Special Attack

Special Attacks are an important part of the AO experiance, so much so that some professions rely heavily or exclusively on them. This guide will cover the major elements of special attacks and what players need to know about them.

General Information

What is a Special Attack?

Strictly speaking, a special attack is an attack action that is made availible through the weapon the character is using. Special attacks deal damage based on a varying scale, depending on the attack, and then are 'locked' for a period of time dependent on the skill of the user before they can be used again.

Special attacks are not items, though some items function like special attacks. Items such as Kizzermole Gumboils, Cluster Bullets, Frozen Cherry Blossom - Special Arrows, are found or made in stacks of uses. They similarly lock specific skills, but when the item runs out of uses the attack cannot be used, which is not true for many of the standard special attacks.

General Characteristics

• Special attacks do not move characters or interfere with item use and casting, because of this, special attacks can be used while a character is casting nanos, or using items.
• Except for backstab, aimed shot, and sneak attack, the attack rating for a special attack is based on the skill in that attack skill.
• Ranged Attacks require you to expend ammunition to use them, if your gun is empty and you attempt to use a special attack it will prompt a reload sequence. If there is no ammo, then the special attack cannot be used.
• Melee special attacks are often required to be executed at very close range to the target.

Formulas

Included are rough guess formulas for determining the rate a special attack recharges. Some terms might be confusing so they will be listed here.

• 'Skill' generaly means the rating of the skill as the same name as the special attack.
• 'Attack' means the attack time of the weapon you are using.
• 'Recharge' means the recharge time of the weapon you are using.
• 'Delay' means the special attack has a modifier that is determined by the weapon that factors into the recharge calculation. These numbers can be found at www.AOmainframe.com

Standard Special Attacks

Fling Shot

Fling Shot is a ranged special attack that is executed by whiping the pistol barrel as though you are 'flinging' the bullet. This special attack works the same as any normal attack, except it is used at the player's command, so the damage will be the same or similar to a normal attack depending on the level of Fling Shot skill. Flingshot is found most commonly on pistol type weapons. Fling Shot uses up one unit of ammunition.

Recharge Time: (Attack x 16) - Fling skill/100
Minimum Recharge Time: 6 Seconds + Attack

Burst

Burst fire uses a semi-automatic mechanism to fire three shots at the target. The damage for the shot is calculated as though three shots were fired and hit and the damage added together. The most common weapons to use Burst are MG/SMG type weapons. Burst uses up three units of ammunition.

Recharge Time: (Recharge x 20) + Burst Delay - Burst Skill/25
Minimum Recharge Time: 8 Seconds + Attack

Full Auto

A Fully Automatic attack causes the weapon to fire all of its remaining ammunition at the target. This isn't always as efficient as some would like though, as the Full Auto Skill determines how many bullets actualy hit the intended target up to a maximum of 15 bullets. This damage is also effected by how many shots are remaining in the weapon, so if there are only five bullets in the gun then a maximum of 5 bullets have a chance to hit even if a character normal could hit with as many as 15. Full Auto is found most commonly on Assualt Rifle type weapons. Full Auto completely empties the ammunition on a weapon when used.

Recharge Time: (Recharge x 40) + Full Auto Delay - FA skill/25
Minimum Recharge Time: 10 seconds + Attack

Aimed Shot

Also called 'Snipe' this attack is a shot that is carefuly aimed to automaticaly hit. Aimed Shot is a truly special attack because it ignores most normal rules for combat, because of this it has slightly different rules for use in Player vs Enemy combat and Player vs Player combat. In PvE, the target you are trying to fire on needs to be unaware of your pressence, which ussualy requires the sniper to be far off from the target and/or use the concealment skill. In PvP, Aimed Shot automaticaly hits. The damage on Aimed Shot ignores Armor, ignores dodge chance, and deals the maximum damage of the weapon, augmented by a multiplier. The multiplier is determined by your aimed shot skill divided by 7. Aimed Shot is most commonly found on Rifle type weapons. Aimed Shot uses 1 unit of ammunition.

Recharge Time: (Recharge x 40) - (3 x AS skill/100)
Minimum Recharge Time: 10 seconds + Attack

Fast Attack

A Fast Attack is a quick attack of oppertunity that relies mostly on speed to get included between a normal attack pattern. In essence, Fast Attack is just another attack only with damage being calculated as a function of your Fast Attack skill instead of weapon skill. Fast Attack is commonly found on Sword type weapons.

Recharge Time: (Attack x 16) - Fast Attack Skill/100
Minimum Recharge Time: 6 Seconds + Attack

Brawl

A brawl is a rough and tumble special attack that generaly involves some sort of punching, kicking, or wrestling.

Sneak Attack

Recharge Time: 40 - Sneak Attack skill/150
Minimum Recharge Time:

Back Stab

Backstab is really a revision of Sneak Attack that only applies to Shades and Adventurers. The special attack is enabled at various levels of Sneak Attack skill for each profession, and requires increasing levels of base, non-buffed, non-implanted, skill to acheive greater damage multipliers. To use this attack the character must be standing behind the target, which can be difficult if the character has the attention of the monster. For Adventurers this attack is enabled at 350 Sneak Attack skill, and the damage multipler goes up ever 540 Skill, and critical backstabs are enabled at 625 Sneak Attack Skill. Back Stab Damage is capped at 13K. Backstab is applied to any weapon that also does Sneak Attack.

Recharge Time: (40 - Sneak Attack skill/150)/2
Minimum Recharge Time:

Sources

The Facts about Weapons
The Mystery of Special Recharges Solved!
Backstabbing Explained

--Berael 21:55, 1 March 2007 (CET)