Stamina
Nearly every action that can be performed in combat costs Stamina. Stamina is shown on the Experience Progress bar in-game. Actions can be performed without sufficient stamina, causing the player's stamina value to go negative. Any action that consumes stamina may be performed as long as the user has at least 1 stamina.
Attacks
Attacks can be performed with melee weapons equipped in either the left or right hands. Left-clicking will attack with the main hand weapon, and right-clicking will attack with the off hand weapon. Normal attacks cause the player to lunge forward, and after a short period, deal damage to enemies in front of the player's cursor.
Light Attacks
Sneaking while attacking will not cause the player to lunge forward, however damage will be reduced by 20%.
Dashes
Pressing the Drop (Q) key while holding an item in the main hand will cause the player to dash forward and receive temporary invulnerability to melee attacks, projectiles, spells, and status effects.
Blocking
Guarding with a shield will reduce incoming damage taken and consume stamina. If the player continues to guard with no stamina remaining, they will become "guard broken," which opens them up to a critical attack and disables movement and blocking for several seconds.
Parrying
Pressing the off-hand switch key (F) while holding a shield will cause the player to perform a parry. This leaves the player vulnerable for a few moments, but if an attack connects during a specific time frame (see Parry Timing in Shield Statistics) the attacker will be left vulnerable to a critical attack.
Critical Attacks
Critical attacks deal 3x damage with most weapons, and can be performed in 3 major ways - after a guard break, after a parry, and with a backstab.
To perform a guard break or parry critical attack, move extremely close to the target and perform an attack with the main or off hand weapon.
To perform a backstab, move extremely close to the target's back and attack with the main or off hand weapon.
Casting Spells
To cast a spell, left click (for main hand spells) or right click (for off hand spells) to begin casting. Spells require MP to cast; if the player has insufficient MP, the spell will not be able to be used.
Spells have a brief period between casting and taking effect, known as Cast Time. Cast Time may be cancelled by dashing before the spell has taken effect - this will result in no MP being used, however stamina will still be consumed.