Darkfall: Combat Guide Part One

Why bring a knife to a polearm fight? Why bring a polearm to a siege? Why shoot someone in the back with a mana missile when you have a bow and arrow? Indeed why (or why not)!? I am here to answer these questions and much more in my guide to all things sharp, shiny, and lethal.

Well let us jump into the thick of it with a few charts. Don’t you fret, little Agonians, I shall explain!

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Above you will see a listing of the various weapon skills. There are seven types: Bow, Staff, Knife, Axe, Mace/Club, Sword, and Polearm. Each weapon (except the bow and staff) has four identical skills: power attack, seize, knockback, and whirlwind. You unlock the first three at level twenty-five of your weapon skill, and you unlock the fourth skill at level seventy-five. Power attack cost 500 gold at the fighter vendor, seize and knockback cost 300 gold, and whirlwind costs 1000 gold.

Power Attack is known to be somewhat ineffective, but if you need a small boost in damage and have the cash, there’s no reason not to take it. It has an acceptable boost in damage as it levels to 25, 50, and 75 as well. Seize and knockback are both useful in their respective situations and sometimes even in conjunction with one another. Knockback is immensely useful for quick getaway, ninja looting, PvP survival, and just general tomfoolery. Seize is a bit more situational, but it is especially useful for long range weapons such as polearm and 2h sword. It only pulls from edge of your melee range, so using it with a short range weapon like knives is not a viable option. I find it especially useful when chasing someone to get in those last few hits. It can also be used along with knockback to disorient a foe, position an enemy for optimal group PvP (boxing in), and even as a pseudo taunt. Whirlwind is a 360 degrees, decent damage AoE attack, which can be used to one’s advantage when beset by several foes. I find it most useful in PvE situations, seeing as an AoE can be harmful to your allies as well. (Note: There is a small bug that allows 2h-wielders to move at any time while using whirlwind but 1h users cannot. In the latter case, there is a small fraction of time when the animation is active that you cannot move or you will receive the error “You must stand still.”)

This being a PvP game, ranged combat is very necessary. Archery is very powerful, even more so than magic in the beginning. It is challenging and a lot of fun to use. Archery skills are all passive and are much more expensive than regular weapon skills. Veteran Archery is the first passive skill you can obtain at archery skill fifty from almost any fighter trainer (excluding the newbie hamlets). It reduces the stamina use of your bow shots. Sharp Shooter and Spirited Archer you get at seventy-five, and they increase archery damage and reduce arrow loading time respectively.

Weapon Skills

Weaponsmithing

Above I’ve broken down the actual weapon rank usage by player skill. It is pretty self-explanatory. Once you hit the next tier you can use that rank of weapon: weapon skill 10+ you can use rank 10 weapons, weapon skill 20+ you can use rank 20 weapons, and so on. It is also important to note that if you attempt to use a weapon higher than your rank it will lose durability at a much faster rate than what is normal. The bottom line is if you try to use a weapon or armor not of your skill level you will end up naked, defenseless, and dead faster than you can say “Help me!”

Crafting weapons is a little different. You must have weaponsmithing skill 25 to craft rank 10 weapons, weaponsmithing skill 50 to craft rank 20 weapons, weaponsmithing skill 75 to make rank 30 weapons, and weaponsmithing skill 100 to make rank 40 weapons. There is a weaponsmithing mastery that is required to make higher ranks then 40.

Next I will move on to talk in advanced detail about weapons, ranged combat, and in what situations you would use certain types of weapons.