For Honor is a third-person action multiplayer game set in a medieval fantasy world ravaged by war. Developed by Ubisoft and Released in 2017, the game has continued to stay relevant by adding new heroes and gameplay changes like Tempest launching.
For Honor was released on the PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and was later released for the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. As of now, For Honor does not feature cross-play.
What is Cross-play Gaming?
Cross-play is a feature that allows players of a game to connect online with other players using different platforms. Meaning that Xbox users would be able to connect with PlayStation users. This will enable consumers to save money when playing with friends who own a different console.
Cross-play benefits the longevity and support as the more expansive player pool results in quicker queue times. Cross-play can also be seen as a detriment to some players as differences with hardware can impact the balance of a match. For example, mouse and keyboard and components that lead to better performance give PC users an advantage over console users.
Is For Honor Cross-Play
As of 2021, For Honor still has no cross-play between PC, PlayStation, and Xbox; Ubisoft has not released any information regarding plans to introduce the feature. However, Ubisoft added cross-generation play, allowing players to connect within the Xbox family or PlayStation consoles. This will enable players to keep their accounts and progress. With so many game versions, it would make sense to implement cross-play between the platforms.
Unfortunately, the game also lacks cross-progression, allowing an account to be shared over different platforms. Since For Honor is a live service multiplayer game, it’s less likely that a player will purchase a new console and start a new account from fresh, especially if they have made in-game purchases.
Although Ubisoft has continued to support For Honor with significant updates such as Tempest in September 2021. The game has somewhat slowed down with content updates. It’s clear to see that Ubisoft isn’t committing as many resources to the game anymore.
The Hope for a For Honor Cross-play Update
That being said, there may still be hope for For Honor. After so many years, it’s easy to see why fans are upset with no cross-play implementation. However, Ubisoft’s CEO, Yves Guillemot, has offered some insight into the matter stating in 2019 in Ubisoft’s Q2 earnings call, “Our goal is to put cross-play on all the PvP games; We have, over time.” This may have given For Honor fans hope, and Ubisoft may still have cross-play in the works, but each year that passes the update for cross-play gets less believable.
Rainbow Six Siege is another title that promised a cross-play update that never arrived. After 6 years, it appears that Ubisoft is struggling with implementing this type of feature in their online games.
Getting a game cross-play ready requires the developers to balance the game on all platforms creating a balanced universal version. Games such as Rocket League, Fortnite, and Warzone are prime examples of how cross-play implementation, and these games have continued to sustain a vast player base.
For Honor Gameplay Essentials
For Honor is set in a medieval fantasy world that has befallen a natural disaster leaving the world in turmoil as people struggled to live off the desolate land. The four factions of warriors, Knights, Vikings, Samurai, and Wu Lin, now wage war against each other to control territory and resources.
Players will choose their medieval hero from a pool of 29 warriors and take part in brutal, bloody battles. Where you’ll be pitted against heroes wielding swords, axes, blunt clubs, as well as many more.
The world of For Honor is one of war; you’ll be defending castles, sieging castles. Fighting heroes in 1v1 duels, capturing territory for your team in Faction War. All the while, you’ll collect precious Steel that you can later spend on your hero to accessorize and make them the most badass or comical warrior on the field.
For Honor has stayed active since its release in 2017, making it a great game to pick up. However, the For Honor community has had plenty of time to hone its skills and become seasoned warriors because of its age. So, it can be intimidating for new players.
In addition, new players will be overwhelmed with a total of 29 warriors available for the picking. Granted, players will have to unlock heroes as they play the game. You can check out this warrior tier list to see what are hero best suits you.
For Honor’s has unique third-person gameplay akin to fighting games. It will have beginners throwing controllers out a window. Fighting requires concentration and skill, as button mashing will only lead to a quick death.
Gameplay focuses on a delicate balance of guarding and attacking. However, it’s not simple when you enter guard mode. You’ll lock on to your enemy you’ll have to keep a watchful eye over your enemy to adapt using the following mechanics:
- Stances: There are three stances for controlling your hero in combat top left and right. Use the right analog stick to match your opponent’s stance to block incoming attacks.
- Throwing: An attack that can be initiated after a guard break. The throw attack varies in distance and power depending on the hero.
- Parrying: You can parry your opponent’s attack by matching your opponent’s stance and attacking when the chevron above your opponent turns red.
- Guard Break: A guard break is an attack that disrupts your opponent’s stance leaving them open for a throw or attack.
- Dodging: A burst of speed that allows you to avoid an enemy attack. Although obvious, you will need to consider the type of hero you are playing, as their size and speed will impact how they dodge.
How Faction War Works
Faction war is a cross-platform conflict where factions will battle it out to own the most territory on the map. Players will be asked to choose their allegiance to a faction between either the Vikings, Knights, Samurai, or Wu Lin. Every victory, excluding training and campaign sessions, will reward the player with War Assets.
Which can then be allocated to territory on the map. Once a faction owns more War Assets than any other faction on territory they gain control. Faction war lasts a total of 10 weeks, with each round lasting two weeks.
The map will be divided into territories and fronts. Fronts will determine what maps your matches will take place in. The map will be updated every six hours to show each faction’s owned territory.
You can change your faction allegiance at any time; however, you will lose all faction war event rewards. So no cheating and switching sides!
For Honor Fighting Tips
The Move-set Page is your Bible
Like any fighting game, you’ll need to study and learn the move-set page for your hero. With so many hero-specific moves and differences in stats, size, and speed, beginners will want to focus on learning one hero.
The move-set page will break down all the moves and actions you can deploy in combat. It will also indicate the parameters to carry out the attack.
Leave your Opponent Open with a Feint
To win battles in For Honor, you will need to impose a variety of fighting techniques and strategies. It’s not all about strength and power but also how you can trick your opponent into letting their guard down. Feinting is a tactic where you strike your opponent with a heavy attack only to cancel the move.
This leaves your opponent open on the opposite side of their block, allowing you to apply a quick combo! However, this will require a lot of stamina from your hero, so stay vigilant after your combo.
Your Lifeline Stamina
Stamina is an essential resource to manage in a fight; poorly manage your stamina, and you will be dead just as fast as you burn it.
If you run out of stamina, your hero will be easily toppled by their opponent. A hero with no stamina will be hindered with slow movement and attacks leaving you an easy target. Moves in For Honor vary in stamina cost, so you must balance your attacks with pockets of defending to recharge your hero’s stamina.
Be aware that heavy attacks will drain a considerable amount of stamina; therefore, following a light attack is best. Dodging, rolling, and guard breaks all use a significant portion of your hero’s energy. On the other hand, blocking uses up barely any stamina, making it the superior defense move in a fight.
XP, Steel, and Reputation
Each hero will have its own multiplayer level progression and can be leveled up from 1-20 by earning XP from completing matches and orders (challenges).
Once you level your hero to level 20, they will gain a reputation level similar to the prestige system in Call of Duty. Your heroes level will then be reset to level 1. However, you will keep all your unlocks. You will additionally earn a scavenger crate once you level up your hero’s reputation level.
Rewards for leveling your hero will only increase in value the more you level your reputation level. You’ll get access to Gear and Feats (abilities/buffs) that you can use on allies and enemy players.
There are a whopping 70 reputation levels to achieve. As you gain reputation, rewards will become grander in value but less frequent until ultimately stopping at level 60. For hitting reputation level 70, you will be rewarded with the Proudly 70 Emote.
Orders are a great way to build your stash of Steel; remember that rewards from the Order will be tied to the hero you completed the challenge with. There are three types of Orders in For Honor:
- Contract Orders – These contracts will reset every two days; you’ll be able to select a maximum of three to complete simultaneously. Contract Orders will reward you with 100, 150, or 200 Steel. It might not sound like much, but you can rack up a serious amount of Steel if you can complete them quickly.
- Daily Orders – are three orders that will reset every day, unlike Contract Orders. Once they are completed, you will have to wait until they reset to get more Orders. Completing Daily Orders will net you either 250 or 300 Steel depending on the Order.
- Event Orders – These are community-based orders, where your rewards will depend on how well your faction performs and your participation.
Both the Dominion and Breach game modes offer a bonanza amount of XP for the player’s time investment than other game modes. This is due to XP being awarded for match duration.
- Dominion: a 4v4 conquest-like game mode where heroes must capture objectives on a map to gain points. You can additionally earn points by killing enemy heroes.
- Breach: is a 4v4 game mode where an attacking team must siege a castle and kill a commander. The defending team wins if they hold the attacking team off for 30 minutes. There are three stages to the game mode. In Stage 1, the attacking team must break down the castle gate using a battering ram. Stage 2 takes place within the outer keep; if the defenders are pushed back to stage 3, the battle will transpire within the inner keep where the commander is found.
Tips for Obtaining Steel
Steel is an in-game currency that can be purchased or earned by playing the game. Game modes such as Breach are great for collecting Steel. Steel is used to buy new heroes, cosmetics, Scavenging Crates, a standard live service loot box. As well as Champion Status.
Champion Status is a premium service in For Honor that will give you a boost in accumulating resources and leveling your heroes and will give you the following:
- 40% experience boost for yourself.
- 20% experience boost for others.
- Increased match end loot.
- Emblems
- Increased salvage from dismantling.
- Exclusive Champion Icon.
Playing the campaign is a great way to earn yourself some Steel. There are 18 campaign missions with 235 collectibles in breakable urns and observables. Breakable pots will contain either additional Scavenger Crates, Steel, or, Emblems, as well as snippets of lore.
Observables are locations in the world that are marked with an eye icon. You don’t have to visit these locations to interact with them. Simply draw the camera onto them and interact with them. Observables will reveal insight into the world of For Honor. They will reward the player with Scavenger Crates, Steel, or, Emblems.
Completing the campaign is a great way to earn yourself some Steel when just starting out the game, as you can find hidden breakables containing Steel. You will also receive a nice sum of 4,000 Steel for completing the campaign on the Hard difficulty for the first time.
Get Paid to Learn in For Honor
If you are new to For Honor or just desperate to unlock a new hero or that fancy new helmet, take on the trials. You’ll be rewarded 2,000 Steel and a Scavenger Crate for successfully completing the Apprentice Trials and 1,500 Steel and Scavenger Crate for completing the Warrior Trials.
The Trials consist of a series of scenarios that will teach you essential skills and apply gameplay mechanics previously discussed in this guide.
Trials will provide feedback on your performance at the end of the scenario. Using this, you can track your progress and identify what mechanics you need to improve.
Apprentice Trials
The Apprentice Trials are perfect for new recruits eager to master basic fighting techniques. In addition, each trial will include bonus objectives that will make the trial more challenging. In the Apprentice Trials, you will train and learn:
- Basic defensive moves such as dodging and rolling.
- How to apply Guard Break in a fight.
- How to use basic light and heavy attacks.
- How to conserve and appropriately spend your stamina during a battle.
Warrior Trials
The Warrior Trials teaches advanced combat techniques consisting of the following 8 scenarios:
- Assassin’s Defence
- Zone Attack
- External Block
- Revenge Mode
- Parry
- Feinting
- Execution
- Advanced Guardbreak
FAQs
Question: How Does Skill-Based Matchmaking Work in For Honor?
Answer: The matchmaking system will analyze your MMR, renown and, location to find a suitable opponent. The system will relax these parameters until it finds you an opponent. For Honor also includes a Ranked Duel mode where you are put in a 1v1 duel.
Beginning in a qualifying stage, you will have to play 8 matches before you are allocated either a Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, or Platinum rank, depending on your performance.
Question: Can For Honor be Played in Split-Screen?
Answer: Unfortunately, For Honor does not support split-screen play. However, you can play the campaign in 2 players online co-op. Ubisoft additionally added a co-op PVE arcade mode in the Marching Fire Expansion in 2018, where you must fight against AI while progressing through a series of challenges.
Question: Can you Change Factions in For Honor?
Answer: You can change your allegiance to a different faction by navigating your profile under the social tab. You will be able to change factions here; however, note that you will not receive any Faction War rewards once you have changed.
Question: What Edition of For Honor Should You Buy?
Answer: There are a total of four versions of For Honor available to buy. You will get extra content depending on the version that you buy. Here are the available versions and the content that is included with them.
• Starter Edition – Costs £12.49/$16.64 and gives you access to the story mode and all multiplayer modes and maps. You’ll get access to 6 playable heroes with 3 fully unlocked heroes. Owners of the Starter edition will upgrade by purchasing DLC and heroes with 8,000 Steel.
• Standard Edition – Costs £25.99/$34.62, includes all content from the Starter Edition and includes 12 playable heroes instead of 6.
• Marching Fire Edition – Costs £41.99/$55.93, and contains everything from the Standard Edition, as well as the Marching Fire DLC, adding 4 new heroes from the Wu Lin, a whole new faction. The DLC additionally implements a new PVE mode and visual enhancements.
• Complete Edition – Costs £83.99/$111.97 Purchasing the Complete Edition will include all base game content and the Marching Fire DLC. You will also access the Year 1 Heroes Bundle and Year 3 Pass.
•Year 1 Heroes Bundle – Includes the Centurion, Shinobi, Gladiator, Highlander, Aramusha, Shaman, heroes, and an elite outfit for each hero. You’ll get 30 days access to Champion Status, 3 Scavenger Crates, 1 exclusive Sunbeam effect for all Heroes, and 3 exclusive emblem outlines.
• Year 3 Pass – 4 heroes with an elite skin for each, 30 days of Champion Status. As well as 5 Scavenger Crates and an effect for all heroes.