Getting ready for fights

Before any fight

1. Level. Melee fights need an Attack level. Bow fights need a Marksmanship level. The table below lists each one.
2. Weapon. Your equipped weapon decides how you fight. A bow means ranged. Anything else, or no weapon, means melee.
3. Armour. Equip the best gear you have. Gear power and your Defence level lower every hit. Only equipped gear counts. To equip, open the Fight page, click a slot under You and press Equip.
4. Healing items. Bank some: your character eats one when HP drops to 50% of max HP. Salves, stews and other healing items all work.
5. Arrows. Bow fights use arrows on every kill. When they run out, the fight stops.
6. Check the Fight page. Before you leave it running, look at Their hit, after reduction and Can I leave it running?

Enemy types

• Weak to melee or ranged. Fight them with that style: you hit 12 points more often, each round is 15% faster, and your damage reduction is 20% higher. With the other style it is the reverse: 12 points less often, 15% slower, and 25% less damage reduction.
• Armed (bandits, marauders and other armed people): a shield lowers their hits even more. Equip one.
• Undead (ghouls, wraiths and the like): your gear power counts only half against them, so your Defence level matters more.
• If you are defeated, the fight stops and you recover where you fell, with full HP. Every equipped piece loses 1 durability. Most pieces have 2; a piece with none left breaks at the next defeat. More: fighting.

Every fight

"Safe to leave with no armour" is the Vitality level at which the enemy's biggest hit can no longer defeat you while healing items last, even with no damage reduction at all. With armour and Defence you can leave it sooner.

Is it safe to leave a fight running?

Yes, while both of these are true:

1. You have healing items in the bank.
2. The enemy's biggest hit, after your damage reduction, is no bigger than the HP at which your character eats.

Your character eats when HP drops to 50% of max HP, even before the first round. A hit no bigger than that cannot take you from above it to 0. The Fight page checks this for you: look for Safe while healing items last.

• Rebuilding Plague chapel (+5) and the sick house (+10) makes your character eat sooner, up to 90% of max HP. More: healing and defeat.
• Out of healing items: the fight goes on, and you can be defeated. A defeat stops the fight and costs every equipped piece 1 durability. Bring more than the night needs.
• Out of arrows: the fight stops. Nothing bad happens; it waits until you have arrows again.
• Bow fights need the bow equipped the whole time. A bow cannot be used in a melee fight.

Tested gear sets

5 fights, each fought for 8 hours in the game's own simulation with 3 to 4 gear sets. These are measured results, not guesses: the same luck for every row, normal-quality gear, base prices. "Tempered" means the same gear in high quality.

No gear set is best in every fight. A bow kills quickly but arrows cost coins. Pick by the enemy type and what you can make.

Fight the Rootbreaker

Levels: Attack 12, Marksmanship 12, Defence 10, Vitality 15. Healing items: 800 × Fish stew, plus arrows and extra healing items where the gear set needs them.

Fight the Ash-Lung Stalker

Levels: Attack 50, Marksmanship 50, Defence 45, Vitality 55. Healing items: 2,000 × Fish stew, plus arrows and extra healing items where the gear set needs them.

Fight the Tollkeeper's Ghost

Levels: Attack 65, Marksmanship 65, Defence 60, Vitality 70. Healing items: 2,000 × Fish stew, plus arrows and extra healing items where the gear set needs them.

Fight ogres

Levels: Attack 72, Marksmanship 72, Defence 65, Vitality 75. Healing items: 2,000 × Fish stew, 600 × Marrow broth, plus arrows and extra healing items where the gear set needs them.

Fight the warlord

Levels: Attack 96, Marksmanship 96, Defence 90, Vitality 95. Healing items: 3,000 × Fish stew, 800 × Marrow broth, plus arrows and extra healing items where the gear set needs them.