Combat Style

Welcome intrepid soul! This article is intended as a place to collect useful ways of efficiently completing combat adventures. The changes that accompanied NS13 have eroded the dominance of strategies that use permanent combat skills like Lunging Thrust Smack for Moxie and Mysticality classes.

This page is specifically not intended for such strategies, but rather for collecting ways that individual classes are "meant" to fight, using their own class skills and strengths, and the (relatively) accessible items they find around them. MacGyver fighting. Ideally, these strategies should be accomplish-able by a brand new character, or in a Bad Moon ascension. That said, any useful combat strategy is welcome, but this article is not aimed at the person with two-dozen ascensions under their belt, because such a person most likely does not need advice. The audience of this page is the new player, or the person playing a specific class for the first time. Now then...

Basic Combat Styles

Muscle

Muscle-based combat is based on attacking with Melee Weapons. This is most easily accomplished by having a Muscle that is higher than the Monster's Defense. Thus, any Buffs or Enchantments that raise Muscle are key. In addition, due to the fact that the Monster will likely be able to damage you (and for a lot), since the Monster's to-hit and damage are based on your Moxie, which will likely be lower, it is to the player's advantage to maximize the damage dealt by each attack, to reduce the number of combat rounds the Monster will have to retaliate. Thus, Buffs and Enchantments that raise Melee damage are beneficial.

Prioritize:

1. Enough Muscle to hit your target reliably.
2. Then high power weapons and anything with bonus melee damage.
3. Finally, defensive power or combat initiative depending on your strategy.
4. Consider using a one-handed weapon with a shield.

Moxie

Moxie-based combat is based on being able to evade all of a Monster's attacks. This is most easily accomplished by having a Moxie that is higher than the Monster's Attack. Thus, any Buffs or Enchantments that raise Moxie are key. Additionally, items or skills that reduce the Monster's level in combat are useful to put the Monster's attack below your moxie. (See Safe Adventuring) At this point, the Monster can be picked off at your leisure, using combat items, Skills, or Ranged Weapons, which are based on Moxie instead of Muscle. The high moxie and ranged weapon style of play in particular is commonly called "plinking," and is standard for Moxie classes.

Prioritize:

1. Moxie! Boost Moxie to get past the limit for Safe Adventuring.
2. No seriously, Moxie. At the expense of anything else. Really.
3. A ranged weapon, and any bonus melee or elemental damage you can scrounge up.
4. Elemental items or skills like Chronic Indigestion may be needed to deal with physical immune monsters.

Skill Based

Skill-Based combat is the combat style preferred by Mysticality Classes, as well as those who have completed a number of Ascensions. It generally consists of using skills that will always hit the Monster, such as Shieldbutt or any of the Mysticality Spells. The advantage of this is that the character's Stats in relation to the Monster's are largely irrelevant, allowing the player to adventure at any area he or she has access to. However, skills are expensive to acquire, and they require the expenditure of MP, which can be expensive to refill. In addition, two major bosses can block combat skills leaving these characters at a disadvantage.

Prioritize:

1. Anything that increases damage for the skill you are relying upon. e.g. Bonus Spell Damage for myst. spells, or helmet turtles for Headbutt.
2. Something to help you decrease/avoid damage. Combat Initiative and high Moxie are good choices. Failing that Damage Reduction and Damage Absorption can pick up some slack.
3. Any method of reducing skill MP cost, or MP regeneration. Failing that, a way of making enough meat to pay for MP Restorers.

OHKO (One Hit Knock Out)

It can be possible to defeat the enemy in one hit via: extreme boosting of melee/spell damage, exploiting elemental weaknesses, getting a critical hit, or using combat skills like Lunging Thrust-Smack or Pasta/Sauce spells. This can be incredibly useful to avoid taking damage, especially if you also boost Combat Initiative. Your equipment can boost your initiative significantly, as can certain class skills. It may be worth it to abandon conventional defenses entirely if you think your enemy can be defeated in one, or even two hits.

Sustainability

For all combat styles, the focus should be on sustainability. That is, gaining enough meat per adventure to (at least) cover any healing or MP recovery items you might need. While it may be worthwhile to operate at a loss temporarily in order to get certain items or complete a quest, ordinary leveling should be done where you can adventure comfortably. It is far less efficient to adventure at the hardest area you have access to, than to fight in a slightly easier area that allows you to control the damage you take. If you use all your meat up on healing, you can't afford new class skills and equipment. Even worse, turns spent sleeping at your Campsite or Beaten Up are turns wasted. This is true even if you fall behind on your quests. If you can't beat the Goblin King right now, just move on. You can always come back in 20 adventures. Or 40.

Class Specific

Seal Clubber

Lunging Thrust-Smack + Eye of the Stoat provides a bonus to hit, which is increased for a Seal Clubber. In addition, the Lunging Thrust-Smack provides triple damage from the main weapon. Skills such as Claws of the Walrus, Claws of the Otter, Snarl of the Timberwolf, and Rage of the Reindeer provide a melee damage bonus, which can make attacks quite lethal (Rage also boosts Muscle). Double-Fisted Skull Smashing allows two one-handed weapons to be used, which can also increase the damage. Pulverize also provides a source of Muscle and Damage boosting enchantments from Wads received from it. Altogether, the Seal Clubber provides an opportunity to max out the damage done with each melee attack.

Pastamancer

Use the Spellbooks

There is really no such thing as Mysticality based combat. The specialty of Myst. classes is Elemental Combat. The Codex of Capsaicin Conjuration and Gazpacho's Glacial Grimoire are available in your guild store. These items allow your spells to always do Hot or Cold damage respectively. Using the correct element against elementally weak monsters will do double damage, often letting you get a one-hit kill. Though somewhat expensive, these items can often be a better investment than new spells or flashier equipment. Hot damage is useful early on in the Undefile the Cyrpt Quest and at the Icy Peak. Cold damage comes into play later, dominating both sides of the Mysterious Island Quest and helps at The Hole in the Sky. The truely cunning might team this advantage up with Springy Fusilli and/or Entangling Noodles as outlined below.

Springy Fusilli + Entangling Noodles

Before combat use Springy Fusilli and equip any +initiative equipment to raise combat initiative. Using Entangling Noodles after you get the jump on an opponent, you can buy yourself two rounds of freedom from any damage it would have dealt. When you can kill the opponent in two turns but not one, this skill can save you a fortune on healing. It is especially useful from the Giant's Castle onward. In particular, casting Entangling Noodles and then eXtreme Ray of Something twice costs less than one casting of Cone of Whatever, while usually doing more damage.

Sauceror

The Sauceror's Reagent Potions are an extremely powerful tool, as they can radically enhance/modify your stats. The olive and lemon potions in particular can allow you to masquerade as a Moxie or Muscle class, while still enjoying all your native Sauciness. There is really no reason not to use some type of potion continuously, once you find a reliable source of fruit. (for instance The Hippy Store)

Use the Spellbooks (2)

(See Pastamancer above)

Wave of Sauce + Wave of Sauce/Saucegeyser

If your additional spell damage exceeds the damage cap(+25 spell damage) while casting Wave of Sauce, you will gain the effect Burning Soul or Soul Freeze depending on whether the spell was hot or cold. This effect returns 1/3 of the damaged done by the next spell of that element as MP. Follow this up by another Wave of Sauce or a Saucegeyser to gain back as much MP as possible. Using a spell book to always cast the same elemental type, and Jalapeño Saucesphere to regain HP, you can cast this combination nearly free of cost, while effectively taking little or no damage. If you also use Jabañero Saucesphere and a chefstaff such as the Staff of the Greasefire it is possible to make more MP back in a turn than you spend. This strategy can be so effective that you may intentionally not use the element an opponent is weak to, in order to not kill it in the first turn.

You may find baconstone pendants, blackberry slippers, and the 17-Alarm Saucepan useful in exceeding the cap. Bonus to spell % will not trigger the overflow effect. See Also:Bonus Spell Damage

Disco Bandit

The advantages that the Disco Bandit has for Moxie-Style play are Ambidextrous Funkslinging, which allows the use of two combat items per combat round, and the Disco Dance moves (Disco Eye-Poke, Disco Dance of Doom, Disco Dance II: Electric Boogaloo, Disco Face Stab, and Tango of Terror), which each automatically hit, deal some damage, and delevel the enemy. Either of these can be used to delevel the opponent quickly at the beginning of a fight, and then use Combat Items or Ranged Weapons can finish the opponent off. In addition, Disco Combos can allow for beneficial damaging effects to speed the combat process along, and Crossbow Fever turns Crossbow-based Ranged Weapons into a force to be reckoned with.

Accordion Thief

The Accordion Thief is the King of moxie. Moxious Madrigal alone makes the class devastatingly evasive during the first few levels, and the Squeezebox of the Ages is easily the best of the class-specific Legendary Epic Weapons. Use it.