Fighting

Main / Skills / Fighting

Description

Skill used in melee fighting animals and other players.

Targeting

Fighting in Wurm uses a target-to-attack system.

To enter combat, right-click the entity, and select Attacks > Target. Then, move within fighting range. There are 3 distances:

• Melee - move right up against the target
• Throwing - 1 to 5 tiles from the target
• Archery - up to 20 tiles depending on the bow
  • Short Bows are best shot from 5 tiles away
  • Reflex bows are best shot from 10 tiles away
  • Long Bows are best shot from 20 tiles away

To stop targeting, right-click any object and select No target.

Multiple targets

The target is generally the sole focus of the player's offensive capabilities, whereas the player will attempt to defend all incoming attacks whether the aggressor is targeted or not. Normally, if a player has no target selected, any aggression from creatures is met with automatic targeting and retaliation. However, if a player targets one creature afar and is attacked by another, this is not the case - the target will not change. This introduces the possibility that the player will accidentally just stand there doing no attacks. The player will also not be able to change his aim or shield bash in this circumstance.

Be aware of what is targeted

• Note: You show off some moves means you have no target or the target is out of melee range.

Skills

The height of the main fighting skill determines your chances to hit and chance to successfully focus.

The best way to train fight skill is by fighting opponents that are near your skill range; that way the skill you gain will be far superior than training against a creature that is either too strong for you or simply a very easy match. Greenish, raging, angry, and CHAMPION creatures are a very effective way to train fighting.

Fight skill gain against creatures is slowed down at 70 skill.

Fighting sub-skills

• Weaponless fighting - Fighting without weapons equipped (depends on weight of items being carried and type of armor); skill is gained when a kick message is received.
• Aggressive fighting - Less parry and damage dealt seems close to normal but may be slightly higher; generally a very poor choice to use.
• Defensive fighting - Damage dealt is lower, attack speed suffers, and miss rate seems increased.
• Normal Fighting - The best fighting mode that has an identical parry rate as defensive fighting. More damage is dealt than defensive fighting and same hit-speed as aggressive fighting. Most people deem normal fighting as the "holy grail" for fighting styles.
• Taunting - Attempting to taunt your opponent to attack you instead of your allies.
• Shield-Bashing - Knocking over your opponent with your shield. Higher skill in shield bash results in a longer time the opponent is disabled on ground. A combination of shield skill and shield bash skill calculate hit chance. Shield-bashing does some damage to the opponent.

Weapon skills

Don't use a weapon you are not skilled in unless you already have high in your main weapon and want to train more subskills up. It is best to use dual-wield if you want to use both hands. If you use more than one type of weapon your skill gain is spread over two categories and will take longer to raise.

Weapon skill over 50 does not do anything. At 60 you get a new special move but that's about it. Higher weapon skill will not help you parry more, contrary to what some believe.

An easy way to gain weapon skill with axes and swords (longsword and huge sword, respectively) is to cut trees down with woodcutting until 20 skill. This renders even the lowest skill fighter a fairly potent adversary to most common creatures in the Wurm universe, and offers some good body and woodcutting skill gain to boot.

Focus

Main / Skills / Fighting / Fighting

Raising your focus increases your performance in combat. How high you can focus is dependent on your fight skill. A general rule of thumb dictates that overall fightskill/15 determines the level of focus that is easiest for you to reach.

You can attempt to focus by turning off autofight and clicking on the eye icon in the fight window.

The fight Options GUI

There are six possible states of focus:

1. You are not focused on combat.
2. You balance your feet and your soul.
3. You are now focused on the enemy and its every move.
4. You feel lightning inside, quickening your reflexes.
5. Your consciousness is lifted to a higher level, making you very attentive.
6. You feel supernatural. Invincible! (max focus level)

Notes

• You can check your current focus level by typing the /fl command in the chat window or by hovering over the eye icon.
• It is believed that focus raises your combat rating by a little bit.
• Focus helps you parry more with your weapon.
• Focus helps you hit more.
• Focus helps you get a better footing.
• In PvE, focus can turn a fight around completely.
• Whilst the focus action timer is in progress, you are a lot more open to attack and you do not swing your own weapon(s).
• There are various ways to lose focus, including switching targets, and through a special move.

Stances

While in autofight (button in the event window), the game will choose stances for you. At low skills, no stance options will be available to you. More stances will appear with a higher primary weapon skill.

If you target your opponents left side and he targets your right side you clinch stances. This means both of you have worse chance of hitting eachother.

At primary weapon skill level 50 you receive defensive stances. If you choose one of those, you will clinch with a bonus in several stances at once, but you will not attack.

You can bind stances to keys, see Client Key Bindings.

Special moves

As your skill increases with your primary weapon, you will get the option to perform special moves in certain stances. One weapon type usually can perform about 6 special moves.

Special moves are kingdom dependent, so other kingdoms have other moves. There is no need to try to learn your enemies special moves since you can't counter them anyways.

• Mol Rehan have quick stamina cheap moves that do less damage and punish the opponents combat rating.
• HOTS have slow high damage moves that cost more stamina and often drains stamina.
• Jenn Kellon have medium time moves that create multiple wounds.
• Freedom Isles special moves are a mixture of the above, more depending on the weapon you use.

Autofighting will try special moves when you have a high enough chance to use them. They use your normal to hit chance, so if you hit little it may not be worth trying a special move. You lose 1/10th of the stamina cost of the move if you fail.

You can bind special moves to keys, see Client Key Bindings.

Also see: Special moves

Equipment

Weapons

The height of your weapon skill determines which stances you may take.

• Primary weapon should be wielded in the right hand, as the left hand will attack less often. Left hand also does not parry at all.

• Swords deal cutting and piercing damage. Swords have the highest parry rate and do a high base damage with a moderate speed.
• Axes deal cutting damage. Axes do not parry so should be considered strongly for use with left hand combo's. Axes have a slow attack speed and high miss rate.
• Mauls deal the highest amount of base damage. They have a similar parry rate of swords and a moderate attack speed.

Armour types

Each armor type has a distinct a advantage and disadvantage.

• Plate armour - Plate armor provides the largest defense bonus of any armor crafted from non-unique components, at the largest expense of mobility. Plate armor has a large glance rate. Very rarely sees use due to its high offensive penalties.
• Chain armour - Chain armor provides superior defense at the expense of mobility. Attack speed and evasion are moderately affected by chain armor. Chain armor is commonly used.
• Leather armour - Generally provides the least amount of base defense. However it also has the smallest penalties to attack speed and walking speed. Leather armor has a slight evasion penalty. Basic leather armor is rarely used by people who have an alternative, but is certainly better than nothing and is great starting armor for a new player.
• Studded leather armour - Generally provides a moderate amount of base defense with similar penalties as leather Armor. Studded leather armour represents a good common ground between speed and moderate defense. Studded leather armor has a mild evasion penalty. Studded leather is very popular, as it's mix of moderate mitigation and high mobility make it perfect for archers and light fighters in PvP.
• Cloth armour - Offers tiny protection from most attacks. To mitigate for this, cloth armour has the highest evasion rate of any armor type and can be used as an emergency bandage to great effect in dire situations. Cloth armor effectively never saw use previously, but is becoming more common as it's new properties become more well known.

Special armour types

• Dragon hide armour - The best leatherworking based armour existing in Wurm. Its protection rating is between chain and plate, yet more vulnerable to cutting and piercing than chain armor. Drake hide armor has the lowest penalty to attack speed and walking speed (16.97km/h on cobble) and is very lightweight.
• Dragon scale armour - Dragon scales are the best Plate armour smithing armour available. Made out of the scales of a red dragon, this kind of armour is superior to plate armour, while having movement penalty that is similar to that of studded leather armour.

Shields

Shields have a percentage chance to block any melee attack, based on skill-level and class of shield. Additionally shields are effective against arrows when you are facing the archer. Wielding a shield and weapon on the left arm causes the weapon not to be used. Certain weapons are two-handed and will require that any shield be unequipped.

• Large shields - Have the greatest base percentage to block with the highest penalty against weapon speed.
• Small shields - Have the lowest penalty to weapon speed with the lowest base percentage to block.
• Medium shields - A balance between speed and block percentage.

Shields should be wielded on your arm, not your hand.

Fighting characteristics

• Body control - Helps mostly with dodging. Best method to gain body control is by smithing, woodcutting, leatherworking and carpentry all offer good skill gain.
• Mind speed - Helps with chance to land a special move.
• Body strength - Helps with damage per hit as well as damage to walls per hit. Best method to gain strength is mining however coal making, farming, digging and woodcutting all provide good skill gain.
• Body stamina - Determines how long you can fight before running out of stamina. When you run out of stamina, you can not move or defend yourself against incoming attacks. Raised by mining, digging, and woodcutting.

Miscellaneous fighting rules/tips

• If you get hit, you can start "hurting". That means you move slower (30s duration).
• Bigger numbers matter. Gang up on people. Also, if multiple people start to attack you, its best to try to get some of them off you unless you severely outclass them.
• There is a flanking bonus to hit from the side or back. If your out numbered, face your strongest opponent. If you outnumber them, surround them. Especially animals, as they turn constantly when surrounded.
• Moving while fighting gives a penalty to the hit odds of the moving person, and a big penalty to the parry odds. You will not block or parry if your shield skill and weapon skill is below 40.
• Use 'Spam Mode' to show missed blows or blows for zero damage.
• Never fight in water.
• Standing above a critter improves hit chance and reduces the capacity of that critter to target your upper components. Standing beneath one reverses this effect.
• Running out of stamina during a fight reduces your capacity to defend incoming damage.
• Take a look at the combat rating page for some tips on fighting.

Ranged attacks

For details on ranged attacks, see archery and catapults.

Throwing

You may throw an object during a fight. You are allowed to throw any object that you can drop (except bows) - so be careful not to chuck your only sword at your opponent.

To throw:

• Target the opponent
• Equip the object to throw (inventory equip, not hand-equip)
• Method 1: Right-click opponent and select throw
• Method 2: enter Ranged attack mode and double click your opponent

Note that each object has specific minimum and maximum ranges. The damage that you inflict depends on many variables.

Damage messages and Strength of attacks

An attack will show this:

You <weapon type> young starving wolf <strength> and <result> it.

Weapon type is the type of damage dealt by the weapon, e.g. piercing or mauling.

Strength is how hard the hit itself is. The scale is: very lightly, lightly, pretty hard, hard, very hard, extremely hard, deadly hard.

Result is the severity of the resulting wound. This includes all existing damage if you hit an existing wound, so even a 1 damage hit can give damages if it hits an already severe wound. The scale is: slaps, irritates, hurts, harms, damages.

Guides

Fighting Guide

Titles

• Soldier at 50 skill
• Mercenary at 70 skill