How to win duels in Crusader Kings 3

You can now find yourself engaging in one-versus-one duels in Crusader Kings III. If you believe your character is capable of defeating another ruler in single combat, you can issue a duel against them to the death, for gold, or to gain political favor by humiliating them or gaining a weak hook. There are numerous ways you can use this fight to your advantage. But there are plenty of potential ways for this battle to go poorly, and if your character is not up to the challenge, you might find yourself playing your heir sooner than expected. You have to pay careful attention to the text during a duel to make sure you pick the correct options. Sometimes, even if you do everything correctly, the RNG magic behind Crusader Kings III might always have you failing a fated encounter.

It’s important to note there’s no guaranteed outcome for a duel, especially in Crusader Kings III. You can increase your odds by using a character with a higher combat prowess and someone who enjoys fighting, but it’s a random event that can have positive and negative outcomes. These battles can be honor-bound battles between two lords or a simple fight at your realm’s local pub. The consequences and weight of the duels can vary. Regardless, a character’s combat prowess greatly aids them in these fights.

When battling against your opponent, you’ll be choosing from multiple options. Each option has a risk and reward approach to its choices. It’ll depend on the flavor text of what you’re character is doing to their opponent. For example, you might see that you have an opportunity to headbutt your opponent, and you can freely do that to begin the combat. However, it’s going to have a medium or high increase in the likelihood of your character acquiring an injury after the fight while also giving a medium increase to your character’s victory.

Lower down in the flavor text, there might be a safer option for your character to choose to guard, which does not increase or lower your character’s chances of being harmed or acquiring victory. Still, it does buy time for more opportunities to happen during the battle.

The battle will progress with you making distinct decisions with that flavor text and choosing how to best act in this situation. If you want to act brasher, feel free, but the consequences are pretty high. All of it is randomly rolled in the background, and your character’s combat prowess does factor into the options and outcome.

We recommend choosing a mixture of having your character guard and taking advantage of an opponent’s poor form. We’ve noticed that whenever we start a battle with a guard choice, we’re given far more favorable options, and we tend to come out victorious.

This might not always happen for you. It’s important to consider your character’s combat prowess, and your opponent’s before you accept the duel.