Combat Guide

Overview

Combat in Scapewatch uses a tick-based system where you and mobs exchange attacks based on weapon speed. Each swing produces a hit chance and a damage roll using the formulas below — every bonus you stack (capes, pets, tools, potions, slay task) acts as an additional effective combat level in the formula.

Combat Styles

Style	Accuracy Skill	Strength Skill
Stab	Strike	Heft
Slash	Strike	Heft
Crush	Strike	Heft
Range	Sight	Draw
Magic	Focus	Surge

Effective Level

Every combat bonus folds into the level before the multiplier — so the "+1 effective level" UI is literal: it's as if your level itself were that high.

effLevel = skillLevel + cape + pet + tool + slay + potion

Tool bonus includes per-skill combat tools (+1 per tier owned, max +4) and all-skills lanterns (+1 per tier, max +4).

Combat Scores

Each swing builds four scores from the same shape (accuracy A, strength S_atk, dodge D, defend S_def):

score = floor(2 × effLevel × spiritMod) + gearStat

Spirit applies as a multiplier on the effective level INSIDE the 2× skill multiplier, then gear adds on top. Skill contributes twice its effective level after spirit (so a +1 cape pushes spirit AND score by the full leverage). Gear contributes its raw stat for the relevant style (stabAttack, magicDefense, etc.).

Spirit

Spirit multiplies the effective level inside the score, so every spirit source affects the entire 2× skill term:

spiritFactor = min(0.4, 0.1 + per-source bumps)

spiritMod = 1 + spiritFactor (1.00 depleted, 1.10 base, up to 1.30 with all 8 sources)

Each spirit cape / pet / tool source adds +0.025 to the factor. Because spirit lives inside the 2× term, base spirit (1.10×) lifts every combat score by 10% and stacking all sources lifts it by 30% — multiplicative on the level so each source is meaningfully stronger than the old additive model. Spirit drains by 2 per attack you make and by 1 per attack that lands damage on you; when Spirit hits 0 the modifier drops back to 1.00× (hard cliff). On every mob kill spirit regenerates by max(3, 10% of max), with each Spirit Conduit unlock adding +10% and +3 to the minimum.

Spirit potions (Calm, Serene, Tranquil) auto-consume one charge when spirit drops below 10% of max. Each charge restores 10% / 25% / 50% of max spirit respectively. Each potion drunk adds 10 charges to the queue, sorted highest-tier first.

Hit Chance

One roll determines whether the swing connects (there is no separate dodge roll — dodge folds into D):

hit chance = clamp(10%, 100%, 60% + 0.003 × (A − D))

The slope means every +3 of score advantage adds +1% to hit. A balanced fight (A = D) lands at exactly 60%.

Min-hit floor (overflow region)

When A − D pushes the raw chance above 100%, the unused "overflow" lifts the damage roll's floor toward max hit:

overflow = clamp(0, 0.5, raw − 1.0)

minHit = max(1, floor(overflow × maxHit))

At full overflow (cap 0.5) the damage roll is guaranteed to land between half max hit and max hit — outgear translates into "no chip rolls" before it ever turns into more swings landing.

Max Hit

maxHit = 2 + floor(S_atk / 5)

S_atk follows the same effLevel+gear+spirit shape as A. Every +5 in S_atk adds +1 to max hit; the +2 base guarantees a minimum chip damage even at level 1.

Damage Reduction

reduction = min(75%, floor(S_def / 10) / 100)

Every +10 in S_def adds +1% reduction, capped at 75%. After damage is rolled, it's reduced with a ceiling: finalDamage = max(1, ceil(rawDmg × (1 − reduction))). The ceil ensures a hit always lands for at least 1 even at heavy reduction.

Attack Speed (Vigor)

Vigor speeds up your attack interval — no spirit multiplier, just level + bonuses summed into a vigor score:

vigorReduction = min(50%, vigorScore × 0.0025)

attackInterval = weaponSpeed × (1 − vigorReduction)

Each vigor point shortens the interval by 0.25%, capped at 50%. Vigor has no combat potion.

Ammo Penalty

A ranged or magic attacker with no ammo halves both the attack score and the strength score at the score level:

A → floor(A / 2) S_atk → floor(S_atk / 2)

maxHit and hit chance both recompute from the halved scores — net effect is roughly half DPS until ammo is restocked.

Critical Hits

Each crit source you own (combat pets, capes, tools + all-skills equivalents, dungeon glyphs/tablets) adds +0.25% crit chance and +0.5% crit damage multiplier:

critChance = (5 + 0.25 × sources) / 100

critDamage = max(roll + 1, floor(roll × (120 + 0.5 × sources) / 100))

Crit is rolled before reduction so a heavy defender still partly soaks a crit.

Max HP & Spirit Pool

Player max HP doubles the effective Life level — every "+1 effective Life level" bonus is worth +2 maxHP:

maxHP = 2 × (lifeLevel + cape + pet + tool)

Max Spirit = Spirit level + combat bonuses for Spirit. These effective values are used for the HP bar, death respawn, passive healing cap, combat food healing, and spirit potion restores.

Auto-Eat

When your HP drops below 50% of max HP, the game automatically consumes the best-fit food from your inventory.

XP Distribution

Per hit (each grant rounded): Chosen combat skill gets 1× final damage as XP. Life always gets 0.25×. Dodge (when an accuracy skill is selected) or Defend (when a strength skill is selected) gets 0.25×. XP on missed attacks is 0.

Per kill: Spirit gets spiritXPOnKill and Slay gets slayXPOnKill (only if your active slay task matches). Both come from the mob's stat block; the rebalance pass set slayXP = floor(life / 2) and spiritXP = floor(life / 2 × categoryMult).

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