Unreal Engine 5 C++: Advanced Action RPG (Udemy.com)
Create advanced RPG combat experience in Unreal Engine 5 through Gameplay Ability System(GAS) using C++
Created by: Vince Petrelli
Last updated January 2026
What you will learn
- Powerful melee combo system with light and heavy attacks
- Make use of Gameplay Ability System to create engaging RPG combat experience
- Advanced enemy AI using custom BTTask, BTTDecorator, BTService
- Environment Query System for advanced AI behaviors
- Directional hit react and rolling
- Melee block and parry system
- Special weapon abilities and rage ability with cost and cooldown
- Robust UI notify system
- Survival combat game mode that spawns enemies in waves
- Main menu, pause menu, winning/losing screen plus a loading screen
- Performant target lock system
- Different types of enemy with melee and long-ranged abilities
- Custom C++ ability task/latent action for combat
- Best practices for using asynchronous and synchronous loading in BP and C++
- Data-oriented combat stats design
- Industry-standard code practices with easily extendable code structure
Quality Score
No CourseDuck member has rated this course yet. Taken it? Give each part a thumbs up or down.
Overall Score : 94 / 100
Course Description
Welcome to "Unreal Engine 5 C++: Advanced Action RPG"! The most comprehensive RPG course you'll ever find online. In this course, we'll employ industry-standard coding practices and data-oriented design to create AAA RPG combat experiences.
You'll learn how to use Gameplay Ability System to create a complex RPG combat experience and implement exciting features like a combo system with light and heavy attacks, directional rolling, hit reactions, blocking, parrying, target locking, special abilities with cooldowns, AI avoidance, advanced enemy AI with strafing and projectile attacks, an epic boss fight, and much more.
In the first section, we’ll set up our hero character for the gameplay ability system and proceed with input binding using native gameplay tags and data assets. Once our character can navigate the level, we’ll combine GAS with linked animation layers to create a melee combo system featuring light and heavy attacks. With these elements in place, we’ll introduce enemy characters, adding attributes, combat feedback, character death, and a robust UI notification system. You’ll also learn to use asynchronous loading for startup data and create a custom function library for handling damage.
Next, we’ll implement AI avoidance and strafing using a blend of Blueprint and C++ behavior tree nodes to craft advanced AI behaviors. We’ll incorporate the crowd following component for detour crowd avoidance and explore behavior tree node types and the environment query system to determine strafing locations.
With our enemies capable of dealing damage, we’ll refine our hero’s combat abilities by adding directional rolling, directional hit reactions, blocking, parrying, and target locking. You’ll learn to use motion warping for dynamic rolling distances and handle most of the heavy lifting in C++ for the target lock ability.
Following this, we’ll introduce a ranged enemy that shoots projectiles and retreats when approached. We’ll then add a boss character complete with a boss bar, powerful melee attacks, and the ability to summon other enemies. Once our combat system is fully functional, we’ll develop a survival game mode with enemy waves. We’ll create multiple widgets, including a win screen, lose screen, pause menu, and main menu. Finally, we’ll port everything to a real map for epic battles against our enemies.
This comprehensive RPG course is unmatched online. With detailed code changes provided in each lecture and a step-by-step approach, there’s no better time to create your dream RPG project. What are you waiting for? Join the course and start your RPG adventure today!
Instructor Details
- 4.7 Rating
760 Reviews
Vince Petrelli
When I started my career as a technical artist, I was driven by a deep desire to make a significant difference in the work I was doing. Specifically, I wanted to help my co-workers enhance their work efficiency and productivity within the Unreal engine. Leveraging my prior experience as a teacher, I discovered my knack for simplifying intricate concepts and explaining them in a way that was accessible to anyone willing to learn.
As my aspirations evolved and I contemplated becoming an online instructor, those around me frequently asked, "What kind of instructor do you envision yourself becoming?"
In my view, I firmly believe that no subject is too daunting when you have a knowledgeable instructor who can guide you through each and every step. By employing a clear, step-by-step approach, anyone can acquire mastery in their desired area, including Unreal.
That is precisely the kind of instructor I aspire to be—an instructor who empowers learners by providing comprehensive guidance and enabling them to confidently navigate their Unreal journey.
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Reviews
By Prashant Verma on 3/25/2026
Vince is a brilliant coder, and it is quite evident he has abundant knowledge of coding in unreal. But he isn't describing what he is doing, which is akin to just watching a man code, and we are left to our own devices to understand what is going and why this particular code is needed. Still I am going to keep this course because I am taking Vince's code and putting it in Claude to understand what's going on.
By Eemeli Heinonen on 3/10/2026
Thanks for creating the course! So far quite a lot of things have been done without explanation as to why. I understand that this is as slightly more advanced course, and on one hand it's nice that the course progresses quite quickly, but I do feel like a bit more reasoning / explanation would lead to a better learning experience
By Mark Melvin on 1/23/2026
TLDR: Do not take it if this is your first course, the explanations are there but only if you are familiar with over all unreal engine c++. Great stuff in here and my mind is being blown away. I just got to the adding gameplay tags section of this course. What I can tell right away is this is not for beginners just like the description says. I would strongly recommend beginner c++ unreal engine courses first before diving into this. Vince does explain what he is doing while he is doing it but it is not a beginner level explanation. It makes sense if you understand the basics before diving in. This has really enlightened me on some really awesome key tips and pointers. Mind opening and I am excited for the rest of the course.
By Rudi Lee on 11/30/2025
I really like Vince's approach of teaching, it is bite sized and very easy to understand and take node for future references when we're working on our own projects. He also show you why we do what we do and what will happen if we don't i think that is something that separate Vince from other instructor (they might just tell you to do this/that but not why and if not) I'm used to take 2 other big name instructor's course and i was wondering if there's other way of implementing the same topic i found that Vince approach are more of 'How can we design this framework for Designer / Artists to implement' so most of the things are parameterized and easily tweak-able without opening C++. And also finding new way to implement something, and also considering if it's optimize to do so. If you've taken other instructor GAS course, this course definitely also a must, because it touches on different things, different approach so you could have more understanding of how to implement things efficiently and differently. Was hoping if Vince could make a Quest / Dialogue system tho, there's none in the market so far.
By Tejeswaar Reddy on 10/12/2025
I feel like the way he presents the concepts is a bit off — don’t get me wrong, though, it sometimes feels like I’m listening to another language. That said, this is the best RPG course I’ve taken so far. I’m learning so many advanced concepts! Just a small heads-up: this course is not for beginners. In fact, it’s not even for those slightly above beginner level. You need to already understand Unreal’s input system at least on a surface level, and be familiar with OOP and templates. Overall, I loved this course. I’m giving it five stars because I can’t blame him for his way of speaking — the content itself is fantastic. I’ll update this review once I complete the course.
By Riccardo Tedesco on 10/3/2025
A course that goes beyond expectations. The explanations are clear, thorough, and provide solid foundations not only to follow the project, but also to create complex and different RPGs on your own. The teacher’s passion and expertise shine through every lesson, turning learning into a truly inspiring journey. Five stars well deserved… and if I could, I’d give six!
By Imran Aurangzeb on 9/20/2025
This is by far the most comprehensive Unreal Engine course I’ve come across. There are plenty of YouTube videos and shorter courses that touch on Gameplay Abilities (and other concepts covered in the course), but none of them explain the complexity and functionality with the level of clarity and depth that Vince Petrelli provides here. While the course is taught in C++, it also offers tremendous value for Blueprint programmers, as it shows exactly what’s happening under the hood and provides a solid foundation for bridging into more advanced development. The explanations are clear, detailed, and structured in a way that makes complexity approachable. I would recommend a basic understanding of Unreal Blueprints and some coding fundamentals if you want the most benefit from this course. Five stars!
By Mong Yang on 9/14/2025
This instructor has delivered fantastic courses on Unreal Engine 5 in the past and he continues to deliver. I'm currently half-way throughout this course and I have learned how to the prepare hero/enemy characters for GAS and add new abilities to them. I like how each section is well portioned into small videos. Each video clearly explains what is going to be learned and how a task or goal is going to be completed. The instructor provides great tips. He is also great at pointing out bugs and finding solutions. It is a lengthy course but the content so far has been simple to follow and understand which is why I'm excited to continue learning!
By Dionisio Luis Sevidal on 3/31/2025
5 STAR~ this is the best course about GAS in UE5 in all of the internet! Sir! you're the best instructor in the world, before this, i never learned c++ let alone write but the way you explain things while typing those codes makes me understand how they work easily especially when i see the outcome, and i got a lot of AHA! moments with this course, I still do not know how to write without reference so i replay the videos and search online and i modify the codes to make my game and as early as now my hobby project is better, i will be waiting for another course like this from you.
By ZhuoMing Li on 12/3/2024
This is the second course I have learned from Vince. After studying this course, I have a better understanding of GAS. Vince explains the details very well and he is a very nice guy. He always stays on the Discord channel to answer our questions and try his best to help us. It is very nice to meet you, Vince, now, I am going to start the third course of yours, keep it going, Vince, bring more awesome course for us












