> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://coppercore-smp.gitbook.io/coppercore-wiki/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://coppercore-smp.gitbook.io/coppercore-wiki/plugin-guides/mcmmo/melee-combat-skills.md).

# ✦ ── Melee Combat Skills

mcMMO's Melee Combat Skills improve as you fight using different weapons.

Coppercore has five melee skills:

* **Swords**
* **Axes**
* **Maces**
* **Spears**
* **Unarmed**

Combat XP is earned by successfully damaging eligible mobs or players with the appropriate weapon.

Different mobs can award different amounts of XP, and the usual mcMMO anti-farming restrictions still apply - mobs produced by Spawners, Spawn Eggs or Nether Portals do not award mcMMO XP.

***

### Limit Break

All five melee skills have their own version of **Limit Break**.

Limit Break is a passive ability designed to deal additional damage against **armoured players**.

It has 10 ranks, unlocking every 100 levels:

| Rank | Skill Level |
| ---- | ----------- |
| 1    | 100         |
| 2    | 200         |
| 3    | 300         |
| 4    | 400         |
| 5    | 500         |
| 6    | 600         |
| 7    | 700         |
| 8    | 800         |
| 9    | 900         |
| 10   | 1,000       |

The heavier and higher-quality the target's armour, the more of the available Limit Break bonus is applied.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** On Coppercore, Limit Break applies to **PvP only**. The other abilities of these skills can still function in PvE where applicable.
{% endhint %}

***

### Swords

**Swords** is trained by fighting with swords.

The skill specialises in bleeding enemies, reflecting incoming damage and improving direct sword damage at higher levels.

#### Swords Abilities

| Ability                | Unlock    | Effect                                                                         |
| ---------------------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Rupture**            | Level 1   | Gives sword attacks a chance to inflict a damaging bleed.                      |
| **Serrated Strikes**   | Level 50  | Active ability which strengthens attacks and spreads damage to nearby enemies. |
| **Swords Limit Break** | Level 100 | Adds bonus damage against armoured players.                                    |
| **Counter Attack**     | Level 200 | Gives a chance to reflect part of incoming damage back at the attacker.        |
| **Stab**               | Level 750 | Adds permanent bonus damage to sword attacks.                                  |

#### Rupture

Rupture can activate from the beginning of your Swords progression.

When triggered, the target suffers additional damage over time.

Rupture has four ranks:

| Rank | Swords Level |
| ---- | ------------ |
| 1    | 1            |
| 2    | 150          |
| 3    | 750          |
| 4    | 900          |

Its activation chance increases significantly with each rank:

**15% → 33% → 40% → 66%**

Rupture lasts for up to **5 seconds**, with higher ranks also increasing its damage.

#### Serrated Strikes

Serrated Strikes unlocks at **Swords level 50**.

To prepare the ability, **right-click while holding a sword**, then attack an enemy.

While active, your sword attacks become more dangerous and can affect enemies around your main target in addition to applying additional bleeding effects.

Its active duration increases as your Swords level rises.

Serrated Strikes has a **4-minute cooldown**.

#### Counter Attack

Counter Attack unlocks at **level 200**.

While holding a sword, taking damage from a mob or player has a chance to reflect **half of the incoming damage** back at whoever attacked you.

The activation chance continues improving with your Swords level, reaching a maximum of **30% at level 1,000**.

#### Stab

Stab is a high-level passive damage bonus.

It has two ranks:

| Rank | Swords Level |
| ---- | ------------ |
| 1    | 750          |
| 2    | 1,000        |

Once unlocked, Stab adds bonus damage to every properly charged sword attack rather than relying on a random activation chance.

At full attack charge, the two ranks provide approximately:

* **Rank 1:** +2.5 HP damage
* **Rank 2:** +4 HP damage

***

### Axes

**Axes** is trained by fighting with axes.

Axes specialise in heavy damage, critical hits, armour damage and powerful area attacks.

#### Axes Abilities

| Ability              | Unlock    | Effect                                                       |
| -------------------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Critical Strikes** | Level 1   | Gives axe attacks a chance to deal greatly increased damage. |
| **Skull Splitter**   | Level 50  | Active area-of-effect attack.                                |
| **Axe Mastery**      | Level 50  | Adds permanent bonus axe damage.                             |
| **Axes Limit Break** | Level 100 | Adds bonus damage against armoured players.                  |
| **Greater Impact**   | Level 250 | Can knock back and damage unarmoured targets.                |
| **Armor Impact**     | Level 1   | Gives attacks a chance to damage enemy armour durability.    |

#### Critical Strikes

Critical Strikes gives axe attacks a chance to deal significantly increased damage.

The chance scales with your Axes level, eventually reaching a maximum **37.5% chance at level 1,000**.

When triggered, the damage multiplier is:

* **2x damage against mobs**
* **1.5x damage against players**

#### Axe Mastery

Axe Mastery adds permanent bonus damage to axe attacks.

Ranks unlock at:

| Rank | Axes Level | Bonus Damage |
| ---- | ---------- | ------------ |
| 1    | 50         | +1 HP        |
| 2    | 100        | +2 HP        |
| 3    | 150        | +3 HP        |
| 4    | 200        | +4 HP        |

These values assume a fully charged attack. Spam-clicked attacks receive a proportionally smaller bonus.

#### Skull Splitter

Skull Splitter unlocks at **Axes level 50**.

To prepare it, **right-click while holding an axe**, then attack an enemy.

While active, axe attacks deal a portion of their damage to other enemies close to your main target, effectively turning your axe into a temporary area-of-effect weapon.

Its duration increases with Axes level.

Skull Splitter has a **4-minute cooldown**.

#### Greater Impact

Greater Impact unlocks at **level 250**.

When attacking an **unarmoured target**, each hit has a flat **25% chance** to trigger Greater Impact.

A successful hit:

* Deals additional damage
* Strongly knocks the target backwards

#### Armor Impact

Armor Impact does the opposite: it specialises in attacking **armoured targets**.

It has 20 ranks, beginning at level 1 and continuing throughout Axes progression up to level 1,000.

Each attack against an armoured target has a chance to inflict additional **durability damage** on their equipped armour.

The amount of durability damage increases dramatically with Armor Impact's rank.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** Armor Impact damages the armour itself — it is separate from Limit Break, which increases the damage dealt to the player wearing it.
{% endhint %}

***

### Maces

**Maces** is trained by successfully striking mobs or players with a mace.

Unlike several older combat skills, Maces currently has **no active super ability**. Its progression is entirely passive.

It focuses on increasing mace damage and slowing enemies after successful hits.

#### Maces Abilities

| Ability               | Unlock    | Effect                                        |
| --------------------- | --------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| **Cripple**           | Level 50  | Gives mace hits a chance to inflict Slowness. |
| **Maces Limit Break** | Level 100 | Adds bonus damage against armoured players.   |
| **Crush**             | Level 100 | Permanently increases mace damage.            |

#### Cripple

Cripple gives mace attacks a chance to temporarily slow their target.

It has four ranks:

| Rank | Maces Level | Chance |
| ---- | ----------- | ------ |
| 1    | 50          | 10%    |
| 2    | 200         | 15%    |
| 3    | 400         | 20%    |
| 4    | 800         | 33%    |

The effect is stronger against mobs than against players.

#### Crush

Crush permanently adds extra damage to mace attacks.

| Rank | Maces Level | Bonus Damage |
| ---- | ----------- | ------------ |
| 1    | 100         | +1.5 HP      |
| 2    | 250         | +2.5 HP      |
| 3    | 750         | +3.5 HP      |
| 4    | 900         | +4.5 HP      |

As with other melee damage bonuses, the final effect is influenced by the strength of the attack.

***

### Spears

**Spears** is trained by successfully striking mobs or players with a spear.

Like Maces, Spears currently has **no active super ability**.

Instead, the skill focuses on permanent damage improvements and temporary movement-speed bonuses.

#### Spears Abilities

| Ability                | Unlock    | Effect                                             |
| ---------------------- | --------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| **Momentum**           | Level 1   | Gives successful hits a chance to grant Speed III. |
| **Spear Mastery**      | Level 50  | Adds permanent bonus spear damage.                 |
| **Spears Limit Break** | Level 100 | Adds bonus damage against armoured players.        |

#### Momentum

Momentum gives each successful spear hit a chance to grant you **Speed III**.

Both the activation chance and effectiveness improve through its 10 ranks.

| Rank | Spears Level | Chance |
| ---- | ------------ | ------ |
| 1    | 1            | 5%     |
| 2    | 100          | 10%    |
| 3    | 150          | 15%    |
| 4    | 200          | 20%    |
| 5    | 250          | 25%    |
| 6    | 400          | 30%    |
| 7    | 500          | 35%    |
| 8    | 600          | 40%    |
| 9    | 800          | 45%    |
| 10   | 950          | 50%    |

At its highest rank, **half of successful spear hits** have a chance to trigger Momentum.

#### Spear Mastery

Spear Mastery adds permanent bonus damage to spear attacks.

It has eight ranks:

| Rank | Spears Level | Bonus Damage |
| ---- | ------------ | ------------ |
| 1    | 50           | +0.4 HP      |
| 2    | 150          | +0.8 HP      |
| 3    | 300          | +1.2 HP      |
| 4    | 450          | +1.6 HP      |
| 5    | 600          | +2.0 HP      |
| 6    | 750          | +2.4 HP      |
| 7    | 900          | +2.8 HP      |
| 8    | 1,000        | +3.2 HP      |

***

### Unarmed

**Unarmed** is exactly what it sounds like: beating things up with your bare hands.

Items do **not** count as Unarmed weapons on Coppercore, so you'll need an empty hand to properly train and use the skill.

Unarmed provides improved fist damage alongside defensive and PvP-focused abilities.

#### Unarmed Abilities

| Ability                 | Unlock    | Effect                                                          |
| ----------------------- | --------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Steel Arm Style**     | Level 1   | Permanently increases unarmed damage.                           |
| **Berserk**             | Level 50  | Temporarily increases unarmed damage and block-breaking power.  |
| **Unarmed Limit Break** | Level 100 | Adds bonus damage against armoured players.                     |
| **Arrow Deflect**       | Level 200 | Gives a chance to deflect incoming projectiles.                 |
| **Disarm**              | Level 250 | Gives attacks a chance to knock an opponent's held weapon away. |
| **Iron Grip**           | Level 600 | Gives resistance against another player's Disarm.               |

#### Steel Arm Style

Steel Arm Style is the core passive damage bonus for Unarmed combat.

It begins at level 1 and gains additional ranks throughout progression, ultimately reaching **Rank 20 at level 1,000**.

As your rank increases, your bare-handed attacks deal progressively more damage.

#### Berserk

Berserk unlocks at **Unarmed level 50**.

Activate it by **right-clicking while unarmed**, then begin attacking.

While Berserk is active:

* Unarmed attacks deal **1.5x damage**
* Your fists can rapidly break certain soft blocks
* **Block Cracker** can affect supported blocks while Berserk is active

Its duration increases with your Unarmed level.

Berserk has a **4-minute cooldown**.

#### Arrow Deflect

Arrow Deflect unlocks at **level 200**.

It provides a chance to automatically deflect incoming projectiles while fighting unarmed.

The chance increases with your Unarmed level, eventually reaching a maximum of **50% at level 1,000**.

#### Disarm

Disarm unlocks at **level 250**.

When fighting another player bare-handed, successful attacks have a chance to **knock the item they are holding out of their hand**.

The chance improves as Unarmed increases, reaching a maximum of **33% at level 1,000**.

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Important:** Disarm is primarily a PvP mechanic.
{% endhint %}

#### Iron Grip

Iron Grip unlocks at **level 600**.

It acts as a defence against **Disarm**, giving you a chance to prevent another player's Unarmed attack from knocking away your held item.

The success chance continues improving with your Unarmed level and reaches **100% at level 1,000**.

***

### Active Ability Cooldowns

Only three of Coppercore's current melee skills have traditional active super abilities:

| Ability          | Skill   | Cooldown  |
| ---------------- | ------- | --------- |
| Serrated Strikes | Swords  | 4 minutes |
| Skull Splitter   | Axes    | 4 minutes |
| Berserk          | Unarmed | 4 minutes |

Maces and Spears currently rely entirely on passive abilities.

***

### Checking Your Skills

Use the skill commands for more information about your current levels and abilities:

`/swords`

`/axes`

`/maces`

`/spears`

`/unarmed`

Your overall mcMMO progress can also be viewed with:

`/mcstats`

{% hint style="info" %}
**Final reminder:** Each melee weapon has its own mcMMO skill. Switching from a sword to an axe, mace, spear or your bare fists means you'll be training a different progression path with its own abilities and level.
{% endhint %}