Combat

To defend oneself in Vintage Story one must master the art of combat, as there are many hostile creatures[[::Category:Hostile creatures| ]].

Combat basics

• Melee Combat - First punch, then ask. Every adversary can be attacked with a left mouse click, but beware, your normal attack range is pretty short unless you have something in your hands that extends your reach.
• Ranged Combat - Stones, arrows and spears can be used to inflict damage at great range. When you hold down your right mouse button a shrinking rectangle will appear on your screen. When that rectangle is the smallest, your accuracy will be the greatest, so timing is important!
• Health and Defense - Having good health and defense can turn a death to success. Combat will often leave you hurt so the usage of poultices and armor is recommended. You can also equip a shield in the off hand. Keep one stack of poultices on your hotbar and your armor well repaired before a fight. Your maximum health can be increased by having a varied diet . However, be aware that wearing armor will reduce your healing effectiveness, with a more drastic effect based on how heavy the armor is. Remove your armor before healing if you can to preserve your resources.

Most attacks will knock your enemy back, giving you some breathing room to ready your next attack or prepare to escape.

Stone age weapons

	Any stone you mine or pick up can be thrown from a safe distance at living things to inflict minor damage (1 damage)
	If everything fails, a plain old stick still has a better range than just fist punching your way out (1 damage)
	Carved from a log with the help of a knife, the club is sturdy and reliable, but does not inflict a lot of damage (1.5 damage)
	The spear is very fragile, but its long range is a tremendous advantage. As with all stone tools, it can be made from granite, andesite, basalt, obsidian and flint. A flint spear does 2 damage during a melee attack and 5 damage when thrown.
	Bows with flint arrows - a reliable and powerful long range weapon, but requires you to farm or find enough flax to craft the bowstring. Flint arrowheads are easy to make, but very weak and have a -0.5 damage modifier, causing a Simple bow to deal only 2.75 damage compared to its base 3.25 damage.

Metal age weapons

	Your good old trusty sword . Nothing beats its reliability and damage output. Higher metal tiers have higher durability and greater damage (3.75 - 5.25 damage)
	Metal arrow heads and higher quality bows improve damage output. Better metals both increase damage and make it more likely for the arrow to remain intact after use.
	If you need great melee range without the loss of durability, upgrade your spears to copper or bronze!

Combat tips and tricks

Sprint Kiting

The art of sprint kiting describes holding the sprint button and "Jousting" at the enemy, hitting them once and retreating back a couple blocks. This is repeated until the enemy has perished. This works exceptionally well against drifters .

Locust Bane

The "Locust Bane" describes the method of constructing a 2 block tall tower and pouring water on the sides of it. This prevents locusts from crawling up the pillar. Now the player can throw spears or rocks at them. Alternatively arrows can be shot from a Bow as well.