Guides:Complete Guide to PvE

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Hello, fellow Wurmian! If you are reading this, then you must be looking for some help fighting the various NPC creatures in Wurm Online. I will say this now, because it is probably the most important information you will need starting out: your starter shield and sword ARE NOT real combat gear! New players can easily die to a dog (one of the weakest creatures in the game) using the starter gear. You will need 20ql weapons, armour, and shields to start out, at the bare minimum.

Types of Gear

Weapons

Your weapon is the tool you will use to deal damage to your target (with some exceptions). It can also be used to block some attacks, with the parry (block) rate determined by the type of weapon you use. Each type of weapon deals a different type of damage, has strengths and weaknesses to different types of armour, deals a different amount of damage, and has different special moves.

• Swords
  • Shortsword
    • one handed
    • cutting and piercing damage
    • low amount of damage
    • high parry rate
    • three second swing timer
    • not recommended unless it is high quality due to low damage output
  • Longsword
    • one handed
    • cutting and piercing damage
    • medium amount of damage
    • high parry rate
    • four second swing timer
    • very popular and highly recommended due to good damage output and high parry rate
  • Two-Handed Sword
    • two handed
    • cutting and piercing damage
    • high amount of damage
    • high parry rate
    • five second swing timer (four seconds in aggressive mode)
    • recommended for non premium players and those with low shield skill, as well as those who want a high DPS (damage per second) weapon; about the same damage as a medium maul

• Mauls
  • Small Maul
    • one handed
    • mauling damage
    • low-medium amount of damage
    • medium parry rate
    • three second swing timer
    • recommended for those who want a fast weapon which will create a lot of lower damage wounds
  • Medium Maul
    • one handed
    • mauling damage
    • high amount of damage
    • medium parry rate
    • five second swing timer
    • recommended for those who want a one handed weapon that will deal large wounds at the expense of speed
  • Large Maul
    • two handed
    • mauling damage
    • very high amount of damage
    • medium parry rate
    • six second swing timer (five seconds in aggressive mode)
    • recommended for non premium players and those with low shield skill

• Axes
  • Small Axe
    • one handed
    • cutting damage
    • low-medium amount of damage
    • low parry rate
    • three second swing timer
    • recommended for those who want a fast weapon that will create many low damage wounds
  • Large Axe
    • one handed
    • cutting damage
    • medium-high amount of damage
    • low parry rate
    • four second swing timer
    • recommended for those who want a high DPS weapon; slightly lower damage per hit than medium maul, but faster by one second
  • Huge Axe
    • two handed
    • cutting damage
    • very high amount of damage (highest in the game)
    • very low parry rate
    • six second swing timer (five seconds in aggressive mode)
    • recommended only for those who don't mind taking a lot of damage due to low parry rate, with the benefit of a very high damage output

Armour

Armour will reduce incoming damage in combat. It will also offer a glance rate, a chance for all damage from an incoming attack to be negated. The glance rate depends on the type of armour you are wearing and the type of attack hitting the armour, as well as the armour's quality and the strength of the incoming blow. Nothing less than studded leather armour is recommended for actual combat. Cloth and leather armour are used by some players who are on their deeds and/or do not fight much.

• Studded Leather
  • medium damage reduction
  • medium-high glance rate against mauling (anything that mauls, kicks, headbutts)
  • low glance rate against cutting and piercing (anything that claws, bites)
  • high movement speed
  • recommended for non premium players and those who do not or cannot ride a horse due to high movement speed
  • at 70ql, damage is reduced by about 46.0%
• Chain
  • medium-high damage reduction
  • high glance rate against cutting and piercing
  • low glance rate against mauling
  • low-medium movement speed
  • recommended for anyone who fights on a horse, due to good damage reduction
  • at 70ql, damage is reduced by about 50.5%
• Plate
  • high damage reduction
  • high glance rate against cutting and piercing
  • low glance rate against mauling
  • low movement speed
  • not recommended for PvE due to high amount of steel needed to improve and the low movement speed if your horse is killed; if you are going to fight in PvE in plate, a horse is a necessity
  • at 70ql, damage is reduced by about 64.1%

Shields

Your shield is what you will block attacks with. Tests have shown that the size of your shield only matters when blocking ranged attacks, which are not an element of PvE and will not be covered in this guide. The six types of shields are listed below:

• Large Metal Shield
• Medium Metal Shield
• Small Metal Shield
• Large Wooden Shield
• Medium Wooden Shield
• Small Wooden Shield

All shields take the same amount of damage.

Bows

Bows are used for archery, which will be explained later. Each bow has a minimum range and an optimum range. There are three different types of bows:

• Short bow
  • optimum range is five tiles
  • minimum range is one tile (can not shoot targets on the same tile as you)
  • will cause targets to target you due to short range
  • due to the above statement, your shooting action may be cancelled due to being hit
• medium bow
  • optimum range is ten tiles
  • minimum range is five tiles
  • may cause targets to target you if they are too close (less than about twenty tiles)
  • if you are targeted, your shooting action may be cancelled upon taking a hit
• long bow
  • optimum range is twenty tiles
  • minimum range is ten tiles
  • may cause targets to target you if it is too close (less than about twenty tiles)
  • if you are targeted, your shooting action may be cancelled upon taking damage

Tactics

Wurm Online combat is more complex than it may seem. Creatures have weak spots that take more damage when hit and have a higher chance of receiving a critical hit. This is usually the head, or upper center. Hitting certain body parts may inhibit the ability of the creature to use that body part in combat. These strategies can be used by players against AI controlled creatures, but they work the same way against players.

• Hitting the head
  • does more damage
• Hitting the arms
  • lowers parry rate for armed creatures (trolls, some uniques)
  • inhibits attack ability for armed creatures
• Flanking
  • makes parrying harder for armed creatures
• Shield bashing
  • generally a poor idea in PvE, as it has a low hit rate, and even at high skill, it results in short stuns
• Archery
  • allows you to kill an opponent from a distance
  • allows you to kill opponents that are too strong for you to fight in close combat, as long range archery results I the target being unable to target you, meaning you will not take damage from your target

Generally, when fighting most creatures, the best method is to aim for the head. However, when fighting trolls and other armed creatures, it is often a better choice to aim for the upper right parts, as this will allow you to hit the head (for extra damage) and the right arm (to inhibit the creature's ability to use its weapon). Flanking often is also a good tactic to use on armed creatures, especially before the arm can be damaged.