Crossguard Combat

What’s new in 1.2.0

• 4 Complete bosses with new weapons and armour
• Stealth system inspired by skyrim, along with pickpocketing certain mobs.
• A new pillager variant, with a new structure.
• Fight crowds: switch targets without dropping your lock, and it moves to the next enemy by itself when your target falls.
• Every blow lands harder: blade trails, new impact effects, camera punch and sharper lock-on feedback.
• Custom NPCs support: your NPCs now fight with the full combat system.
• Veterans: tougher, armed mobs that read your guard.
• More to earn: two new perks and a Crossguard advancement tab with ten combat milestones.
• Plenty of fixes: including lock-on bugs, and mobs left without AI when a server stopped mid-execution or mid-grab.

How it plays

• Lock on to the mob you face (V). You circle it; unlocked, combat stays vanilla.
• Switch targets in a crowd (Z), and the lock moves on by itself when your target falls.
• Guard left, top or right by moving the mouse. A blow from a guarded side is blocked.
• Light and heavy attacks from any side. Chains flow from strike to strike, and a three-side chain ends in a finisher.
• Parry by throwing a heavy toward an incoming blow just before it lands. The attacker reels and you strike first.
• Feint a heavy mid-windup to bait a parry, then punish it.
• Dodge in any direction. Dodge forward into a heavy for a shoulder bash that breaks guards.
• Stamina for every action. Run dry and your guard breaks.

One against many

Fights are built for crowds as well as duels. Move your lock between enemies without dropping your guard, and when one falls it moves to the next by itself. Swings step in to meet your target. Greatswords and polearms carry through whoever stands beside it. Arrows on a ring around you show who else is swinging, from wherever they stand.

Every blow lands

Each swing leaves a glowing arc in your weapon’s colour. Hits flash and spray, blocks throw gold sparks, parries burst into a shockwave, broken guards shatter, and a kill goes up in embers while the camera pulls in. All of it can be turned down.

Veterans

Now and then the zombie in front of you has survived a hundred fights. Veterans are tougher, armed with real weapons, and they read your guard.

Custom NPCs

Install Custom NPCs and your NPCs fight with the full toolkit: telegraphed swings you can block, parry and dodge, guards, feints and executions. Set each one’s skill and style with a tag or a command, or script it.

Grabs that go somewhere

A grab that lands holds your enemy by the collar, and you choose what comes next:

| Press | Move |
|—|—|
| Light | Pommel strike (up to three) |
| Heavy | Throw them. Into a wall, it hurts. |
| Guard break | Headbutt that dazes |
| Dodge | Leg sweep that drops them |

Executions

Finish a fight with a heavy and your blade stays in. You have a moment to decide: light for a quick execution, heavy for a long one, or let them fall. Executions take over the camera with cinematic, letterboxed shots and syphon health and stamina when they complete. Take two hearts of damage mid-execution and it is interrupted, reward lost. Every weapon style has its own pair.

The weapon forge

Eighteen new craftable weapons, each with its own moveset:

| Weapon | Style |
|—|—|
| Dagger | Reverse grip. The fastest steel, the shortest reach, relentless chains. |
| Katana | Two hands, high guard, precise cuts that chain three deep. |
| Greatsword | Huge, slow sweeps that shove the target back and drain stamina. |
| Naginata | Long, low guard and wide sweeping cuts from range. |
| Warhammer | Fully committed heavies that slam the ground. |
| Battleaxe | Crushing chops that rend stamina. |

Each comes in iron, diamond and netherite. Recipes unlock in the recipe book as soon as you hold the material.

Every weapon fights differently

Swords, axes, maces, spears, tridents, pickaxes, shovels and bare fists all have their own timings and tricks. Modded weapons are recognised by name (katana, halberd, warhammer, knife and so on) or can be assigned with an item tag.

Mobs fight back

Zombies, skeletons and other humanoids telegraph their swings, guard, feint and, on Hard, parry you. A training dummy lets you practise every mechanic safely. Bosses from Cataclysm, Mowzie’s Mobs and similar mods keep their own attacks: dodge their slams and parry their blows.

Make it your own

Every animation can be replaced with your own Blockbench animation through a resource pack, no code needed. The download includes a template rig and a full guide.

Configuration

Per-world server settings: combat mode (Full, Light, PvP only, Off), parry window, attack speed, stamina, dodging, mob skill and execution rewards. Client settings: HUD size, camera effects and lock-on behaviour.

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Requires: Minecraft 1.21.1, NeoForge 21.1+. Required on both client and server.

Compatibility: Works with vanilla and modded weapons and armor. Skeletons, endermen and other models with their own limbs keep vanilla limbs.