Survive first. Worry about knockouts later.

The three buttons that matter

Combat runs on three buttons. By default: Left Mouse fist, Right Mouse parry, Left + Right together grab. WASD moves, the mouse looks, Space is a trackpad fist fallback.

Tap fist for a jab. Hold to charge a heavier punch. Longer holds do more damage and bigger knockback, and your camera angle picks the launch direction. Grab beats players who only parry. Parry beats players who only swing.

Stop full-charging every punch

New players wind up a full charge in every exchange. Full charges are powerful, but loud, slow, and easy to parry on reaction. They telegraph your aim.

Play a few rounds with mostly short jabs. They cost less when they miss and they teach you spacing and knockback faster than any single launch will. Save full charges for confirmed openings: a parry, a missed grab, a near-ledge punish.

Parry does four jobs

The parry button (Right Mouse by default) is the most overloaded input in the game. It blocks ground hits, flips you out of ragdolls when you tap it while falling (midair parry), sets up the Ground Pound chain, and triggers an automatic homing counter-dive when you parry with a wall behind you. It also has a cooldown, so pressing it on reflex can cost you the next recovery.

Hold it for something specific: a charge you can see coming, a recovery while falling, or a counter against someone diving at you. The parry and recovery guide covers each use.

Use the arena before it uses you

Edges are death zones the moment your back drifts near one. Lava, poison, and crushers turn small mistakes into eliminations. The center of the arena has the most random contact.

After spawning, spot the item pickups, the safe recovery ledges, and the ring-out directions. If you can answer “where will I land if I get hit right now?” before the first exchange, you are ahead of most lobbies.

Practical first-session checklist

• Play a guest round first to test movement. Sign in before you care about stats or cosmetics.
• Open the cosmetics menu with M in the lobby. It is not in a sub-menu.
• Use short punches until you can predict your own knockback angles.
• Try one round where your only goal is recovery. Surviving ugly launches teaches more than chasing one flashy KO.
• Press parry when ragdolling to air tech out of knockdowns. This one habit saves more rounds than any combo.
• Vote map rotation instead of camping one favorite arena. The maps that feel awkward first are the ones worth learning.
• If you are signed in and clip recording is enabled, save a clip with C after a moment you want to keep. The recorder buffers recent action.