Combat
Combat is Winds of Valen's core fighting system: seven skills that work together to decide how hard you hit, how well you survive, and what gear actually helps against a given enemy.
The Seven Combat Skills
Three skills deal damage, three defend against a specific attack style, and Health backs up all of them.
| Skill | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | Offensive (melee) | Trained by fighting in melee stance |
| Archery | Offensive (ranged) | Requires an equipped bow and arrows |
| Magic | Offensive (elemental) | Deals damage with elemental effects |
| Defence | Defensive | Resists Heavy attacks |
| Evasion | Defensive | Resists Quick attacks |
| Warding | Defensive | Resists Mystical attacks |
| Health | Survivability | Passively gains 25% of every combat skill's XP |
Shields: Matching the Attack
Every attack falls into one of three styles, and each has a shield type that counters it. Equip the wrong shield and you're not getting the defensive benefit.
| Attack Style | Color | Shield Family | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy | Red | Shield |  Steel Shield
|
| Quick | Green | Parry Shield |  Parry Shield
|
| Mystical | Blue | Ward |  Adept Ward
|
See Shields: 
Bronze Shield • Bronze Parry Shield • 
Skeleton Shield • Iron Shield • Steel Shield • 
Elven Shield • 
Novice Ward • 
Apprentice Ward • Adept Ward • 
Volcanic Ward • Parry Shield • 
Advanced Parry Shield for the full shield lineup in each family.
If an enemy's attacks are split evenly between two styles, either matching shield works, so pick whichever also covers your other stats.
Reading Enemy Weaknesses
Weapons also carry a physical damage type, Pierce or Slash (shown on every weapon's stat block), which armour resists separately from the Heavy/Quick/Mystical system above. The short version: check an enemy's defence stats and hit whichever number is lowest.
- Piercing weapons exploit low Pierce Defence.
- Slashing weapons exploit low Slash Defence.
Accuracy & Defence Rolls
Whether an attack lands comes down to comparing two rolls, your accuracy against the target's defence, both built the same way:
| Roll | Formula |
|---|---|
| Max Accuracy | (Attack level + 8) × (Equipped Accuracy + 32) |
| Max Defence | (Defence level + 8) × (Equipped Defence + 32) |
The higher your effective level and gear stats relative to the target's, the more often your hits connect.
Experience
Combat XP splits every time you land a hit:
- 75% goes to whichever offensive skill you're using (Attack, Archery, or Magic).
- 25% goes to Health, regardless of style.
Total XP earned also scales with the enemy's level, higher-level enemies are worth more, with the scaling curve easing off past level 100.
Quick Reference
- Match your shield to the enemy's attack style before engaging, not mid-fight.
- Target the enemy's lowest defence stat (Pierce or Slash) with the matching weapon type.
- Account for travel and respawn time when estimating real XP/hour, not just per-hit numbers.