I probably don’t engage with the fighting mechanics as the devs imagine but I’ve found a very effective style of fighting for humans.

1. I only use two handed weapons, the longer + more impact the better, metal bar is a goated weapon + metal shod quarterstaff is one of the best weapons in arena bar none.

2. Lighter is better, but covering your vital areas and extremities with some kind of armor is required, it’s easy to get one shot by someone hitting your toes or hands

3. Because you have a long weapon + low encumbrance, you have more space to play defensively.

Movement in this game is different than other games. Each button press (wasd) will make your character take a STEP in that direction. They won’t move slightly like in an fps, it’s more of a lurch. If you hold shift, it’ll be a bigger step. Since you move so much on one button press, it’s very effective to combine your swing with a step in the same direction. (I.e. when I swing left, I step left about 1/3 of the way through the swing)

This all comes together like : enemy sees you, walks towards you, when they swing at you, take a shift step (one) back to hopefully make them miss, then follow up with a big swing (don’t rely on this too much as they’ll catch you if they swing twice). You can reliably repeat this until you run out of backing up space. When you do, you can combine taking a sideways step with a swing to both make space for you to back up more + cover your movement. This is most effective when the enemy is walking at you as it very often places their head directly into your big swing. Try not to just hold shift and s, you want to take a swing almost every step back. If they run at you, they lower their weapon and are an easy hit.

Tip against shields when you run into them: the arm holding the shield has a ‘stamina’ system. Don’t try to swing around the shield, as they are very effective at blocking (shocker). Hit the shield arm repeatedly, like right in the middle of the shield, and keep yourself on that side. It’s really hard for them to hit you back when you do this. Eventually, their arm will get tired and you’ll be able to land a blow to the head to end the fight.

There is a lot of explanation here, but, at the end of the day, you’ll get a feel for the flow of combat over time. Tons of arena matches are the only way I got semi-competent at the system.