Overview
Combat Randomizer arrived with gift bag #3. It’s been a while since it was released, yet not much information is available about it. How does it work? What are all those new status effects? Is it actually hard? This guide aims to answer these questions.
Introduction
I got the idea to create this guide during my Combat Randomizer + Glass Cannon run when I found out there’s no information at all about this mod anywhere. Before this run I tried this once and got frustrated because it felt like the randomness went heavily against the carefully designed fights I’ve gotten to know, and it took the immersion away from the game for me. Then I realized I had to start again, because activating mods overwrites the save instead of creating a new save. Luckily enough I was in the beginnings of Fort Joy, but still, what a bummer! This was an experience I could’ve avoided if I had a guide like this… or heeded the mod’s description’s warning, but uhh, little details aside.
This guide is not 100% complete. I believe I have gotten the majority of what this mod has to offer, but my run is still incomplete. In fact, I only just arrived at Reaper’s Coast! There are still some details that need to be figured out of the status effects, but the important stuff is there.
If you have something to add to this guide, or have found contradictions, please, do give me a holler. I’ll fix it ASAP.
With that out of the way, let’s get to it.
How does Combat Randomizer work? Basic overview
Each time combat starts, one status effect from a pool of 13 is given to one or multiple random enemies. They are given to every single fight in the game, from the usual boss fights to whoops-I-accidentally-tried-to-steal-this-cup and firing Laser Ray on a bunny (if it survives, which it probably won’t). A status effect is chosen randomly each time combat starts, which means that once you restart a fight, it’s likely that the status effect is different from before.
The status effects change attributes, statistics, behaviours and skills of the characters they are applied to. They never expire nor have any way to dispel, and are almost all unseen in the vanilla game. Depending on the effect, details vary, i.e. how many enemies it affects, their ranges etc.
The mod, once activated, cannot be deactivated.
Should I activate this mod? Difficulty and fun factor
As with all mods, it’s highly recommended to play through the vanilla game without this activated. One might argue that the Fort Joy mirror or the crafting addition mods allow for some quality of life, this mod only serves to make the game more challenging and confusing. Even if you’re feeling like the game is too easy for you, this mod takes away from the immersion of the game. Instead of the carefully designed fights, you get randomized fights where, suddenly, a previously simple fight can become completely unfair.
The random aspect is important to realize. It doesn’t make the game impossibly hard nor is there a chance some encounter might just be unclearable, but sometimes bad luck happens, and your party’s stuck in a small corridor with Erratic Entities that explode each turn, dealing massive damage to all of your characters. These things will happen, and resets will follow.
In short, due to its randomness, it’s not a completely fair mod. However, that’s what challenges are about: make things a little different, a little unfair, and it feels like the whole game changes. With this mod, no fight will be quite similar as before. Suddenly they are all permanently hasted. Suddenly they have way more magic armour than physical. Suddenly they have learned to summon Bone Widows and resurrect their dead allies! You may need to do some rethinking and prioritization on the go.
If you’re not looking for lore-friendly games and feel like Tactician mode, perhaps even Honour mode, is already old news, this will definitely spice things up. Maybe you want to do it like me, and do a Glass Cannon run also! You know, maybe that walking stun bomb can actually be really dangerous now…
The status effects in detail
Now for the real stuff!
An Eye for an Eye
In-game description:
Any who deal a lot of damage to Vitality are bound with Shackles of Pain.
Damage: +30%
Notes:
– Applied to one enemy character
– Unlike what the description says, any amount of Vitality damage dealt will activate Shackles of Pain.
– Only one Shackles of Pain can be active at any time.
– The damage from the attack that activates Shackles of Pain is not reflected to the attacker (it’s still reflected to the one who it’s activated against, if it has been activated)
Aura of Intimidation & Elemental Aura
Aura of Intimidation in-game description:
Reduces physical resistance of nearby enemies.
Status for characters inside Aura of Intimidation:
Physical Vulnerability
Character is very vulnerable to physical damage.
Physical Resistance: -25%
Elemental Aura in-game description:
Reduces elemental resistance of nearby enemies.
Status for characters inside Elemental Aura:
Elemental Vulnerability
Character is very vulnerable to elemental damage.
Fire Resistance: -25%
Earth Resistance: -25%
Water Resistance: -25%
Air Resistance: -25%
Poison Resistance: -25%
Notes:
– Two enemy characters have either of these
– Aura range approx. 14m
Aura of Retribution
In-game description:
Nearby allies gain increased Retribution.
Status for allies inside the aura:
Retribution
Retribution: +10
Notes:
– Applied to one enemy character
– Retribution 10 amounts to 50% of damage reflected back
– Aura radius approx. 13m
– The owner of the aura has no increased retribution
The Defiler
In-game description:
On the first turn in combat, infects a random player with Explosive Filth. Killing The Defiler prevents Explosive Filth from spreading.
Necromancer: +7
Damage: +25%
Maximum Vitality: +25%
Status applied:
Explosive Filth
Deals damage upon expiring and infects the nearest player with Explosive Filth.
Duration: 2 turns
Notes:
– Applied to one enemy character
– Deals piercing damage, sets 3 turn bleeding, presumably if there’s no physical armour
– Explosion radius approx. 4m
Erratic Energy
In-game description:
At the start of each turn in combat, spawns an Erratic Entity at a random player location. The Erratic Entity explodes after 2 turns.
Damage: +10%
Maximum Vitality: +20%
Maximum Physical Armour: +25%
Maximum Magic Armour: +25%
Erratic Entity stats:
Immunity to Frozen
Immunity to Burning
Immunity to Stunned
Immunity to Poisoned
Immunity to Charmed
Immunity to Terrified
Immunity to Knocked Down
Immunity to Silenced
Immunity to Chilled
Immunity to Warm
Immunity to Wet
Immunity to Bleeding
Immunity to Crippled
Immunity to Blinded
Immunity to Cursed
Immunity to Weak
Immunity to Slowed
Immunity to Diseased
Immunity to Infected
Immunity to Petrified
Resistances
Fire -20%
Water 50%
Earth 125%
Poison 50%
Physical 100%
Notes:
– Applied to one enemy character
– Erratic Entity level is the same as the player characters’
– Erratic Entity cannot be teleported
– Has a lot of health, but no armour, although they’re immune to most status effects
– Won’t disappear if the summoner dies, but do disappear when the last enemy that isn’t an Erratic Entity dies
– Don’t explode ever if they’re spawned outside of combat (i.e. into a smoke cloud)
– The one who spawns Erratic Entities may have their turn at the end of the round, when you have already moved your characters. added with the chance that they may have high initiative, you might end up in a situation where you take damage without you being able to do anything about it. Very dangerous!
– Not sure if explosion can deal piercing damage
Hasted
In-game description:
Character is Hasted.
Movement: +2
Start AP: +1
AP Recovery: +1
Notes:
– Applied to all enemy characters
– Unlike the typical, non-permanent Haste, this doesn’t give higher movement speed. Instead it just increases the amount that a character can move with 1 AP.
– Cannot be removed with Slowed or Crippled
Infested
In-game description:
Erupts and spawns two spiders upon death.
Damage: +20%
Fire Resistance: -25%
Earth Resistance: -25%
Water Resistance: -15%
Air Resistance: -15%
Physical Resistance: -15%
Spider stats:
Fire Resistance -10%
Poison Resistance 150%
Immunity to Enwebbed
Notes:
– Applied to two enemy characters
– The spiders have no armour, very little health and don’t deal impressive damage. Weak, really
– The spiders are the same level as the character they burst from
Magical Concentration & Physical Concentration
Magical Concentration in-game description:
Increased Magical Armour, reduced Physical Armour.
Magic Armour: +X
Maximum Physical Armour: -40%
Maximum Magic Armour: +65%
Physical Concentration in-game description:
Increased Physical Armour, reduced Magical Armour.
Physical Armour: +X
Maximum Physical Armour: +65%
Maximum Magic Armour: -40%
Immunity to being teleported
Notes:
– Either of these is applied to all enemy characters
– If a character normally has no respective armour, it’s given some. Of course, no armour penalty is applied if they have no respective armour
Phase A Volatility & Phase B Volatility
In-game description:
Phase A Volatility
Reduces damage dealt by nearby enemies. On expiration, changes to Phase B Volatility, which deflects projectiles back at the caster.
Duration: 1 turn
Phase B Volatility
Projectiles targeted at or near this character are sent back where they came from. On expiration, changes to Phase A Volatility, which reduces damage of nearby enemies.
Duration: 1 turn
Status effect given to a character near Phase A Volatility:
Weak
Character is weak.
Strength: -2
Damage: -35%
Notes:
– Either of the status effects is applied to all enemy characters in the fight
– Phase A Volatility aura range approx. 4m
– Standing near two characters with this status won’t give double weakness
– Phase B Volatility is same as Deflective Barrier without the Physical Armour increase
– Weak status is blocked by Magic Armour
Puppeteer
In-game description:
Character receives additional summoning skills and the ability to resurrect allies.
Physical Armour: +X
Magic Armour: +X
Summoning: +5
Damage: +25%
Maximum Vitality: +20%
Notes:
– Applied to one enemy character
– Additional skills include at least Raise Bone Widow and, well, Resurrection
– Needs more testing. Seems to be rather rare, or maybe I’m just unlucky
Rock & Hard Place
In-game description:
At the start of each turn, launches a fiery projectile at the nearest ally with an active Rock/Hard Place status.
Pyrokinetic: +5
Fire Resistance: +150%
Immunity to Burning
Notes:
– Applied to two enemy characters, one for each status effect
– The projectile is named Fireball, with an explosive radius as large as Burning Blaze; it might not even hit any nearby characters in melee range
– Nothing is fired if they’re CC’d
– Fireball is fired even if the other one isn’t in clear sight
– The Fireball doesn’t drain AP
– Of course, once the other one is dead, no projectiles will be fired. resistances and stat changes remain, however
They Will Remember My Name
In-game description:
When this character dies, all nearby allied characters receive an increase to damage and resistance.
Status for all allies near the dying character:
Vengeance
Damage: +8%
Fire Resistance: +8%
Earth Resistance: +8%
Water Resistance: +8%
Air Resistance: +8%
Poison Resistance: +8%
Physical Resistance: +8%
Notes:
– They Will Remember My Name is applied to all enemy characters
– Vengeance can stack; this is shown in the icon
– All allies in a range of approx. 5m will be given the Vengeance status
Walking Disaster
In-game description:
Spawns a Cursed Electrified Steam Cloud at the start of each turn. Grants allies Stun Immunity.
Air Resistance: +100%
Immunity to Stunned
Immunity to Decaying
Immunity to Shocked
Status for allies inside the aura:
Stun Immunity
Ignores Stunned status, but still takes damage from air attacks.
Immunity to Stunned
Notes:
– Applied to one enemy character
– Stun Immunity aura radius approx. 13m
– Cursed electrified steam explosion radius approx. 2m