the breaker button the assassin will throw herself forward at her enemies and bash into them with her whole body. However, if you initiate this while your target has the bleeding status effect then the assassin will leap out and pounce on the other hero biting them in the neck. This will do a considerable amount of damage to the opponent, stack more bleed, and also fully regain her stamina meter.
However, you cannot easily wait around for someone else to bleed your opponent and unfortunately the shaman only has one attack that inflicts bleed damage, the quick jab. The only way to pull off a quick jab attack is to alt out of an attack right after she initiates it with a light attack. This will cause the Shaman to pull back on the initial strike and thrust with her offhand dagger. This will inflict bleed, it is not too difficult to pull off and allows for a more versatile usage than other hero special attacks.
2. Axe Slap:
The Shaman has a very useful unblockable heavy that I like to call the axe slap. She can follow up any initial attack with an unblockable heavy swing to the right. This hit also has a slight delay in its landing time which makes it a bit easier to get off than other unblockable heavy attacks in the game.
It is important to note that this attack can only come from the left. Anyone who has experience playing against a Shaman will know to expect the strike, but if you practice canceling out of the heavy strike to deal different types of damage then you can trick a seasoned hero into taking an axe to the face.
3. Swing Like a Madwoman!:
The Shaman has an interesting battle posture and always seems to flail about as she fights or even prepares to fight. This definitely translates into her Zone Attack. With one of the strongest and most versatile Zone Attacks in the game the Shaman will begin spinning, flailing her axe around her several times, landing some solid strikes against the enemy.
However, this attack has a three beat pattern to it and at any time during the first and second part of the onslaught you can opt out to break an opponent or my personal favorite is perform the dagger jab to stack bleed damage.
Utilizing the zone attack will give you the edge in many combat scenarios or will allow you to clear out many pikemen should you be playing dominion.
Advanced Tips
1. Breaker Bash:
Most beginning Shaman players will only utilize her breaker when the bleed status effect is placed to perform the infamous bite. When an opponent is not bleeding very few Shamans attempt to use her breaker lunge which simply makes her throw her entire body into the enemy. Doing so quickly closes the distance between her and enemies that try and keep her at bay with long ranged weapons. It also allows her to restart a fight by knocking the opponent off balance. If the breaker lands you have a guranteed light attack followup. Learning to use her breaker lunge without desperately trying to bite your opponent will easily throw most enemies off.
2. Lunge Fakeout:
Like many heroes that have a lunge heavy attack it tends to be overused and easily read. The Shaman can perform a leaping heavy strike against her enemy and while it does land serious overhead damage it is easily parried. However, if you lunge in for the attack and opt out of it at the last second you can close the distance on your opponent and perform two side light attacks. If your opponent was preparing to block or parry your overhead then this will have a guaranteed hit and set you up for any number of combinations. You can also use this chance to inflict bleed damage although the dagger stab is not a guaranteed hit.
3. Parry, Bleed, Breaker, Bite!:
A great strategy attack combination to use as the Shaman that has a high rate of success is the title of this tip. If you parry the enemy you can guarantee a bleed stab hit at this point you have one of two options to continue the assault. You can go for a breaker grab and if the opponent does not counter your breaker then you can grab them, hit the breaker again to kick them backwards, and then breaker a third time for a guaranteed pounce bite. This has a high chance of draining your entire stamina bar, but if you successfully bite into your opponent then you will gain it back anyways.
However, because this combo typically guarantees a landing bite attack many experienced players will begin to spam the breaker counter after being parry bled. The other way to pull off the combo after parry bleeding is to dodgebackwards and then breaker to que in the lunge bite. Doing this will give the enemy a chance to start dodging away from your lunges, but if they were attempting to counter a regular breaker they will get tackled and bit. Either combination is good for bullying opponents and the best part about it is you are in full control of this exchange from start to finish.
4. My Favorite Combo:
While it has been awhile since the Shaman was my favorite character she is still my highest ranked prestige character at 26 (don't judge by ADHD I am still 173 prestige overall I just cannot commit to one character too long). I have plenty of experience with her and a combination I always found reliable was as follows.
When in front of your opponent, begin with two light attacks from your right, then trigger the zone attack and halfway through it opt out to perform a bleed stab from above. If you have successfully landed the bleed at this point you will dodge forward lunge at the opponent and almost certainly take them to the ground for a nice snack.
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The Shaman is a fun hero to play as in For Honor, but if you do not utilize her abilities correctly she will appear as stagnant and weak. There is very little room for in between skill players when it comes to the Shaman, you are either incredible or you suck. It's okay to spend the first few prestige levels on learning her unique timing and movesets, but after that you must master combining her several combos to bring out that dagger stab. Make sure that this saves please. If you want some more For Honor content check out the rest of my articles, especially the best Heavies, Vanguards, and Hybrids articles!
