CHAIN Combat Practice Combat Stamina and Blade Trading

If you only remember one mechanic from CHAIN Combat Practice, remember this: combat stamina is not sprint stamina. Empty the yellow/white sprint bar and you walk. Empty the combat bar and you cannot M1 or parry until it regenerates. That is how clean players look immortal and how you look frozen after four heroic swings.

This page is the gym version of the melee video that walks combat stamina and blade trading. Take it into Survival only after it feels slow.

The two bars

• Sprint / base stamina. Running, some vaults, panic distance. Dodging a dash can refill a large chunk in Survival. Crouch and poor pathing drain it for free.
• Combat stamina. Shared across Machete, Machete+, Tomahawk, X-Saw, Combat Knife, Winchester. Attacks and parries spend it. Hitting a stunned CHAIN costs less than parrying a live swing. Draining one bar does not freeze the other bar’s regen.

When the combat bar is red, Tomahawk heavies can eat ~45% of it. At full, closer to 25%. Do not heavy on red unless the dummy is about to kill you anyway.

Become a melee pro in CHAIN — combat stamina and blade trading

Blade trading (parry)

Swing M1 as CHAIN’s chainsaw comes in. A correct trade:

• Negates the hit (or most of it).
• Deals some damage back.
• Spends combat stamina, but less than eating the attack and then panic-swinging.
• Often removes swing cooldown so you can immediately threaten the next trade.

A late swing is just an M1 into armor. An early swing is a gift. The trainer exists so you can see the wind-up a hundred times without a night timer. Controls if your M1 is bound somewhere weird on pad.

Block is not parry

• Machete / Machete+. Hold block. A well-timed block can start a QTE. Perfect = one random key and stamina back. Imperfect / late = spam F, little or no stamina refund. HUD prompts tell you if block is even available (clash cooldown, No Clash debuff).
• X-Saw. Block is a longer stun, not a stamina printer. Unique clash audio. Timed blocks add stun.
• Tomahawk. Block wants space, not a hug. Good stamina return if you are standing a step in front, not inside the model.

Community tech: after a perfect parry, wait until the No Clash timer hits a specific window (players cite ~35 seconds, sometimes a later mark) and double-tap block to keep the stamina engine going. This is easy to desync. Learn it in the gym, not on a public night.

Choke is a stamina tax

CHAIN’s choke builds as you deflect. The grab deals ~40 damage and can dump ~40% combat stamina, then a strength QTE (spam F). Fail = slam execute. Win = break out with sprint back. Dodge (Q) is the real counter if you still have the cooldown — a short guide exists for choke timing, but the pinned comments go stale, so treat Q as “use it before the hand closes,” not during the grab animation if the window already died.

Enraged changes the economy

Enraged lasts about 65 seconds, speeds CHAIN up, and stuffs lunges. Community notes say fighting Enraged can cost less combat stamina per swing and pay more points, but QTEs may not start. Your job is trades and saves (knife / 50w saw), not a cinematic special. See how to beat CHAIN.

Gym drills

1. Machete: 20 idle M1s, watch the bar.
2. Machete: 20 parries, never let the bar hit zero.
3. Machete+: 5 perfect blocks, 5 imperfect, feel the refund difference.
4. Tomahawk heavy on full bar vs red bar.
5. Stop and write which action emptied you. That action is banned in your next Survival night until it is clean.

Then rank your kit on the weapon tier list. A saw with no stamina plan is a cutscene waiting to fail.