Chapter. A game s combat is only as good as its enemy design, and in this area Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

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1 Chapter 3 Enemy Guide A game s combat is only as good as its enemy design, and in this area Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning really does deliver. Its huge cast of opposing races and creatures are explored in full across the following pages, with all attacks outlined and strategies provided for taking them down with each of the three primary Destinies. So regardless of which enemy is proving to be difficult, or what type of character you re using, you ll find the answers to your problem here.

2 Chapter 3 Enemy Guide Kobolds Kobolds Kobolds are humanoid bandit-like raiders with a slightly ratlike appearance, living mostly underground in caves, dens, or ruins. They are communal creatures, living in groups of at least 3-4, though more often can be found in larger familial groups. They are primarily a melee opponent, but do have the ability to throw their weapons. All Kobolds have the ability to be quite stealthy and can appear to ambush from thin-air. These creatures are often found wearing tattered clothing, likely stolen from houses or found on corpses. Attribute Kobold Kobold Savage Kobold Rogue Kobold Nightblade Encounter Level Range Level 0 to 45 Level 0 to 45 Level 3 to 45 Level 5 to 45 Super Armor None None None None Weakness Resistance Juggle Yes Yes Yes Yes Fateshift Yes Yes Yes Yes Kobold Savage (Underling) Spear Toss When out of melee striking distance of the player character, a Kobold Savage will throw his spear as a projectile weapon. The Kobold Savage Attack Data Spear Combo (st hit) 25% 25% Piercing damage No Yes Interrupt 6 7 Spear Combo (2nd hit) 25% 25% Piercing damage No Yes Stagger N/A N/A Spear Combo (3rd hit) 75% 00% Piercing damage No Yes Knockback N/A N/A Leaping Spear 00% None No Yes Stagger 6 7 Spear Toss 50% 50% Piercing damage No No Interrupt 5 7 Kobold Rogue (Underling) animation cue preceding this strike is a crouching action, followed by a leap as the spear is thrown. Dodge this technique by timing your evade to coincide with the apex of the Kobold Savage s leap. Kobold Savage Kobold Nightblade Bomb Combo At close range, a Kobold Rogue will attack with a single slash of his blade followed by an explosive bomb blast [a ]. The blade aspect of this technique can be parried, but the bomb blast cannot. If blocking, ensure that you hold block during the entirety of this attack sequence to reduce damage from the bomb blast. To Shield Parry this technique, press Guard the very instant the Rogue draws his arm back preceding the blade strike. Bomb Toss When situated out of melee striking distance of the player character, the Kobold Rogue will attack by throwing a bomb. Watch out for the attack signpost preceding this technique; the Rogue will first hold the bomb above his head before throwing it. The best way to deal with this attack is to evade, perform your evade to the side the instant the bomb is thrown, to safely dodge the attack. Kobold Kobold (Minion) Kobold Rogue Kobold Rogue Attack Data Bomb Combo (st hit) 00% None No Yes Interrupt Bomb Combo (2nd hit) 0% 25% Fire damage Burning DoT damage for 3 seconds No No Knockback N/A N/A Bomb Toss (hit) 0% 00% Fire damage No No Stagger 2 7 Bomb Toss (AoE) 0% 00% Fire damage No No Interrupt N/A N/A Spear Combo At close range, a Kobold will attack using a 3-hit spear combo or a Leaping Spear strike, usually alternating between the two. The Spear Combo has very little wind-up animation, so perform a Shield Parry by pressing Guard the instant a Kobold draws its arm back before it strikes or simply hold Guard to block the whole sequence (not advisable for class characters). After blocking the first hit of the Spear Combo, you can release Guard and press again just before the second hit connects to score a Shield Parry. Leaping Spear The second technique a Kobold will use at close range is a single-hit Leaping Spear attack. Shield Parry this attack by pressing Guard at the apex of the Kobold s leap. A good strategy to use if you re not sure which attack it s going to execute, is to block when in close proximity of a Kobold. Holding block gives you a moment to see which attack the Kobold is going to use. If the Leaping Spear is executed, release Guard then press again before the strike connects to score an easy Shield Parry. If the Kobold decides to use the Spear Combo instead, block the first hit then release and press Guard again before the second hit connects for a Shield Parry. Kobold Attack Data Spear Combo (st hit) 25% 25% Piercing damage No Yes Interrupt 6 7 Spear Combo (2nd hit) 25% 25% Piercing damage No Yes Stagger N/A N/A Spear Combo (3rd hit) 75% 00% Piercing damage No Yes Knockback N/A N/A Leaping Spear 00% None No Yes Stagger 6 7 Kobold Nightblade (Underling) Bomb Blitz The Kobold Nightblade will display far greater skill than his Rogue counterpart by throwing multiple bombs in rapid succession. The signpost preceding this attack is quite striking, you will see the Nightblade hold a bomb in each hand before he starts his throwing sequence. The first two bombs are thrown in rapid succession, a single evade to the side is enough to clear their path. The next pair of bombs are thrown at once, execute a single evade in the opposite direction to the first to dodge the second set. [a 2] 2 Tip Wait until the instant the second set of bombs are thrown before you evade for a second time. The Nightblade will track your position and adjust his aim if you evade too early

3 Chapter 3 Enemy Guide Giant Spiders Kobold Nightblade Attack Data Bomb Combo (st hit) 00% None No Yes Interrupt Bomb Combo (2nd hit) 0% 25% Fire damage Burning DoT damage for 3 seconds No No Knockback N/A N/A Bomb Toss (hit) 0% 00% Fire damage No No Stagger 2 7 Bomb Toss (AoE) 0% 00% Fire damage No No Interrupt N/A N/A Bomb Blitz 0% 50% Fire damage No No Interrupt 20 7 Kobolds should be targeted and killed in the order of their attack range. Kobold Savages, Rogues and Nightblades are all capable of long range projectile attacks and will employ them very frequently in battle. Regular Kobolds on the other hand will simply walk at a slow pace towards your position, only attacking when they re within very close range. By taking out the long range attackers first, you can then kill off the remaining Kobolds without risk of interruption. Giant Spiders From the Webwood to Detyre, there are many breeds of giant spider in Amalur, easily recognized by their strong, dangerous webbing. Normally skittish around humans and Alfar, the recent war has left them plenty of carrion to feed on, and many have developed a taste for flesh. Attribute Venomspitter Giant Spider Encounter Level Range Level 0 to 45 Level 0 to 45 Super Armor None None Weakness Fire Fire Resistance Poison Poison Juggle Yes No Fateshift No Yes The way you tackle Kobolds is based upon the types of Kobolds present in the mob and their spacing. Generally you should target and attack each Kobold based on their attack range. Locking a Kobold with long range attacks in hit reactions will limit the chance that you are interrupted mid flow by such attacks. Target Savages, Rogues and Nightblades first. The best way to attack them is to have your back to the rest of the mob so that you are moving your target away from the mob as you strike. If spacing is tight, limit yourself to Normal actions so that you are freely able to block or evade if need be. If a group of Kobolds are tightly packed together, use the wide sweeping arcs of the Greatsword slashes to strike all of them at once. If you have a decent amount of space between your character and the rest of the mob, you can have serious fun linking together various attacks, Specials and Abilities into combo chains as you attack. Please refer to the Advanced Combat section for full details on combo attacks. Harpooning a target from as great a distance as possible, then attacking that target moving it away from the mob will give you enough space to make the kill before the mob closes the gap. class characters have the ability to remove a target a great distance, while a combo chain is being executed. If you quickly remove long range attackers from the mob before diving in with weapon strikes, you will be able to outrun the remaining close range attackers as you single out a target and perform combo chains. Use the Longbow to target Kobold Savages, Rogues and Nightblades from a distance. Try and kill these enemy types before engaging the remaining members of the group in close combat. Once you have thinned their ranks, target and attack the remaining Kobolds using the Daggers or Fae Blades. The Dagger combo chain intermixed with the Crossfire and Shadow Flare will quickly kill an enemy while keeping a near constant forward momentum. If you are using the Fae Blades, mix the Twisted Claw and Shadow Flare into your combo chain to increase the distance covered, ensuring that you retain a gap between yourself and the trailing mob. Cornering an enemy and then performing the Shadow Flare will produce a lot of destruction on single targets, even human sized enemies like Kobolds. As a Sorcerer you do not need to worry too much about the exact order of engagement when dealing with enemies like Kobolds. Against a single Kobold, a combo chain linking straight into the Storm Bolt is usually enough to win the battle. Against a group, stay on the move and circle the whole group by running or Blinking. Once you have them herded together into a rough bunch, perform two strikes of the Staff combo chain into the Mage s Vortex. Once all four hits of the Mage s Vortex have connected and the enemies are tightly clumped together execute a Mark of Flame tag and detonation sequence [a ]. The Mark of Flame will blast all targets away from you giving enough time to fully charge the Charged Entropy as a follow-up. In situations where Kobolds are spread out and long range attackers are included in the group, target the most distant long range attackers first with the combo chain to Storm Bolt sequence described previously, before setting up the Mage s Vortex to Mark of Flame sequence. A Staff applying Shocking Damage is extremely effective against groups of lightly armored enemies. The Shockwave dealt by each strike of the Staff combo chain will induce an Interrupt hit reaction across a very wide area on each hit. Venomspitter Venomspitter (Underling) Smaller than their giant brethren, these spiders are much more dangerous rather than webbing a foe and starving them, they weaken their prey by spitting venom on them. Worse still, they often nest with larger breeds, sharing their prey and strengthening their brood. Venom Shot When out of melee striking range of your character, Venomspitters will attack by firing globules of venom from their bodies as projectiles. There is a clear audio-visual cue preceding this attack: the Venomspitter will stop moving and rattle its abdomen. The shot itself is fired directly after the rattling sound and will be accompanied by a hiss. As this sound is absolutely linked to the Venom Shot attack you should use it to judge your evades. Train yourself to associate the rattling sound with the imminent threat of a Venom Shot being Giant Spider launched. After time you will be able to judge when this attack is going to execute with ease, even if its being fired from off-screen. Double Pincer Spiders have only one close range attack and they will strike with it repeatedly as soon as they are within reach of your character. The Double Pincer is a single-hit attack, which is easily blocked, but it is far more effective to Shield Parry this technique as the blast effect of the parry will interrupt all nearby Spiders and give you a chance to kick some spider-butt. The exact timing required for a Shield Parry is upon the execution of the sound effect associated with the Double Pincer animation. As soon as you hear the sound effect commence, press Guard for a Shield Parry. Venomspitter Attack Data Venom Shot 0% 00% Poison damage Poison DoT damage for 5 seconds No No Stagger 2 7 Double Pincer 50% Poison DoT damage for 5 seconds No Yes Interrupt

4 Chapter 3 Enemy Guide Barghest Giant Spider (Underling) Web Net The Web Net is a totally unblockable attack which will leave you momentarily entangled within a spider web until you manually break out. Failure to do so will result in the Giant Spider closing in and delivering a pincer strike. Rapidly press the button indicated on-screen to break free of the web before the spider has a chance to attack. Successfully escaping the web will trigger a blast wave, which acts just like the Shield Parry blast. This will interrupt the actions of any nearby enemies. [a ] Tip Begin rapidly tapping the designated interact button the very instant you are caught in the web. The inputs will be counted a moment before the onscreen prompt appears, guaranteeing an escape. Venomspitters are easy to read and will only make use of a single long range attack. Keep your distance and herd them together by circling before bunching them up with the Mage s Vortex and killing with the Mark of Flame. Against a single Giant Spider, the best course of action is to burn it to death with a Fire element Staff. Perform a Staff combo chain into the Storm Bolt leading to a Mark of Flame tag and detonation. The complete Staff combo chain and Storm Bolt will award you with 0 Fate, it is well worth performing these extra attacks to maximize Fate gain in battle. Once you unlock the Ice Barrage, this technique should be used against single Barghest or loosely spaced Giant Spiders in place of the Mark of Flame, as the Ice Barrage will award 0 Fate upon completion. When faced with Giant Spiders backed up by Venomspitters you will often find yourself surrounded. You can turn this situation to your advantage by equipping a Staff or Chakrams that apply Freezing damage and scoring a Shield Parry. The Shield Parry will open up a window just wide enough so that you can charge and execute either the Charged Entropy or the Maelstrom. The Freezing damage applied will slow the movement of the spider mob by at least 30%, giving you more than enough time to reposition and attack with the Mark of Flame. These enchanted fae-wolves prowl forests and plains, searching for unwary meals. Barghest are smarter than their mortal cousins, and can even master rudimentary magic to help in their hunts. Giant Spider Attack Data Double Pincer 50% Poison DoT damage for 5 seconds No Yes Interrupt Web Net* 0% None No No Unique 36 7 *Unblockable. Attribute Barghest Arcane Barghest Encounter Level Range Level 0 to 25 Level 20 to 45 Super Armor None None Weakness Poison and Bleeding Poison and Bleeding Resistance Ice Ice Juggle No No Fateshift Yes Yes Keeping Fire elemental weapons in your inventory is a very good idea when venturing into an area where Giant Spiders are the prevalent enemy. Giant Spiders have a limited number of attacks, but their sheer numbers can quickly become overwhelming if kills are not made quickly. The absolute best weapon to use against Giant Spiders is a Fire element Hammer. In the early parts of the game, when you first reach the Webwood area for example, a Guard-canceled Hammer combo chain is a safe method for a lot of damage, while always retaining the ability to block or evade. When tightly surrounded, use the Normal actions (the first two hits) of the Hammer combo chain to attack, then cancel the chain with Guard and repeat. A Giant Spider will not be able to break free of this sequence in order to counter-attack and you can instantly block or evade any projectile attacks coming from the surrounding Venomspitters. A great combo to use against Venomspitters is an air juggle sequence with the Greatsword and Hammer. By the time you reach the Webwood area, make sure you have Brutal Weaponry II unlocked to enable Special attacks from block. Perform three hits of the Greatsword combo chain, then cancel the third hit as soon as it launches the Venomspitter with the Spine Bender block special sequence with the Hammer. This six hit sequence is enough to kill a Venomspitter and does not take very long to perform, you should be able to pull this off quite easily without being interrupted mid-flow. As you can only effectively target one enemy at a time with a character, you will need to be mindful of enemy attack cues while striking down your current target. Always go for the spider which is farthest away from the focal point of the mob. When away from other spiders, the only attack you need to anticipate is the Venomspitter Venom Shot. The Venom Shot has a specific audio cue, so while attacking, you should shift your focus away from your target and concentrate on anticipating the audio cue associated with the Venom Shot. Block or Evade as soon as you hear this cue before resuming your attack on your current target. At later levels, the Relentless Assault ability is very useful when facing a large mob of Giant Spiders backed up by Venomspitters. Target the Giant Spiders first, activate the Relentless Assault as you approach, and perform full combo chains with the Hammer. Once the Giant Spiders are dealt with, use the Harpoon to pull remaining Venomspitters away from the mob and attack them while you have a gap between your character and the rest of the group. When facing a large mob of Giant Spiders and Venomspitters, don t be afraid to dive right in. The Shadow Flare will deal huge damage to a Giant Spider, if connected at point black range build your strategy around this technique. Scoring Shield Parries against spiders is very easy once you have learned to recognize their attack cues. At close range you only have one attack to worry about, in fact, diving in at close range and baiting spiders to use pincer attacks is a great way to control the crowd. Let us say, for example, that you have targeted a Giant Spider and you are striking with the Normal actions of the Dagger combo chain. In this case the nearby Venomspitters will use pincer attacks as soon as they get within range, Shield Parry one of these attacks then immediately turn towards the Giant Spider and connect a point blank Shadow Flare. The blast effect of the Shield Parry will halt the actions of the surrounding Venomspitters and the Shadow Flare will almost kill the giant Spider in a single shot. As you ve interrupted the actions of all nearby enemies with the Shield Parry, they will not act again until after the Shadow Flare has completed. This gives you enough time to reposition. Repeat this process for the remaining Giant Spiders before mopping up the Venomspitters. These enemies can be killed from a distance with arrows or a combo chain linking into the Shadow Flare at close range. If you want to stay out of melee attack range, use the Frost Trap to immobilize multiple targets at once, while you attack with arrows or the Shadow Flare. Lay a Frost Trap at the start of battle and hold your position behind it. Attack with arrows until the trap is triggered, then connect a Shadow Flare against all targets affected by the trap to deal decent damage. From here you can back away and repeat the process or mop up the remains with a weapon combo chain to Shadow Flare loops. Barghest (Minion) Barghest Double Bite Barghest posses only a single attack and will use it repeatedly, but only in close proximity of the player character. The Barghest will lunge at you with a pair of bite attacks, both of which can be blocked or parried with ease. To perform a Shield Parry, time your Guard input to coincide with the moment the Barghest rears up on its hind legs preceding the attack. A character is advised to immediately counter with the Shadow Flare, the large frame of the Barghest will cause all thrown blades to connect at once and deal a huge amount of damage. Arcane Barghest Note The second bite will only activate if the first connects (blocked or not). If you evade the first bite, the second bite will not execute. Barghest Attack Data Double Bite 00% None No Yes Knockback

5 Chapter 3 Enemy Guide Murghan Arcane Barghest (Minion) The Arcane Barghest is a higher level variant of the normal one that is significantly more deadly. Although it only has the same attacks as a regular Barghest, its Double Bite now has the added effect of stealing 20% of your Mana reserves when it connects. While this can be problematic for all classes, for Sorcerers that are almost totally reliant on Mana for their attacks, Guarding the Double Bite becomes an even higher priority. Cave Murghan Elite Murghan Arcane Barghest Attack Data Double Bite 00% Steals 20% of total Mana. No Yes Knockback Murghan Despite their size, Barghest will quickly fall due to their lack of Super Armor. Do not be afraid to dive in and attack at close range. Special and Ability actions which strike across a wide area will make short work of Barghest and keep them from attacking. A good strategy to use against Barghest is to circle the group from the outside until you have them lined up roughly single file. The size of their bodies stops them all from closing in to melee attack range at once. Use this shortcoming to your advantage and deal damage to the whole group at once with the Normal actions of the Greatsword combo chain [a ]. If you manage to strike all targets at once and they still remain bunched together, perform the Quake for some bonus Fate before mopping Murghan Murghan are an ancient race of Unseelie Fae sea creatures who invaded the lowland swamps of Klurikon. They rule Klurikon s Drowned Forest, a large lowland swamp, perpetually shrouded up any remains with the Greatsword. If you have the Shadow Flare available, you should use this to open your attack sequence before you start striking with the Greatsword. If you need to make a quick kill before the rest of the Barghest close the gap on you, perform a point blank Shadow Flare at your target to kill it instantly. Due to the large size of the Barghest s body and its weakness to Bleeding damage, the Shadow Flare is absolutely devastating against this enemy, especially if connected at point blank range. Begin your attack sequence by herding the Barghest together, then attack with the Shadow Flare immediately, linking into a weapon combo chain. Shield Parry the inevitable bite attack then immediately execute another Shadow Flare and repeat the process. When striking a single Barghest, try to strike it away from other members of the group, Barghest do not follow at speed so if you sustain an attack sequence with good forward momentum you can make a kill before the group catches up to you. Barghest should be killed all at once after herding them together with the Staff combo chain and Mage s Vortex. In fact the Mage s Vortex alone is enough to bunch together an approaching group of Barghest. Tag and detonate with the Mark of Flame once the vortex is complete, then mop up any remains with Sceptre Charged Shots canceled into the Storm Bolt for bonus Fate. in mist, studded with small islands of earth and stone. They wield tridents as melee weapons. In the presence of the Banshaen, their attacks are imbued with lightning magic. Murghan (Minion) On their own, Murghans fight very similar to Kobolds by employing a quick close range 3-hit combo that it designed to keep you in place while other enemies move in to attack. They also have a long range Leaping Spear attack that they will use to close in on you, and judging the ranges at which they will use either of these attacks is one of the key things when dealing with this enemy. [a 2] Murghan Attack Data Spear Combo (st hit) 50% 50% Lightning damage No Yes Interrupt 6 7 Spear Combo (2nd hit) 50% 50% Lightning damage No Yes Stagger N/A N/A Spear Combo (3rd hit) 75% Shocking DoT damage for 3 seconds No Yes Knockback N/A N/A Leaping Spear 00% 00% Lightning damage No Yes Interrupt 6 7 Storm Call 0% 50% Lightning damage No No Interrupt 0 0 Cave Murghan (Minion) Cave Murghans are an advanced form of Murghans that you will come across as you start to encounter higher level enemies. They have all of the same basic attacks as normal Murghans, but because they are higher level, they all do significantly more damage. Nowhere is this more evident than when they are in the company of a Banshaen, as their Storm Call attack can be extremely deadly at this level. [a 3] 2 3 Attribute Murghan Cave Murghan Elite Murghan Encounter Level Range Level 0 to 25 Level 0 to 45 Level 20 to 45 Super Armor None None None Weakness Resistance Lightning Lightning Lightning Juggle Yes Yes Yes Fateshift Yes Yes Yes Cave Murghan Attack Data Spear Combo (st hit) 50% 50% Lightning damage No Yes Interrupt 6 7 Spear Combo (2nd hit) 50% 50% Lightning damage No Yes Stagger N/A N/A Spear Combo (3rd hit) 75% Shocking DoT damage for 3 seconds No Yes Knockback N/A N/A Leaping Spear 00% 00% Lightning damage No Yes Interrupt 6 7 Storm Call 0% 50% Lightning damage No No Interrupt