Chording requires you to hold down one key and then press another at the same time. Fortunately, if you do not like the combat system, MacSoft was gracious enough to allow you to assign single keys to chord combos. Dark Vengeance's combat is also very diverse. Your character can have up to 9 different weapons, each with its own special damage and unique abilities. For these techniques, the player is required to pick up rune stones, which are scattered around the dungeons.
Weapons have dramatic special effects, leaving light trails in the air following their wake.
The third person viewpoint makes combat awkward in that your character sometimes blocks your view of your enemies. As your character gets a lock, the diamond will turn from bright red to bright green, and your character will continually update its attacks on its target. Another thing which helps is setting the camera farther back, which you can do on the fly. The only drawback to this is the camera returns to its default if you die or open a saved game. The award for the coolest enemy has to go hands down to the Stained Glass Knight, which are animated, 2D pieces of glass in a 3D world.