Combat

Information

The fight resolves WHEN the expedition ends, not while it runs, and it is deterministic: the seed is fixed at the start, so the same sheet with the same seed always gives the same result. That is why the client can show you the fight without making anything up, and why nobody can reroll it until it goes their way.

Each encounter goes in turns: you strike first — as many times per turn as your attack speed says, carrying the leftover fraction — and the creature answers once. Evasion and crits roll against the same seed. Between encounters you rest a little, and that is the whole of it: no potions, no starting over.

During an outing, under your frame and your target's there is a row of small icons with each side's active effects: green border if it helps, red if it hurts, and below it what is left (minutes, rounds or shield hits). Hover one to see what it is and what it does. It shows food dishes, the spell shield and the debuffs creatures leave on you (poison, bleeding and the rest); later effects will go in the same row.

Armor does not subtract damage: it divides it. With armor equal to the constant, a hit lands at half; with double, at a third. That keeps armor from ever making anyone invulnerable no matter how much stacks up, and makes the first piece worth more than the tenth.

Bestiary

Falling is not dying: it is coming back early. You are paid for the part of the road you did — gold and experience for the enemies you defeated — and NONE of what was promised for reaching the end. That is why better gear does not pay "a bit more": it pays arriving.

What you fight with is decided by the WEAPON you have equipped, not by your class. A wizard holding a sword hits with the sword, and is wrong to. The three styles have to feel different without any of them being the right one.

The math

Every combat calculation, with the real numbers. There is no second hidden formula: these are the ones the server runs, and the values come from the same catalogue the game uses.

The order of an incoming hit is not a detail: first ARMOR, which divides; then RESISTANCE, which takes a percentage of what is left; and last BLOCK, which is a roll on the whole hit. The other way round, resistance would be worth less the more armor you had, and two defensive pieces would compete instead of adding up.

Defenses are capped, and not for tidiness. A character you cannot hit farms without limit, and in a game with a real economy that is not a fun problem: it is a printing press.

Agility adds no damage: it gives attack speed on a curve (45 points give +45 %; never more than +90 %), critical chance and evasion. Critical damage comes from your weapon and gear, not from agility. Strength gives physical damage and no health: health comes from Vitality, and the health strength used to give is now granted by the class (5.4 per level for strength classes). The exception is the Rogue, the pure-agility class, who also hits with agility (0.15 per point), like the Guardian with Vitality and the Bard with Charisma. The Hunter also hits with agility (0.25 per point) and pays for it with 40 % less health and armor: it lives by keeping its distance. The Ranger also hits with agility (0.15 per point). No weapon carries a penalty: any class hits in full with any weapon it can wield. What belongs to your class pays off more: each point in an attribute of its focus yields 30 % more, and the rest pay in full.

Creature debuffs

Some creatures, not all, leave something on you when their hit lands. It shows in your frame's effect row, in red, with the turns it has left.

Only with a hit that lands (not if you dodge it or the shield stops it whole). The chance is small and grows with the creature's level: a quarter in the first levels, full from 40. They don't stack: the same one again refreshes its duration. They last turns of that fight and the rest between fights cures them. The Glutton's Ring makes them last twice as long, with a cap.

Melee

The one that was always there and the yardstick for the other two: hits hard, hits at normal pace, and eats everything that comes. It uses your physical damage, no discount and no surcharge. If you do not know what to bring, bring this.

It hits with the physical damage on your sheet, no discount and no surcharge, at one hit per turn of base speed. It has no opening advantage: the creature arrives on the first turn and from there both trade blows until one falls.

What moves it

What to carry

Physical damage·Crit chance·Agility·Attack speed·Strength

Who hits like this

Weapon

A weapon of a hybrid line (Templar, Threshold, Sap or Rune) hits with half the physical damage and half the magic one: it performs like a pure weapon and rewards raising both.

The trade-off for having no trick is that EVERYTHING improves it. Ranged gives up damage for speed and the mage pays mana per blow; melee collects in full whatever your sheet says, so every point of physical damage, crit and speed feels equally good. It is also the only one that takes every blow, which is why it gets the most out of armor.

Ranged

Hits more often and softer, and opens every encounter with a FREE shot: the creature takes a turn to arrive. Against a big slow one that round of advantage is half the fight; against a fast one it is not enough and the damage cut shows. It is the style that wins before it starts, or does not.

It trades damage for hits: each arrow lands for less but they come more often. In damage per turn it sits barely above melee, so the real difference is not there: it is in the turn the creature takes to arrive.

What moves it

What to carry

Physical damage·Crit chance·Agility·Attack speed·Move speed

Who hits like this

Weapon

A weapon of a hybrid line (Templar, Threshold, Sap or Rune) hits with half the physical damage and half the magic one: it performs like a pure weapon and rewards raising both.

Arrows are not worn: they stack in the backpack and are spent, one per shot. Without arrows the bow does not shoot and the character just stands there; with them, the arrow adds its damage to the shot.

That free turn is the whole advantage, and it is enormous against whatever hits hard and slow: one blow less taken per encounter, multiplied by every encounter of the expedition. Against fast things it is not enough, and there the damage cut shows. And since it splits the same damage into more hits, the creature's armor weighs more on it: armor divides EVERY hit, so dividing many small ones leaves less than dividing a few big ones.

Magic

Hits with MAGIC damage, the other half of your sheet, and every blow costs mana. When mana runs out you fight with the staff, which hits for half: running dry has to hurt. It is also the only style that uses the spells you have equipped, up to two.

It hits with MAGIC damage — the other half of your sheet, the one intelligence drives — and every blow spends mana. It is also the only style that casts the spells you have equipped: one per turn, before the blows, and always the most expensive one you can pay for that is ready.

What moves it

What to carry

Magic damage·Mana·Intelligence·Mana regen·Cooldown

Who hits like this

Weapon

A weapon of a hybrid line (Templar, Threshold, Sap or Rune) hits with half the physical damage and half the magic one: it performs like a pure weapon and rewards raising both.

The spell choice is not random and is worth knowing: it casts the most expensive one that fits in your mana and is off cooldown. The healing one only casts below 60 % life and the shield one only if no shield is up, so carrying one of each kind does not waste turns.

Mana is the mage's hourglass: it is spent per blow and per spell, and between encounters it comes back in the same fraction as life. With full mana it hits harder than anyone; dry, it hits for half with the staff. That is why maximum mana and its regeneration are not decoration on the arcane line: they decide how many encounters it lasts before turning into a bad warrior.