Overview
Various damage related game mechanics (damage formula for ranged and melee plain and special attacks including poison and strength progression).*Disclaimer: Not properly tested in game yet. RNG on weapons plus HIDDEN target armor ratting and armor resitances makes reverse engineering the damage formula a pain in the ass ( time consuming ). I might do some proper testing on this at a later date and edit the results if needed but don’t count on it.
General Combat concepts (speed stat , initiative stat/system)
Already touched on other guides. Still crucial gameplay information.
This game uses turnbased combat.
By default All actors can perform 1 move action ( dependent on speed ) and 1 (special)attack/cast spell/use belt item/interact with object/switch weapon sets. The game calls that an “action”. One can get and extra “action” per turn (with reduced initiative) using the lvl 3 of the spell “Move as the Lighting” buff.
Speed parameter (alterable via buffs/debuffs during combat) controls the maximum number of hexes for movement during a turn. Similar system with Firaxis’s XCOM series, only better since it allows you to manually path (requirement since pathing in very important in this game – floor plate triggers, hidden/detected traps, enviroment hazards, attacks of opportunity, etc )
Base value 6 + [(AGILITY-1)/5].
Agility 11 : 8 base speed ; Agility 16: 9 base speed. (Takate joins with 16 agility).
(spells can alter speed in combat) Move as the lightning buff, Cold Shock debuff.
(talents attribute checks at the start of combats can provide initiative boosts: streetwise/survival)
(walking through shallow water “terrain” causes a lot of stat debuffs including speed).
The combat turns are simultaneous: both your party and your opponents get to act during the same turn. The order of “acting” in combat is governed by the initiative stat/system.
Default initiative value is [2*Courage + Agility + Intuition] / 5. The +2 Courage on Roundacomb magic sword almost adds 1 extra initiative point by itself.
Extra initiative sources:
(abilities) Battle reflexes + 3 initiative. Battle intuition +2 Initiative.
(on weapons) The initiative modifiers on both weapons (dual wield) are added. Dual dagger can really pump up initiative. Dual bashing weapons can really eat into initiative.
(various spell buffs and debuffs and potions) Few things can ruin your day like a mass cold shock debuff.
(talents attribute checks at the start of combats can provide initiative boosts: perception)
Not going to mention it later BUT ENCUMBANCE (from armor pieces or total inventory weight) IS BAD and penalises mosts battle critical stats (effective SPEED/ INITIATIVE/ DODGE / ETC ) – there are some tables with the exact numbers in the earlier guides. KEEP YOUR ENCUMBANCE AT 0 AT ALL TIMES DURING COMBAT. The dice system is loaded enough as it is.
ToHit Attack rolls for weapons.
This is a critical game mechanic so I must explain it a bit.
Base Chance to hit 60% for melee. 50% for ranged weapons.
THERE IS SINGLE tohit 1d20 dice roll for every attack (even special ability attacks that hit multiple times like “triple shot” and “twohanded attack” with potentially poisoned weapon(s) ).
Roll 20 auto fail. (best demigod fighter in the world using the best buffs and best enchanted gear in the universe. Against the proverbial barn that is all around him. ALL MELEE ATTACKS CARRY A 5% AUTOFAIL CHANCE !!! BEWARE ). Crit chance bonus ups the dice value for crits. 5% crits on dice roll 1 (default). +10% chance to crit from spell means 1,2 & 3 dice rolls will be crits.
SPELLS DON’T IMPLEMENT CRITICAL HIT/FAIL mechanic !
For ranged weapons it is even worse. Roll 19 with ranged weapons is also autofail. ALL RANGED ATTACKS CARRY A 10% AUTOFAIL CHANCE !!! BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE !! )
All your weapons will betray you AGAIN AND AGAIN. ( “Knifes never jam !! Guns for shows Knives for pros” NOT in blackguards. In blackguards knifes jam all the time ! )
Roll 1 is autosuccess. Armless and legless village idtiot fling poo at the space shuttle in orbit around Saturn. ALL WEAPON ATTACKS HAVE A BASE 5%(1/20) CHANCE TO SUCCEED AND DO DOUBLE DAMAGE. (also rolls for wound debuff).
The above has the effect of making high character skill vs pushovers unreliable (beware in timed fights) and even worse – ANYTHING CAN CRIT YOU AND RUIN YOU DAY !! (prepare for it, it will happen a lot. Ability to resist wounds, knockdown, heal hitpoints and wounds, maximise the proper resists via armor and spell buffs, buy and equip plenty of healing and mana potions, ..).
NEVER FORGET – THE DICE IS THE ARCHVILLAIN IN BLACKGUARDS !!! Prepare accordingly to work around the dice or be prepared to break keyboards or worse.
IN BETWEEN THE CRITICAL HITS AND MISSES THE GAME IS WILLING TO CONSIDER ACTOR SKILLS.
5% * [ Effective ATTACK – best of ( effective parry if available and effective dodge)] difference.
Clamped at 95% for melee and 90% for ranged attacks. Game lies with 100% chance to hit vs knocked down enemies. You can still roll 20 and fail .
1 parry per turn. 2 with defensive stance special ability. Cannot parry ranged attacks without shield. NO LIMIT TO NUMBER OF DODGE attempts PER TURN BUT THERE IS A -2 stacking penalty per succesful dodge during the turn. Even if on can dodge multiple times per turn and only one parry , having high parry also enhances dodge potency ( almost like a +2 to all dodge rolls after the first).
Base Melee Attack = [Courage + Strength + Agility] /5
Base Ranged Attack = 4 + [Dexterity] /5
Base Parry = Base Dodge = [Strength + Agility + Intuision] /5 .
effective (Melee) Attack = [Courage + Strength + Agility] /5 + WeaponTypeSkillAttack + OnWeaponAttack + OnShieldAttack + SHIELD USE ability(1/2) + SpellEffects + PotionEffects + Weapon Master(+1) + offhandpenalty(-9) + dualwieldbonusoffhand(+3 / +6) + SpecialAttackPenalty(up to -12) .
effective Ranged Attack = 4 + [Dexterity] /5 + WeaponTypeSkill + OnWeaponAttack + SpellEffects + PotionEffects + MasterArcher(2) + MaxPerceptionTalent(2) + SpecialAttackPenalty(up to -12) .
(ranged weapon type skill isn’t forced to be split between attack and parry so it will provide all the skill bonus towards attack. Ranged weapons can thus reach superiour attack values at the cost of beeing unable to parry)
effective Parry = [Strength + Agility + Intuision] /5 + MeleeMainHandWeaponTypeSkillParry + OnMainHandWeaponParry + OnShieldParry + spell effects + attackisfeint(-5) + WeaponMasterParry(1). (parry mod on off hand weapon doesn’t influence anything) .
effective Dodge = [Strength + Agility + Intuision] /5 + 2 per Dodge special ability level + CummulativeSuccesfulDodgesThisTurn (-2 per) + spell effects + PenaltyForBotchingSpecialAttack(?) + ReducingPenaltyForBotchingSpecialAttack(? blade dancer).
GIVEN HOW CRUCIAL THE DODGING MECHANIC IS TO THE COMBAT SECTION IT IS A SHAME THE EXACT MECHANICS (eledged special attack miss dodge penalty and battle dancer effect) REMAIN HIDDEN.
HINT – if the chance to hit an enemy with hammer blow is too low and you have no other better option but can afford to wait and hope he misses his shot – leaviing himself a bit more vulnerable for your counter attack.
Weapon Damage formula
True for melee and ranged plain and special attacks
[(RNGRoll + WeaponFlatBonus + AbilityDamageBonus + WeaponMasterDamage/MasterArcher + StrMeleeBonus + ProjectileDamageBonus + SpellDamageBonus + PotionDamageBonus) * CritMultiplier * SkillDamageMultiplier – Armor Ratting] * (1 -vsDamageTypeArmorResistance)
This formula holds true for poisons aswell
[RNGRoll – Armor Ratting] * (1 – vsDamageTypeArmorResistance)
And also for dual wielding weapons (separate damage applications allowing for weapons of different damage types to go against the proper armor resitance ). More on dual wield later.
———–
Terms:
RNGRoll: listed on weapons as dice damage component Ex 3d6 is the sum of three 6 faced dices
WeaponFlatBonus: also listed on weapon sheet after dice inside the parentesis.
AbilityDamageBonus: Some abilities add damage (Ex Power Blow, Death Blow and Targeted Shot add +5 damage)
WeaponMasterDamage:Passive +2 damage component for melee attacks. Listed summed toghether with StrMeleeBonus outside the parentesis. Master Archer adds +1 damage to ranged attacks.
StrMeleeBonus: Every melee weapon in the game has 2 hidden attributes. Stenght level at which it gains first STR damage bonus and how many strenght level between extra gains.
For example Naurim’s Battleaxe has those stats as 16/1 . Gains +1 damage at 16 strength +2 at 17, +3 at 18 , .. +25 damage at 40 strength.
Google sheet table with the hidden strength progression for all weapons
[link]
More observations: AT 18 STRENGTH (max attribute level from skill) NO WEAPON GAINS GAME CHANGING AMOUNTS OF DAMAGE. Rushing 18 strengh for this tiny amount of extra damage at the expense of better things is non-optimal.
Using strength potions in battle can provide huge damage bonuses (up to 20) to a few of the weapons (see table above) but potions are expensive and limited.
The berserker spell available during act 3 can be used offensively (friendly buff) on some of the weapons even after you have access to hammer blow +10 – (-12) = 22 extra attack difference compared to hammerblow and with proper weapons similar damage output. (BEWARE!! YOU LOSE CONTROL OF BERSERKED CHARACTERS FOR THE DURATION OF THE EFFECT)
ProjectileDamageBonus: some ranged weapons ammunitions types provide extra ranged damage (war arrow +1 ; )
SpellDamageBonus: Sensattaco Masterstroke(single target) can add up to 5 melee damage and +10% crit chance. Hawkeye Marksmanship(single target) can add up to 5 ranged damage and +10% crit chance for ranged attacks.
PotionDamageBonus: There some potion types available in shops that provide melee damage bonuses. (expensive and limited – VENDORS DO NOT RESTOCK). Weapon balm +5 melee damage ; Target potion +1 ranged damage +10 ranged attack; BERSERKER ELIXIR +5 melee damage +10 melee attack +10 initiative (no str bonus but also no berserker debuff).
CritMultiplier: *2 for critical hits. By default crit chance is 5% for all weapon attacks. (roll 1 on 1d20 to hit dice. Some unique weapons and spell buffs can increase the crit chance). THERE IS ONE TOHIT ROLL PER ATTACK, IF IT CRITS IT ALL CRITS (all 3 arrows of triple shot and both weapons when dual wielding)
SkillDamageMultiplier: *3 for hammer blow special ability ; 1 for anything else.
Armor Ratting: Substracting the flat damage resitance before the percent based lowers its overall effect. Hard to come by and usually at HEAVY (literarly) cost. Presumably 0 for special abilities that ignore armor.
vsDamageTypeArmorResistance: Generaly bellow 1 on your characters and enemies (damage reduction). Presumably 0 for special abilities that ignore armor.
Still IT CAN GET bellow 0 on some enemy types ( SKELETONS TAKE AMPLIFIED BLUNT & FIRE DAMAGE !!). SHAME YOU CANNOT READ ENEMY ARMOR STATS AND PREPARE/REACT ACCORDINGLY. SHAME !!!
Success/Frustration on blackguards comes from mastering those oftern invisible parameters. Examples: Fighting 100% chance to hit tentacles in water is made manageable by mass poison resistance spell (lvl 4 clarum purum).
Skeletons are immune to piercing but take not full, but extra damage from bashing damage type.
It is easy to hail infantry/magic damage type king and slashing/piercing trash – but sometimes it pays to pay attention to the (VERY POORLY) detailed combat log.
ARMOR IS NOT POINTLESS
While your weapons and the enemy weapons will betray you a lot – your armor can always be there for you(don’t recall many enemies using the armor ignoring special attacks). Pay attention to the damage type your enemies dish out and try to be prepared.
Some lice in the arena fights to organic type of damage (most easily resisted). Some auto-hit tentacles of two of the hardest fights in chapter 3 do poison damage. Poison resisting gear is scarce but AOE poison resistance buff will carry the day in those fights.
Your non-casters (metal armor) can become quite resiliant to mundane damage types by the late game – target the infantry damage type dealers first.
Special Attack Abilities (hammer blow, dual weapon strike, triple shot, etc)
Hammer Blow:
The king of single target damage abilities. The *3 multipler cannot be beat for maximum damage output potential (see weapon damage formula above). Transforming that from potential to practical in combat situations is not always guaranteed. SUPPORT (+attack on wielder) and or (- dodge on target IS REQUIRED TO MAKE IT PERFORM OPTIMALLY VS TOUGH OPPONENTS).
Single weapon strike so single poison application.
Liberating blow:
Up to * 3 damage but split vs multiple targets. 1 CTH roll – all crit at once. The PUSHBACK EFFECT (when not resisted : targets roll body talent to resist effect. ) TURNS INTO AUTOKNOCKDOWN IF IT HITS OBSTACTLE, WILL TRIGGER ATTACKS OF OPPORTUNITY AND WILL SET TARGET’s DEFENCES TO 0 (100% CTH for fallowing hammer blow). Can be used to kill/push enemies off ledges/docks.
Certain attribute debuffs (spell/poison) can make some targets more vulnerable to the effect.
Blade Storm IMO strictly inferior to Liberating Blow. Only 2 * damage (separate targets) and no juicy knockback/knockdown for 100% hammer blow. A sword/blunt + shield specialist much better served by liberating blow.
2Weapon Strike:
Is a special attack available for free when equipping a second weapon in the offhand. Single to hit roll made with main hand decides critical fail/hit and if the main hand hits. Extra comparison done for second hand effective attack if needed.
By default the offhand gets a -9 attack penalty. (melee attack cannot go bellow 1) .
Dual wield special ability adds +3 per level to off hand attack.
Frees up a lot of APs from not needing special attacks for getting other stuff faster (dodging/ initiative, spells, talents , weapon master ..)
Parry mod on offhand is irrevant but the initiative mod is relevant.
Maximal damage potential is always inferior to hammer blow ( *2 inherintly inferior to *3) but there are a few practical advantages.
No horrendous -12 chance to hit penalty. Offhand ends up with -3 at dual wield 2. When debuffed against hard to hit enemies dual strike will perform much more reliable than hammer strike. (AS MUCH AS WEAPONS CAN BE TRUSTED IN BLACKGUARDS) .
Two seaparate weapon strikes so there is the potential for dual poison aplication per action.
(POISON DEBUFFS FROM THE SAME POISON TYPE DON’T STACK, they reset duration . ALWAYS USE 2 SEPARATE TYPES OF POISON ON EACH WEAPON). (Metaknowledge – always apply the poisons OUT OF COMBAT – saving the first turn action and freeing the belt slot) .
Hint: Using two weapons of different weapon class (ex fencing and battleaxe) you can inflate your parry using the fencing slider towards parry until the main hand attack matches the penalized off hand attack value. This also helps the problem that the interface only shows the chance to hit for the main hand. Making the two attack values equal works around this issue and allows you exactly how much you need to work on your attack (buff/debuffs) to achieve 95% CTH with the off hand also.
BIG CAVEAT: most top end 1handed weapons don’t gain +1 STR damage when going from 18 to 19 strenght but gain it from 19 to 20 strength. In order to reach 20 STR a character must wield the +1 STR fire hammer in one hand AND THE +1 STR METALLIC CAVALRY HELMET. Which means in order to reach maximal dual wield damage output during the endgame that char MUST FOREGO SPELL CASTING. IF YOU WANT TO TRY DUAL WIELD YOU SHOULD MAKE NAURIM DUAL WIELD AND NOT YOUR MAIN CHARACTER. (dropping spell casting on your main character is a too high price to pay from a powergaming point perspective) .
Knockdown:
Again, somewhat unintuitively decoupled between attack “power” and target defence. On hit forces a body talent attribute roll check on target. Some targets are very vulnerable to this effect (skeletons have 10% chance to avoid it, ghouls and ? are reasonably vulnerable) but a lot enemies are pretty much immune to it. No way of knowing the chance before the attack past metagamming.
Certain attribute debuffs (spell/poison) can make some targets more vulnerable to the effect.
Triple shot:
Single to hit check with -12 attack penalty. Poison damage is applied thrice on hit. Uses 3 arrows.
Arrows are free on shadow copies of the archer.
Arrow storm:
The undisputed king of damage vs large enemies *7 . 1 Tohit check vs multiple targets. Up to seven times the poison aplication. Arrows are free on shadow copies of the archer. CAN DO FRIENDLY FIRE FOR MECAHNICS TESTING.
Feint:
-5 effective parry for the feint attack (bugged vs dodge ?). Reliable against tough nuts to crack will clear 1 parry without doing much damage. Won’t help fallowing strikes much if high target dodge was the problem. Situationally useful especially for two handed swords. Could fool around with extremely accurate rapier to apply dodge debilitating poison to open up tanks to hammer blows.
Power Blow & Targeted Shot
The penalty is low enough and the gain significant for these attacks to carry the early game and remain situationaly useful later (tough targets, debuffs, etc ..).
(most weapons in off hand do more than 5 damage even at the start).
The wound inflicting moves (Targeted Stab& Death Blow) do *1 damage at to hit penaly (all wound sources don’t automatically apply wounds BUT TRIGGER WILLPOWER talent attribute rolls on target. A lot of targets ARE EXTREMELY RESISTANT TO WOUNDS and some downright immune) . Since you cannot know before potentially wasting the move this really diminishes the potential of those moves. WORSE YET THE ARMOR IGNORING DOESN’T WORK AT ALL AGAINST SOME TYPES OF BEASTS (,dragon)
Certain attribute debuffs (spell/poison) can make some targets more vulnerable to the effect.
Kind of liked death blow + sword and shield on Takate. Sword/Fencing and shield combo makes it very hard to miss and does decent damage against most things (the jurggenout chapter 4 knights for example) (when the armor ignoring works kunchomer/roglimaLS or even a rapier should work well enough)
Poisoning Weapons (dual wield, triple shot, hammer blow ..)
“Poison” appliable on weapons have up to 3 potential effects.
-INSTANT damage after weapon hit, separate damage from weapon vs target poison resist (will not get doubled on crits). Dual wield can (should) apply two separate poisons.
-various stat debuffs (turn limited or for combat until cured )
-poison damage debuff – adititional poison damage applied at the begining of turns (turn limited or for combat until cured )
Poison resistance will reduce the INSTANT damage received on wepon strike and the poison damage ticks at the begining of turns. When hit by poisoned weapon the debuffs apply automaticaly to non poison immune targets.
POISON DEBUFF FROM THE SAME POISON TYPE DOESN’T STACK – they refresh durations.
Wastefull to use same poison type on both weapons – use different types to add multiple different crippling debuffs to the victim.
APPLY THE POISON ON WEAPONS BEFORE THE COMBAT. Saves first turn(s) action(s) and frees belt slots. (requires metaknowledge – posions are expensive and limited).
Hammer blow is one weapon strike. 1 poison application.
Dual wield – separate weapon strikes will apply (separate) poisons (also costs more).
Triple shot – 3 arrow hits – INSTANT poison damage applied thrice, debuffs overwrite.
Arrow Storm – potential for 7? arrow hits on big targets. MASSIVE DAMAGE POTENTIAL vs large targets.
Enemies Strenghts and vulnerabilities
No hard data yet – just based on gameplay experience:
Most Animals/critters do ordinary damage (does very little damage to heavy armor and even light armor can protect significantly against it. )
Charyb’Yzz tentacles cannot be parried, very hard to dodge and do ordinary damage (keep your heavily armored dudes alive via potions if you have to and you will prevail) . Max up on ordinary damage resist before this hard fight.
(Some) Crocodyle types do infantry damage (auch!) .
Some animals do blunt damage.
Lily (hell plant) tentactle (two chapter 3 very hard fights) do poison damage. Clarum purum lvl4 (party wide posion resist) pretty much mandatory and you’re still in deep water if your (only) clarum purum caster gets charmed before he gets to cast it ..
Skeleton(0 AR):
Are quite vulnerable to knockdowns – melee ability, blunt projectiles or spell(Aurelia has it). Knockdown and fallow up with 100% CTH hammerblows .
(PIERCE IMMUNE;significant slash resistance <= *0.7;blunt vulnerability;fire vulnerability *1.25;Infantry *? ; Magic *?)
Ghoul(0 AR): (They cause slash damage and lvl 3 heavy stats poison debuff)
Are quite vulnerable to knockdowns – melee ability, blunt projectiles or spell(Aurelia has it). Knockdown and fallow up with 100% CTH hammerblows .
Receive full fire damage *1. Receive at least full pierce damage >= *1.
Slash ~*1 ; Blunt ~ *1; Infantry *?; Magic *? Poison ?
Zombie: (they do poison damage, lvl 3 heavy stats and poison DOT debuff)
Are EXTREMELY vulnerable to knockdowns – melee ability, blunt projectiles or spell(Aurelia has it). Knockdown and fallow up with 100% CTH hammerblows . Very vulnerable to wounds.
Huge pierce resistance at least 12-17 did 3 with death blow. Ignore armor is bogus ? Doesn’t work against inherent damage resistance ? <= * 0.25
POISON IMMUNE; Significant Slash resistant <= *0.6; Bashing *1; Magic *1; Infantry *1;
Iribaar lily
piercing ~*1 ; high magic resist ~*0.5
wood troll: (AR ?)
piercing ~*0.2 ; bashing ~*1 (clone arrow storm shot with blunt arrows realistic way to take one down in reasonable amount of time. Some hammerblows can also help)
Morfu: (AR ? no parry, low dodge – easy to hit with special attacks; vulnerable to wounds)
bashing resistance <= *0.8; slashing resitance <= *0.6 ; infantry ~*0.7; peircing ~*0.8
Fornonfur: (AR ??) does fire aoe and infantry damage (tank should have high infantry resist)
Fire IMMUNE, POISON IMMUNE,highly resistant to anytning else ?
Infantry targeted stab (bloodletter 18 STR) did 3 damage. How does the armor ignoring work ??
Cloned Arrow Storm best bet against it.