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[Fingerzam]

General survival strategies

First some general approaches and strategies. Normally you want to be engaged in combat every turn possible, because the monsters will be spawning regardless of what you do, so you'd better kick their ass before there are too many. You should also try to be fighting the monsters one at a time if possible, though later this won't be possible.

Here are some really simple examples:

Code: [Select]

.......
...b...
.......
.b.@...
.......

Here you have generally two options.
Following the philosophy of handling one enemy at a time you can do this:

....... | ....... | ....... | .......
....b.. | ....... | ....... | .......
....... | ....b.. | ....... | .......
..b.@.. | ..b.@.. | ...b@.. | ....@..
....... | ....... | ....... | .......

First step left, having the top beast coming to you and killing it.
Then the other beast comes to you and you kill it too.*



....... | ....... | .......
....b.. | ....... | .......
....... | ....b.. | .......
..b.@.. | ...b@.. | ....@..
....... | ....... | .......

Another option is to try and kill them both with sweep. Here you wait
and both beasts come to you, then you sweep and hopefully they both die.

Monsters

As beasts are the basic sword fodder you shouldn't have problems with them. If you do, try a different character build, and try to take them one at a time.

Bulldemons

Now that the bulldemons have an impale attack, they are pretty dangerous. Here you have to take advantage of the fact that they will only do horizontal and vertical charges. You should also hit them diagonally if possible, because if you hit them horizontally or verically and knock them back, you might just get impaled before your next turn. You should also take advantage of obstacles, as they can't be knocked back when they are fighting back against a wall.

Code: [Select]

....#.. | .....T.
/####.. | ..T....
..B.... | ..@BT..
..@.... | .......

Here are two examples of where you can safely attack
the bulldemon without having to worry about knocking it back.

When a bulldemon is at charge distance you generally have two options.

Code: [Select]

.......  |  .......  |  .......
.......  |  ..@....  |  ..@B...
..@.B..  |  ....B..  |  .......
.......  |  .......  |  .......
       PLAYER    BULLDEMON
       MOVES      MOVES
 
You can step sideways so that it will walk to you,
but hitting it here risks knocking it back and getting impaled:

.......   |   .......  |  .......
..@B...   |   ..@.B..  |  ..@B...
.......   |   .......  |  .......
.......   |   .......  |  .......
       PLAYER      BULLDEMON
      HITS AND      IMPALES
       KNOCKS
        BACK

....... | .......
....... | ...@...
..@.B.. | ....B..
....... | .......

You can also make a diagonal step.
This will make you get hit once, but you get into a good position.

Also, when running away from bulldemons, don't ever run to a spot where they can impale you.

Code: [Select]

....... | .......
.B@.... | .B.@...
....... | .......
....... | .......

If you step to the right here, you will be at a perfect impale spot when the bulldemon gets its turn.

....... | ....... | .......
.B@.... | .B..... | .......
....... | ...@... | ..B@...
....... | ....... | .......

Instead you should make a diagonal step, so when the bulldemon gets its turn,
you will be impossible to impale and so it will walk next to you.

Now, this is pretty obvious and easy with one bulldemon, just watch out when you meet them in numbers, as they become really dangerous in groups.

Mandagores

Mandagores are pretty easy to handle, but they can take a shitload of damage. Because of this you end up having to handle them while getting other monsters attacking at the same time, and possibly gathering a lot of mandagores before you get rid of them.

The key here is that you will have two actions while they only have one, so you can attack, retreat and repeat until they are dead. You also hit them quite often, so you can knock them back, wait or move sideways, and hit them again.

Mandagores are actually a bit faster than this so even if you do this perfectly, they will hit you every once in a while.

And now with examples:

Code: [Select]

....... | ....... | .......
.M@.... | .M@.... | ..M@...
....... | ....... | .......
....... | ....... | .......
       HIT     RETREAT

Repeat until mandagore dies.

And now with a beast coming at the same time:

....... | ....... | .......
.M@.... | .M.@... | ..M@...
....... | ...b... | .......
..b.... | ....... | .......

Here instead of hitting, you step back and the beast comes to you and
you use this turn to kill the beast. The mandagore uses this turn to
come to you and you can continue normally.

....... | ....... | .......
....... | ....... | .......
..M@... | .M.@... | ..M@...
....... | ....... | .......
       HIT       WAIT

Here you hit the mandagore and knock it back, then you wait for it to
come to you and attack again. You can also step sideways to retreat from
other monsters while you're handling the mandagore or you can step backwards
to get distance between you and the mandagore to handle other threaths
before returning to the mandagore killing.

Imps
Imps shoot you every turn hitting very often. As they will be dealing damage to you while you're busy killing a lot of other foes, taking out Imps should almost always be your number one priority. 3 crossbow bolts should take care of an imp, so killing them isn't a problem when you're not engaged in melee with another enemy. Just remember to reload that crossbow. You can also kill them with knives if you don't have time to reload or can't get out of melee fast. Knives are an excellent option while berserking.

Phasehounds

Phasehound is a pretty fast monster with high dexterity. They don't have that many hitpoints, but as they have high dexterity, they will evade your blows often and will also hit you often. Their special ability is that they will teleport away from you when they have low hitpoints and will also regenerate slowly.

In general, if you're facing many phasehounds, you should try to focus on killing one, because if you divide your blows between them the others will heal a bit while you're swinging your sword at another one. Killing them should also be a pretty high priority as they hit often causing some pain.

Devourers

Devourers have a nasty triple purpose shooting attack. They shoot spores which will explode in about 5 turns, dealing some damage to you and a little damage to other monsters.

If the attack hits an enemy, they will turn dark green. Now you really want to kill them immediately because... After a while they turn bright green, and if you kill them then, they will explode like a spore. Green enemies won't use their special attacks. You can also try to use the exploding spores to take care of infected enemies.

If this attack hits you it deals damage and about 5 points of pain, which is really nasty when you're fighting a group of enemies at the same time.

When dealing with devourers, pay attention to the spores. The spores can be destroyed before they explode, which is a good option at times. The devourers themselves have almost as many hitpoints as mandagores, but they will end up taking damage from their spores so you usually don't have to do all the damage yourself. They also have the dexterity of a mandagore, so if you have good dexterity, they won't be hitting you often.

With more than one devourer there will be quite a lot of explosions, but as long as you keep an eye on the spores you should be able to handle it without taking much damage.

Devourers can also be your best friends. If you have multiple wraiths around and lots of other monsters, you can try to use the spores to kill, or at least harm, them. They won't take much damage, but when it's really crowded, a lot of them will be taking damage, so you could use them to kill a horde of skeletons, or at least a part of it.

Wraiths

If you have seen one of these, you probably hate and fear them already. They raise an army of skeletons at a frightening speed and are quite capable of killing you in melee combat. They are also immune to missile weapons (crossbow/knives).

The difficulty of killing a wraith depends very much on the stage of the game. If you are playing endless mode and get one early some night, it should be pretty easy to kill, at least compared to killing one halfway through the night, when there are lots of corpses for the wraiths to raise and loads of other monsters for you to take care of.

The skeletons aren't tough, they have very low dexterity, they are slower than you are, and they have the hitpoints of a beast. But there can be a horrifying number of them. And if someone else causes pain to you, they will start hitting you, and it will hurt. While berserking you can just swim through them.

The faster you can get to a Wraith after one is generated, the better. You will be warned in two ways about them. The game will say "The smell of death!" and a random amount of skeletons will spawn.

If the wraith has already summoned an army when you find it, it might be an excellent situation to use a bomb or two, especially in endless mode where you get two bombs at the end of each night.

Another thing to consider while having a wraith around: If you have to choose between killing a beast and killing a skeleton, take it into account that the beast will leave a corpse, while the skeleton will not, and the wraith can raise the corpse into another skeleton.

Berserking helps immensely, as you can focus on killing the wraith even while being surrounded by enemies, because you are immune to pain and also have all the nice bonuses from berserking.

Forest only monsters:

There are three monsters that only appear in forests. They replace some of the aforementioned monsters.

Scavengers

Scavengers replace bulldemons. They have high dexterity (the same as phasehounds), so they are good at hitting and evading. They have below avarage strength. They have pretty low hitpoints, but they can eat corpses from the ground, which will heal them.

Taking out scavengers shouldn't be a problem, but if there are lots of corpses around when you fight them, they can be a pain. You should, if possible, take them on at a corpseless spot.

Foresters

Foresters appear most of the time instead of wraiths, but it is still possible, though unlikely, that a wraith will spawn in a forest. Foresters are a bit like wraiths, but they plant living trees. The difference here is that they summon a smaller amount of monsters, but the monsters are much tougher.

They have about the same strength as bulldemons and average dexterity. They have quite a lot of hitpoints, a bit less than mandagores and around the same as devourers. They are also a bit slow, as slow as skeletons.

When you encounter a forester, take it out fast before there are too many treants. And while you are killing it, watch out for the treants, they hit quite hard.

Both foresters and treants are flammable, meaning that they take double damage from fire attacks. Bombs and cannon deal fire damage.

Treants

Treants are an extreme version of mandagores. They are slower, have more hitpoints, hit almost as hard and have lower dexterity.

Pretty much everything said about mandagores applies here. These guys are slower than mandagores, so if you follow the hit & retreat pattern, you will never get hit. It's just that these guys can handle even more damage than the mandagores, so if you have an army of these around, be ready to spend some time. Usually you shouldn't meet more than 5 per forester, but sometimes you really will see an army of living trees if the forester has had too much time planting.

Stats

Strength

Strength increases damage. And that's pretty much it. There are also strength requirements for several skills.

Code: [Select]

Strength|  Damage  | Avg dmg
-----------------------------
10      |  1d6+5   |  8,5
11      |  1d6+6   |  9,5
12      |  1d6+7   |  10,5
13      |  2d6+4   |  11
14      |  2d6+5   |  12
15      |  2d6+6   |  13
16      |  2d6+7   |  14
17      |  3d6+4   |  14,5
18      |  3d6+5   |  15,5
19      |  3d6+6   |  16,5
20      |  3d6+7   |  17,5

Dexterity

Dexterity inreases your chance to hit monsters and decreases the monsters chance to hit you. It's the most useful out of the four stats, but also has double cost.

**Add details about hitting and dodging**

Endurance

Endurance increases your hitpoints and energy by 5 points each level. Endurance also increases weight, which is used to calculate how far/often you are knocked back. It isn't very useful, but endurance 12 is a requirement for the running skill.

**Add weight effect here**

Willpower

Willpower increases your energy by 5 points each level. It also affects how often you regenerate energy and pain. If you are berserking and your hitpoints are below your willpower, you will stay in berserk until you use fairydust. Willpower also affects how fast you accumulate berserk.

In order to explain the exact effects of willpower, I need to explain the way Berserk!'s speedsystem works first. Everything in Berserk! works in ticks. Each tick you get certain figure added to you speedcount and another figure added to your willcount. Once the figure reaches 1000, an action follows, and the figure in question gets reduced by another figure (moving and attacking cost 1000). In case of speed you get a turn and in case of willpower you regenerate one point of energy and/or pain.

What is this figure? In case of speed it's just your speed, which is 95+dexterity. In case of willpower it's willpower^2(=willpower*willpower).

The following table shows how many additional points of energy you get, how many ticks it takes to regenerate energy/pain, how many points of energy you regenerate per 10 ticks (you get a turn about every 10 ticks, sometimes 9) and how big of a percentual increase you get to regeneration.

Code: [Select]

WP Energy Ticks Regens per Increase
10 ticks %
-------------------------------------------------
10 0 10 1
11 5 8,26 1,21 21
12 10 6,94 1,44 19
13 15 5,92 1,69 17
14 20 5,1 1,96 16
15 25 4,44 2,25 15
16 30 3,91 2,56 14
17 35 3,46 2,89 13
18 40 3,09 3,24 12
19 45 2,77 3,61 11
20 50 2,5 4 11
21 55 2,27 4,41 10
22 60 2,07 4,84 10
23 65 1,89 5,29 9
24 70 1,74 5,76 9
25 75 1,6 6,25 9
26 80 1,48 6,76 8
27 85 1,37 7,29 8
28 90 1,28 7,84 8
29 95 1,19 8,41 7
30 100 1,11 9 7

Skills

Sweep

Code: [Select]

....... | .......
.***... | ..**...
..@.... | ..@*...
....... | .......

Sweep is a wide range attack, attacking 3 squares at a time. Sweep also gives -2 to damage and -3 to hit, so don't be suprised if you don't hit anyone with a low dexterity.

Sweep is an excellent skill, because it can be used all the time.

Requirement: Strength 12.

Code: [Select]

Sweep Speed Energy
level cost cost
----------------------
1 1400 20
2 1200 15
3 1000 10

Whirlwind

Code: [Select]

.......
.***...
.*@*...
.***...

With whirlwind you attack all of the 8 squares around you. It's pretty much unusable until you get it to level 3 because of its high speed and energy costs. Even then, it's a really situational skill. Most of the time you could just sweep and retreat and get better results. Whirlwind also has a high strength requirement. However, sometimes you can't avoid getting swarmed, and at those moments, attacking 8 monsters at a time can prove to be a lifesaver.

Requirements: Strength 16, Sweep attack level 2

Code: [Select]

Whirlwind Speed Energy
level cost cost
------------------------------
1 2000 80
2 1750 60
3 1500 40

Running

Every point in running decreases the energy and time costs of running. Running is a useful skills as it makes you both run faster and consume less energy while doing so.

Code: [Select]

Running Speed Energy
level cost cost
------------------------------
0 750 10
1 650 6
2 600 5
3 550 4


Impale Attack

With Impale you make a one square charge. It increases your damage by 50% and gives you +1 to hit.

Requirements: Strength 14, Running level 1

Code: [Select]

Impale Speed Energy
level cost cost
----------------------
1 1400 40
2 1200 30
3 1000 20

Jumping Attack

With jumping attack you jump over a monster and impale it.

Requirements: Dexterity 12, Running level 1, Impale attack level 1

Code: [Select]

Jump Speed Energy
level cost cost
----------------------
1 1400 40
2 1200 30
3 1000 20

Items

Crossbow

Crossbow shoots 3 bolts each time you fire with it, and has a clip of 12 bolts. Cannot be used while in melee. Crossbow gets great benefits from higher dexterity, as you stop missing. Crossbow should mainly be used for killing imps. For other purposes, it doesn't deal enough damage, so there usually isn't much point.

Knives

Knife's damage depends on your strength and can be used while in melee. You should think about knife as a backup weapon for crossbows, because you can use them in situations where you can't use crossbow, but you don't have that many of them available, and with lower strength you won't be killing imp's with a single knife that often. As their damage is calculated from your strength, their damage raises considerably while berserking.

**add knife damage here**

Cannon

Cannon's damage reduces on the way, so you deal the highest damage against the monsters next to you, and less damage to those farther away. Don't expect to kill every mandagore on sight with it, but they will be injured, and you will kill pretty much every beast and skeleton on the line of fire.

Cannon also knocks you back a few squares.

Bombs

Bombs explode on impact or on the spot you aim them at. They are an excellent weapon to get rid of an army of beasts or skeletons quickly, though it can be a bit hard to find a straight line to a good spot.

**Bomb damage here**

Fairydust

Fairydusts heal you to full health and remove all pain. They also stop berserking.


BERSERKING

**Effects of berserking here**


Notes and stuff to be added

There's still some stuff that needs to be added, you can find some notes there where I plan to add some stuff.

I'd like someone who plays characters with impale and jumping attack to tell me why they are good/worth taking, as I myself almost never take them.

The text for cannon and bombs is horrible. If someone can help me rephrase those sections, I would be glad.

As for stuff that isn't there yet but needs to be before I consider this done, here's a list:

• How hitting and dodging is calculated from dexterity
• How knockback is calculated from weight
• Knife damage
• Bomb damage (and possibly cannon damage)
• Effects for berserking
• Strategies while berserking
• Check if skeletal monsters have only a resistance instead of immunity to piercing weapons (crossbow/knives)
• How much does shooting with a cannon knock you back?

Also, if you see any grammar errors, feel free to tell me about them.

[Malek Deneith]

Imps
*snip*
You can also kill them with knives if you don't have time to reload or can't get out of melee fast. Knives are an excellent option while berserking.

Crossbow
*snip*
For other purposes, it doesn't deal enough damage, so there usually isn't much point.

Actually I found it preferrable to use knives first (one hit should do about 75% of time) and save crossbow for other uses, like weakening Bulldemons and Mandragoras. (And it does quite nice at that IMO)

Wraiths
*snip*
They are also immune to missile weapons (crossbow/knives).

Odd, never noticed that - was it confirmed by source-diving?

Treants
*snip*

I seem to recall a flag in source that (and/or Foresters) made them more vulnerable to "flame" (bombs and cannon?) damage. But duble check that, as it has been some time since I took a look at the sources.

Willpower
*snip*

It also increases how fast you accumulate berserk.

Cannon
*snip*

It's a minor thing but there should be mentonet that it knockbacks the player (this can have some tactical use)



Overall good work, nice guide :)

[Fingerzam]

Imps
*snip*
You can also kill them with knives if you don't have time to reload or can't get out of melee fast. Knives are an excellent option while berserking.

Crossbow
*snip*
For other purposes, it doesn't deal enough damage, so there usually isn't much point.

Actually I found it preferrable to use knives first (one hit should do about 75% of time) and save crossbow for other uses, like weakening Bulldemons and Mandragoras. (And it does quite nice at that IMO)

Well, this does depend on your strength, but I still think that you should save some knives for the situations where you really need them for killing Imps, which is the reason I normally prefer crossbow. I'll say something additional about this in the quide once I know how knife damage is calculated.

Wraiths
*snip*
They are also immune to missile weapons (crossbow/knives).

Odd, never noticed that - was it confirmed by source-diving?

I think it was, but now I'm not sure anymore if it was only a resistance or immunity. Forgot to mention that skeletons have the same resistance/immunity too.

Treants
*snip*

I seem to recall a flag in source that (and/or Foresters) made them more vulnerable to "flame" (bombs and cannon?) damage. But duble check that, as it has been some time since I took a look at the sources.

Yeah, it's in the sources, forgot to mention this. I'll add it immediately.

Willpower
*snip*

It also increases how fast you accumulate berserk.

I'll add this too, though I want to also find out how much exactly. I'll then add the effects to the table too.

Cannon
*snip*

It's a minor thing but there should be mentonet that it knockbacks the player (this can have some tactical use)

Another thing to add.

Overall good work, nice guide :)

Thanks.

Also thanks for the comments.

[Rabiat]

Don't know if you're actively maintaining the guide, but I've been browsing the source for a bit and found some answers to open questions. If the answers are any good, you may want to turn them into prose or tables before including them. ;)

How knockback is calculated from weight

Knockback is (Damage/8)/(Weight/10), rounded to integer, with a minimum of 0. Knockback only occurs if Damage is 3 or greater. (See brbeing.pas, procedure TBeing.Knockback)

Knife damage

DamageDice is 1 for Strength=0..12, 2 for Strength=13..16, or 2+(Strength-13) div 2 for greater Strength. DamageMod is -2 for Strength=0..8, -1 for Strength=9, 0 for Strength=10, 1 for Strength=11, or (Strength-9) mod 4 - 1 for greater Strength. Knife does (DamageDice)d6+DamageMod+1 damage, divided by 3 against skeletals. (See brbeing.pas, procedures TBeing.SendMissile, function TBeing.GetDamageDice, function TBeing.GetDamageMod)

Bomb damage

Exploding bombs damage NPCs (and PC) for (Strength)d6 div (Distance div 2), where (Distance div 2) has a minimum value of 1. Damage is doubled for Foresters and Treants - the flag you're looking for is BF_FLAMABLE (sic). (See brlevel.pas, procedure TLevel.Explosion)

Check if skeletal monsters have only a resistance instead of immunity to piercing weapons (crossbow/knives)

As far as I can tell, skeletals aren't immune to piercing, but have a resistance dividing damage by 3 (see 'Knife damage' above).

Edit: this may be straightforward, but at least confirmed by the source code.

Effects for berserking

* Doubles damage dealt.
* Halves damage taken.
* Reduces ToHit penalty (increases ToHit chance) by 3.
* Grants a defense bonus of 0.5 for each adjacent opponent, total rounded down.
* Reduces Pain to 0 each turn (immunity).
* Prevents reloading weapons.

[Fingerzam]

*snip* Everything the guide was looking for *snips*

A very big thank you for this. I'm going to have free time in a week, so this should be in the guide in two weeks.

[TFoN]

First off, great guide :)

Why is there no mention of the tactical uses of mandagores eating monsters for health? Keeping near-dead mandagores on your tail helps deal with monsters who are faster than them, who catch up to them just to be eaten. Great for dealing with bulldemons (I'll actually shoot down beasts just to make sure the bulldemons reach them first).

Actually, it seems to me that there's no mention of them eating monsters at all.

[Malek Deneith]

* Malek Deneith slaps Fingerzam around a bit with a large trout

The guide needs finishing man :P

[conversationaut]

Outstanding guide, Fingerzam.  Thanks a million for writing it up!

[ntc]

Very useful info. Got me from 160 kills to over 500....

Keep up the good work.

(Oh and yay! First post!)

[mcz117chief]

I have recently downloaded the Berserk, but I have a problem. Sometimes when I try to attack bulldemons I can't reach them, i stop one square before them and can't move closer, if I try, I take damage. Is this that "impale" ability they have ?

[Silhar]

Yes. Perhaps you get impaled and knocked back in process.
Try, when standing before a bulldemon, stepping back once. He should come closer to you. Then, slash the crap out of him.

[ParaSait]

I have recently downloaded the Berserk, but I have a problem. Sometimes when I try to attack bulldemons I can't reach them, i stop one square before them and can't move closer, if I try, I take damage. Is this that "impale" ability they have ?

Attack em diagonally. They can only impale horizontally and vertically iirc.
EDIT: Well eh. Actually the guide up here says it. :P

[mcz117chief]

Thx, I just wasn't sure if it was supposed to be intentional or it was a bug

[Shadow99280]

Is there a malee attack if not there needs to be one if there is please let me know because I wasn't able to find at.

[thelaptop]

Is there a malee attack if not there needs to be one if there is please let me know because I wasn't able to find at.

What do you mean by "is there a melee attack"?  Berserk! is almost all about melee attack... you just need to attempt to "walk into" the tile with enemy to hit it with your weapon.