The Raider is the Vanguard-class Hero for the Vikings. They march through the battlefield wielding a Dane Axe, chopping their opponents to bits like a lumberjack but the trees are people. This article aims to help introduce new players to this Hero and hopefully give veteran players a few helpful tips. Also, just as a forewarning, this article assumes you know For Honor terminology.
Raider’s Moveset
Raider’s basic combo chains are as follows:
- Chope and Poke - light, light, light
- Chop and Cleave - light, light, heavy
- Harsh Swinging - light, heavy, heavy
- Wild Swinging - heavy, heavy, heavy
- Savage Slashes - heavy, light, light
- Winding Slashes - heavy, light, heavy
Raider’s basic combo chains encourage mixups to keep your opponents guessing, but his full kit encourages aggressive gameplay to keep :
- Raider’ Storm - An unblockable zone attack that comes from the left guard
- Raider’s Fury - Unblockable chain ender that comes from the right guard. Performed by doing a zone attack after any chain attack. Raider’s highest damage move.
- Stampede Charge - While out of lock and sprinting, hold the guard break button to scoop up enemies and carry them over a long distance. If the Raider runs into a wall during this attack, he will slam his opponent into the wall and knee them in the face.
- Reaping Charge - While out of lock and sprinting, press heavy attack to unleash a wide-sweeping attack.
- Storming Tap - Dodge left, right, or forward and press light attack. This also counts as a combo chain starter
- Feinted Tap - Press light attack during the startup of a heavy attack to feint into Storming Tap
- Raider can also feint the start-up of any heavy attack, including zone attacks, into a guard break
If you’d like a more in-depth look at the Raider’s moveset, check out this guide by MightyMattman90.
Raider Strategies
As a beginner playing raider, the thing you must first master is Raider’s Fury. This is one of the highest damaging moves in the game and is crucial to playing Raider efficiently. As mentioned above in the moveset section, Raider’s Fury can be used after any combo chain attack. Therefore, try to mix in Raider’s Fury with each of your combo chains to see when it catches your opponents the most. A fairly solid strategy at first is to feint Raider’s Fury a lot, the opponent will then think you don’t like committing to that move and then you can let it fly when they least expect it and chop them in half. The second thing you should familiarize yourself with is the Storming Tap. This is a great mixup tool and it can also be followed up by a Raider’s Fury, just don’t spam it or you’ll get parried and punished by a heavy attack.
For advanced strategies, there isn’t much to say besides learning to read when your opponent will parry your Raider’s Fury or Storming Tap as Raider is built to be a straightforward Hero like the other Vanguards. However, there are a few little things such as feinting heavies into a guard break and knowing when to use Stampede Charge to its full effect that can really help elevate your gameplay. A much-loved strategy of many a Raider player is to use Stampede Charge to run an unsuspecting enemy into a cliff, or other conveniently placed environmental hazard and then watch your opponent seethe with rage in the chat.
For an example of high level, competitive strategies, in a 4v4 mode check out this video by Zer0_Craic.
Raider Feats
Tier 1:
- Rush - Trigger to gain movement speed for a short duration
- Tireless - Lose stamina at a lower rate
- Body Count - Killing soldiers grants you health and stamina
Tier 2:
- Marked for Death - Reveal a target’s position and lower their attack and defense
- Inspire - Allies and yourself deal more damage, soldiers fight faster when active
- Bear Trap - Medium damage trap that stops victims in their tracks
Tier 3:
- Second Wind - Recover some of your health on activation
- Fury - When activated, raises sprint speed, damage, and defense greatly
- Battlecry - Increase for allies and yourself and make enemy soldier flee
Tier 4:
- Fire Flask - Projectile that creates a devastating fire area of effect
- Stalwart Banner - Place a banner that heals nearby allies continuously
- Slippery - Activate to auto block grab attempts for a short duration
Selecting Raider’s feats depend on your playstyle. If you like playing Dominion a lot then Body Count is an excellent choice for tier 1 because Raider can clear minions very fast. However, if you’re playing anything else you should be using Tireless.
For tier 2, it is really up to you. All three perks are quite good and can help in group fights. I personally like to use Inspire because I like the damage buff to myself and my allies.
Tier 3 feats can be a hard choice. Second Wind is a very solid perk for any build as it lets you stay in the fight, Fury can be excellent when fighting against multiple opponents, and Battlecry is as useful as Inspire. I usually go with Second Wind in most game modes but if you never have to use it because you’re some sort of killing machine sent by the gods, by all means, choose one of the other two.
Tier 4 has two obvious choices, Fire Flask and Stalwart Banner. These two perks outweigh the usefulness of Slippery by a huge margin. Especially in game modes where you will likely fight multiple opponents at a time, it is easier to throw a Fire Flask at your feet or keep the rest of your team alive with Stalwart Banner.
Raider Gear
Raider’s gear consists of three armor pieces: head, arms, and body and three weapons pieces: Ax head, shaft, and pommel. His gear perks are as follows:
- Shields Up - Upon spawn or revive, receive a 15 health shield
- Aegis - All shields received are increased by 20%
- Devourer - Receive 15 extra health on execution
- Endurance - When gaining a renown level, receive 3% stamina cost reduction (max 4 gains)
- Survival Instinct - When in critical health, gain 25% stamina cost reduction
- Head Hunter - For each player executed, increase max health by 4 (max 4 increases)
- Fresh Focus - When out of stamina, counter guardbreaks, blocks, and parries regenerate 20% stamina
For a low reputation Raider, Shields Up and Aegis is a safe bet as it is extra health but I highly recommend getting Endurance, Head Hunter, or Fresh Focus when you’re Raider is a high enough Reputation. Endurance stacks with the Tireless perk and can help you stay in the fight and throw out more stamina costly attacks. Fresh Focus is also excellent as many of Raider’s high damaging attack strings can put your out of stamina quickly, especially if they’re parried.
For an example of an optimal Raider build for Dominion, you might consider, check out this video by Daniel DoesIt.
Raider Executions
Raider’s executions show off their raw strength and power, such as the “Viking Press Backbreaker” where the Raider lifts their opponent over their head and breaks their back on their knee. I do recommend buying the “Headhunting” execution first as it is Raider’s quickest execution. Other than that they are all excellent.
For a closer look at Raider’s executions, check out this video by Xinlyfenne.
Raider Fashion
Personally, I am not a huge fan of Raider’s fashion. I like the style of a being a fearless warrior that runs into battle without a shirt on but at the same time I feel it limits player expression as there are only a few really cool armor sets. There are some sets that make the Raider look like something out of a survival-horror game that may interest some of you, but I could care less about them. Raider also has some cool ornaments exclusive to them that look great on their helmets. Raider’s ax sets look really cool, with many of them being themed after a god or creature from Norse Mythology.
For a look at some high reputation Raider gear, check out this video by RageQuit that also features high reputation gear for the other Viking Heroes.
Raider Tips
- Pay attention to your stamina bar at all times
- Stampede Charge is one of the best tools for disabling an opponent in a group fight
- Raider’s Fury is an extremely powerful tool in team fights due to its high damage and unblockable property
- Raider is not a defensive hero, always keep the pressure on
- Storming Tap is an excellent mixup tool, especially against less experienced players due to how fast it is
- You can cancel every heavy attack, even your zone attack, into a Storming Tap
- Raider’s Storm does a lot less damage than Raider’s Fury
- Raider has surprisingly fast lights, use them.
- Don’t be afraid of letting heavies fly, they’re uninterruptible.
- You can use Stampede Charge by doing a forward from a guardbreak, use it to toss opponents into environmental hazards
- For more tips on how to play Raider effectively, check out these videos
Raider Parry and Guardbreak Punishes by Freeze
How To Up Your Game as Raider by Flux Deluxe
5 Tips to Become a Better Raider by Dwarven Benji
An Honest Guide to Raider by Dogiii
How To Raider by BannerGuard
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