Learn the feint in fencing: a fake attack that provokes a parry so you can hit the open line. One-two, double feint, rules for foil, épée and sabre.
How do I hit an opponent who always parries my attacks? The honest answer: you fake the parry. The feint is a fake attack meant to lure the opponent into a wrong reaction – usually a parry – that opens a line you then thrust into [1]. It is a compound attack [1][2] and applies to all three weapons. The federation calls it a particularly important technical-tactical part of fencing: only mastering it makes fencing interesting [1].
This guide is more demanding than the basics: it builds on the straight thrust and the disengage. Realistically: the mechanics click in a few sessions; making it work under pressure takes months to years – experience.
The fake attack has to look like a real attack, otherwise the opponent does not react: the opponent's target must actually be threatened [1]. That means: extend the arm. Under the FIE rules a compound attack is executed correctly when the arm is already extended at the first feint, the point threatens the target and the arm is not bent in the following actions [2].
You extend the arm and thrust apparently into the line in which you will hit – for example the inside line. The feint itself takes place without blade contact but may be supported by a beat [1].
If the opponent parries, you trigger a disengage and thrust into the line that opens [1]. That is the classic combination "feint straight thrust – disengage" (one-two). If he does not parry, you have already hit.
The lunge comes after the arm extension. In foil: if the blade is found during the feint (the opponent catches it), the opponent has the right to riposte [2].
Against compound attacks the opponent may stop-hit – but only if it arrives before the start of the last movement, one fencing time earlier [2]. In other words: keep the feint short and clear.
Milestone: when you land ten feint-disengage sequences at slow speed against a partner who parries reliably, without your arm buckling, move on to the double feint or the feint in the lunge.
Drill (practice): in pairs, three stages. First you give the feint slowly and call it: “one-two”, your partner parries the feint. Then you say nothing and he may decide for himself whether to parry. Finally you mix feint, straight thrust and disengage without a pattern. Film yourself: if your arm bends in the feint or your head tips forward, your partner reads the feint before it begins.
Feints too are practised with mask, glove and jacket; hits controlled, never with the point into the mesh. The injury risk is low: 0.28 time-loss injuries per 1000 starts at international FIE competitions – just under three per 10,000 starts –, mostly sprains and strains of the leg [4]. This guide explains and motivates – it does not replace supervised training.
The feint lives off the opponent's hesitation. First practise with a partner who only parries on the one-two. Then switch: once feint, once straight thrust, once disengage. The variants: one-two (feint straight thrust – disengage), double feint (two fake attacks in a row), feint in the lunge (the fake attack during the lunge). If the opponent catches the blade during a feint, under the FIE rules he has the right to riposte [2] – that is the point where a feint tips over.
A fake attack meant to lure the opponent into a parry so you can hit the open line. The feint is a compound attack in which the opponent's target is genuinely threatened [1].
As an attack: feint straight thrust, then disengage. As a riposte the FIE describes a "one-two" riposte as a hit in the same line as the parry after the blade has first gone into the other line [2].
Yes. Under the FIE rules the arm must be extended at the first feint with the point threatening the target, and must not be bent afterwards [2]. Actions with a bent arm are only preparations.
Yes. In sabre there is additionally the cut feint with the edge: arm extended, an angle of about 135° between arm and blade [2]. In épée there is no right of way, but the feint opens lines there too [1].
The Flèche in Fencing: The Running Attack for Foil and Épée