STEAM FULL RELEASE · COMBAT SYSTEM

Welcome to Elderfield Combat Guide

Understand confirmed combat mechanics in the Steam Full Release, including equipment, combat stats, enemy weaknesses and what to check when a fight isn’t going the way you expect.

Some later systems

What are you trying to understand?

Pick the question that sounds like yours. Each one jumps to the part of this page that answers it — and each answer says where the release’s record stops.

How Combat Works

Four records make up what the release says about a fight, and this page reads each one of them.

Combat depends on the confirmed properties of your equipment and on the enemy you are fighting. That is as far as this page goes: the release records no damage formula, so nothing here turns two properties into a number, and nothing here says whether a given fight will go your way.

Combat Stats

The eight equipment modifiers the release records, under the names the gear databases already print. Each card says what the release records the modifier as, which equipment families carry it, and the range those records cover.

Each accessory records up to eight equipment modifiers: Max HP, Max MP, Attack, Defense, M. Attack, M. Defense, Agility and Luck. They are the modifiers the piece applies to a character, not the totals a character ends up with.

A piece the release records no modifier line for is not a piece with a modifier of zero: the equipment cards print a modifier when the release records one, and print nothing when it does not.

A modifier the release records as zero is left off a card, because zero and "not recorded" read differently. A negative modifier is always shown: a piece that trades Luck for Attack is saying exactly what it costs.

The ranges are printed as recorded, from the lowest value to the highest. A negative value is part of the record: the release ships pieces that trade one modifier away for another.

Browse weapons →

Weapons

A weapon page is a record, not a rating. These are the four things it prints, and how this guide reads each one.

Combat type
One recorded combat type per weapon. The release groups weapons under seven of them, and the page prints the type as a tag. This guide does not say what a type does in a fight, because the release records no such rule.
Equipment modifiers
The modifier block: each modifier under its recorded label with its recorded value, negatives included. Combat Stats above is where each label is described.
Traits
The decoded lines the release attaches to the weapon — a rate, an element, a skill it changes. The page prints each line as the release writes it, and this guide repeats the line without adding a meaning to it.
Source and availability
Where the weapon comes from, and whether it is available yet. Availability is a property of the record rather than a step in the story: a weapon recorded in a later area is not a claim that you should go there, and this page does not say otherwise.

Combat types

  • Heavy
  • Piercing
  • Staff
  • Arcing
  • Massive
  • Poisoned
  • Flexible

Traits, as the release writes them

  • Hit Rate -20%
  • Critical Rate +5%
  • Hit Rate -10%

Every line above is copied from a weapon record. This guide does not rank traits or say which one is worth using, because the release records no such order.

One record, read as a weapon page prints it

Included because it carries negative modifiers as well as positive ones. It is an example of the format, not a recommendation — the release records no order among weapons.

Blade of the Hopeless +10

Max HP
-25
Max MP
-25
Attack
+60
Defense
-10
M. Defense
-10
Agility
-30
Luck
-100
  • Piercing
  • Basic attack element: Darkness
  • Hit Rate -30%

Compare Weapons

The weapon database reads one recorded modifier across the whole list: sort by a modifier, or narrow to a combat type first. It prints what the records say and names no winner.

Read one modifier across the list →

Browse Weapons →

Armor

An armor page records one slot, a modifier block, its tags and — on some pieces — a line the release prints itself.

Slot
Each piece belongs to one recorded slot. Slots are why this guide never compares two pieces from different slots: a helmet and a pair of boots answer different questions, and the release records no exchange rate between them.
Equipment modifiers
The modifier block, read exactly the way a weapon’s is. A piece the release records no modifier for prints no number at all — which is not the same as a modifier of zero.
Tags
The recorded tags a piece carries. This guide prints the tag names and states no effect for them, because the release records no tag effect.
Printed lines
Some pieces carry a line the release writes itself, most often about damage taken from one named kind. Those lines are reproduced word for word below, and nothing is added to them.

Slots

  • Head
  • Offhand
  • Top
  • Feet
  • Bottom

Tags

  • Bloodbound
  • Clotting
  • Enshrouded
  • Hateful
  • Light
  • Locus
  • Pockets
  • Polished
  • Resourceful
  • Sturdy
  • Zealous

The tag names as recorded. No effect is stated for a tag, because the release records none.

Lines the release prints on a piece

These are copied from the armor records word for word, one recorded example per kind. This guide does not translate the number: the release records the line and does not record what it does to a hit.

  • Curse damage taken 95.0%
  • Light damage taken 95.0%
  • Insight damage taken 95.0%
  • Insanity damage taken 95.0%
  • Darkness damage taken 95.0%

Comparisons here belong to one slot. Two pieces are only put side by side when the release records them for the same slot, and neither is called better than the other.

Browse Armor →

Accessories

An accessory records a slot, a short modifier block and, on some pieces, a single effect line.

Equipment modifiers
The same eight modifiers the Combat Stats section describes. An accessory records only a few of them, and an accessory with none prints no numbers at all.
One effect line
Some accessories carry a single effect line, printed as the release writes it. This guide repeats the line and adds nothing to it — it does not turn a recorded line into a percentage, a duration or a rule.
Slot
A slot is what the piece is worn in, and the three slots are recorded separately. Nothing here says two pieces in different slots do the same thing, or that two of them add up.

Slots

  • Neck
  • Trinket
  • Ring

Recorded effect lines

  • Seals skill: Lesser Mending
  • Critical Rate -100%
  • Critical Rate +5%
  • Critical Rate +3%

Copied from the accessory records, one line each. The release records what each line says and no order among them.

Browse Accessories →

Enemy Weaknesses & Resistances

The enemy database records one kind of combat line for an enemy: the kind it is weak to. This section explains that line and then says plainly what the record does not carry.

Weakness

A weakness is the kind the enemy database records the enemy as weak to, printed on the enemy’s card as a line like “Weak to Curse”. The kinds are the release’s own names.

Resistance

Not recorded. No enemy in the database carries a resistance line — the enemy record is where the release would put one, and it is not there. So no enemy on this site is described as resisting anything, and no number is attached to resistance.

Immunity

Not recorded either, and for the same reason. Nothing here says an enemy is immune to a kind, because nothing in the record says so.

Weakness kinds

  • Curse
  • Darkness
  • Insanity
  • Insight
  • Light

A weakness is recorded for 170 of the 187 enemies in the database. For the rest the record is silent, and the database prints nothing rather than saying the enemy has none.

A weakness is a recorded fact about one enemy. A missing weakness is a missing record, not a statement that the enemy has none, and the two are never printed as each other.

Three recorded examples

Three records, each weak to a different kind. They are examples of the line as it prints, not a shortlist — the database holds the whole list, and it is where an enemy is looked up.

Browse Enemies →

Damage Types

The names the release uses for a kind of damage, and the records those names appear in. This section says where each name is recorded and does not explain what a kind does.

The same name can appear in more than one record: as a weapon’s basic attack element, as an enemy’s recorded weakness, and inside a line an armor piece prints. This guide keeps the three apart rather than merging them into one meaning, because the release records no rule that ties them together.

Browse Enemies →

What This Guide Does Not Cover

Two things a combat guide usually covers are missing here, and they are missing because the record is not there rather than because the page forgot.

Status effects
The records this page reads carry no status-effect rules, so no effect is described, listed or given a duration. Nothing is guessed at in its place.
Difficulty and scaling
The release records difficulty as a game setting rather than as a combat rule. This guide does not restate the settings table, so no mode, multiplier or default appears here — and no difficulty recorded for one area or challenge is treated as a rule for combat generally.

Need Help With a Specific Enemy?

The enemy database records where an enemy is, what it drops and what it is weak to, and it can be searched and narrowed by those records.

This page explains how to read an enemy’s combat line. The database is where the enemies are, and it is the only place to look one up — this guide does not keep a second list.

Browse Enemies →

Why Is My Damage So Low?

This is a check order, not a diagnosis. Each step sends you to the record that can answer it.

  1. Step 1What does your weapon record?

    Open the weapon and read its modifiers, its combat type and its traits. Those recorded properties are the part of the fight the release describes.

  2. Step 2What does the enemy record?

    Check whether the enemy has a recorded weakness and which kind it is. If it records none, the record is silent — it does not tell you the enemy has no weakness.

  3. Step 3Did a recorded effect or requirement get in the way?

    Some pieces carry an effect line, and some sources record a requirement before you can use them. Read those before changing anything.

The release records no damage formula, so this page will not tell you that you need a higher number, and it does not line your modifiers up against an enemy. The part of the answer that would need a formula is the part this page does not have.

Browse Weapons →

Why Am I Taking So Much Damage?

The same kind of check order, read from the defensive side.

  1. Step 1What does the piece in that slot record?

    Armor records modifiers per slot. Read the piece you are wearing in the slot that matters to you — and remember that a piece with no modifier line is not a piece with zero.

  2. Step 2Does any piece you wear print a line about damage taken?

    Some pieces carry a line naming one kind. The line is printed exactly as the release writes it, and this guide does not translate it further.

  3. Step 3Is the enemy’s record any different from the others?

    An enemy record carries a weakness and nothing defensive. Nothing in it explains how much damage you take.

No piece is called better than another here, and no comparison crosses a slot.

Combat Not Going as Expected?

Route the problem rather than diagnosing it. Find the sentence that sounds like yours.

My damage feels low

Your weapon’s recorded properties and the enemy’s recorded weakness are the two records that speak to this. This page points at both and computes no outcome.

I am taking heavy damage

Armor records the defensive modifiers, and some pieces record a line about damage taken from one named kind. Read those, one slot at a time.

An effect is not working the way I expected

The record says what a line says and not what it does. Check the piece’s own line; this site cannot expand a recorded effect into a rule.

The enemy seems resistant to what I am using

The enemy database records weaknesses only. If a fight looks like a resistance, nothing in the records this page reads confirms one, and this page will not claim it.

I am not sure what a piece of gear does

The equipment databases print each modifier under the release’s own label. Combat Stats explains those labels and nothing beyond them.

Combat FAQ

The questions this page can answer, and the ones it cannot.

What do the numbers on my equipment mean?
They are the modifiers the release records for the piece, printed under its own label. They are modifiers the piece applies to a character, not totals a character ends up with, and a negative value is part of the record rather than an error.
How do I compare two weapons?
Read one recorded modifier across the weapon list: sort by a modifier, or narrow to a combat type first. That prints what the records say. The release records no order among weapons, so no weapon here is named better than another.
What is the difference between a weakness and a resistance?
A weakness is recorded: most enemies carry one, named by the release and printed on the enemy’s card. A resistance is not recorded at all — no enemy in the database carries a resistance line — so this site never describes an enemy as resisting anything.
Is there a damage formula?
Not in the records this page reads. The release records the properties a fight depends on and no formula that combines them, so this page does not produce a number and does not guess at one.
Does combat change as the game goes on?
The release records difficulty as a setting rather than as a rule for combat generally, and this guide does not restate the settings table, so no scaling is stated here. Equipment availability is not a progression step either.
Can I see every enemy with the same weakness?
The enemy database is where that list lives, and it records the weakness on each enemy’s card. This page shows a few records and stays out of the way.

Playing the Demo?

The Demo has no combat guide of its own

The archive’s record is frozen with the rest of the Demo, and the equipment, stat and enemy records on this page are the Steam release’s. Nothing here is claimed for the Demo, and no Demo fight is described.

Enter the Demo World →