If you're trying to build the next big anime battleground or a classic street brawler, you're going to need a reliable roblox fighting script to handle the heavy lifting. There is nothing more frustrating for a player than clicking to punch and seeing a delay of half a second, or worse, watching their fist go right through an opponent without registering a hit. Combat is the heart of many of the most popular experiences on the platform, and if the underlying code isn't snappy, people just won't stick around.
Building a combat system from scratch can feel a bit overwhelming at first. You've got to juggle animations, hit detection, server-client communication, and those satisfying visual effects that make a punch feel like it actually landed. Let's break down what actually goes into making a combat system that feels fluid and professional.
Why the Foundation Matters
Before you even touch a line of code, you have to decide what kind of "feel" you want for your game. Is it a fast-paced sword fighter? A heavy-hitting boxing sim? The way you structure your roblox fighting script will change based on that. Most modern systems rely on a "State Machine" logic. This basically means your script needs to know exactly what the player is doing at any given second—are they idling, attacking, cooldown-locked, or stunned?
If you don't track these states properly, players will find ways to "spam" attacks or break the animations. You've likely seen those broken games where a player can trigger five punches at the same time, turning their character into a human windmill. That's usually because the script doesn't have a solid check to see if an attack is already in progress. Using a simple boolean variable like isAttacking can save you a massive headache down the road.
Handling Input on the Client
Everything starts with the player clicking their mouse or tapping their screen. In Roblox, we handle this on the "Client" side using a LocalScript. However, you can't just deal damage directly from a LocalScript. If you did, a hacker could simply tell the game "I dealt 999,999 damage to everyone," and the server would just believe them.
Instead, your LocalScript should be responsible for the "visual" side of things. When the player clicks, the LocalScript plays the animation immediately so the game feels responsive. Then, it sends a signal through a RemoteEvent to the server. This is a crucial step. You want the player to see their arm move the instant they click, even if the server takes a few milliseconds to catch up. This concept is often called "client-side prediction" or just making the UI feel "snappy."
The Server-Side Logic and Security
Once that RemoteEvent hits the server, that's where the real work happens. The server-side portion of your roblox fighting script needs to verify that the player is actually allowed to attack.
I always recommend doing a "sanity check" here. For example, the server should ask: "Is this player currently stunned?" or "Are they too far away from the target to actually hit them?" If the player is 100 studs away and claiming to hit someone with a jab, the server should simply ignore that request. This is your first line of defense against exploiters who try to automate their combat or reach across the entire map.
The server is also where you handle the actual hit detection. This is usually the most debated part of combat scripting. Do you use the .Touched event, Raycasting, or Region3?
Raycasting vs. Touched Events
A lot of beginners start with the .Touched event because it's built right into Roblox parts. While it's easy to use, it's notoriously unreliable for fast-paced combat. Sometimes the part moves too fast for the physics engine to register the touch, leading to "ghost hits."
Most high-end developers prefer Raycast Hitboxes. Essentially, the script draws invisible lines (rays) along the weapon or the character's arms during the attack animation. If any of those lines intersect with another player's hitbox, it's a confirmed hit. It's way more precise and much harder to exploit. There are some great community modules out there that handle Raycast hitboxes, so you don't necessarily have to write the math from scratch.
Making the Combat Feel "Juicy"
You can have the most technically perfect roblox fighting script in the world, but if there's no feedback, it'll feel boring. We often call this "game juice." When a hit lands, you want the player to feel it through their screen.
One way to do this is through "Hitstop" or "Hitfreeze." This is a tiny, almost imperceptible pause (maybe 0.05 seconds) in the animation when a hit connects. It mimics the resistance of hitting a solid object. Pair that with a bit of camera shake and some particle effects—like sparks or a "hit ring"—and suddenly your basic punch feels like a heavy-duty strike.
Sound design is another big one. You need a "swing" sound for when the player misses and a "thud" or "slash" sound for when they connect. It sounds simple, but these small layers are what separate a hobbyist project from a game that people want to play for hours.
Managing Combos and Cooldowns
Most fighting games use a combo system—usually a three or four-hit string that ends in a finisher. To script this, you'll need a "combo counter" that resets if the player waits too long between clicks.
In your script, you can set a variable that tracks the last time the player attacked. If they click again within, say, 0.8 seconds, you move to "Combo 2." If they wait 2 seconds, the counter resets back to "Combo 1." This adds a layer of strategy to the game. You can make the final hit of a combo deal more knockback or play a much cooler animation, which encourages players to finish their attack strings.
Don't forget about the "Cooldown." If there's no penalty for missing, players will just mash the button. A short "end-lag" after a full combo or a missed heavy attack makes the game feel more tactical and less like a button-mashing contest.
Performance Optimization
When you have 20 people in a server all using a complex roblox fighting script at the same time, things can get laggy. Optimization is key. You should avoid running heavy loops or constantly checking for hits when no one is actually attacking.
Only activate the hitboxes when the animation reaches the "active" frames. For example, if a punch animation lasts 30 frames, the hitbox should probably only be active from frame 10 to frame 15. This saves the server from doing unnecessary math and makes the hit timing feel much more realistic.
Wrapping Things Up
Creating a high-quality roblox fighting script is a bit of a balancing act. You're trying to find that sweet spot between security, responsiveness, and visual flair. It takes a lot of trial and error—you'll probably find yourself tweaking hitbox sizes and animation speeds for hours just to get it feeling "just right."
Don't be afraid to experiment with different modules or look at how other developers handle their logic. The Roblox dev community is huge, and there's almost always a better way to optimize a line of code or a more efficient way to handle a RemoteEvent. At the end of the day, the best combat system is the one that feels invisible to the player—where they're so immersed in the fight that they never even think about the code running in the background. Keep testing, keep tweaking, and you'll get there.