noob question, how to fight

[jballar]

I have just started playing the game. I am playing the vanilla game. The mouse/keyboard interactions are different than anything else I have played, but I am getting the hang of it.

What I cannot figure out is how to fight. Forget kiting or other techniques, I am talking about when I fight a spider, as an example, I go up to it, nothing happens except me standing around and I get hit. I occasionally will actually hit something, but not until after I am hit several times.

The videos I have seen show people fighting, but not exactly how they do it. For example do you use the mouse and left click, or use the keyboard and the space bar? Any guidance will be grateful.

[Osukah]

idk if this is the best way, but what i do is
1. equip weapon
2. find enemy
3. get in attack position (close)
4. hit ctrl+f to accuire the target then spam f
hope this helps a little

[OttersR'Us]

F is the 'autoattack' command, and will attack the nearest hostile target for as long as you hold it.
Ctrl + F is the 'force attack' command, which will attack the nearest target period. This is useful if you're trying to kill passive mobs, but be careful around allied followers like Chester or pigmen.

For combat, my preference is to use the F hotkey to attack, and the mouse to move.

How you should fight depends on the enemies you're facing.

For example, if you're attempting to clear a tier 1 spider den during the day, you can draw the spiders out one at a time by walking on the web and letting them come near enough to attack you. Once they've aggro'd on you, they'll follow you so that you can engage them far enough away that reinforcements won't come out when you hit them.
Regular spiders are stunned from damage, so once you're in a good position to fight, all you need to do is hold F vs a single spider. You'll keep them stunlocked until they're dead.

If you're fighting more than one spider at once because you engaged them too close to the nest, or it's evening and they reinforce each other from a far distance, it's just a matter of getting used to their movement speed and attack animation time. It's much easier than it sounds - you get close, hit F to attack, and run. Experience just teaches you to get more attacks off without taking damage in the same time.

Other enemies, like Spider Warriors that spawn if you fight too close to a higher level spider den, are immune to stunlocking. In those cases, you need to learn their attack pattern to engage them effectively.


The most important thing for learning to fight as you start out is probably to wear Log Armor. You craft it in the Fight tab from logs and rope. Log Armor absorbs 80% of the damage you take, effectively quintupling your health and the benefits of healing items.

On that note, you should learn to kill Butterflies. They're harmless, and their wings heal 8 health a piece when you eat them. You can't engage them easily in melee while they're on the move, but they often stop to fly in place briefly if you're not too close - and that's when you murder them. Make sure to leave them alone for a few days after a murder spree, or Krampus will avenge them for your naughtiness.

[jballar]

thanks guys. I was using the left mouse and space bar. No wonder I was getting no where.

[OrangePie]

Originally posted by jballar:

thanks guys. I was using the left mouse and space bar. No wonder I was getting no where.

As the previous person said, always use F. However, try to start using CTRL-F and learn how it works, because you will be able to do a lot more with it. For example, even though frogs are hostile I think you may have to use ctrl-F to attack them first.

[HumanFtw]

I have played this for a long time and I never knew about F, I'll have to try it. You can force attack by holding Ctrl and then cicking on them. If it's something like a spider then you should attack them just by clicking on them though.

[BillytheSquig]

for the uninitiated (noobs) "kiting" is dodging in and out of the enemy strike range in a sort of stick and move pattern, if you can master it you can make foreign kids cry in frustration in other games, yay online gaming community!

[jballar]

Yes, the F button works wonders. Now I can do some kiting and actually not die.