Main Combat Rules That Win Fights 🏆⚔️

Rule 1: Don’t fight fair if you don’t have to 😈

The best fights are the ones where you already have an advantage: high ground, line-of-sight, cooldowns ready, allies nearby, target isolated, or the enemy is busy with mobs.

Bold line: A “fair fight” is a coin flip. A prepared fight is a win.

Rule 2: Movement is your first defense 🏃‍♂️

If you stand still too much, you’re basically donating free damage. Even in PvE, moving well means:

• you dodge pressure,
• you break enemy aim,
• you force enemies to waste time repositioning.

Quick habit: stutter-step (move between casts/attacks), instead of planting your feet.

Rule 3: Your camera is a weapon 🎥

A lot of “combat skill” is just awareness. You want to see:

• who’s flanking,
• who’s missing,
• who’s low HP,
• where the escape routes are.

Bold line: If you don’t know what’s happening around you, you’re already losing.

Rule 4: Play around cooldowns, not emotions ⏳

Most deaths happen right after someone panics:

• they blow everything at once,
• they chase too far,
• they forget their escape button,
• they fight when their kit is empty.

Simple rule: If your big cooldowns are down and theirs are up, reset or disengage.

Rule 5: Always keep one “reset” option 🛡️

Reset = anything that lets you survive a bad moment:

• a dash/blink/mobility tool,
• a CC break,
• a defensive cooldown,
• a big heal,
• or even just line-of-sight behind terrain.

Bold line: Winning players don’t “never make mistakes.” They survive their mistakes.

Rule 6: Don’t split your damage 🗡️

If you’re in a group and everyone hits different targets, nobody dies.

If you focus one target, somebody drops fast, and the fight becomes easier.

Quick mental trick: Pick “the easiest kill,” not “the scariest enemy.”

The easiest kill usually means:

• isolated,
• already low,
• used their defensive tools,
• or caught in a bad position.

Rule 7: Target selection is half of skill 🎯

A clean target pick can be stronger than perfect mechanics.

In most fights, you should attack in this order:

1. isolated squishies
2. squishies with cooldowns down
3. supports that can be reached safely
4. frontline only when you must

Bold line: Hit what you can kill, not what you hate.

Positioning 101 (Frontline vs Backline) 🛡️🎯

Positioning is what turns a messy brawl into a controlled fight.

Frontline job (tank/bruiser vibe) 🧱

Your job isn’t “do damage.” Your job is:

• take space,
• block paths,
• protect your backline,
• force enemies to fight in the wrong place.

Frontline positioning rules:

• Don’t over-dive alone.
• Fight in a spot where your support can reach you.
• If you push forward, your backline must be ready to follow the pressure.

Bold line: Frontline wins fights by controlling space, not by chasing kills.

Backline job (ranged DPS/support vibe) 🎯💚

Your job is:

• stay alive,
• keep uptime,
• punish enemies who step too far,
• and save allies from dives.

Backline positioning rules:

• Always have a “kite line” (a path you’ll run if pressured).
• Stay near cover (trees, rocks, walls—anything that breaks line-of-sight).
• Don’t stand in the open just because you’re “ranged.”

Bold line: Backline damage only matters if you’re alive long enough to cast it.

The space between them (the danger zone) ⚠️

New players die in the middle space:

• too far from their frontline to be protected,
• too far from their backline to be healed,
• and too close to enemies to escape.

If you feel like you’re “in the middle,” you probably are. Fix it by:

• stepping back behind your frontline,
• or committing forward with your team (not alone).

How to hold good angles (easy version) 🧠

Instead of standing directly behind your frontline in a straight line, try to:

• take a slight side angle,
• keep cover close,
• and avoid being clumped with your whole team.

Why it works:

• enemies can’t hit everyone at once,
• you can see flanks sooner,
• and you can retreat cleanly.

Mini drill (do this daily) ✅

In any fight, ask yourself every 5 seconds:

• “If I get jumped right now, where do I run?”
• If you don’t have an answer, reposition.

CC Basics (Stun, Root, Slow) + When to Use Each 🧊🔒

Ashes uses a hybrid combat style, and CC is one of the biggest skill separators because it changes who gets to act in a fight.

The 3 CC types you’ll use constantly

Stun (Hard CC) 🧱

Stun is your “stop playing the game” button. Use it for:

• securing a kill during burst windows,
• stopping a dangerous cast,
• peeling a diver off your support/backline.

Best stun timing:

• when the enemy has no escape ready,
• when your team is ready to focus,
• or when the enemy commits to a big action (dive, channel, finisher).

Bold line: Stuns are wasted if nobody can follow up.

Root (Lockdown) 🌱

Root stops movement, but not necessarily actions. Use it for:

• preventing escape,
• setting up ranged pressure,
• holding someone in a bad spot (like in front of your frontline).

Best root timing:

• right after they use a dash,
• when they’re trying to kite away,
• when they’re forced to choose between fighting and dying.

Bold line: Root is strongest after the enemy spends mobility.

Slow (Tempo control) 🐢

Slow feels “small,” but it wins fights over time by:

• making kiting easier,
• making chases safer,
• making it harder for enemies to reposition,
• and forcing bad trades.

Best slow timing:

• early in the fight to set the pace,
• on targets trying to disengage,
• on divers to protect your backline.

Bold line: Slows don’t kill people. They make kills unavoidable.

CC chaining: how to do it without wasting it

New players stack CC on top of CC and waste most of it.

Instead:

• Use one CC → let your team follow up → then use the next CC when they try to escape.
• If your game has diminishing returns (common in modern MMO CC systems), you want to avoid spamming the same CC type back-to-back.

Simple CC chain example

• Slow to control movement
• Root after their dash
• Stun right before your burst lands
• Reset if the kill doesn’t happen

Peel CC vs Kill CC (this is huge)

Kill CC = used to secure a kill (offensive)

Peel CC = used to save an ally (defensive)

Most groups lose because they use all CC offensively, then their support gets jumped and nobody can peel.

Bold line: If your support dies first, you didn’t “lose damage.” You lost discipline.

Burst Windows vs Sustain Trades 💥🧱

This is the difference between “random button mashing” and “winning fights on purpose.”

Burst window fights 💥

Burst is when you try to delete someone fast:

• engage clean,
• CC them,
• dump damage,
• get out.

Burst works best when:

• you have numbers advantage,
• target is isolated,
• target used defensives already,
• your team is coordinated.

Burst checklist ✅

• Do we have a target call?
• Do we have CC ready?
• Do we have damage ready?
• Do we have a reset if it fails?

Bold line: Burst without a reset is just a fancy way to die.

Sustain trade fights 🧱

Sustain fights are slower and more controlled:

• you trade cooldowns,
• you hold space,
• you keep pressure,
• you outlast them.

Sustain works best when:

• your comp is tanky or support-heavy,
• you can deny enemy burst,
• you can maintain uptime and positioning.

Sustain checklist ✅

• Can we protect our backline?
• Can we stop dives?
• Do we have consistent damage?
• Are we forcing them to waste cooldowns?

Bold line: Sustain wins by making the enemy run out of options.

How to read the fight in 5 seconds 👀

Ask:

• Are enemies rushing hard? (burst attempt)
• Are they poking and backing off? (trade attempt)
• Did they use big cooldowns? (they’re vulnerable)
• Did we lose positioning? (reset now)

If you can read the fight, you can choose the right response:

• burst back,
• trade defensively,
• or disengage clean.

How to Survive Ganks and Bad Pulls 😅🏃‍♂️

Survival is a skill—and it’s one that makes you rich, geared, and confident long-term.

Surviving ganks: the mindset 🧠

The goal isn’t “win every 1vX.”

The goal is:

• survive,
• escape,
• or stall until help arrives.

Bold line: Escaping a gank is a win.

The 10-second gank survival plan ✅

When someone jumps you:

1. Stop looting / stop greed (your brain wants to finish the mob—don’t)
2. Break line-of-sight (run around terrain, not in open fields)
3. Use slow/root defensively (peel first, don’t instantly burst)
4. Force them to chase into a bad angle
5. Reset (mount, stealth, sprint, whatever your kit allows)

Use terrain like a pro 🪨

Terrain is free defense:

• corners break targeting,
• slopes break clean engages,
• trees/rocks break ranged pressure.

If you’re getting chased, don’t run straight. Run like you’re trying to “turn off” their damage.

Bold line: Straight lines get you killed. Corners save you.

Avoid “bad pull deaths” in PvE 🧟‍♂️

Bad pulls happen when:

• you over-pull,
• you fight near respawns,
• you don’t watch patrols,
• you’re tired and autopiloting.

Fix it with three habits:

• Pull near an escape path.
• Don’t fight with your back to extra mobs.
• If something feels wrong, reset early.

Bold line: Reset early = survive. Reset late = panic death.

Know the PvP rules so you don’t grief yourself 😅

Ashes has a player flagging/corruption system where killing certain targets can cause heavy penalties, including increased chance of dropping equipped gear when corrupted.

You don’t need to memorize every detail to survive ganks, but you should understand the basics so you don’t:

• take bait fights,
• chase into traps,
• or make decisions that punish you later.

Bold line: Sometimes the best combat move is not taking the fight.

Group Fighting Basics (Peel, Focus Targets, Reset) 🤝⚔️

Group fights are where Ashes shines, and also where most teams look messy.

Peel: protecting your backline 🛡️

Peel means stopping enemies from deleting your squishies.

Peel tools include:

• stuns on divers,
• roots on melee chasers,
• slows on flankers,
• body-blocking,
• forcing enemies to fight your frontline instead.

Bold line: Peel wins fights you “should” lose.

Focus targets: how to do it clean 🎯

You don’t need fancy callouts—just consistent ones:

• “Focus the isolated target.”
• “Focus the diver.”
• “Focus the low HP, no escape.”
• “Swap if they pop defensives.”

One person calls the target (shotcaller). Everyone else follows.

Bold line: One target call is worth more than five opinions.

Reset: the skill that separates good groups ✅

Reset means you stop feeding and restart the fight on better terms.

Good reset habits:

• Don’t chase too far.
• Don’t fight split.
• If your support is pressured, pull back and peel.
• If you used big cooldowns and didn’t get a kill, disengage and wait.

Bold line: If your group never resets, your group will eventually wipe—every time.

Caravan group basics (simple and effective) 🚚

For caravan-style fights:

• 1–2 players scout ahead
• frontline stays close to the objective
• backline stays protected and doesn’t roam
• CC is saved for divers and choke points

Most caravan losses happen when the group:

• spreads out,
• chases one target,
• and leaves the objective exposed.

Dungeon group basics 🗝️

Dungeon combat is mostly:

• positioning,
• interrupt discipline,
• and not panicking when things go wrong.

A clean dungeon group usually has:

• a pull leader,
• a CC/interrupt priority caller,
• and a “reset early” mindset.

Common Combat Mistakes and Fixes ❌✅

Here are the mistakes that make fights feel unfair—and the fixes that instantly improve your win rate.

Mistake: Tunnel vision (you only see your target) 👁️

Fix:

• check your surroundings every few seconds,
• track enemy flankers,
• don’t chase into blind territory.

Bold line: If you can’t see the fight, you can’t win the fight.

Mistake: Overchasing 🏃‍♂️💀

Fix:

• set a chase limit (like “3 seconds max”),
• return to your team and objective.

Mistake: Blowing all cooldowns at once 💥

Fix:

• stagger your tools,
• keep one defensive or escape option.

Mistake: Using CC with no follow-up 🧊

Fix:

• CC when your team can hit,
• or CC to peel and save allies.

Mistake: Standing in the open 🎯

Fix:

• fight near cover,
• use corners and terrain.

Mistake: Fighting with full bags / full greed 🎒

Fix:

• bank often,
• travel light when you’re exploring contested areas.

Mistake: Ignoring roles (everyone tries to be the hero) 😅

Fix:

• frontline controls space,
• backline stays alive and outputs,
• support gets protected.

Ashes supports the classic trinity role structure (Tank, DPS, Support), and fights get way smoother when your group respects that.

Conclusion: A Simple Practice Plan That Makes You Better Fast 🎮📌

If you want real improvement (not just “I watched a guide”), do this:

Daily 10-minute drill

• Practice moving while keeping your camera aware.
• Practice “attack → step → attack” rhythm.
• Practice line-of-sight movement around terrain.

In real fights, focus on ONE skill per session

• Today: positioning
• Next time: CC timing
• Next time: resets
• Next time: target priority

Bold line: You don’t need perfect mechanics. You need clean habits. ✅🔥

When your movement is clean, your CC is timed, and your reset decisions are smart—combat becomes way less stressful and way more fun.