Fighting

Make a melee attack

Ready your weapon with Z, then swing with right click. A blow can reach a foe whose centre is within 2.5 m of your eye, provided it is in view and there is a clear line of sight.

Swing direction

Direction changes the swing's hit and damage modifiers:

How you choose the direction depends on your swing mode (Settings, Controls):

• Click or Hold (the default): a click swings, and holding the button keeps swinging. Each swing goes in a random direction from six (up-right, left, right, down-left, down, down-right). You don't choose.

• Click: a swing on each press, also in a random direction.

• Gesture: hold the attack button and drag the mouse; the direction you drag is the swing you get. Choose this if you want to pick Down for damage or Up for accuracy.

Will it land?

Every swing rolls to hit. Online, the Physical Combat and Armor Overhaul works out the chance from your skill with the weapon, your Agility, Speed and Luck against the target's, the target's armour where the blow falls, and half the target's Dodging skill. The result is always between 3% and 97%. See Attributes and skills.

Read the enemy

Some stronger enemies telegraph attacks: a ground shape shows where the blow will land, and a glint marks the attacker as it winds up. Move out of the shape before impact to avoid that telegraphed blow. A missed telegraphed attack leaves the enemy Open for a short time; attacks against it deal 30% more damage during that window.

A perfect dodge keeps it open longer: stay inside the marked shape until the last quarter of a second, then be outside it when the blow lands. The Open window is then one and a half times as long, and you hear a bright ring.

You can also interrupt a wind-up by striking the enemy. Hits fill its poise; a full poise meter staggers it. Heavy weapons such as blunt arms contribute more poise than short blades. Keep moving while an enemy winds up, then use the opening it leaves.

Armour and shields

Against you, online armour reduces damage after an attack hits; it does not make the attacker miss. A held shield can also block: the online combat core rolls a block on an incoming blow and, when the shield provides better protection than the armour under it, applies the shield's reduction instead.

There is no separate active block action in the input list. The shield must be equipped and held. Press H to switch which hand you use.

Common mistakes

• Standing in a marked attack. Leaving the telegraphed shape before impact is what makes that attack miss.

• Treating a shield as an extra armour layer in every case. Its online block only counts when it protects better than the armour beneath it.

• Holding still to attack. Movement helps you leave a marked attack and maintain the distance and view needed for a melee hit.

Next

• Weapon techniques

• Archery and magic

• Combat maths

Sources & checked facts

• src/combat/playerWeapon.js: WEAPON_REACH, SWING_MODS, playerMeleeCanHit

• src/ai/tells.js: PUNISH_S, PUNISH_TAKEN, TELL_LATE (0.25 s), PERFECT_WINDOW (1.5), poise and stagger rules

• src/ai/foeBlows.js: blowTier, throwsBlows (which enemies telegraph)

• src/systems/features.js: Enhanced AI's online declaration

• src/characters/weaponStates.js: CLICK_ATTACK_DIRECTIONS; src/systems/settings/settings.js: PORT_DEFAULTS Controls/WeaponSwingMode '2' (Click or Hold; overrides Daggerfall Unity's '0' in settingsDefaults.js, SWING-DEFAULT1); src/systems/controlsConfig.js: swingHint; src/systems/inputActions.js: ReadyWeapon (Z), SwingWeapon (right mouse)

• src/combat/pcaao.js: pcaaoSuccessfulHit (hit chance, clamped 3-97)

• src/ai/blowShapes.js: inBlow

• src/combat/pcaao.js: reduce, shield block calculation and shield comparison

• src/systems/online/onlineLane.js: PCAAO in ONLINE_ROOM_MOD_KEYS

• Research note: handbook/research/H2.md

Facts used on this page

• Minimum hit chance: 3 %
  src/combat/pcaao.js · PCAAO_HIT_CHANCE_MIN
• Maximum hit chance: 97 %
  src/combat/pcaao.js · PCAAO_HIT_CHANCE_MAX