Combat Styles & Abilities
Melee, Ranged and Magic, how each style fights, and every weapon ability.
Your weapon is your class
There are no classes in Ashenvale. The weapon in your hand decides how you fight and which three abilities you have. Swap a sword for a bow and you're a ranger. Swap it for a staff and you're a mage. Nothing is locked in.
Each style trains its own combat skill, and that skill's level makes your attacks with that style hit harder:
Every kill also gives some 
Vitality XP, whatever you fight with, and every hit you take trains 
Defence.
Melee
A sword sweeps a wide arc in front of you, hitting everything it touches. Every third swing is a heavy cleave with a wider arc and more damage that staggers what it hits. Every swing that bites also heals you a little for each foe it hits (up to three), most at low levels. Melee is up close and hits hard, and it's the easiest style to learn.
Axes and maces are melee weapons too and use the same abilities. Some maces, like the 
Flanged Mace, carry extra critical chance.
| Ability | What it does | Unlocks | Cooldown |
|---|---|---|---|
 Cleave | A huge sweeping strike: 180% damage to everything around you, staggering them. | Melee 1 | 3.5s |
 Whirlwind | Spin for 2 seconds, shredding everything around you. | Melee 1 | 12s |
 Charge | Dash forward through enemies, then slam the ground: 125% damage around you and a long stun. | Melee 5 | 6s |
Melee weapons are one-handed, so you can carry a shield in your off-hand.
Ranged
Every bow shot is a volley of three arrows in a narrow fan, and each arrow pierces through to the next enemy. A single enemy is only struck once per volley, but a pack in a line gets shredded. You fight from range, so you can hit things before they reach you.
| Ability | What it does | Unlocks | Cooldown |
|---|---|---|---|
 Power Shot | A massive arrow that tears through every enemy in a line for 240% damage, knocking them back. | Ranged 1 | 3.5s |
 Multishot | Fan out seven piercing arrows. | Ranged 1 | 5s |
 Rain of Arrows | Arrows pound the target area four times, pinning enemies down. | Ranged 5 | 9s |
Bows are two-handed: no shield.
Magic
A staff fires a bolt that bursts on impact, hitting everything in a small blast. Magic is ranged like the bow, but its splash damage is great against tightly packed monsters.
| Ability | What it does | Unlocks | Cooldown |
|---|---|---|---|
 Fire Bolt | A fireball that explodes in a wide blast for 220% damage. | Magic 1 | 3s |
 Frost Nova | A wide ring of ice: 140% damage and freezes enemies solid. | Magic 1 | 7s |
 Chain Lightning | Lightning that leaps between up to 6 enemies, 130% damage each. | Magic 5 | 7s |
Most staffs are two-handed. Wands such as the 
Bone Wand are one-handed staffs: they cast the same spells and leave your off-hand free for a shield.
Using abilities
- On a phone, abilities are the three small buttons around the attack button. On a computer, press 1, 2 and 3.
- Every style can also dodge: the boots button on a phone, Space on a computer. See Reading monsters.
- A locked ability shows a lock. Tap it to see what level unlocks it.
- Auto-cast (in Settings) fires your abilities for you as they come off cooldown, but never ones that move you, like Charge. You still choose where and when to charge.
Picking a style
All three styles can clear the whole game. Some things to think about:
- Melee stands in the thick of it. Wear good armour, pick up life and life-per-hit, and let heavy swings and Whirlwind clear the pack around you.
- Ranged kills from a distance. Keep moving, keep enemies in a line, and use Power Shot to knock the dangerous ones back.
- Magic controls the fight. Frost Nova freezes a pack in place, Fire Bolt blasts clumps, and Chain Lightning jumps through a crowd.
You can train all three on one hero. Many players keep a second weapon in their bag for a different job, like a bow for a boss that hits hard up close.