Combat synopsis

MOSEY

Hello. 

I'm young and dumb. Would someone mind concisely defining and simplifying combat for me? Break it down into the simplest terms and strategies, please.

For example, please explain momentum vs. prep. vs affliction vs. whatever else there is. What do these mean, practically speaking?

Thank you,
Mosey

MOSEY

Maybe also explain any ancillary theories that go along with this (ie. defense, running, range, group, gagging, etc.).

Iaxus

Frankly this is like asking for a "simple dissertation". 

Momentum: You build up hits to do bigger hits, stacking until death. Usually the same thing as prep, but prep includes limb damage.
Affliction: You hit quickly with lots of afflictions (HELP AFFLICTIONS) to usually end up in a lock, which is where they have the right combination of afflictions to not be able to heal anymore. Routes other than locking exist, but this goes into the dissertation.

Defense: Shield, run, fly, switch curing priorities.
Range: Bows and similar LoS (line of sight) abilities, few other non-LoS but still not in room abilities.
Group: More than 1 person vs more than 1 person.
Gagging: Preventing your client from sending you lines you don't care about.

MOSEY

Iaxus said:

Frankly this is like asking for a "simple dissertation".  -I know. Sorry. XD

Momentum: You build up hits to do bigger hits, stacking until death. Usually the same thing as prep, but prep includes limb damage. -Can you provide an example of both of these? I play a Runewarden which I've heard is a momentum class. Can someone tell me how this works?
Affliction: You hit quickly with lots of afflictions (HELP AFFLICTIONS) to usually end up in a lock, which is where they have the right combination of afflictions to not be able to heal anymore. Routes other than locking exist, but this goes into the dissertation. -This is good for now, thanks!

Defense: Shield, run, fly, switch curing priorities.
Range: Bows and similar LoS (line of sight) abilities, few other non-LoS but still not in room abilities. -Is this ever really viable in solo combat?
Group: More than 1 person vs more than 1 person. -Solo kill routes generally are abandoned in group combat, yes?
Gagging: Preventing your client from sending you lines you don't care about.

Iaxus

MOSEY said:

Iaxus said:

Frankly this is like asking for a "simple dissertation".  -I know. Sorry. XD

Momentum: You build up hits to do bigger hits, stacking until death. Usually the same thing as prep, but prep includes limb damage. -Can you provide an example of both of these? I play a Runewarden which I've heard is a momentum class. Can someone tell me how this works?
Affliction: You hit quickly with lots of afflictions (HELP AFFLICTIONS) to usually end up in a lock, which is where they have the right combination of afflictions to not be able to heal anymore. Routes other than locking exist, but this goes into the dissertation. -This is good for now, thanks!

Defense: Shield, run, fly, switch curing priorities.
Range: Bows and similar LoS (line of sight) abilities, few other non-LoS but still not in room abilities. -Is this ever really viable in solo combat?
Group: More than 1 person vs more than 1 person. -Solo kill routes generally are abandoned in group combat, yes?
Gagging: Preventing your client from sending you lines you don't care about.

I'm not an expert, but I'd classify Alchemist as more momentum and DWB runewarden as the primo limb prep, since they have no afflictions at all. SnB, DWC, and 2h all use afflictions.
Range is very rarely used in 1v1.
Solo kill routes in group are largely abandoned, except edge cases where someone might be pointed out to go solo people who get caught out of the enemy group, or to knock a ranged sniper or something.

Keorin

So, as a very quick rundown:

Prep comprises types of combat where the progress you make towards a kill condition is persistent (or fairly persistent). The biggest example of this is usually limb damage, where once you damage a limb that limb keeps that damage until three full minutes have passed since it got hit.

Momentum refers to types of combat where your opponent can cure off what you did to them provided an opportunity to do so, meaning you have to keep pressure on them to progress towards a kill. The most common example of this is affliction strategies, where given the chance, an opponent can quickly cure off all their afflictions.

The big difference between them, essentially, is what happens if they step out of the room for a bit. In prep, progress is generally kept, while momentum isn't.

It's important to note that most classes use some combination of the two, though they'll often have one they favour. For instance, a serpent is a quintessential momentum class, though their hypnosis is a momentum element. A dual cutting knight, on the other hand, is usually largely aiming to prep the targets limbs, but also gives afflictions to hinder. And some classes are hybrid, with strong options for each.

What category runewarden falls into pretty heavily depends on your specialisation, so that's hard to answer. Each has its own fighting style. To answer your other questions, line of sight is rarely useful in 1v1 (outside of some specific situations), and solo kill routes are often abandoned in groups, with some exceptions. Generally, affliction paths are potentially useful in group combat, while most prep strategies are too slow to be often useful.

Namino

I'll also point out that momentum classes have a higher flux, by which I mean they can hypothetically kill you much faster than a prep class, but their progress can be reversed really fast if the opponent does smart curing + runs/hinders. A serpent can kill you in I think three balances plus snap and one more dstab if you're just letting them kill you,  which is sub twenty seconds.

Prep classes take a lot longer to get to their kill conditions but if they do, the momentary pressure of the route is often intense.

To survive momentum you need to dip your offense occasionally and focus on defense. To survive prep, you have to wait for them to trigger their prep and then act intelligently in that moment.

Farrah

With afflictions, balances are very important. Every affliction is cured by one or more standard cures (herbs/minerals, salves, smoking, focus). Each cure type (herb/smoke/salve/focus) has its own balance. If you give an herb-cured aff and a smoke aff at the same time, they can both be cured at the same time. If you give two affs only cured by herbs, they can't both be cured at the same time.

So giving multiple afflictions that are cured on the same balance (usually herb balance) is how you get them to "stick." Since you can only cure one at a time, that's where curing priorities come into play. Everyone has an order in which they cure afflictions that are on the same cure balance. You take advantage of that order by burying lower priority afflictions under higher ones.

Most people cure paralysis above most other things, so you tend to stick afflictions by using paralysis in every combo and sticking the second affs in the combo while they continuously cure paralysis. With DWC or snb runewarden, that means combos like paralysis/nausea, paralysis/clumsiness, paralysis/asthma, paralysis/weariness.

Asthma is a key affliction because it stops smoking so once you stick asthma, you are no longer limited to just herb-cured affs. You can stick smoke affs. So you can throw paralysis/slickness at them. Slickness stops salve cures so it allows you to use salve cures afflictions like anorexia.