Tibia - Free Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game

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4.3 Combat

Tibia is a world threatened by dark forces, and its brave inhabitants fight an endless battle to hold off the evil hordes that have sworn to destroy all civilised life. Adventurers are in the front line of this epic struggle, and they are actually making a good living from it - if they survive, that is. Doing battle is part of their everyday business, and every adventurer who is worth his salt must learn the trade of war.
The following section is designed as an expansion of the basic introduction into combat provided in the section on basic controls. Here you will find additional information on how combat works as well as some useful strategy hints. Moreover, the logout block is explained here, as are regulations concerning combat against other players. The final section covers the party mode which allows characters to form adventuring parties.

4.3.1 How Combat Works

a) Combat Rounds
Characters or creatures who are attacking will try to hit designated opponents whenever they come into range, using whatever weapon they are currently wielding. Attacks take place at regular intervals, i.e. once characters or creatures have started striking at an opponent they will go on striking steadily. Only one target can be attacked at a time. Attacked characters or creatures always get a chance to defend themselves against attacks even if they do not retaliate. Note, however, that no more than 2 attacks can be blocked at a time.
The outcome of a fight is determined by a number of factors including the attacker's and defender's skills, equipment, set combat mode, and also a random factor. Each time the attacker lashes out at the defender his attack value is calculated and compared to his opponent's defence value. If the attack value exceeds the defence value, a hit has been scored, and the damage done is displayed as a little number on top of the injured character's or creature's head. On the other hand, a little puff of smoke is displayed if an attack has been blocked successfully by the defender, while flashing sparks indicate that the defender's armour has protected him against a blow.

b) Damage Types
Damage types allow you a greater variety in your attacks. All creatures have more or less stronger sensitivities against one or more damage type. By using the weapon or spell of the right damage type, you can bring down your enemy much more quickly and easily. There are 7 different damage types in Tibia: fire, ice, energy, earth, death, holy and physical.
Sorcerers are the masters of energy and fire damage. However, they are also able to make the strongest death damage rune - the legendary "Sudden Death" rune. Druids are especially skilled in all ice and earth spells. Paladins are the only vocation that can use holy spells. Knights yield mainly physical damage, but depending on what kind of weapon they are using, they can deal out also fire, ice, energy or earth damage.

c) Skills, Equipment and Combat Modes
As has been said before a character's performance in combat is determined by three factors: his skills, equipment and the combat mode he is set to. The skill that is used to calculate a character's attack value is determined by the weapon that is currently wielded. Note that if no weapon is equipped at all, the fist fighting skill is used. The same is true if you are trying to use a weapon of another vocation.
Items determine a character's performance in combat in accordance to their nature. For instance, armour such as legs or helmets will reduce the damage caused by successful hits, while the bonus yielded by shields is used to calculate a character's chance to block attacks. Special clothing and certain amulets can also help you to reduce the damage of a certain type. Moreover, you should choose your weapon, runes and spells according to the characteristics of your opponent.
Weapons are generally characterised by 2 values, since they influence both a character's attack and defence value. Additionally, some one-hand weapons have a defence modifier which will either reduce or raise your defence value whenever you are wearing a shield in your other hand. Also note that your attack value will drop if you are wielding a weapon for which you are too inexperienced. Some weapons can also be enchanted by using magical stones, produced and sold by sorcerers and druids, to add a certain damage type to them. You are always well-advised to check out the weaknesses and the strength of your foe before you go into battle. A fire-resistant armor and an ice-enchanted weapon are surely a good choice for your next dragon hunt.
Finally, the combat mode a character is set to also influences his chance to successfully attack or defend. For instance, characters that are set to "Offensive Fighting" have an increased chance to hit their opponents, while their chances to successfully block attacks are reduced. Conversely, characters that are fighting defensively will receive a bonus to their defence, while the strength of their attacks is reduced. Please note that changing the combat mode takes a bit of time, so you will lose one attack whenever you do so.

d) Distance Fighting
Distance attacks are handled similar to melee attacks. Characters or creatures who fight from a distance will fire or hurl projectiles at regular intervals. However, characters will only use ammunition and weapons for which they have the required minimum level. Note that the actual distance between attackers and their targets has an influence on how successful distance attacks are - the larger the distance the smaller the chance to hit. Note, however, that distance fighters will also receive a to-hit penalty if they are firing at an opponent who is standing right next to them! What's more, distance weapons such as bows and crossbows are ill-suited for melee combat, since they require the use of both hands. Because of this, distance fighters are well advised to maintain a moderate distance between themselves and their enemies. However, if your character is a skilled distance fighter and you cannot avoid a melee situation, you should equip him with a throwing weapon and a shield rather than a bow or a crossbow. Please note that thrown weapons vanish sometimes when used.

e) Protection Zones

Unless characters play on optional PvP worlds, they are free to attack each other once they have left Rookgaard. However, even on worlds with open or hardcore PvP combat there are areas where characters are not allowed to fight each other. These areas are called "protection zones". You can tell that your character is standing in a protection zone by the little icon displayed in the condition indicator field. Players standing in protection zones are perfectly safe from any offensive action, even if others are trying to attack them from outside. Conversely, players cannot perform any offensive action inside protection zones. Note that the regeneration of hit points and mana is also disabled in protection zones, although food will be consumed normally.
Protection zones are usually found in temples, depots, ships or in private houses. Also the pyramids in Ankrahmun are protection zones that cannot be entered by somebody that has a protection zone block. Your character will not receive a protection zone block when attacking a member of your party or when fighting back after somebody has attacked you.
Special protection zones are Tibia's swimming areas. As soon as you jump into the water, your character will be cleaned from all special conditions. Also you can neither use "Invisible", nor "Creature Illusion", nor the "Chameleon" spell, nor stealth rings in the water. Additionally, it is impossible to use the safe trade option while enjoying a bath in the Tibian sea.
Players can seek shelter in protection zones anytime, provided they are not affected by a protection zone block, and they can stay there for as long as they like. Note that although characters can be pushed around normally within protection zones it is impossible to push them out of protection zones.

4.3.2 Combat Strategy Guide
This is a little compilation of useful combat tips. Read them carefully. If you observe them, they may save your character's life one day!

Know Your Enemy
Ever since Sun-Tzu wrote his famous treatise on the art of war, generals have known how important it is to study the enemy you are fighting against. Things are by no means different in Tibia: creatures have different strengths and weaknesses, and you should know them all. Make investigations. Study them. Remember you can check out our list of all creatures in the library section or ask veteran players. And most of all, be wary whenever you meet a new creature. If you carelessly bump into a new enemy, you may quickly learn its strengths the hard way!
Know Your Surroundings
Knowing the terrain your character is moving in is also important. You should always have a general idea of your surroundings so that you know which direction to run if your character is in trouble. After all, there is no point in fleeing from a drooling giant spider only to find yourself looking into the mocking faces of a couple of bloodthirsty hunters!
Be careful when exploring, but explore as much as you can. Eventually you will learn to use your knowledge of the land against your enemies.
Cooperate with Other Players
It is a mistake to believe that 2 characters are twice as strong as one - in fact, 2 characters that are well attuned to each other are much, much stronger than solitary fighters! In a team, characters can fully exploit their individual strengths while relying on others to make up for their weaknesses. An experienced group of characters that concentrates its firepower on one enemy can bring down the toughest creature in no time!
Moreover, keep in mind that characters can also cooperate in many different ways: for example, they can rope each other through holes, they can carry equipment for each other etc. Just think how glad you will be if your character dies and a friend of yours is ready to save your lost equipment!
Avoid Getting Cornered
Characters that are surrounded by enemies often have a hard time to escape. Remember even weak creatures can hand out hefty damage if there are too many of them. Remember that no matter how high your character's shielding skill, you will not be able to block more than 2 opponents at a time! Always make sure your characters are placed in positions where no more than 2 enemies can attack them at a time - ideally you should also have an escape route in case something goes dreadfully wrong.
However, if one of your characters ever gets cornered, you can try pushing an opponent away. You have to be quick to move out once you have pushed him, though, because your opponent will probably move back into position as soon as possible. Also, note that pushing will not work with all creatures.
Plan Your Attacks
While charging head-on into battle may have its charms you should keep in mind that the most dangerous enemies are those who plan their actions well. You should do just like them - prepare a strategy based on what you know about your adversaries and put it into practice in a deliberate, systematic way. Finish off opponents one at a time, starting with the most dangerous one. Make sure your first opponent is dead before you start attacking another one - remember a heavily wounded enemy can still attack as viciously as a healthy one. More importantly, you should always think about your character's safety. You should try to figure out how you can protect your character best - perhaps you can find a way to attack enemies from where they cannot even reach your character. While this may not be particularly heroic it will definitely help to extend your character's life expectancy. Reserve honourable fighting for combat against other characters.
Have a Backup Plan Ready
Remember even the most fool-proof of plans can fail, and even if something has worked perfectly for a thousand times it may still fail spectacularly next time you are trying it out. You should be prepared for that - always expect the unexpected! Have some healing magic available at all time, and be prepared to get your characters out alive from whatever situation they may possibly encounter. Most of all, don't hesitate to run if you find a battle is too tough. Remember those who run away from a lost battle will live to fight another day!

4.3.3 Player Killing
As a rule, killing other characters is legal on all game worlds of Tibia where player vs. player combat (PvP) is enabled. However, there are differences. There are no limitations on player killing at all on hardcore PvP game worlds, while there are certain restrictions on worlds with open PvP combat to make sure player killing does not get out of control. On optional PvP game worlds, player killing is only possible if both sides agreed to it.
Note: A character cannot attack other players in the first 10 seconds after login, unless he is attacked and needs to defend himself.

a) Player Killing on Hardcore PvP Game Worlds
On hardcore PvP worlds there are no restrictions whatsoever on player killing. Quite the contrary, attacking and killing other characters is actually encouraged. In addition, the spell "cancel invisibility" has a chance to destroy worn stealth rings.

b) Player Killing on Open PvP Game Worlds
On open PvP game worlds a limited amount of player killing is allowed and kills are divided into 2 categories, in "good" kills, i.e. kills of marked characters, and in "bad" kills, i.e. kills of unmarked characters. A character may make any number of "good" kills, but it is not allowed to make too many "bad" kills within certain limited periods of time. For details on how characters are marked please see the next section.
Please note that the last 20 characters that inflicted damage on a character in the last 60 seconds before his death will all be recorded as "good" or "bad" killers, depending whether the killed character was marked or unmarked for them.

c) Player Killing on Optional PvP Game Worlds
On optional PvP game worlds, player killing is only possible within the scope of a guild war. Only characters who are involved in a war can attack or inflict damage on each other. Moreover, characters cannot walk through characters and their summons with whom they are at war.
Note that neither your weapon nor your shielding skill will improve by attacking other characters or their summons during a guild war on an optional PvP game world.

d) Skull Marks
Skull marks appear only on open PvP game worlds. A character that has not recently been involved in any violence is unmarked. You will not be able to attack such a character if your combat controls are set to secure mode.
If unmarked characters are attacked or hurt by another player, the attacker will receive a mark which will be visible to all other players as a little skull underneath the name. Once a character is marked all other players are free to attack this character! A character that attacks or kills a marked character will not receive a skull mark himself. Therefore you can kill as many marked characters as you want to without risking a red or black skull. However, if you plan to attack a marked character, you should still be careful, because, like everybody else, marked characters have the right to defend themselves. Whenever a skull mark is about to vanish, it will flash for about 5 seconds. During this time the skull mark is still valid but you know that it will be gone in a moment. Please note that not all skull marks indicate that a character is truly a player killer, even though any marked character may be attacked. The skulls come in 5 different colours:

White Skulls
A character marked with a white skull has recently attacked or killed an unmarked character. All players can see this mark. It will stay as long as the logout block is active. If the character performs further offensive actions while he is marked with a white skull the duration of the mark will be extended, as will the duration of the logout block and of the connected protection zone block. Still, white skulls are temporary marks which indicate that the marked character has been aggressive recently.

Red Skulls
Characters that kill several unmarked characters within some periods of time will be marked by a red skull and have to face serious sanctions for their player killing. This happens when a character kills

3 to 5 unmarked characters in 24 hours,

5 to 9 unmarked characters in 7 days or

10 to 19 unmarked characters in 30 days.

As soon as a character reaches one of these three limits, the character will be marked with a red skull for 30 days. Note that every time one of these limits is reached again the red skull mark is reset to 30 days. Also, as an additional sanction a character marked with a red skull will drop all items in case of death, even if a character has all blessings or is wearing an "Amulet of Loss"! This will encourage players to hunt and to punish the player killer.

Black Skulls
Characters that even cross one of the limits for a red skull, will be marked with a black skull for 45 days. Characters receive a black skull when they kill

6 or more unmarked characters in 24 hours,

10 or more unmarked characters in 7 days or

20 or more unmarked characters in 30 days.

Every time one of these limits is reached again, the black skull mark is reset to 45 days. Just like a character with a red skull, a character with a black skull drops all items in case of death. In addition, characters marked with a black skull cannot attack any unmarked characters. So be careful, if you attack several characters when having a red skull, and then one of these characters dies and your red skull turns black, you will no longer be able to attack the characters you have attacked before. As you have attacked these characters first, they will also not get a yellow skull. This effect will stay for as long as you have a battle sign.
Moreover, characters with a black skull cannot use any aggressive area spells and runes, beams and strike spells that are not clearly aimed at a target, burst arrows, and any summon spells and runes, such as "Undead Legion" or "Convince Creature". Also characters will lose all summons they had before getting a black skull as soon as they are marked. Further, they will receive 100% instead of 50% of the dealt damage in PvP fights. Finally, if a character with a black skull dies, he will awake in the temple with 40 hit points and 0 mana.

Yellow Skulls
This skull is somewhat special because it is not visible to all players on the screen. You will only see it if your character was attacked or damaged by another character first when your character was marked with a skull. This happens because you have the right to defend yourself also if you have a skull. If you kill a character with a yellow skull, the kill does not count as a "bad" kill as any other kill of a marked character. Similar like a white skull, a yellow skull will stay as long as the logout block is active. If the character performs further offensive actions while he is marked with a yellow skull the duration of the mark will be extended, as will the duration of the logout block and of the connected protection zone block.

Green Skulls
Green skulls are another special case. A player marked with a green skull is either a member of the party you belong to or is a member of your guild or the opposing guild if you participate in a guild war. Like any other marked character you can attack or kill party members without any negative consequences.

e) Good Kills vs. Bad Kills
Some words on "justice" on worlds where a moderate amount of player killing is allowed. Of course, every automatic system has weaknesses. Players may try to abuse the protection offered by this system to provoke you in any conceivable way. Still, you should always think twice before attacking an unmarked character, no matter what he has done. You may have good excuses for attacking the character, but your fellow players may not accept them. It is not the goal of the marking rules to ensure justice but to handle most typical conflicts arising in the game in a fair and neutral way.
All your kills will be automatically evaluated and logged. As has been said before, you are free to kill as many marked characters as you like. This is because your victims have either been aggressive towards unmarked characters (white, red and black skull), attacked you first (yellow skull) or because they have joined the same party as you out of their own free will (green skull).
Things are different, however, with "bad" kills, i.e. kills of unmarked characters. You may only kill a limited number of unmarked characters within some limited periods of time. The marking rules on player killing are designed to penalise aggressive players. We feel it is never a good thing if you attack a character that has no mark. Therefore you have to bear the disadvantages of being marked as an aggressive player. If this does not stop you from behaving aggressively, the red skull mark comes along with the additional punishment of full item loss when dying. Moreover, if you exceed one or more of the aforementioned kill limits, further killing of unmarked characters will mark your character with a black skull which results in even tougher sanctions.

4.3.4 Logout Block

Normally, characters can leave the game anytime. However, if characters are currently fighting, or if they have recently been involved in some sort of violence, they will be temporarily barred from logging out. You can tell a character cannot log out by the little icon displayed in the condition indicator field underneath the inventory. As long as this icon is displayed you cannot log out, although you are of course free to shut down the client or even to turn off the computer. However, this is not a good idea since your characters will stay in the game if you do so, and they will be extremely vulnerable! For this reason it is a good idea to make sure the logout block icon has disappeared whenever you decide to leave Tibia. Characters will receive a logout block whenever they

attack other characters or creatures,
get attacked by other characters or creatures,
damage other characters or creatures,
get damaged by any means,
cast offensive spells or use offensive runes.

A logout block is generally lifted 60 seconds after its cause has disappeared. In other words, the duration of the logout block is set to 60 seconds each time one of the above conditions is met.
A special case of the logout block applies whenever characters engage other characters in PvP combat. As with normal logout blocks, characters affected by so-called protection zone blocks are not allowed to log out. However, in addition to the regular logout block, these characters are also barred from entering protection zones such as temples, depots or private houses to make sure all attacked characters get a chance to retaliate. Protection zone blocks last as long as logout blocks do, i.e. characters that have attacked others will be able to enter protection zones if at least 60 seconds have passed since the last time have been involved in violence.
Note: Casting certain offensive spells will also cause characters to receive protection zone blocks even if the spells are not used to attack other characters at all! Spells of this kind include all field runes as well as the "Summon Creature" spell. Protection zone blocks imposed because of such spells last for 60 seconds due to the connected logout block, provided the casting character does not get involved in combat in the meantime.
Things are more serious if a character has actually killed another character. Player killers may not log out or enter protection zones for a full 15 minutes! What's more, if the killer is involved in violence during the last minute of this period, his logout block will be extended as usual, so player killers can be barred from logging out for a long time.

4.3.5 Party Mode
Players can form groups called "parties". All members of a party are automatically invited to the party channel. Parties are useful if you would like to hunt, train or have a duel with a friend, because the party mode allows its members to attack or kill each other without negative consequences. For this reason characters within the same party do not only have a shield mark but also a skull mark beneath their names on open PvP game worlds. The skull mark is green if the character has no other skull mark, and it can only be seen by members of same party. Keep in mind that you are running a risk whenever you join a party, because any party member can attack and even kill you without receiving a skull mark.

a) How to Form a Party
If you want to form a party, you have to invite another character. Simply right-click on the other character and select "Invite to Party". This character can accept your invitation by right-clicking your character and selecting "Join XXX's Party". The player who has invited the others automatically becomes the leader of the party. Any further characters that join will become members of the party.
The party-status of a member is indicated by a small shield mark beneath the character's name:

leader of your party

member of your party

leader of the party to which you are invited

character that has been invited to your party, but has not joined yet

Please note that each character can only be a member of one party at a time. Moreover, only the party leader can invite further characters. Additionally, a leader can always pass the leadership on to any other member of the party by right-clicking on a member and by selecting "Pass Leadership".

b) How to Leave a Party
You can leave a party by right-clicking on yourself and selecting "Leave Party". Please note that you cannot leave a party if you have a logout block. If you leave a party, your character's shield mark vanishes immediately. Also, the character's skull mark will blink noticeably for 5 seconds to warn other players that you have left the party, and that further attacks may be judged as unjustified violence. You will be dismissed from a party if you log out or you get disconnected. If the leader leaves the party or gets disconnected, the leadership will automatically be forwarded to the first invited member. If this character decides to leave the party, the second character that was invited will become leader and so on.

c) Shared Experience

To share experience points, the leader of your party must activate this feature via the context menu. If shared experience is activated, an experience bonus of 5% is granted if the defeated creature usually yields at least 20 experience points. To activate shared experience, the leader must not have a battle sign and the following requirements need to be fulfilled:

Only characters that are of similar levels can share experience when hunting together. To be more precise, the lowest character in a party may not have less than two-thirds of the levels of the highest character. This means a level 40 can share experience with a level 60 but not with a level 20; or a level 200 can share experience with a level 300.
The distance of all party members to the leader must be smaller or equal to 30 fields, this works also if you are one floor up or down.
Finally, all party members must be actively involved. This means they must either have healed another member or attacked an aggressive monster.

One of these 2 symbols appears beneath your character's name if all conditions are fulfilled. In this case the experience points a creature is yielding are distributed evenly between all party members. If the division of the experience points does not result in whole numbers, the result will be rounded up to the next integer. The share of a member who gets less or no experience points caused by too little stamina is reduced from the complete sum and does not affect the amount of experience points the other members are receiving. Players whose share of experience points equals at least their level will also gain soul points while hunting. In case a party member has a summon, the summon will receive its part of the experience before the shared experience is calculated.

One of these 2 symbols appears beneath your character's name if one of the above mentioned conditions are not fulfilled. Now shared experience is deactivated until all party members fulfil all requirements again. You can easily recognise the members who do not meet the conditions by their flashing party icon. If you are that person, simply heal a party member or deal damage to a monster; or get back into the leader's range to activate shared experience again for your party. If shared experience is deactivated because the highest level has gained a level, it will not be activated until the lowest level has caught up to have no less than two-thirds of the highest character again.
Whenever, shared experience is deactivated, the experience points will be distributed according to the damage every member has been dealing out.

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