Fencing

Fencing is the weapon skill for piercing weapons — daggers, the kryss, forks and spears. It is the fastest weapon class in the game and home to the poisonable blades, making it the natural choice for poisoners and hit-and-run fighters. The skill decides whether your thrusts land; damage comes from Tactics, Anatomy and Strength.

What the skill does ↑ top

Hit chance is a contest between your Fencing and the defender's skill:

chance to hit = (your skill + 50) ÷ ((their skill + 50) × 2)

Equal fighters hit 50% of the time; a Grandmaster never misses a completely unskilled target and hits a half-trained one about 75% of the time. The full damage, swing speed and hit mechanics are on the Weapon Damage page; the stat table of every fencing weapon is on Weapons.

Why pick Fencing:

• Speed — the kryss (speed 56) is the fastest true weapon in the game, with the dagger (55) the fastest side-arm. Fast weapons interrupt spellcasters more often and roll more chances at on-hit effects.
• Poison — the dagger, kryss and war fork are the only weapons that can carry poison from the Poisoning skill. Each hit may deliver a dose.
• One hand free — the strongest one-handers (kryss, war fork) pair naturally with a shield and Parrying.

Paralyzing blow (PvP only) ↑ top

Against other players, two-handed fencing weapons (spear, short spear, pitchfork) can land a paralyzing blow:

A feared opener in PvP — it never triggers against monsters.

Insta hit and Deep Wound (PvP) ↑ top

Two shard-wide PvP rules matter to every fencer — both are covered in full on the PvP overview:

• Insta hit — arming a weapon lets you swing immediately, interrupting whatever your opponent is casting. With the kryss's speed behind it this makes fencers the best disrupters in the game. A pure warrior pays nothing for it; a fighter with 80+ Magery and 80+ Evaluating Intelligence lands that first instant strike at half damage — one swing, then full power.
• Deep Wound — a swing that rolls near the top of the weapon's own damage range tears a wound that cuts all healing the target receives, and it stacks (see Healing). The spears manage it on their best rolls — but the kryss, war fork and dagger never can; their top end simply is not high enough. Deep Wound is the one thing the fast poisonable blades cannot do, which is why fencers lean on poison to beat sustained healing instead.

Skill cap ↑ top

Fencing caps at 100.0 — there are no Skill Scrolls for weapon skills, so it cannot be raised to 120.

Training 0 → 100 ↑ top

You gain with every swing at a valid target, hit or miss:

1. 0–50: buy the first ~30 points from an NPC weaponsmith, then poke easy creatures (mongbats, small animals) or spar with a friend.
2. 50–100: move to mid-tier monsters (earth elementals, ogres) to keep the checks challenging. Fencing's high weapon speed means more swings per minute than any other combat skill — it trains pleasantly fast with a dagger or kryss.
3. Fight in dungeons for 20% faster gains; guarded towns and houses are slower. On the newbie island Adena gains are doubled but capped at 70.0. See Skills Overview for all gain modifiers.

Tactics and Anatomy rise passively while you fight.

Related ↑ top

• Weapon Damage — how damage, swing speed and hit chance work
• Weapons — the full Fencing weapon table
• Fencing Mastery — the Fencing mastery (Sway Hit, Swift Piercer, Fury)
• Skill Masteries — how the mastery system works
• Tactics · Anatomy · Parrying
• PvP