Combat System

TL;DR

Your damage depends on your weapon, stats, and attack type. STR boosts melee damage, DEX boosts accuracy. Armor absorbs a percentage of incoming damage. Critical hits and combo attacks can multiply your output dramatically.

Physical Damage

All physical damage in Helbreath is based on your weapon type and stats. Here's how each attack style calculates damage.

Unarmed

Damage scales with your Strength — roughly STR / 12
Minimum damage: 1

Example: With 60 STR, unarmed damage = 60 / 12 = 5 damage per hit. With 120 STR, that's 120 / 12 = 10 damage per hit.

Melee Weapons

Your weapon rolls its base damage, then gets boosted by +1% per 5 STR points.
Example: With 100 STR, your melee hits deal +20% bonus damage.

Example: Your sword rolls 3d8 = 14 base damage. With 75 STR, bonus = 75 / 5 = +15%. Final = 14 × 1.15 = 16 damage. With 100 STR the same roll becomes 14 × 1.20 = 17 damage.

Ranged Weapons

Your weapon rolls its base damage, plus a small STR bonus (up to STR / 20).
Example: With 80 STR, you add up to 4 extra ranged damage per shot.

Player Tip: Warriors should prioritize STR for raw damage and DEX for landing hits consistently. A miss deals zero damage, so accuracy matters just as much as power!

Hit Chance (Accuracy vs Evasion)

Whether your attack lands depends on your accuracy compared to the target's defense. The higher your accuracy relative to theirs, the more likely you are to hit.

Hit Chance = (Your Accuracy / Target's Defense) × 50%
Clamped between 15% (minimum) and 99% (maximum)

Example: Your accuracy = 150, target's defense = 100. Hit chance = (150 / 100) × 50% = 75%. If your accuracy were only 60 vs defense 100: (60 / 100) × 50% = 30% → clamped to minimum 15%. With a Super Attack (+100 accuracy): (250 / 100) × 50% = 99% (cap).

Attacker Accuracy Modifiers

Modifier	Effect
High DEX	+(DEX - 50) bonus if your DEX is above 50
Weather: Rain (ranged)	-5%
Weather: Snow (ranged)	-10%
Weather: Storm (ranged)	-25%
Super Attack	+100 accuracy
Dash Attack	+30 accuracy
Equipment bonuses	Varies by gear equipped

Reading Dice Notation: "XdY" means "roll X dice with Y sides." For example, 2d6 means roll two 6-sided dice (result: 2-12). 1d4+3 means roll one 4-sided die and add 3 (result: 4-7).

Target Defense Modifiers

Modifier	Effect
Base defense from gear	Determined by equipped armor and accessories
Protection Magic (level 3)	+40 defense
Protection Magic (level 4)	+100 defense
Equipment bonuses	Varies by gear equipped
Back Attack	Target's defense is halved

Armor Absorption

When a hit connects, your armor and shield reduce the incoming damage based on which body part was struck.

Body Part Targeting

Body Part	Chance
Body	50%
Pants	25%
Arms	15%
Head	10%

Armor Absorption Formula

Absorption is capped at 80% of incoming damage.
Damage Absorbed = Your armor's absorption % × Raw Damage

Shield Absorption

Your shield has a chance to block based on your Shield Mastery skill level.
When it procs, it absorbs up to 80% of the remaining damage.

Example: You have Shield Mastery 80. When the shield procs, incoming 50 damage (after armor) is reduced by 80%: you take only 10 damage. At Shield Mastery 40, the proc chance is lower but the absorption is still 80% when it triggers.

PvP vs PvE Damage Reduction

Context	How Absorption Works
PvP	Armor absorption is halved; shield absorption applies in full
PvE	Both armor and shield absorption apply in full

Example: You take a hit for 100 damage. Your armor has 40% absorption. You receive 100 × (1 - 0.40) = 60 actual damage. Higher-tier armor = more absorption = more survivability!

Special Damage Modifiers

Various conditions apply multiplicative or additive bonuses to your final damage.

Condition	Effect
Berserk	x2 damage
Sleeping target	x2 damage
Death Match	x2 damage
Close-range attack	Damage halved
Back Attack	Target's defense halved
Safe Mode	Damage halved
Hero status	+5 damage, +100 accuracy

Pro Tip: Berserk on a sleeping target deals x4 damage! Coordinate with party members who can cast sleep spells for devastating combos.

Super Attack System

Super attacks are powerful weapon-specific abilities that activate when your weapon skill reaches a high enough level. They add bonus damage that scales with your character level.

Weapon	Bonus
Sword	x2 damage
Dagger	+10% damage, +30 accuracy
Axe	+10% damage, +30 accuracy
Bow	+20% damage
Shield	+20% damage, +20 accuracy
Staff	+20% damage, +50 accuracy

Combo Attack System

Landing consecutive hits on the same target grants increasing bonus damage based on your weapon type and combo count.

Weapon	Hit 3 Bonus	Hit 4 Bonus	Hit 5 Bonus
Bare Hand	0	1	2
Dagger	0	0	0
Sword	1	2	3
Axe	1	3	5
Spear	2	4	8
Bow	1	2	3
Staff	1	2	3

Hammer: Armor Strip

Hammers are unique weapons that can destroy the opponent's equipped armor on hit. Every time a hammer connects, it deals durability damage to the target's armor. If the armor's durability reaches zero, it is permanently destroyed and unequipped.

How It Works

Each hammer hit reduces the target's armor durability by a fixed amount (depends on hammer type).
On each hit, the game rolls a break check based on how damaged the armor already is.
If the break check exceeds the armor's remaining durability, the armor is destroyed instantly.

Hammer Type Effectiveness

Different hammer types deal different durability damage per hit and have different break multipliers.

Weapon	Durability / Hit	Break Multiplier
Giant Battle Hammer	40	100%
Barbarian Hammer	30	50%
Battle Hammer	25	40%
One-handed Hammer	20	25%

Break Check

Every hammer hit, the game checks if the armor breaks. The key idea: the more worn the armor is, the easier it breaks.

Step 1: Calculate how worn the armor is:
Wear = Max Durability - Current Durability

Step 2: Roll a random break value based on that wear:
Normal armor: roll 6d(Wear) → range 6 to 6×Wear, average ≈ 3×Wear
High-tier armor (max durability ≥ 2000): roll 4d(Wear) → average ≈ 2×Wear

Step 3: Apply hammer multiplier (see table above)

Step 4: If the result > current durability → armor destroyed

Strip Probability by Hits

This table shows how strip chance increases as a Giant Battle Hammer (40 dur/hit, 100% multiplier) wears down a typical Plate Mail (1500 max durability).

Hits	Current Dur.	Wear	Avg Roll	Approx Strip %
5	1300	200	~600	~15%
10	1100	400	~1200	~55%
15	900	600	~1800	~80%
20	700	800	~2400	~95%

Example: Target wears Plate Mail (1500 max durability). You attack with a Giant Battle Hammer.

Hit 1: Durability drops from 1500 to 1460 (-40). Wear = 40. Break roll averages ~120 vs 1460 → no chance.
Hit 10: Durability at 1100. Wear = 400. Average roll ~1200 vs 1100 → ~55% chance to strip.
Hit 15: Durability at 900. Wear = 600. Average roll ~1800 vs 900 → ~80% chance. Armor is living on borrowed time.

With a Battle Hammer (25 dur/hit, 40% multiplier), the same 15 hits only reduce durability to 1125, and the 40% multiplier cuts the break roll drastically — you'd need ~25+ hits for a reliable strip.

Important: Hammer armor strip only works in PvP against opposing factions. Some legendary armors (Merian Plate Mail) are immune to hammer break.

Strategy: Hammers shine in prolonged fights — the more you hit, the more damaged the armor gets, and the higher the break chance. Focus on one target to wear their armor down before the strip kicks in.

Hammer + Armor Break Combo: Mages can soften armor with the Armor Break spell, then a hammer warrior finishes the job with the break check. The more durability the spell removes, the higher the hammer's break roll becomes. Coordinate with your party!

Stat Scaling

Each stat contributes to your combat effectiveness in specific ways.

Stat	Combat Effect
STR	+1% melee damage per 5 STR. Also boosts unarmed damage (roughly STR / 12) and adds a small ranged bonus (up to STR / 20).
DEX	Accuracy bonus when DEX exceeds 50. Each point above 50 adds +1 to your hit chance.
VIT	Flat damage reduction on every hit taken, scaling with your VIT (roughly VIT / 10).
INT	Magic resistance bonus when INT exceeds 50. Each 2 points above 50 adds +1 magic resistance.
MAG	+1% spell damage per ~3.3 MAG. Also grants magic resistance when MAG exceeds 50.

Attack Timing

Attacks in Helbreath are governed by strict timing windows that determine how fast you can act.

Action	Duration
Physical Attack	448 ms
Magic Cast	700 ms
Cast-to-Magic Delay	528 ms
Max Frequency	50 attacks max per cycle

Crusade & Guild Combat Bonuses

During Crusade warfare, players receive damage bonuses scaled by level. Guild ranks also grant permanent combat advantages.

Crusade Bonuses by Level

Level Range	Physical Bonus	Magic Bonus
<= 80	+100%	+70%
81 - 100	+70%	+50%
> 100	+33%	+50%

Guild Rank Bonuses

Rank	Effect
Raid Master	+5% bonus damage per rank
Hunt Master	+10% bonus damage per rank vs monsters