Lone Wolf
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Combat Skill (commonly abbreviated CS) is a measure of combat ability, weapon strength, and all-around battle prowess. The higher a character's Combat Skill, the more dangerous he is in a fight. Combat Skill can be raised a variety of ways, including:

It is also possible to suffer a permanent loss in Combat Skill with injudicious choices.[1][2]

Combats are determined by die rolls and a simple comparison of the player's CS value and the opponent's CS value via subtraction (player's CS - opponent's CS).

Note that the player is at a considerable advantage in fights when facing opponents with similar Combat Skill. Lone Wolf only starts losing more endurance points than his opponent at -5 combat ratio or worse, while the combat ratio must be -9 or worse for Grand Master and Grey Star to be at the same disadvantage. However, it is generally hard to recover EPs during a story, making attrition a serious obstacle.

Enemies[]

Certain characters have particularly high Combat Skill scores. These characters have the highest Combat Skill thus far in the gamebooks:

However, it is the combat ratio that determines battle difficulty, which is different between series, and other secondary effects (like immunity to certain skills) can impact the battle. The duel with Wolf's Bane is an example of a fight in which the combat ratio is poor, but the fight is not especially difficult (see Wolf's Bane (character)#Combat stats).

The following characters do not necessarily have the highest Combat Skills, but their fights are notoriously difficult for their combat ratios (at that point in the adventure), or through other secondary effects:

  • Altan (28): Although this is not a battle (to the death), a Combat Skill of 28 is very high for The Kingdoms of Terror. In fact, Joe Dever designed this "fight" to be a "morality" test to see if players will use unsporting methods to win (by using psychic attacks or Alether).
  • Zakhan Kimah (39 maximum, 44 originally): With the Sommerswerd, Zakhan Kimah originally had a Combat Skill of 44. The player's maximum Combat Skill possible was 38, or 40 with Alether. This meant that Lone Wolf would, on average, lose Endurance points at the same rate as Kimah, and very likely meant death, as the Zakhan inflicts 5 Endurance points worth of damage before the fight. This fight was made easier in subsequent editions, such that it is still challenging, but not on average impossible. See also: Zakhan Kimah: §Difficulty
  • Demonlord Tagazin in The Dungeons of Torgar (45): An optional encounter in The Dungeons of Torgar (but one whose path is rich in lore). 45 Combat Skill is extremely nasty for this book, although the fight ends when Tagazin's Endurance drops to 20 or lower.
  • Chaos-master in The Prisoners of Time (44 maximum, 47 originally): A mandatory fight, the Chaos-master originally had a Combat Skill of 47 if engaging with the Sommerswerd, which could only (barely) be matched with fully optimal play (including reserving a Concentrated Potion of Alether for this fight) and a maximum base Combat Skill. Additionally, the Chaos-master had an absurd Endurance points score of 68, and there are several fights ahead (not as difficult, but could lead to continuing attrition in Endurance points). The Collector's Edition rebalanced the Chaos-master to have a Combat Skill of 44 and Endurance 62. This is one of the few cases where it is better to "cheese" the adventure by leaving the Sommerswerd in the Kai Monastery, which lets the player face a badly-wounded Chaos-master with 38 Combat Skill (although in this case, it must be done before the previous book, The Dungeons of Torgar, as Lone Wolf will not be able to do this from the Daziarn).
  • Villains of Sommerlund in The Prisoners of Time (38): This mandatory battle is notable because of how it ties in with the fight against the Chaos-master in the same book. If Lone Wolf has the Sommerswerd, the Villains are not difficult (with optimal play and starting stats), but he would be forced to fight a full-strength Chaos-master. Without the Sommerswerd, the Chaos-master is significantly easier to defeat, but the Villains become very dangerous.
  • The Deathlord of Ixia is notorious for having several extremely nasty fights:
    • Korozon (52): An optional encounter that is immune to all forms of psychic attack results in an effective Combat Skill of 60 — on par with Deathlord Ixiataaga and Kekataag.
    • Cabalah (53): Another optional encounter that is also immune to all forms of psychic attack. Moreover, if the Sommerswerd is used, this attracts the attention of Ixiataaga, leading to instant death. This means the effective Combat Skill is a staggering 69. This fight is seemingly-designed to be evaded (after four rounds).
    • 3 Kajarda (48): Again, this encounter is immune to all forms of psychic attack, and using the Sommerswerd is a death sentence, giving it an effective Combat Skill of 64. However, this encounter is mandatory.
    • Deathlord Ixiataaga (60): Although technically an easier fight than the above (due to combat ratio), the Deathlord is the last fight in the gauntlet that is this book, and the player may have run out of Alether.

See also[]

References[]

  1. The Caverns of Kalte, section 55
  2. The Jungle of Horrors, section 71
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