General Combat Tips
- 1 of 13: One tip that pays off bigtime later in the game is to promote at least one of your fighters into an assassin. Make him a Blade skill grandmaster and then ready two daggers to use as weapons. That way you get FOUR attacks per round! This is especially devastating to the enemy if you have the two artifact daggers (Black's Heart and Integris). Also, pump up your Blade skill past 10 to get even more attacks (6 attacks at Blade=13, 8 attacks at Blade=16, and so on).
- 2 of 13: One of the most often useful combat strategies is to retreat and fire. This works really well when you have several characters who fire bows. If the monsters are slow enough, and there's no danger they'll surround you, you can do this very effectively in real-time combat. However, it's often useful to do it in turn-based mode. That's because you can't run backward as fast as you can run forward, and you don't want to be turning around constantly in real-time combat. In turn-based, you can fire arrows and/or spells at the enemy at your leisure, and then turn around and run (don't walk) in the opposite direction when you get the hand icon that means you can move. Then turn back to face the monsters and fire some more. Just make sure you don't run out of space to maneuver, especially if you're in a small indoor area.
- 3 of 13: Another thing to note about turn-based combat is that you can usually move a few steps after every couple of attacks, not just when the hand icon is in the "open" position. This gives an extra bit of mobility during combat, and is most valuable when used in conjunction with the next tip.
- 4 of 13: The coolest thing about turn-based mode is that if you're in it when you enter a room full of monsters, they probably won't notice you right away, even if you're in plain sight. You may even be able to move completely through the room in turn-based mode without coming under attack, though there's no guarantee. (Note that if you're trying this, be sure not to accidentally hit a monster with any of your attacks -- turn to face a wall before attacking, or use the TAB key to skip turns.)
- 5 of 13: When fighting non-flying monsters outdoors in a region with lots of watery areas, you can often trick the monsters into falling into the water by getting their attention and then going swimming. The monsters won't drown, but they usually can't climb out of the water and follow you, either.
- 6 of 13: If you want to kill them once they're running around on the ocean floor, you can use the Jump key (X) to bob up and down on the surface of the water while firing arrows down into the water.
- 7 of 13: This strategy also works well with seagoing creatures, though they can float up and down and follow you, so another thing you'll want to do with them is to lure them to shore and quickly leap out onto the land and then arrow them from safety before they give up and swim away.
- 8 of 13: Always remember that only characters who are alive and conscious will get experience points when a monster is killed. If someone who really needs the XP is unconscious or dead, you'll need to get them healed before doing any more combat. On the other hand, as long as a character isn't conscious, the ones that are will get *more* XP for each kill. (Note that neither the number of nor the conditions of your NPC hirelings has any effect on how much XP your characters get for a kill.)
- 9 of 13: When you see monsters in the distance, always shoot them at the maximum possible range. On rare occasions, they just stand there and take it, making it easy for you.
- 10 of 13: If you ever encounter a situation where you can hit a person or creature for damage, but can't ever kill them, hit F5 (quicksave) and then F9 (quickrestore). You'll then be able to actually kill them and get the experience. (This usually only happens in indoor areas with guys you aren't supposed to be able to kill, or with animals like the cows and goats in Ravensford.)
- 11 of 13: Until your magic-users get good enough to use the two following tips to easily rip through all combats, the best tip is to cast Bless and Haste before any combat that looks even remotely tough. (Haste won't even make you weak after it wears off, despite its promise to do so in its description!)
- 12 of 13: Once your magic-users get to where they can cast the Poison Cloud spell, it's a very good one to use against most types of monsters. It's especially effective when cast while standing next to a monster and looking down at its feet. Fighter types can do the same thing with Poison Cloud wands.
- 13 of 13: Another great spell to use once your magic-users are very high-level is Chain Lightning. If you have them ready that as their quick spell, you can very quickly mow down large groups of powerful monsters by leaning on the spell/range attack key.
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