Overview

UO Sagas uses classic UOR-era PvP as its foundation, extended with bonuses for a range of skills so that more templates can compete. Special weapon moves, potion mastery and crafting-skill damage bonuses all play a role.

Note that Skill Masteries (perks, procs and ultimates) are PvM-only on this shard — they never trigger against other players. In PvP, the classic UOR weapon special blows take their place.

Weapon damage in PvP

Weapon blows against other players are toned down compared to monsters:

The full damage pipeline — dice rolls, Tactics, Anatomy, Strength, quality — is on the Weapons page.

Skill synergies

• Stun Punch (Stun Mages): with Wrestling 80+ and Anatomy 80+ you can ready a stun punch. A successful punch costs 15 stamina and freezes your opponent for 4 seconds.
• Disarm (thieves): with Wrestling 80+ and Arms Lore 80+ you can attempt to disarm your opponent. Costs 15 stamina and requires free hands.
• Arms Lore swing speed: the Arms Lore skill passively speeds up your swings with every weapon — 5% at GM, 6% at 120, scaling linearly. This is a skill bonus (not a mastery) and works in PvP.
• Defensive wrestling: while unarmed, your defensive skill is the higher of your Wrestling or (Anatomy + Evaluating Intelligence + 20) / 2, capped at 120 — the classic OSI UOR "mage wrestling" mechanic. While you are PvP flagged the Eval Int used here counts as 100, so scrolling Eval Int does not improve it.
• Alchemy: increases the strength and duration of the potions you drink. With Alchemy 80+ you can drink potions even with both hands occupied.
• Peacemaking: the Song of Peacemaking works in PvP — it takes the target out of war mode and interrupts the spell they are casting. A target under the Protection spell can resist it.
• Reactive Armor in PvP: one cast arms two separate charge pools — one against monsters, one against players. The PvP pool absorbs melee damage up to (Magery + Meditation + Inscription) / 3 points (max 40) and stings the attacker with a fifth of each absorbed blow — but unlike the PvM pool it expires after 1 minute, so cast it going into the fight, not leaving town.
• Magic Reflection in PvP: same split. The PvP pool reflects incoming spells with a capacity of 8–15 circles, scaling with Magery + Inscription, and also runs out after 1 minute. A reflected spell still interrupts whatever you were casting, so reflection is not a free pass to cast through.
• Inscription: not just for scribing — it raises the capacity of both defensive pools above, making it a real PvP mage skill. The Greater versions of these spells from the Inscription Mastery boost only the monster-facing pool; your PvP charge stays at the normal strength.
• One defensive slot: Protection and Arch Protection will not stick while any Reactive Armor or Magic Reflection charge — PvP or PvM — is active. Pick your defence; you cannot layer them.
• Healing: bandages behave differently against players. Every landed hit slips your bandage — monsters need a solid blow to do that, players do not need any. On top of that, heavy hits open a Deep Wound that cuts all healing you receive, chained self-bandages eventually hit a fatigue pause, and running in the last moments of a bandage slips it once per tile. Bandaging other people is never fatigued, which is what makes a dedicated field healer worth bringing. Full numbers on the Healing page.
• Tank Mages: the insta hit is live, but a mage who arms a weapon pays for it in damage — see below.

Crafting and gathering skill damage bonuses

Several non-combat skills add a damage bonus when using matching weapons:

The bonus scales with your skill value in the supporting skill: in PvP it is +0.1% per point — +10% at 100 skill, +12% at 120 (half of its PvM strength, which is +0.2% per point, +20% at 100 and +24% at 120).

Two things make this different from the combat skills above:

• Scrolled points above 100 still count here. Tactics, Eval Int, Meditation and Resisting Spells all drop back to 100 while you are PvP flagged — these do not. The full 120 is used, which is why the bonus really does reach +12%. Scrolling Lumberjacking is one of the few scroll purchases that pays out in PvP.
• The halving is triggered by your target, not by your flag. It applies whenever both attacker and defender are players, independently of the PvP combat flag that switches masteries off. There is no window in which you hit another player at full PvM strength.

UOR special blows (PvP only)

The classic special blows trigger automatically on hit — only in PvP (against players and pets fighting for players). In PvM these are replaced by your Skill Mastery perks. All three require a two-handed weapon of the right class, 75+ Dexterity and 80+ Anatomy; the trigger chance scales with your Anatomy (roughly 15% per hit at 100 Anatomy).

Deep Wound Strike works differently from the other three. It ignores Dexterity, Anatomy and the two-handed requirement, and keys off the damage roll instead: the swing has to land near the top of the weapon's own range. That is why slow two-handers tear wounds regularly, heavy one-handed blades only now and then, and fast light weapons never do — a weapon with a small top end can never roll high enough. It is the answer to being out-healed by a fast hitter.

Insta hit

Equipping a weapon lets you swing immediately — the classic instant strike is live on UO Sagas. In The Second Age it dominated everything, so here it comes back in a balanced form rather than as the whole game.

You keep the spell-disrupting instant strike, at half damage. Arm a weapon and hit at once and the blow lands — interrupting whatever your opponent is casting — but for 50% damage.

Wait one swing delay and you hit for the full 100%. The penalty window is exactly one swing of the weapon you just equipped; once it passes, you are a normal armed fighter again. So the instant strike is an added option, not a replacement: take the disrupt and give up half the damage, or hold for a moment and take the whole hit.

The details:

• The penalty needs 80+ Magery and 80+ Evaluating Intelligence — it is aimed at tank mages. A pure warrior arming a weapon never triggers it.
• It only applies player against player. Nothing about it touches PvM.
• The window closes on that first hit, when the swing delay runs out, or the moment you lift the weapon off your paperdoll again.
• Orange system messages tell you when it opens and closes, so it is never a surprise.

Healing under fire

In PvP, every landed player hit slips your bandage and removes part of the heal — unlike monsters, which need a solid blow (~10+ damage through armor) to slip you. Three further PvP-only rules make sustained healing a skill of its own — the details and exact timings are on the Healing page:

• Deep Wound — the heaviest weapon hits tear a wound that reduces all healing you receive by 25% per stack (max 2 stacks, 10 seconds, shown as a debuff icon). Only heavy weapons can inflict it — two-handers most often, fast light weapons never.
• Healing Fatigue — after ~2 minutes of continuous PvP combat, chained self-bandages (within 30 seconds of the last) force a ~3 second pause before the next one; healing other players is unaffected.
• Bandage slips on the run — running during the final ~2 seconds of a bandage slips your fingers once per tile. Walking is safe.

Overland PvP

• Militia (faction) warfare — enlist with your town and fight the rival militia for kill points and rank
• Red vs Blue — see Player Killing for the murder and bounty system
• Guild wars

PvP events

• Capture the Flag
• Duels
• See the events overview for schedules and more.