Newbie Guide to Warrior Skills
Newbie Guide to Warrior Skills
"I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend." '
Faramir, The Two Towers
This guide is all about practicing and using warrior skills in the game.
Many parts of this guild reference to the MUME help pages which can be found at:
Bold words can be looked up in the games help files. Like help warrior or bash.
This guide of Warrior skills will try to expand upon the MUME help files for Warrior skills and give suggestions for practicing Warrior skills. Suggestions will be given for different types of classes, levels, and character builds. As with any advice or suggestions, some players may have other suggestions or disagree. There really is no one right way to practice skills for every playing style.
If you happen to practice some of these skills, and think you've made a mistake, don't worry. This game has couple of ways to get your practices back and try something else.
Please see the Newbie Guide to Practicing for more tips or information.
Contents
Warrior Skills
Warrior skills mainly focus on offensive and defensive fighting, but also options to increase survival and help allies in combat. Those with a solid set of warrior skills will generally excel at combat in MUME, and gain xp by success in battles.
Entries will give some practice suggestions for how high you want to practice a skill. Not every skill in for your character needs to be at 100%. It's often a good idea to save some practices for other skills, instead of trying to max out the skills you have.
Also, each entry will come with the character abilities or stats that the skill is based off of. For skills with 2 abilities, the first one is most important and the second is still important, but not as much as the first skill listed. If there are 3 abilities listed, the first and second are most important, and the third has an effect, but will be hard to notice. These affect your % while practicing the skill.
For example, if a skill says you need Strength, Constitution, and Willpower, if your character has higher amounts in those abilities, then you will practice the skill more efficiently, and get a few more % per practice.
Warrior Weapon Skills
First we will examine warrior weapon skills, as that is how you will gain xp to level. To figure out how effective weapon skills are, you can use this formula:
5% all melee weapon skills = 1% OB when wielding that weapon type
For example practice slashing to 25% is +5% OB, or 100% is +20% OB, but only when wielding one handed slashing weapons.
Some warriors do learn two weapon skills, and switch weapons around depending on the situations in combat. An example is using slashing with a parry sword for better defense, then switching perhaps to concussion to taken down an armoured dwarf or orc with a heavy morningstar.
Another example of this tatic is staying with one weapon skill, but using a high defense weapon choice and a high damage weapon choice. Examples would be two handed weapons with a quarterstaff for parry and then a warsword for slow, but high damage hits. Or slashing weapons for parrying with a broadsword, then a falchion for heavy hitting.
If you are unsure, please consider a weapon before you use it. That command will tell you if it is one or two handed, and what weapon type it is. That will also give clues to how the weapon may perform.
You do not use commands with weapon skills, but these commands are used with weapons and attacking:
wield, remove, whet, draw, sheath, consider, stat, kill, hit, assist
Cleaving Weapons
Cleaving weapons tend to be a little slower, but deal out heavy damage. Hit for hit, they usually produce the best hit or damage xp rate for warriors. To also tend to have less parry then swords. You'll tend to land only 1-2 hits during a bash. You may notice axes working well against plant or tree targets.
Examples are: handaxe, cleaver, battle axe, waraxe
Abilities required: Strength, Dexterity, Willpower
Concussion Weapons
Concussion weapons are heavier weight, slower, and with lower parry, but do a significant amount of damage per hit. They are also effective vs targets wearing metals, doing additional damage. That's significant, because those are some of the harder targets to damage. You'll tend to land only 1-2 hits during a bash.
Examples are: clubs, hammers, maces, morningstars
Abilities required: Strength, Constitution, Willpower
Slashing Weapons
Slashing weapons tend to be the lightest weight weapons for warriors, and also over all have the most options and choices to help you parry. Slashing weapons can deal ok damage, but not as much per hit as cleaving or concussion. They are often faster then those weapon types however. With a faster slashing weapon, you can often land 2-3 hits during a bash.
Slashing also covers the use of whip weapons in the game. Whips tend to be light weight, good OB, and attack very fast. But whips have terrible parry and damage more in line with piercing weapons (without the Attack skill).
Examples are: longsword, broadsword, scimitar, sabre, backsword, falchion, whip, scourge
Abilities required: Strength, Dexterity, Perception
Stabbing Weapons
Spears tend to be pretty similar with slashing weapons for damage. And are just a bit better for defense then cleaving or concussion. Spears are also effective vs any targets that are riding. Not very many mobs in the game ride, but players often do. You'll do a little extra damage against riders.
Spears also have a function called "keep at bay". Anyone attacking someone wielding a spear, has a chance of being hit by the spear before they can land a blow. It basically gives you a chance for a bonus attack before they can attack you. It also causes the attack to fail their first attack. After this first round of action, combat with a stabbing weapon works the same as other weapon skills. The higher your weapon skill with Stabbing weapons is, the better your chances to successfully keep at bay.
Examples are: spears, pitchfork, pikes
Abilities required: Strength, Dexterity, Perception
Two Handed Weapons
Two-handed weapons are often also called smiting weapons. Over all, they tend to be heavier weight and definitely swing slower. They can hit for high amounts of damage, often rivaling missile weapons. That makes smite popular for hit/flee tactics. The defense of two-handed weapons is lower then other weapon types. Several of them have lower parry bonus and you cannot wear a large shield with them. You are restricted to bucklers and smaller target shields. This limits your parry options, unless you use a quarterstaff or other staves. They do not do as much damage, but have high parry in mood wimpy.
Examples are: staves, poleaxe, bastard sword, heavy warhammer, halberd, claymore, warsword, two handed axe, two handed sword
Abilities required: Strength, Constitution, Willpower
Practicing suggestions:
- Warriors tend to get their main weapon skill high 90%-100%.
- Second or backup weapons are often 60%-75%, but that can vary.
- Warrior combos also often get weapons to 50%-80%, to save pracs for other skills or spells.
- Battle cleric warrior combos tend to like concussion as it pairs well with cleric spells.
- Stabbing with spears can keep at bay, your chances are better with higher weapon skill.
- Casters using slashing for defense (better parry) or stabbing (keep at bay) might only get 15%-30%
- Keeping weapons below 30% won't hurt your spells much.
Warrior Defensive Skills
Knowing these skills can help reduce the amount of damage you take, or help you to recover from a fight faster. Generally reducing your "downtime" in game for regen, so you can keep on exploring or fighting.
To read up more about how to protect your character in combat, please check out this guide about armor and shields:
Parry
The Parry skill is one of the main defensive skills in MUME. Everyone can parry blows in combat to avoid damage, but some characters and mobs are much better at it then others. There are some weapons that can increase your parry, some that decrease your parry, and other weapons have no affect on your parry. Shields and bucklers all add to your Parry Bonus, or PB. There are also staves you can hold in your shield hand that grant parry, but warriors don't really use those much. You can also practice parry to improve it at this rate:
5% parry skill = 1 % PB
There is a term in MUME called 'parrysplit'. This describes how your PB can be reduced in how effective it is to protect you against multiple targets. Let's say you have 60% PB, this is what happens to your parry if you are fighting multiple attackers.
60% PB vs 1 attacker = apply your full PB to defense 60% PB vs 2 attackers = apply half of your parry to each attacker, or 30% PB 60% PB vs 3 attackers = apply a third of your PB to each attacker, or only 20% PB
So you can see that the more attackers you have, the more your Parry Bonus is split among them, and your over all defense is reduced. A very high PB, over 100%, can be very effective at blocking attacks of a solo mob. The Parry skill doesn't do anything if you are not tanking and trying to block the attacks.
The Parry skill has no commands that are used.
Practicing suggestions:
- Most warriors practice Parry skill high 90%-100%
- Warrior combo characters often get some Parry 65%-90%
- Many thieves, scouts, and archers get some parry 50%-80%
- Some casters don't get much parry, saving pracs for other skills 15%-30%, keeping Parry below 30% won't hurt your spells much.
Abilities required: Dexterity, Perception, Strength
Endurance
The Endurance skill makes you tougher, both with hit points and movement points. As you practice Endurance, your hit points and movement points will slightly go up. Your hit point regen and movement point regen also slightly go up. This means a warrior with high Constitution, sleeping with the -comfortable affect will actually regain hit points and movement points at a pretty decent rate. This means you can recover from combat faster or have more moves for exploring and gaining tps. A warrior with good Endurance, Ride, comfortable shoes, and a forest green cloak can actually travel quite far.
Endurance is one of the most difficult skills to practice in MUME, as there is a limit to how high you can get it each level. Usually about 2 pracs each level.
If you practice Endurance to 100%, it comes with a skill mastery called Second Wind. Once per MUME day, about every 24 minutes, you automatically gain the Second Wind effect for 1 minute. During this time, your hit point regen greatly increases. If in combat you will recover some hit points, perhaps about the same as a Cure Serious spell (maybe 30-40 hp). If you are out of combat, all other regen effects stack with it, and if sleeping can gain a large amount of hit points. Some warriors can gain anywhere from 80-140 hit points if they rest and try to recover some.
The Endurance skill has no commands that are used.
Practicing suggestions:
- Warriors usually put alot of pracs into this skill, strive for 90%-110%.
- Many warrior combos also get it high around 65%-75%.
- Some types of thieves or scouts often get over 30%, maybe as high as 50%.
- Some casters try for 15%-30%, even a little bit can sometimes make a difference. Keeping it below 30% won't hurt your spells much.
Abilities required: Constitution, Willpower
Rescue
This skill has 2 features. Pulling someone who is tanking in a fight out of combat, but you replace them as the tank. After being rescued in this way, the character rescued will have a 'rescue delay' or stun, where they cannot enter any commands for a short amount of time. After that delay wears off, they can assist, walk away, cast spells, or any other actions. It is possible to fail a rescue attempt, but you can just try again and again. The higher your Rescue skill, the better your chances. This skill is not really useful while you are solo, but can be VERY useful in groups.
The second feature of Rescue is Protect. You can do this before combat begins. Then if anything attacks your protectee, you attempt to automatically jump in front of them, taking the hit and tanking. The more characters you try to Protect, the lower the chance you might successfully jump in and take the hit for them.
Rescue commands:
rescue, rescue <player name>, protect <player name>
Practicing suggestions:
- Warriors planning on doing alot of tanking and bodyguarding should strive for 80%+
- With your rescue and protect that high you will be valuable in mixed groups.
- Some scouts and warrior combos find Rescue valuable, at least for rescues, maybe not for protect. 30%-50% works for rescues, with some fails.
Abilities required: Dexterity, Willpower, Strength
Other Warrior Skills
Bash
This skill has 3 different features. In order to Bash you need to be wearing a shield or using a two-handed weapon. Bash is also influenced by your OB, or Offensive Bonus and your mood. You'll notice your bashes performing much better in mood aggressive. If you are trying to bash while wimpy you will fail more often.
One function of Bash is to knock down doors and other exits. It takes several moves to bash down exits, and you can become tired or low on movement points quickly. The higher your Strength is and the higher your Bash skill is, the better success you will have bashing doors. You can even bash doors that are locked shut. There are some exits in the game that are no-bash, meaning any bash attempts will automatically fail against them. There is a short delay to execute this command. If you fail, you can try to bash the exit again, as long as you have moves left to use. Doors will respawn a few minutes after you bash them open.
The second function of Bash is to knock down opponents in combat. Bashing someone this way can either knock them on the ground for a short duration, or they can dodge and you miss your bash. Bashing a target takes a movement point. It does a very small amount of damage to the target. While the target is bashed, they cannot attack, or execute other commands. They will automatically stand back up, after the short Bash duration. Right after a target is bashed, they have a small reduction to their DB or Dodge bonus, making them a little bit easier to hit for the first attack. Bashing a target while grouped with allies is very effective, as your whole group can beat on them, while they are not attacking back. This is one of the main skills that players look for when grouping with warriors.
You can Bash any target you are fighting if you are the tank. You can even start a fight off with a bash.
The last function of Bash is to knock an opponent out of combat. This is called Bash Disengage. The target is simply knocked out of combat, and cannot execute commands for an even shorter duration then a regular Bash. While they are Bash Disengaged, they fight is actually over, and you can simply walk out of the room, or do other actions. This is often used while moving around solo or with a group to avoid combat to slow you down. Anything attacking you, just knock it out of the way, and keep moving. Normally after a mob is knocked down this way, they will get back up, and rejoin the fight, but sometimes they can also leave the room.
Bash commands:
bash, bash <target>, bash disengage, bash <exit name>
Practicing suggestions:
- Warriors and some warrior combos get Bash high. Above 80% it starts to work fairly well. Below 60% it is not very reliable.
- Some thieves or scouts get some bash to have more options in combat.
- Getting Bash very high, say 100% or more, you can bash better in moods other then aggressive.
- Some warriors only get Bash to 85%-90%, to save a few pracs to use on other skills.
- To help level up as warrior, getting bash after level 5 can pay off, below level 5 it tends not to work great.
- Some mobs are more resistant to bash, and having a higher bash does help in bashing them.
- (giants, large trolls, trees, cavebears, etc...)
Abilities required: Strength, Dexterity, Willpower
Kick
Using Kick costs a movement point. Kick is a melee attack and can possibly be dodged by the target, or simply just miss. The higher you practice kick the less chance of this happening. It also does a small amount of damage. There is a short delay before you try to land the kick. The higher you have kick practiced, it slightly increases the damage. Overall for damage kick is not a very efficient way to attack, just being good at a weapon skill will perform better.
One nice trick kick can do is finish off mobs that are incapacitated or dying. This works well with slower weapons, such as concussion, cleaving, or even better with two hander. Those weapons swing slower, and you can use a kick to finish off a mob while you wait for your next swing. You can also kick any targets you are fighting, if you are the tank.
Kick commands:
kick, kick <target>
Practicing suggestions:
- To kick and finish off mobs that are dying, incapacitated, or very low awful hit points, you only need 1-3 practices with this skill.
- If you actually want to become 'good' at kicking and deal some minor to medium damage with it, you'll need to practice it well over 50%.
Abilities required: Dexterity, Strength, Perception
Charge
Charge is supposed to give you an effective, high damage attack with a lance while mounted. But over 20 years ago, a few players abused it and the skill was majorly nerfed and broken. It currently does not work, and there are no plans to fix the skill.
Practicing suggestions:
- Do not practice this skill and if you do practice it, try to decay the skill as soon as possible so you can spend the practices on something that works.
Abilities required: Doesn't really matter, the skill is broken.
Skills for Leveling
For any type of warriors or warrior combos, you'll want to focus on combat skills at lower levels. Pick a weapon skill, and push practices into it. Dealing damage and winning battles are the main way you gain xp and levels in MUME. Your OB will go up, and you'll hit in combat more often.
For defense and survival, get Parry and Endurance as well. It will help your PB to defend against hits, and give you a small bump in hit points and regen.
At level one, your OB will be too low for Bash to work well yet, but after level 5, as your OB gets higher, Bash will start to work better. By level 8 Bash should be working well vs most mobs on aggressive. So save some pracs at lower levels to pump Parry, Endurance, and a weapon skill. Then spend pracs on Bash after that.
So go out and see what type of warrior you can become while you level up and practice with your character!
Link back to the wiki guides:
