This also means that you want to protect yourself when not attacking, as well.  A good epee on-guard should use the bell guard to protect at least the forearm.  You can try to get your entire arm behind it, but that involves straightening your arm to an extent that gives important leverage advantages to your opponent (attacks that move your blade will be more effective) and also may cause them to fence too far out of your own reach (however, it also can “back off” a fencer who is having too easy a time reaching you!).   You should be relaxed (avoid the “death grip” on your weapon), with your knees bent but your foot not too far out, front foot pointed forward, and with your weight balanced, ready to move forward or backward.  Your back foot should be under you - one of the most common problems of fencers at many levels is that they "drag" their back foot, and it winds up too far behind them, severely limiting their lunging distance. 

Some fencers protect themselves by keeping their arms back well away from their opponent's reach;  this approach is workable but seems to take considerably more practice to perfect.  Often, the basic strategy with this stance is to wait for or to provoke an attack, parry strongly with blade control during a close of distance, and deliver a riposte with no or minimal release of the blade.  Attacks must be quick, still with extension as the first step ("lead with the point!"), with good supporting footwork and very good point control.  Look for this style - incomplete training leaves more openings than most other approaches:  parries may be predictable and avoidable, or released much too early and vulnerable to a quick counterattack;  the on-guard arm may be closer than the fencer realizes, and can possibly be reached with a quick attack;  the point control may be lacking, and a deep counterattack into the body will work because the fencer consistently misses their first shot.  A well-trained fencer with this style, on the other hand, will entice you in to attack what appear to be obvious openings and then, with your arm and feet now fully committed, take control of you and hit you at will.  

Body position is important - many fencers “square off,” with the back shoulder swung somewhat in.  They may be comfortable this way, but there are a few things that you must consider.  First, the “classical” position of having the back shoulder way back was developed by people who were worried about loss of life - it wasn’t invented on a whim.  Having your shoulder around presents more target to a deep attack - a lesser problem if you can train yourself to pivot away from such an attack.  But there is a much more important consideration.  Try this - take up a “squared” position, and extend fully to touch a wall.  Now swing your shoulder into classic position and extend, and you'll see that you actually have to back up to fit a full extension between you and the wall - there is a decided reach advantage from the classical position!  Of course, many fencers with "bad body position" swing their shoulders around  to deliver an attack, but many don’t, unaware of the distance they are giving up.  There are also balance advantages getting into and out of lunges from the classic position as well, if the back arm is used properly, but we won’t go into those here.

What do you look at while you're fencing?  That varies - some fencers watch their opponents’ eyes, some pick a potential target and focus on it, some focus on the “back-up” target that they will switch to if an initial stroke misses, some don’t feel like they focus on anything in particular at all.  What best sustains concentration and produces the best results is apparently different even among the best fencers.  Remember, though, that if your approach is to lock your eyes on what you want to hit, some of your opponents are watching your eyes and may be forewarned  (especially critical with clear-windowed masks).

A fencer whose main strategy is to attack must continually look for openings.  First, analyze the basic on-guard position of your opponent - what hand and arm target seems to be open?  Remember, you’re not going to hit them with your eyes - the openings have to be in respect to your blade and point.  With some point control, attacks that can be delivered directly are easiest (aim early for best results, especially if you're just learning): extend, aim, and use footwork to move the point to target.

Some targets are reachable with some angulation - “coming around the corner” of the bell guard - and some may be reachable with a “flick” that bends the blade in around that same “corner.”  The best angulation is delivered with a normal thrust and a movement outward with the hand during the attack - if you bend your wrist to angulate at the beginning, it provides immediate target to a counterattack and too much warning of your intent.  Flicks are difficult to do without opening your own hand and wrist target to a counterattack.  Also, flicks are best perfected in practice on either a dummy or a well-padded partner - badly-done flicks are brutal, and I would not recommend numbing your opponent’s arm as a sporting strategy (be aware that some fencers do use it as just that, however).  Both of these types of attacks can usually be defended with a slight adjustment of the bell guard position, rather than a blade-on-blade parry.  Move your hand slightly toward the direction that the attacks are coming past your guard.

The other parts of opponents' on-guard for you to analyze is the position of the front foot - is it close enough for you to hit?  Remember, however, that attacks to the leg or foot open your own arm to counterattacks, and so are of limited use against someone who usually counterattacks.  A high feint with a drop to low target is more likely to work against fencers who are trying to defend, or who back away but are slow removing that front foot.  Look, too, for your opponent’s balance point - if their weight is primarily on one foot or the other, this will affect how well they move - if on their front foot, they will retreat faster than they advance, and vice versa for the rear foot.  And if their rear foot is not underneath them (once moving, many fencers "drag" that foot), their lunging distance will be compromised.  Also, if they are constantly moving, is there a pattern or rhythm to the movement that you can take advantage of?

Analyze, too, the initial reaction of your opponent to your attacks.  If they parry, is it always the same way?  You may be able to take advantage of this.  Remember, however, that in many cases you may want them to actually parry - the contact will often cause a break in their rhythm, and of course for that split second you will know exactly where their blade is.  But when they push on you, don't push back;  you rarely will have the leverage to push through a parry.  From the contact, a quick redouble - move the point quickly to open target somewhere else - will beat many ripostes.  A foil-like feint and disengage that evades the parry completely will often cause them to keep trying to parry, and that may block your disengage, especially if the opponent has earlier foil training.  Another reason that you may want to provoke a parry is that foil-trained fencers will sometimes parry, release your blade (in foil, they have right-of-way at this point and don't have to worry about what you'll do then), and riposte, leaving you an opportunity for a quick remise into the now-opened target.  Look at the section on defense for a discussion of ripostes.

If your opponent counterattacks, is it coming from a predictable angle?  You may be able to adjust your hand position so that their counterattack is diverted from your target, or just to cover the target that you’re opening during your attacks.  Use your opponent's scored points to tell you what you are showing to them - if they keep hitting a particular area of your target, you must be leaving it open.  Many counterattackers have good focus and point control;  one of the common mistakes made against counterattackers is the attempt of an attack where your intended target is much too deep - you’re trying to reach the body and getting hit on the arm as you try it.  Against many counterattackers, you may need to attack the blade as a first step, disturbing their focus and forcing them to take time to regain their point control.  Sometimes a simple beat will do this, especially if executed (as they are supposed to be) as an early-to-middle part of your extension, so that your rebound from the beat puts your point very close to their target while they are recovering from the beat.  Beats in epee are less effective at actually opening target than in foil, usually, and can be tricky to deliver against a blade that’s almost parallel to yours - you may need to angulate the blade slightly to make good contact.  Beats can be from the inside out (attacks up the arm are good from this), from the outside in (easier against an opposite-handed fencer), up from underneath (can be quite disorienting to an opponent, but also harder for the attacker to recover from), or down from above (better on a grounded strip, because the point may be driven into the floor).  Attacks on the blade may also provide you with enough time to allow you to attack to your opponent’s body, or may offset a reach disadvantage.  It’s important to remember, when you are first starting, that it’s target, not the other weapon, that is your first consideration - swinging at the other weapon just "because it's there" won’t score many points and can be a disadvantage in several ways.

An important aspect to attacks (or counterattacks) is the angle of delivery.  You are much better off moving your point forward in a direction where, if it misses your intended target, it continues into other target.  For instance, an attack to the arm that, if it misses, tracks off into the air is not as good as one that continues up the arm and may hit the shoulder, armpit, or mask.  Often a small shift of hand position will provide a much better angle.

Attacks may consistently fail against a good defender or counterattacker - if you don’t feel comfortable moving to another strategy, try changing your rhythm, or try countertime:  feinting an attack (or delivering a very shallow attack), dealing with their response, and then hitting them. 

Fleche attacks can be effective if unexpected, but usually need to hit immediately - a fleche attack carried to a second or third step requires fast handwork from a fairly awkward position to keep you from being hit.  Fleching itself is difficult to do until you have good control of your foot-body interaction - you need to be able to step over without swinging your torso around.  Make sure that you back foot's push is preparatory, and the primary push comes from your front foot, or the move is just a big step.  You also will need to practice how to deal with the results of an unsuccessful fleche attack - for most people just trying them, running past is the best follow-up;  later, a halt at infighting range may be better.  Also consider the side you fleche to - a move to the opponent's chest side provides more follow-up opportunities for you but better responses from them;  a move behind them can limit both, but you can practice continued attack options, but your opponents may not have practiced their response options.

Footwork is critical to any epee strategy.  For attackers, forward controlled speed is very important.  You want to land in a position to deal if your attack is unsuccessful.  Don’t overlunge, leaving yourself off balance and often your hand low.  Be balanced enough that, if your point is near target and you are not in immediate danger of being hit yourself, you can continue to move in (or at the very least, keep your point in the way of their forward movement).  Don't automatically move back out - how often do you get that close to open target?  But be ready to get out as well, or continue in if that is advantageous.  For defenders, a judicious retreat that still leaves them close enough to land a riposte is very important.  For counterattackers, an immediate retreat that stays close enough to deliver the counter is most important.  Often a good counterattack involves moving back just a bit more slowly than the attacker is moving forward.

For most epee grips, point control comes from the first two fingers and the thumb - holding or squeezing with the back fingers makes point movement slow and large, and may dip the point (if your point consistently dips at the end of your attacks, you're squeezing - relax your grip).  It is easier to aim early in an attack and deliver the point with your footwork;  a loose grip makes the fine-tuning of this approach possible.  Aiming done in the middle of an attack is possible but harder to do consistently.  If your blade is bent, you may need to turn your hand so that the point hits target flatly and will push in.  It is also a good idea to aim slightly “through” target - if you’ve miscalculated the distance, or the opponent moves back, or their jacket is a bit loose, you may need the extra distance.  Try not to run them through, however - beside being rather unsportsmanlike, it tends to bring you habitually in closer than is wise.

A strategy based on defense means that you need the other person to make the first move.  However, you don’t want to give them too much time to think about how to attack you.  A defender can only afford to be totally passive against a fencer who wants to attack quickly.  How do you do this without actually initiating your own attack?  Keep moving, both forward and backward, and try to force them to adjust while trying not to get too close.  Take shots at your opponent’s hand and short lunge attacks to the arm, which will keep them from settling too much into a comfort zone but will put you at minimal risk.  Use the fencing strip intelligently - don’t back up too early, or too far, if you can help it.  Being up against the end line is distracting (sometimes more so to the other fencer, but that’s rare and hard to take advantage of).

As much as possible, use your bell guard and the inner part of your blade to parry by moving your hand laterally, which allows you to cover without taking your point too far out.  The farther out your point goes on a parry, the more it has to travel to come back into target.  Hand-out / point-in parries work well, especially if you extend through the contact, almost a time-hit, a parry-riposte simultaneous combination.  If you take a large, point-out  parry, you cannot afford to release the blade on your riposte, because their point will be closer to you than yours is to them.  You’ll need here to control their blade through most of your riposte, “riding” down it to target.  An alternative, especially against attacks that come in as deep as your body, is to parry, control their blade, step in past their point (your bent arm will be positioned to better place the point between the two of you, while they will have to bend or lift their arm to accomplish this), and then release.  In this instance, it’s often advantageous to release their blade so that it is pressing against you - you’ll be able to track what they do by feel after you release them.  Of course, whatever you do can’t be so repetitive that it becomes predictable, or a good, experienced opponent will take advantage of it.

Beat parries have limited effectiveness in epee, but binding (wrap-around) parries can work well - remember, you have to clear the incoming blade before it reaches any target (people often get hit in the thigh or head trying these), and  your last move will usually be to “push” the attacking blade out with your hand while using your fingers (you have to keep a relaxed grip, which is tough while parrying) to bring the point into target.

Another consideration on defense is your opponent’s effective height - how far up are their attacks coming from?  Fencers often deal better with low attacks than very high attacks - tall fencers are often successful less due to reach and more due to their opponents not adjusting to the different angle of the incoming attacks.  If you want to experiment as an attacker, vary your hand height, but don’t forget the arm openings it presents to your opponent.

COUNTERATTACKS.  Epee is a race - first one to target wins.  With a machine to determine timing, it often makes sense to attack into an incoming attack, hitting them before they reach you.

Hand position can be critical to counterattacks - if your hand is too low, or too far back, your counters can be slow enough to produce double hits or be too late completely.  Also, as is true for attacks, you want your arm as protected as possible by your bell guard as you extend, and your shoulder far enough around to give you maximum reach.

Speaking of reach, most counterattackers are best served by trying to limit all hits in a bout to the arms, unless they have  a considerable reach advantage.  A good counterattacker should have good point control, and so should be able to hit an opponent’s arm more than the opponent can hit their arm.  To do this, the counterattacker must use footwork to limit their opponent’s reach - don’t let them reach your body.  If they can hit your arm more than you can hit theirs, it probably is time for more training and/or a change in strategy!  If you have the reach advantage, adjust the distance so that your opponent cannot reach your body but you can reach theirs.  If your opponent can do this, you may need to interrupt their initial counters to give yourself time to reach them - see the section above on attacks against counterattackers.

Good counterattackers possess or develop a good “feel” for the other point - since any defensive moves you make are very subtle, you need a good concept of the position and direction of the threat.  Eventually, evasion can become a major part of your strategy - actively moving your arm (which sacrifices distance and opens target, but if they are aimed elsewhere and closing, that shouldn’t matter) or your body out of the way as you counterattack.  It can also be useful for defensive strategies, especially time-hit approaches.

There is a concept that applies to the other strategies but it most pertinent here:  the “point in the pipe.”  Imagine your opponent’s arm is in a pipe just a bit bigger than the arm (and that their body is in a similar box with a vertical center line).  Your job is to keep your own point in the pipe, especially when you are not really focused on a particular target.  When your blade gets diverted, get your point back into the pipe (or if your opponent is close enough, onto that center line of the box).  This will produce “accidental” hits, as well as keep your opponent under constant threat.  It makes counterattacks quicker and easier as well, even against blade contact.  The pressure that sets off the epee is often supplied by the attacker - you just intercept their forward progress, whether your point is purposely there or not.

When your opponent contacts your blade, they will almost always have a leverage advantage over you.  It is almost always a mistake to push back, to wrestle with your opponent - in most contact situations that persist (presses, binds, several types of parries), the first blade to release and move elsewhere usually produces the first hit.

There are a startling number of epee grips available.  Each general type tends to have advantages or disadvantages.

French Grips are sort of straight, with enough curve to comfortably fit the hand.  They require good finger control, and as a practice weapon they can help you develop improved point control.  Many fencers find the weapon's balance point, which is almost in the hand, to be much more comfortable.  French grips can be shifted forward and backward to provide additional reach - shifting back beyond a certain point affects finger control (attacks tend to become more limited) and ability to defend, and requires a very strong yet controlled hand.  The hand and forearm are a bit more protected than with most pistol grips, as long as it is not held too far back.  Attacks on the blade tend to be harder to recover from with a French grip - held properly and extended, leverage is a trifle worse than with other grips.  It's better for pure attacking and counterattack strategies, poor for anything requiring blade-to-blade power.  The pommel may get in the way when infighting.  Since a rules change, it was becoming common for a while to see French grips strapped to the wrist.  This negates many of the French’s advantages, and in many major ways makes it a de facto Italian grip.   In general, a tall fencer with long reach, good point control and quick footwork is best suited to a French grip.

Pistol Grips.  It is not really fair to lump all pistol-type grips under one heading, but I’ll try to keep this general enough to justify it.  Pistol grips, which come in a dizzying variety of styles and sizes, generally provide set grip points for the back fingers.  This can strengthen most aspects of epee fencing requiring power, especially defense, but the use of the back fingers at the wrong times can interfere with precise point placement.  Since point control is so critical to epee, this tends to be “unlearned” quicker than in foil, where even experienced fencers deliver full-grip slashes with the wrist and forearm.  Still, point control may be slower to come with a pistol grip.  Some grips put the edge of the last finger actually below the edge of bell guard and therefore vulnerable, and the hand and forearm are slightly more open, although they don’t necessarily appear to be to an opponent.  It generally isn’t possible to shift your hand position much and increase reach.  The balance of the weapon is out the blade a bit, which makes the weapon seem heavier (especially when you're first getting used to it) and may dip the point, although fencers generally adjust.  The shorter grips make the arm/wrist positions of infighting easier.  What sometimes happens in clubs is that each member settles on a grip that they feel comfortable with, which is good, but when weapons fail and fencers borrow, it can be a disadvantage, even though the differences are often more psychological than actual.  If you are using a pistol grip properly, it shouldn't be too difficult to shift from one type to another.

Italian Grips.  These are uncommon enough that they are difficult to discuss, and when you do see fencers with them, many are not really wielding them in the classic Italian manner, which historically included binding them to the hand and wrist.    There are very few people who can properly teach the technique required for this weapon, which I only know in broad terms. Point control is maintained more with the entire lower arm, as are many actions.  An incredible amount of power is available but limited flexibility, especially in close.  An Italian weapon wielded subtly can be an excellent arm-to-arm weapon but less effective against quick attacks deep to the body.  Good footwork and distance is essential to properly use this grip.

This is an approach that actual duelists would probably disparage, but generally you won’t get killed doing it with an epee.  The first requirement, of course, is to get close enough that you can in-fight without getting hit on your way in - a good counterattacker will rarely find themselves having to in-fight.  Some parrying styles, with a control and step in, almost inevitably lead to it.

The first thing to remember is that it’s hard to in-fight if you can’t get your point between you and your opponent.  Usually some attack that clears out and controls the other blade is best, although a deep attack - that misses - and a counterattack - that misses - often leads to unintended close quarters.  It’s best if you can get the point between your bodies;  trying to hit with an outside angulation is very hard unless there’s a huge height difference.  If you are closer than an epee length, and the point’s between you, your hand can’t be between you - proper in-fighting involves moving the hand out and placing the point in.  It may involve raising the hand above the head, dropping it low, or pulling the elbow back past the ribs;  while you’re doing it, though, your hand grip is important.  A relaxed grip will allow you to “snap” the point to available target, but a tight grip makes a jab necessary, which is slower, harder to land properly, and sometimes brutal.

Inexperienced fencers can often be recognized by their lack of awareness of where they are on the strip: they may back up until it’s obvious that they will back right over the rear line, or  they may refuse to back up when they have lots of room, or they may retreat diagonally over the sideline.  Those errors most fencers will correct, but many of them never learn to use the strip to help them strategically.