How combat works in Wartales

Wartales is a real-time strategy game that features combat similar to other games in the genre. Learning how combat works is important in any RTS game. It can also mean the difference between life and death for your troops. Here is how combat works in Wartales.

Across the map, you will find various NPCs that you can interact with. Some of these NPCs will immediately be hostile, while some will be traders that you can choose to attack for their wares instead of paying outrageous prices. Once combat is initiated, you will see an overview of the map with all of the troops on it. Among your troops, you will see various empty blue squares. Before attacking the enemy, you have the opportunity to move your allies to a new starting position. Take advantage of this mechanic to gain an edge against your opponent.

Once you use an action to move your first unit, combat will begin. Use the initiative tracker in the bottom left-hand corner to keep track of when you and your enemies’ turns are. The green tile with the circular arrow symbol indicates when a new round will begin. Oftentimes, the same unit will be able to have two turns in the same round.

Located at the bottom of the screen in the center are both your unit’s information and their Valour Points. You will notice that each unit has two health bars. The top bar is grey and stands for the unit’s armor. The bottom red bar is for their health. Armor will always be depleted before health and some attacks deal more damage when a unit has no armor left. Valour Points are used to perform certain skills. While standard attacks do not require Valour Points, skills like First Aid do. Valour Points are restored whenever your units rest at the Camp.

Speaking of skills, each of your units has skills and can obtain more while playing the game. These skills can be found on the hot bar in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen along with the hourglass symbol that will end the unit’s turn.

Among the hazards you will face in combat, keep an eye out for traps. Items like bear traps can be found lying in wait across the map. Units that are unfortunate enough to step on them will be health damage or obtain a status effect.