Combat

**Combat** mechanics base on attributes and the gear/spells you have outfitted.

## Mechanics

There are four different types of weapons to choose from in Citadel, each with unique spells at their disposal. Take a look below to learn about the types of weapons, spells and health/mana restoration techniques available to you.

## Types of Weapons

Citadel features four weapon classes: Wands, Staffs, Gauntlets and Melee. Each weapon type has a unique array of spells that can be learned and equipped with their own distinct pros and cons. It’s advisable to coordinate with other players to ensure a diversity of weapons in your party.

* Wands: Wands are effective at espionage, quick movement and confusion. Wands are able to cast many precision ranged attacks, and often come with a cooldown reduction bonus making it perfect for those who like rapid-fire combat.
* Staffs: Staffs excel at ranged attacks and area-of-effect magic. Staff users are better suited in a support role rather than on the frontline. Many staffs will offer a boost to a player’s maximum mana.
* Gauntlets: Gauntlets excel at beam type spells: they deliver high damage-over-time at the cost of significant mana drain.
* Melee: Melee weapons like axes and swords excel at dealing huge amounts of damage, but at the cost of short range. They rely far less on magic, and therefore use less mana.

## Types of Spells

As a reminder, you can equip spells to your weapon by either dragging it down to your weapon or by right clicking on it in the Spellbook (‘P’ key). The spell will now be bound to your mouse button, as indicated by the hotbar on the bottom of your screen.

Each weapon can have two spells equipped to it at a time. To change your loadout, unequip your spells with the ‘Clear All’ button in the Spellbook tab.

There are various types of spells:

* Charged: Charged spells, like Fireball and Arcane Bolt, will increase their power the longer you hold the cast button down. Each spell will give you an audio and visual cue to notify you once it is charged to maximum power.
* Instant: Instant spells, like Bloodlust, instantly apply their buff at maximum power without need for charge time.
* Channeled: Channeled spells, like Purify and Lightning Bolts, deliver a constant stream of damage as long as you are holding the cast button. While they can deliver significant damage over time, they can also very quickly deplete your mana reserves.

## Health & Mana Restoration

Managing your health and mana is essential to succeeding in combat. There are a few different ways to restore your vitals:

* Foraging: If you’re desperate, natural resources like Ghost Orchid, Crowberry and a variety of other plants and herbs can be used to restore your health and mana in a pinch.
* Potions: It’s always wise to keep a healthy stock of health and mana potions. Potion recipes can be learned through the Knowledge Tree. Basic potions can be created by hand in the field, but much more potent versions can be created with the aid of a Conjuring Cauldron.
* Magic Structures: It is possible to build mana and health regenerative pools within your structures, much like the ones you may find in the world’s starter towns. Keep in mind that they must be charged by a Mana Generator in order to function.
* Magic: Utility spells, like Heal Beam and Blue Aura, can be used to restore health and mana to your allies. You can learn them through the Knowledge Tree and equip them to any weapon type. It’s a good idea to have at least one person in your party with a healing spell at the ready.

## Fighting styles

There are a lot of ways to fight, whether or not you are fighting a player or a hostile creature. Down below you'll see a few exemples of some simple fighting styles.

NPC - Ranged poke style: The purpose of this way of fighting, is to poke with a ranged damage spell, and then run away and recover your mana. (Ways of doing this quickly are listed above) This fighting style is mostly used on strong creatures that are to hard to attack head on.

The hitbox style: The hitbox style focuses on making the arcane AOE spell, to block the incoming damage. It also deals quite a lot of damage everyone who would go up against it in a melee. This is of course a bug, and will probably get chanced along the way.

NPC - Farming style: The farming style is all about being safe from damage while farming xp and loot, by most commonly building in front of a camp, and standing safely your building above the monsters in the camp.