Talk:Combat
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The Basics
Player vs Environment
Player vs Player
The Basics of Imperian Player vs. Player (PvP)
The world of Aetherius was designed with Player Killing in mind. The primary metric of victory in Player Killing is the death of your opponent.
This can be achieved in several ways -
- Dealing damage until their Health reaches zero.
- Performing a profession-specific ability that slays them regardless of Health. Examples include Vivisect, Kantae and Incendiary. (Or known as instantkills)
- Utilizing toxins like cyanide and xeroderma
Player Killing is a two-way street, so be sure that while you attempt to kill your opponent, they will be attempting to kill you at the same time.
Afflictions
Afflictions are then a second dynamic in Player Killing. They are statuses on your character until they are cured, and inflict a variety of effects on you. For example, paralysis stops you from attacking, dizziness makes you walk east when you intend to walk west, and healthleech periodically drains your health. Players can and will use afflictions to try and hinder your offense while augmenting their own.
Classes
This second dynamic (of afflictions) introduces the concepts of damage and affliction professions. (Or known as classes)
As a rule of thumb, damage classes dish out large amounts of damage and if you are not careful in timing blocks and/or shielding, you will succumb quickly.
On the flipside, affliction classes tend to deal smaller amounts of damage, and they primarily achieve victory by overwhelming your curing with afflictions until you are no longer able to move and/or attack, and then perform their professions instantkill on you.
Resource Management
That brings us to resource management, one of the primary differentiations between successful and unsuccessful combatants. The two primary resources you will be managing are your balance and equilibrium.
As a rule of thumb,
- most attacks require both balance and equilibrium.
- most physical attacks consume balance, while
- most mental attacks consume equilibrium.
The resources work in a binary format: you either have it or you don't, and you either spend it or you don't.
For example, a wytch requires and consumes balance when they curse their enemy. A fast wytch swiftcurses at 1.40 seconds. This consumes their balance but not their equilibrium. They cannot cast another curse for 1.40 seconds. However if, for example, within that 1.40 second window, the team reports that the enemy is within 30 health of dying, the wytch can choose to flare a sowulu rune at the enemy, sealing the kill. This particular skill consumes equilibrium, but does not require balance.