Fighting
You pick a foe, and your character walks up and swings on their own. The rest is timing: when to land a heavy blow, when to step out of the way, when to drink.
The basics
| Action | Mouse and keyboard | Controller (PS5) |
|---|---|---|
| Attack (the nearest foe if none is picked) | F, or click the foe | R1 |
| Next foe within reach | Tab | R3 |
| Heavy attack | Ctrl | R2 |
| Dodge (a dash that takes no damage) | C | ○ |
| Aim (the foe nearest the crosshair becomes your target) | Hold right mouse in first person | Hold L2 |
| Drink your best healing potion | Q | △ |
| Bandage yourself | H | L1 + d-pad left |
| Loot or carve a body | Click it | □ |
Heavy blows and warned attacks
A heavy blow takes a short wind-up and some stamina, and it is lost if you move or dodge before it lands. Strong creatures warn you before their big blows: a shape is painted on the ground and fills up. Step out of it, or dodge, and it misses you.
What decides a hit
Every blow is rolled from your weapon skill, your Tactics and the target's armour. Strength gives you health; Dexterity, swing speed. Every swing trains your weapon skill, and every blow you parry trains Parrying. Nobody levels up. You get better by fighting.
Fight with bare hands (Martial Arts), melee weapons or bows. Hold the attack with a bow to draw it and let go to shoot: a full draw hits half again as hard, but holding it costs stamina. Fire, frost, blunt and barbed arrows burn, slow, stun or make a foe bleed; nock a stack from your backpack and they fly before plain ones. The repeating crossbow shoots ten light bolts in quick order, then reloads.
Weapons and armour from better metals hit harder and hold better; see materials.
Fury and the fighting arts
Landing blows builds fury, a bar along the top of your number keys. It holds for a few seconds after your last blow, then drains. Spend it on a special art:
| Art | Weapon | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Whirlwind | Sword or axe | Hits everyone around you. |
| Skull Crack | Mace | One crushing blow that stuns. |
| Puncture | Fencing blade | Three quick thrusts that can open bleeding wounds. |
| Volley | Bow | An arrow at each of up to four foes. |
| Ground Slam | Bare hands | Hits everyone close by and throws them back. |
You learn an art by raising its weapon skill to 50. Nothing is bought. At 90 you can learn an ultimate: Blade Storm, Earthshaker, Thousand Cuts or Rain of Arrows. An ultimate costs no fury but needs a minute to come back, and you carry only one at a time.
| Action | Mouse and keyboard | Controller (PS5) |
|---|---|---|
| Use the art on a number key | 1 to 6 | L1 + □ ✕ ○ △ R1 R2 |
| Use your ultimate | ` | L1 + R3 |
| Arts window: learn, set keys, pick the ultimate | F3 | The pause menu: Skills, then Arts |
The six number keys are shared with your element's moves; each key holds one or the other. See Elements.
Creatures
Sixty-five kinds of creature live in the worlds: some graze, some hunt, some cast, and the strong ones use warned big blows. Each land has its own. Crypts hold draugr; caves hold spiders, wolves and shadow creatures; the lakes hold a wyrm. Stronger rare versions of creatures. Coming
When it goes wrong
Dying costs you time, not progress. See death. Fighting other players, and the law that watches it, is on Playing together.