How not to fight...

[Aglaeca]

So, I attempted my first combat Evah! Having read the two combat guides and the wiki, and making very little sense out of either, I started by bringing my unarmed combat up to twenty, my melee up to eleven, making a pair of leather pants and choosing several moves from my character sheets martial arts school tab, hoping that this would put them into my "deck" (whatever a deck is.)

I then forayed out against the manxome foe, in this case a lone bat. (I've been holding my own pretty well against rabbits and squirrels up until now.)

Using the attack sword pointer I discovered that "Your approach is blocked" but luckily the waving around of my stone axe and the noise I was making disturbed him enough that he came and attacked me. I then got a screen full of little colourful icons! Yaye!

My theory was that in order to kill him I would have to attack him, and in order to attack him I would have to hit the punch and left hook icons. (All my other options appeared to be defensive.) So I did. Combat was well underway with me milling around the field for awhile before I ascertained that clicking those icons did not, in fact, put them into play. It merely meant that I strolled off to whatever spot on the map had previously been under the icon I clicked on. There was a green triangle in the corner of some of the icons, but clicking icons didn't actually seem to do anything except move me around.

Eventually he mauled my pants off me. Once I was lurching around with my butt looking like a pair of smoothly peeled hard-boiled eggs in the moonlight, it was merely a matter of time before I went from 141 hit points to 112 hit points and collapsing gracelessly into in the grass, and catching a snooze in a rapidly evaporating pool of blood while the bat flapped off peevishly to find a less rowdy neighbourhood to sleep.

So... what is it I am supposed to be clicking on when I want to attack?

I kinda need to kill a bat. It's a quest.

[Amanda44]

A lot of ppl get confused by this, I did the same as you my first time ... the cards in your deck correspond to the number keys on your keyboard and the Fkeys if you are using Amber client, someone else will probably help you more with combat advice as I'm not the best person for that.

Good luck for next time.

[Aglaeca]

Number keys! Thank you!

*cowering in house, applying q12 leeches to my blunt trauma wound *

[ricky]

poor fukken sprucecap

to answer your first question:
cards are activated with keys 1-5 and shift+1-5

Here's the dirt poor, welfare guide to combat:
create a combat deck, initiate combat and kill a monster by keeping your openings low and raising your target's openings enough to deal large sums of damage

within your combat deck assign cards: Attacks, defences, maneuvers.
attacks create openings on your target. have cooldowns which depend on the move
defenses lower openings on yourself. have cooldowns which depend on the move
maneuvers offer special benefits and bonuses. active at all times

openings: the % of damage you wil deal, or recieve, based on your total attack power.
having 50% openings will mean you will take 50% of total damage
there are four openings: red, green, blue, yellow

some attacks and defenses require initiative points(IP)
IP is generated through various moves.

if any more Qs, just ask

refer to this picture:

[Aglaeca]

You're assuming I understand what "Keep your openings low" might mean.

However you have helped much by letting me know that Shift +1-5 will activate some of my cards. I was theorizing that the lower set were probably the bat's combat moves...

I theorize: I should alternate pick different numbers from 1 to 5 during the fight so as to bring into play attack and defense and maneuver. If I see flying blood it's probably mine and I should pick numbers that correspond to the lavender coloured buttons, which are the defensive ones, and that should "lower my openings" so I take less damage. If I am not bleeding pick the number that is beside one of my two red attack icons and keep hitting it. Like so: 3-3-3-3!!! Or if I am spraying blood in all directions: 2-2-2-2!!

Many thanks!

I have made myself a new pair of leather pants.

Is there a specific way to heal "severe mauling?"

I think I will go try to test combat next on a lone ant. One ant. Not two.

[ricky]

You're assuming I understand what "Keep your openings low" might mean.

I actually assumed you didnt, and went on to explain what openings were, how they worked, and how to lower them.

just in case i did a poor job:

openings go from 0 to 100% (indicated by the various colored cards above your character, refer to the picture)
use defences of corresponding color to lower them.
dont pay attention to your blood spatter or HP, pay attention to your openings

it's generally a more viable strategy to raise one color of openings on an opponent than focus on raising several different colors.
50% green opening is better than 12.5% openings on each red, blue, green, and yellow.

[sMartins]

Yeah, use one ant to test combat .. you can always outrun them if needed, and also running around give you plenty of time to see and check what you are doing.

[Amanda44]

Is there a specific way to heal "severe mauling?"

I think I will go try to test combat next on a lone ant. One ant. Not two.

You can treat severe mauling with hartshorn salve, i'll include the wiki link ...

http://ringofbrodgar.com/wiki/Hartshorn_Salve

If you attack one ant any others from the anthill will attack also, so find a hill with just 2/3 ants.

Actually I may be wrong about them all attacking, that happens when you raid an anthill, I've never attacked one without raiding so not sure on that ...

[MagicManICT]

Maybe the following will be helpful to you or others. As they say in other MMOs, the organization of your skills is as important as the skills you have hotkeyed to efficiently and successfully play the game.

The Complete Noob Combat deck should look like this (from a character that has just bought combat skills and no discovered moves):

1. 2x Punch -- your attack (and only attack) (1)
2. 2x Quick Dodge
3. 1x Sidestep
4. 1x Jump -- your 3 defenses (you don't start with a red defense)
5. 1x Chin UP -- can be swapped for To Arms if you're going Melee combat (2)

Two notes:
(1) Left hook does 50% more base damage for only 33% longer cooldown, however, since you start with a second Punch, it's a better pick to start due to the 'mu' multiplier value of having more of one type of card. Additionally, early development will usually get you Chop fast, and it is also green, so you end up sticking with Punch to generate openings quickly.
(2) If you are going to go melee combat heavy, it'll be better if you have Yeomanry first so you get Shield Up and, of course, carry a shield. At least to start. Later you might end up dropping the shield all together for other more advanced options.

I set mine up in about that order, and basically spam 1 until I need to lower openings, then they're on 2, 3, 4 respectively (and 5 for red defense once you get one). My maneuvers and "utility" cards go to the shift keys.

Yeah, use one ant to test combat .. you can always outrun them if needed, and also running around give you plenty of time to see and check what you are doing.

Good way to pick up a few extra cards, too, before trying to take on bats or larger. Expanding the combat deck is just as important as purchased skills are.

[Aglaeca]

This is all very helpful. I was actually attacked by a bat tonight while chasing rabbits to get the hides to invest in leather boots and I fought back instead of running screaming - I might have been winning because it flew away over a cliff and I lost it... But I didn't lose ANY hard hit points!!!

*Dances around doing boxer's self-congratulatory hand clap *