- Introduction
- The basis
- Move Categories
- Points and Meters
- Skill Cateogires
- Attack
- Maneuvers
- Moves
- Special Moves
- Basic Usage
- Unarmed Combat
- Melee Combat
- Fighting animals
- Kicking the ant hill
- Scwew wabbits! I’m hunt’g foxes! Huhuhuh
- Hakuna Matata this!
- Run, Bambi, Run!
- Humans are smarter than your average bear!
- Skill Listing
- Range Combat
- FAQ
- Conclusion
- Change Log
1. Introduction.
Combat in Haven and Hearth is different from most other games played before and many people often stumble trying to understand how to fight. There is little room for leeway as the possible practice targets, the ants and especially foxes and above are not very forgiving since animals will kill you and death is a very tragic experience, thus experimenting is difficult. I decided to clarify on how the system works and make it easier for everyone. While I am fairly competent with system, I am not a powerful PvP player strategic-wise of yet as I need more time to develop more advanced strategies and meta-game.
2. The Basis.
Before we begin, we need to cover the basics and concept of the combat system. First of all there are various different stats that you need to be concerned of. First I will show a picture of combat in progress:
Here I am currently fighting against a fox which is pretty much the most mediocre opponent of the game. Now I will break down each combat stat and explain their significant.
A. Combat Stats.
Initiative Points:
Initiative, or IP, is what you use to simply move, attack, or use special abilities. They can be generated through certain moves as well as defensive maneuvers. Most actions costs IP, some require you to simply have a certain amount of IP but will not deduct them and a few moves requires both. Here is an example.
The number to the left is the cost which is subtracted from your IP total while the number on the fight is the amount of IP you need to use the ability after the cost. In this example, it will cost 3 IP to use this skill and require 7 IP to remain afterwards. In short, we need 10 IP and 7 IP will remain afterwards.
Attack/Defense Meter
The attack meter is the current effectiveness of your attack when you use it. A full meter means that you will use 100% of your combat stats in your attack while a 25% meter means you will only use a quarter of it. Each time you use an attack skill, it will deplete the attack meter completely. Though it does gradually regenerate, there are several ways to refill this meter quickly. Some skills deplete the meter, usually defensive oriented moves. As show above, my attack meter is 100% because I have not used an attack yet while the fox's is about 50% as it had attempted to attack me a several seconds before. Should both of us attack now, I will utilize 100% of my combat skill while the fox only will use 50%.
The defense meter is, for lack of better words, your shield or buffer HP. In most cases, the enemy must deplete your defense meter before they can be able to damage your actual HP. The amount of defense meter depleted after an attack depends on the enemy's combat skill (attack meter included) versus your combat skill. Should your defense meter get depleted, the rest of the attack will apply to your HP. Note that it is very important to keep this meter up or the animal will start spamming attacks to constantly hit you. In the picture above, I lost a bit of defense meter from the fox's attack but my HP is untouched.
Advantage Scale
The advantage scale, or just Advantage, determines whether your attacks and defense will be more or less effective versus your opponent. The more the scale leans towards your direction, the more advantage you have over them and vice versa so ideally you want the scale to weight towards the left. Several skills will affect advantage scale. The other way to gain advantage is simply landing a hit that damages their HP. In the picture shown above, I have some advantage over the fox so its attack and defense are less effective.
Battle Intensity
The Battle Intensity, or Intensity as I will call it, determines the tempo of the combat. The higher the intensity, the faster the combat speed is. Each time you are the enemy uses a skill, the intensity is increased by 0.5 to a maximum of 10. There are some skills that uses some or all remaining intensity and one that generates it. In the picture, the speed of the fight is at the highest.
Not really a combat stat but this is essentially the portrait that you are fighting against. One thing to note is that you can select the portrait instead of the sprite to target them, which is particularly useful if your enemy is mobile making it hard to click on them. To the left of the portrait is the decision of combat for both sides. By clicking on it, you can toggle your decision to continue the fight or not indicated by an olive branch instead of a sword. If both sides have olive branches, then combat will immediately end.
Agility
Not a combat stat but a character stat. Agility is very important as it affects the cooldown of your move and the faster fighter will have a quicker cooldown. The highest agility ratio difference that matters is 2:1 in which the faster character will have a 20% faster cooldown and the slower character has a 20% slow cooldown resulting in a 120% vs 80% (a 50% difference!). This guide is assuming your agility is low.
3. Skill Categories.
There are four different categories that each skills belong to.
Attacks
These are the moves that you will use to try to damage the enemies. Each time you perform an attack, you will use your entire attack meter to try to harm the enemies. In order to actually damage their HP, you need to first deplete their defense meter. Succeeding in bypassing and striking the enemy, regardless of it damages them due to armor, will result one advantage on the scale towards your direction.
Maneuvers
Every time, the enemy uses a skill in the move category, you will respond with a maneuver. Maneuver is also a factor on what skill you use to defend yourself against should an enemy use an attack skill, a rather important issue especially for those with shields since attacking a shield user while he has a maneuver other than shield will end up using their unarmed combat stat as defense which is most likely not as high as their melee stat. Finally some of the maneuvers will modify your combat stats per reaction but will have a cost so make sure to switch maneuvers wisely. Most of these skills will grant bonus stats according to your unarmed skill vs the enemy's. Note that the cap for maximum advantage gain is 2x meaning you will not be granted more than twice the base gain of the maneuver (ex. no more than 2 IP per move for Death or Glory).
Moves
These are the skills that you will continually use until you use another skill or another move. After an attack or special skill, you will revert to using your last move skill. Each move used will generate 0.5 Intensity. Moves generally affect your attack meter, defense, meter, or IP. Some moves have a requirement and if they are not met, you will stop using the move.
Special Moves
These are skills that will immediately change some of the combat stats. Unlike moves, you will not constantly use them. Many of them cost or require IP and have a greater effect to the stats than moves or maneuvers.
4. Basic Usage.
There are two path of combat that people will proceed on: The Path of Unarmed Combat, and the Path of Melee (weapon)
Combat.
Unarmed Combat
Unarmed has attacks that does not cost IP and one of them does not have any condition making it a fairly staple part of their arsenal. Because of this, they can attack faster than weapon users. They also have the luxury being able to use maneuvers as well. Finally, in PvP, unarmed damage has a 30% percentage of its damage bypass armor. That being said, unarmred combat has its weakness. First, it does not have access to the shield maneuver (obviously) which grants an additional 25% defense as opposed to dodge. The biggest problem is, even if the unarmed combatant has an exorbiant amount of strength. They are not going to deal heavy damage, unless they use knock your teeth out. This is a big problem when hunting as it may cause the animal to flee before you kill it. Finally since they need to use both maneuvers and moves, they have a higher learning curve. Using any client with multiple hotkey features is necessary.
Melee Combat
Melee combatant can deal a good amount of damage which goes up based on the quality of the weapon and what weapon you use, possibly to the point where can one hit kill some animals. It also have access to the shield maneuver which is 25% more effective than unarmed combatant's maneuvers in terms of defense. Melee users do have to worry more about IP since the quickest attack, the sword's "Sting" still cost 2 IP. Unless the melee user have invested some skills into unarmed combat, they are pretty much stuck with shield thus won't gain much benefit from maneuvers and using them will leave themselves vulnerable.
5. Fighting Animals.
Before I begin, if you get knocked out, the animal may attack you again while you are down. If this happens, all of the damage you take will deplete your HHP meaning you can die if you get careless. Against ants, you can fight with just your clogs but for foxes and above, leather armor and above is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. A boat is good as well if you start losing.
Kicking the ant hill
Before starting, you will need at least Will to Power (requisite for all combat skills), Unarmed Combat skill and around 15 points in unarmed combat stat, even those that are planning to go melee path since we are first learning on how to fight.
Go around and find an ant hill so you can practice on ants first. When you find one, walk over it and use attack > punch. It will go over to you and attack, damaging your defense a bit while your punch will either hurt it or damage its defense.
Next use moves > jump. Notice how jump will repeat itself after it is finished. Each time you jump you will restore some attack meter. Wait until it is full before punching again. Repeat this until the ant is dead. No go ahead and try on another ant. Notice that your meter is not completely recharged from the last fight. Keep that in mind if you are planning to engage a good amount of enemies in short notice. Ants are pretty easy and deal around 15-30 HHP after knockout afterwards so they aren't entirely deadly unless you were severely wounded.
Scwew wabbits! I’m hunt’g foxes! Huhuhuh
After you grow stronger, try to find a fox. No, we’re not going to pull out a sling and pelt it with stones from a damn boat. For a fox, I recommend you having unarmed combat/swordsmanship, soldier training, brawling, and warrior spirit, and around 40 unarmred or melee. Use the dash skill on it to provoke it and check its level. If it is 5 or above, just kill it with a sling. Anything under you can attempt. Move away from it until you lose and let the game drop combat before returning. Open one side of the box and engage it with dash. You need to start off with a skill that gives you IP since the fox has a skill that gives it advantage if your IP is 0. Foxes are a good deal stronger than ants and will take off more defense than the insects. If the fox takes out all of your defense and damage you in one swipe, then it is probably too tough for you (or you didn’t engage it correctly) and best find a place to retreat such as a boat or shallows. Now if your defense is able to hold, read on.
Notice dash is slower than charge is but refills defense and adds IP. You will want to wait until you have around 6 IP. What you do next depends on if you are an Unarmed Combatant or Melee Combatant.
Unarmed: This should be straight forward for you. The best way to get IP is to use dash as your move and the death or glory as your maneuver for a few turns before switching to dodge so you won't lose further defense. Once you have 6 IP, use flex until you have full attack meter and use punch. The punch is going to take off a good amount of its defense. Flex your attack meter up to 100% again and punch. Repeat this but use slide or (temporarily switch to Maneuver > Oaken Stance if you have "Tales by the Hearth" skill) if your defense starts running low. Most likely the fox will run away from you at since point. Go after it with running speed and switch to sprinting when you can flex, and then punch it which will most likely to kill it.
Melee: Keep gaining IP until you reach 10 IP. Use Sting (sword) or chop (axe) to reduce the fox's defense. Regain up to 10 IP again with Dash, recharge your attack meter with Flex and attack again, hopefully depleteing a majority of the fox's defense, if not completely breaking it and damaging it. If the defense is still around 40%, you may want to use Side Step to gain advantage first. Otherwise, use flex once more before using a Valorous Strike to try to finish it off. Most likely you will either kill it or it will flee if you have enough IP, chase after it with sprint and attack it.
Hakuna Matata this!
Unlike the fox and the ant, the boar is an aggressive creature and may attack you without provocation. Aside from being stronger than the fox, the boar will also use a move that will grant it combat advantage making his attack and defense more effective. Once it reaches 3, it will now has access to two new moves, a tusk gore attack that is twice as effective as its normal attack, and a move that will rapidly charge up its attack and defense. In other words it is in your best interest to keep the advantage at least neutral. Boars and animals above can not only break signs, they can break most barricades as well including kilns, runestones, and the boat you are riding on top of! Against a boar, I recommend having unarmred/swordsman, soldier training, brawling, warrior spirit, and around 100 combat stat. It's a fairly large gap between fox and boar because you have to worry about combat advantage and can be hard to get used to at first try.
Again, make sure to be your defense can survive its initial attack. Start using dash. Keep Dashing until you reach up to 6 IP which allows you to use Move > Flex to rapidly charge your attack meter. If your defense gets too low, use move > Slide to exchange attack for defense (note that you need attack meter to gain any defense from slide). If you see the boar get combat advantage (the animation looks like a boar charging), use Special Move > Sidestep to counter it. If you have Tales by the Hearth skill, dash until you get up to 10 IP before using Special Move> Invocation of Skuld to gain combat advantage. If you don't have it, use Sidestep whenever you can. Try to get +3 advantage.
Unarmed: You will want to use a few turns of Death or Glory to gain IP before switching to Oaken Stance to replenish the defense, Once you reach 6 IP you can use flex to replenish attack meter lost by oaken stance. Do the same flex/punch combo against the boar but be mindful of not only your defense but the advantage scale so use Sidestep or Invocation of Skuld to counter it. The difference is that the boar runs slower so you can chase it down easily with running speed. When chasing a boar, 1 punch which will most likely to kill it.
Melee: Get yourself up to 10 IP and and use Sting or Chop to try to break the boar's defense. Because of the +3 advantage, your attack are most likely going to take off a majority of its defense. Recharge to 10 IP again with dash and your attack meter with flex and attack again, you should be able to either kill it or make it run. Chase after it as it runs slower than running speed, and use an attack to kill it.
Run, Bambi, Run!
Deer are even stronger than boars are and they can also heal themselves as well as other animals within a huge range. They also come in herds as well as a bunch of deer may end up chain healing any forest creature nearby. Fortunate they are not aggressive and, unlike Aurochsen and Mouflons, attacking one does not cause the other in the herd to attack you. Also unlike the boar, the deer will not try to gain combat advantage over you. That being said, fights against deer are more of an endurance fight than anything tactical.
Warrior Spirit are a must against a deer to boost your attack fast enough to overcome their healing as well as a combat skill 150. Fight the same way as you would against a boar except worry more about your defense than combat advantage. Whenever you have enough IP, try to gain combat advantage through Sidestep or Invocation of Skuld up to +5. Dash until you get 6 IP and as much defense as you can get.
Unarmed: Now use the same Punch/Flex method as you would against a boar until you are able to hit it. Once you do, use only 1-2 flex before punching each time. The reason being is that you cannot afford to wait till your attack meter is full as the deer will heal especially if you are fighting one with a few others deer nearby. Switching to bloodlust when the deer's attack meter is low can help but don't forget to switch back when it is over 50%. If you find that they are healing faster than you are doing damage, then consider luring the deer away from the pack. Just be sure to do this when their attack meter is empty.
Melee:Build up to 12-14 IP then use sting/chop to try to break its defense and flex to raise your attack meter back up, once you manage to damage it, use only 2 flex instead of charging all the way up and attack so you can deal damage fast enough to overcome its healing. If you are strong enough, you may possibly kill it in almost immediately as deers have less maximum HP than boars.
Humans are smarter than your average bear
Bears are pretty much the toughest animals of the game. They initially lack fancy moves such as healing themselves or gaining combat advantage but more than make up for this with pure unadulterated brute force. Bears deal a lot more damage than all other animals and can take off a lot more defense while being equally tough to take its defense down. Bears can also use the bite move that foxes have which is a lot more effective due it the bear's high combat abilities. Also, like the fox, it can gain combat advantage if your IP is 0 so it is best to start off with dash or charge. The bear also have the boar's move that lets it gain attack and defense rapidly if it's advantage is 3 or above. However this is not the the most dangerous aspect of the bear. Once its health becomes low, its icon changes where its eyes glow and steam comes from its nostril. This is what I refer as being enraged. When this happens, it gains a skill to regain ALL of its attack meter at once as well as gain a "Maul" attack that is even more effective than the bite attack and can deal damage that can overpower a decent bronze armor! In otherwords, when it is in berserk mode, kill it fast! I highly recommend you getting as much of the combat moves as well as a weapon. To stand up against the initial attack of the bear, a combat skill of at least 250 is recommended and over 150 total str AND m con as well as good metal armor. No I'm not kidding, you need that much especially armor since a hit from an enraged bear can demolish mediocre armor and deal a TON of damage. If anything, fight the bear near shore or near your boat so you can escape.
Before you start, make sure that both your attack and defense meter are full.
Unarmed: You need your attack meter so that you can use the slide move for extra defense. You will be either at Dash by default or Slide for defense. The rest of the fight, you are going to switch maneuvers. When you are doing this, make sure to keep an eye on the bear's attack meter and switch back to your best defensive maneuver when it is 60% full. If you are low on attack due to slide, use blood lust for a bit before switching to dodge. If you have full defense and the bear does not have much attack meter, consider using Death of Glory 1-2 turns. I wouldn't recommend oaken stance since you won't gain as much defense as slide.
Your main task is to stay alive and constantly try to gain combat advantage to ease the pressure off of you. It is important to keep an eye on your defense meter. Once you have +5, try to gain a good amount of IP for a lot of Knock his Teeth out. Then start using the Punch/Flex combo to start dealing damage to its defense and HP. Now when he starts going in Berserk Mode. Switch Punch to Knock his Teeth out, and use only two flex each time.
Melee: Start using Dash on it to gain IP and defense, and Slide when your defense gets low. Whenever you can get 4 IP, use Sidestep for advantage. Do this until you have +5 combat advantage as well as a good amount of IP for your basic weapon attacks and flex. Now use Sting/Flex (or Chop/Flex) combo. Do NOT use valorous strike or you will lose all combat advantage. Because you deal more damage than unarmed combat, two things will happen: you may deal enough damage to simply bypass the Berkser mode, or the bear will run away. If it runs, simply just stand there. The bear will return passively to you, stand next to you, and do nothing at all. Finish it as you please.[/list]
6. Skill Listing
A. Attacks
Punch
Requires: Unarmed Combat
The most basic attack and utilizes your unarmed skills. This is one of the two attack skill that requires no IP to use and will be the staple most for new combatants. It is is used by unarmed combatant as a mean of depleting the defense of the enemies or constant barrage of attack through the Flex move.
Knock his teeth out!
Requires: Brawling
6 IP
Mainly for those that are more unarmed oriented as it requires a decent amount of IP but does twice the amount of damage as punch would. If you know the next punch is going to make the animal run, it is best to finish it with this.
Strangle
Requires: Brawling
Both hands must be empty
Less than 4 Intensity
Deals 50% more than punch and requires no IP. However it only uses 80% of your unarmed skill and the battle intensity needs to be less than 4. One thing noticable is that Strangle does not remove 4 intensity on a hit, inf fact it adds 1 intensity. You will mostly be using this when you mostly depleted the animal's defense but the intensity is low after repeatly hitting it or chasing an animal.
Sting
Requires: Swordsmanship
Holding a sword
2 IP
A simple sword attack that utilizes your melee skill. The low IP cost means you can easily have one ready. In terms of damage, swords are on the middle line between fists and axes. However its low IP means you can utilize this faster than axes.
Chop
Requires Militia Training
Holding an axe
4 IP
A simple axe attack that utilizies your melee skill. Axes have higher IP cost for their basic attack thus may be slower to prepare for. In terms of damage, the stone axe is low on damage while the battle axe has a very high damage. Keep in mind that chop and cleave has a long cooldown.
Cleave
Requires Militia Training
Holding an axe
8 IP
+3 Advantage
An advanced axe attack that does 50% more damage than Chop. As battle axe have already very high damage, a cleave from a battle axe is going to either severely wound the enemy or defeat them in one blow. However the IP cost is very prohibiting and it also requires 3 advantage points which is very difficult to maintain because of the below attack. However if you have a strong advantage, you should use this instead of the attack below. Keep in mind that chop and cleave has a long cooldown.
Valorous Strike
Requires: Swordsmanship
Holding an axe or sword
6 IP
This attack deals up to 75% and utilizes your melee skill. A valorous strike is an extremely damaging move with no requirement other than the 6 IP. One of its biggest feature is the fact that it will reset the advantage to 0 for both side regardless if it hits or not. This means that someone who has enough IP can reset the advantage if is not favorable to them. Of course using it in this manner will also deplete your attack meter. Valorous strike has a large cooldown though.
Maneuvers
Blood Lust
Requires: Warrior Spirit
Each move your opponent makes will partially refill your attack meter. However the cost is that your unarmed defense is cut in half while under this maneuver so make sure to not get caught in an attack with this on by making sure their attack meter is low.
Combat Meditation
Requires: Fire and Ice
Each move your opponent makes will cut down the cooldown of your next move. This can be a tricky maneuver to use but very useful when you wish to use a high cooldown skill. Just note that each time you react with this, your opponent gets .2 advantage so this is not something you want to use long at all as advantage is a powerful factor in battle.
Death or Glory
Requires: Valor
Each move you opponent makes will grant you IP while lowering your defense meter by 10%. Generating IP is useful but while using it you must keep an eye on your defense meter or that IP won't do any good if the enemy can be able to capitalize on your low defense. A favorite for berserk oriented fighters as they don't care about defense.
Oak Stance
Requires: Tales by the Hearth
Each move your opponent makes will grant your defense meter at the cost of attack meter. Unlike Death or Glory, you will not gain any defense mater if you have less than 15% attack meter. This is a move favored by defensive oriented fighter but may require jump or switching to bloodlust to refill the attack meter. It's a decent maneuver to switch to if you are expecting an attack.
Dodge
Requires: Unarmed Combat
Unlike most of the others, this move doesn't do anything if your opponent makes a move. It is essentially a risk-free move but does not come with any advantage either. It's a decent maneuver to switch to if you are expecting an attack but want to counterattack since you do not want to lose attack from oaken stance.
Shield
Requires: Militia Training
Holding a Shield
Unlike most of the others, this move doesn't do anything if your opponent makes a move. It is also the only maneuver that utilizes your melee skill for your defense, adding 25% bonus defense to it as well. A great skill if you are expecting an attack and you have more or equal melee skill than unarmed. However if you are much better at unarmed, you are better off using dodge or oaken stance. Battle-axe users cannot hold a shield and thus cannot use this skill which puts them in an awkward position that they need Unarmred stat for defense and Melee for offense.
Call down the Thunder
Requires: Leadership
This moves simply just generates one IP and has a long cooldown. However it is the only two skill (the other is shoot) in the game that can be used at a distant. Some people may want to use this to deny any maneuver bonus to the enemy but most often used for taming mouflons or aurochsen.
Charge!
Requires: Brawling
A skill with a small cooldown which grants one IP and a bit of attack meter at the cost of defense. Because of the quick cooldown and defense cost, you may want to keep an eye on your defense. It is however one of the best way of gaining IP.
Dash!
Requires: Valor
A skill with a moderate cooldown while granting some defense meter and one IP. It is a fairly safe move to use with no drawbacks but not particuarly strong points either.
Feign Flight
Requires: Tricks and Ruse
Less than 10% defense meter
A very high risk skill as it requires you to have almost no defense. It has a moderate cooldown that grants 2 IP. In honesty I'm not how this can be effective as opposed to change except if you do not want the enemy to get too much from their maneuvers. To be honest, this is a crappy move.
Flex
Requires: Warrior Spirit
6 IP
A skill with a very fast cooldown and grants 20% attack meter each time. If you have 6 IP, you will definitely want to use this instead of jump. Just keep an eye on your IP after performing a move though. This is the best way of gaining attack meter and is usually comboed with attack skill-set, mainly punch.
Float like a Butterfly
Requires Warrior Spirit
A skill with a moderate cooldown, giving you some defense meter and advantage. However, your opponent will gain 1 IP. This is not a good move.
Jump!
Requires: Unarmed Combat
A skill with a silly name that refill 12% attack meter at a fast interval. The only difference between this and Flex is the fact that jump doesn't require you to have 6 IP while using it. If you do have 6 IP though, use Flex instead.
Push the Advantage
Requires: Soldier Training
+3 advantage
A fairly fast moves that grants 1 advantage. A good skill but may not be used often as someone may try to dissipate your advantage. One hidden cost to this skill is that it uses 5% stamina each time so be careful.
Seize the Day!
Requires: Valor
5 or higher Intensity
75% attack
A move with a fast cooldown that grants a bit of advantage at the cost of defense meter while the opponent loses attack meter. Not as risky as most other skill that cost defense meter as it lowers the enemy attack so they aren't able to capitalize on it. Mostly as a mean to gain combat advantage but beware of Sting like a Bee or Warcry.
Slide!
Requires: Unarmed Combat
A move with a fast cooldown that exchanges attack meter for defense meter. A move that helps you generate defense in a hurry though make sure you have attack meter to fuel it.
Throw Sand
Requires: Tricks and Ruse
A moves that uses 40% of your attack meter to lower the enemy's intiative by 2. A very advanced move that is used against more powerful enemies to deny them of IP. In a 1 v 1 battle, it is useless, but when outnumbering the enemy, it can be devastating especially with flex to fuel it. Don't bother against animals though.
Special Moves
Battle Cry
Requires: Tales by the Hearth
Cost 50% defense
10 battle intensity
14 IP/cost 7 IP
The IP needed to use this is very high and the cost takes a toll on it as well. It also cost 50% defense and requires 10 Intensity. However you gain 2 advantage and completely refill your attack meter. One of the two skill that requires attack meter in one swoop. It can be used to try to take advantage of an enemy with low defense meter if you have low attack meter. In addition, you also get 2 advantage to make your attack count more as well as potentially forcing the enemy to counter your advantage. Just mind the high cost and defense meter cost though.
Consume the Flame
Requires: Fire and Ice
Resets Intensity to 0, losing SHP and regaining stamina. Most commonly used for taming Aurochs and Mouflons. The other usage is to deny the enemy of Intensity for Sting Like a Bee if you don't have enough intiative to use it.
Evil Eye
Requires: Tricks and Ruse
Costing 2 IP, this will completely deplete your opponent's attack meter. Very useful in making sure that you are safer to use some of the higher risk skills of the game as well as deny enemies of a mean to attack. However a round of combat meditation may be needed since this move has an absurdly long cooldown that someone with 6 IP can flex twice as much attack meter back. If timed correctly though, you can use this to deplete their attack meter right when you anticipate their attack, making them waste cooldown and IP.
Fan the Flames
Requires: Fire and Ice
Increases Intensity by 5 and cost 20 stamina. I honestly do not see too much use of this skill as you are stuck with the cooldown of this move while the enemy gets the benefits of faster cooldowns before you do.
Invocation of Skuld
Requires: Tales by the Hearth
10 IP/Cost 3 IP
Grants 25% attack and 1 advantage. A good skill that gives a bit of everything in terms of offense as well as being cheaper than Sidestep. It does take a while to get enough intiative though.
No Pain, No Gain
Requires: Soldier Training
Cost 50% of your remaining SHP
A very risky moves. It depletes 50% of your SHP to gain 50% attack meter and depletes the enemy's defense meter by 25%. Essentially an all or nothing moves. Being ruthless enough, you can defeat the enemy before they can mount a sufficient counter. Just expect to be very hungry afterwards though.
Opportunity Knocks
Requires: Soldier Training
Costs 5 IP to deplete 30% of the enemy's defense meter. A skill you want to use for lowering the defense of an enemy that is very powerful. On a more even scaled battle, you probably will want to use a normal attack to reduce defense meter.
Sidestep
Requires: Brawling
Costs 4 IP to gain one combat advantage. Not the most exciting special move but practical in directly gaining advantage particularly against animals. Humans will try to counter this though.
Sting like a Bee
Requires: Warrior Spirit
A special skill that cost 6 IP and 8% defense meter to refill your attack meter by 10% per Intensity. It is one of the two moves that can potentially refill your attack meters completely and does not carry the inhibiting conditions of War Cry either. The down side is that you will not gain as much attack meter unless the Intensity is 10 compared to War Cry, nor the 2 advantage. Make sure you are the one to utilize this and not your opponent.
Stern Order
Requires: Leadership
Only usable by party leader
This skill cost each member of the party 5 IP to gain advantage point over the chosen target. If the member does not have the required IP, this skill will not affect them. In group battles it is much harder to dissipate advantage as opposed to 1 on 1. However make sure to communicate with your party members or you may end up messing up their tactic.
To Arms!
Requires: Leadership
This skill cost 3 IP to grant some IP to other party members on the chosen target. Not as influential over a battle as Stern Order, it is more safer and possibly more cost effective.
7. Range Combat.
Range operates differently from Melee. Instead of the bunh of IP and meters and stuff, you have one meter which charges up which you can release to fire. Here is how you use ranged combat.
1. Equip a Sling (or bow). You'd be surprised how many people actually forget this part.
2. Select Combat > Shoot.
3. Select Target on the screen (or portrait if you already are engaged in combat).
4. Wait till the meter charge. The speed of the charge up is based on your marksman skills capped by 2x the weapon quality..
5. Left click to shoot. The fuller the meter, the better chance you have of hitting.
Note that your attack meter will completely deplete but has no effect on accuracy or damage. Also the target's defense meter has no effect on whether you hit or miss either. However if you and/or the target moves, you will lose charge meter depending how far either of you move and high skilled you are at marksman.
8. FAQ.
I try to use chop/sting/valorous strike but my characer doesn't do anything.
First of all, make sure you have enough IP to use the attack. Sting cost 2, chop/knock his teeth out cost 4, valorous strike cost 6, and cleave cost 8. Second, make sure you are holding the right weapon, Sting needs a sword while chop/cleave needs an axe. Valorous Strike just needs a weapon.
I'm having trouble fighting an animal. It keeps hitting me and getting advantage. Help!
If you get hit, do not panic. First, you need to get to 6 IP, then use flex to gain some attack, then slide to regain your
defense. Then you can consider getting more IP to either mount and offense or regain advantage. If the animal has 2 or more advantage on you, use valorous strike to reset it. Remember that some animals gots nuts on you if they get +3. If anything get on the boat and run off for a bit and return after battle has been resetted
I have a lot of melee/UA but the lower level animal still hits me.
There are two reasons for this:
- You have the wrong maneuver. Shield utilizes your melee combat as defense, everything else utilizes unarmed combat as defense. Also Bloodlust utilizes only half of your unarmed combat.
- If you are moving to the animal but not using a skill on it, the system may count it as you running away. If anything intiates an attack while you are moving, your defense is reduced to 0 meaning that the full damage of the attack gets through. Even an ant swarm can hit someone with 9001 melee/UA if they are moving around and not towards them.
I can kill ______ animal with less than ## UA/MC.
Yes, it's possible to kill stuff at a combat skill lower level that I suggested with the right technique. However keep in mind that this guide is teaching players that are learning the combat system step-by-step, not to kill animals fast without having them learn the mechanics behind the combat. If you feel that you have a newbie friendly way of defeating animals better than me, then let me know.
I'm following your guide, have the right defense but still having problems!
Post in this thread of the problem. And I can do what I can to see if I can find what went wrong. Other veterans sometimes watch this thread and they may be able to help as well.
9. Conclusion.
That is everything that you need to know about the basic combat system. Although I taught you everything, you need to go out and try it out some more against other opponents as well such as your friends in sparring mode. I hope this has been a good learning experience for you and hope that you are able to use the combat system more effectively and-
oh crap! I forgot I was still fighting the fox!
Whoa.
Poor sap XD
10. Change log
1.402
- Increase needed combat skills taking into account for those that are having problems with the combat system
- Edited several rather obsolete information, mostly on my list of combat skills
- Added armor requirement for bears due to enraged mode.
- Some miscellaneous changes.
1.401
- Adjusted safe range for bears
- Added information on cap (2x) on Delta for maneuvers.
1.4
- Add a section on agility and changed the combat skill requirement to match this based on low agility hearthlings.
- Make mentions that animals can murder now.
- A few misc minor changes.
1.31
- Added additional information about foxes and bears that I discovered.
- Added FAQ section
1.3
- Making the section on animal fighting clearer. Added animal icon for each section for them. Splitting combat method into unarmed and melee section. Add a new section explaining each style.
1.22
- Added boars, deers, and bear. Revised a few comments on move list.
1.21
- Added Range Combat
1.20
- Reorganized the guide. Unfortunately I lost the copies for the previous version.
