User:Hordes

Relevant credentials: Hordes (main) | HorDDes (tournament)

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User:Hordes/Guide

• User:Hordes/Guide Appendix

User:Hordes/Basics Guide

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• Base SH is determined by type of shield. 3 for bucklers, 8 for kite shields, 13 for tower shields.
• Add Skill Bonus of (base_SH/40 + 0.19) * skill.
  • Add another 0.57 if skill ≥ 3, else add 0.19 * skill.
• Add Stat Bonus of DEX * 38 * (base_SH + 13) / 5200.
• Add Enchantment value. +1 enchantment = +1 SH.

All other sources of SH (Qazlal shield, amulet of reflection...) are flat bonuses, and are added on top of the physical shield bonus. The final value is rounded to the nearest integer and displayed as the player's SH value.

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When you start with a melee-oriented background, you'll get a starting weapon of choice.

Simple Starting Weapon

Used by most weapon-wielding backgrounds.

• Short sword - Short Blades aren't great at regular combat, though they are good at stabbing. Uses dexterity instead of strength.
• Mace - Maces & Flails are the strongest "strength" weapon, at least in terms of stats.
• Hand axe - Axes have the ability to cleave. In addition to hitting a "main" target for 100% damage, they'll hit every monster adjacent to you for 70% damage. However, axes deal less damage than other weapons.
• Spear - Polearms have reaching - they can attack from an extra tile away. Despite their worse stats, spears are the best option to fight single targets, due to their extra range.
• Falchion - Long Blades are similar to Maces; higher base damage, but no gimmick. They use dexterity instead of strength.
• Unarmed Combat - Unarmed Combat is usually the weakest of the available "weapons". Certain species, like Trolls and Ghouls, receive special bonuses to Unarmed attacks. Unarmed can become strong at high skill, but that's a long while away.

Good Starting Weapon

Fighters and Gladiators start with a better ("good") starting weapon than other backgrounds.

• Rapier - Short Blades are good at stabbing, but weaker at plain combat. Rapiers are the only "good" weapon that stats below 1.0 attack delay, meaning monsters won't get a chance to hit you twice.
• Flail - Maces & Flails have higher base damage, but no special gimmicks.
• War axe - Axes can cleave, but deal less single-target damage. Great option for strong species, like Hill Orcs and Minotaurs.
• Trident - Polearms can attack from a tile away. Like the spear before it, tridents are usually the best option against single targets.
• Long sword - Long swords are slightly more powerful than flails, though long swords use dexterity instead of strength.
• Quarterstaff - Quarterstaves deal more damage/turn than any other option, but they are two-handed, meaning you can't wear a shield with one. Because of this restriction, only Gladiators and Formicid Fighters can start with one. In addition, Staves are rarer than other weapon types.
• Unarmed Combat - Unarmed Combat is usually the weakest of the available "weapons". Certain species, like Trolls and Ghouls, receive special bonuses to Unarmed attacks. Unarmed can become strong at high skill, but that's a long while away.