Combat

Basic Combat[]

Selecting a Target[]

There are two ways to select a target. 1) You can mouse click on it, or; 2) You can use the '~' or 'Q' key to cycle through all the targets on your screen, one-at-a-time.

Due to a recent update, selecting a monster with the mouse automatically activates an attack ring if you have an attack ring highlighted.

Using a Ring[]

Many rings (not all) require a target before they can be used. So in most cases, the first step is to select a target.

Once you have a target selected, select the ring you want to use by clicking its icon in the Action Bar at the bottom of your screen. After its recharge timer has expired, click that icon again to use that ring again. To use a different ring on the same target, simply select that other ring and then click its icon to use it.

There is an alternative method of selecting and using rings that can save you time during combat. These ring shortcuts are the number keys, 1-8. The number '1' corresponds to the left-most ring you have equipped on your Action Bar. Number '8' corresponds to the right-most ring, with everything else in-between.

To use a shortcut, just press the appropriate number key. This selects the ring and fires it at the same time. These shortcuts save you time, especially if you use the mouse-click method of moving, but are useful even if you are a WASD or arrow-key player.

Recharge timers[]

Each time you activate a ring, its icon on your Action Bar greys out immediately. A countdown timer then begins to wheel around on the icon, indicating how long it will be until you can use that ring another time. Ring recharge timers are as short as 1 second, and as long as several minutes. The amount of time to recharge is completely dependent on the ring.

Stamina and Kneeling[]

The process of activating a ring drains a bit of your energy each time that you do it. How much energy (Stamina) is drained from you is dependent on the type of ring being used.

When you are reduced to zero Stamina, you can no longer power your rings. Thus, you'll have to either rest to regain Stamina, or utilize some alternative energy-replenishing method, like a Supercharger power-up, or the ring effect, Divinity.

You can always Kneel to recover Stamina (and Health) more quickly. This is done by clicking the Pose button your Action Bar. Click it once to Kneel, and then click it again to Stand. WARNING: While you are Kneeling, you restore Stamina and Health more rapidly but you are extremely vulnerable to attack. You will suffer three times as much damage while Kneeling...so choose your resting spots carefully.

Ring Tips[]

Below are a few general tips to consider that might help you survive a bit longer in combat.

Damage is great and melee damage is the strongest damage...BUT...defenses are critical in this game and can make a huge difference to how fast you and your Crew are destroyed, so 'buff up' before battle and you'll be a lot more successful.
If you have a ring that does good knockback (Bump, Shark Attack and others), then try cycling around targets, hitting one at a time (rather than focusing all attacks on one target). You'll knock your opponents back...and they often can't hit you until they get close to you again. You can keep them so off-balance that they hardly ever hit you, if you're careful.
If you have long-ranged weapons, try attacking, then moving, then attacking, then moving, etc. The more you move, the more your opponents have to move to keep track of you. If you keep them moving instead of attacking, you'll suffer less damage.
You only have eight ring slots. Thus, you'll probably always feel like you wish you could have a few more skills to really control the monster situations. You can't...but if you invite other players to a Crew, then that's the next-best thing. Your Crewmates can equip skills that you lack, and visa versa, making the Crew stronger than any of its individuals. (Plus, you get more loot when in a Crew!)
Experiment with any 'crowd control' rings you find (like Quicksand, Scaredy Cat, Duct Tape, etc.). These rings can disable monsters for a period of time, preventing them from hurting you while they're controlled, which can make a *tremendous* difference in combat situations, either solo or with a Crew.

Advanced Combat[]

How Tough Is That Monster? ('Conning')[]

So, you're wandering through the areas around Barton Town. Sometimes you find easy monsters, and sometimes you find extremely tough monsters. Is there any way for you to tell how tough a monster is before stepping up to it and getting whacked?

There sure is. This is typically called 'conning' (which is short for 'considering the monster'), which is a method of letting you take a look at a monster and determining how tough it is in relation to your current capabilities.

In zOMG!, the way we show you this is through the Target Info window. Whenever you select a target, its image, name, and health bar are shown in this window. The name of that monster is color-coded to let you see that comparative strength.

The colors are in the same order of a prism/rainbow, to make it easier to remember them:

Purple = no challenge

Blue = You'll usually win...typically only dangerous in groups.

Green = About your strength...a one-on-one battle should be pretty fair odds.

Orange = Tougher than you...a friend or two to help you wouldn't hurt.

Red = Extremely challenging.

Using Conning to Your Advantage[]

Besides deciding whether to attack a certain animated or not, conning helps with collection too. This chart shows the Charge Level (abbreviated as CL) of an animated compared to the drop rate.

Purple = No loot

Blue = These monsters are easy for you. Loot chances are halved.

Green = Max loot chance

Yellow = These monsters are tougher for you. Loot chances are halved.

Red = No loot

So, the best way to farm rings, orbs, recipes or materials, is to lower your Charge Level. For example, if you're hunting Outlaw Wolf Pups for the recipe Bass'ken Claws, you should lower your CL to around 4.5 to maximize drop rates. Also, certain areas, such as Shallow Sea, Deadman's Pass, and the Saw Mill are based on Charge Level. On Easy, Animated will show as blue and 0.6 below the CL of the member with the highest CL. That means if you go on the Throne Room with a crew member with a CL of 9.5, the Animated will show as 8.9. On Normal, the Animated will show as the same CL as the person with the highest CL's CL. On Hard, they're 0.6 above the member with the highest CL's CL. The Hive World is a special case, the Animated CL starts at .3 below the highest CL in the crew, and goes up .1 CL each round(Five waves) along with increasing in numbers.

Rage Ranks[]

As was explained in training, the emotional energy that you generate when under stress will slowly accumulate within you while you fight. This energy (commonly called 'Rage') can be funneled through your ring when activating it to create spectacular and powerful bonus effects.

Every ring has four Rage Ranks. When you attack a target with a single click of the mouse or hotkey, that ring is activating at Rage Rank 1.

However, if you hold down the mouse button or hotkey, and don't release it immediately, you'll see your Rage Meter (on the Action Bar) start to fill up from left to right. The Rage Meter is divided into three areas and each area must be completely filled to release it at the next Rage Rank up.

In other words, if I click and hold the mouse button, and wait until the first third of the Rage Meter is full up before releasing the button, I will fire the effect at Rage Rank 2 (RR2). If I fill up the next section before releasing, I'll fire at Rage Rank 3 instead. And if I don't release until the Rage Meter is completely full up (all three sections filled), then I'll be firing at Rage Rank 4.

Rage is accumulated by using your Rings and by being damaged by enemies. You cannot charge your Rage Meter up beyond the Rage that you've collected so far, so you need to use your Rings or get into harm's way to gain more Rage before you can fire off the really cool RR4 effects.

There are a few things to remember about Rage Ranks:

Higher rage rank effects do NOT consume additional Stamina. So you can get a lot more 'bang for the buck' with your Stamina if you fire off high-Rage Rank attacks or buffs from time-to-time.
Each additional Rage Rank does substantially more boost to the base effect of the ring than the Rage Rank before it. So even though RR4 takes more effort to get off during combat, it's absolutely worth the extra time it takes.

Ring Sets[]

See Ring Sets. See also : Ring Set Strategies