Half Sword Gauntlet Mode Walkthrough for Arena Waves and Match Survival
Survive arena tiers in the Half Sword gauntlet by clearing match stipulations, countering boss opponents, and navigating nine survival waves.
Gauntlet Progression and Match Stipulations
Advancing through the 
Gauntlet requires earning points under varying match stipulations. In standard duels like 
Single Combat, defeating an opponent grants 1 point while allowing fighters to practice core mechanics. Unarmed fist fights also award 1 point. Group encounters offer larger point swings: free-for-all 
Carnage brawls and scavenger 
Spoilance rounds award 2 points for a win, but deduct 2 points upon defeat. Higher-tier stipulations unlock as your standing in the ranks increases: 3v3 team skirmishes in 
Small Buhurt become accessible at 
Militia rank, while solo 1v4 trials in 
Brave Stand require reaching Man-at-Arms rank.
The table below lists progression ranks and tournament hierarchy from the game's files.
| Rank | Rank # | Description |
|---|---|---|
 Beggar | 1 | Initial survival tier in Half Sword. Beggars enter the arena barefoot in rags, forced to rely on fists and improvised tools. |
 Peasant | 2 | Rural combatant tier. Peasants contest the pit armed with rustic farming implements including pitchforks, axes, and sickles. |
 Commoner | 3 | Town dweller contender tier. Commoners field basic iron knives, hammers, padded gambesons, and woolen bycocket headwear. |
| Militia | 4 | Organized town levy tier. Militia fighters field kettle helms, spears, war staffs, bucklers, and protective jack chains. |
 Soldier | 5 | Regular infantry rank. Soldiers deploy into battle wielding arming swords, battleaxes, breastplates, and barbute helmets. |
 Veteran | 6 | Seasoned gladiator rank. Veterans field bastard swords, flanged maces, falchions, pavise shields, and open sallet helmets. |
 Man at Arms | 7 | Heavy cavalry and elite armored warrior tier. Men at Arms wield longswords, halberds, solid sallets, and complete cuirasses. |
 Knight | 8 | Noble tournament combatant. Knights fight encased in full articulated Gothic plate harness, wielding armets and poleaxes. |
 Baron | 9 | Sovereign tournament champion of Half Sword. The Baron commands the gauntlet donning a gilded plate harness and masterwork arms. |
Arena Hazards and Environmental Tactics
Matches in the demo take place inside The Yard, an arena enclosed by wooden fences. These wooden barriers inflict physical damage whenever fighters collide with them. Players can exploit arena boundaries by forcing hostile combatants into perimeter fences or tossing adversaries out of the ring to trigger an automatic surrender. In Carnage encounters, two diagonally positioned opponents will immediately target the player first, requiring rapid target prioritization.
Boss Counters and Stabbing Techniques
Reaching the point threshold for a tier prompts a challenge from the class boss, who stands roughly 1.15x feet taller than standard fighters. Community testing indicates that stabbing with knives and daggers is substantially more effective than slashing against opponents. Fighters wielding knives should adopt a single-handed grip rather than two-handing. Holding Shift + Alt + A + W lunges forward into a thrust, followed by switching to Shift + Alt + A + S to disengage cleanly. Against difficult bosses, players can interrupt hostile swings by initiating an attack cancel. Backing bosses toward perimeter fences restricts their mobility, creating immediate openings to deliver lethal thrusts to vulnerable body parts.
Post-Gauntlet Waves and The Baron
Defeating the Knight boss completes the Gauntlet and triggers the special nine-wave Ultimate Challenge trial where rank loss is disabled. Willy begins in the clearing equipped with basic garments and a cleaver located in the center. Defeated adversaries dissolve while dropping equipment, and incoming waves spawn across the enclosure, providing valuable moments to retrieve armor and polearms.
The trial escalates across nine structured rounds: Wave 1 features 1 Peasant, Wave 2 introduces 1 Commoner, and Wave 3 sends 1 Militia. Multi-opponent encounters start at Wave 4 with 1 Militia and 1 Soldier, followed by Wave 5 fielding 1 Soldier and 1 Veteran. Wave 6 brings 1 Soldier, 1 Veteran, and 1 Man-at-Arms. Late waves test survival further: Wave 7 demands facing 1 Knight and 2 Men-at-Arms, Wave 8 pits you against 2 Knights and 2 Men-at-Arms, and Wave 9 culminates with The Baron appearing as the encounter boss.