Combat

Combat is perhaps the most complex and intricate mechanic in Villagers and Heroes. Yet, a basic understanding of combat is essential to enjoying all that the game has to offer. Your hero begins the journey of a lifetime with a basic weapon and only one ability and must progress through the game, acquiring better weapons, some gear, new abilities, and basic cooked items early. Then, you hero will learn about Gnogmentation, Elder Gear, powerful crafted gear, buffs, talents, ultimates, stats, guilds, the player-run economy, gathering, mounts, toys, a house and village, and so much more. All that you learn can be used to direct your fun in any direction you choose at any pace you choose. For a summary of combat mechanics, continue reading below. For a more thorough guide to combat see the Combat Guide.

Auto-Attack
Every class has the ability to initiate auto-attacks. Auto-attacks are a base form of damage that do not require mana. They are a representation of the damage caused by a class’ weapon (a warrior swinging his sword, a hunter shooting her bow, etc.). Auto-attacks derive their damage from the character’s weapon, and take into account all modifiers, including proficiency talents, currently active effects, and consumables.

You can see your raw damage for your auto-attacks in the outfit window. Keep in mind that this number will be reduced by a monster’s defenses!

Combat Text
During combat, certain numbers and words will be floating above the heads of characters and monsters. These numbers are called combat text, and are a reflection of what is happening.

A character can turn on ‘System Messages’ in the chat console, this will cause more informative combat text to be displayed in chat.

Combat Text Colors

 * Red – Damage to a player
 * White – Auto-Attack damage to an enemy
 * Yellow – Ability damage to an enemy
 * Green – Healing to a player or enemy
 * Blue – Combat Text Message

Combat Text Messages

 * Dazed – Critical strikes also have a small chance to daze the opponent. Dazed opponents take 10% more damage for 10 seconds.
 * Stunned – Every time an attacker lands a critical hit, they have a chance to stun. Additionally, certain feats and spells can also stun. Stunned targets are unable to attack or move for the duration of the effect.
 * Crushed - Every time an attacker lands a critical hit, they have a chance to stun. Sometimes that stun will be especially effective and cause the "Crushed" status to occur on the enemy. While an enemy is Crushed, all damage taken will be increased by 20%.
 * Missed – A character has missed their target. No damage has been inflicted. All characters are capable of missing. The chance of a miss is derived from a characters attack rating, level, and enemy level.
 * Dodge - A character has evaded an enemy attack. No damage has been inflicted. Players will notice more dodges when fighting lower-level enemies.
 * Block - A character has blocked an attack, completely negating all damage (but not any effects).
 * Resist – A resist implies that an attacker attempted to apply a status effect (such as a freeze, stun, poison, etc), but the defender was able to completely resist the effect.
 * Immune - A character or monster cannot be affected either by damage or by an effect. It is possible for an attack to deal damage and not apply an effect, such as a stun. It is also possible for an attack to deal no damage, yet apply its effect. Often a target will be immune for one of three reasons:
 * It is in Aegis (see next Combat Message).
 * It has built an immunity to your status effects through repeated application.
 * It is simply invulnerable to damage. This is likely due to a temporary buff like the Lightning Shield on some high-level or scaled bounties.
 * Aegis - Aegis can only occur on an enemy and occurs exclusively whenever an enemy attempts to reach the player in combat and is unable to do so. This can be due to distance, obstacles such as walls or doors (often the case for melee enemies), or because the player is standing on top of the enemy. Aegis occurs so that a player is required to engage an enemy in fair combat. One cannot simply shoot an enemy from outside its range and achieve victory: That would be unfair. Enemy AI also has trouble dealing with players inside of them, so ... maybe move a bit. Remember, even your enemy has feelings. :)

Using Active Abilities
All spells and feats will automatically be populated onto the action bar, which is located at the bottom of your screen, unless the action bar is already full. Feats and Spells can be moved around on the action bar using right-click and drag.

To activate a spell or feat, a player must have enough mana to cast it and either have a valid target selected or have a valid target in range. If a player meets these requirements, then either left-click on the ability, or press the number key that corresponds to the slot in which the spell or feat icon appears. Activating the spell or feat will cause your character to begin channeling (if there is a cast time) or casting (if there is no cast time). After the channeling is completed, your character will cast the spell or feat. If, however, the channel is interrupted, the spell or feat will go on a shortened cool down and can be used again shortly. Channels can be interrupted by cancelling the channel, by becoming disabled (character stunned, frozen, etc), or by the target of the spell or feat being defeated.

Additionally, feats never ‘miss’. The effects of an ability may be absorbed, resisted, or have no effect because the enemy is way out of the character's level range, but the feat itself is always 100% accurate.

Using talents
Talents are all passive effects, meaning they do not have to be used. If a player possesses a talent, then all aspects of that talent will always be active on that character.

Protection
Protection can be gained in various ways, such as from armor, shields, proficiencies or active effects.

There are 2 types of protection and damage, each with a group of elements associated with it. Currently, these are the forms of protection and damage: Each time a physical attack damages a target, the target’s physical protection is checked, absorbing the appropriate amount of damage. Similarly, each time a magical attack damages a target, the target’s magical protection is checked, absorbing the appropriate amount of damage.
 * Physical Damage
 * Earth
 * Lightning
 * Physical
 * Poison
 * Magical Damage
 * Fire
 * Holy
 * Ice
 * Shadow

It is important to be aware of the forms of damage that are hurting a character. Building up protection can be one of the easiest ways for a player to have a greater chance of success.