Kind of confused about combat

[MDawg77]

I am fairly new to RPGs so please forgive these probably very simple questions.
1. The targets that appear above your head. I think there are 2, red and yellow. Protego seems to work against yellow, but not red? So you have to dodge red? Do the NPC actions that are red stay red no matter what level or talent abilities you spec? Is there a way to tell which NPC specifically is generating the targeting icon?
2. I don't understand the magic meter at the bottom right corner.
3. I understand what charges your ability to use the ancient magic (I think), but what exactly is the indication on the HUD to show how close I am to having it available (is that where question 2 comes in?)
4. Sometimes I try to cast a spell that is off cooldown, and the wand does some kind of error animation. What causes this?

[Dreadstone]

1) When a shield (Red, Yellow, or Purple) appears over an enemy, you must cast a corresponding spell of the same color to 'break' the shield.

1a) Curses do not have this restriction

2) Do you mean the two horizontal bars filling with blue?

3) When a bubble fills (there will be a brief animation) you can use ancient magic

4) Spell isn't off CD yet, your Wizard or Witch will shake the wand. (I assume that's the animation)

[katzenkrimis]

Yellow against yellow, red against red, blue against blue.

I cleared the entire map using those three, and stealth.

Periodically, I'd switch to a second set of four spells, which included a lot of fire bombing, disarming, slicing and force spells.

---

Above the enemy you will see an X when your blue bars in the bottom right corner fill up with juice.

When they fill up, the X will appear over the enemies head.

Hit X to nuke the enemy with your ancient magic.

----

If you cast a spell that is off cooldown, and is irrelevant to what you are trying to do in your current situation, a dud animation will play.

[Feeding 101]

Originally posted by MDawg77:

I am fairly new to RPGs so please forgive these probably very simple questions.
1. The targets that appear above your head. I think there are 2, red and yellow. Protego seems to work against yellow, but not red? So you have to dodge red? Do the NPC actions that are red stay red no matter what level or talent abilities you spec? Is there a way to tell which NPC specifically is generating the targeting icon?
2. I don't understand the magic meter at the bottom right corner.
3. I understand what charges your ability to use the ancient magic (I think), but what exactly is the indication on the HUD to show how close I am to having it available (is that where question 2 comes in?)
4. Sometimes I try to cast a spell that is off cooldown, and the wand does some kind of error animation. What causes this?

1. that's the indicator whether you can defend enemies' attack with protego (if it's yellow) or dodge (if it's red). so, yeah, basically, you just need to react based on the indicator. as far as I know, if enemy cast spell like Petrificus Totalus or Levioso, you can only dodge it. as for trolls's attack pattern, it way easier. 2 red 1 yellow when they swing the club, red if they charge, yellow if they throw stones at you. sometime enemies will cast AoE (Area of Effect) spells like lightning or stone knights' jumping attack. there's no indicator above your head, just watch the ground.
2&3 that's the indicator for you to be able to cast ancient magic. so, yeah, those two are related
4. it means the spell you want to cast is still in cooldown. there's a talent that can reduce the cooldown when you using basic attack and it's really good talent to acquire as soon as possible. or you can use Focus potion that greatly reduce the cooldown. I don't really know if it affects avada kedavra or not, since I don't rely on that spell, but it's so good, especially if you take dark arts talent and curse multiple enemies, the Avada Kedavra will instantly kill any enemies that are cursed.

[Mulqueeny]

Yellow indicator cast Protego, Red one dodge. Also you can perfect Dodge and perfect Shield which with later skills give great combat boosts if you get them down right.

This is done by pressing the dodge or roll button when the circle closes in to the centre ring.

[MDawg77]

Awesome, thank you all for the information. I understand it now. That bonus info on the perfect dodge/shield really clears things up! Thanks again!