Editing Combat

[[File:Equipment.jpg|thumb|A player engaged in combat.]]
[[File:Combat.jpg|thumb|Another player engaged in combat.]]
[[File:Combat actions interface.png|thumb|The combat actions interface.]]
[[File:Combat choose first attack interface.png|thumb|Choose your first attack!]]
'''Combat''' is a mechanic in [[Brighter Shores]] in which one or multiple [[player character]]s fight against [[monsters]] or each other. Currently two styles of combat exist, [[melee]] and [[ranged]], with melee being the predominant combat style used. Players can equip [[weapon]]s and [[armor]] to make themselves stronger, and [[potion]]s to heal or buff themselves. Gaining combat levels will increase their max health, damage and deflect rating, allowing them to use stronger equipment and unlocking stronger monster [[variant]]s with increased rewards.

The current combat [[profession]]s available to the player, one per [[Episodes|episode]], are as follows.
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="3" | Episode
! colspan="2" | Profession
|-
|1||{{Plinkt|Hopeport|pic=Hopeport episode icon|size=20|border=no}}
|{{Plinkt|Guard|pic=Guard icon|border=no}}
|-
|2||{{Plinkt|Hopeforest|pic=Hopeforest episode icon|size=20|border=no}}
|{{Plinkt|Scout|pic=Scout icon|border=no}}
|-
|3||{{Plinkt|Mine of Mantuban|pic=Mine of Mantuban episode icon|size=20|border=no}}
|{{Plinkt|Minefighter|pic=Minefighter icon|border=no}}
|-
|4||{{Plinkt|Crenopolis (episode)|txt=Crenopolis|pic=Crenopolis episode icon|size=20|border=no}}
|{{Plinkt|Watchperson|pic=Watchperson icon|size=36|border=no}}
|- class="table-na" style="text-align:left"
|5||{{Plinkt|Stonemaw Hill|pic=Stonemaw Hill episode icon|size=20|border=no}}
|{{Plinkt|Shieldbearer|pic=Shieldbearer icon|border=no}}
|}

== Combat Mechanics ==
Players may choose any of their currently equipped [[weapons]] to initiate combat with a monster, and may swap to any of their equipped weapons between attacks during combat. However, they may not change any part of their loadout, including transmogs, nor organize their inventory, once combat has begun. The player is also unable to cast any spell other than [[Sense]] and [[Immunity]].

On the "Prepare for Battle" interface, there will be indicators displaying how effective your current gear will be against your selected target, indicated by one to three red or green arrows, or a blue equals sign.

Melee weapons have an attack range of one tile, whilst ranged weapons have a range of five tiles. Upon initiating combat, if necessary, the player will automatically move to within attacking range for the weapon they have chosen.

It is generally recommended to initiate combat against exclusively melee monsters with a ranged weapon to deal some free damage while the monster walks up to the player. However, it is recommended to always begin combat in melee when fighting monsters with ranged attacks, as they may land free hits on the player while the player is closing the gap after running out of ammo.

When a ranged weapon runs out of ammo, its card shrinks and its image is dimmed, becoming unselectable for the rest of the fight.

Shields are only effective when visibly equipped (i.e. when using one-handed weapons){{CiteVideo|author=Tel's Tales|title=Tales from the Shores - Episode 3 - FenSamuel Q&A|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGEv5PfbEoo|timestamp=35:28|date=4 January 2025|site=YouTube}}. However, the game is currently unable to display this information in the user interface.

=== Auto-retaliate ===
Once combat has been initiated, the player will automatically retaliate the monster after every hit. If a ranged weapon was chosen to begin combat, the player will automatically swap to a melee weapon upon running out of ammo. The game will select what it deems to be the most effective weapon from the player's current loadout based on the monster they are currently fighting.

Players may click on the ground during combat to move, which manually overrides auto-retaliation.

=== Damage ===
{{Main|Damage}}
During combat, the attacker and their target will deal damage to each other with every attack. The maximum hit will depend on the level of the attacker and, in the case of the player, the strength of their weapon. This is then reduced by the target's deflection rating matching the damage type of the attack. The exact damage dealt will then be rolled between the player's minimum and maximum hits after adjusting for deflection.

Monsters also have their own deflection stats{{CiteVideo|author=Tel's Tales|title=Tales from the Shores - Episode 3 - FenSamuel Q&A|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGEv5PfbEoo|timestamp=30:37|date=4 January 2025|site=YouTube}}, evident when an overlevelled player deals damage to an underlevelled monster, as their damage will be greater than what they would normally deal to a monster of similar level. The reverse is also true when fighting monsters above the player's level, albeit less noticeably, as overlevelled monsters are gated by the player's combat profession level.

Apart from elemental immunities and vulnerabilities, monster deflection stats are flat values{{CiteVideo|author=Tel's Tales|title=Tales from the Shores - Episode 3 - FenSamuel Q&A|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGEv5PfbEoo|timestamp=30:37|date=4 January 2025|site=YouTube}} and likely also depend on their combat level, with their weak element having a lower value than the rest, and their immunity element being functionally 100% reduction. There is currently no way to view a monster's deflection ratings in-game.

=== Movement ===
Movement is allowed during combat, albeit with a reduced movement speed. However, players may not interact with other objects, scenery, dropped items, or reorganize their [[backpack]] in any way. Once combat has been initiated, they must end the encounter either by winning, dying, or escaping with the [[Immunity]] spell.

If initiating combat with a ranged weapon, a player may retreat to keep their distance from mobs, kiting it to some degree to take full advantage of their ranged weapon until it runs out of ammo.

=== Attack Speed ===
{{Main|Weapon attack speed}}
After every weapon hit, a white indicator will appear on its card indicating the duration of its attack animation, after which all weapons will be darkened and placed on a global cooldown. The duration of this global cooldown is dependent on the weapon that was used to perform the previous hit. Switching weapons during the global cooldown will ensure the next hit is performed with the new weapon without delay. Since a hit occurs at the end of the attack animation, a weapon's attack speed is the sum of both its animation and global cooldown durations. 

=== Death ===
{{Main|Death}}
Reaching zero hitpoints in combat will cause the player to [[Death|die]] and respawn in the [[Hopeport]] infirmary. Other than inconvenience, there currently appear to be no other consequences.

===Easy Battle Penalty===
{{Main|Experience#Easy battle penalty}}

If the player is significantly higher levelled than the monster they are fighting, they will incur an '''easy battle penalty''' on their earned experience, ranging from 1.378% to 99.888% with increasing level difference.
==Monsters==
{{Main|Monsters}}
Monsters are classed into two main categories, active and passive. Killing a monster rewards [[experience]], [[coin]]s, and a chance to drop equipment of variable [[rarity]] and randomized stats. The level of equipment dropped range between the level of the monster killed and the level of the monster immediately preceding it in the same episode. Certain mobs throughout the game may also occasionally drop items used for other professions. 

As the player progresses through combat professions, higher level monster [[variant|variants]] will be unlocked, and [[Knowledge|knowledge points]] may be spent to unlock passive monsters as offline training methods. 

=== Active monsters ===
Active monsters may be further subdivided into neutral and aggressive monsters. The names of neutral monsters are displayed in orange, while aggressive monsters are indicated by a red name. An exclamation mark (!) will appear over the head of an aggressive monster if it has targeted you, usually with an aggression radius of five tiles in any direction. 

Active monsters may have vulnerabilities and/or immunities to certain elemental [[Attack Style|attack style]]s, as displayed on their card, and are immune to its own elemental attack style. It is generally inadvisable to fight an active monster with a weapon matching its elemental immunity. 

Certain active monsters are stationary and do not move from the tile they spawn on. If these monsters do not possess a ranged attack, it is possible to either retreat out of their attack range or step underneath them safely without disengaging combat, allowing the player to heal or otherwise regenerate their health. If a player so desires, they may kill these monsters at a much lower combat level at the cost of reduced kills/hr. 

=== Passive monsters ===
Passive monsters may be fought as an offline activity and combat is initiated in a similar way to that of active monsters. The combat level of passive monsters is always equal to its unlock level, and players will require a weapon with a minimum strength rating of the monster's <math>Combat Level + 20</math> to fight. Weapons below this strength rating may not be selected. Passive monsters have no elemental vulnerabilities and cannot physically damage the player. Certain passive monsters will list an elemental immunity, however this is irrelevant as the player's damage is always converted to {{AttackStyle|impact}} regardless of the actual element of the weapon chosen. 

Fighting passive monsters below the highest tier available to the player, regardless of whether the player has unlocked it or not, will subject the player to the [[Experience#Passive activity penalty|passive activity penalty]], but it appears that they are not subject to the Easy Battle Penalty. 

Using a stronger weapon that the minimum requirement causes the animation of fighting the monsters cycle faster, but does not affect the average XP per hour, coins per hour, or drops per hour. 

=== Bosses ===
Bosses, as indicated on their card, boast increased HP compared to normal monsters of the same level, as well as mechanics the player will be required to perform correctly to avoid taking significant damage.The only mechanic currently implemented in-game are area of effect attacks, indicated by orange highlighted tiles and a blue cast bar above their combat panel. Presently, bosses are only found as part of [[quests]] and thus may only be killed once. Most named bosses currently in-game do not have any elemental vulnerabilities or immunities.

== Trivia ==
*[[Special attacks]] are intended to be a feature of the combat system, and are scheduled to be released some time during Early Access.
*[[PvP]] is an upcoming combat feature that will allow player characters to fight each other. Currently it is scheduled to be released some time during Early Access. 
*There is a planned combat rework in development which will aim to unite the different combat professions currently in-game, but not much is currently known about this.

==Update history==
{{UH|
* {{UL|update=2024-12-03|date=3 December 2024}}
** Auto-retaliate no longer cancels player pathing.
* {{UL|update=2024-11-27|date=27 November 2024}}
** Players now automatically swap to a melee weapon when running out of ranged ammo and automatically retaliate monsters.
* {{UL|update=2024-11-12||date=12 November 2024}}
** Slight combat balancing adjustment so fighting low level foes isn't so overpowered.
** Remove bogus stats from passive monster cards.
** Fixed 'divide by zero' error showing up during combat.
* {{UL|update=2024-11-06#First_bugfix||date=6 November 2024}}
** Fixed bug where some players were occasionally getting stuck in combat.
* {{UL|update=2024-11-06#Game_launch|date=6 November 2024}}
** Added to game.
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Game mechanics}}