Melee combat is composed of a sequence of melee attack maneuvers executed between two or more opponents. Multiple skills come into effect with each maneuver, with various skills determining (among other things): whether or not a hit connected, how much damage a hit does, whether or not the hit has a special effect, whether or not a hit may strike a friend, and whether or not a penalty or bonus may apply to a hit. To determine the chance of a hit connecting, compare the attacker`s ability to hit his target against the defender`s ability to get out of the way. Note that armor doesn`t prevent a hit.

To determine the damage done by a hit, first determine if the hit connected with armor or if armor was bypassed. There is a coverage value that tells how much of the body is covered by armor. Each part of the body which can be armored is evaluated for how much of the `hittable area` it comprises, and that is multiplied by how much of that body part is unarmored. This is the amount of the body that is unarmored. Depending on how well a hit connected, it may hit the unarmored part of the body or the armored part. To determine the amount of resistance the armor presents to damage, a sum is taken of all of the armor on the character`s body. Armor on parts of the body that are rarely hit or that don`t comprise much of the character`s total hittable area don`t contribute as much to the armor value.

A character will have several basic combat maneuvers that he can execute, and he can learn many more specialized combat maneuvers. The specialized combat maneuvers may give a better chance of hitting combined with less damage, or vice versa, or they may lessen the effects of armor, or they may put a special wound on the target. Examples are: a hamstring maneuver that reduces the victim`s movement, an arm breaking maneuver that renders the victim`s arm useless, a bleeding wound that causes damage over time, or an organ wound that will kill in a specified amount of time. Each of these effects will either go away over time or can be healed with the right skill or spell, or both. Many of them can be prevented by certain stances or items, too. Basic maneuvers will also occasionally give "critical hits", which will result in a special wound.

Under different circumstances, different maneuvers will be available to your character. Many maneuvers are always available. Other maneuvers will be available based on the following: which weapon you`re using, your character`s combat stance, your opponent`s combat stance, properties your character does or does not have, properties your opponent does or does not have, and environmental factors. Of course, you must also know the maneuver. Learning new maneuvers is an important part of a melee combat character`s career. You should map the maneuvers that you use often to keys on your keyboard or to icons on your game screen. For maneuvers that you use less frequently because they`re not always available, you can form a ranked list of the maneuvers you like. Then, whenever they`re available to you, your favorite maneuvers will be mapped to the /specialmaneuver commands, which you can map to a key or an icon. In this way, you can always have available your standard maneuvers, and you will see when your special maneuvers are available and can execute them easily.

Some maneuvers put properties on your opponent or on you that set you up for future maneuvers. These kinds of maneuvers will often lead to combinations of two, three, or more moves that you use in sequence to devastating effect against your opponent.