Combat

Dragonwilds combat is action combat with RuneScape vocabulary bolted on. You block, dodge and parry in real time, and the damage you deal is typed.

Melee splits into Slash, Stab and Crush. Ranged is a single type. Magic splits into Air, Fire and Water. On top of those sit the status effects: Burning, Bleed and Poison.

Two things decide whether a fight is quick or miserable.

The first is weakness matching. Nearly every notable enemy has one, and it is specific: the Abyssal Demon folds to Slash, the Garou King and Zogres to Crush, and every dragon short of Kuldra takes extra from Water. Bringing the wrong type is not a small penalty.

The second is weak spots. Many enemies have a marked spot that deals critical damage when you hit it, and critically, there is no cooldown on crits from weak spots. A player who aims kills things measurably faster than a player who swings at the body, regardless of gear.

What Dragonwilds does not have is the MMO's combat triangle. Melee does not beat ranged which does not beat magic. Instead each armour style simply defends best against its own attack style, so the question is what is hitting you, not what you are hitting.