For Honor – Shinobi Guide

The Shinobi in For Honor is a complex hero that will take some time to master, even for seasoned For Honor veterans. This For Honor Shinobi guide covers all of the basic elements of what the Shinobi can do, as well as dive into some of the more advanced tactics. One issue many people seem to have is the Shinobi Sickle Rain combos, which we’ll also cover in detail. The new For Honor season two heroes are coming in hot, so be prepared to dig in.

Our For Honor Shinobi guide will continually evolve all week as learn and add new strategies through extensive play time with the new hero. For now, sit back and learn the basics of the For Honor Shinobi and how they use movement and grabs to keep an opponent on their toes. You can also find the complete Shinobi move list at the bottom of this guide.

Double Dodge

The Shinobi is arguably the most agile character in For Honor. One of the reasons for this is the Double Dodge. While other characters have a special back step or other unique movement options, the Double Dodge is exactly what it sounds like. The Shinobi performs one dash, then cancels that dash into a second dash. The second dash can be used within a decent amount of time after executing the initial dash. Essentially, you can input the second dash at almost any point in time during the full animation of the initial dash.

When a Double Dodge occurs, the Shinobi disappears for a brief moment in a cloud of smoke. You can cancel any dash into any other dash with the exception of a double back dash. However, the second dash consumes stamina so you can’t Double Dodge endlessly. While the Double Dodge will be more of an offensive tool to get into the Shinobi’s many offensive options, it can be used defensively to avoid certain attacks, especially if you dash to one direction and need to execute a quick back dash to get away from an incoming attack.

From the Double Dodge the Shinobi can execute a Kick, Light Attack or Heavy Attack. Since the Shinobi does not have a unique sidestep attack like some other characters, the Light or Heavy Attack from the Double Dodge is the same Light or Heavy Attack that starts the Shinobi’s combos. Mix this in with the Kick option and you can basically go into almost any one of the Shinobi’s attacks directly from the Double Dodge.

Kicks

The easiest way to Kick is to perform a Double Dodge, then hit the Guard Break button. There are other ways to perform a Kick, but that will likely be the most common way for most players. Kicks stagger the opponent slightly, but they also lead into the Shinobi’s many other attacks. Those familiar with the Nobushi should already have a general idea of how this concept works. You can link almost any of the Shinobi’s attacks into a Kick, then transition from a Kick into a Grab, Sickle Rain combo or Back Flip. The idea is to keep the opponent guessing due to the numerous options the Shinobi has before and after a Kick.

Bleeding Effect

While the Peacekeeper is best known for bleeding attacks, the Shinobi also has a few they can rely on. Whenever an opponent is bleeding they lose health over a short period of time. If you take a look at the opponent’s health bar when bleeding is active, you’ll see the red portion which is the full damage of the bleed, with a flashing white line showing your opponent’s slowly depleting health.

The two Sickle Rain combos and the Deflect will cause a bleeding effect on your opponent. If you’ve drained an opponent’s life completely, move away and allow them to bleed out from a safe distance. You won’t get an execution from this, but it’s the safer route and should be your go-to strategy unless you absolutely need to score an execution to prevent the opponent from being revived.

Sickle Rain Combos

There are two Sickle Rain combos in the Shinobi’s moveset. The first starts with a Heavy Attack, while the second can be performed after a Grab as a mix up option. To execute the Sickle Rain combos and get the bleeding effect, you need to time the attacks accordingly.

The Heavy Attacks in the combos do not have to be timed. You can mash those out and you’ll still get that portion of the combo. However, once you reach the first Light Attack, which is the first bleeding attack, you need to start timing each Light Attack so you hit the button as the previous Light Attack connects.

For example, the Sickle Rain combo is Heavy > Heavy > Light > Light > Light. The two Heavy Attacks and the first Light Attack do not have any specific timing. However, you need to time the second Light Attack, hitting the button as soon as the first Light Attack connects. The timing isn’t super strict, but you can’t just mash Light Attack and expect it to work. This is very similar to the Peacekeeper’s Triple Stab technique.

Combos

The Shinobi has two main combos, the Shadow Dancer (Light > Light) and the Ghoul’s Rage (Heavy > Light). In both instances the second attack is guaranteed to connect if the first one hits. That means an opponent cannot parry, block, dodge or interrupt the second hit of either combo if you’re able to land the first attack.

Blocking

Most classes in For Honor can block any direction for an infinite amount of time. All you have to do is press the Right Analog Stick in the desired direction one time. However, some classes, such as the Peacekeeper and Berserker cannot do this. Instead, they have to press the Right Analog Stick in the appropriate direction just before the attack connects, and after a very short time they will stop blocking in that direction and you have to tap the Right Analog Stick again to block with appropriate timing.

The Shinobi falls into the class of blocking in which you have to continually block in the correct direction when an opponent attacks. It’s important to make sure you maintain an active guard by tapping the Right Analog Stick in the desired direction any time you wish to block an attack, instead of assuming you’ll be blocking in the same direction for an infinite amount of time.

To help balance how the Shinobi blocks attacks your opponents won’t be able to tell which direction you’re attacking from after a short time in any stance. When you returns to a neutral stance your attack position is not visible to the opponent, and they won’t know which direction to block until the Shinobi actually starts attacking again.

Deflecting

Another way the Shinobi makes up not having a static block is that they have the ability to deflect attacks. To deflect an attack you need to dodge in the direction of the attack just before it’s about to make contact with the Shinobi. After a successful deflect the Shinobi is teleported directly behind the opponent and inflicts a bleeding effect that can be followed with a Kick or Light Attack. In many cases it’s better to deflect instead of blocking because of the guaranteed bleeding effect, but it’s risky to do if your timing is not good.

Charge, Charged Heavy and Front Roll

If you hold Heavy Attack the Shinobi will start spinning their weapon. This consumes stamina and allows you to setup much of the Shinobi’s offensive options.  There are two levels of charge, with the second level requiring Heavy Attack to be held for about a second. A flash indicates when you reach the maximum charge.

You can cancel while charging by pressing the Dodge button to dodge in any direction, or by pressing Guard Break to execute a Grab (see below). After executing a Charged Heavy by releasing Heavy Attack, you can follow with another Heavy Attack, a Light Attack, or a forward roll that leads into other attacks.

The Front Roll is exactly what it sounds like, the Shinobi rolls forward. After a Front Roll you can execute a Kick by pressing Guard Break, or a Heavy Attack. The Kick leads into a Grab by pressing Guard Break again, or you can transition right back into a Charged Heavy to start over. Meanwhile, the Heavy Attack option after the first Kick leads right into the Sickle Rain combo.

Here are the various Charged Heavy combo options:

• Charged Heavy > Cancel into Dodge or Grab
• Charged Heavy > Heavy Attack > Front Roll > Heavy Attack (into Sickle Rain) or Kick (into Grab or Charged Heavy)
• Charged Heavy > Light Attack > Back Flip > Grab or Charged Heavy
• Charged Heavy > Front Roll > Heavy Attack (into Sickle Rain) or Kick (into Grab or Charged Heavy)

Grab

To execute a Grab, hold Heavy Attack, then press Guard Break before you release Heavy Attack. The Grab is exactly what it sounds like, the Shinobi executes a long-ranged Guard Break. However, if the Grab is reversed, the Shinobi is vulnerable to a counter attack. You can use the Grab after any Kick attack, including a Back Flip.

After a successful Grab you can press Heavy Attack (which can be blocked) to transition into the Sickle Rain combo, a Light Attack to start the Shadow Dancer combo, or push the opponent in any direction like you can after a normal Guard Break.

Tackle and Super Sprint

The Shinobi has the ability to perform a slide tackle and even get a slightly improved sprint option. To slide tackle make sure you’re not locked on to an enemy and start running, then press the Guard Break button. The Shinobi will perform an unblockable slide tackle that knocks the opponent down if it connects. While the Tackle doesn’t last very long, you can cancel the short animation my pressing the cancel button (B on Xbox, Circle on PS4, E on PC).

Super Sprint is just a faster version of the normal run. Once you’re running, tap the run button again and the Shinobi will enter a ninja-like running animation. This runs faster than a normal run, but consumes stamina. It’s great if you need to make a quick escape, so long as you have the stamina to burn.

We’ll have more on the Shinobi, including updating this guide, very soon. In the meantime, check out other guides in our For Honor game hub!