In Combat there are several Combat Abilities that were added to the mod in the GS5. Each ability enhances a Unit's combat effectiveness in one way or another. All combat abilities, with the exception of one, are activated offensively. The only defensive combat ability, presently enjoyed by Dryads, is Negate Attack. Some units natively have a combat ability, while others do not. It is important to distinguish which combat abilities you wish to benefit from and what benefits they provide.

Piercing Attacks are naturally performed by most Missile Troops in melee and in ranged combat. Piercing Attacks will ignore the Armor of a Defender as if it were zero. Therefore, an attacker who has successfully executed a Piercing Attack on a defender with 20 armor will be damaged as if it had zero armor. Some artifacts may provide this ability. Piercing Attacks cannot be executed upon Lords, Special Champions, Leaders or Heirs.

Stats which improve Piercing Attack chances are:

Desperation Bonus: Available only to Champions and is activated with 10% health remaining, or 1 health remaining. The Desperation bonus is equal to that of the Level of the Champion. Ergo, Level 10 means for +10% chance.

Wisdom Bonus: Available naturally to all Wizards, except for Balkoth, and is available to Any Champion who would consume a Potion of Wisdom. If Balkoth consumed a Potion of Wisdom, then he would enable the Wisdom Bonus.

Critical Strikes are naturally performed by Thieves in melee and in ranged combat. Critical Strikes will double the effective Attack, or Ranged Attack, of the attacker. If a Thief has 15 Ranged Attack and performs a Critical Strike, then the Ranged Attack becomes 30 for the attack made. Consuming a Potion of Dexterity will provide non-Thief Champions the ability to perform Critical Strikes.

Stats which improve Critical Strike chances are:

Crushing Blows are naturally performed by most Infantry and Cavalry in melee combat. A Crushing Blow will increase the amount of damage an attacker inflicts upon a defender relative to the current hit points of the defender.

In melee combat, a Crushing Blow will add damage equal to a quarter of the current health of the defender. Ergo, a defender whose remaining health is 20 will suffer an additional 5 damage from a melee attacker who has executed a Crushing Blow.

In ranged combat, a Crushing Blow will add damage equal to an eighth of the current health of the defender. Ergo, a defender whose remaining health is 20 will suffer an additional 2 damage from a ranged attacker who has executed a Crushing Blow.

Stats which improve Crushing Blow chances are:

Deadly Strikes are naturally performed by Warriors in melee combat. Deadly Strikes will double the effective damage inflicted by the attacker, but the defender must suffer at least one point of damage for it to be executed. If a Warrior strikes a defender and damages it for 5 points of damage, then a Warrior who executes a Deadly Strike will instead strike a defender for 10 damages.

Stats which improve Deadly Strike chances are: