Skills/Tactics
Tactics is the fighter's understanding of combat: where to strike, when to press and how to make each blow count. It doesn't help you hit, but it decides how hard you hit. Every warrior, archer and brawler needs it, because at low Tactics your attacks do only a fraction of their damage.
At a glance
| Skill category | Combat |
|---|---|
| What it does | Raises (or lowers) the damage of every weapon and fist attack |
| How you use it | Passively. It works and trains every time you hit something. |
| Works with | Swordsmanship, Mace Fighting, Fencing, Archery, Wrestling and Anatomy |
| Skill cap | 100 (Grandmaster), raised up to 120 with Tactics power scrolls |
| Stats it can raise | None |
| Starting gear | Choosing Tactics as a starting skill gives you a katana. |
What Tactics does
Whenever your weapon (or fist) hits, the game rolls its damage and then applies your Tactics:
At 50 Tactics a weapon does exactly its listed damage. Below 50 you lose damage, all the way down to half damage at 0. Above 50 you gain it, up to +50% at 100 and +70% at 120. Strength, Anatomy and weapon quality are added on top of that.
| Tactics | Damage dealt | A 30-damage hit becomes |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 50% | 15 |
| 25 | 75% | 22 |
| 50 | 100% | 30 |
| 75 | 125% | 38 |
| 90 | 140% | 42 |
| 100 | 150% | 45 |
| 110 | 160% | 48 |
| 120 | 170% | 51 |
Tactics doesn't change your chance to hit. That comes from your weapon skill against the defender's (see hitting). It also has no effect on spells.
Training Tactics
- Every hit you land with a weapon or your fists is a chance to gain Tactics. Misses don't count.
- Your chance to succeed (and so to gain) follows your current Tactics: the higher it is, the more slowly it climbs, until it stops at your cap.
- Below 10.0 you gain on every attempt, sometimes several tenths at once. Above that, each attempt has a chance to gain 0.1.
- The harder the attempt is for your skill level, the better your chance to gain. Your chance also drops as you get closer to your Tactics cap and to your total skill cap of 700.
- If you've set Tactics to go down (the arrow in your skills list), gains elsewhere can lower it to make room under your total cap. Lock skills you want to keep.
- Reaching 100.0 adds Tactics to the Skills Mastered count on your achievements.
- Training dummies and archery buttes don't train Tactics, because you're not really hitting anything. Fight living opponents instead.
- Fast weapons train it fastest. More swings means more hits, so a quick weapon like a katana, kryss, dagger or club gives more Tactics gains per minute than a halberd.
- Warrior guildmasters, nobles, ranger guildmasters, blacksmiths, iron workers and healers will train you for gold: up to a third of their own skill, at most 42.0, for 1 gold per 0.1 points. Ask them (or use their context menu) to train the skill, then drop the gold on them.
Stats: this skill doesn't raise any stats.
Suggested path
Tactics usually rises right alongside your weapon skill, so just follow the training path for your weapon:
If your Tactics falls behind, buy it up to the low 40s from a trainer and fight easy creatures with a fast weapon until it catches up.
Power scrolls
Tactics tops out at 100.0 unless you use a Tactics power scroll. There are three kinds: exalted (110), mythical (115) and legendary (120). Double-click one to raise your Tactics cap to that number: "You feel a surge of magic as the scroll enhances your Tactics!"
- Tactics power scrolls come from champion bosses: Barracoon, Lord Oaks, Mephitis, Neira, Rikktor, Semidar and Silvani. Each champion boss leaves 6 power scrolls in random fighting, magic, bard and animal skills, handed out among the players who helped kill it. Each scroll is a 110 (60%), 115 (35%) or 120 (5%).
- A scroll only works if it's higher than your current cap. Otherwise: "Your Tactics is too high for this power scroll."
- Champion power scrolls are cursed: they always drop when you die, even from a blessed container. Use them or bank them quickly.
- Raising the cap doesn't raise your skill. You still have to train the extra points.
Tips
- Never fight with low Tactics. Below 50 you're throwing away damage on every hit.
- Tactics plus Anatomy is the warrior's damage pair: 100 Tactics (+50%) and 100 Anatomy (+30%) together nearly double a novice's damage.
- Train it on soft targets. Since misses don't help Tactics, easy creatures you hit often are good Tactics training even after they stop teaching your weapon skill.