Combat: damage, fatigue and control

Read three different damage quantities

Base damage is the weapon’s range before attack-specific bonuses. Armor damage scales what the attack does to armor. Armor-ignoring damage describes a portion directed toward HP; remaining armor still mitigates it. A high percentage is not a promise that every hit removes that percentage of the displayed damage from HP. Hit location, skill, perks and enemy resistances matter.

One ordinary body hit, worked through

Take an Arming Sword’s Slash with an off-hand shield equipped, so Double Grip is inactive. Add no other perk, status, attacker damage bonus or target damage reduction. The hit lands on the body. Suppose the game’s independent rolls are 40 regular damage and 40 armor damage; the sword’s armor-damage multiplier is 80%, and the target starts with 37 body armor.

1. Armor damage is 40 × 0.80 = 32, so 32 armor is lost and 5 remains.
2. Slash sends 20% of regular damage directly toward HP: 40 × 0.20 = 8. The remaining 5 armor subtracts 5 × 0.10 = 0.5, leaving 7.5 direct HP damage.
3. Because armor remains, the non-direct portion adds no HP damage. The body multiplier is 1.0, so the game rounds 7.5 to 8 HP damage; armor ends at 5.

Regular damage and armor damage have separate rolls, even though this example gives both a roll of 40. The HP result is rounded after armor handling; it is not simply 20% of the weapon’s displayed damage. A head hit uses the head armor pool and the default 1.5 body-part damage multiplier, unless the target is immune to headshots/critical hits; either difference changes the result. This deliberately small example is not a universal damage calculator. It follows the game’s order: apply armor damage, mitigate direct damage with armor left, add non-direct damage only if armor is gone, then apply the body-part multiplier and round.

For an armored target, compare armor removal and reliable HP damage. For a lightly protected target, a high raw-damage attack may be more useful. This is advice, not a universal ranking: the weapon details show the relevant base statistics.

Budget both action points and fatigue

Equipment lowers maximum fatigue. Skill use accumulates fatigue and costs AP. A brother may have enough AP but too little fatigue capacity to act. Accumulated fatigue also reduces current initiative, affecting turn order, Dodge and the Fencing Sword’s Lunge.

Before moving, count the AP needed for the chosen attack and any reload, rescue or defensive action. Two-handed does not always mean the same AP cost. A Spetum’s long reach does not give Polearm Mastery; Polehammer uses Hammer Mastery. True polearms gain their specific AP reduction with Polearm Mastery. Compare the actual skill rather than the weapon’s silhouette.

Choose armor for the intended defense

Nimble scales regular damage from attacks that use hit chance; its multiplier depends on the combined fatigue penalties of body and head armor, and sufficiently heavy armor makes its benefit zero. Battle Forged scales incoming armor damage by 5% of the wearer’s current combined body and head armor: with 300 body and 300 head armor, it reduces armor damage by 30% (to 70% of normal). Its protection falls as armor is destroyed. It preserves armor rather than directly reducing the separate direct-to-HP term. Neither perk is a general defense against all mental or status damage. For any build, inspect current armor and fatigue instead of assuming one fixed percentage.

Shields add melee/ranged defense, while their durability measures resistance to shield damage. A Kite Shield and Heater Shield serve different threats. Check armor and shields and the enemy’s mechanics before spending a turn on Shieldwall or breaking an enemy shield.

Falling Apart (−20), Mouldered (−30), Shabby (−10) and Weathered (−15) are condition modifiers on armor, not separate inventory items. Their scripts reduce both current and maximum armor durability by the listed amount. They have no standalone game picture; compare the resulting armor rather than looking for them in the item database.

Match control to the target

Control	What to check before relying on it
Stun	Immunity, Resilient, chance to hit and the target’s turn timing
Disarm	A successful hit prevents weapon skills; it does not silence every spell or natural attack
Spearwall	Accuracy, mastery and whether the enemy’s movement can be repelled
Net	The target’s escape behavior and whether allies can exploit the lost movement/defense
Rally	Current morale, range and the enemy’s continued morale pressure

Undead usually cannot be routed like living enemies, but the living Necromancer is an exception to the faction shortcut. A Hexe can turn your strongest weapon against allies or link her damage to a brother. A Goblin Shaman can cast while in melee. These are reasons to choose a loadout for the encounter, not only for damage.

A practical check before the fight

Inspect the enemy mix → choose the damage/control plan → check body/head fatigue and spare tools → decide where vulnerable recruits stand → keep a rescue action available. For movement and reach, continue to positioning; for unusual battles, use legendary locations.

The source tables remain documentation awaiting current-build gameplay review. Update 1.5.1 changed Fearsome, Hook and Strike Down; old demonstrations need checking against the installed version.