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STONEKEEP: COMBAT FAQ Version 2.0

By Barry Brook (brook@mso.anu.edu.au)
4th January 1996

Note: This FAQ is not intented to cover every aspect of Stonekeep. Combat,
weapons, armor and monsters are the concern of this document. If you want
general game hints, or solutions to puzzles, try Doug Swarin's STONEKEEP FAQ,
or Dave's Semi-official walkthrough of Stonekeep. I'll post this FAQ every
two weeks on the newsgroups, and will probably post it on a web page soon.
Stay tuned. Now read on, fellow Stonekeepers!


INDEX

1. Importance of good combat knowledge

2. Frequently Asked Questions
a) What is the best weapon to use?
b) What is the optimum armor configuration?
c) When should I use missile weapons?
d) Who are the best NPC fighters?
e) How can I increase my skills?
f) Which is better, magick or hack-n-slash?

3. Weapons
a) Missile weapons
b) Cutting (slashing) weapons
c) Crushing weapons
d) Piercing (stabbing) weapons
e) Miscellaneous weaponary

4. Armor
a) Body armor
b) Leg armor
c) Head armor
d) Rings
e) Shields

5. Denizens of the dungeons
a) Dungeon items
b) Ants
c) Sharga
d) Green slimes
e) Snakes
f) Otyughs
g) Hornets
h) Triffids
i) Ettins
j) Squealing fungi
k) Throgs
l) Mummy (undead)
m) Golden Dragon
n) Trolls
o) Ice witches
p) Ice Queen
q) Skeletons
r) Flying Skulls
s) Scourge
t) Fire Elementals
u) Spinning spikes
v) Dark Dwarves
w) Khull-Khuum

6. Revision notes and copywrite



1. THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD COMBAT KNOWLEDGE

Stonekeep is a dangerous place. Numerous untold horrors (well actually they
are told in this FAQ) await, ready to send you to your doom. Are you ready
for the challenge, the blood, the gurgles, carnage, of combat in Stonekeep?
The realm of Stonekeep provides a wide variety of weapons and armor for
Drake and his companions to use in their quest. They are found scattered
throughout the game, generally with the more powerful items found in the
later stages. Search diligently, for new and more powerful items only
increase your chances of getting through the dungeons in one piece. A good
grasp of combat tactics is essential for completing Stonekeep. The aim of
this FAQ is to give this basic grounding for all you prospective Drakes out
there. Read on, and soon you'll know what weapons to use, what armor to
equip, how to get out of trouble, and how to cause some!



2. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

2a) What is the best weapon to use?

I.M.H.O., the best weapon in the game is the Shadow Hammer. It packs a
clout equal to the Shadow sword or dagger, but hits like lightning. On
maximum agility, I was able to strike at twice a second with the Shadow
hammer! (c.f. Shadow dagger, about 2/3 that speed). For missile weapons,
you can't beat the magickal throwing axe. Stick it in your left hand, and
it magickally reappears there after being throw. No collecting ammo here!
It hits very hard too.


2b) What is the optimum armor configuration?

The best armor configuration I've been able to achieve is:
Cut(34) Crush(29) Pierce(28)
Can anyone do any better (without spells)?
This is done by equipping the following:
Ancient Breastplate, leggings and helm, three armor rings, and the ring of
ducking. Add the magickal wedge-shaped shield, the spells "shield" and
"armor", and you're pretty darned near impregnable!
Note: the magickal chain mail shirt affords better protection than the
ancient breastplate against cutting attacks, but falls down in the crush
and pierce categories.


2c) When should I use missile weapons?

Missle weapons are ideal for softening up opponents before engaging in
hand to hand melee. If you hear footsteps, try to spot the monster and
hit them with a few ranged attacks before they arrive. Enigma is REALLY
good at doing this. Missle weapons are best utilized when staring
through an open door. The monsters stupidly wait for you to enter. All
you have to do is keep chucking those missiles through the door, and
you'll eventually kill them, without ever getting hurt. The exception
which proves the rule are the flying skulls. Those meanies blow this
tactic out the window, by firing magic bolts at you. So watch out.
Consistent use of light missile weapons will increase agility.


2d) Who are the best NPC fighters?

All have their good points. Farli is good with the hammer, and gets better
with time. Stick a shield in his other hand. Karzak does well with an axe.
Both are great stand and deliver guys. Enigma is brilliant for ranged
attacks, but he won't fire through a door. Sparkle is useless in combat, but
does heal you from time to time. Skuz is a bit of a wimp, but lets you watch
that ballista bolt work! Dombur...give up on Dombur. Wahooka casts some nice
magic bolts, but doesn't do much else but groan in melee. Don't rely on NPCs,
trust only your own ability to see you through the day.


2e) How can I increase my skills?

Patience. Attack anything that's attackable (i.e. barrels, beds, mats,
skeletons etc.). Go to one of the parapets of the Entrance to Stonekeep,
where you'll find a drain that provides a ready supply of ants to defeat.
Similar situation in one three of the rooms of the second level of Stonekeep,
except this time it's snakes coming out of the drains, so you have to be a
little bit tougher. The large glorystone in the dwarven blacksmith's area is
the best for weapons practice. It lasts forever, and each blow to it is
acknowledged as a hit.
Consistently use a particular weapon to increase your skills with it (an
increase in weapon skill increases your accuracy). Remember though, that a
newly found weapon of the same basic type (e.g. Standard hammer -> Stone
hammer) will feel different in your hands, and thus will require a bit of
use to hone your skills back to their old levels. The increase in damage
most often makes it worth it. Use of heavy weapons will increase your
strength, use of light weapons increases your agility. An increase in either
of these stats will add to your vitality, leading to a life point gain.


2f) Which is better, magick or hack-n-slash?

I find this is a personal choice. Your steel is always with you, but mana
needs recharging. Magickal bolts can deliver quite a punch, especially when
charged with meta-runes. The best ones to use are firebolt, icebolt or
lightning, enhanced with meta-runes (potency, area, triple). A shrink rune
works too, making some opponents (e.g. otyughs) a more manageable size. Scare
sometimes makes them flee, allowing you to peg missiles at their back!
A weapon in both hands however, can give you a more rapid attacking rate.
Just remember, all your mana might be drained, but like a faithfull dog, your
weapons will always be by your side (you can probably tell where my biases
lie ;-) I think protection spells are the best use of magic in combat
situations.



3. WEAPONS

The following tables provide details on the weapons usage (one or two
hands, missle, slashing, crushing, stabbing), and on the amount of damage
they inflict. The damage index used is based on the initial strength of
Drake (3 points). As Drake's strength increases (to a maximum of 10 points),
the amount of damage the weapon inflicts increases from the standard table
values in the following way:
Strength increased to: 4 (+3 to damage), 5(+6), 6(+10), 7(+14), 8(+18),
9(+22), 10(+27).
So when Drake's strength has reached 10 points, he will inflict up to 107
points each hit with the Shadow weapon. Now that's quite a body blow!

Different weapons are better at inflicting different types of damage.
Monsters may be more susceptible to a particular type of force. For
instance, slimes are hurt more by slashing than crushing, whereas skeletons
take much more damage from crushing weapons than slashing ones. Don't
concentrate on only one type of weapon, be flexible (get some skill in
hammer and sword work!). Over all, I've found crushing weapons to be most
useful, especially in the later stages of the game, so make sure you
specialize in the hammer! More on this in the monsters section of this FAQ.


3a) MISSLE WEAPONS

WEAPON # HANDS CUT CRUSH PIERCE
Throwing axe (magickal) 1 27 0 0
Bow (short) & arrow 2 0 0 20
Mechanimagickal device 1 0 17 0
Crossbow (sharga) & bolt 2 0 8 15
Throwing axe (standard) 1 12 9 0
Dart 1 0 0 9
Dagger (warm) 1 0 0 9
Stone 1 0 9 0
Dagger (simple) 1 0 0 7


3b) SLASHING WEAPONS

WEAPON # HANDS CUT CRUSH PIERCE
Sword (shadow) 2 80 0 0
Axe (shadow) 1 43 43 0
Axe (stone) 1 18 14 0
Sword (ice) 1 18 0 0
Sword (stone) 1 16 16 0
Axe (battle) 2 15 12 0
Sword (long) 1 15 0 0
Axe (dwarven) 1 14 11 0
Sword (dwarven) 1 11 9 0
Sword (broad) 1 9 8 0


3c) CRUSHING WEAPONS

WEAPON # HANDS CUT CRUSH PIERCE
Hammer (shadow) 2 0 80 0
Hammer (stone) 2 0 30 0
Hammer (war) 1 0 24 0
Hammer (ice) 1 0 17 0
Hammer (standard) 1 0 15 0
Quarterstaff 2 0 12 0
Fist 1 0 7 0


3d) STABBING WEAPONS

WEAPON # HANDS CUT CRUSH PIERCE
Dagger (shadow) 1 0 0 80
Spear (shadow) 2 43 0 43
Dagger (of penetration) 1 0 0 30
Spear (stone) 2 0 12 15
Pick (dwarven) 2 0 0 16
Dagger (throggish) 1 0 0 13
Pick (sharga) 2 0 0 13
Sword (throggish) 1 10 0 10
Ballista bolt 2 9 0 10