- See also States' effect on Combat
In combat, targets can be put into four possible states make them more vulnerable to certain abilities.
An example of states in gameplay is one player using an ability to put an enemy on fire, and another player using an ability that does extra damage to targets on fire.
In short: States are debuffs on the enemy.
Various skills can create status effects on the player or the player's target.
This offers tactical advantages for Secret Worlders in combat.
Each weapon type can inflict two primary states.
Rooted or snared.
Stun, knocked to the ground, or obstructed.
Debilitated, corrupted, or exposed
Damage over time
By contrast, Sub-types are the scope of attack targeting: Strike comprise most of the single-target attacks. Bursts are most of the single-target attacks with multiple hits. Focus attacks must be sustained to do (increasing) damage over time. Frenzy attacks hit targets within an area (Area of Effect, or AoE). Blast is usually a cone-shaped area of damage. Chain attacks spread to do damage to other targets nearby.
The most effective States are: Often the best, and overall tied for first, is Impaired, because it enables the most damage; the trouble with Impairment is that later in the game, it will become useless against some enemies; they actually become stronger if you use it! Tied for first, because of this defect and sometimes the best, because defence is inevitably a preferable stance to offence in some circumstances, is the defensive State of Weakened. Third is Afflicted, because it applies extra damage directly, but can cause enemies to become stronger when inflicted on them, and last is Hindered, because it is only useful at range, is defensive not offensive, and because it also can cause enemies to become stronger.[1]
Some beneficial abilities can target the states of friendly targets.
Possible States[]
Hindered[]
- Reduce Enemies' Movement Speed. Facilitates solo ranged damage dealing by reducing healing time. Not a group-friendly ability outside of the somewhat unlikely event that the entire squad is ranged
Hindered represents inflicted leg injuries, difficult terrain, or else some other means of slowing down the enemy. While Hindered, enemies are slowed or even Rooted, based on the strength of the ability, the Attack Rating of the player, and the Defensive stats of the enemy or enemies being targeted. Hindering abilities are best used at a distance, and are preferred by characters focusing on ranged Damage-per-Second (DPS) and Crowd Control ability builds. Assault Rifle, Elementalism, Pistol, Shotgun
Afflicted[]
- Damage Over Time; DoT
Afflicted state represents poison, bleeding injuries, being on fire or electrocuted, or any number of other effects that might cause continuing damage to an enemy. While Afflicted, enemies will continue to take small hits of damage every second (Damage-over-Time, or DoT) until the state has worn off. Afflicted is incorporated into both Melee and Ranged DPS builds, as a way of supplementing existing damage effects. A common state, and also a common state to be Exploited. Assault Rifle, Blade, Blood Magic, Elementalism, Fist
Impaired[]
- Reduce Enemies' Defense. Increases damage. Ideally speaking, the most useful effect. Killing things is the point. In less than ideal conditions, more defensive abilities may be more useful
Impaired state represents concussions, blinding or deafening, and other effects that would diminish an enemy's ability to react to the world around them. This lowers their defenses, allowing attacks to Penetrate more often, and deal better damage. Stuns, knockbacks and silences are typically used in conjunction with the Impaired state. Impaired state is incorporated into Ability Builds that focus on Crowd Control, as well as Melee DPS builds. Blade, Blood Magic, Chaos Magic, Fist, Hammer
Weakened[]
- Reduce Enemies' Damage. Facilitates healing, or on weaker enemies, increases player damage, as healers can fight more
Weakened state represents lowering an enemy's strength and ability to fight, which causes them to deal less damage, and inflict Glancing blows more often. Weakened state, in other words, represents the classical MMO 'debuff' effect. While all builds can potentially benefit from Weakened state, Healer/Support builds in particular like to use it, especially in combination with Leech attacks. Chaos Magic, Hammer, Pistol, Shotgun
Note that many Pistol abilities Weaken by means of a single stack of the Corrupted effect, which also reduces the effectiveness of heal, barrier and leech effects by 5% per stack for 10 seconds.
Exposed[]
- Accounts vary as to the nature of this effect, other than it is extremely powerful in the original game and has been modified extensively in Legends. More info needed.
Chaos Magic has a handful of abilities that cause this effect; in Legends, it was removed from Chaos and added to other lines, probably because it was deemed too powerful for a single line. It is not entirely clear from the description, but it seems very much as though the word "stack" was at least one time used to imply something that is not true: that the debuff becomes greater (adds together, or stacks higher). If only the duration increases, repeated applications would be a waste of time, since the first application lasts longer anyway, and there would be diminishing returns from the additional applications having a lesser effect until the first runs out. This would then make the most efficient course, to apply the effect and then use other more damaging abilities.
Version 1[]
Causes Weakened with 1 stack of the Exposed effect. Damage received is increased by 3% per stack for 10 seconds. Exposed can stack up to 10 times.
Version 2[]
Enemies who are Exposed receive 10% more damage from all sources. Additional applications of this effect increase the duration up to a maximum of 20 seconds.
Version 3[]
2% more damage and 10 seconds duration per stack, up to 20% and 100 seconds duration for the maximum of ten stacks.
Weapon possibilities[]
Of the 36 possible pairs of Weapons, only ten can inflict all four States. Complimentary pairs include: one from Group A plus one from Group B, or Group C plus Group D. Note that the Abilities themselves and their effect on a character's role are as or more important than the State debuffs.
Group A[]
Lure: Bonus damage with a DoT while kiting the enemy with a Snare.
- Assault Rifle - Afflicted, Hindered
- Elementalism - Afflicted, Hindered
Group B[]
Tactics: Offensive and defensive debuffs for damage and survivability. Less complementary for Chaos Magic, which can avoid enemy attacks at a distance and so needs the enemy damage debuff less.
- Chaos Magic - Impaired, Weakened
- Hammer - Impaired, Weakened
Group C[]
Assassin: Damage plus damage, with a DoT and a debuff of the enemies' defense.
- Blade - Afflicted, Impaired
- Blood Magic - Afflicted, Impaired
- Fist - Afflicted, Impaired
Group D[]
Tower: Minimizing enemy damage with a snare and a debuff of the enemies' attacks. The least complementary of the pairs; ideally, if the snare is working, the debuff is redundant. Ranged attacks are less likely to be evaded though.
Exploitation[]
See Exploit and Category:Exploiters
Certain abilities work in concert with states to perform secondary effects. For example, if an ability performs a secondary effect on a target that has been Hindered, that ability is said to 'exploit Hindered state'. The most common secondary effect for abilities is additional Damage; for example, the Shotgun ability Powder Burn exploits Hindered enemies to deal additional damage.
Other abilities may have very specific effects that trigger upon exploiting a state, including: costing less Weapon Focus, generating new or additional Weapon Focus, adding additional states to the enemy, or even purging beneficial states (buffs) from them.
Other[]
Secret World Legends SWL Schmidy's Build Guide for E5 Soloing
Weapon choices and the States that justify them
Pistol was, and may still be, the only source of the "Corrupted" effect, which reduces the effectiveness of heals heal, barrier and leech effects. A boss enemy which appears multiple times in Blue Mountain, and multiple enemies in Transylvania, are particularly difficult to vanquish without this effect. Skills: Dirty Tricks and Marked. Players who wish to pursue other lines may have to team with a Pistol user in Blue Mountain or skip the boss until they can pick up the Pistol skills in Transylvania when they have more room for those skills:
- Understanding "state" abilities - Yokai's guide to build mechanics and build philosophy