How Fighting Works

#The rhythm of a fight

Monsters live in packs. Hit one and the whole pack comes for you. A pack takes about half a minute to clear, and each one is a little roll of the dice: gold, materials, gear, and now and then something rare.

A typical fight goes like this:

1. Pick a pack you can handle (check the level tag).
2. Tap the leader, or hold attack.
3. Open with an ability, keep hitting, and dodge out of anything glowing on the ground.
4. Heal before you need to, not after.
5. Loot, and move on.

#Targeting

• Tap or click a monster and your hero walks over and fights it.
• Holding attack hits the nearest enemy in range, turning to face it on its own.
• Melee swings hit everything in their arc, and bow volleys and staff bursts hit whatever they pass through or land on, so you rarely need to aim precisely.

#Auto-retaliate and auto-cast

Two settings do a lot of work for you:

• Auto-retaliate (on by default): when something attacks you, you fight back, and you keep fighting until the pack you tapped is dead.
• Auto-cast abilities (off by default): while you're fighting, your abilities fire as soon as they're ready. It never fires an ability that moves you, like Charge.

Together they make fights nearly hands-free, which is handy on a phone. Turn them off if you'd rather control every swing. See Controls.

#Danger levels

Every monster has a coloured level tag over its head, and pressing and holding (or right-clicking) a monster opens a card that spells it out:

The rating looks at more than level. It also weighs how big a bite each hit takes out of your life, so a monster you out-level can still show orange if your life is low. Pack leaders and champions count as tougher than their level, and bosses are always rated Deadly.

#Reading monsters

• Wind-ups: every monster winds up before it strikes. A melee blow only lands if you're still in reach when the wind-up ends, so stepping away at the right moment makes it miss.
• Projectiles: ranged monsters keep their distance and throw things at you. The shots fly in a straight line, so sidestep them.
• Ground telegraphs: red markings on the ground show where a big attack is about to land. Get out.
• Dodging: tap the boots button (or press Space on a computer) to dash a few steps in the direction you're moving. Nothing can hit you during the dash, so a well-timed dodge beats a wind-up, a projectile or a telegraph. It has a short cooldown, shown on the button.
• Leashing: chase a monster too far from home and it gives up and walks back. While it's walking home it can't be hurt, and it heals fully once it gets there. You can't pull monsters to the edge and kite them forever.

#Staying alive

• Potions and food. The heal button drinks a potion when you're running low on life, and otherwise eats your best food first. A potion restores a big chunk of your life. Food heals a fixed amount depending on the fish. There's a short delay between heals. See Cooking for better food.
• Resting. Stop fighting for a few seconds and your life starts coming back. New heroes recover sooner and faster. In town and at home you recover quickly.
• Armour cuts the damage of every hit, with diminishing returns as it climbs.
• Life per hit heals you with every blow you land. It's excellent for melee, and melee swings also heal you a little for every foe they hit.
• Rites can cut damage taken, heal you over time, or catch a killing blow. See Prayer & Rites.

#Dying

Death in Ashenvale is a setback, not a disaster:

• On the surface (Emberfall and the regions), you fall, and a moment later you wake up in the nearest town with full life and everything you were carrying.
• In the Ashen Depths or a lair, dying ends the run. You're sent back to where you came from, but you keep all the loot you picked up.
• In an Ember Rift, you rise again at the rift's entrance, but the clock keeps running.
• Any rites you had on switch off when you die.

#Fighting with friends

Ashenvale is built for co-op. When you fight near other players:

• Everyone gets full XP for every kill they're close to. Grouping never costs you XP.
• Everyone gets their own loot. Each player rolls their own drops, and only you can pick up yours. You never have to race a friend for an item. If a party mate's drop would suit you, they can pick it up and pass it to you (see Passing loot); anyone else can sell it to you on the market.
• Monsters get tougher with more heroes around. They have about 70% more life for each extra hero, so a group still has to work for it.
• Form a party to go into the Depths, lairs and the Ember Throne together and share kill XP even when you're spread out. See Parties.

#Experience

Kills give XP in the combat skill of the weapon you're holding, plus a share in Vitality. Tougher monsters give more XP, but not in proportion to their extra life, so climbing into a harder region is worth it for the loot as much as the XP. Getting hit trains Defence.

Some gear rolls bonus XP for Melee, Ranged or Magic, and a Restoration Pool in your house can make you Well-Rested for extra XP on everything. See Houses.