Combat arts and spells
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Introduction
As a Fighter or Scout, you fight with physical weapons using a series of melee combat arts. These are a combination of physical and magical skills that increase the damage done and produce other effects of benefit you or your group.
As a Mage, Priest, Crusader, or Bard, you fight with magical spells and songs. These magical skills are your main forms of attack against the enemy and also produce effects of benefit to you and your group.
Combat arts, songs, spells, and any other actions are collectively known as skills.
Combat arts and spells draw from your character's power pool and cannot be used if you run "OOP", out of power. The power pool is determined by your character's strength (fighter), agility (scout), wisdom (priest) or intelligence (mage).
To add challenge to the game, power recovers slowly while in combat and quickly when out of combat. Drinks, potions, and certain spells speed up power recovery out of combat, while gaining more power in-combat requires the use of certain legendary items and armor, or the help of a bard or enchanter.
What follows is a list of the various effects that arts, both combat arts and spells, can produce. Many arts produce a combination of effects; for instance, the paladin art Charge produces direct damage and a knockdown.
Attacks
Heath Damage
Many skills simply apply damage directly to your target; these usually provide significantly more damage than you could do with your weapon alone. The type of damage (e.g., slashing, divine, poison) applied by a combat art is inherent in the art and is independent of the current weapon.
An instant damage attack applies damage immediately. (a.k.a. direct damage or DD)
A damage over time (DoT) attack applies the damage in waves several seconds apart. DoTs usually produce more damage for a given amount of power; but only if your target stays alive through the whole series.
A flurry attack is a fast series of attacks all applied immediately. If one of the attacks misses, the successive ones will automatically miss. These are most effective when you can stun your enemy or attack from the flank.
A life tap attack drains health from your foe and increases your own health, tilting the balance of the fight in your favor.
Power Damage
Some arts affect the power pool of your target.
Simple power drains remove power from the pool.
A power burn art increses the amount of power your enemy uses with each art.
A power tap drains power from your foe and increases your own power.
Procs
A melee proc, or process, is a magic spell placed on weapons that may provide some effect (usually damage) whenever the weapon strikes; a proc can also be placed on a magic user so that the effect may be triggered on a successful hostile spell. In addition to applying procs using arts, predators and rogues can apply procs using poisons.
For some procs, the effect is triggered with every successful attack; most, however, have a chance of triggering. This chance is expressed as a percentage based on a "normal" attack with a 3 second delay between attacks; the actual chance of the proc being triggered depends on the recovery time of the actual attack.
Dispels
Some arts dispel beneficial spells on an enemy. These are useful for stripping buffs and damage shields.
Crowd Control
Stuns
There are a number of different stun effects. What they have in common is that your enemy is incapable of any action for the duration of the stun.
A simple stun is usually of a short, fixed duration. You can continue to attack your target while it is stunned; it will have a lower ability to defend itself and, if you are quick, you can run around behind it for even more effective attacks.
A mez or mesmerize is usually of longer duration. A mez only lasts as long as the target does not take damage (be it direct damage or damage from a previously applied DoT). Some mez stuns have the useful feature of preventing area effect damage. You can use a mez to remove an enemy from combat, allowing you to heal, focus on some other enemy, or run away.
An interrupt is a 0 duration stun. It interupts any spell or combat art the enemy is currently casting.
A knockdown combines a simple stun with two other effects: it throws the target back and to the ground and it blurs the target's vision, reducing their accuracy.
A Stifle prevents the target from using arts, but does not affect their ability to move or auto-attack.
Movement
A Snare decreases your victim's movement rate. This is useful for staying away from it or preventing it from running away.
A Root prevents your target from moveing for the duration of the art. Most roots have a chance to break periodically and whenever the target takes damage.
Threat
All opponents keep track of events in battle, remembering who harms them or helps their enemies. They decide who to attack using a list of oppoents organized by amount of 'threat. This is commonly refered to as hatred or aggro. Some skills help increase or decrease that threat or to transfer that threat to those group members most able to defend themselves.
You can taunt an enemy or all the enemies in an encounter. This directly increases your preceived threat.
Some arts, such as evade (scout), directly lower your perceived threat.
Some arts make each action less threatening.
Reactive threat arts affect the perceived threat of you or an ally when hit by an enemy. Some of them lower the perceived threat (usually for non-fighters) or raise it (usually for fighters).
Charm
A charm makes an enemy into your best buddy. Some charm spells are strong enough to force the enemy to fight for you, while others only temporarily persuade the enemy to stop trying to kill you.
Ally Defense
Several combat arts allow you to come to the aid of another group member when they are attacked. These may be either emergency actions to protect a priest or mage, or more normal actions to help the main tank avoid taking damage.
Some arts allow you to intercept a large part of the damage from a single attack directed at an ally. You must be quite close to that ally (you are interposing your body between the attacker and your ally).
Some arts allow you a chance to help an ally avoid an attack. You only need to be close enough to affect the aim of the attacker.
Buffs and Debuffs
A buff increases one or more of your or your allies' abilities. Many buffs have a long duration and are applied before combat; others are short duration and must be applied during combat.
A debuff is the opposite of a buff: instead of augmenting you or your allies, you lower your enemy's ability to attack you or defend itself. Most debuff arts are of short to moderate duration. Some very powerful arts apply debuffs to you as part of the cost of providing positive effects (e.g., Offering of Armament (paladin) increases an ally's mitigation while lowering your own).
Buffs and debuffs may affect the following:
- Mitigation against one or more forms of damage (e.g., slashing, heat, disease).
- The value of one or more character stats (e.g., strength or wisdom) or attributes (e.g., maximum power or heath).
- The value of one or more character skills (e.g., parry, crushing, disruption).
- Health or power regeneration rates (in-combat, out-of-combat, or both).
- Attack speed (haste and slow).
A damage shield is a specialized buff that provides a reactive attack on you or an ally. The shield causes damage on any successful attacker.
Utility
Travel speed
Some arts increase the rate at which you or your group travel when not in combat.
Several other forms of travel speed increases are available: sprint is an ability which allows you to run very fast both in and out of combat with a high power drain; horses and flying carpets improve your out of combat run speed.
Teleport
Some arts teleport you or your group some distance away from your current location.
Escape teleports the group to a safe location within the current zone. It is primarily used to carry the group to safety when things go very wrong.
Blink is a random short distance teleport. It is used to move away from an attacker.
Stealth and Invisibilty
Some arts hide you or your group from the eyes of your enemies.
Steath allows you to sneak past your enemies.
Invisibilty
Hide is a special form of steath that only works when you are stationary, it is a special art available to some races.
Sight
Several arts affect your vision or that of your group.
See invisible lets you see invisible or stealthed enemies.
Bind sight is an interesting effect that allows you to look through the eyes of an ally.
Infra-, ultra-, aqua-, sonic, and aura vision lets you see things invisible with the naked eye.
Power
Some arts increase your power at the cost of your health.
Pets
Some arts allow you to summon creatures to fight for you. These may be wild creatures, elemental forces, or even replicas of yourself.
Heals
Some arts heal you, a specific target, or your group.
An instant heal restores health immediately
Regeneration applies a series of smaller heals, usually a few seconds apart. Also known as "heal over time" or HOT.
A ward, while not technically a heal, provides an ablative health shield; damage that would have been taken consumes part of the shield until the shield is fully consumed.
A reactive heal is a spell placed on armor that causes the target to regain health whenever he or she is hit by a physical attack.
Cures remove impairments from you or an ally; these include DoTs and other effects. Cures are targeted to specific classes of damage (arcane, physical, elemental, or disease/poison).
Heroic Opportunity Trigger
Each class receives an HO trigger art, which is used to start an heroic opportunity (HO). HOs are a special sequences of spells and arts that combine to produce more powerful attacks or other useful effects. They can be performed by a single individual or by the combined action of two or more members of a group; the more people involved in the HO, the more powerful or useful the effect.
Lore of Combat Arts
The history of combat arts is explained by Alamara Luthanyia, an Erudite of Starcrest Commune:
Alamara Luthanyia said, "Mediating in the villages is so difficult. I shall be an elder by the time I'm ready to begin my tutelage in the Arcanic Combat."
- "What is Arcanic Combat?", replied Melrose.
"As my concentration is disrupted, I will give you the answers you seek. Arcanic Combat is the use of magic in the combative arts. It is an age-old discipline passed down from the Ashen Order to the peoples of Freeport and Qeynos. The monastery in the Elddar Grove is the primary keeper of this discipline."
- "What is the Ashen Order?"
"During the Age of Turmoil, the Ashen Order was a society of monks dedicated to the perfection of combative discipline and grace. They left the city of Freeport when Lucan D`Lere ascended to power."
- "Where did they get the knowledge of Arcanic Combat?"
"The Ashen Order did not present the history of the discipline when they granted it to the people of the world. I believe that this is their secret to covet and one that we must trust to their care."
- "Do you think it wise to use arts then?"
"If the Ashen Order had not descended upon the peoples of the world in their time of need, we would not be here. Their motivations are those of neutrality and the maintenance of balance; they are neither villains nor heroes of this world. Distrust of the Arcanic Combats in the modern world is unnecessary. It would be wasteful not to use Arcanic Combative arts."
- "Who uses Arcane Combat now?"
"All modern combative disciplines are forms of Arcanic Combat. The Ashen Order was remarkable in the adaptation of this art. This art form allows the combatant to tap into arcane forces in order to strengthen their feats. The usage of Arcanic Combat is no great mystery, nor is it a rarity in this modern world."
- "Why did the Ashen Order leave Freeport?"
"The corruption of the city and imbalance of the world had disrupted their neutral and passive ways. They retreated into perfect solitude. Two centuries passed before they returned with the knowledge of Arcanic Combat."
- "Why did they return?"
"They returned to aid the people of Freeport and Qeynos in the war against the Rallosian Empire. If it had not been for them, the entire world would have fallen to the ruin of war."
- "Why did they choose to help? Why not stay in solitude?"
"I do not presume to know their motives, but I believe that their dedication to neutrality and balance spurred them to this decision. They realized the irreversible devastation that would have occured, had the Rallosian armies been victorious."
- "How did the Ashen Order help defeat the Rallosian Empire?"
"Although the Ashen Order did not directly involve themselves in the conflicts of war, they presented the still free people of the world the Arcanic Arts. Through training and usage of the Arcanic Arts, the overwhelmed forces of Qeynos and Freeport were able to stand strong against the Rallosian armies.
- "Where is the Ashen Order now?"
"When the Rallosian armies were defeated, the Ashen Order returned to their solitude. We are not certain where they have retreated. Most people respect the privacy of the Order and leave them in peace. Should the Ashen Order wish to return to the affairs of the world, they shall."
- "Where do they go?"
"Location of their monastery remains a secret. Some believe that they exist beyond this world, but all is speculation. The Ashen Order's secrets are their own."
