Korrode's Combat Guides
Well i figure i may as well post the combat related guides that are now just collecting dust in private sections of Warlords forums here, where they may be of some use to people
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Training attributes guide
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Note that this is a general guide, I don't claim it's completely perfect for everyone's situation or play style, but at the very least it can be used as a basis or to get a general idea.
I'm not interested in debating the 'correctness' of this guide with anyone, if you think you know better, post your own guide.
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My recommendations are geared towards minimizing resources use in training.
Using less HE and SR potions, breaking less armor... in the end it equates to more time on spawn.
There are ways to make slightly more exp per hour than what will be yielded if you stick to this guide, but that exp often comes at too higher cost.
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Firstly, take Reasoning 8 and Vitality 16.
Do not take any Will (ever) or any Instinct (at this point).
Get a Crown of Life and NMT perk or cape.
(EDIT 2009-11-09: If you want a CoL-less guide, i suggest Masterpiter's.)
(EDIT 2010-11-09: MP's guide is outdated (as is obvious by the TS pot references) and frankly, he used that system to level on the PK server where there's 100 a/d cap. It doesn't scale well past 100 a/d. Many of us know he never had 48/48 p/c on fluff on the main server, even when he trained CoL-less. ;p
Simply I don't suggest CoL-less training, just get NMT and good toughness and you'll find that CoL to be quite durable)
Take Aluwen (def) and Unolas (mag) as your gods.
Polar Bears
Recommended p/c: 20/28
Recommended def: 55
Minimum def: 50
Weapon: none
EDIT 2011-06-14: It's been brought to my attention that the Polar Bear had a stats change and is now stronger. Until someone who understands combat well tests training it and lets me know the deal, it's stricken from the guide.
Ogres
Recommended p/c: 20/28
Recommended def: 60
Weapon: none
Armed Female Orc
Recommended p/c: 20/32
Recommended def: 70
Weapon: none
Armed Male Orc
Recommended p/c: 20/32
Recommended def: 75
Weapon: bone
Train Armed Orcs until 85 defense.
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During your time training the above creatures, other than taking the recommended p/c, you need to save pickpoints, as when your time on Armed Male Orcs finishes (~80-85 def), you must have 20 pickpoints saved up to then move to Cyclops.
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Leave Aluwen (def) and change to Mortos (att).
Cyclops
Recommended p/c: 28/44
Recommended def: 85
Minimum def: 80
Weapon:
- bone @ <80 att
- none @ >80 att
Fluffy
Recommended p/c: 28/44
Recommended def: 95
Minimum def: 90
Weapon:
- bone @ <90 att
- none @ >90 att
Train Fluffy until 105 attack.
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During your time training Cyclops and Fluffy, take your Vitality to 20, then build your Instinct and Reasoning to 16.
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Leave Mortos (att) and change to Aluwen (def).
Feros
Recommended p/c: 28/44
Recommended Inst: 16
Recommended def: 100
Minimum def: 95
Weapon: none
Train Feros until 115 defense. (If PK's not important and you're not sick of looking at feros, staying on them to 120 def is a good idea... tbh staying on them till like 125 def is just fine.)
(EDIT 2010-10-31: I reduced the recommended def and added a minimum def, because the old figure was ultra conservative. Note though, you shouldn't move off Fluff to Feros once you get to the recommended defense level unless you've already got your attack to 105 on Fluffy.)
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During your time training Feros, take your instinct to 20 and then save following pickpoints for p/c.
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Leave Aluwen (def) and change to Mortos (att).
Desert Chimeran
Minimum p/c: 36/48
Recommened p/c 48/48
Recommended Reas: 16
Minimum Inst: 16
Recommended Inst: 20
Recommended def: 115
Weapon:
36/48 p/c = Stars medallion + bone
40/48 p/c = Stars medallion (no bone)
44/48 p/c = Bone (no stars med)
Train Desert Chimerans until at least 115 attack. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- During your time training Desert Chimerans, take phys to 48 (if you haven't already) then take instinct to at least 28. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leave Mortos (att) and change to Aluwen (def). 2011-02-04 EDIT: I will note that despite their higher attack, for overall exp there's like no difference between gods on FCW due to their crit-hit rate being higher than the likes of Feros so it gives you less opportunities to dodge. I still suggest Aluwen at this stage because pumping def now isn't a bad thing, you want it for Yeti/Trice, but it's optional. Find a good PvP training partner. 2011-01-31 EDIT: We've just had a few double FCW spawns added to the game. This is great news for people up to this stage of training. To maximise the exp on the double spawns you want to try and be as close to permanently in combat as you can be. You don't want to kill them so fast that after you kill one you still have time to wait for the other to respawn, but not so slow that it respawns while you're still fighting the first one and has a chance to wander off. For me using an Iron Broad sword and doing 1 flee achieves this (i'll note that I was doing too much damage for 2 full rounds of exp, but using a lower damage wep and getting 2 full rounds was taking too long and the other FCW would wander off). I expect that for people in 110's attack a Steel Long Sword will probably be best to achieve this, but perhaps a Titanium Short Sword will be needed. I'd appreciate if people could post feedback on this. Forest Chimeran Recommended p/c: 48/48 Recommended Reas: 20 Recommended Inst: 28 Recommended def: 120 Weapon (2011-01-31 EDIT: Preliminary recommendation): Steel Long Sword Train Forest Chimerans and your PvP partner until at least 130 defense. Train them for longer, see below edits for details. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- During your time training Forest Chimerans/PvP partner, max physique (if not already), then bring instinct to 28 (if not already), then reasoning to 28. (then if you're still not ready for MCW, take instinct to 32, then reasoning to 32.) 2011-01-31 EDIT: IMPORTANT: With the introduction of the double FCW spawns, the MCW has been rendered even more worthless to train than it already was. Until I can convince Radu to drop MCW respawn time to 25 or at least 30 sec I recommend staying on the FCW's until you're at least 125/133 a/d and then you could swap to Mortos (att god) and focus more on the double Yeti spawn and Cockatrices, that said, if you're not sick of looking at the FCW's by then I'd suggest staying on them with Aluwen (def god) and getting a few more levels, as the single Cockatrice spawns will never yield you as much exp and thus for truly effective use of attack god you'd only have the one double Yeti spawn until you can train LOrcs (well, and the one Trice+Fluff spawn, which is good for either god). Also keep in mind that once you go above FCW your chances of breaking armor will significantly increase, so that's another reason to hold off. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leave Aluwen (def) and change to Mortos (att)... finally, this will be your last god change Mountain Chimeran Recommended p/c: 48/48 Minimum r/i: 28/28 Recommended r/i: 32/32 Minimum att: 120 Recommended def: 130 Weapon: Ti Long. (There are better possible weapon choices once you can hit them more easily) Train Mountain Chimerans until at least 125 attack. 2011-01-31 EDIT: Struck-out due to reasoning provided in above edit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- During your time training Mountain Chimerans, bring Instinct to 36 if you haven't already, then place all following pickpoints on Reasoning. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yeti Recommended p/c: 48/48 Minimum r/i: 28/32 Minimum def: 133 Minimum att: 125 Weapon: Cutlass (There are better possible weapon choices once you can hit them more easily) Cockatrice Basically the same as Yeti except use a Jagged Saber, not a Cutlass. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS: Anima - Refinements to Cyclops recommendations. LadyAz - Testing on Armed Orcs LightLan - Refinements to DCW recommendations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Understanding Criticals critical-to-hit and critical-to-damage ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Each combat round in EL is made up of 6 'rolls': 1. CombatantA rolls for hit Critical 2. CombatantA tries to hit 3. CombatantB tries to dodge Then, if CombatantA scored their hit: 4. CombatantA rolls for damage Critical 5. CombatantA deals damage 6. CombatantB absorbs damage This completes CombatantA's combat round, then it's CombatantB's turn. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Critical-to-Hit Whenever a combatant starts a combat round, before anything, their chance of critical-to-hit is calculated. In effect, a dice roll happens, and if you roll over a certain figure, your hit roll is 'critical'. When you roll a critical-to-hit, here's what happens: 1. CombatantA rolls for hit Critical (and succeeds) 2. CombatantA tries to hit 3. CombatantB tries to dodge (this doesn't happen, that is the effect of critical-to-hit) 4. CombatantA rolls for damage Critical 5. CombatantA deals damage 6. CombatantB absorbs damage So, when a player/creature does a critical-to-hit, they will hit their opponent, no matter what. A combatant with 30 attack will hit an opponent with 120 defense if they score a critical-to-hit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Critical-to-Damage Before i start on this, you need to understand the Damage and Absorb rolls. Lets look at the Damage roll: 5. CombatantA deals damage What happens here is that the attacker's (CombatantA's) Might, Attack*0.2 and Equipment damage bonus are used in a calculation to determine how much damage will be inflicted upon the defender (CombatantB). Now the Absorb roll: 6. CombatantB absorbs damage What happens here is that the defender's (CombatantB's) Toughness, Defense*0.2 and Equipment armor bonus are used in a calculation to determine how much of the attacker's (CombatantA's) damage will be absorbed. Whenever a combatant succeeds with their hit roll, before they start their damage roll, their chance for critical-to-damage is calculated. In effect, a dice roll happens, and if you roll over a certain figure, your damage roll is 'critical'. When you roll a critical-to-damage, here's what happens: 1. CombatantA rolls for hit Critical 2. CombatantA tries to hit 3. CombatantB tries to dodge (and fails) 4. CombatantA rolls for damage Critical (and succeeds) 5. CombatantA deals damage 6. CombatantB absorbs damage (but ONLY their Toughness and Defense*0.2 is used in the calculation, NOT their Equipment armor bonus, that is the effect of critical-to-damage) So, when a player/creature rolls critical-to-damage, they will damage their opponent as though s/he was wearing no armor at all. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Selecting training armor ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- First, read the Criticals section to understand how the damage rolls and critical-to-damage works. If then you still don't quite understand the crits, that's ok, keep reading this and just follow the recommendations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lets start with understanding the effects of equipment bonuses in relation to a/d training. If you type #arm in game the first 4 lines returned are your current Armor, Damage, Accuracy and Defense modifiers. Example: Armor reduces the amount of damage you take when an opponent hits you (with the exception of received critical-to-damage hits). It does not help you dodge hits, and thus will not increase your defense exp earning potential. Even if you absorb all the damage from a hit, you will not get def exp. Damage increases the amount of damage you will inflict on your opponent when you hit them. Remember, in EL doing more damage does not get you more attack exp. To maximize exp in training, you want to do enough damage so that you do take some health off your opponent, but as little as possible. Accuracy increases your ability to successfully hit opponents. It does not increase the damage you inflict on opponents. The outcomes of extensive testing strongly support that 1 accuracy provides the same increase in your ability to hit as 1 attack level does. Defense increases your ability to successfully dodge hits. It does not decrease received damage. The outcomes of extensive testing strongly support that 1 (equipment) defense provides the same increase in your ability to dodge as 1 (skill) defense level does. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- You will always take some damage in training, no matter what armor you wear, due to your opponent scoring critical-to-damage rolls. The only thing that reduces the damage of received critical-to-damage rolls is Toughness (and Defense level, but the impact is small). To use the least amount of resources (HE/SR) in training, it's best to absorb all the damage your opponent can possibly inflict on a normal damage roll. (2010-12-17 EDIT: With the new breaks system in place at the time of this edit, wearing enough armor so that all non-critical damage is absorbed is also pivotal in regards to reducing equipment breaks, the below recommended system of choosing training gear is more important and correct than ever.) The easiest way to determine this, is to go and fight your training creature (or player) naked (well, no armor or medallion that gives armor bonus, a CoL is fine) for at least 5 minutes, and keep track of how much damage you take when they hit you. Whatever the maximum damage you took from a single hit was, that's how much minimum armor bonus you want. Remember, you can check you current total minimum and maximum armor bonus with the #arm command, the first line of it's output is your armor bonus (Armor: min/max) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- An example: That said, there are other factors to consider when selecting armor; negatives and bonuses to accuracy and defense. The Ogre trainer in the above example should have used Augmented Leather Pants instead of Iron Cuisses, as Iron Cuisses have -1 to defense, where as Aug pants have +1 to defense, and his minimum armor bonus would have still been 14, enough to absorb all the damage an Ogre does to him on a normal hit. Here's a further example of selecting armor for it's accuracy or defense bonuses: A final note; always remember that you'll break less armor is you have higher defense. If you stick to the recommended defense levels for each creature in the Training attributes guide. you should break very little or no armor. EDIT (2009-11-08): The above sentence was quite old and the system had some changes since then... ensuring you dodge as well as possible will of course reduce breaks, and it still could be possible that yourDEF VS opponentATT could be getting used in equipment break chances, but one thing i can now tell you for sure: the more Toughness you have, the less armor/medallions you break. EDIT (2010-12-17): The breaks system has recently had changes (as stated in an edit earlier) but toughness is still very important to reducing armor breaks as it is how you can get yourself to a state where even on higher creatures you can absorb all non-critical damage. Dodging your opponent's hits well is of course still very important to reducing armor breaks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forever Warlord.
40/48 p/c = Stars medallion (no bone)
44/48 p/c = Bone (no stars med)
Train Desert Chimerans until at least 115 attack. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- During your time training Desert Chimerans, take phys to 48 (if you haven't already) then take instinct to at least 28. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leave Mortos (att) and change to Aluwen (def). 2011-02-04 EDIT: I will note that despite their higher attack, for overall exp there's like no difference between gods on FCW due to their crit-hit rate being higher than the likes of Feros so it gives you less opportunities to dodge. I still suggest Aluwen at this stage because pumping def now isn't a bad thing, you want it for Yeti/Trice, but it's optional. Find a good PvP training partner. 2011-01-31 EDIT: We've just had a few double FCW spawns added to the game. This is great news for people up to this stage of training. To maximise the exp on the double spawns you want to try and be as close to permanently in combat as you can be. You don't want to kill them so fast that after you kill one you still have time to wait for the other to respawn, but not so slow that it respawns while you're still fighting the first one and has a chance to wander off. For me using an Iron Broad sword and doing 1 flee achieves this (i'll note that I was doing too much damage for 2 full rounds of exp, but using a lower damage wep and getting 2 full rounds was taking too long and the other FCW would wander off). I expect that for people in 110's attack a Steel Long Sword will probably be best to achieve this, but perhaps a Titanium Short Sword will be needed. I'd appreciate if people could post feedback on this. Forest Chimeran Recommended p/c: 48/48 Recommended Reas: 20 Recommended Inst: 28 Recommended def: 120 Weapon (2011-01-31 EDIT: Preliminary recommendation): Steel Long Sword Train Forest Chimerans and your PvP partner until at least 130 defense. Train them for longer, see below edits for details. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- During your time training Forest Chimerans/PvP partner, max physique (if not already), then bring instinct to 28 (if not already), then reasoning to 28. (then if you're still not ready for MCW, take instinct to 32, then reasoning to 32.) 2011-01-31 EDIT: IMPORTANT: With the introduction of the double FCW spawns, the MCW has been rendered even more worthless to train than it already was. Until I can convince Radu to drop MCW respawn time to 25 or at least 30 sec I recommend staying on the FCW's until you're at least 125/133 a/d and then you could swap to Mortos (att god) and focus more on the double Yeti spawn and Cockatrices, that said, if you're not sick of looking at the FCW's by then I'd suggest staying on them with Aluwen (def god) and getting a few more levels, as the single Cockatrice spawns will never yield you as much exp and thus for truly effective use of attack god you'd only have the one double Yeti spawn until you can train LOrcs (well, and the one Trice+Fluff spawn, which is good for either god). Also keep in mind that once you go above FCW your chances of breaking armor will significantly increase, so that's another reason to hold off. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leave Aluwen (def) and change to Mortos (att)... finally, this will be your last god change Mountain Chimeran Recommended p/c: 48/48 Minimum r/i: 28/28 Recommended r/i: 32/32 Minimum att: 120 Recommended def: 130 Weapon: Ti Long. (There are better possible weapon choices once you can hit them more easily) Train Mountain Chimerans until at least 125 attack. 2011-01-31 EDIT: Struck-out due to reasoning provided in above edit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- During your time training Mountain Chimerans, bring Instinct to 36 if you haven't already, then place all following pickpoints on Reasoning. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yeti Recommended p/c: 48/48 Minimum r/i: 28/32 Minimum def: 133 Minimum att: 125 Weapon: Cutlass (There are better possible weapon choices once you can hit them more easily) Cockatrice Basically the same as Yeti except use a Jagged Saber, not a Cutlass. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS: Anima - Refinements to Cyclops recommendations. LadyAz - Testing on Armed Orcs LightLan - Refinements to DCW recommendations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Understanding Criticals critical-to-hit and critical-to-damage ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Each combat round in EL is made up of 6 'rolls': 1. CombatantA rolls for hit Critical 2. CombatantA tries to hit 3. CombatantB tries to dodge Then, if CombatantA scored their hit: 4. CombatantA rolls for damage Critical 5. CombatantA deals damage 6. CombatantB absorbs damage This completes CombatantA's combat round, then it's CombatantB's turn. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Critical-to-Hit Whenever a combatant starts a combat round, before anything, their chance of critical-to-hit is calculated. In effect, a dice roll happens, and if you roll over a certain figure, your hit roll is 'critical'. When you roll a critical-to-hit, here's what happens: 1. CombatantA rolls for hit Critical (and succeeds) 2. CombatantA tries to hit 3. CombatantB tries to dodge (this doesn't happen, that is the effect of critical-to-hit) 4. CombatantA rolls for damage Critical 5. CombatantA deals damage 6. CombatantB absorbs damage So, when a player/creature does a critical-to-hit, they will hit their opponent, no matter what. A combatant with 30 attack will hit an opponent with 120 defense if they score a critical-to-hit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Critical-to-Damage Before i start on this, you need to understand the Damage and Absorb rolls. Lets look at the Damage roll: 5. CombatantA deals damage What happens here is that the attacker's (CombatantA's) Might, Attack*0.2 and Equipment damage bonus are used in a calculation to determine how much damage will be inflicted upon the defender (CombatantB). Now the Absorb roll: 6. CombatantB absorbs damage What happens here is that the defender's (CombatantB's) Toughness, Defense*0.2 and Equipment armor bonus are used in a calculation to determine how much of the attacker's (CombatantA's) damage will be absorbed. Whenever a combatant succeeds with their hit roll, before they start their damage roll, their chance for critical-to-damage is calculated. In effect, a dice roll happens, and if you roll over a certain figure, your damage roll is 'critical'. When you roll a critical-to-damage, here's what happens: 1. CombatantA rolls for hit Critical 2. CombatantA tries to hit 3. CombatantB tries to dodge (and fails) 4. CombatantA rolls for damage Critical (and succeeds) 5. CombatantA deals damage 6. CombatantB absorbs damage (but ONLY their Toughness and Defense*0.2 is used in the calculation, NOT their Equipment armor bonus, that is the effect of critical-to-damage) So, when a player/creature rolls critical-to-damage, they will damage their opponent as though s/he was wearing no armor at all. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Selecting training armor ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- First, read the Criticals section to understand how the damage rolls and critical-to-damage works. If then you still don't quite understand the crits, that's ok, keep reading this and just follow the recommendations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lets start with understanding the effects of equipment bonuses in relation to a/d training. If you type #arm in game the first 4 lines returned are your current Armor, Damage, Accuracy and Defense modifiers. Example: Armor reduces the amount of damage you take when an opponent hits you (with the exception of received critical-to-damage hits). It does not help you dodge hits, and thus will not increase your defense exp earning potential. Even if you absorb all the damage from a hit, you will not get def exp. Damage increases the amount of damage you will inflict on your opponent when you hit them. Remember, in EL doing more damage does not get you more attack exp. To maximize exp in training, you want to do enough damage so that you do take some health off your opponent, but as little as possible. Accuracy increases your ability to successfully hit opponents. It does not increase the damage you inflict on opponents. The outcomes of extensive testing strongly support that 1 accuracy provides the same increase in your ability to hit as 1 attack level does. Defense increases your ability to successfully dodge hits. It does not decrease received damage. The outcomes of extensive testing strongly support that 1 (equipment) defense provides the same increase in your ability to dodge as 1 (skill) defense level does. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- You will always take some damage in training, no matter what armor you wear, due to your opponent scoring critical-to-damage rolls. The only thing that reduces the damage of received critical-to-damage rolls is Toughness (and Defense level, but the impact is small). To use the least amount of resources (HE/SR) in training, it's best to absorb all the damage your opponent can possibly inflict on a normal damage roll. (2010-12-17 EDIT: With the new breaks system in place at the time of this edit, wearing enough armor so that all non-critical damage is absorbed is also pivotal in regards to reducing equipment breaks, the below recommended system of choosing training gear is more important and correct than ever.) The easiest way to determine this, is to go and fight your training creature (or player) naked (well, no armor or medallion that gives armor bonus, a CoL is fine) for at least 5 minutes, and keep track of how much damage you take when they hit you. Whatever the maximum damage you took from a single hit was, that's how much minimum armor bonus you want. Remember, you can check you current total minimum and maximum armor bonus with the #arm command, the first line of it's output is your armor bonus (Armor: min/max) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- An example: That said, there are other factors to consider when selecting armor; negatives and bonuses to accuracy and defense. The Ogre trainer in the above example should have used Augmented Leather Pants instead of Iron Cuisses, as Iron Cuisses have -1 to defense, where as Aug pants have +1 to defense, and his minimum armor bonus would have still been 14, enough to absorb all the damage an Ogre does to him on a normal hit. Here's a further example of selecting armor for it's accuracy or defense bonuses: A final note; always remember that you'll break less armor is you have higher defense. If you stick to the recommended defense levels for each creature in the Training attributes guide. you should break very little or no armor. EDIT (2009-11-08): The above sentence was quite old and the system had some changes since then... ensuring you dodge as well as possible will of course reduce breaks, and it still could be possible that yourDEF VS opponentATT could be getting used in equipment break chances, but one thing i can now tell you for sure: the more Toughness you have, the less armor/medallions you break. EDIT (2010-12-17): The breaks system has recently had changes (as stated in an edit earlier) but toughness is still very important to reducing armor breaks as it is how you can get yourself to a state where even on higher creatures you can absorb all non-critical damage. Dodging your opponent's hits well is of course still very important to reducing armor breaks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forever Warlord.