Blaine Kross’ Outlands Dueling Guide

So you want to duel? Good. Welcome to the Arena. (Double tap any pictures below to make them bigger)

Step 1: Entering the Arena

• Head to any Moongate, click it, and select “Arena” from the options.

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• Once inside, locate the Arena Stone (📸 insert image here) and double-click it.

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Step 2: Setting Up Your Duel Template

• On the right-hand side, click “Arena Template.”

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• Use the following meta build — this is the standard for high-level dueling:📖 Swords Mage (see above)
• 100 Tactics
• 100 Magery
• 100 Meditation
• 100 Evaluating Intelligence
• 100 Magic Resist
• 100 Wrestling

⚙️ Stats

• STR: 100
• DEX: 25
• INT: 100

This is the Tank Mage setup — the gold standard for T2A Arena dueling.

After entering your template, click “Activate.” You’re now fully loaded.

Step 3: Gear Checklist

When entering the Arena, make sure you bring the following gear:

Armor

• Full GM Leather Armor Set

Weapons

Bring multiple types — you’ll switch based on matchup, swing speed, and RNG:

• GM Halberd
• GM Executioner’s Axe or Double Axe
• GM Viking Sword or Longsword
• GM Katana, GM Norse Axe, or GM Scimitar

Items

• 10+ of each reagent(Note: Reagents do not burn in Arena matches)
• 1 Greater Refresh Potion(Potions do not burn in Arena matches)
• 1 Trapped Pouch(Never know when someone will try to cast paralyze, rarely happens)

Step 4: Starting a Duel

Finding Matches

• On the Arena Stone interface, click “Available Matches” (left side).

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• To create your own match, click “Create New Match.”
  • Make sure to use the same match settings as shown in the image

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• Click “Create Match.”

Ready Up

• After your match is created, click the blue diamond next to your name to signal you're ready.

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• Your opponent will now be able to join your match.

Alternatively, you can browse existing matches and click Join to enter someone else’s duel.

Arena Setup Reminder

Before entering the arena, make sure you’ve done the following:

• ❌ Dismount — You cannot be mounted in arena matches.
• 💳 Buy Arena Credits — Go to the Rewards and Arena Credits section on the Arena Stone and purchase Arena Credits before starting.

  They're very cheap, and required to initiate a duel.

Once you’ve got credits and are dismounted, you’re good to go.

Arena Interface Overview

• Available Tournaments – Upcoming scheduled tournaments
• Previous Tournaments – Historical match results
• Player Ranks & Records – Your ELO, wins/losses, and ladder placement
• Rewards & Arena Credits – Track your Arena Points and see available rewards

Disclaimer

Addendum: 08/06/2025: LOT of changes have been made to my set up!

For many of you reading this, as of the date above you’ll notice a lot of changes. I’m always tinkering with my setup to find the most optimal way to duel, and as of today I am no longer using “Cancel Current Target” before all my spells. I used it because I wanted a quick way to change spells I had up; however, it limited how fast I could recast when I got disrupted. If I got disrupted and held the key for the next spell, I would often accidentally cancel the spell I wanted. Therefore, I’ve stopped using it.

As always, please experiment with your own setup to find what works best for you, as I’m constantly tweaking mine.

Targeting & Target Queueing: Should You Use It?

This is one of the biggest points of personal preference in dueling.

Some duelers are die-hard fans of target queueing, while others strongly prefer the manual method. There’s no universal answer—it depends on how you like to manage spell timing, control, and speed.

What Is Target Queueing?

Target queueing allows you to “queue” your spell while it’s still casting.

This means the spell is preloaded and will automatically fire the moment your targeting cursor becomes active—no cursor will appear, and the spell fires instantly.

Example:

You cast Energy Bolt.

While the spell is still casting, you press your Last Target key (or roll your mouse wheel up).

That spell is now queued—it will automatically release the instant it’s ready. No delay. No manual click. Just pure speed.

This is the fastest possible method of casting. You literally cannot go faster, which is why so many high-level duelers rely on it. In tight duels, every millisecond matters.

The Manual Method

Other duelers prefer to manually press their Last Target key or roll their mouse wheel to release spells. They feel it gives them more intentional control over each cast.

That’s a perfectly valid and effective approach. Many top duelers use it.

That said, with enough practice, target queueing can offer the same level of control—while giving you the added edge of faster release speed. It just requires more awareness and discipline to avoid misfires.

Key Differences & Considerations

If you're thinking about using target queueing (especially if you’re coming from the manual style), here’s what to know:

• Target Queueing:
  • Press your Last Target key (or roll the mouse wheel) during the casting phase.
  • The spell will automatically and instantly release the moment it’s ready—no cursor shown.
  • Don’t spam Last Target constantly—you might accidentally queue spells you didn’t mean to release.
  • With practice, these mistakes become rare.
  • ✅ Fastest release possible
  • ⚠️ Requires more discipline to avoid unintended casts
• Manual Targeting:
  • Wait until the spell is almost ready (just before your cursor appears).
  • Then, hold your Last Target key or start rolling the mouse wheel, so the spell releases as soon as the cursor comes up.
  • ✅ More control and flexibility
  • ⚠️ Slightly slower release timing

Where to Enable Target Queueing

You can enable or adjust target queueing by going to:

Razor → Options → Target & Queueing —> Check “Queue LastTarget and TargetSelf”

See the screenshot below for reference:

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Final Thought

Target queueing gives you maximum speed, with a small learning curve and slightly higher risk at first.

Manual targeting offers maximum control, with slightly slower execution but more flexibility.

Try both. Practice both.

Ultimately, your best setup is the one that makes you deadliest under pressure.

Spell Hotkeys – Use CUO, Not Razor

This is non-negotiable.

All your spell hotkeys should be set inside the CUO Client, not Razor. Why? Because CUO macros fire spells slightly faster than Razor hotkeys — and yes, this has been tested extensively.

How to Set Them:

1. Open your Paperdoll → Click Options
2. Go to the Macros tab
3. Click New Macro
4. Add the spell (e.g., Fireball) and bind it to your desired hotkey
5. Save

Picture attached:

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I’ll share my full hotkey layout later in this guide, along with my logic behind each placement.

Weapon Swap Scripts – The Secret Sauce

Here’s where the real optimization begins. Most top duelers use custom scripts to instantly swap weapons without dropping a spell—something that Razor’s “Dress” feature simply can’t do fast enough. A common question I get is: “I thought scripts were disabled for PvP—will this work in Arena or field?” The answer is yes. While most scripting functions were disabled, this particular script is not affected and works flawlessly in both Arena and field PvP. I use it in every PvP event, including factions, and it functions without issue. Until it gets patched or officially disabled, it’s fully usable and safe to run.

Script Example (Executioner's Axe):

1if findtype "zweihander" backpack as item2                hotkey 'Toggle Peace Only'3                drop backpack4                cast "unlock"5                hotkey 'Toggle Peace Only'6                lift item7                drop self lefthand8        endif9        attack lastharmful

Create four of these scripts, one for each weapon you’ll be swapping between:

• Halberd
• Katana
• Viking Sword
• Executioner's Axe (or Double Axe)

AttackLast Inside Script

Some players separate AttackLast from their arm macro. I don’t.

I include it inside my weapon macro, so the moment the weapon is equipped, it swings. That saves you a separate hotkey press — and in a duel, less thinking = better reacting.

Advanced Spell Logic – Full Macro Chain

Now that spells and weapons are handled… you're still not done.

Here’s the breakdown of what I include in every spell macro:

1hotkey ‘Toggle Peace Only’2hotkey ‘Clear Target Queue’

Macro Chain for Each Spell:

1. Clear Target Queue
   • If you duel with Queue Targeting ON (recommended), this clears your previous queued spell.
   • Helps you avoid misfires or awkward double-casts.
2. Toggle Peace Only(must-have)
   • Automatically puts you in peace mode every time you cast.
   • Prevents accidental wrestling punches that cause you to whiff your real weapon swing.
   • This is a MUST. Every spell macro should include this.
3. Last Target (optional)
   • Some players place Last Target at the start of their spell macro.
   • Why? It allows you to both fire your previous spell AND queue your next spell with a single button.
   • Example: Poison is up → you hit Harm → fires off Poison and queues Harm instantly.
4. Cancel Current Target
   • As of 08/06/2025, I’ve stopped placing “Cancel Current Target” before every spell in Razor. While it has its merits and many duelers swear by it, I found it slowed me down—holding a key often canceled the very spell I wanted up when I got disrupted.
   • Instead, I now use a combination of Spacebar and Escape to cancel my current target, which feels a LOT faster and less risk of accidentally canceling the spell I wanted.

1hotkey 'Cancel Current Target'2hotkey 'Toggle Peace Only'3hotkey 'Clear Target Queue'

1. Set Your Interrupt Key to "Cancel Current Spell” (Optional)

   Some players don’t want Cancel Current Target or Last Target tied to any of their spells—but also don’t love having to press Escape or another extra key just to cancel a spell.

   This setup offers a clean, simple alternative.

   • Bind your self-interrupt key (which you should have) to also cancel your current spell.
   • This allows you to cancel a cast mid-way using the same button you already use to interrupt.
   • Example: I use mouse wheel click as my self-interrupt. If I wanted, I could set it up like this:
   Plain Text

   ScreenshotCopy

   1hotkey '>Interrupt'2hotkey 'Cancel Current Target'3hotkey 'Toggle Peace Only'

   • It’s a great setup for players who hold their spell keys down and want to avoid cursor issues.
   • Someone else gave me this idea—and I think it’s one of the smoothest setups for this kind of style. Highly recommend testing it and I will probably convert into using this at some point in the future.

You’ll need to embed this logic into each spell you cast and bind the macro to the same hotkey you use for the spell itself (CUO + Razor need to match).

Below is a screenshot of what my spell in CUO (client) looks like and the SAME hotkey in razor. Example is above. So my energy bolt would be hotkey “S” in Client (CUO) and also hotkey “S” in razor. We call that binding an ingame macro to a razor macro. Make sure to click “Pass to UO”.

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Weapon Cooldown Timers – Visual Swing Tracking for Duel Precision

Here’s one more underrated, powerful tool: Cooldown Timers.

Outlands lets you set up visual weapon cooldown tracking, so you know exactly when your weapon is ready to swing again — no guessing, no wasted clicks, no accidental katana swings.

Why Use Cooldowns?

When you’re just starting out, it’s hard to feel the timing.

You’ll end up:

• Swinging too early with the wrong weapon
• Having high DPS weapon up that isn’t ready

Cooldowns give you on-screen visual timers tied to your weapons, which:

• Help you train your internal rhythm
• Let you swap efficiently between weapons
• Takes the guessing out of weapon timing

Eventually you’ll internalize timing — but until then, this is your best training wheel.

How to Set Up Weapon Cooldowns

1. Open Paperdoll → Options → Cooldowns
2. Click “New Entry”
3. Add the following timers manually, one per weapon:

These values are based on 14 Stamina, which is what you'll have with Strength potions and full leather.

If your stam drops (e.g. you forgot a refresh pot), swings will be slightly slower, but these still offer valuable reference.

Note: I don’t add a cooldown for punches since they’re roughly equivalent to Katana speed and less critical to track.

What It Looks Like In Use

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Your cooldowns will appear above your hotkeys, in the corner, or wherever you position them. They’ll tick down in real-time after each swing, giving you perfect visibility on:

• When to swap
• Which weapon is ready to go

Scripts vs. Macros

Some people see the word “script” and start losing their mind.

Just to be clear—all of the above adjustments/tools can be created in the Macros section as well. You can copy the exact same commands like Toggle Peace or Clear Queue into your Macro tab, and they’ll work the same way.

I personally prefer to put them in the Script section, since for some reason, putting them in Macros makes me lag more.

The only thing that can’t be done through Macros is the weapon swap script—that one has to live in the Script tab to function properly.

Setting Up Your Keyboard Speed

This tip comes courtesy of Skrypt. In Windows, open Control Panel → Keyboard, then move both Repeat delay and Repeat rate sliders to the maximum.

Why it matters: if you cast Fireball and get interrupted mid-cast, you can immediately mash and hold your Poison key—and it’ll land (possibly) before your opponent can GHeal. With lower settings, that rapid-repeat never registered. Max out your keyboard speed and watch your cast time improve. This will elevate your overall game. A MUST have.

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Pro Tip: Build Muscle Memory With Visual + Audio

Combine cooldowns with audio cues (weapon swing sounds, spell sizzle) and it’ll burn the rhythm into your nervous system.

Summary: Setting Up Right

I get asked a lot what my hotkey setup is, and what the best layout is for PvP and dueling.

Honestly, a lot of it is subjective. But the core principle is simple:

Your hand should move as little as possible.

For example:

If you have Poison on "E" but Harm on "F11", you're going to lose fights just based on speed.

That kind of setup doesn’t work anymore — you’ll get out-cycled and outpaced.

Now I know a lot of you have hotkeys you’ve used for 20+ years.

I did too. I used to run Explo on F11, Ebolt on F12, and Harm on F4.

It was a mess — and I was slow as hell.

Eventually I sucked it up and rebuilt my entire hotkey layout around modern PvP.

Took me 2–3 weeks of consistent fighting to really adapt, but now it’s second nature.

So here’s my current setup — I’m not saying it’s perfect, but it’s damn solid and built for performance:

F1Cure Pot

F2Heal Pot

F3(Formerly Refresh, now blank)

F4Reactive Armor

Shift + F4Protection

F5Magic Reflect

F6Bless

F7Curse

F8Poison Field

F9Invisibility

F10Dispel

F11Chain Lightning

F12Meteor Swarm

Tilde `Refresh Potion

1Mini Heal

2Greater Heal

3Cure

4Double Teleport Rope

5Wall of Stone

Shift + 5Energy Field

Ctrl + 5Paralyze Field

6Dispel Field

7Reveal

8Agility

9Cunning

10Strength

QFireball

WMagic Arrow

ZClumsy

EHarm

XFeeblemind

RPoison

CWeaken

TLightning

YTelekinesis

AExplosion

SEnergy Bolt

DMind Blast

Shift + DExplosion Potion

Shift + FPop Trapped Pouch

FFlame Strike

GParalyze

Shift + 1Strength Pot

Shift + 2Agility Pot

Shift + 3Resist Pot

VBandage Self

BEval Int

NFaction Door

MMeditation

Esc: Cancel Current Target Spacebar: Cancel Current Target/Self Interrupt

Shift + Spacebar: Hamstring Toggle

Mousewheel Click: Self Interrupt

Weapon Arm Hotkeys:

It’s my suggestion that for arming weapons, you should use your mouse buttons. I have one of those mouses that has five buttons on the left side, which I use to arm my weapons. Mouse Button 1: Halberd Mouse Button 2: Axe Mouse Button 3: Viking Sword

Mouse Button 4: Katana Mouse Button 5: Punch

Again — you don’t have to use this exact layout. But build yours with intent.

Group spells that chain together.

Keep frequently used spells close.

Ditch the nostalgia hotkeys if they’re slowing you down.

T2A-style dueling on Outlands is brutal, technical, and pressure-based. You’re not here to spam spells or flail weapons. You’re here to manage cycles, control tempo, and outplay opponents through smart sequencing and discipline.

1. Weapon Damage Is King

• 70–80% of your damage comes from weapons.
• Spells are for interrupts, pressure, and burst setups — not for carrying the fight.
• Damage variance is real. Hits can range from 10 to 34, depending on weapon and RNG.

2. The Current Meta: Swords Tank Mage ("Hally Mage")

The current meta is a Swords Tank Mage, also known as a Hally Mage. This build gives you access to the strongest burst weapon (halberd), plus the most flexible options across all four weapon types.

You’ll cycle between four weapon types depending on situation and timing:

BURST Weapons

Halberd, Zweihander, Bardiche, Great Axe

• Slowest, but highest damage.
• Used at the start of a cycle or when you’ve created a clean opening.
• Can do 30+ damage. If you land it with an Ebolt that also hits for 30+, that’s 60+ damage in one swing + spell.
• Can give you a major lead in a fight if timed right.

Grinding Weapons

Double Axe, Executioner’s Axe, etc.

• Great damage, faster than halberd.
• Best during mid-cycle, especially when opponent is moving or recovering.
• Best DPS weapon in game, most used weapon
• Can also be used for burst, as hits can deal 24 damage.

DPS Weapons

Viking Sword, Longsword

• Used a lot in lieu of Katana (only a bit slower, but better DPS)
• Decent damage, pretty fast.
• Stronger interrupt option than katana when timing allows.

Interrupt Weapons

Katana, Norse Axe, Scimitar

• Fastest swing speed.
• Used to get a few quick interrupts in.
• Low damage, but helps maintain pressure and deny recovery windows.
• Rarely used, prefer Viking unless I absolutely need to hit when only katana is ready

3. Poison and the Nox Tick

Outlands allows healing through poison, but poison still plays a huge role in disruption.

How Nox Tick Works:

• Land a poison.
• If they don’t cure, 5 seconds later they take 5 damage — if they’re casting, it interrupts.
• If they still don’t cure, 8 seconds after that, they take 10 damage — another chance to break a spell.

Used right, it adds an extra disrupt for you, which then sets you up to load a bigger spell and have a big weapon up. (More on this later.)

4. Spell Cooldowns (1st–3rd Circle)

Outlands uses a 5-second cooldown on all 1st–3rd circle spells. This means:

• You can’t chain Magic Arrow → Magic Arrow or Harm → Harm for back-to-back interrupts.
• The second cast will do damage, but won’t interrupt.
• You need to rotate disrupts: e.g. Harm → Magic Arrow → Poison.

Double casting still has value — especially when paired with a swing and you’re hoping for a weapon hit disrupt.

5. Mana Management = Duel #2

There are two duels happening in every match:

1. The fight against your opponent.
2. The mana management duel.

All great duelers will conserve mana as much as possible and look for opportunities to gain a mana advantage (courtesy of Nitrous Oxide).

Keep 20–30 mana in reserve when going on an offensive cycle, unless you’re confident you can finish them off.

6. Potions

• Arena rules only allow Red (Refresh) Potions.
• You should be using refresh pots constantly throughout the duel.
• Fighting with 5 stamina will drop your swing speed. Always be aware of where your stamina is.

7. Pressure Over Panic

• T2A dueling is about stacking pressure, not rushing.
• Every action should put your opponent in a position where they have to respond.
• Study where you messed up — where you overextended, blew your mana, and how your opponent was able to take you down.

The key, as you get more advanced as a dueler, is to try to become unpredictable with your next move.

This separates average from great duelers.

• Average duelers have 1–2 spell cycles they stick to. Sometimes they win from RNG, but they eventually plateau.
• Great duelers are always changing rhythm, keeping you guessing, and never letting you settle into a pattern.

Cycle / Cycling – A timed sequence of offensive spells (usually Circle 1–3) cast in a specific order to allow continuous interrupts. Due to spell cooldowns, the order and spacing of each spell in the cycle is critical. Weapon swings are often layered in between.

Disrupt / Interrupt – Breaking your opponent’s spell cast by hitting them with a spell or weapon.

Cooldown Lock – When you cast a spell like Magic Arrow or Harm, it has a 5-second cooldown before it can interrupt again. Casting the same spell twice will result in the second one doing damage, but not disrupting.

Swing Timer – The internal timer between weapon hits. Different weapons have different swing speeds, and stamina also affects swing delay.

Tempo – Who’s controlling the pace of the fight. Generally, if you have someone mana tapped or have a mana advantage — either through better RNG, more damage from weapons, or just playing smarter — you control tempo.

Burst – A damage spike combining a spell and weapon swing. Example: Ebolt + Halberd for 60+ damage.

Nox Tick – Poison ticks at 5s and then 8 seconds for the second poison tick. First tick is 5 damage, second is 10 damage. Both can interrupt spells if they land during casting.

Overextend – Burning too much mana or committing too hard to a cycle without enough damage or kill potential. Leaves you vulnerable to getting mana tapped.

Mana Tapped – When you’ve spent too much mana (from overextending on offense or spamming too many mini heals on defense), and your opponent still has plenty. This lets them control the fight while you may lack enough mana for even a greater heal.

RNG Roll – Every weapon hit has variable damage (10–34 depending on weapon and stamina). RNG also applies to hit rate %, meaning the chance you successfully land hits over time. Both damage and accuracy are part of RNG.

Fake Cast – Starting a spell and strategically canceling it. Used to bait a reaction like a premature heal, cure, swing, or offensive spell.

Self Interrupt – There are two ways to self interrupt. One is by equipping a weapon in the middle of your cast. The other is setting a hotkey for “Interrupt” in Razor and using that. Both have it’s own uses on when to use. The general idea is you either use it equip weapon before your spell cast is complete, as to disrupt the opponents spell. The second is self interrupt hotkey, which has a myriad of uses (fake Greater Heals, Fake offensive spells). More on this later.

Double Tap / Double Cast – Casting the same spell back-to-back. The second cast won’t interrupt (due to cooldown), but both can do damage. Sometimes used to stack low-level spell damage quickly.

Reset – A neutral moment when both players stop cycling, reposition, and med up.

Open – The spell or hit that starts a cycle. Most duels open with a Feeblemind, Weaken, or Clumsy — followed by Poison or Ebolt, then a Halberd swing.

Finishing – The final action of a cycle that ends the duel or pushes for the kill.

Flipping a Fight – Regaining control after being on defense. Usually happens by landing a big swing or spell, forcing the opponent to cast Greater Heal, which you can then interrupt. That shift flips the duel in your favor.

Trading Swings – Hitting your opponent with weapon swings while under pressure. On defense, it’s critical to always trade swings back during their cycle to keep damage on them and possibly flip the fight.

Baiting Spells – Deliberately casting spells you know will be disrupted (like Greater Heal) to bait the opponent’s interrupts and force them deeper into their spell cycle. Offensively, you can bait a big spell to make the opponent panic and burn mana or mistime heals.

Refresh Pot – Stamina potion. Used when your stamina drops to keep swing speed up. You should be watching this constantly during a fight.

One of the best things about the Arena scene on Outlands is the culture:

• Low ego
• Minimal toxicity
• Welcoming to new duelers
• And a real willingness to help others improve

Veteran duelers are almost always happy to give advice, spar, or help someone level up. It’s by far the most supportive PvP environment on the shard.

Leave the Guild Drama at the Door

Yes, there’s guild beef on Outlands.

No, it doesn’t belong in the Arena.

One of the reasons the Arena works so well is that there’s a mutual understanding among duelers:

Keep guild wars and politics out of it.

You’ll often see players from rival guilds dueling each other respectfully, helping each other improve, or just vibing after a match.

If you’re new to the Arena, carry that tradition forward:

• Don’t bring guild drama
• Don’t trash talk enemies
• Help others, no matter their tag
• Show mutual respect—whether it’s a new dueler, an enemy, or a vet

Don’t Complain About RNG

Here’s a big one:

Stop complaining about RNG.

Yes, it’s real.

But no, it’s not usually why you lost.

Everyone (myself included) goes through a phase of blaming RNG. But over time, you’ll realize it’s rarely the deciding factor in a duel.

If RNG truly dictated every fight, why do the same few players consistently win tournaments?

Understanding RNG (It's More Than Just Hit %)

Most people think of RNG as just weapon hit percentage, but it's deeper than that:

• Hit Streak Timing – When you land hits is often more important than how many you land overall
• Damage Range – Not all hits are equal; three low-damage hits aren’t worth a 35-damage halberd + 35-damage Ebolt
• Momentum – You might start with good RNG and still lose, or start with bad RNG and come back strong
• Critical Sequences – A perfectly-timed 5-hit streak can win a fight outright, even if your overall hit % is lower at the end of a fight

A Real Example:

You finish the duel with a 35% hit rate, your opponent has 50%.

But your 5-hit streak came at the perfect moment—when they had low mana after attempting their cycles. Off the back of a defensive Hally trade, etc.

Technically, you had worse RNG.

But you won. Because it’s about when it lands—not just the final percentage.

Why It Feels Like Top Duelers Always Have "Good RNG"

This one’s common:

“It always feels like the top guys get good RNG.”

Here’s why it looks that way:

• When a top dueler gets good RNG at the start, the fight often ends in under 60 seconds and they win
• That leaves the impression they landed everything while you landed nothing. You chalk it up to luck.
• BUT — when they get bad RNG at the start, they have the skill and discipline to survive, slow things down, and extend the match
• Over a 4–5 minute duel, RNG tends to even out
• To the observer, it looks like “equal RNG,” but the better dueler bought that time to let luck rebalance

So no, top duelers aren’t just lucky.

They’re experienced enough to manage bad RNG, and capitalize hard when it swings back in their favor.

Final Word

• Yes, RNG is real
• No, it’s not usually the reason you lost

Bad duelers waste good RNG.

Good duelers survive bad RNG.

If you want to get better:

• Master your cycles
• Practice your timing
• Stay composed—whether you're landing everything or missing everything

And most importantly:

Respect the Arena. Respect each other. Help people improve.

Accusations of Cheating

Lag is real in the arena, and it can make players rubber-band—appearing to “skip” around—which naturally leads to accusations of speedhacking.

I have no idea how common speedhacking actually is on Outlands; my guess is it’s very rare, and I can’t personally identify anyone doing it. What you’re seeing is almost certainly lag, which causes random rubber-banding for every player at some point. Give your opponents the benefit of the doubt and don’t assume they’re cheating.

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Paying Your Bets

Once you reach elite status in the arena, some duelers will challenge you to “cloth duels”—bets of one arena cloth in a race to 3 wins (or sometimes just a single duel). Others may wager gold instead.

I’ve probably lost over 20 million gold or cloth in bets because my ego makes me accept challenges from duelers slightly better than myself. Regardless of the outcome—whether your opponent hit 70% RNG in all three wins or not—be honorable and pay your bets. It’s a miserable feeling to owe someone cloth or gold, and nothing ruins your reputation faster than refusing to settle a wager.

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Just Say “GF” and Move On

When a fight ends, just say “GF” and move on. That’s all you need.

We don’t need to hear about your unlucky hit streak, how close you were, or how RNG robbed you. Everyone has those moments. It's part of dueling.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been low HP, and someone casts an obvious Ebolt, thinking it’ll finish me. But I was baiting it—I wanted them to cast it so I could sneak in a Greater Heal before it landed. I heal up, recover, win the fight, and afterward they say:

“Man, I almost had you with that Ebolt.”

No, you didn’t.

I wanted you to cast that so I could Gheal myself.

You never know what your opponent was actually planning.

Don’t assume you had it won, or that luck cost you the duel. Just say “gf” and queue up again.

That’s how you show respect—and that’s what keeps the Arena a place worth being part of.

Why Bother Getting Good at a "Stupid Game"?

A lot of people have asked me why I spent the time I did getting really good at dueling. Why is it that the only thing I seem to do in this game anymore is duel — no field fighting, no fielding, nothing else?

The honest answer is that it's a personality thing.

I've always been ultra-competitive. I was a former professional athlete, and whatever I put my hand to, I want to be the best at it. That's just who I am. So when I discovered dueling, it became a natural outlet for that competitive drive — especially at a point in my life when I had a lot of injuries and couldn't train the way I used to. I was going through a big transition, moving, a lot of change all at once. Dueling gave me something to actually sink my teeth into.

And the thing is — elite dueling is genuinely deep. It's a combination of reaction speed, strategy, and real-time decision making. It's almost like chess, except you have a fraction of a second to make your moves. That appealed to me on a level that's hard to fully articulate.

If you're on the fence about whether to pursue S-tier or not, my answer is: just do it. I think gaining mastery in anything in life is a net positive, regardless of what that thing is. And I won't go into too much detail, but my reputation in the arena has actually led to real-life opportunities — people I've engaged with here who ended up doing business with me in the real world down the road.

The way I see it: how you do anything is how you do everything. Just because something is a game doesn't mean the drive to be great at it should be ridiculed. If you're the type of person who wants to be excellent at whatever you do, this is no different than anything else. That pursuit of mastery — wherever you find it — is worth something.

The Path to S-Tier: A Roadmap for Becoming an Elite Dueler

Where It Starts

When I was coming up in the dueling world, I always wanted to know how people got as good as they did — whether it was someone who had been playing for 20 years or someone who just seemed to have a natural gift for it. I didn't know anything about dueling when I started. I was a decent PvPer back when I used to play, but I hadn't played in about 15 to 20 years. When I did play back then, I was quite good — so it's not like I started completely from scratch.

That said, it might have actually been better to start from scratch. If I had, I would have immediately set the correct hotkeys and built my profile correctly from day one. And that's the first thing everyone has to do, no matter what: set up your profile correctly. Without it, you simply cannot compete in the arena. Everything you need to know about how to do that is covered earlier in this guide.

How Long Does It Actually Take?

People ask me this all the time. The honest answer is: a long time.

In the entire history of this server, if you're talking about true S-tier duelers, there are maybe only 5 to 8 of them depending on who you ask. The following are, in my view, S-tier duelers:

• Paximus Prime
• Angus the Stallion
• Flube
• Limo
• Spooj
• Blaine Kross (myself)
• Trenbolone

And a few who are on the cusp, or considered S-tier by some:

• Vendetta
• Wizzy

To give you a sense of the difficulty curve: it will probably take 3 to 4 times as long to go from a complete noob to A-tier as it will to go from A-tier to S-tier. That's how steep that final climb is.

My definition of an S-tier dueler is someone where, if they enter a tournament and lose to anyone other than another S-tier dueler, it's a mega upset. If there's only one S-tier dueler in a tournament, that person has somewhere between an 80% to 90% chance of winning the entire thing regardless of RNG. They very rarely, if ever, get upset by anyone who isn't an S-tier or high A-tier dueler. And when they do get upset by an A-tier, it's almost always because of heavily lopsided RNG — good rolls on their opponent's side, bad rolls on theirs.

Most People Stop at A-Tier — And That's Fine

A lot of times I'll train people, and they usually reach a solid A-tier level and then either quit or stop pushing to improve. They get content with where they are.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If anything, I think that's the right approach for most people. But if you're one of the rare few who genuinely wants to push to S-tier, here is how I would approach it.

The Roadmap

Phase 1 — Learn the Basics (0 to ~3 Months)

Learn the fundamentals covered in this guide. Practice your basic cycles against a bot, get comfortable keeping someone cycled, and start dueling real players. Once your cycles are down and you have a feel for the flow of a duel, you're at an intermediate level.

The target: With 3 to 5 sessions per week (or daily if you're serious), each about an hour long, you can expect to reach low to mid A-tier in roughly 3 months — a level where you can win tournaments with the right RNG.

Phase 2 — Active Improvement (3 to ~6–9 Months)

This is where most people plateau, and it's the phase that separates good duelers from great ones.

The mistake almost every A-tier and B-tier dueler makes is that they keep running the same one or two cycles they're comfortable with, over and over, forever. They become completely repetitive. Some of these players can even win tournaments that way — but they will never be S-tier.

What you need to do instead is pick one or two very specific things to work on and focus on only those things for weeks at a time. Examples:

• Spend two to three weeks doing nothing but Harm → Arrow → Poison until you've truly mastered that cycle.
• Spend two weeks working exclusively on your defensive punch timing.
• Spend two weeks on defensive spacing and nothing else.

When you finish with one thing, move on to the next and trust that what you worked on will show up in your duels on its own. You'll find ways to combine it naturally with everything else you're doing. You don't need to force it.

The target: Another 3 to 6 months of this, working through the advanced section of this guide and actively seeking feedback, puts you in striking distance of S-tier.

Phase 3 — The Final Push (9 to ~12 Months)

Conceivably, you can reach S-tier around the 9 to 12 month mark — but only if you're actively trying to improve every time you sit down to duel. You can do 20,000 or 30,000 duels and not get any better if you're just going through the motions. Someone who duels focused for two months can become significantly better than someone with 10,000 casual duels. The mindset to work on things is what sets people apart.

Getting Help

Reach out to elite-level duelers — whether that's myself, Angus, or others who are active in the dueling community. Even A-tier duelers who are engaged in the culture will help train you. The dueling community is a genuinely welcoming place for this kind of thing.

There is nothing better than dueling an elite-level player and having them give you specific, honest notes on what they think you need to work on — then actually going and doing it.

The Three Things That Actually Move the Needle

1. Pick very specific things to work on. For a few weeks, focus on only that. Then move on and trust that it will show up in your game on its own. You'll find ways to combine it with everything else naturally.
2. Find good duelers who will work with you. Let them tell you what you're doing wrong and what to focus on. Whatever advice they give — actually apply it.
3. Duel against good players. If you're working on a specific part of your game against weaker opponents, don't worry if you're losing — sometimes you have to take one step back to go two steps forward.

Before diving into intermediate or advanced strategies, I want to take a moment to explain how I’ve structured this guide.

When I first started dueling, I received advice and information from a lot of great players — and it was extremely valuable. A lot of it was overwhelming at first, and many newer duelers have expressed the same. With that in mind, I’ve decided to create a progression system based on focusing on a few core fundamentals first, instead of trying to learn everything at once.

This section is designed with that in mind: it’s a step-by-step progression system, like going from a white belt to a blue belt in martial arts. You start with the essentials, build a strong foundation, and level up from there.

So, if you’ve already gone through the dueling terminology section, you’re ready to begin.

This section is strictly focused on beginner-level 1v1 offense — the opening sequences, basic cycles, and weapon-spell integration that you need to win real duels. Mastering these won’t just make you solid — it’ll make you dangerous enough to win matches in actual tournaments, especially if you’re not matched against a top-tier dueler.

Let’s begin.

Start of the Duel

Every duel, especially for beginners, should start with Feeblemind → Weaken → Clumsy.

Feeblemind is about gaining any edge in mana. If you land your Feeblemind before theirs, you instantly gain a slight mana advantage. That adds up over time. Every bit matters.

Weaken must be cast before your first weapon swing — always. If your opponent has 100 STR/100 HP and you hit them with a 30-damage halberd, they drop to 70 HP. But if you Weaken them first and they drop to 89 STR/89 HP, that same halberd hit puts them at 59 HP. That’s a big difference. Always keep your opponent Weakened.

Clumsy drops their DEX/stamina to 14, slowing down their swing speed. If you skip this, they’ll swing faster than you, and a smart opponent will out-DPS you. Some advanced duelers hold Clumsy and use it later as an interrupt, but don’t worry about that until you’re much more experienced.

Some players will cast Feeblemind, Weaken, and Clumsy, then hold the Clumsy. If they land the first hit, they release Clumsy immediately to disrupt the opponent’s next spell — assuming it’s an offensive spell. (It won’t disrupt a Greater Heal unless 5 seconds have passed.) I’ll make video breakdowns of this soon to show how it plays out.

Cycling

You’ve landed your debuffs. You ebolted. You landed your halberd hit. Opponent is likely at 30–40 HP. You’re now entering your first cycle.

As a beginner, here’s a basic but effective cycle to run:

Cycle #1: Harm → Magic Arrow → Lightning → Harm (repeat)

After your initial ebolt + hally, immediately cast Harm and HOLD it. Do not just release it. Too many duelers waste their spells without weapon pressure.

At this point, your opponent is low. Your job is to keep them from getting a Greater Heal off. Whether they start using mini-heals or go for GHeals determines how you continue.

If they cast Greater Heal:

• You hold Harm, get in range, and try to swing with a Katana, Viking Sword, or Axe.
• If the swing hits, hold Harm longer and wait to see if they cast GHeal again.
• If the swing misses, release Harm immediately to disrupt.

Then cast Magic Arrow and HOLD it.

• If they GHeal again, release Magic Arrow instantly.
• Do NOT try to swing before releasing Magic Arrow — it has a 0.5s delay, and if your weapon swing misses, GHeal will land before the spell hits.

Now cast Lightning and hold it.

• If they try GHeal again or mini-heal into another GHeal, you can try a quick swing before releasing.
• If the swing misses, drop Lightning immediately.
• If the swing lands, you can hold Lightning to see if another GHeal is coming.

Once Lightning drops, restart:

→ Cast Harm again

→ Repeat the cycle

If they’re stuck in GHeals and you’re landing weapons between spells, they can die quickly. The pressure adds up — fast.

Weaving Weapon Hits Into Spells

Important rule:

With spells like Harm, Poison, and Lightning, you're almost always better off trying a weapon swing before releasing the spell.

If your swing hits, hold the spell longer and continue the pressure.

If your swing misses, release the spell in time to interrupt.

This does not apply to spells like Magic Arrow, Fireball, Mind Blast, or Ebolt — those have delayed damage. If you miss the weapon hit first, you won’t have time to drop the spell fast enough to interrupt anything.

Example Flow (With Weapon Swings):

Weapon Hit

→ Cast and hold Harm

→ Opponent casts GHeal

→ Weapon swing attempt

↳ if hit, hold Harm

↳ if miss, drop Harm

→ Cast Magic Arrow

→ Opponent GHeals again

→ Release Magic Arrow immediately

→ Cast and hold Lightning

→ Swing attempt again

↳ if miss, drop Lightning

→ Recast Harm and restart cycle

Done correctly, this basic cycle locks your opponent in a loop of interrupted GHeals, and consistent damage. With some favorable RNG % , you can defeat people just with this combo.

Cycle #2: Harm → Magic Arrow → Lightning → Poison → (back to Harm)

This is a great alternative to Cycle #1 when your Harm cooldown hasn't reset yet after Lightning — which can happen if all your weapon swings miss and you're forced to use spells for every single disrupt.

In this case, Poison (Nox) becomes your fourth spell. It works similarly to Harm:

• It has instant damage
• It can disrupt Greater Heal
• It poisons the opponent, forcing them to either cure or panic and make mistakes
• It gives you time to get back to Harm again and restart the cycle

Spell Breakdown:

• Harm → Hold it, go for weapon swing. If swing hits, keep holding. If swing misses, drop Harm to disrupt GHeal.
• Magic Arrow → Same rules as Cycle 1. No weapon swing before dropping. Release instantly when they cast GHeal.
• Lightning → Same rules. Try to swing. If it lands, hold Lightning. If it misses, drop it instantly.
• Poison → Cast and hold like Harm. Go for a swing. If swing hits, hold Poison. If swing misses, drop to disrupt. Bonus: you now have your opponent poisoned.

Then, Harm should be back off cooldown, and you restart the cycle — either Cycle #1 or Cycle #2 depending on your preference and what spell cooldowns are up.

Example Flow (With Poison):

Ebolt → Halberd hit → Cast and hold Harm

→ Opponent casts Greater Heal

→ Swing with Katana/Viking Sword

↳ if hit, hold Harm

↳ if miss, drop Harm to disrupt

→ Cast Magic Arrow

→ Opponent Greater Heals again

→ Drop Arrow instantly

→ Cast Lightning and hold

→ Try another swing

↳ if hit, hold Lightning

↳ if miss, drop Lightning

→ Cast Poison and hold

→ Try to swing again

↳ if hit, hold Poison to disrupt next heal

↳ if miss, drop Poison

Now they’re poisoned, disrupted, and scrambling. Recast Harm and repeat the sequence.

If you're mixing weapons in cleanly, and Poison lands, the pressure ramps up fast. They now need to cure, which means they can’t GHeal right away — giving you more windows to disrupt, swing, and cycle them to death.

Congratulations.

You’ve now learned two basic offensive cycles — designed to prevent your opponent from getting off a Greater Heal while giving you enough consistent damage to finish them off.

Again, these are very basic, but don’t underestimate them.

Master these first.

Once they’re second nature, you’ll be ready to move on to the intermediate level

Training Exercise: Spell-Only Disruption Practice

If adding weapon swings into your cycle feels overwhelming at first, don’t worry. One of the best ways to build consistency and confidence is to isolate one skill at a time. In this case, we’re going to focus only on disrupting Greater Heal with spells — no weapons involved.

Step 1: Set Up a GHeal Bot

To make this work, run the following script on an alt character (ideally on Test Center):

1if poisoned2  hotkey '> Greater Heal/Cure Self'3elseif hits < 1004  hotkey '> Greater Heal/Cure Self'5elseif mana < 1006  skill 'Meditation'7endif8loop

This bot will spam Greater Heal and Cure on itself nonstop, creating a perfect training dummy for you to practice your disruption cycles.

📌 Credit: Script courtesy of Spooj, from his excellent guide:

Spooj’s Basic 1v1 Dueling Guide

You can do this anywhere — it doesn’t have to be in the Arena, though you can use the Arena if you prefer.

Step 2: Choose a Spell-Only Cycle

Pick one of the following 4-spell sequences. The goal is simple:

Do not let the bot land a single Greater Heal.

Repeat your chosen cycle indefinitely until:

• The bot dies
• You run out of mana

No weapons. No swinging. Just pure, focused disruption.

Sample Spell-Only Cycles:

• Harm → Magic Arrow → Lightning → Poison
• Poison → Harm → Magic Arrow → Lightning
• Harm → Magic Arrow → Fireball → Lightning
• Magic Arrow → Lightning → Poison → Harm
• Magic Arrow → Lightning → Harm → Poison
• Magic Arrow → Fireball → Lightning → Harm

Step 3: Add Weapons Later

Once you can confidently shut down GHeals using spells alone, start layering in weapon swings, following the same contextual logic taught in the offensive cycles above.

This phased approach makes it easier to:

• Build timing and rhythm
• Practice real damage sequences
• Eliminate hesitation under pressure

A Step-by-Step Guide for New Duelers to Become Intermediate

I’ve spent the last two months coaching new duelers and refining this progression. Follow these steps in order:

1. Build Hotkey Muscle Memory

• Practice until second nature: Hit your spell hotkeys blind—without thinking.
• How to train:
  • Cast spells on a PvM mage using those same hotkeys, or
  • Fight a self-made GHeal bot (see the “1v1 Offense Beginner” guide).
• When to move on: Only once you’re completely comfortable against a Gheal Bot.

2. Master Basic Spell Cycles & Disruption Loops

• Learn your core cycles: Stick to the prescribed spell sequences above—no improvising.
• Drill the loop: Cast your cycle, immediately disrupt enemy GHeals, then repeat.
• Training method: Use the GHeal bot and practice the exact cycles over and over.
• Don’t break the rules: No random spells or alternate cycles until you’ve mastered these.

3. Integrate Weapon Hits

• Phase 1:
  • Once your spell cycles are rock-solid, weave in a weapon hit just before your direct-damage spells (Harm or Poison).
  • Key concept: If your weapon hit lands, hold your Harm/Poison until your opponent casts GHeal again—you don’t need to drop your spell.
• Phase 2:
  • When Phase 1 feels effortless, add a weapon hit before Lightning.
• Phase 3:
  • Finally, decide whether to weave in hits before Arrow or Fireball.

The goal is to keep the other person from Ghealing through use of your weapons primarily, and spells secondary.

Note for New Duelers:

Don’t spam random sequences like Harm → Lightning. Master the prescribed cycles first, then layer in weapon hits. Once you can execute all of the above confidently, you’ve officially reached Intermediate—and you can start breaking the rules.

I’ve thought long and hard about this one too — in some ways, I think a great defense should be prioritized before a great offense. So then the next question became: how do you teach defense in progressions?

I’ve determined there are four types of defense in Outlands dueling — we’ll cover them all later.

But since this is the beginners guide, we’ll start with just one style:

Mini Heal + Trading Weapons

Yeah, I know — mini heal isn’t the most mana-efficient option. But for a new dueler, it’s incredibly hard to know when you can safely get off a Greater Heal (we’ll cover that in the intermediate section).

That said, the biggest mistake I see when people spam mini heals — especially new duelers — is this:

They forget to trade weapon hits.

The number of times I see this is insane.

Your #1 priority on defense is making sure you’re always trading hits.

If you don’t, the other dueler will keep pounding away with weapons while you burn mana trying to stay alive — and they’ll be sitting on full mana the whole time.

So how does this work in practice?

Let’s say you get hit with an Ebolt and Halberd to start, and now your opponent begins cycling you. (See the previous section.)

You realize you can’t get a Greater Heal off, so you go to mini heals just to stabilize. That’s fine — IF you’re making sure to swing back with your own Halberd or Axe (Hally preferred).

For example, they have Harm up and you’re mini healing.

Your Halberd comes up.

Run at them and hit them.

Then go right back to mini healing.

Now let’s say your Axe or Halberd comes up again while they’re close.

BOOM. Hit them again.

If you land two solid hits, most opponents will be forced to break their cycle and go for a Greater Heal.

The second you see that GHeal cast, you cast yours.

You’ve now reset the fight.

Later on, I’ll cover more advanced ways to flip the fight — like using predictive Magic Arrows — but for now:

Mini heal. Swing the moment your weapon is ready. Don’t sit on it. Maximize your DPS.

Video coming soon to demo this.

This is defense in its most basic form.

You have to learn how to trade weapons defensively before doing anything else — it’s the foundation of all good defense.

You’re Now Intermediate

You’ve mastered basic spell cycles, know how to keep someone’s GHeal interrupted with spells alone, and understand how to use your weapons to extend cycles and add DPS. Congratulations—you’re officially an intermediate dueler! Generally, players at this level have close to 1,000 duels under their belt and can sometimes pull off lucky wins against strong opponents. Here’s whats’s next.

1. The NOX Tick

Every time you cast Poison, you have 5 seconds before the first “tick.” A tick deals 5 poison damage and disrupts your opponent if they cast during that window. Learning to leverage NOX ticks on both offense and defense is crucial.

2. Starting with Poison

Previously, every cycle focused on maximum burst (starting with Ebolt). However, there are many reasons to open with Poison instead:

1. It immediately forces your opponent to choose whether to heal your Hally hit or cure Poison.
2. You can disrupt their cure and eventually set up a NOX tick to load a big spell.
3. Mana efficiency: Costs 9 mana; opponent must Cure for 6 mana → net −3 mana (courtesy of Spooj).
4. It lets you potentially sneak in a bigger spell even before the NOX tick.

3. Poison-First Combos

Combo A:

1. Hit Hally
2. Wait 1–2 seconds (depending on reaction.) → If they gheal —> release Poison at end of their gheal. if they mini heal —> hold it
3. Cast Magic Arrow
4. Run in and Katana/Axe their first Cure
5. Release Magic Arrow → cast Harm
6. Wait for their next Cure → release Harm at end
7. If you are close to the 5 second mark and the nox tick is incoming, cast an ebolt. The opponent will most likely go gheal and be disrupted by the poison.
8. You now have Ebolt up and at minimum an Axe (or Hally) ready

Combo B (Defensive Twist):

1. Both have Ebolt up; you hold Poison
2. You whiff Hally; they land Hally → release Ebolt on you
3. Release Poison → mini-heal or GHeal yourself
4. If they Cure, you heal; if not, use the NOX tick
5. You may GHeal to bait their Harm or Magic Arrow, then GHeal again on the next NOX tick

Combo C (Mana-Tap):

1. Opponent at 10 mana, you at 40
2. Hit Hally → release Poison
3. They must Cure → set up NOX-tick Ebolt play
4. Release Poison, Harm, and Arrow when needed to disrupt → go for Ebolt
5. If they Arrow your Ebolt, no problem—they’ve burned a ton of mana

4. Explosion Combos

Explosion and Poison are the two most versatile spells—they both force reactions. Explosion has a 2.5 s delay from release to damage, giving many follow-up options.

Combo A:

1. Hit Hally → release Explosion
2. Cast Harm to disrupt their first GHeal
3. When they GHeal again, Explosion disrupts their second GHeal
4. Cast Ebolt → follow with Axe or Hally
5. If Axe + Ebolt land, they’re almost always dead

Combo B:

1. Hit Hally → release Explosion
2. Cast Magic Arrow → Fireball → Lightning + Axe/Hally
   • Opponent often pre-casts Magic Arrow expecting Harm + Ebolt; instead you hit Fireball + Lightning

5. Other Intermediate Cycles

Low-Mana Cycle: Harm → Magic Arrow → Poison

Context: A great low-mana use cycle to whittle down the opponent’s mana and start engagements (in lieu of Ebolt).

1. Get a Hally hit → have Harm precast.
2. Opponent casts GHeal → release Harm at end of their GHeal and get Arrow up.
3. If they GHeal again → release Arrow and cast Poison.
4. They will either GHeal again or go Mini Heals. If they Mini Heal, hold Poison and whack with weapons; if they GHeal, attempt a weapon hit first, and if you whiff then release Poison at end of their cast.
5. Depending on timing, your Harm will be ready again and you can restart this 3-spell cycle. If Harm isn’t ready, you may need Lightning, but you might have to reset if you’ve whiffed too many swings.

Full Cycle: Hally → Explosion → Harm → Ebolt → Axe → release Ebolt → Magic Arrow → Lightning/Poison

Context: Similar to the Explosion combo above, this full cycle can cause lethal damage. Use the Explosion principles to weave in weapon hits.

6. Burst Combo (“Nitrous Oxide Special”)

Combination: Harm → Magic Arrow → Fireball → Lightning

Context: Known as the “Nitrous Oxide Special,” this is a pure burst sequence:

1. Precast Ebolt → land Hally hit → release Ebolt
2. Cast Harm and hold it → if they GHeal, release at end
3. Cast Magic Arrow → if they GHeal, release at end
4. Cast Fireball → if they GHeal, release at end → cast Lightning
5. You now have Lightning up and a Hally ready → run in and whack them. If it lands with Lightning, they die. If they Mini Heal, keep swinging/weaving and release spells on their GHeals.

7. Restarting Spell Cycles

Knowing exactly when your spells are off cooldown—and canceling higher-circle casts to conserve mana—is what separates true intermediates from everyone else. For example, imagine you land a Hally hit, immediately follow with Ebolt, then cast Harm to disrupt their GHeal, release Magic Arrow, and queue up Lightning. If your opponent then spam-mini-heals back to full health, you must not sit there holding Lightning. Instead, cancel that Lightning cast as soon as you see their HP rebound and switch straight back to Harm, which will be available again after its 5-second timer. By dropping a 12-mana Lightning and returning to a 6-mana Harm (or 3-mana Magic Arrow), you save 9 mana and keep the pressure going.

• Watch your 5 s timers
  • Know exactly when Harm, Magic Arrow, and other low-circle spells are ready.
• Cancel expensive casts
  • If Lightning (12 mana) or Ebolt (20 mana) isn’t needed for a kill, hit Cancel and switch to a cheaper spell.
• Prioritize lower-circle pressure
  • Use Harm (6 mana) or Magic Arrow (3 mana) to extend your cycle until you can commit to a burst spell.
• Only commit when lethal
  • Fire off Lightning, Fireball, or Ebolt only if it will land the finishing blow or if you feel it will set up a near lethal damage scena

Examples

• Full burst → reset
  Plain TextCopy

  1Hally → Ebolt → Harm (disrupt) → Magic Arrow → Lightning2   Opponent spam-mini-heals to full HP3Cancel Lightning → Harm → Magic Arrow

• Mid-cycle adjustment
  Plain TextCopy

  1Explosion → Harm → Ebolt → Lightning2   Opponent mini-heals3Cancel Lightning → Magic Arrow → Poison

• Conserve and pressure
  Plain TextCopy

  1Harm → Magic Arrow → Poison2   Opponent GHeals twice3Release Poison → switch to Harm (ready again)

8. Knowing When to Stop a Cycle

You must learn to pause your offensive cycles and heal when the situation demands it. New duelers often push their rotations even when they’re clearly losing the exchange, burning all their mana and handing control back to a defensive opponent. Intermediate duelers recognize the warning signs and switch off offense to recover.

• Missed 2–3 swings in a row

  You’re relying solely on spells (mana-inefficient). Even though you are interrupting their Gheal, you are just doing it with spells. This is mana inefficient and will get you mana tapped. Most likely opponent is baiting you to burn mana in this scenario.

• Defender lands 1–2 Hally hits

  Even if you’re “ahead” on HP, stop cycling and heal.

  The amount of times I’ve seen people continue cycling despite being in dangerous territory, HP wise, is astounding. If you are at 50 hp and your opponent has a hally ready, you are in danger. Even if you are on “offense”.

• Defense is more mana-efficient

  Ebolt = 20 mana vs. 3 Mini-heals = 12 mana.

  This should have it’s own section, and many it will eventually. Defense, usually, is a lot more mana efficient then offense is. Case in point above. Ebolt can do 25 damage with 20 mana. Three separate mini heals of 7-8 damage healed each time essentially nullifies it. That’s 20 mana use vs 9 mana use. It gets even worst with Greater Heal which can heal 45-50 damage for only 12 mana. Keeping all that in mind, this shows why you must rely on your weapon hits to win duels, and not try to spell cast people to death, as defensive healing is a lot more mana efficient than offensive spellcasting.

Examples

• Spell cycle → pause
  Plain TextCopy

  1Harm → Magic Arrow → Fireball → Lightning2   Missed 2-3 swings in a row → Stop cycle and meditate/preserve mana.

• Weapon pressure → heal
  Plain TextCopy

  1Hally → Ebolt → Harm2   Defender lands 2 Hally hits → Stop cycle --> Mini heal or GHeal

9. Evaluating Your Opponent

Evaluating your opponent’s mana pool with the Evaluate (Intelligence) skill gives you critical information to shape your game plan. Instead of blind cycling, you time your offensive bursts or defensive retreats based on exactly how much mana they have left. Make Evaluate part of your core routine—after meditating, right before key spells, or any lull in the duel—to decide whether to play conservatively, continue chipping away, or go all-in with a burst.

• When to Evaluate
  • Immediately after Meditate, so you know their starting mana.
  • Right before casting a spell.
  • Mid-cycle pauses, especially if you’re about to reset.
• How to Read the Numbers
  • > 70% mana vs. you at 40%: They can easily outlast you—play conservatively, use low-cost spells (Harm, Magic Arrow), whittle them down. Play defensive primarily.
  • 40–70% mana vs. you at 40%: Even footing—maintain balanced cycles, mix in occasional burst if you see an opening.
  • < 20% mana vs. you at +40%: They’re tapped—go aggressive or mana-tap with Poison-first or low-mana whittle-down cycles.
• Adjust Your Strategy
  • Conservative play: Focus on cheap spells, weapon hits, and healing yourself when needed.
  • Balanced play: Continue your standard cycles but keep Evaluate on cooldown.
  • Aggressive play: Unleash high-cost bursts (Ebolt, Explosion) knowing they can’t reply.

10. Viking Sword & Katana Use

It is very personal preference how often to use these, but with the newest patch that came out in March and elevated spell damage, my opinion is it’s better to favor burst over tiny disrupts/interrupts—more Axe, less Viking/Katana. This does NOT mean I don’t use Viking or Katana: I use them a lot, but be more selective.

Common Mistakes Duelers Make

• Over‐using: Equipping Viking Sword/Katana and just running after the other player constantly spamming them with Viking/Katana and trying some small spells in between.
• Never using: These are duelers that seem to exclusively use axe or hally and ONLY go for burst. This makes it too easy to get Gheal off against them
• Fake DPS’ers: These our duelers that when there is a lull in the duel will just keep hitting you with a katana/viking sword the entire time to “DPS” you. This is stupid.

When to Use Viking/Katana

• Quick disrupts to get Gheal off

  Interrupt their cycle (usually their third or fourth circle spell) to get a gheal off immediately after. This is assuming axe or hally isn’t ready.

• Sneak in a free swing

  Run in during their cast and land a “free swing” without them trading back. Great way to get extra DPS/burn their mana, assuming they can’t/didn’t return swings.

• Double‐Harm plays

  Use Viking/Katana to interrupt between two Harm casts.—> Advanced move. More to come in advanced guide.

• “Small ball” cycles

  Pair with low‐circle spells when you’re spamming small spells. Can be effective in scenarios where both parties have low mana, but you are trying to get the kill anyway.

Cooldown Awareness

Viking Sword and Katana have very similar cooldown timers. I often times see duelers use a katana when their Viking Sword is ready to go. Don’t make this mistake, as Viking can hit a lot harder.

Intermediate Dueling Guide – Defense

Well, here we are! Intermediate-level dueling. Defense in dueling is a lot more complex than offense and much less straightforward. With that being said, this intermediate guide will illustrate the makings of a good defense.

If you remember from the beginner’s guide, the first steps to learning defense are:

• Trading weapons while on defense and swinging your halberd when it’s ready.
• Mini-healing your health.
• Greater Heal (GHeal) when your opponent casts Greater Heal.

That is the most basic form of defense. Now that you understand that you always need to be hitting with your weapon, let’s move on to intermediate defense.

The Way of the Fist (GHeal Punch)

The first form of defense is the way of the fist—using a punch in unison with Greater Heal.

👉 Many players don’t even have a hotkey to punch someone. To set this up, use “attack last” with no weapon equipped. Make sure the hotkey is easy to reach.

What is a GHeal punch?

• You run at your opponent and get right next to them.
• You start casting GHeal.
• About midway through the spell, you hit your “attack last” hotkey.
• If the punch lands, you disrupt their offense while completing your GHeal.

This works because your opponent usually won’t have time to re-arm their weapon or cast another spell.

Timing a GHeal Punch

There are three main timings for a punch, and all have different uses:

1. Beginning of their spell
   • If you punch right as they begin casting, it puts them in a spell recovery loop (they can’t instantly start another spell).
   • Benefit: surprise, can catch them completely off guard.
   • Downside: in most cases, a weapon hit is stronger here since it adds damage. The difference is that a punch gives you slightly more time to finish your GHeal.
2. Midway through their spell (while midway through your GHeal)
   • This is the most effective timing.
   • Almost guarantees your GHeal goes off, since they usually don’t have enough time to arm a weapon and disrupt you.
   • Watch out: very fast duelers can sometimes insta-arm and still disrupt.
3. End of their spell
   • Punching right as they’re about to release ensures your GHeal finishes.
   • This is a situational choice but can save you in clutch moments.

All three timings work in different scenarios. Experiment to see which one works best.

Strategic Choice: Punch vs. Weapon

The harder question is: when should you punch instead of using your weapon?

This is subjective and depends on playstyle. Some players, like Guido (the great), love using punches defensively. Others almost never use them.

Scenarios where GHeal punch is useful:

• Low mana, opponent pushing to finish.

  Example: Opponent lands a hally hit and starts casting Harm. At the start of their Harm, you do a quick GHeal punch. Almost every time, the opponent will instinctively step back (muscle memory from Harm range). That movement gives you enough space and time to finish your GHeal and survive a potentially lethal cycle.

• Low HP vs. mid-circle spell.

  Example: You’re at 15 HP and the opponent casts Lightning right next to you. Run in, start GHeal, and punch midway through their cast. They won’t have time to get another spell up, and most can’t re-arm fast enough.

• Breaking a lethal spell cycle.

  Example: Opponent has Harm up → you cast GHeal → they interrupt with Harm → you cast GHeal again → they disrupt with Magic Arrow → they now move to cast Poison/Fireball/Lightning. This is where you run in and GHeal punch. Your GHeal lands, you disrupt them, and you break the cycle that could have killed you.

👉 The tradeoff:

• Weapon hit = disrupt + damage —> Leaves more room for opponent to get low circle spell off and weapon hit
• GHeal punch = disruption + survival. —> Little to no time to get another spell up, will solely rely on 50/50 weapon swing to disrupt you back.
• When desperate or low HP, GHeal punch is often safer. It forces your opponent to rely on a weapon swing (50/50 chance of disruption) instead of chaining another spell.

In general, I prefer using weapons over punches, since trading damage is usually more valuable than just interrupting. A well-timed weapon disrupt still gives you plenty of time to get a GHeal off. In 80–90% of scenarios, you’re better off with a weapon. That said, it’s still vital to learn the punch—it’s a tool every good dueler should have in their arsenal

Baiting Spells for GHeal

Now, let’s talk about one of the most important parts of defense: baiting spells.

One of the biggest mistakes newer players make is overusing mini-heal. They spam it endlessly, which allows opponents to chip away with 1st and 2nd circle spells (Harm, Magic Arrow) and weapon swings. This creates a bad loop where you never have room to land a GHeal.

Bad Example (What Not to Do)

Opponent lands hally + Energy Bolt → you’re at 30 HP.

• You spam mini-heal.
• Opponent casts Harm → hits hally.
• You attempt one GHeal → disrupted by Harm.
• You spam more mini-heals while they have Magic Arrow ready.
• Another hally lands.
• They cancel arrow, go back to Harm.
• Cycle repeats → you die.

This is very common and is how new duelers consistently get mana drained. Experienced players know exactly when their 1st- or 2nd-circle spell timers are ready, and will constantly switch back to lower-level spells to conserve mana—while you’re the one burning yours with mini-heal.

Correct Example (Baiting Properly)

Opponent hits hally + EB → you’re at 30 HP.

1. Cast two mini-heals just to stay above fatal range.
2. Cast GHeal → opponent releases Harm.
3. Cast another GHeal immediately → opponent releases Magic Arrow.
4. Cast one more GHeal → opponent is forced to either swing weapon or cast 3rd/4th circle (Poison/FB/Lightning).
5. The moment they do, you run in, land a weapon hit (or punch), and instantly cast GHeal.

Result: you disrupt them, land damage, and secure your GHeal. You flip the fight.

Advanced Notes on Baiting

• The first couple GHeals are not meant to land. They’re meant to force your opponent to burn smaller spells so they eventually have to commit to higher circles. That’s when you have a chance to disrupt and turn the duel.
• If you’re at high HP (60+), you can bait deeper. Force them to spend mana on higher spells (fireball, lightning, etc). Even if your early GHeals are disrupted, you’re draining their mana.
• Sometimes you’ll let them run Harm → Arrow → Poison while you keep casting GHeal. After Poison, they’ll have to cast Lightning, and if you hold your GHeal cast through the Poison, your GHeal will land before their Lightning finishes. This forces them to rely on a weapon swing to disrupt you—a 50/50 chance. If you’re not already low HP, it’s a favorable trade. But if you are low HP, a landed weapon swing can put you in dangerous territory.

When to Mini-Heal vs. When to GHeal

This is one of the most difficult defensive skills to master — and one I still work on myself. Knowing when to spam mini-heals and when to commit to a GHeal is what separates average duelers from strong ones. Most intermediate players fall into predictable traps:

• ❌ Over–mini-healing → burning through mana without stabilizing.
• ❌ Over–GHealing → getting disrupted endlessly and dying.

The truth is there’s a fine line between the two. Defense is all about balance, and that balance shifts constantly depending on your HP, your mana, and what your opponent is holding. Let’s break it down:

Fatal Range (10–20 HP)

If you are near death (10–20 HP) and your opponent has a small spell ready (Harm → Arrow), you are almost always better off spamming mini-heals first.

• 👉 Going for GHeal here is extremely risky — the chance of being disrupted before it lands is high and you are in lethal territory.
• 👉 By casting 2–3 mini-heals, you pull yourself out of “one-shot” territory and create a buffer.
• 👉 Once you’re safely above lethal, you can attempt the GHeal with less risk.

Think of mini-heals here as your lifeline. They buy you enough time so that you can survive another cycle, and potentially have your opponent miss their swings and/or you disrupt them.

Mid-Health Range (60–70 HP)

When you’re in the safer mid-health zone, it flips. Here, spamming minis is wasteful and inefficient.

• 👉 In this range, it’s usually better to attempt a GHeal.
• 👉 This conserves your mana while also forcing your opponent to spend more trying to stop you.
• 👉 Over time, this keeps you ahead in the mana battle.

In other words: at mid HP, minis are inefficient because you’re burning more mana than you need to.

The Efficiency Trap

There are exceptions where mini-heal spam is smarter — and this is where good duelers shine.

Example: Opponent has Ebolt charged, hits you with hally for only 18 damage, but doesn’t release Ebolt.

• 3x Mini-Heals = ~18 HP healed → cost = 9 mana
• 1x GHeal = same ~18 HP healed → cost = 12 mana

👉 In this case, topping off with minis is simply more efficient. Wasting a GHeal for 10–15 damage is a mistake I see players make constantly. Even if you already have a GHeal ready, sometimes it’s smarter to hold it and spend a few minis instead.

Low Mana Scenarios

Your mana pool changes everything.

• If you’re at 50 HP with only 15 mana left, you cannot afford to spam mini-heals.
• 2–3 minis would burn the last of your mana and leave you mana tapped.
• 👉 In this spot, you almost always attempt the GHeal — even though it’s a gamble.

Yes, you risk getting disrupted. But running out of mana entirely is worse. This is also where the GHeal punch becomes valuable: you buy yourself the window to sneak the GHeal in when it matters most.

Mixing Minis + GHeal

Even in low mana scenarios, the right play is often a mix of minis and a GHeal.

Example: You’re at 30 HP, low mana, opponent has an axe.

• If you go straight for GHeal, one axe hit kills you.
• If you throw down 1–2 minis first, you extend your survivability just enough.
• Then, when you attempt the GHeal, you’re more likely to actually live long enough for it to land.

👉 Think of minis here as “extenders.” They increase your odds by giving you a slightly wider survival window.

Surviving the Cycle

This hybrid approach is especially important when opponents are cycling weapon hits + spells.

• If you only GHeal, a single hally + Harm can end the fight.
• If you cast 2–3 minis first, that same combo drops you to ~10 HP instead of dead — leaving you just enough room to attempt a GHeal after.

This constant back-and-forth — weighing survivability vs. mana conservation — is the heart of defensive play.

Mini-Heals vs. Offensive Mana

It’s also important to remember that defensive mana is more efficient than offensive mana.

• Ebolt = ~25–30 damage → 20 mana
• 4x Mini-Heals = ~28 HP healed → 12 mana

👉 Even when you spam minis, you’re often still winning the mana trade against pure offensive casting. The numbers skew even more in your favor when you compare GHeal (12 mana) to offensive spells.

This means if your opponent is relying heavily on spells (lots of Lightning, Ebolt, etc.) and not landing big weapon hits, you can often afford to mini-heal more than you think. You’re still coming out ahead in the long run.

Practical Takeaway

• Use mini-heals to escape lethal or to “top off” efficiently.
• Use GHeals when you’re in mid-health range and want to conserve mana.
• Mix minis + GHeal to extend survival windows when low mana or under weapon pressure.
• Remember: defensive spells are more efficient than offensive ones — don’t panic if you find yourself mini-heal spamming.

The real art of defense is constantly weighing these tradeoffs and adjusting based on the situation in front of you.

When to spam mini heal vs. go for gheals

This is one of the hardest parts to learn on defense, and honestly something I still work on myself. The question sounds simple — when do you mini heal and when do you gheal? — but most intermediate duelers either over–mini heal and burn themselves down, or over–gheal and get disrupted until they die. The real answer is that there’s a balance and a fine line. Below is how I think about it in live fights, with concrete examples.

Fatal range (10–20 hp)

If you’re near fatal damage (10–20 hp) and your opponent has a small spell up (harm or arrow), you are generally better off spamming a few mini heals first to get out of lethal before attempting a gheal. If you just try to hard-cast gheal here, you’ll usually get clipped by a small spell + weapon and die. The minis buy you that tiny buffer so the next swing + harm doesn’t end the fight on the spot. Once you’re out of one-shot territory, then you look for your gheal window.

Mid hp (around 60–70)

If you’re still healthy (around 60–70 hp), lean toward going for gheals instead of sitting there mini healing 4–5 times. Gheals in this range save your mana compared to a bunch of minis, and they also force your opponent to spend more trying to disrupt you. This is where a lot of people panic and over–mini heal while they’re not even close to dying — wrong move. At mid hp you should be trying to land gheals.

“Top yourself up” math (don’t waste a gheal)

Example: Opponent has ebolt up. They hally hit you for a measly 18 damage and they do not release ebolt. Even at high hp, this is where I just top myself up with mini heals.

• 3 mini heals ≈ 8 hp each → ~24 healed for 9 mana
• 1 gheal to cover ~18 damage → 12 mana

I see it constantly: people throw a gheal to cover 10–15 damage. That’s just bad. Even if you have a gheal primed, you’re better off firing a couple minis to top up, save the mana, and then hold/release gheal later when it actually matters.

Low mana: you need a gheal (and maybe a punch)

When you are low mana, you basically have to land a gheal, because you won’t survive on mini heals and you’ll mana tap yourself.

Example: You’re at 50 hp with 15 mana left. If you mini heal 2–3x, you’re sitting at 5–6 mana and you’ve got no options left. In this spot I almost always gamble on a gheal, even if that means risking weapon + spell interrupt. You need to save mana. This is also a great time to go for a gheal punch — that quick punch can be the difference between landing the gheal or getting locked.

Weapon pressure tweak (viking/axe vs. hally)

Same low-mana idea, but respect the weapon. If in that scenario your opponent is on a viking or axe and you’re at ~30 hp with the same 15 mana, I’ll often throw 1–2 quick mini heals first and then go for gheal. That way I can survive one more axe/viking swing if it lands. This little adjustment increases your overall odds compared to only going straight for gheal. Essentially I can survive 2-3 weapon hits, as opposted to 1-2 now, increasing my odds to get a disrupt and a gheal off. This may not work if they have a hally ready to swing, so you always need to be cognizant of what weapon they have ready to go.

Extend your “survivability window”

You’ll find tons of spots where the best line is: sneak in 1–3 minis, then go for gheal. Those minis extend your survivability window just enough to make the gheal realistic.

Example: If you only go for gheal at ~30 hp, a hally + harm could kill you outright. But if you dropped 2–3 minis first, that same hally + harm brings you to ~10 hp instead of dead, which still gives you a shot to finish your gheal after (especially if you’re low mana and couldn’t afford to mini spam forever).

When mini heal spam is correct

There are times where you should just mini heal spam yourself back to ~60–70 hp.

• Valid when you have high mana (60+)
• Valid when the opponent is on a good hit streak (3+ hits + cycles) and you dipped low

Example: They hit you 3 straight times, added some cycles, you’re at ~20 hp, and they have lightning up. Here the best bet is to spam mini heal 4–6 times back to healthy hp. This works because you have the mana to do it, so you won’t mana tap yourself. Once stable again, you can start looking for gheals.

Defensive spells have a mana advantage

Defensive mana is more efficient than offensive mana. That’s just how the numbers land.

• Opponent casts ebolt → ~25–30 damage for 20 mana
• You mini heal 4x → ~28 healed for 12 mana

So even if you “mini heal spammed,” it’s still mana-advantageous versus them ebolting you. The numbers skew even more in your favor when you compare gheal (12 mana) to offensive spells. Keep this in mind whenever you are mini healing — if it’s mainly their spells doing the damage, you’re still fine in the mana battle.

Reading what they’re doing (and why it matters)

If your opponent is widdling you down with spells primarily and not landing big weapon hits (maybe they’re trying too much katana, or they’re whiffing), then it’s not a big issue that you’re mini healing to counter it — you’re still ahead mana-wise because defensive mana is more efficient than offensive mana.

In practical terms: if I see duelers use lightning a lot in their cycles early in fights, I know they’re probably blowing mana, and even if I mini heal spam a bit, we’ll likely end up in a similar spot mana-wise later. Just note: good duelers will cancel bigger spells (like lightning) if their lower circle timers are up again, because they’re very aware of the mana battle and will keep swapping back to harm/arrow to pressure you without overspending.

Quick summary (use these in the moment)

• Fatal (10–20 hp): mini heal to get out of lethal, then go for gheal.
• Mid hp (60–70): look to land gheals; don’t burn 4–5 minis for no reason.
• Small chip only: top yourself up with minis (don’t waste a gheal for 10–15 dmg).
• Low mana: you need a gheal (great time for a gheal punch).
• Axe/viking pressure: 1–2 minis first, then gheal so you don’t get deleted.
• Need to stabilize fast (and you have mana): mini heal spam back to ~60–70, then reset.
• Remember: defensive mana > offensive mana. If they’re spell-heavy and not landing big swings, your minis are fine.

There is a LOT more I can say about when to mini heal vs gheal, but I will add it later or add it to the advanced guide.

Core concept

The goal is simple:

• Bait their small spells (harm, arrow).
• Force them up into higher circles (fireball, lightning, ebolt, poison, mindblast).
• Then disrupt those bigger casts with a weapon hit right as they commit.

This not only saves your life by getting your gheal off, but it also puts them on the defensive after taking big weapon damage.

Example sequence

• Opponent hits you with hally + ebolt.
• You mini heal a few times to stay out of lethal range.
• They now have harm up.
• You cast gheal, forcing them to release harm.
• They release and cast arrow.
• You cast gheal again, forcing them to release arrow.
• At this point they’ll usually go into poison, fireball, or lightning.
• This is your moment: run straight at them with hally, swing, then cast gheal.

Here’s what happens:

• Your hally connects, dealing big damage.
• Your gheal lands, keeping you alive.
• Immediately after, you can go into harm to disrupt their next gheal attempt and start cycling them.

This exact exchange is often how fights flip — from you being pressured to them scrambling.

If you miss your hally

If your swing whiffs, don’t panic. Just mini heal 1–2 more times, reset, and repeat the bait–disrupt process.

Explosion & Ebolt Burst Defense

In MOST duels your opponent will open with explo or ebolt, wait for the hally to hit, then release whichever spell they have up. Here’s the counter to each.

Explosion defense

What they do:

Opponent has explo up → they hit you with hally → they instantly release explo → most duelers then go harm next (to disrupt your gheal + get ~10 dmg). Newer duelers try to gheal right after the harm. Do NOT do this.

Why not:

Explo has roughly a 2.5s delay after release. If you try to gheal after their harm, the explodetonates during your gheal and disrupts you. While you’re disrupted, they start ebolt and now have ebolt + axe ready. If the axe lands and they release eb, you’re dead—or you’re in a terrible spot either way.

How to defend it (step-by-step):

1. They hit hally → release explo.
2. Don’t gheal. Cast 1–2 mini heals to get out of lethal.
3. Instantly cast Magic Arrow.
4. Let them release harm (fine—you’re still above lethal).
5. When they go to cast ebolt, release Magic Arrow into their ebolt to disrupt it.
6. Immediately try to get a gheal up yourself.
7. If they disrupt your gheal, go back to mini heals to get out of lethal and repeat.

Result:

You break the explo → harm → ebolt lethal chain and give yourself a real window to land gheal. Run this correctly and you won’t die to the explo/harm/eb combo again.

Ebolt defense (basic)

What they do:

Opponent has ebolt up and hally ready → they hit hally and release ebolt instantly → they usually follow with harm or poison.

What you do (baseline):

• As soon as the hally hits, instantly cast at least 2 mini heals to neutralize some of the hally damage.
• After two minis, react based on what they cast next (poison, harm, or even another ebolt).

I’m not going deeper here into every post-ebolt branch (poison/harm/arrow/etc.). For now, remember: when hally lands and they’ve got ebolt up, cast 2 mini heals immediately so you don’t get bursted out. Then adjust to their next spell.

12/8/2025

Well, it's been about 10 months of dueling now, and the time has finally come to write the advanced offense section. I was hesitant to put this together for a while because:

1. it's difficult to put into words the nuances of advanced offense in the arena—it's very much a chess match, and
2. revealing a lot of my offensive techniques for others to copy made me hesitate, because I'd still like to keep winning in the arena.

That being said, I think competition is healthy, and the truth is that most high-level players won't actually read this. And even if they do, they probably won't understand dueling deeply enough for this guide to fully click.

So who is this written for? This section is written for the few crazy ones who get obsessed with something and want to take it to the absolute maximum. If that's you… I salute you. Enjoy the advanced offense

Upcoming notes

Mastery of the cycles: (Arrow, poison, harm), (harm arrow lightning), (arrow lightning poison/harm), (harm arrow nox) (harm , nox, arrow, lightning) (harm arrow fireball lightning), (harm harm, arrow, lightning/psn/fireball),

What is a high level offense?

Ultimately, offense at the highest level comes down to three things:

1. DPS
2. Understanding mana
3. Understanding "kill territory"

Let's expand on that.

DPS

One of the most misunderstood areas of dueling—even among elite duelers—is failing to fully embrace that, at its core, this is a DPS game, very similar to playing a dexxer. What do I mean by this?

Most players do not swing their weapons the moment they're ready. They wait for the "right moment," or they fixate on always waiting for halberd, or they endlessly spam low-level weapons like katana. All of that is suboptimal.

From a pure math perspective, the two highest-DPS weapons in the arena are:

1. the Axe (highest DPS)
2. the Viking Sword (second-highest DPS)

So what does this mean in practice? Should you ALWAYS swing a Viking the instant it's ready, or ALWAYS swing the Axe?

The answer is: it's complicated.

As a general rule of thumb, unless I'm going for a big burst, I'm a huge fan of swinging the axe the second it becomes ready—IF I'm in close range AND only if it JUST came up (meaning the cooldown just finished). It hits hard, and its cooldown is fast.

However, if my axe is ready but I'm halfway (or more) to my halberd swing, I will often "run away" and wait for the halberd. But be aware: a good opponent will chase and swing on you, and if you're sitting there waiting on hally, you risk eating a swing without returning one. So if you see them closing in, just arm your axe and attack-last; it'll swing the moment they get into range.

The real game is constantly deciding whether to maneuver/kite to load a bigger weapon, while also being ready to immediately swing whatever highest-DPS weapon is available if the opponent closes the gap.

The BIG Difference Between Top Duelers and Everyone Else

The biggest mistake that separates top duelers from average ones is how much they swing. You can check the stats after a fight: when I fight top duelers, we usually swing the same number of times. When I fight anyone else, I often out-swing them by 10–20 swings. That's 10–20 free hits worth of damage that they never paid me back for.

You should think of yourself as a dexxer with spells. Your job is to get as many good swings as possible.

You can even do this with mid-tier weapons like Viking or katana.

Example

Duel starts: both players swing halberd at the same time. The enemy stays close, and your Viking is ready. You swing the Viking. The enemy does NOT swing back because they're waiting on their second halberd. After you land the Viking hit, you immediately run/kite until you have at least an axe ready.

Net result: you landed a free Viking swing AND you're loading an Axe. Viking + Axe typically beats one halberd in total DPS. You effectively "won" that exchange.

The entire duel plays out through these moments—stealing free swings without them returning. The weapons best suited for this are generally the Viking Sword and the Axe. If you can land these hits without eating one back, and then kite out to reset your Axe/Hally, you've gained free DPS. Free DPS translates to mana attrition on your opponent. This is why top duelers end up swinging 10–20 more times per match.

When NOT to Swing the Axe/Viking

There are times when you should hold your swing and wait for your halberd instead.

Example:

Opponent is at ~30 HP and mini healing. You have an axe ready and a lightning prepped. If you swing axe + release lightning, you'd deal roughly 30–40 damage. They're in the middle of mini-healing. But your halberd is about a second away from being ready. In that case, it's often better to wait one second and hit halberd + lightning for the kill.

But in that same scenario, if your axe JUST came ready, you might be better off swinging the axe right away. You always have to weigh how close you are to your next swing versus the value of swinging now.

With the Viking sword, if Viking is ready and I have a lightning up, I often wait for the axe instead—because the DPS gap between Viking and Axe isn't as big as the gap between Axe and Halberd. But again, it's situational. Sometimes I'll swing the Viking if my mana is low and I'm just trying to burn theirs, with no intent to actually drop the lightning right then.

Recap

• Try to steal as many swings as possible without allowing return swings.
• Swing the Axe a lot more, especially when it just came ready and you're in their face.
• Viking and Axe are incredibly efficient; you do NOT always need to wait on Halberd.
• The exceptions for waiting on halberd are typically:
  • Starting a cycle
  • When you've snuck an ebolt and have a real kill window (e.g., they're at 40–60 HP and you can hally + ebolt for lethal)

Understanding mana

Now, we've spoken in previous sections about understanding the mana game, but let's take a high-level look at it here.

The biggest issue—even among great duelers—is not understanding where your mana is relative to your opponent's.

I'll start by saying: obviously you should be Evaling your opponent whenever possible to see their mana. HOWEVER, you cannot rely solely on that.

With experience (and through this guide), you will learn how to gauge relative mana without needing to eval constantly.

Here are the things you should consider.

The Real Mana Burners

Offensively, the biggest drains on your mana are high-level spells cast without coming off a weapon hit. Think:

• Lightning
• Ebolt
• Explosion
• Even Fireball

Let's break them down.

Ebolt / Explosion

People might be surprised to see these in the "mana wasters" category, because everyone starts cycles with them. To be clear: there is NOTHING wrong with starting a cycle with ebolt or explo. But they should generally only be released if you get a good halberd hit first (around 25+ damage). Otherwise, the opponent can cast three rapid mini-heals and completely negate a hally + ebolt or hally + explo.

Another common mistake: opponent is at 30 HP, mini-healing, and someone sneaks an ebolt. Great idea—IF you land the next hit. But if you MISS that hit while they mini-heal spam, your 20-mana ebolt averages 25–30 damage… and they can mini-heal 4 times for 28–32 HP using only 16 mana.

My general rule:

• I don't send ebolt unless they're at 50 HP or less, and
• I have a big weapon almost ready. Ideally you swing first, and if you whiff, you hold the ebolt—unless they immediately gheal after your whiff (then you can drop it if they're sub-50 HP).

Ultimately, sending ebolt mid-cycle or when the opponent is damaged depends on:

• whether you have enough mana to finish the kill, AND
• enough mana to fall back to defense if they land a big hit on you.

Summary:

• Ebolt after a big hally hit? Good.
• Ebolt when they are at ~50 HP or less? Acceptable.
• Ebolt randomly or mid-cycle without pressure? Usually bad.

Lightning

Lightning is the single biggest culprit of wasted mana in dueling.

Lightning is a GREAT spell—if used correctly. The issue is that people use it purely to disrupt, even when they've missed the last 1–2 weapon hits.

Example:

Opponent 30 HP.

You whiff.

They gheal.

You harm to disrupt.

They gheal again.

You arrow to disrupt.

You lightning.

They mini-heal 3–4 times back to 55–60 HP.

Then they gheal again to BAIT you, and when you whiff your next swing, you release lightning to disrupt them. You do disrupt them—but you spent 11 mana on something that will never kill them.

Great duelers will bait your lightning over and over, effectively mana tapping you.

Another key point:

Lightning does ~12–18 damage for 11 mana.

Two mini-heals (8 mana) negate it entirely.

So unless you get a weapon hit + lightning, it rarely makes sense to drop lightning.

So when SHOULD you drop lightning?

It's nuanced.

Early in the duel, when both players are around 50–60 HP, you might go harm → arrow → lightning, but often the lightning is just a THREAT, not something you actually cast.

Example:

Opponent 60 HP.

You hally-hit them to 35 HP.

They gheal.

You harm.

They mini-heal a few times.

You arrow.

You prep lightning.

At ~50 HP, you now have lightning ready. You ONLY drop lightning if you land a big axe or hally hit. And even then, you might hold it.

Scenario A:

They gheal, you run in and connect an axe, dropping them to 30 HP.

Better option: cancel lightning, harm again, keep pressure.

Scenario B:

They're at 30 HP and you whiff.

It CAN be good to release lightning here to push them to ~15 HP, forcing panic mini-heals and burning their mana.

Scenario C:

They're gheal-spamming at 45 HP, and you're too far for a weapon swing.

Releasing lightning to disrupt can be correct—IF you can follow up with a halberd right after.

This is a gamble, but sometimes a justified 50/50 kill attempt.

Before dropping lightning, ask:

1. Are they low enough HP that lightning matters?
2. Do you have enough mana to survive missing the next 1–2 swings?
3. Who has the mana lead?
4. Do you have a big weapon ready before or after lightning?

If you can't answer "yes" to enough of these… hold the lightning.

Fireball

Fireball can be effective in combos, but it is often overused and becomes a liability. Most people spam harm → arrow → fireball → lightning.

This CAN be deadly if the opponent is gheal-spamming and not mini-healing; fireball + lightning stacks well.

Example:

Opponent 50 HP.

They gheal.

You harm: they drop to 40.

They run/gheal, you arrow-disrupt.

They gheal again, you FIREBALL-disrupt.

They're now ~25 HP.

You prep lightning and rush with halberd.

If hally connects + lightning drops, you deal ~40–45 damage, often enough to kill someone who mini-heal spammed too late.

This is the correct moment for fireball.

Over-using it outside these windows = wasted mana.

Mindblast

Mindblast should be used in very niche situations. Many players cast mindblast when the opponent is nowhere near kill range, which is a huge mana waste.

It costs ~14–15 mana and deals ~15–23 damage.

2–3 mini-heals completely erase it for far less mana.

Overusing mindblast is one of the fastest ways to mana-tap yourself.

When is mindblast acceptable?

Example:

Opponent near death, you have magic arrow up, they're mini-heal spamming.

You release arrow → cast mindblast → have hally ready.

If they're 40–50 HP, you can kill with halberd + mindblast.

This works because players typically don't gheal when they see mindblast being cast.

This is not true for ebolt—people will attempt a gheal when they see ebolt, making you dependent on a 50/50 weapon hit to secure the kill. Against mindblast, most players default to mini-heals.

That's why it has a narrow but real use case.

Mana Meta

When you truly understand your opponent's mana relative to your own, that's when you reach elite levels of dueling. For example, if an opponent casts an ebolt on me, I KNOW I can cast three mini-heals—completely negating the ebolt—and still come out ahead in the mana trade.

If the opponent casts lightning, I know I'm safe to cast at least two mini-heals and be equal or better mana-wise.

The entire duel revolves around understanding how much mana they burn on offense versus how much you spend on defense, and vice versa.

The situations you need to worry about are when they begin landing too many weapon hits, and—if they're elite—start canceling their high-level spells (like lightning) and pivot back to low-level spells (like harm). When they do this, it's a sign they're connecting more often than you are, meaning you're mini-healing frequently while they're spending very little mana and relying on weapon DPS. That usually means they're winning the mana game.

Don't be afraid to mini-heal more than you think—as long as you are forcing them to use spells of equal or greater mana in response.

The Kill Territory

One of the concepts almost no one talks about—yet one of the most important—is KILL TERRITORY.

What does this actually mean?

Kill territory is the HP range in which your next spell + weapon hit can kill the opponent. It is lethal range.

One of the biggest questions I get is:

"What HP counts as lethal range? 20 HP? 30 HP? 10 HP?"

The answer:

It depends.

Let me explain.

Example Scenarios

1. Ebolt + Halberd

An ebolt + halberd can do upwards of 60 damage.

So if an opponent is sitting at 50–60 HP, they probably feel safe… but they are absolutely killable.

If I land a big halberd and release ebolt with good rolls, they die.

(Most people are shocked the first time this happens to them.)

2. Halberd + Lightning

Opponent is at 40 HP and thinks they're fine.

But if I have halberd + lightning prepped and the hally lands—they're dead.

3. Harm Sequences

Opponent at 30 HP. They cast gheal.

I run next to them and purposely don't swing.

I cast Harm → they drop to ~20 HP.

I instantly cast another Harm → they panic and cast gheal, thinking they'll heal through it.

While they're locked into gheal, I hit them with a Viking sword and release the second harm.

Result: ~30+ damage from two harms + Viking, and they die.

The possibilities are endless.

Lethal range is situational, spell-dependent, and combo-dependent. You need to test and experiment to build the instinct.

A Critical Tool: HP Percentage

Make sure you have "Show HP" enabled in Options.

If the opponent is at 20% HP, that usually means they're around 16 HP (because of 89 STR max).

That means even double Harm—without a weapon hit—can kill them instantly if they don't mini-heal.

Most players see 20% and assume the opponent is safer than they actually are.

Recap

Start recognizing, through the HP percentage over the player's head, what lethal range truly is.

Then begin structuring your finishers and endgame sequencing based on that awareness.

Kill territory is not a fixed number—it's a combination of spell rolls, weapon timing, and your ability to see the kill before your opponent does.

A. Sneaking Hits & Weapon Theory / Maxing Out DPS

One of the most advanced and meta concepts in high-level dueling is the ability to out-swing your opponent — but not in the way most people think. Raw swing count alone means nothing. If someone out-swings you but does it exclusively with a katana, that's not a win — that's just low DPS volume. What we're really talking about is maximizing meaningful swings with your highest DPS weapons.

Weapon DPS Hierarchy (in the arena):

1. Axe
2. Viking Sword
3. Halberd
4. Katana

With that in mind, the goal throughout a duel is to sneak high-value hits and immediately disengage.

What Does "Sneaking a Hit" Mean?

Here's a simple example. Say an opponent is mid-cast on an e-bolt and I'm three or four tiles away. I know my axe is nearly ready. I run in during the cast window, land the axe hit, and immediately kite away. By the time they close the gap, my axe is ready again. That's one free axe hit — free DPS that cost me zero mana.

If that axe lands, it's 18–23 damage. At minimum, that forces a Greater Heal (12 mana) or two to three mini heals — burning them anywhere from 8 to 14 mana on a hit they had no real answer to. I won that exchange.

The entire duel is a series of moments like this. You're always looking for the window to sneak in, land something meaningful, and get out.

Hit and Run — Done Right

A common mistake is swinging and then staying on top of the opponent. The correct play is hit and immediately kite. And kiting itself is a skill — it's zigzag patterns, fakes, misdirection. Done correctly, you can kite long enough that not only does your axe reset, there's even a chance your halberd comes back up too.

That said, this isn't always the play. If you land a big halberd hit and they're hurt, you may want to stay close and begin your cycle rather than kiting away.

How Do You Know It's Working?

After a duel, pull up Page 2 of the stats and compare your average damage per hit to your opponent's. Generally, if your average is sitting between 18–21, that's a good sign — it means you were getting your axe and higher DPS weapons into the fight regularly. If that average is 18–21 and your overall damage is equal to or better than your opponent's, and you out-swung them by five to ten hits or more, that's an overall win. Those are the criteria to look for.

B. Knowing When to Cancel a Big Spell for a Small One

One of the most important — and most overlooked — skills in high-level dueling is knowing when to cancel a big spell and reset back to a smaller one. This entire section is about what happens while you're cycling somebody.

The Problem

A lot of players will start a cycle, do Harm and Arrow interrupts, get to Lightning, and then just... hold it. Even if the opponent mini-heals back, they'll keep that Lightning up waiting for the perfect moment — and eventually the opponent G-heals, the window closes, and they drop it anyway. That's a massive waste of mana.

A Real Example

Here's what a proper cycle looks like:

• I land a big halberd hit for 30 damage and hold my Harm.
• The enemy runs and G-heals — I interrupt with Harm.
• I cast Magic Arrow. They G-heal again — I interrupt with Magic Arrow.
• I cast Lightning. At this point they're around 50 HP and they start mini-heal spamming.

Now here's the decision point. I'll give it maybe two or three seconds. If they're mini-heal spamming and I'm chasing them, I cancel the Lightning and reset back to Harm — assuming the five-second spell cooldown has elapsed. That one decision saves me a significant chunk of mana and lets me start the cycle fresh.

Why It Matters

To put it in perspective:

• Harm — up to 10 damage, costs 6 mana
• Lightning — up to 13–17 damage, costs double the mana

Lightning is not a good DPS spell relative to its mana cost. The damage-to-mana ratio just isn't there. In general, you always want to be working back toward low-cost spells — Harm, Poison, Magic Arrow — as quickly as the situation allows. We call this resetting the cycle, and it's one of the most mana-efficient habits you can build.

I've seen players hold Lightning for 7–9 seconds while the opponent mini-heals back to around 80% HP — and then they finally release it on an 80% HP target. That is a terrible use of mana.

The One Exception

If the opponent is in kill range, hold the Lightning. The goal at that point is to stack Lightning damage together with an axe hit or halberd to push them to near-death or finish the kill. That's the one scenario where holding a big spell is the right call.

Outside of that — as soon as the window closes, reset your cycle and get back to small spells.

C. Thinking Two Steps Ahead

This is one of the most important concepts in advanced dueling. Any time you're cycling or attacking, you have to be thinking about not just what's happening now, but what's coming next. It's almost like game theory — if this, then that.

The Energy Bolt Example

I cast Explosion, Harm, and then Energy Bolt. During that Energy Bolt, they cast Magic Arrow to counter it — which is a normal response from any decent dueler. The thing is, I'm anticipating that. The second I see them cast Magic Arrow, I self-disrupt mid-cast and immediately throw my own Magic Arrow — because I already know what comes next. After their Magic Arrow, they're going to attempt a G-heal. My Magic Arrow is already on the way to interrupt it. Then I load Lightning, and now they're in a bad spot with a Halberd potentially ready too. That's two steps ahead in action.

The Poison Hold

Here's another one. I'm running a standard Harm/Arrow/Lightning cycle. I've chipped them down about 20 HP and I cast Lightning. A very common defensive move is for them to run at me, hit me with their weapon to disrupt the Lightning, and use that window to get a G-heal up.

Knowing that ahead of time, while Lightning is actively casting, I am physically holding down my Poison hotkey the entire time — ready to fire the instant I get disrupted. They run in, they hit me, Lightning gets interrupted — and I instantly cast Poison on last target. More often than not, that Poison beats their G-heal. Their disruption attempt fails, they end up poisoned, and I'm still cycling.

The Harm Hold

Same concept, different scenario. Let's say they're at 20 HP. I fire a Magic Arrow, then cast Lightning — and again, while Lightning is actively casting, I am physically holding down my Harm hotkey the entire time. They run in and hit me on the Lightning, and I instantly cast Harm, then chain into Poison, then back to Magic Arrow, then Lightning. The cycle keeps going.

The Core Principle

Always mentally know what your next spell is going to be. At any given moment, you should have two spells in your head:

1. The next spell if they don't disrupt you — what you're naturally flowing into next in the cycle
2. The next spell if they do disrupt you — what you fire back instantly to keep pressure on and not lose the exchange

You should never be reacting from zero. The best duelers always know both answers before the situation even plays out.

D. The Offensive Punch

Most people use punches defensively — like a defensive G-heal punch — but there are times in a duel where you can use a punch offensively.

The Example

Let's say the opponent is at around 20–30 HP and you've snuck an Energy Bolt on them to finish them off. They run at you, hit you with their weapon to disrupt the cast, and go G-heal. They think they got it. But because you were holding that Energy Bolt hotkey the entire time, you almost immediately recast it. While you're recasting the Energy Bolt the second time, you punch them — they're right next to you at this point — disrupting their G-heal, and then the Energy Bolt goes off and kills them.

You can do this with Energy Bolt, or even with Lightning. Let's say somebody's at 10–15 HP and you're casting Lightning to finish them off or near-finish them. They run at you and disrupt it to get a G-heal up. You recast Lightning, punch them to disrupt the G-heal, and kill them that way.

It's not something that comes up constantly, but it's important to understand that if the situation calls for it, you can use a punch offensively — either to finish somebody off or to catch them off guard when they least expect it.

E. Low Mana / Small Ball Dueling

This is a very important section. When I have duelers at around B-tier level ask me what to improve, my answer is almost always the same: take two to three weeks and do what I call Small Ball Dueling.

What Is Small Ball Dueling?

Small Ball Dueling is killing somebody using only 1st to 3rd level spells:

• Harm
• Magic Arrow
• Fireball
• Poison

At the most advanced level, it's killing somebody using only Harm, Magic Arrow, and Poison.

Becoming an expert at Small Ball Dueling means you are able to maximize DPS with your weapons and let your weapons do most of the damage. You are not relying on Lightning or Energy Bolt to kill somebody. If you reach a point where your Small Ball level is very close to your regular dueling level, you have mastered how to use weapons.

The Basic Premise

Small Ball Dueling is difficult to teach, but the core principle is this: when you have a Harm up, you always wait and release it at the end of their Greater Heal. And almost always, before you release that Harm, you try to get a weapon swing in first.

For example — the opponent casts Greater Heal. You run up, you swing, you whiff, and then you release the Harm at the end of their cast. If you actually hit them with the weapon, you don't need to release the Harm at all. Just hold it, keep pressuring with weapons, and only release the Harm at the end of their next Greater Heal.

What It Looks Like at Its Best

Using only Harm, Arrow, and Poison:

You hit them with the Halberd. They're at maybe 55% HP. They mini-heal once, then go Greater Heal. If your Axe is ready, you swing it first. If it hits, great — hold the Harm and keep going. If you whiff, release the Harm at the end of their Greater Heal. Then get Magic Arrow up. They'll likely Greater Heal again, and you release the Magic Arrow to interrupt it.

It's rare that you should try to swing before a Magic Arrow. One of the most common ways to break a cycle and hand your opponent a free Greater Heal is to attempt a swing before your Magic Arrow and then not have time to cast it. More often than not, you won't have the window, and you'll waste a perfectly good cycle. Instead, guarantee the disrupt with Magic Arrow, then get Poison up.

If you time it right, your Axe will be ready again at the end of their next Greater Heal. Take that swing. If it whiffs, no problem — the cycle ends, but you only burned Harm and Arrow in mana, which is extremely efficient. If that Axe lands, you've now done Halberd damage plus potentially Axe damage all within one cycle.

Now let's say that Axe did land. They run away — maybe they mini-heal, maybe they go Greater Heal again. If they go Greater Heal, release the Poison at the end of it. At that point your Harm will be back up, and the cycle starts over.

I’m attaching footage of some smallball cycles with Harm, Arrow, Poison. This is straight from Limo’s duel guide, which again, I highly recommend everyone would read:

The Key Takeaway

Done correctly, you can keep someone cycled indefinitely using only Harm, Arrow, and Poison — as long as at least one weapon hit lands somewhere in the cycle. Indefinitely. Most people can't do this because they rush their Harm, they rush their Poison, they rush the Arrow. You have to be incredibly patient with these spells. Let your weapons do the work. Sometimes you even take a 50/50 gamble swinging a bigger weapon at the end of their Greater Heal. If you whiff, the cycle ends — no big deal, minimal mana lost. If it hits, you've created another cycle out of nothing.

That patience is what separates Small Ball Dueling from everything else.

Low Mana Dueling

Small Ball Dueling leads directly into what I'd call true low mana dueling. Let's say you're in a duel and both of you are sitting at around 15 mana, and the opponent is at roughly 40 HP. You don't have enough mana to run a full cycle and kill them cleanly — so here's what you do.

The Double Harm Technique

You hit them, they drop to around 30 HP, and they go Greater Heal. You release your Harm at the end of their Greater Heal, then immediately cast a second Harm. Now, normally the spell cooldown makes this feel unworkable — but they'll inevitably try to Greater Heal again, and that's when you swing your Katana or Viking Sword. Assuming it hits, you instantly release that second Harm on the weapon hit and immediately get a Magic Arrow up.

At this point they'll probably mini-heal once or twice and then go Greater Heal again. You release the Magic Arrow on that Greater Heal, then cast one more Harm. Again, the spell cooldown makes it so the harm doesn’t interrupt — so now the opponent faces a difficult decision: do they go Greater Heal knowing that if your weapon misses they get it off clean because your harm is still in spell cooldown? Or do they keep mini-heal spamming and burning through their remaining mana?

If they go Greater Heal, you run up and hit them with a Viking or Axe — anywhere between 15–20 damage — combined with the Harm release, for a total of around 30 damage. If they're sitting at 25–30% HP at that point, that's the kill.

The entire sequence is Harm, Harm, Arrow, Harm — and it only costs you around 18 mana for the three Harms and 3–4 mana for the Magic Arrow. That's it. You generated a kill with barely any mana.

Mixing It Up

You can also run it as Harm, Arrow, Harm. By the time you've cast those, your Halberd or Axe will likely be ready. You combine that with an Axe hit — if it lands, you've created another cycle. If you miss, the cycle ends, but again, minimal mana lost.

The key to all of this, just like in Small Ball Dueling, is timing your weapons correctly. The Double Harm technique specifically is something to practice on its own — it's hard to execute cleanly, but it's a perfect example of how much damage you can generate with almost nothing in the tank.

F. Spacing and Positioning

One of the most key differentiators between elite level duelers and everyone else is how they move in space. When I was coming up, people would always say "this person moves really well" or "they space really well" — and I had no idea what that meant. The truth is, it's the ability to keep enough space that you can maximize your weapon hits or play better defensively.

Offensive Spacing

Let's say the opponent is at 20–30 HP. They cast a Greater Heal — I disrupt it with Harm. I cast my Magic Arrow, but instead of staying on them, I run away in the opposite direction.

They might mini-heal once or twice while I'm halfway across the arena. They go Greater Heal — I release the Arrow and start making my way back while casting Fireball. Now they face a tough decision: do they go Greater Heal, knowing I'll land a Fireball that drops them to 10–15 HP where I can run in and finish with the Halberd? Or do they keep mini-healing and burn through their mana? If they keep mini-healing, I may have time to cancel the Fireball, go back to Harm, and not waste mana. It's a difficult spot for them either way.

Let's say they eventually hit 25 HP and go Greater Heal. I fire the Fireball — they're back to 10 HP. I hold Lightning, run at them, and try to stack a Halberd and Lightning together for the kill.

Running away after Magic Arrow is a powerful technique when you're trying to load a bigger weapon like a Halberd or Axe. While you're creating that space, they can't run up and disrupt you either. When you do fire that Fireball or Lightning, you're out of reach. You can stack 40–50 damage in one burst and kill them while staying completely safe from any disruption attempt.

Defensive Spacing — The Pocket

On defense, you want to stay in what I call the pocket — three to four tiles away from the opponent at all times. This sweet spot means you're close enough to disrupt any third or fourth level spell, but far enough that you can react to and run away from any sixth level spell.

Here's an example. The opponent has Harm up. You go Greater Heal — they disrupt it and cast Magic Arrow. You go Greater Heal again to bait it. Now, because you're three to four tiles away, if they go Energy Bolt, you can take two quick steps back and be completely safe — and still get your Greater Heal off. If you were too close to begin with, you don't have that reaction window. They finish the Energy Bolt cast, hit you with a Katana right after, and you're dead.

From three to four tiles, extending out to six or seven tiles is easy — you're safe from any big spell sneak. And at the same time, if they load Lightning, you're still close enough to run in and disrupt it.

Three to four tiles is the sweet spot. I'm personally experimenting with staying even closer and tightening the margins, but three to five tiles on defense is where you want to be. You generally don't want to go halfway across the screen on defense — people will get bigger weapons up and you lose the ability to disrupt anything.

A Note on Movement Overall

Spacing is one piece of movement. Movement also includes the ability to kite, zigzag, and generate unreturnable swings — all of which were covered earlier. Spacing and kiting together are what people mean when they say someone "moves well." It's not one thing — it's all of it working together.

G. Nox Tick — At The Highest Level

To reach S-tier dueling, almost everything revolves around the Poison tick. You simply cannot beat the best duelers on a consistent basis unless you have absolutely mastered the use of Poison. Here's why.

First, let me address something. There are duelers who only run Harm/Arrow/Fireball/Lightning type combos. Can they kill you? Sometimes. But it's incredibly rare, it's mana-inefficient, and when it does happen it's usually because they got a massive RNG bonus — 20–30% better rolls than you. That's not a repeatable strategy at the highest level.

Why Poison Tick Matters

A common misconception is that Poison tick is valuable because it catches people trying to Greater Heal through it. The truth is, any good dueler knows exactly when the tick is coming and will have Magic Arrow ready — you are not sneaking an Energy Bolt on them that way. That's the most basic version of Nox tick, and it's the most predictable and easiest to defend against.

The basic approach — Poison, Harm, weapon hit, Arrow, Lightning, Energy Bolt — is something any experienced dueler can read and shut down. That's not what makes Nox tick meta.

What Makes It Meta

Nox tick becomes truly dangerous when you combine it with sneaking Energy Bolts and Explosions before the tick even arrives, creating confusion about what's coming and when.

Here's an example. I hit somebody with a Halberd for 30 damage. They go Greater Heal. I release Poison at the end of their Greater Heal and cast Magic Arrow. They try to cure immediately — I run up and hit them with a Viking or Axe to disrupt the first cure, then release the Magic Arrow to disrupt the second cure attempt.

Now they have to decide: do they try another Greater Heal, knowing I have Harm ready after the Magic Arrow? Or do they Mini-Heal? Let's say they go Mini-Heal. I cancel the Harm and immediately load an Energy Bolt. Now I have an Energy Bolt ready with a Nox tick already on the way. That is an incredibly good spot to be in. They can't Greater Heal because the tick is coming — so I can combine an Axe hit with the Energy Bolt while they're completely stuck.

Now let's say they somehow catch the Energy Bolt and get a Greater Heal off before the tick. I can run in, take a 50/50 weapon swing — Katana or Viking. If it hits, I recast Harm to disrupt their next Greater Heal and then go Energy Bolt, putting them right at the tick. Or if they're close enough to the tick already, I skip the Harm and go straight to Energy Bolt. Either way, they get ticked.

The Window You're Creating

Here's the bigger picture of why this is so powerful. When the Nox tick is approaching, they have to cast a Magic Arrow — that's two to three seconds minimum where they are not Mini-Healing. And oftentimes it's even four to five seconds, because they're holding that Magic Arrow in anticipation of you throwing an Energy Bolt out of fear of the tick. The threat of the Energy Bolt alone means they can't heal for three to five seconds. That's free DPS. That's damage you're dealing that they simply cannot heal through.

The Core Idea

The goal is to create confusion. You want them unsure about whether to attempt a risky Greater Heal before the tick, start Mini-Healing, or do something else entirely. If they Mini-Heal through it, they're burning mana. If they try to Greater Heal, you have options. Either way, you're in control.

Don't default to Poison/Harm/Arrow or Poison/Harm/Arrow/weapon hit every time. That's the most common way to get someone to a tick and it's too easy to defend. Mix it up. Here are some examples of ways to get them to a Nox tick:

1. Poison → Magic Arrow → Lightning → Harm
2. Poison → Harm → Energy Bolt combined with a 50/50 weapon hit. If they go Greater Heal, Arrow, and they're at the tick.
3. Harm → Energy Bolt. If they go Greater Heal, hit them with a Katana, then Harm → Magic Arrow, and they're at the tick.

The general rule: if you can combine one weapon hit with two spells, you can almost always get them to a Nox tick.

H. Pre-emptive Magic Arrow

Magic Arrow is probably one of the most versatile and useful spells in the arena, right alongside Poison. What makes it so powerful is that, just like Fireball, Explosion, and Energy Bolt, it has a 0.5 second damage delay. This means you can fire it and have a 0.5 second buffer where the opponent really can't cast a Greater Heal or anything meaningful. After it lands, you can often load a big spell like Lightning, Energy Bolt, or Explosion — and they can't Greater Heal unless they're very good defensively and run away in the opposite direction to get it off. Generally though, it's an excellent setup spell.

The Standard Use vs. The Advanced Use

Most people use Magic Arrow one way: they hold it and fire it the moment the opponent casts Greater Heal to disrupt it. There's nothing wrong with that — I do it most of the time too.

But when you're dealing with elite duelers like Angus or Splinter, that approach has a flaw. If you try to sneak an Explosion or Energy Bolt after a Magic Arrow, any good dueler will simply run three or four tiles away and get a Greater Heal off before your big spell lands. They've seen it coming.

The way you get around that is by firing the Magic Arrow preemptively — before they've even cast Greater Heal.

How It Works

The key is prediction. If somebody is at around 40 HP and they start Mini-Healing, they'll typically only Mini-Heal two or three times before going Greater Heal — they don't want to burn too much mana. Knowing that, I'll watch them Mini-Heal twice, and before they even cast a third spell I fire the Magic Arrow.

Right then, they cast Greater Heal exactly as I predicted. The Magic Arrow hits them at the very beginning of their Greater Heal cast, putting them into a full one-second spell recovery delay — meaning they cannot cast anything for a full second. I immediately follow with an Energy Bolt. That gives me enough time to get the Energy Bolt up and land a weapon swing before they can even think about casting Greater Heal again. And if they weren't planning to Greater Heal at all, it would take them roughly 2.2 seconds or longer to get another Greater Heal ready — more than enough time to get the Energy Bolt off and attempt a weapon swing on top of it.

The Key Takeaway

Pre-emptive Magic Arrow can be the difference-maker when you need to sneak a much larger spell through against an elite opponent. The standard reactive Magic Arrow is too readable at the highest level — they'll just run and heal through it. But a pre-emptive one, fired before they've even committed to a cast, gives them no time to react. The catch is that it requires prediction and a read on the opponent's tendencies. You have to fire it before they cast — that's the whole thing.

The Buffer

One more thing worth noting: beyond the setup plays, a pre-emptive Magic Arrow can simply act as a 0.5 second buffer in its own right. By firing it off preemptively, you create a 0.5 second window where you can cast almost any spell and generally get it off cleanly. It also has strong defensive applications — which I'll cover in the defensive section — where you pre-fire a Magic Arrow, run away, and use that buffer to get a Greater Heal up safely. Think of the pre-fire as a 0.5 second window you're buying yourself to cast whatever you need next.

I. Meta Burst Damage — The EB Sneak

If there's one move that defines burst damage in the arena, it's this. The sneak Energy Bolt or Explosion combined with a weapon hit is arguably the most meta skill in dueling, and your game should revolve around it. Nobody uses this more effectively than Angus — he's more attuned to it than anyone else on the server.

The Weakness of a Naked Energy Bolt

First, let's understand why firing an Energy Bolt alone is a weak move. Energy Bolt has a 0.5 second damage delay. Many times you'll fire it thinking you've interrupted someone, but if they have any distance on you, they can catch it late, throw up a Greater Heal, and still get it off before the Energy Bolt actually does damage. People consistently underestimate that 0.5 second window. At range, a naked Energy Bolt sneak is very easy to defend against.

The true strength of the move is the Energy Bolt plus weapon hit combination.

How It Works

Let's say I've fired a Magic Arrow and snuck an Energy Bolt in. The opponent is about two to four tiles away from me. I cast the Energy Bolt. Half a second in, they notice it and throw up a Greater Heal. If I just let the Energy Bolt fly, it's too late — the 0.5 second delay means their Greater Heal gets off clean.

But here's what you do instead: the second the cursor is ready, you immediately equip your Viking or Katana and close those two tiles. Almost always, you can hit them with the weapon and disrupt their Greater Heal. Now they're at lower HP, their Greater Heal is disrupted, and you fire that Energy Bolt immediately after for a total burst of anywhere between 40 and 60 damage depending on what weapon you had ready.

That is one of the strongest plays in the arena.

The Keys to Making It Work

The entire move is contingent on one thing: getting your weapon in your hand the moment the cursor is ready and immediately closing the gap to hit them. The closer you are to the opponent when you cast, the higher your success rate. Moving two to three tiles takes roughly 0.2 seconds. Casting an Energy Bolt and then going for a weapon hit is considerably faster than trying to fire the Energy Bolt preemptively and hope it lands.

A few things to keep in mind:

• If you go for the weapon hit and miss, just hold the Energy Bolt. Don't fire it into nothing.
• If you do disrupt them but they're only down to around 45 HP and your mana is low, you don't always have to fire the Energy Bolt. Use your judgment — don't burn mana for a marginal return.
• There is an option in the UO settings to display your spell cast bar as a visual aid. It's worth turning on while you're practicing this, so you can time exactly when the cursor is coming up.

The Bottom Line

The EB sneak only works when you hit them with the weapon the moment the cursor is up, disrupting their Greater Heal right as they're about to get it off. That's the move. Everything else — the positioning, the timing, the distance — is in service of that one moment.

Footage attached from Limo’s Guide at the 1:02 mark demonstrating Magic Arrow to Energy Bolt sneak with weapon hit:

J. The Double Harm Technique — The Splinter Special

This technique was taught to me by Splinter — one of the most elite duelers, arguably in the history of this game and server. It's one of the most mana-efficient plays you can run, and when executed correctly, the damage-to-mana ratio is almost absurd.

The Background

As covered earlier in this guide, there's a 5-second spell cooldown on Outlands between first and third level spells. You can cast two Harms in a row, but the second one won't interrupt — which is why the standard approach is Harm into Arrow, or Harm into Poison, or something else in between. The Double Harm technique exploits exactly this mechanic.

How It Works

Let's say you hit somebody with a Halberd. They're at 50 HP and immediately go Greater Heal. You have a Harm ready — you release it at the end of their Greater Heal to disrupt it, then instantly cast a second Harm.

Now they see two Harms in a row. Knowing the second one can't interrupt, they think they have a free Greater Heal and go for it. That's the trap.

What you do is wait and hit them with a Katana or Viking at the very end of their Greater Heal. This is where people mess it up — they try to swing too early. You have to wait until the very end of the cast. If that hit lands, you instantly — and I mean instantly — release that second Harm and immediately get Magic Arrow up.

Now you have a Magic Arrow ready if they go for a third Greater Heal. From there you can go into Poison, Fireball, Energy Bolt, whatever you want. The cycle is yours to run.

Why It's So Powerful

When done correctly, the damage output looks something like this:

• Halberd hit: 25–30 damage
• Two Harms: ~10 damage
• Viking or Katana hit: additional weapon damage

That's potentially 60–65 total damage off literally 12 mana. The damage-to-mana ratio is almost unmatched by anything else in the arena.

And if you whiff that second weapon hit? No problem. The cycle ends and you've only spent 6 mana to attempt it. Either way it's a win — you either generate massive damage or lose almost nothing trying.

It's one of the most powerful tools you can have in your arsenal, and it all comes down to patience on that second weapon swing and instantly releasing the Harm the moment it connects.

K. Using Debuffs in a Cycle

Most people use debuffs at the start of a duel and then re-debuff every two minutes — and that's completely valid. Every duel should always open with Feeble Mind, Weaken, Clumsy in that order, no exceptions, and most people already know that. That's not what this section is about.

This section is about what happens after the two-minute mark, and how debuffs can give you enormous value mid-cycle if you know how to use them.

The Two-Minute Mark — Standard Scenario

The most common scenario: the two-minute mark hits, the opponent loses their debuffs and goes back to full strength. You cast Weaken and Clumsy to re-debuff them. That's it. After the opening Feeble Mind at the start of the fight, you never need to re-cast Feeble Mind again at the two-minute mark — unless you're doing what I'm about to explain.

By skipping the Feeble Mind re-cast, you now have it sitting in your back pocket. Think of it as a free first-level spell circle disrupt that the opponent doesn't know is coming.

One important mechanic to understand: you can go Magic Arrow into Feeble Mind and it will still disrupt. However, you cannot go Feeble Mind into Magic Arrow — the Magic Arrow will not disrupt. Always remember: Arrow into Feeble Mind works. Feeble Mind into Arrow does not.

Using Debuffs as Cycle Extensions

Here's a great example. I cast Poison on someone. They go Greater Heal — I disrupt with Harm. They go Greater Heal again — I disrupt with Magic Arrow. They go Greater Heal a third time, thinking they're in the clear. Boom — I cast Weaken. Disrupted again. They didn't expect that. Now I go Energy Bolt and they're at the Nox tick. They didn't catch it, they get ticked, and I have a Halberd ready on top of it. That's an extension of a cycle nobody saw coming.

Another scenario: I'm casting Lightning or sneaking an Energy Bolt, and the opponent runs up and hits me to disrupt it. I don't have Harm ready, I don't have Poison ready — I've already used them. Instead of panicking, I just cast Feeble Mind to disrupt whatever they're casting and keep the cycle going.

The applications are almost infinite. The key rule is just: Arrow into Feeble Mind disrupts. Not the other way around.

The Two-Minute Mark — They're Already Low

Now here's the really interesting scenario. It's past the two-minute mark, you still have all three debuffs saved, and the opponent is already at 30–40 HP and on the ropes. Suddenly they lose their buffs. You now have three low-mana disrupt spells ready to go, and the opponent is already hurting.

Here's what that can look like:

They're at 25 HP and low on mana. They go Greater Heal — I Harm to disrupt. They mini-heal twice, I get Arrow up. They're back to 25–30 HP. They go Greater Heal — I release the Arrow. They go Greater Heal again, thinking I don't have enough mana for Lightning or anything big — boom, Feeble Mind. Disrupted. I have a Viking ready. They go Greater Heal again — Weaken. Disrupted. Axe is coming up. They try one more time — Clumsy. Disrupted. And now my Halberd is ready. I run in and kill them.

I used three low-mana debuffs to buy enough time to get a Halberd ready and finish the fight. I went from no weapon ready to a kill shot, spending almost nothing in mana to get there.

Weaving Debuffs Into a Full Cycle

I've run cycles that look like this: Harm, Arrow, debuff, Harm, Arrow, debuff, Poison, debuff. The debuffs are woven in between everything else, keeping the opponent disrupted while my weapons keep firing and my mana stays intact. It's one of the lowest-mana cycles you can run while still generating consistent pressure.

Get creative with it. You don't have to immediately dump all your debuffs the second the two-minute timer hits. They're tools — use them when they give you the most value.

When Not to Debuff

One final and important note. If the opponent is already at 89 HP or lower, there's generally no value in casting Weaken on them. You're not doing any extra damage by reducing strength they've already lost HP from. Keep cycling normally.

However — the moment they top themselves off back to 100 HP, cast Weaken immediately. At that point you're effectively dealing 11 damage with a single low-mana spell by bringing them back down to 89 HP. That's when it's worth it. If they're already below 89, skip the Weaken and keep the pressure on.

L. When to Fire the Magic Arrow

I've touched on Magic Arrow throughout this guide, but I want to formalize it here and bring it all together. Magic Arrow is one of the most flexible spells in your kit, and knowing when to use it in each situation is a skill in itself.

Your Options With Magic Arrow

As a pure disrupt tool. If you have a Magic Arrow up and the opponent isn't casting a Greater Heal, you don't have to fire it. You can hit them with a Viking, Katana, or another weapon and keep that Arrow held purely for when they do go Greater Heal. Using it as a dedicated disrupt spell is completely valid.

As a buffer to load a bigger spell. Sometimes you don't need to wait for a disrupt window — you just fire it. For example, if someone is at 25 HP and my Halberd is almost ready, I'll pre-fire the Magic Arrow just to give myself the window to get Lightning up, so I can combine Halberd and Lightning for the kill. The Arrow isn't being wasted — it's buying me the time to stack something bigger.

As a swing burn. There's a very small half-second window where, if you're already on top of the opponent, you can attempt a quick swing and, if you miss, immediately fire the Magic Arrow right after. This is a very tight window and takes a skilled hand to pull off. The only time I really do this is when I'm farming a swing — which I'll explain later in the guide — where I've hit three or four in a row and need to burn a swing to reset entropy. I'll quickly run in, take that swing, and fire the Arrow almost immediately after just to burn it.

The Most Common Mistake

Most people make the error of just holding the Magic Arrow indefinitely because the opponent isn't casting a Greater Heal. They'll end up swinging a Halberd or doing something else with the Arrow still sitting there unused, waiting for a perfect moment that never comes. Don't fall into that trap.

The other common mistake: somebody goes Greater Heal, and the player tries to get a weapon swing in before firing the Arrow. Very rarely do you have the time to do that unless you're already right on top of the opponent. In most cases, if they're going Greater Heal and you have Arrow up, just fire it.

The Summary

Magic Arrow has three modes: pure disrupt, pre-emptive buffer, or swing burn. Which one you use depends on the situation. The key is to always be intentional with it — know why you're holding it or why you're firing it. The only wrong answer is holding it for no reason while the moment passes.

M. What to Do When the Enemy is Mana Tapped

One of the hardest things to execute in a duel — and one of the things I see weaker duelers mess up most consistently — is finishing people off when they're mana tapped.

Why People Fail to Close It Out

When someone is near death, they start spamming Mini-Heals. Unless you're landing good weapon hits, you won't kill them. The biggest mistake people make in this situation is panicking and immediately firing off a ton of spells hoping to finish with pure spell damage. What ends up happening is they whiff a couple of hits, burn through their mana, and suddenly you're both mana tapped. A winning position turns into a coin flip.

The Right Approach

When the opponent is mana tapped, the answer is weapon DPS combined with small spells. If they're at 10 mana and you're at 30, do not sit there throwing Energy Bolts. If you miss a couple of hits, you're both at zero and the advantage is gone.

Instead, maximize your Axe usage — it's the highest DPS weapon and your primary tool here. Keep your Harm up. If they go Greater Heal, release it at the end of their cast. Same with Magic Arrow — use it purely as a disrupt and then get back to Harm. If you have Lightning up and they start Mini-Heal spamming, cancel the Lightning and go straight back to Harm. Don't blow mana on big spells when small ones do the job.

The formula is simple: Axe DPS plus small spells. Keep chipping with the Axe, keep disrupting with Harm and Arrow, and let the weapon damage do the heavy lifting. That is how you kill a mana tapped opponent without burning yourself down in the process.

N. Swing Entropy and Farming Swings

At the highest level of dueling, you need to at least have a general sense of how many swings you've hit in a row and how many you've missed. Personally, I count my own swings throughout every duel, and I try to track my opponent's too — I'm usually around 90–95% accurate on my running count at any given moment.

What Is Swing Entropy?

As covered earlier in this guide, swing entropy works like this: if you hit three in a row, that fourth swing has a 10% lower chance to connect, and another 10% lower after that. Seven is the maximum you can hit consecutively. By the time you've hit four in a row, that fifth swing is already working against you statistically.

Farming a Swing

This is why I farm swings. If I've already hit four in a row and I have a Lightning, Poison, or Magic Arrow up, I'll quickly run in and try to get a Katana swing off — knowing there's a very high likelihood I'll miss it. That's the point. I'm not trying to deal damage with that Katana. I'm burning the swing intentionally to reset entropy and get my hit probability back to 50/50.

This is also the only time I generally use a Katana. It's the lowest DPS weapon, but when you're farming a swing, that doesn't matter — you just need the attempt, hit or miss.

How It Affects Your Decision Making

Swing entropy should directly influence which plays you attempt and when. A few examples:

• I will never use the Double Harm technique if I've already hit three or four in a row. That technique requires landing additional weapon hits to execute — if you're already on a streak, the math works against you and the play falls apart.
• Same with the EB sneak: don't attempt a sneak Energy Bolt plus weapon hit off the back of a four or five hit streak. The weapon hit is the entire play, and the likelihood of landing it is already low.
• Same principle applies to the pre-emptive Explosion technique — always be aware of where you are in your streak before committing to plays that depend on weapon hits landing.

The Mistake That Costs Duels

I've seen countless duels where someone hits five or six in a row, then dumps everything into trying to finish the kill — only to whiff the crucial swing and lose. Afterwards they say "I was one swing away from winning." The truth is, at five or six consecutive hits, they were down to a 10–20% chance to land. The duel was already unlikely to end the way they needed it to.

It rarely comes down to one unlucky swing. Usually people put themselves in that position by not accounting for their streak and banking on a very low probability hit to close it out. Keep the count in your head. Know when to farm a swing and reset. That awareness alone can be the difference between winning and losing a close duel.

O. How to Handle a Precast Greater Heal

Sometimes in the arena you'll see players precast a Greater Heal and just hold it — running around with it up, waiting. Maybe they're low on mana, maybe they're anticipating taking heavy damage. You'll hear people complain about it, calling it lame or cheap. The truth is, it's totally viable in the arena and you should use it yourself at times.

That said, it's important to understand its limitations. Unlike out in the field, where you can hold a Greater Heal and still swing a weapon freely, in the arena you cannot equip your weapon while holding a Greater Heal. That significantly limits how effective it actually is.

The Counter

If someone puts a Greater Heal up and is just running around with it, waiting for you to do something — don't give them what they want. Don't chase them, don't blow spells, don't panic. Just cancel your current spell and meditate.

That's it. If they want to hold a Greater Heal, let them. Meanwhile, your meditation is regenerating mana at a dramatically faster rate than their passive regen. You are winning the mana battle every second they stand there holding it.

Now they're forced into a decision: do they swing at you and drop the Greater Heal? Do they meditate themselves? Do they just let the mana gap grow? Either way, you've put the ball back in their court. More often than not, they'll have to drop the Greater Heal and start swinging, which is exactly what you want — because now they've gained nothing from holding it and you've come out ahead on mana.

The counter to a precast Greater Heal is one of the simplest reads in the game: just meditate and let them figure it out.

P. Mastering Every Offensive Cycle

This section outlines every core cycle available to you in the arena. For each one I'll cover the general idea, and then we'll talk about how to layer in the advanced techniques on top of them.

The Core Cycles

1. Harm → Arrow → Lightning (with optional Poison at the end)
2. Harm → Arrow → Fireball → Lightning
3. Harm → Poison → Magic Arrow → Lightning
4. Harm → Arrow → Poison
5. Poison → Arrow → Harm (repeat)
6. Poison → Harm → Arrow → Lightning
7. Poison → Arrow → Lightning (or back to Poison depending on weapon hits)
8. Poison → Arrow → Lightning → Harm
9. Arrow → Poison → Harm
10. Arrow → Lightning → Poison → Harm
11. Arrow → Harm → Poison (back to Arrow if needed)

These are your foundational low-level cycles. Everything else builds on top of them.

Sneaking Energy Bolts and Explosions Into Every Cycle

Every single one of these cycles has the ability to incorporate a sneak Energy Bolt or Explosion — it's just a matter of knowing when to pull the trigger. Some common windows:

• After Magic Arrow is the most common and natural spot to sneak an Energy Bolt.
• After Poison is an excellent window too, and one that's underused. Experiment with it.
• After Harm is less common but can be very effective and catches people off guard.

The core belief here is that 6th level spells and big damage spells are best used in the middle of a cycle, not as openers. Throwing an Energy Bolt mid-cycle, when the opponent is already reacting to smaller spells, is far more effective than leading with it cold.

Weaving In the Double Harm Technique

Many of these cycles can also incorporate the Double Harm technique covered earlier. For example:

• Harm → Harm → Arrow → Poison
• Harm → Harm → Arrow → Fireball
• And so on

The possibilities are essentially endless. The cycles above are your foundation, but how you layer in Energy Bolts, Explosions, and Double Harm variations mid-cycle is where the real creativity and individualization of your game comes from. Experiment constantly. The more comfortable you get throwing big spells into unexpected spots in a cycle, the harder you become to read and defend against.

Mastering Each Cycle Individually

The most important thing to reach the highest levels of dueling is to understand and master every single one of these cycles. When I was coming up, I made a goal to use only one cycle at a time — often for weeks straight — and experiment within it. Where's the best place to sneak an Energy Bolt? When can I get weapon hits in? How should I structure my weapons around it? I spent entire weeks doing nothing but Harm Arrow Poison. Entire weeks doing nothing but Harm Arrow Fireball. Every single cycle on this list got its own dedicated time.

Every one of these cycles has different use cases, different strengths, different weaknesses, and its own place in the meta. The reason to master all of them individually is this: if you truly know every cycle, then no matter what spell you accidentally hit in the heat of a duel, you always know how to build something good around it. You're never lost. You always have a path.

If you want to reach a high level, there are no shortcuts here. Spend real time on each of these cycles and learn their nuances from the inside out.

To cover (incomplete)

Burning an opponents mana

Nox Tick Defense: how to defend against ebs in it before and after nox tick

Gheal self cancel to insta cure

Understand spacing: Hugging on defense. dont let them always move away and dont run away yourself (because its better they use lower weapons)

Understanding what weapon opponent has up and how that determines mini heal and gheal gambles

gheal punch (both on lightning, eb) or insta punch when they harm if on top of them

when to get in katana and viking interrupts

deep understanding of mana (determines mini heals)

do not fear being at low hp sometimes. be aware of opponents weapon and spell up

zig zag pathing to wait for axe/hally

always be aware of sneak ebs

counter their disrupts w weapon and go gheal again

gheal fake to mini heal, and repeat

running into their harm to have them swing (this can be risky too if they whiff, then its a good thing for them)

thinking two steps ahead

how to properly self interrupt (what not to do and what to do)

2v2 Fighting

I'll say it upfront: I think 2v2 arena fighting is the best content in the game. It's more fun than 1v1, and I wish it were more popular — though it has seen a significant rise in popularity lately.

Here's why 2v2 is special. In 1v1, when two duelers are at a similar level, the one who gets the better RNG generally tends to win unless someone makes a big mistake. There's a real element of luck involved. In 2v2, that's rarely the case. Teams win because someone made a mistake or because one team was simply better. RNG is still a factor, but it's far less of one — which means the best teams tend to win over and over.

For a long time, there wasn't much literature on how to actually play 2v2 well. Other than a section in Limo's Guide, there wasn't a ton out there on the meta, the strategy, or how to be great at it. I also didn't have a regular partner until Angus and Splinter started doing more 2v2 with me. So I decided to write this.

First: everyone should read Limo's Guide on 2v2. There's a lot of great stuff in there. This section picks up where that leaves off. You can find it here

The 2v2 Meta on Outlands

Unlike other servers, 2v2 here isn't about syncing spells together — timing a double Explosion or double EB simultaneously. It's closer to running two separate 1v1s in the arena, with opportunistic moments where you throw a Halberd or a spell on the person your partner is fighting to either secure a kill or add extra damage so your partner can finish them.

The other key difference from 1v1 is mana. You can be a lot less precious with mana in 2v2. Sometimes your partner is on the verge of killing his guy and he'll ask you to run a guaranteed cycle on your opponent — keeping them fully disrupted so they can't throw a Greater Heal on your buddy. That burns mana fast, but it has to be done. You do it to get the kill.

Strategies & Tips

1. The Double E-Bolt

Both you and your partner load an Energy Bolt simultaneously. If neither opponent has a Greater Heal up, you're in an incredibly strong position. Let's say your partner lands a Halberd on his guy — you both immediately dump your E-Bolts on that same target. Two E-Bolts plus a Halberd hit can sometimes kill outright. You then immediately switch back to Harm on your own opponent so your partner can try to finish the job. If you have the space, you might even throw a Harm on your partner's guy before switching back — and potentially get the kill right there.

The other value of both having E-Bolts up is that it forces the other team into a defensive position. If they both have to hold Greater Heals, you can whale on them with weapons and drain their mana.

2. When They Play It Smart (Greater Heals Up)

If they respond to your double E-Bolt by both holding Greater Heals, don't force it. Cancel your E-Bolt and immediately drop back to Harm or a smaller spell and go back to 1v1ing normally. You already have a slight advantage from the defensive position you've created. Use the E-Bolt as a catalyst to start a cycle — don't let them load their own E-Bolts and flip the dynamic on you.

3. Standard 1v1 Play

The most common approach is simply to 1v1 your opponent the same way you would in a regular duel, with two key differences. First, you can burn a bit more mana to keep cycles going longer. Second, you can look for opportunistic moments to throw a quick Halberd or spell on your partner's guy. You might also lean toward higher-damage cycles like Harm/Arrow/Fireball/Lightning rather than defaulting to Poison — although Poison still has real value here. Just know that being a little less conservative with mana is fine. You and your partner can also hold a Greater Heal to regen mana when needed.

4. Defending the Double E-Bolt

Most people defend this wrong — they both load Greater Heals and just eat the pressure. The correct meta is to communicate and alternate. One of you gets a Greater Heal up and calls it out. Your partner then swings the Halberd. If it hits, great. If they both keep their E-Bolts up, don't panic — your partner hits the Halberd, waits for the return swing, and then calls out "Greater Heal up." Now you're the one swinging the Halberd while your partner holds the safety net. You keep alternating — one holds a Greater Heal while the other swings in, back and forth. Communicate it. This way you're never in danger of getting bursted down.

5. Communication

A lot of people don't like to be on voice, and I've won tournaments without it — so it's not a hard requirement if you have a strong partner. But communication is a massive advantage, and at minimum you should always be communicating two things:

• If your opponent has an Energy Bolt or Explosion up — if both enemies have E-Bolts loaded, one of you needs to go Greater Heal immediately.
• If your opponent has a Greater Heal up — if you're burning mana trying to kill your guy and his partner has a Greater Heal ready, that mana is going in the trash. Knowing that ahead of time changes everything.

Those two pieces of information alone — spell and Greater Heal status — are what you need to communicate constantly.

6. Defending the Double Explosion

Some teams run the Explo-EB combo. The counter is straightforward but requires coordination: both you and your partner prepare a Magic Arrow. When they both go Explosion, you both throw your Arrows to disrupt their follow-up spell — typically a Lightning or E-Bolt — and immediately get a Greater Heal up. This disrupts their second spell and gives whoever took the Explosion hit time to heal.

The biggest mistake teams make here is both loading Greater Heals when they see the Explosions. The problem is that if they chain Explo into EB, the window to heal all that damage is extremely small — and you can die. Arrow to disrupt the follow-up, then Greater Heal. That's the counter.

7. Sneaking Weapons and Spells on Your Buddy's Target

There are many times your buddy is cycling somebody but they're still at high HP. You can quickly swoop in, switch targets, land a Halberd hit, and immediately switch back to your own guy and keep your cycle going. That's free extra damage your buddy gets to work with, and it can make the difference in finishing a kill.

The same applies to spells. If you've just fired a Magic Arrow and you have an E-Bolt loaded, and you notice your buddy's guy is at 40–50% HP, you might just throw that E-Bolt on your buddy's target to drop them low — then immediately switch back to your own guy.

Another example: if the guy you're fighting is poisoned and nearing a tick, meaning they can't Greater Heal, you might load an E-Bolt and then look at your buddy's guy's HP to decide — do I fire this on my guy, or is my buddy's guy in a better position to finish? Always be looking for those opportunities. I've gotten countless kills by noticing someone was close to being redlined and just quickly firing a Lightning or an E-Bolt on them, or running over for a quick Halberd hit, before rotating straight back to my own target.

The key to making this work smoothly: make sure you have macros set in Razor for Next Enemy Target and Previous Enemy Target. Switching back and forth by clicking health bars every time is too slow. The macros make it seamless.

8. Guaranteed Cycle

One of my biggest pet peeves in 2v2 is when I call "go guaranteed" and my buddy runs something like Harm → Arrow → Poison. That is not a guaranteed cycle — it requires a weapon hit to land to keep it going. If a weapon hit doesn't connect, the cycle breaks, and the guy you're almost killing gets a free Greater Heal from his partner.

When you call guaranteed cycle — meaning you're close to killing your guy and you need your buddy locked down — your partner needs to run something that does not depend on a weapon swing. That means cycles like:

• Harm → Arrow → Fireball → Lightning
• Magic Arrow → Lightning → Harm → Poison

Something that keeps the opponent fully disrupted no matter what. Know what a guaranteed cycle looks like and be ready to run it the moment your partner calls for it. It's one of the most important things to understand in 2v2.

9. The Double Explosion / EB Combo

You can run Explosion into E-Bolt and potentially kill somebody outright if it's timed right. That said, I don't love leaning on this in the arena — you're both burning roughly 40 mana each to pull it off, and if it doesn't work, you're at a massive mana disadvantage.

That said, if the duel is feeling stale and you want to try something, go for it. Both of you go Explosion, follow it up with an E-Bolt, and then immediately chase with a Halberd. If both hit clean, you might just kill somebody on the spot. It's a high-risk, high-reward play — use it situationally, not as a default.

10. Awareness — The Hardest Part of 2v2

The hardest skill to develop in 2v2 is maintaining awareness of all four HP bars at once: your HP, your opponent's HP, your buddy's HP, and your buddy's opponent's HP. You have to be tracking all of them simultaneously, all the time.

On top of that, you want to stay aware of where everyone is positioned on the map so you don't eat an unfortunate double Halberd hit out of nowhere. And you're constantly scanning for opportunities to sneak a spell or a weapon hit onto the other target when the moment is right.

It sounds like a lot — because it is. This awareness is what separates good 2v2 teams from great ones.

11. Topping Up Your HP

Unlike in 1v1, in 2v2 you want to make every effort to stay at full HP as much as possible.

In 1v1, sitting at 84–85% HP is usually no big deal. In 2v2, it can get you killed. If you're walking around at 65–70% HP and both opponents land Halberd hits in quick succession — 30 damage each — you're suddenly sitting at 15–20 HP. At that point, a single Lightning or two Harms can finish you off before you have time to react.

Always top off your HP more aggressively in 2v2 than you would in 1v1. The threat of taking damage from two sources simultaneously means that any HP deficit you carry is far more dangerous than it looks. And as covered earlier — you don't have to be as precious with mana in 2v2, so healing more often is completely fine.

Final Thoughts on 2v2

Like I said at the top — 2v2 is the most fun content in the game, and I'd love to see more people get involved in it.

What makes it special is that it's not always the best duelers who win. A weaker team that communicates well, plays smart, and gets a couple of double Halberd hits at the right moment can absolutely upset a stronger team. It's almost anyone's game in a way that 1v1 rarely is.

On top of that, 2v2 is incredibly lucrative in terms of arena points — significantly more than a 1v1 tournament — so teams can climb much further much faster. It's high reward, a ton of fun, and the attitude in the 2v2 community is generally great.

Even if you're not an elite 1v1 dueler, don't let that stop you. If you and your partner communicate well and apply what's in this guide, you have a real shot at winning. I highly encourage everyone to get into it.

• 🥇 Spooj’s Entry-Level Dueling Guide (perfect for beginners):

  Ultima Online Outlands – Spooj's Basic 1v1 Dueling Guide

• 🧠 Limo’s Advanced Dueling Guide (for when you're ready to level up more):

  https://www.cloutlands.com/

• 💬 Arena Discord Invite:

  https://discord.gg/K7g5ueHS

Inside the Arena Discord, go to the #advanced-dueling-guide channel for Spooj’s in-depth breakdowns.

You can also type @here to request a duel (in the Arena discord)—if someone’s online, they’ll often jump in to fight.

I’ve made a database of the current duelers on Outlands and noted if they are active. This is so you can start DMing each other for duels, and you’ll know what level they are on. Obviously there are varying levels of advanced and intermediate, but for the purposes of finding practice partners, the levels outlined below will be how they are defined.

Please see each column with relevant information and note the FINAL column that states if that dueler is “Beginner/Intermediate friendly”. Not every dueler likes to coach and duel new duelers, so you may not have a lot of luck reaching out to some of them. As such, I made a note in the final column if that particular dueler is open to helping newer duelers. Some are willing to help brand new duelers. Others may want to only help duelers who have reached at minimum an intermediate level. Nothing wrong with that! Please respect their wishes and only reach out if they have the tag of either “beginner” or “intermediate” friendly.

Lastly, I am defining “Active” as duelers who log in at least 3x a week or so to get duels in. Either through tournaments of just practice.

Beginners:

These are players very new to dueling—and often to PvP in general. They’re still working on basic spell cycles and aren’t yet comfortable with their hotkeys. Beginners should spar with other newcomers, against the arena bot, or using a self-made GHeal bot (see “1 v 1 Offense Beginner” guide for instructions on creating one). Focus on mastering the basic spell cycles and defensive techniques outlined in the Beginners 1v1 guide.

Intermediate:

These duelers understand spell cycles and know how to weave in weapon attacks. Their main challenges are burning mana unnecessarily and failing to trade enough weapon damage while defending. They often neglect their own health and die frequently, even when they’re ahead. Intermediate players should duel each other—and challenge advanced opponents—then ask for feedback after matches to refine their strategy.

Advanced:

Advanced players consistently reach—and win—tournament finals. They’ve mastered spell cycles, weapon timing, and resource management. These duelers should compete only against other advanced opponents, record their fights to identify mistakes, and relentlessly pursue incremental improvements. As a bonus, advanced players are encouraged to coach newer duelers.