Combat

**Combat** is one of the most important aspects of Begotten III. There is a plethora of weapons and skills available to the player that will assist them in killing the opposition as well as over 300 custom animations linked up to the melee script to allow for readable attacks/counterattacks. In this article, we will explore combat basics as well as some of the weapon types present within Begotten III.

## The Basics

   **M1** - Attack

**M2 (Hold)** - Block

**E+M2** - Change Stances *(if you have the Belief 'Halfsword and Sway' unlocked)*

**R** - Parry *(if you have the belief 'Parrying' unlocked)*

**F** - Raise/Lower Weapon

* **HP** or just **Health** is a measure of your character's overall condition. There are no negatives for having low health, but you may incur various injuries in combat that will make it much more difficult to do certain things. If your HP goes to 10 or below, there is a high chance you'll go into Critical Condition, which means you can be revived by medical efforts, but you're near to death. If your HP reaches 0, you'll be corpsed.
* **Stability** is a measure of your character's balance. It is most commonly affected by bludgeoning weapons. When your stability is depleted, your character will be knocked over and left helpless for a short time. Depending on your armor and equipment, it may take longer for you to get back up.
* **Poise** is a measure of your character's overall efficiency in performing combat actions. It is responsible for **attacking, blocking blows, and parrying.** If your poise is low, or depleted, you may not be able to perform any combat actions, so be sure to keep your poise up at all times and learn to back off when it becomes low. Poise regenerates passively.
* When you **Block** you negate damage from within your block cone (front half of your character). Blocking hits take away Poise; shields and larger weapons have larger block cones and more poise resistance, meaning they can take more hits than your average weapon and deal less damage to your overall Poise.
* **Deflection** is a perfect block achieved by Blocking at the very last moment before impact, which grants you with an immediate boost in Poise and Stability. Deflection is a very important part of combat and is how you may turn the tables in your favor. Be sure to read your opponent's animations and try to Deflect as much as possible.
* Another way to turn the tables is **Parrying**. Parrying is far more risky than Deflection. however it has much greater rewards. To Parry, press R just before the moment of impact and your opponent will be sent into a stunned state, meaning they cannot attack or block for a few seconds, allowing you to do a **Riposte Attack** for 2x damage. Be warned, however, that Parrying takes a lot of Poise to perform, yet a successful Parry may be the difference between life and death.
* **Disarming** happens when your Stability and Poise is low. When both are low, you have a chance that the next hit will possibly knock your weapon out of your hand. Be very careful when this happens, for if you get Disarmed, there is a good possibility that corpsing is not too far away.

## The Importance of Dueling

**Dueling** is the primary way to practice Combat within Begotten III. Within the map exists Dueling Statues in which Duels may be initiated. Duels do not affect progress and do not PK you upon death so they are the ideal way to practice amongst one another. There are four Dueling Statues placed around the map, one in the Tower of Light, one in the Wasteland, one in the Gore Forest, and one in Hell allowing for different faction members to get together and practice their builds against one another. Be sure to get a buddy together and duel as much as possible to master the combat and your perspective builds.

## Armor & Movement

**Armor** is a very important part of Combat. There exists three different armor types that coincide with the Movement mechanics. To put it simply, the heavier your armor, the slower your overall movement speed will be (unless you have certain *Fortitude* beliefs unlocked). There are three different Armor types.

**Leather** - Leather usually is reserved for Light armors, yet in some cases they serve as Medium armors as well. Leather armors are usually worn by builds that want to not sacrifice movement speed for protection. Leather armors give very little movement debuffs, if any.

**Chainmail** - Chainmail is almost exclusively Medium armors. They are the go-between of movement speed and protection. Chainmail armors also completely nullify fist attacks.

**Plate** - Plate armors are Medium and Heavy armors. They are only worn by usually very beefy builds, as Heavy armors require the Hauberk belief to be unlocked to properly wear them. Plate armors offer the most protection, yet at the cost of the most movement speed debuff. They also nullify fist attacks like chainmail armor.

Depending on your armor's condition, their protection buffs may be reduced and if broken completely removed. Therefore, keep a close eye on your armor's condition. You don't want to wear broken armor that weighs you down yet doesn't give you any of the benefits.

Also depending on your armor's type (Leather, Chainmail, or Plate) and weight (Light, Medium, or Heavy) it may take longer for you to get up from Stability knock-down attacks and also makes your Combat Rolling slower.

Remember that if you aren't wearing a helmet, your head has no protection. That means that if you're hit in the head, it will be as if you aren't wearing armor at all. Vice versa that if you aren't wearing armor, but wearing a helmet, your body won't be protected.

## Swords

**Swords** are a very versatile weapon, acting as the primary all-rounder against all opponents both armored and unarmored.

Swords have two methods of attack, otherwise known as Stances, which you must unlock the *'Halfsword and Sway'* belief to utilize.

1. **Slashing** - The default stance of Swords. Slashing is an extremely good attack against unarmored opponents. It deals extreme HP damage, however has a very small attack radius (unless it is a larger sword) and is practically useless against armored opponents due to its very low AP damage.
2. **Thrusting** - Thrusting is a good balance between HP and AP damage, both useful for armored and unarmored opponents. In addition, it increases your attack radius almost two-fold from slash attacks, meaning you can reach much further away with your swing.

A negative trait of swords, however, is that they do very average Poise damage which means your opponent will be able to block most of your swings with their own weapon.

## Blunt Weapons

**Blunt Weapons** are useful against heavily armored and quick opponents.

Although Blunt Weapons have only one Stance (in most cases), known as the Bludgeoning Stance, they have the unique ability to deal a great amount of Stability damage which has a greater chance to Disarm or knock over an opponent, making them a good combo with Daggers. In addition, most Blunt Weapons do moderate HP and Poise damage which means they're a good choice for people who want to pummel their enemies into submission, making them panic as their Poise and Stability slowly drops.

A negative trait of Blunt Weapons however is that most of them are easy to read, which means they can be Deflected or Parried against by skillful players.

## Daggers

**Daggers** are very useful against armored opponents or when paired up with certain sub-Faith skills.

They are extremely quick weapons, making them very hard to be Deflected or Parried, however at the cost of doing very below average HP and AP damage. A very unique benefit of Daggers, however, is against knocked down opponents they do 100% AP damage. This is reminiscent of how Daggers were traditionally used to finish of armored knights during the medieval era.

## Spears

**Spears** are very useful for long-range combat.

They have by far the largest attack radius' of any other weapon in the game. They do very well in the way of AP and HP damage. A unique trait of Spears is the farther away you are, the more damage your strike will do upon a successful hit, however in addition to this the further away you are the less Poise damage you do which means they can be blocked.

A negative trait, however, is if your opponent is very close to you, your Spear will barely do any HP or AP damage, however it will shove your enemy back and deal Poise damage as well as a small amount of Stability damage.

Shields are a very good combination with Spear.

## Firearms

**Firearms**, also known as **Poppers** among peasantry for their ability to make heads go pop, are rare yet powerful weapons in the world of Begotten III. Commonly wielded by Gatekeepers, Firearms comes in all shapes and sizes, with different damage outputs and accuracy for each and every one. Different Firearms can load different types of Shots. A negative trait of Firearms is how long it takes to load them. In addition, if you're hit with a melee weapon with your Firearm out, then it will be knocked out of your hands.

**Grapeshot** - The equivalent to the modern day 12 gauge buckshot, the Grapeshot is a very unstable albeit powerful round that send shots flying in a large radius and do extreme damage against close opponents.

**Longshot** - Similar to a sniper round, the Longshot round is very accurate and does very good damage, but best hope you don't miss as you only have one shot to dispense and it takes a while to reload.

**Pop-a-Shot** - A pistol round that does moderate damage with moderate accuracy, yet doesn't take nearly as long to reload as Grapeshot or Longshot.

There are also unique firearms with unique types of ammunition, but for those, you will have to discover them for yourself..

## Sacrificial Weapons

**Sacrificial Weapons** are Faith based weapons imbued with special powers. They come in all shapes and sizes, some Daggers, some Greatswords, yet are unequivocally the most superior out of all melee weapons. They can only be created by those who have reached the top tier Belief levels of their Faith. Some Sacrificial Weapons light people on fire, some freeze them in a block of ice, others make your opponent's sanity go down. They are the most feared and valued melee weapons of the game. Some can be made through crafting, others through specialized Rituals. You'll have to explore the system and maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to wield one of these amazing weapons.

A negative trait of Sacrificial Weapons is their use attracts the unholy forces of this world, incurring Corruption upon the body and mind. Their overuse could lead to the user's untimely death.