Unarmed can't knock down?

[Smufius]

The tutorial/info page says unarmed drains fatigue which will eventually cause a knockdown just like in the OG, but after reading some forum posts I hear that's not the case at all. So the game has misinfo in the guide page? Or are people just tripping? I'm considering a monk style playthrough and the knockdowns are important for that.

[Hex]

Unarmed has always been pointless man, let it go.

[Dwolite]

If your stamina is zero and someone punches you, you do fall down. I get knocked down all the time when my stamina reaches zero, particularly against enemies using drain stamina. I don't know if it specifically works for you against an NPC though, as I have not yet made a hand-to-hand fighter.

[Smufius]

Originally posted by Hex:

Unarmed has always been pointless man, let it go.

Nope, you lack imagination and fun. Swords, hammers and bows are so basic. I'd rather punch big monsters and knights with big swords.

[Smufius]

Originally posted by Dwolite:

If your stamina is zero and someone punches you, you do fall down. I get knocked down all the time when my stamina reaches zero, particularly against enemies using drain stamina. I don't know if it specifically works for you against an NPC though, as I have not yet made a hand-to-hand fighter.

Welp, guess I'll just have to experiment then. I'll try a hand-to-hand character with illusion and restoration so I can paralyze and absorb/damage fatigue. Sort of emulates monk abilities where you hit enemies into pressure points and such.

[wirednight]

It's supposed to drain fatigue. NPCs generally have inflated fatigue bars so you're either going to kill them before you drain their fatigue, or they're going to kill you before they drain your fatigue. Best just to ignore trying to and just kill them. Draining their health bar is much more important than draining their fatigue.

[Smufius]

Originally posted by wirednight:

It's supposed to drain fatigue. NPCs generally have inflated fatigue bars so you're either going to kill them before you drain their fatigue, or they're going to kill you before they drain your fatigue. Best just to ignore trying to and just kill them. Draining their health bar is much more important than draining their fatigue.

Alright, so like I said in the above post I'll combine that with Absorb Fatigue spells and Paralyse. I think it's just fun to make enemis go limp and beat them when they're helpless. Big part of this game is about experimenting/sandboxing and not just using the simplest methods.

[Drax]

A pure unarmed build probably will be a struggle to get working BUT unarmed + magic is definitely viable. Try using drain fatigue spells alongside your unarmed attacks. Maybe also use Burdening spells on other enemies during group fights and invisibility + stealth attacks.

Could also use Paralyze but that might defeat the point of knocking them down when it's so easy to do it with spells.

[Hex]

Originally posted by Smufius:

Originally posted by Hex:

Unarmed has always been pointless man, let it go.

Nope, you lack imagination and fun. Swords, hammers and bows are so basic. I'd rather punch big monsters and knights with big swords.

The problem is that once you get high enough level and you stop getting stronger, the enemies keep getting more hp. You'll end up at a point where you spend 5 minutes killing 1 enemy in Shivering Isles.

[Smufius]

Originally posted by Drax:

A pure unarmed build probably will be a struggle to get working BUT unarmed + magic is definitely viable. Try using drain fatigue spells alongside your unarmed attacks. Maybe also use Burdening spells on other enemies during group fights and invisibility + stealth attacks.

Could also use Paralyze but that might defeat the point of knocking them down when it's so easy to do it with spells.

I heard paralyse is very mana-costly so maybe it's not so spammable in big fights. Gotta rely on punching and draining their fatigue with cheaper spells and save paralyse for big threats.

[wirednight]

Originally posted by Smufius:

Originally posted by wirednight:

It's supposed to drain fatigue. NPCs generally have inflated fatigue bars so you're either going to kill them before you drain their fatigue, or they're going to kill you before they drain your fatigue. Best just to ignore trying to and just kill them. Draining their health bar is much more important than draining their fatigue.

Alright, so like I said in the above post I'll combine that with Absorb Fatigue spells and Paralyse. I think it's just fun to make enemis go limp and beat them when they're helpless. Big part of this game is about experimenting/sandboxing and not just using the simplest methods.

I guess the question is, really, if you're going to use magic, why not just use touch spells then. It'll save you a skill you have to concern yourself with unarmed. I just always found unarmed to be practically useless. Either go the simple route and beat people with a metal stick, or use touch magic and drain the living everything out of them.

[Smufius]

Originally posted by Hex:

Originally posted by Smufius:

Nope, you lack imagination and fun. Swords, hammers and bows are so basic. I'd rather punch big monsters and knights with big swords.

The problem is that once you get high enough level and you stop getting stronger, the enemies keep getting more hp. You'll end up at a point where you spend 5 minutes killing 1 enemy in Shivering Isles.

I'll take the risk, haha. Here's hoping someone fixes the fatigue so I can fortify it to make damage go even higher.

[R for Reload]

I have never knockdown down anyone
It might at later levels when the fatigue drain is higher
My number 1 spell for knocking people over seems to be an over time fire spell.

Game's weird.

[Smufius]

Originally posted by wirednight:

Originally posted by Smufius:

Alright, so like I said in the above post I'll combine that with Absorb Fatigue spells and Paralyse. I think it's just fun to make enemis go limp and beat them when they're helpless. Big part of this game is about experimenting/sandboxing and not just using the simplest methods.

I guess the question is, really, if you're going to use magic, why not just use touch spells then. It'll save you a skill you have to concern yourself with unarmed. I just always found unarmed to be practically useless. Either go the simple route and beat people with a metal stick, or use touch magic and drain the living everything out of them.

To be fair I'm playing on the regular difficulty and my current character who started with unarmed (and many other skills I kinda regret) is still killing enemies easily at level 8. I feel unarmed is somewhat stronger than in the OG now, or maybe it's because I put 5 points into strength each level. Now I just want to start a character that really focuses on punching and touch spells that fit a monk-ish playstyle.

[The Infamous Cloaker]

Unironically, unarmed enemies are terrifying now with the disarm chance compared to what a joke it was before

[Drax]

Originally posted by Smufius:

I heard paralyse is very mana-costly so maybe it's not so spammable in big fights. Gotta rely on punching and draining their fatigue with cheaper spells and save paralyse for big threats.

Paralyse is only costly over large durations but a 1s Paralyse is very cheap and still causes a guaranteed knockdown so it depends on the spell. The Dark Brotherhood merchant sells a good ranged paralyse that's quite cheap to use.

Should also note that you'll want to have +200 Fortify Fatigue on your character as it adds an extra +4 damage to your max Hand-to-Hand damage, from 11 damage to 15 which is pretty significant.