The Combo Bible

This is the guide that I wrote on Robot Entertainment Official Forums; and the guide that lead to Wyatans x17 combo amongst other huge achievements. It is renowned as the 'Combo Bible' and earned me the name 'The Trap Whisperer' from the RE devs.

A title my forum avatar sports proudly.

It covers nearly every mechanic in the game - it is not a guide as to which traps to add with which; it defines the mechanics and maths of OMD2 in full and from it you should be able to devise devastating attacks as well as that elusive x10 combo achievement with traps by your own design or that highest of high scores. Find out how we all reached scores legitimately of over 100 Million on endless levels and more than 30 Million on solo levels.

Contents

i. About this guide
ii. What a Combo is
iii. Combo System
iv. Affliction Guide
v. Rules of Affliction
vi. High Scoring
vii. Smash Combo Theory
viii. The Math
ix. Its' Finally Over

i. About this guide.

Who am I? It doesn't matter.

This guide was lovingly crafted from thousands (really) of hours of theory. I was at the time well known by the community for coming up with crazy ideas to increase specifically the combo numbers utilising and finding somewhat unusual and often glitchy means to push up the combo numbers.

I spent the majority of my time searching for these nuances, and left it to the community to come up with bone crushing setups. One such setup was done by Wyatan.

It was achieved finally by Wyatan in the form of a x17 combo.

Daily Motion x17 Combo Video - Wyatan[www.dailymotion.com]

I have to thank all my friends Fryedegg, Radio Kenny, Nananea, Wyatan, Odragon, Juicebags, Cheetah 2000 and many others who are mentioned in the special thanks for sticking with me and hacking away at my theories despite how crazy they sounded or how often they outright didn't work. Without their trail and error and determination and belief that my theories were correct (despite how nuts they sounded) there is no way we could have achieved the scores we managed.

ii. What a Combo is

----- KILL STREAKS ARE NOT COMBO'S
Your kill streak is how many orcs, ogres and other you manage to kill in sequence without too much gap between each kill. This does not drastically increase your final high score. This does increase how much coin you acquire after the kill streak ends. You get a bonus depending on how many you've managed to kill in a short time. This number depending on how many you kill in rapid succession, and has nothing to do with what traps you choose to use.

Kill streaks look like this:
Kill Streak Image[i35.photobucket.com]

----- COMBOS AND HOW THEY WORK
Combo's work by how many different trap types hit an orc (other) before it dies (or before it stops ragdolling). Each trap can add a single combo point before upgrades are added, some upgrades increase the amount of combo points it can apply.

A combo of arrow wall, tar trap and spikes can only ever create a x3 combo; regardless of how many arrow walls, how much tar or how many spikes the orc hits along the way.

With OMD2 you can now add upgrades, some upgrades add different effects. Each effect adds +1 to the combo. For instance if we made spikes cause bleed and arrow wall set the target on fire this would be a total combo of x5 assuming the orc manages to get hit by all three individual traps and the bleed and fire is applied to the orc before it dies.

Fire effects, bleed effects etc do not seem to stack (may be changed later, more testing is necessary) you can not set something on fire twice to increase the combo effect.

Your combo's can be found here:
What a COMBO is[i35.photobucket.com]

And at the end of each level you can find it under your statistics next to BIGGEST COMBO not next to biggest kill streak as per this screen shot:
End of level COMBO image[i35.photobucket.com]


Combo's are highly prized by the omd veteran comunity because they increase the amount of points the dying orc gives with each combo point.

Combo x3
200
Combo x4
400
Combo x5
800
Combo x6
1,600
Combo x7
3,200
Combo x8
6,400
Combo x9
12,800
Combo x10
25,600
Combo x11
51,200
Combo x12
102,400
Combo x13
204,800
Combo x14
409,600

This value is PER INDIVIDUAL and does not apply in any way shape or form to a blanket number of orcs.

It is a highly prized number as getting a single combo as high as x14 nets 409,600 points for a single kill.

iii. Combo System

The combo system is pretty basic in OMD2 despite its petrifying appearance. So for the sake of making this guide as simple as possible we're going to simplify everything to a stupid level and apply rules later.

We are going to assume for the sake of my sanity (and yours) that everything in the game adds a true single x1 combo point whenever it hits an orc. This is a static number and doesn't change regardless of what hits the orc. This includes things like environmental traps - ceiling boulders, mine cart etc. Now some elemental traps may add affliction type statuses but to be honest I don't know them yet and I am nowhere near attempting to find them. Now with the release of the Dev tools these can be easily identified but they do so much damage that they aren't really relevant for this scenario anyway.

We're also going to assume for this guide that every trap mentioned is not upgraded unless stated otherwise; just for the integrity of the guide.


Basic Combos
Basic combos can be done with un-upgraded traps, a simple x3 combo looks like this.

Spikes x1 -> Tar x2 -> Arrow Wall x3

For the sake of the guide - I will be explaining all trap sequences in this fashion. This will come into play later, but in this case the Spikes add x1, the Tar adds x1 and the Arrow Wall adds x1 killing the orc for an x3 combo.

Orcs don't necessarily have to die by the final trap to get combo'd but they do have to die before the combo total is calculated.

NOTE: No trap type can add its combo point for damage more than once.
Spike traps can only ever add x1 to a combo. Multiple spike traps will only ever add x1 combo.

Something to note is not every combo sequence works. There are variables and occasions where things that should work simply don't.

If this is the case do not get discouraged (and don't come back here saying the guide doesn't work). This isn't an explanation how to build things this is a guide on how things work. You as a player have to put together the biggest combo sequences and setups dependent on the level.

iv. Affliction Guide

There are SIX affliction types in OMD2. That means 'states' the orc can be in that is outside of the normal x1 combo applied.

• Fire
  
• Chill
  
• Frozen
  
• Bleed
  
• Snare
  
• Stun

- These are states that the orc can be in that isn't its normal state.
- The afflictions can be applied in any order it does not make any difference which hits first or last.
- Each affliction has a time limit for how long they will last. The target must die before this timer ends.

To clarify, the slow down and damage reduction affects are side effects of the affliction.
They do not add a combo point. Fire, Chill, Frozen, Bleed, Slow and Stun all add their own x1 combo point.

Fire - Enemies slowed to 66% of base speed
Sets the orc on fire. Does burn over time. Adds x1 combo point to the combo. Please note that initially fire causes the orc to SPRINT; the base speed loss is applied when they begin walking again.

Chill - Enemies slowed to 33% of base speed
Chill does not freeze an Orc solid. This does not remove stun. It adds x1 combo modifier. (Total Addition: x1)

Frozen - Enemies frozen solid
Frozen is a complex beast - Frozen adds x1 to the combo. It does NOT remove the chill effect but it DOES remove FIRE and STUN effects.

While it does not remove the combo point for chill; chill can not be applied after target is frozen. (Total Addition: x1)

Bleed - No change.
Causes damage over time. (Total Addition: x1)

Slow - Enemies slowed to 50% of base speed and deal -25% damage
These can be found on Acid Sprayer and Spikes with upgrades. (Total Addition: x1)

Stun - Immobilize.
Stun is short. It adds x1 and its hard to work with because it stops orcs from moving. It requires some forethought and is complicated to use in killboxes despite seeming obvious. (Total Addition: x1)

Example of affliction in use:
Spikes (Upgraded with Bleed), Tar Trap, Scorcher (Adds Fire)

Spikes (bleed) x2 -> Tar Trap x3 -> Scorcher (fire) x5

Note: Remember afflictions do not stack on top of each other; they refresh any already applied affliction of the same type.


The combo modifier list is as follows:

• Fire / Bleeding / Slow / Stunned
  
• Chilled / Bleeding / Slow / Stunned
  
• Frozen / Chill /Bleeding / Slow

These are the types you want to use together.

The afflictions can be applied in any order it does not make any difference which hits first or last.

** Special Note: Applying fire and chill to the same box, fire will remain regardless of when chill is applied.

Stone Staff Unique Modifier

Stone staff secondary has it's own unique sequence. The stone staff for all purposes works identical to 'Frozen' however stun can be applied AFTER a target is stoned. If a target is stunned prior to being stonned STUN is removed and can be applied again afterwards. This secondary is extremely difficult to get max combo's with and the stone staff is often used for it's rapid fire highly accurate primary attack.

v. Rules of Affliction

There are certain rules that need to be followed when applying affliction.

• Fire replaces Chill
  
• Chill (when target is on fire) is IGNORED (target remains on fire)
  
• Frozen removes Stun and Fire only

This is a little complicated, you see if the orc has a fire affliction and you apply chill then the TARGET REMAINS ON FIRE.

With fire and chill, fire now prevails. This means you can apply BOTH but you will get the combo benefit for FIRE only.

Freeze canceling fire and stun does not seem to have changed..


Killing and Orc May Not Apply The Affliction

This ones a little weird too - its noticable in things like ceiling pounders. If the trap that applies the affliction kills the orc outright it will not apply the affliction at all and you will not get the extra combo point. The best example of this is ceiling pounders. They hit hard enough to kill most orcs and if you apply a stun effect to them the initial hit may be too much for them to survive. This means the hit kills them, the combo is calculated and the stun effect and the combo point from stun is ignored (it vanishes). This may be the case with other traps too if you do TOO MUCH damage to an orc then hit them with a trap that will cause affliction the affliction WILL NOT ADD A COMBO POINT if they die by the initial hit of the trap.

Example:
Spike Trap (Bleed) hits orc gives x2 Combo.
Spike Trap (Bleed) hits mostly dead orc, killing it with the spike burst. Bleed will not add combo. x1 combo.

** This is not true for the Grinder which applies bleed as a primary effect before grinding.


Weapons and Combo Points

A great many things share the same combo point; of note the windbelt primary and windbelt secondary are a SINGLE combo point. They share the same combo point and in no situation will the GRAB and the BLOW give x2 combo. Later in the guide I show a way how to 'trick' extra combo points out of it; and this is a unique exception.

Every weapon has it's own combo priorities. Some weapons share the same combo point for primary and secondary (windbelt) and others do not (stone staff).

It should ALSO be noted that some secondarys only add combo points due to applying AFFLICTION types to targets. No secondary in the game carries it's own 'UNIQUE' combo point. Every secondary in the game that does damage only applies some type of affliction that can be added by traps.

The crossbow applies STUN as a secondary. This does not carry it's own combo point. This is a STUN combo point only. If the target is already stunned; hitting it with Xbow secondary then primary will only add x1 combo and NOT x2 combo. This is because a x1 for the stun has already been applied.

Example:

Push Trap without Stun x1 -> Xbow Secondary Stun x2 -> Xbow Primary Kill x3 (x3 combo)

Push Trap with Stun x1 -> Stun from push trap x1 -> Secondary from Xbow (stun already applied by push trap) x0 -> Xbow Primary Kill x3 (x3 combo)


Smash combo is an incredibly advanced and complex technique that allows you to squeeze one more combo point that shouldn't exist out of a situation. And is covered in a later section.

vi. High Scoring

Some trap sets just do not work. That's the best I can tell you. There are dozens of variables to calculate including orc speed, hit points, diagonals of them walking, what traps they touched before they landed, where they will go, what killed them, what got applied before they died. The best I can give you is keep trying. Keep moving things around, keep changing things out keep adjusting and remember that kill boxes need to calculate damage for multiple different amounts of hitpoints on orcs.

There is no one set that works because varying things can happen. One orc walking into a spike trap can remove a combo point for dozens of orcs that come in together behind it. High scoring is about seeing the little things and adjusting for them. I can help you here as best I can but I can never catapault anyone into the high score tables. Nor will I give you any trap sets to help you along the way. This game is about figuring it out for yourself. This guide is to help you on that path. (But for the record I would love to see any trap sets that work amazingly for diagnosis purposes. Full credit will be given where it is due.)

The best place to visit top scores and how they are done is here:
http://www.robotentertainment.com/forum/topic/High-Score-Videos-0

The first post shares videos of some of the highest scores in the game and the best known strategy to date and all videos are %100 legitimate. You'll notice x14 combo's are very common.

vii. Smash Combo Theory

[Warning; Complex Theory Ahead]

Smash Combo is something the community found and I managed to introduce methods to apply the combo within the standard game play. It is an 'extra' combo point that as far as we are aware shouldn't really exist. It is it's own floating combo point that is never overwritten by any other combo point and can only be applied in extremely specific ways.

Smash comboing is the introduction of a combo point that is intercepted by geometry. In the case of the swinging mace and in the lantern the geometry acts as a kind of central pivit point. The lantern is much harder to understand so we will go with the swinging mace instead.

Mace swing initiates an x1 combo point. However orc is very close to the wall.

The mace slams the orc into the wall at very close range causing a smash combo point to occur. This means that even though the swinging mace hit and applied its damage; the combo point is written as wall damage instead of the swinging mace.

The swinging mace then continues upwards picking up the ragdoll orc and adding its own true combo point giving the swinging mace the ability to give an x2 combo instead of an x1.

Now remember the rule that traps that kill orcs can not apply their combo point for affliction.
Smash Comboing breaks this rule and is the exact reason why we can get an x3 combo out of a swinging mace by itself. Because an orc that is smash combo'd bounces off the wall and acquires the stun, this means that it is registering the orc as stunned and smashed for x2 combo before the swinging mace continues on its trajectory giving it the 3rd and final combo point killing it for x3.

Smash combos can be applied in all manor of ways, any physics trap including stage physics traps that force orcs into rag doll mode can force a smash combo to happen. Smash combos also seem to have the unique ability to never be released from the orc and last until the orc gets up (keep it in rag doll mode). Explaining why mine carts can sometimes hit an orc and give their x1 combo for long periods of time.

There is instances of geometry like a lantern on a certain level that causes this effect naturally. It is unique and one of a kind and only very specific sections of levels will cause this effect to happen without forcing.

Following is how you can smash combo with the wind belt thanks to Juicebags:

Windbelt Smash Combo
The windbelt has the unique ability to grab orcs. However grabbing and throwing orcs does not combo; as we all know. However it is very easy to do a smash combo with the wind belt.

• grab orc
  
• use geometry to force the orc to release from your grip (do not let him go with mouse 2)
  
• blow orc into trap sequence

Because your grip was released by geometry you will get a smash combo point from the secondary of the wind belt. Giving you an x2 combo for blowing it into a trap sequence instead of an x1 as demonstrated in the video.


Infinite Minecart Smash

Minecart Smash is NOT a 'Smash Combo' so you can use this to get x1 on a target; then use the SMASH COMBO to get another x1 on the target for a total of x2 free combo points.

If you managed to stomach all the smash combo theory; the remaining theory that should be noted and can be seen in some videos is the 'Minecart Smash'. The mine cart itself does not give it's own combo point naturally. It does sometimes; however the combo point it gives is at best entirely random and can not be controlled.

With the windbelt we can alleviate this by using a form of control.

Holding an orc in front of a mine cart using the secondary windbelt grab function and having the mine cart hit it will give you a permanent x1 combo application to the orc that is hit. This is a x1 mine cart combo application and can be stacked with any other smash combo.

This combo point also never leaves the grabbed target regardless of how long it remains alive. This is the only time this works and it does not apply to any other combo point in the game.

Holding an orc in front of a mine cart gives a total of 2 combo points %100 of the time.

1x for Windbelt Grab (grab and blow are bound to 1 combo point in all cases as they share the same combo point)

1x for Mine Cart (in this case it adds its combo point %100 of the time)


What this means is if you blow the target off a cliff face or into something that will kill it and add an additional combo point you will get a x3 combo simply for holding your target in front of a mine cart.

This is used to max combos in almost every level that has a mine cart available.

vii. The Unlimited Endless Grinder

In endless mode, before we all stopped playing - several of us reached hundreds of millions in endless. In one case two players reached over 1 Billion legitimate score in endless mode. The question remains 'how?'

The answer is simple, this can be done on any stage that has a stage trap [Rolling Log].

The rolling log itself can be shot and used once, however as a static object it allows you to use a wind trap to launch enemies into the log and they die instantly. This means that if you do not trigger the log trap; for example if you put two wind traps directly below it and continue to blow units into the wind trap; the log trap will continue to kill units indefinitely.

This also works with indestructible units like the ones that appear late in endless mode.

The log trap has a "kill" trigger that means any unit that touches it simply dies. When gathering large groups of orcs that have reached a damage threshold that allows you to combo them indefinitely; it allows you to create some stunning huge combo chains that end in launching them into the stationary stage log trap for the kill; and allowing huge stage combos.

Unfortunately I do not have any video footage of this as at the time endless mode causes the system to become extremely unstable and recording footage caused all kinds of terrible things to happen.

After all these years I have a more powerful computer and could demonstrate, but I imagine people could just test it themselves.

A simple test is to grab a wind belt, find a level with the stage rolling long and simply blow units into the steam trap and make sure they touch the stationary log trap. They should instantly vaporize.

viii. High Score Video Library

A link to the old video library can be found here:

http://v2.robotentertainment.com/forum/topic/High-Score-Videos-0#comment-127441

All links still work correctly and are formatted in order of maps.

ix. The Math

Finding out what a combo is worth:

Additional information by MarioVX, thanks bud.


2^(x-2)*100
25*2^x
x = combo value (ie x7 would be 7)

(for the record the highest completely theoretical combo I have calculated to be (im)possible is x22 which would give a whopping 104,857,600 for the single kill)

You can just keep doubling the score too. It's essentially the same thing - this formula just does it for you.

Calculations:

I use the endless mode data because its much higher than normal data and shows better variances.

After a certain point you combo less but get more numbers. This will lower your average progressively which means for this to work properly a very high score that lasts a very long time will get much lower average combos than someone with a lower score that ended it much earlier.
Ideally you should only be using this technique on normal maps (ie not endless). If you do the numbers may not be correct. Remember I use ENDLESS on this screenshot just because the numbers are nice. Not because it'll generally give the right data.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/939261051767600229/6245803C95918F0DE...

Description                                         Score
-----------                                        -------
Combat Kills                  940                   47,000
Trap/Minion Kills           1,379                  137,900
Combos                 21,277,400               21,277,400
Biggest Combo                  13
Biggest Kill Streak            21
Kill Streaks               16,225
Skull Score               120,000                  120,000
Money Score                 1,075                    1,075
Total                                           21,599,600

Asside from the obvious (add all the scores together and you get the total score) this tells us much more.

Combat Kills:

With 940 combat kills this does not mean that combo's were missed. Only that something other than the warmages traps got the final blow. This is not necessarily a bad thing - far from it. But it is not optimal and lowering this number means more kills are being applied by the traps and not the weapon of choice.

Trap Minion Kills:

The other half of the total that will give us the number of minions that passed through your devices is the trap kills. This is fundamentally what you want to be highest; showing the number of orcs and such that died due to trap oriented devices that will hopefully be maximising your combos. A large ratio difference here is ideal such as in this case where this number is far greater than that of the combo kills.

Average Combo:

The 'average' combo is the number I use to know exactly what the average combo variance is. While you can get a dozen x14 combos and a huge amount of x0 combos you can score very highly but much lower than say; someone that gets a huge number of x10 combos on everything. Here you want to use this simple formula:

Combo Score / (Combat Kills + Trap Kills)

Additional information by MarioXV:
With the average combo score per kill (the combo score / (trap kills + combat kills) you indicated), one can calculate the average combo directly as average combo = lb ( acspk / 25 ) where lb is the binary logarithm. Together, that means average combo = lb ( combo score / ( 25 * ( trap kills + combat kills ) ) ).

Example:

21,277,400 / (940+1,379) = 9175.2479517

Now we take our handy dandy combo list

Combo x3 200pts
Combo x4 400pts
Combo x5 800pts
Combo x6 1,600pts
Combo x7 3,200pts
Combo x8 6,400pts
Combo x9 12,800pts
Combo x10 25,600pts
Combo x11 51,200pts
Combo x12 102,400pts
Combo x13 204,800pts
Combo x14 409,600pts

And we notice that 9175 is between Combo x8 6,400pts & Combo x9 12,800pts. What this means is after the orcs that were missed opportunities, and general freak accidents his average total combo score was between x8 and x9 per orc.

The higher this number, the higher the score for the level will be. And to clarify we add the combat kills into the mix because this gives us the total number of deaths on the level and adjusts our variance slightly. It doesn't add up perfectly to a combo because there are other modifiers like orcs dying without comboing giving combat kill points etc etc. This does however give us some idea of where it is on the scale.

This concept does not work cross level really. You can use it to see if the same setup is functioning better on one level over another easily enough though. Like using the setup on The Edge then using the identical set up somewhere else and seeing what the averages are means it works better on one map than another.

You can also use the formula to see if your average combo's are rising or dropping with one set up over another. This is extremely useful when attempting to go for very high combo scores and dropping a lot of lower combos and finding that you fall short. You can run the maths and find out that your averages are running short.

You can also use it to find how many combo's you are dropping. For instance; if you have an ungodly combo score and you do all the maths and you find that it averages at x5 to x6 this means that you're actually getting a good deal of very high combo's on a portion of the guys coming through but dropping a great deal of combo's that are available potential to drastically increase your score. In this case Wyatan is rocking x8 - x9; however to push his score to the next level he really needs to push his score average into the next bracket of x9 - x10 average.

If another person came along and got a higher score than Wyatan but never got anything above x11 you could use this math to find out why. The reason would theoretically be because his general average would be in the range of x10 - x11, despite never reaching above x11. (assuming every single orc hit this high).

x. Its' Finally Over

With the release of the Dev tools - my search for this information without the ability to read the code is over. This bible remains the most complete store of information available and has been since the release of OMD2.

Short of some serious new technology that's found; the highest scores will remain with the tactic displayed in the High Score video (I highly recommend Wyatan, Nananea, Fryedegg and Juicebags for video sources of this information)

There is much information that is not in here. Serveral dubious techniques that are well known amongst the community but will never come to light due to the ability to break game mechanics. Some can be easily found (and will be stumbled upon by many of you that treck down this path) and others are extremely difficult (several still only known by myself).

Weather you decide to use this guide to assist in your Modding; or to smash your friends. Enjoy OMD2 for what it is. A great game - and for many of us well over 500 hours of game play.

Special Thanks:

Boosia, Doc Shmock, Radio Kenny, Nananea, Fryedegg, VVT, Wardrake, Loki, Sixokay, Timatron, Wyatan, Strider01, Juicebags, MM209, ODragon and Lauferism and many more of the Robot Entertainment community.

www.robotentertainment.com

[Ctrekoz]

Cool.

[Haigen]

Does the skull score apply only on beating a level the first time?

[Uchiha Boyko, PM of Bulgaria]

Freezing enemies makes them weaker, at least on endless mode. I don't know about other modes. The way I found this out was I froze an armored ogre and hit it with fully upgraded Bladestaff. When he unfroze I did at least 1.5x less damage. So maybe freezing might be a less prefered method of gaining combos.

[Choperito]

Thanks for the guide, it will help me to earn more coins.

[piper.spirit]

Can someone explain how the Fake war mages work? Like how enemies are directed to them? For example do enemies autoatically run towards a fake war mage no matter where it is placed....or do the enemies have to see it....or do they have to be closer to the enemies than the barricade? Cant seem to find too much info.
thanks

[Zaten]

Nice :)

[Mr.Tonguesoff(Not A Furry)]

Thanks! Ill check them out and you have a good one too, how if I can just do.headshots everything would be perfect XD

[Almost Arbitrary]

Yeah here's the video library I was talking about from 2012. :)
http://v2.robotentertainment.com/forum/topic/High-Score-Videos-0#comment-127441

Watch some of the videos and you'll crush your friends; good luck!

[Mr.Tonguesoff(Not A Furry)]

Hey it sorta of work, thanks XD, i manage to beat my friend's score with 6 combos here and there! he was always bragging about being the top dog and now i'm the top of my friends leaderboard, thanks for the help! :3, a few years??? wow :O

[Almost Arbitrary]

Yeah sort of, so if the arrow hits, then the dwarf hits, you're at +2 combo. But it lasts for about 2 seconds. So if you do Arrow, then Bomb, wind belt, then Spring, then say, Grinder. That's 1 for the arrow, 1 for the bomb, 1 for the wind belt, 1 for the spring, and 1 for the grinder. It will give you x5 combo. If you are fast; if the orc waits around too long it doesn't work. I am about to update a new section with all the videos (from archives) that show almost all the levels getting a high score, it'll be done in an hour or so - feel free to watch them to get a strong understanding of combos and setups. I haven't played the game in ... more than a few years now. =)