Introduction to Combat in Age of Conan

For almost anyone who's made it to the city of Tortage, parts of this post well seem fairly obvious.  However, there have been several review videos where the reviewer didn't seem to get the most basic concept of combat in AoC: Combos.


Just using directional attacks, while doing a bit of damage won't get you much past the jungle of Tortage before the game's inhabitants will overwhelm you like a pack of Cimmerians attacking the Aquilonian outpost of Fort Venarium.

The Basics

To execute a combo click the desired combo icon or use the keyboard and the corresponding key to start it.  Then play Simon Says with the direction arrows shown using the commands for the arrow keys shown, as each lights up in turn.  There will be between zero (Slam) and three steps (many higher level combos).  The combo finisher does the most damage and in some cases also provides a buff to you and your party or a debuff to the enemy.

If you can get two or more enemies in front of you, your attacks can hit multiple enemies.  Positioning in combat is important and will eventually be the difference between surviving and doing the jog of shame back to where you just died to continue your quests.

 

So what are those little white bracket-like icons on the hapless mob you just hammered?

Those are shields and the computer will shift them around on mobs to protect sides you've been attacking.  In general, you'll want to select combos for where there aren't any shields.  You do an additional 20% of damage if there are no shields on that side.  You do even damage with one shield, -33% with two shields and -66% if the mob has stacked all three shields on a side.  Click here to read more about damage and damage mitigation on the forums.

When you die, and you will die, just accept it and move on, you will have a little skull appear above your name that gives you a -1% debuff to damage and damage mitigation.  This lasts for 30 minutes or until you click on your tombstone.  This debuff can stack up to three times.  It's a minor penalty.  It's so minor that Funcom removed the option for players to pick their resurrection pad from all the ones discovered on the map, as players were using dying as a quick travel option.  Now when you die, you can either wait for someone to resurrect you or the nearest rez pad. 

Less Basic

You also have shields which you can adjust around by using Control-1 (left), Control-2 (top), Control-3 (right).  Double hitting any of those sends all three shields to that side.  Getting them back to evenly distributed took some time.  In general, outside of a few battles, you can leave them alone for Player vs Environment (PvE).

These commands are only active with a drawn weapon.  You can draw (and sheath) a weapon at any time using the ` key.  You can also change weapons with Shift-R.  Both of these commands also have buttons you can put on your tool bar.

There is also an option for active blocking by clicking the X key.  This provides some additional damage mitigation at the cost of stamina or mana.  There's some debate if this feature still works.  It still a very effective self stamina drain but, in limited testing, I couldn't discern a difference in damage received.

Another difference between AoC and some other MMOs is healing.  Healing is mostly Heal over Time (HoT). This includes potions.  So don't wait until you're at 10% to pop a health potion, hit healing potions early in combat (once you're down to 75% or so, so you get value of the upfront healing burst) and then let the HoT keep you alive.  If you're a healer or a tank you won't need as many healing potions but rogues and mages should stock up.  As you learn your class and how the game works, you'll find the proper time to down a red ale (fun fact: most of the potions are types of alcohol).


The last two pieces of combat both involve movement and positioning.

As someone who played this game like a pinata for several years, learning to play with these tactics will make you a better player faster.  Positioning is important, both from being able to hit multiple opponents and to make sure you're not flanked.  You essentially have no shields on your back so letting an opponent claw at your spine is giving them +20% damage.  Mobs will try and flank you so you sometimes will need to make a few moves to position them all in front of you.

You can also strafe using the Z and C keys.  It's easiest to use those in conjunction with using the mouse for turning and moving (instead of W-A-S-D).  You can move by clicking both the left and right mouse buttons simultaneously. 

If you find yourself walking, instead of jogging, backspace toggles between jog and walk.  You can also sprint by holding shift. This drains another resource called Energy. 

The last piece of combat are some extra maneuvers to help you avoid certain larger attacks.  If you double tap forward, you get a buff that provides a high chance of stunning your target on your next attack.  Double tapping backwards provides a short evasion buff that gives opponents a +50% chance of missing, +50% chance of a spell fizzling, and a +25% evade.  Sidestepping by double tapping either direction gives +10% immunity against spells.

These features are critical in Player verses Player (PvP) and as you level up.  Once you're out of the jungle the AoC learning curve starts.  There's difficulty jumps at level 40 and 60 as opponents start having more stuns, knock backs, roots, and other crowd control measures.  Knowing some tricks to avoid these and when to use your own CC abilities will determine your fate in numerous battles.