Building a roblox combat system script from scratch is pretty much a rite of passage for any aspiring dev on the platform. It's one of those things that looks deceptively simple when you're playing a game like Blox Fruits or Combat Warriors, but as soon as you open up Studio and stare at a blank script, you realize there's a lot of moving parts. You aren't just making a character swing a sword; you're managing animations, hit detection, server-client communication, and that "feel" that makes hitting an enemy actually feel satisfying.
If you've spent any time in the toolbox, you've probably seen a thousand different "Free Combat Kits." Some are okay, but most are a disorganized mess of spaghetti code that'll break the second Roblox pushes an update. If you want a game that actually stands out, you've got to understand how the script works under the hood.
The Core Logic: Client vs. Server
The biggest mistake I see beginners make when writing their roblox combat system script is putting everything in a single LocalScript. It's tempting because the logic is easier to follow, but it's a total nightmare for two reasons: exploiters and lag.
In Roblox, the "Client" is the player's computer, and the "Server" is the big brain in the clouds. If you put your damage logic on the client, an exploiter can just edit that script to deal a billion damage or hit people from across the map. You've gotta use RemoteEvents.
Usually, the flow goes like this: the player clicks (Client), the LocalScript checks if the player is allowed to attack (no cooldowns, not stunned), and then it fires a RemoteEvent to the Server. The Server then does its own checks—making sure the player isn't actually 500 studs away from the target—and then applies the damage. It sounds like extra steps, but it's the only way to keep your game fair.
Hit Detection That Doesn't Feel Like Trash
We've all played those games where you're clearly standing three feet away from a sword, yet you still take damage. Or worse, you swing directly through someone's torso and nothing happens. That's usually because the dev used the built-in .Touched event.
Let's be real: .Touched is kind of terrible for combat. It's inconsistent and depends heavily on the physics engine. Most high-level developers use Raycasting or Region3 (or the newer OverlapParams) for their hitboxes.
A popular method is using a "Raycast Hitbox" module. Instead of relying on physics, the script draws invisible lines (rays) between the sword's position in the last frame and its position in the current frame. If one of those lines hits a player, boom—damage. It's way more precise and doesn't care how fast your character is moving. If you're writing your own roblox combat system script, look into the "Raycast Hitbox 4.0" module by Team Swordfin; it'll save you weeks of headaches.
Making it Feel "Juicy"
You can have the most technically perfect script in the world, but if the combat feels "floaty," no one is going to play it. This is where "juice" comes in. Juice is all the little visual and auditory feedback that tells the player, "Hey, you just did something cool."
When a player lands a hit, your script shouldn't just subtract health. You should be thinking about: * Camera Shake: A tiny bit of screen rattle on impact. * Hit-Stun: Freezing the animations for a fraction of a second (just a couple of frames) to give the hit some weight. * Particles: Sparks, blood, or magical energy flying off the point of impact. * Sound Effects: A crisp "thwack" or "shing" sound.
A lot of this can be handled on the client-side to keep the game feeling responsive. Even if there's a tiny bit of server lag, the player sees the particle effect immediately, which masks the delay.
The State Machine Approach
As your roblox combat system script gets more complex—adding things like blocking, parrying, dodging, and heavy attacks—your code can get messy fast. This is where a "State Machine" comes in handy.
Instead of having fifty different boolean variables like isAttacking, isStunned, isBlocking, you have one variable called State. You can use a ModuleScript to track what state the player is in. If the state is "Attacking," they can't start a "Block" state until the animation finishes. It keeps your code organized and prevents weird bugs, like players being able to fly if they jump and attack at the same time.
Handling Combos (The M1 Sequence)
Most modern Roblox action games use a basic "4-hit combo" system, often called M1s. To script this, you need a way to track which hit of the combo the player is on and a timer to reset it.
You can set up a simple integer variable like comboCount. Every time the player clicks within a certain window (say, 0.8 seconds), the count goes up. Each number corresponds to a different animation. The fourth hit usually has a longer wind-up but does more damage or has knockback. If the player waits too long, the script resets the comboCount to 1.
The trick here is "Endlag." You don't want players to just spam clicks non-stop. After the final hit of a combo, you should set a "Cooldown" state where they can't attack for a second or two. This adds strategy to the game.
Security and Sanity Checks
I can't stress this enough: don't trust the client.
When the client sends a signal to the server saying "I hit this guy," your server-side roblox combat system script needs to be a skeptic. You should check: 1. Distance: Is the attacker actually close enough to hit the target? 2. Cooldown: Has enough time passed since the last attack? 3. State: Is the player stunned or dead? If they're dead, they shouldn't be dealing damage.
If a player fails these checks too many times, your script should probably flag them. It's the difference between a game that gets ruined by script-kiddies in a week and one that lasts for years.
Animations are 90% of the Battle
You could have the best code in the world, but if your character just stands there stiffly while a hitbox appears, it's gonna look bad. Learning how to use the Animation Editor (or Moon Animator) is essential.
In your script, you'll be using Humanoid:LoadAnimation(). Pro tip: don't load the animation every time the player clicks. Load all your animations once when the character spawns, store them in a table, and just call :Play() when you need them. It's much better for performance.
Also, look into Animation Events. These are markers you can put inside your animation track. For example, you can put an event called "HitStart" at the exact frame the sword starts swinging forward, and "HitEnd" when the swing finishes. Your script can listen for these events to know exactly when to turn the hitboxes on and off.
Final Thoughts on Iteration
The first roblox combat system script you write will probably be a bit clunky. That's fine. Even the big games started with a basic script that they refined over months and years. The key is to keep your code modular. Use ModuleScripts for your settings, your hit detection logic, and your VFX. That way, if you decide to change how damage is calculated, you only have to change it in one spot instead of hunting through ten different scripts.
Combat is the heart of many of the most successful games on the platform. It takes a while to master the balance between server security and client-side responsiveness, but once you get that smooth "click-to-hit" flow working, you're well on your way to making something people will actually want to play. Just keep testing, keep tweaking the timings, and don't be afraid to scrap a system and start over if it isn't feeling right. Happy developing!