How not to suck at combat

[jagged-jimmy]

If you have 5/5 or more in Teron and you are dying all the time, it is not skill points that is your problem.

Tigranes is right.

So let's understand the combat design and stop sucking. Let's gather some general strategies. Feel free to add more or post videos of major battles in Teron (for starters).

To begin, i assume a melee character - Imperial Guards quest line.

Choose either Block OR Dodge, never mix both. Skip Critical Strike, if not going for Daggers. Maybe add some later on. I would suggest investing the SP in social skills instead, because the SP are tight for the most game. So for combat, weapon/defence is enough.

First things first - do the tough fights. Grit your teeth and go fight everyone in Teron. Then go for the raiders, yes i said it. Poison at 2 is mandatory if you don't have CS to kill the leader. Level up Alchemy to 4 afterwards. Use the loot to clean the Aurelian Outpost (poison the guards). With skills and loot, the Antidas fight should be very doable.

vs. low THC
- use aimed attacks on Legs (initial THC too low for that? - use a net!)
- do not wear any helmet (wear upgraded helmets with 0 THC penalty, can be looted too)
- buy accuracy potion if avaialble (must have? -> nope, never used it)
- craft/use +THC weapons (no crafting, problem? -> nope, looted items also have nice upgrades)
- use fast attacks for best THC (enemy is also high DR, problem? - > game seems to be fair, does not happen, otherwise net+special attacks)
- use nets, bolas

=> for the whole game keeping THC high enough with just nets works fine (if necessary at all for pure combat build)

vs. high DR
- use aimed torso attacks (reduced DR by 25%) / power attack (low THC? see above)
- use poison/proc bleeding (works for every battle character - just lvl 2 alchemy required, 4 for even better poison - helps a lot)
- use aimed attack to proc Critical Strike (bypasses DR)
- use fire liquid/bombs AND acid if necessary

=> for the whole game aimed attacks on torso/head worked fine

vs. Groups
- lower enemies THC by aimed attacks to arms
- whirlwind and poison everyone
- reduce number of enemies directly hitting you. Kite - move back while poisoning. Focus on killing one by one fast - reduce dodge by aimed attacks to legs then use high damage attacks (head etc.)
- wear high DR armor to survive (this does help - especially with upgraded gear, which also can be looted, no crafting required)
- risk low THC attacks to kill targets faster (yes - 50% is enough and very well worth it, as only a single hit opens up more heavy hits)
- get HP regeneration potion (reduces total HP, but gives regen)
- if netted - kite away until it wears off (use shield push if required not to eat up AoO)

Equipment:
- Sword users buy Dreamweaver in Maadoran ASAP
- Gradually go through the Arena and use equipment looted there (you get everything you need)

Is enhancing myself by drugs and using items like nets/bolas and alchemy bombs mandatory for any combat character?
-> Can help. Teron is very much doable on 6/6 with poison. Lootable gear is very good and helps a lot.

=> really was forced to use liquid fire/bomb only once - otherwise shrug off enemy attacks with block and proceed to kill one by one


Edit: updated after moar experience.

 

[FreeKaner]

The best combat strat in this game is picking crossbow and reloading the last combat save until you get a knockback on first hit then chaining it into a bronze bolt (barbed if no helmet) arterial strike, kills people right off the bat, use with critical strike for best results both in combat and in dialogue choices beforehand.

 

[Darth Roxor]

vs. low THC (which is common in Teron even with 6-7 Skill)

lolno

- use aimed attacks on Legs (no matter the THC? try&pray? reload like hell?)

net -> stack aimed legs till the end of combat

- buy accuracy potion if avaialble (must have?)

never used a single one

- craft/use +THC weapons (no crafting, problem?)

never had any craftung

- use fast attacks for best THC (enemy is also high DR, problem?)

people with low thc usually don't have high dr

also poison

vs high dr
- use power attack (low THC? see above)

power attack won't help you much vs high dr, gotta do them aimed torsos

or net -> arterial strike spam

- use aimed attack to proc Critical Strike (not skilled for it, problem?)

aimed torso ignores dr even without a crit

- use fire liquid (must?)

very useful, not a must

also acid

vs. Groups
- wear high DR armor to survive

nah

spread poison, corner them with liquid foya, cripple them with crits, do a lot of kiting

also grenades, although they kinda suck

Right now i am a bit confused how aimed attacks can help if my THC with them is 30-40%

net/bola

Is enhancing myself by drugs and using items like nets/bolas and alchemy bombs mandatory for any combat character?

it's 'mandatory' for some fights (as it should be) but nowhere near as common as you make it sound

i'd know, i played a shitty hybrid bowman with 0 craftung and managed to finish the game with a bodycount of 145 (and also only found out the marvels of liquid fire when i got to the 3rd big city), which included beating some really tuff fights


basically, each time you are convinced that you are 'stuck' and forced to rely on rng, take a break for 5 minutes and analyse your options, think about what you're missing and do it (even if it means brewing yourself 4 fire vials and launching them all at combat start by placing them in both your hands and belt bags)

the only thing you need is intellection

 

[Shadenuat]

basically, each time you are convinced that you are 'stuck' and forced to rely on rng, take a break for 5 minutes and reload and put more points into Alchemy/Crafting.

 

[Darth Roxor]

reload and put more points into Alchemy/Crafting.

negus plz (endgame char)

sp can't buy intellection

 

[Shadenuat]

Bow + Alchemy is a very good build.

Too bad you didn't have Blue Steel Arrows tho.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Bow + Alchemy is a very good build.

yeah but i also can't stress enough how many times i got saved by pulling a dagger out of my ass and hiding the bow

Too bad you didn't have Blue Steel Arrows tho.

 

[Shadenuat]

yeah but i also can't stress enough how many times i got saved by pulling a dagger out of my ass and hiding the bow

Strange, with 10 DEX and 8 PER you should have been able to kite everything forevah, just using Push attack from time to time. I also just did 1 step to the side and since diagonal hits count for ranged, shot enemies point-blank.

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

Strange, with 10 DEX and 8 PER you should have been able to kite everything forevah, just using Push attack from time to time.

In my experience push attack has absurdly low THC - you're usually better off just running and hoping they don't get an AOO or you dodge it.

 

[Ninjerk]

arrows

 

[FreeKaner]

basically, each time you are convinced that you are 'stuck' and forced to rely on rng, take a break for 5 minutes and analyse your options, think about what you're missing and do it (even if it means brewing yourself 4 fire vials and launching them all at combat start by placing them in both your hands and belt bags)

If you are playing a ranged character and you don't have a firebomb in your inventory so you can turtle in a corner you are pretty much looking for 10 to 15 reloads each fight to bend rng your way. I reloaded I think 25 times in the mine because I cleaned the first part (spiked the wine, critical strike entry with dialogue) and there were apparently more inside, had to restart the battle several times until I could get bleeding on the workers on first hit so I didn't waste more than one bolt on them on the choke point while kiting back as they died to poison and bleeding. Didn't have anything alchemy related on me and going back would cause them to barricade the entry.

In my experience push attack has absurdly low THC - you're usually better off just running and hoping they don't get an AOO or you dodge it.

It also triggers during your dodge sequences so there is a little bit of rng jockeying there.

 

[Vault Dweller]

basically, each time you are convinced that you are 'stuck' and forced to rely on rng, take a break for 5 minutes and analyse your options, think about what you're missing and do it (even if it means brewing yourself 4 fire vials and launching them all at combat start by placing them in both your hands and belt bags)

the only thing you need is intellection

Sounds like a pretty cool game.

 

[FreeKaner]

Sounds like a pretty cool game.

While you are here, in character creation screen, why is merchant, a class with a guild is on the right side and loremaster is on the left side? I have been losing sleep over how 3 classes on left side have guild images but the last one is the default image of guild-less characters. This is my current biggest gripe with the game.

 

[Ninjerk]

Also, while you are here Vault Dweller, IDR offhand whether grifter starts with any nonzero reputations, but I believe drifter starts with 0 everything. I've only looked at drifter in the character creation screen--is there a balance concern here (however small)? What makes a drifter different than starting any other class with rep. bonuses and just freelancing?

 

[FreeKaner]

Also, while you are here Vault Dweller, IDR offhand whether grifter starts with any nonzero reputations, but I believe drifter starts with 0 everything. I've only looked at drifter in the character creation screen--is there a balance concern here (however small)? What makes a drifter different than starting any other class with rep. bonuses and just freelancing?

I think drifter is supposed to be the carte-blanche character. If you mean the combat skills, they increase with your base attributes and drifter page has no attributes assigned by default.

 

[Ninjerk]

I think drifter is supposed to be the carte-blanche character. If you mean the combat skills, they increase with your base attributes and drifter page has no attributes assigned by default.

You can reassign any attribute on any character.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Drifter is basically a 'None' character.

 

[Darth Roxor]

If you are playing a ranged character and you don't have a firebomb in your inventory so you can turtle in a corner you are pretty much looking for 10 to 15 reloads each fight to bend rng your way.

each time you are convinced that you are 'stuck' and forced to rely on rng, take a break for 5 minutes and analyse your options

the only thing you need is intellection

I reloaded I think 25 times in the mine because I cleaned the first part (spiked the wine, critical strike entry with dialogue) and there were apparently more inside, had to restart the battle several times until I could get bleeding on the workers on first hit so I didn't waste more than one bolt on them on the choke point while kiting back as they died to poison and bleeding

lolwut seriously

these dudes die to 2 barbed arrows tops, after that you can kite the remaining soldiers until they die of boredom

sounds to me like you didnt analyse your options and didnt think of using barbed arrows

 

[Ninjerk]

Why pick a drifter over a e.g. merchant?

 

[FreeKaner]

You can reassign any attribute on any character.

I am aware but if you pull back all your stats from any class, their combat stats will show 0. Drifter starts like this by default, so you might have noticed it but not the other classes.

 

[FreeKaner]

lolwut seriously

these dudes die to 2 barbed arrows tops, after that you can kite the remaining soldiers until they die of boredom

sounds to me like you didnt analyse your options and didnt think of using barbed arrows

I did use bronze barbed against them, the workers are not the problem, the problem is not wasting turns while the soldiers are approaching you, so you can't waste more than one bronze barbed each, since you also have to kite meanwhile.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Sounds like a pretty cool game.

but is it cool enough for a neutral-positive review?

you can follow me to my office if you want to read the early draft

 

[Ninjerk]

I am aware but if you pull back all your stats from any class, their combat stats will show 0. Drifter starts like this by default, so you might have noticed it but not the other classes.

A no-stats merchant will still have 2 rep with the commercium, and 1 rep with everything listed above it. No amount of Charisma investment on the part of the Drifter affects any starting reputation.

EDIT: And now looking at no-stats Loremaster, you get 2 rep with each of the noble houses and 1 from everyone else not to mention the unique quest content.

Does the Drifter have unique quest content or a material advantage that I don't know about (having not started a drifter character)?

 

[Darth Roxor]

I did use bronze barbed against them, the workers are not the problem, the problem is not wasting turns while the soldiers are approaching you, so you can't waste more than one bronze barbed each, since you also have to kite meanwhile.

iirc i killed 2 workers in the 2 opening turns, there was only one left and i could just kite him along with the soldiers

and besides they have clubs and 0 fucking combat skills ffs you can run rings around them while shooting the guards and still get away with it

 

[FreeKaner]

iirc i killed 2 workers in the 2 opening turns, there was only one left and i could just kite him along with the soldiers

and besides they have clubs and 0 fucking combat skills ffs you can run rings around them while shooting the guards and still get away with it

My character might have been unoptimized because my highest stat was critical strike, I could have much higher dodge and crossbow by then, mistakes were made, several of them.

A no-stats merchant will still have 2 rep with the commercium, and 1 rep with everything listed above it. No amount of Charisma investment on the part of the Drifter affects any starting reputation.

Oh you mean the reputations, when you start with a drifter you are pretty much free to choose whatever path and can build up reputations. Drifter is for people who are not part of the system. While Merchants and Assassins are pretty much the lizardmen if you follow their quests through.