Combat and Tactics

## **Combat**

Combat is the bread and butter for adventurers in FARA. Whether you're fighting to escape a dangerous situation, complete a quest, or get food and materials to use elsewhere, combat is a huge part of any run in FARA.

## Overview

In FARA, monsters, animals, and NPCs that are hostile have exclamation points next to their names in the list of nearby targets (!, !!, or !!!). When engaged in combat, fast travel is unavailable. A hostile entity will approach the player until in range and then start to attack you. If you are targeting them, their information box will display what stage of their attack they are in. If the attack they are about to perform is guaranteed to come out the next available moment, there will be (!) after the attack indicator. Dodging these attacks is recommended.
The player has several options to take when in combat. Attacking a targeted enemy (/attack, /a, or pressing a on the keyboard) will use your currently held weapon to do a standard hit on your opponent. Heavy attacks (/attackheavy, /ah, or shift+a on the keyboard) use stamina and deal more damage along with a secondary effect that varies between weapon types (for example, heavy attacking with an axe will cleave adjacent targets). Dodging an enemy (/dodge, shift+d) will attempt to avoid an enemy's attack. Using a spell or spell scroll consumes some stamina and can have a wide variety of effects (see [Spellcrafting]). Of course, another important strategy is running away. While fast traveling or using the "Exit Area" shortcut is unavailable, moving to the edge of the tile and stepping outside of it will exit combat.

## **Weapons, Armors, Gears and other equipment**

There are various items in FARA that provide you options in how you want to engage in combat. These items can be basically classified into 4 major categories:

* STRENGTH equipment - Melee weapons such as swords, maces, and hammers. Unarmed attacks also use STRENGTH.
* FINESSE equipment - Ranged weapons such as bows and slings.
* INSIGHT equipment - Spellcasting items such as wands and focuses.
* Misc. items - scrolls, traps, food, throwables, mechanical contraptions

Some types of weapons, such as boxing gloves, have two statistics that can contribute to the weapon's use. The values of these statistics are added together. It is currently unknown whether or not those values are multiplied by another number, such as 0.75, before being added together.

## **Health and Stamina**

**Health** is basically your life. If it runs-out then you're dead. To regain health, you may want to take a rest or eat meals that grant rejuvenation (heal over time). Maximum health is determined by player class and cannot be altered.

**Stamina** determines what actions you can take such as walking in stealth, jumping, dodging etc. Stamina consumption and regeneration are affected by a variety of factors, including statistics and status ailments. STRENGTH decreases stamina spent pushing large objects, FINESSE decreases the stamina cost of jumping and stealth, RESILIENCE increases stamina regeneration rate, and INSIGHT decreases the stamina cost of spells.

## **Stealth**

**Stealth** (/stealth) would help you travel almost undetected at the cost of stamina. Certain actions will reveal you out of stealth or enemies naturally see you when they'll search or the enemy has higher INSIGHT. (Needs confirmation but attacking from stealth provides bonus damage and is a great way for melee characters to initiate a fight)

## **Hunger, Thirst, Sleepiness**

The game requires you to eat, drink and sleep just like real adventurers. Not doing so will get you MALNOURISHED (damage over time), DEHYDRATED (damage over time), and SLEEPY (greatly reduces all stats)

Water is more difficult to find than food, as fresh water comes only from wells in settlements. However, there are a variety of containers that can hold water, including mugs, waterskins, and kegs.

Food can be foraged on the field, and includes meat, fruit, veggies, flowers, and fish. (Note that meat is obtained by butchering animals and monsters, which requires a bladed weapon. Butchering can also obtain materials such as animal skins, teeth, and bones.) Cooking one of these items at a campfire or firepit will convert them into meals. These meals will restore health and stamina when eaten, and will give a stat boost to the player depending on the meal's type.

Sleepiness can be remedied by resting. Resting outdoors is frequently dangerous, and can result in being attacked or losing one or more held items. However, the construction of shelters is relatively cheap, and requires only 7 wooden planks. Converting 1 wooden log into 10 wooden planks will give more than enough resources to ensure that your rest will be much safer.

Hunger and Thirst have been removed from the game. See here for more info.

## **General Combat Tactics**

* Whenever possible, cook food before eating it to take advantage of the stat-boosting effects.
* Run away from enemies that you don't think you could kill. You can always come back for items in the area.
* Use stealth to your advantage, landing sneak attacks.
* you don't have to be melee forever. Use everything you can to win fights
* At night, it is harder for you to see enemies, but it's also harder for them to see you.
* If you can find sufficient cover mid-fight, eating meals can be a good option. ONLY if you are far enough away to finish eating, though.
* Bringing torches at night is like luring moths to a flame, only the moths are out to get you.
* Keep your gear in good shape, getting new weapons and armor when they benefit you and repairing when needed otherwise.
* Build shelters before resting.
* During a fight with multiple enemies, use the tab key to cycle through targets and see which ones should be your priority.