Winds of Valen — Guides
🧪 Damage Types & Weapon Choice Guide
How to read enemy weaknesses, pick the right weapon, and match the right shield — the single most important combat skill in Winds of Valen.
Every enemy in Winds of Valen has specific attack types and specific defence weaknesses. Choosing the right weapon and shield for each fight is not optional at mid-to-high level — it is the core of how combat works in this game.
⚔️ Damage Types
There are several damage types in the game. Each weapon deals one or more of these:
| Damage Type | Dealt By | Blocked By |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy | 2-handed melee weapons, Heavy Bows | Block Shield (Defence) |
| Pierce | 1-handed weapons, Quick Bows | Parry Shield (Evasion) |
| Slash | 1-handed swords, 2-handed swords | Parry Shield (Evasion) / Block Shield (Defence) |
| Fire | Fire Wands / Staves | Warding Shield / Fire Defence gear |
| Ice | Ice Wands / Staves | Warding Shield / Ice Defence gear |
| Lightning | Lightning Wands / Staves | Warding Shield / Lightning Defence gear |
| Mystical | All magic weapons (wands & staves) | Warding Shield (Warding) |
🛡️ Shield Matching — What Blocks What
| Shield Type | Skill It Trains | Blocks |
|---|---|---|
| Block Shield | Defence | Heavy damage |
| Parry Shield (Evasion) | Evasion | Quick / Pierce attacks |
| Warding Shield | Warding | Mystical / Magic attacks |
💡 Always observe what damage type an enemy deals before engaging. Equipping the wrong shield gives little to no mitigation.
🗡️ Weapon Choice — Exploit Enemy Weaknesses
Every enemy has different defence stats. Target the lowest defence stat to maximise your damage output:
| Enemy has low... | Use this weapon type |
|---|---|
| Pierce Defence | 1-handed weapon or Quick Bow (pierce damage) |
| Slash Defence | 1-handed or 2-handed sword (slash damage) |
| Heavy Defence | 2-handed weapon or Heavy Bow (heavy damage) |
| Fire Defence | Fire Wand or Fire Staff |
| Ice Defence | Ice Wand or Ice Staff |
| Lightning Defence | Lightning Wand or Lightning Staff |
💡 Always check the enemy Defence Skill Levels before deciding. EXAMPLE: A enemy with low slash defence and a high evasion skill(green) but a low Defence Skill(red) is best attacked with a Heavy Slash weapon. See full example below the guide.
🔄 The Full Efficient Combat Loop
Step 1: Identify the enemy's attack type → equip the matching shield.
Step 2: Check the enemy's lowest defence stat → equip the weapon type that exploits it.
Step 3: Set stance to Attack to train offensive skills, or Defence to train your shield skill.
Step 4: Fight. If the enemy switches attack type (e.g. bosses), swap your shield accordingly.
Step 2: Check the enemy's lowest defence stat → equip the weapon type that exploits it.
Step 3: Set stance to Attack to train offensive skills, or Defence to train your shield skill.
Step 4: Fight. If the enemy switches attack type (e.g. bosses), swap your shield accordingly.
📋 Quick Reference: Weapons by Damage Type
| Weapon | Damage Type(s) | Can Use Shield? |
|---|---|---|
| 1-Handed Sword | Slash, Pierce | ✅ Yes |
| Melee 2-Handed Weapon | Slash, Pierce, Heavy | ❌ No |
| Bow | Pierce, Heavy | ❌ No |
📖 Damage and Block Example: Skeleton Knight (Level 26)
Let's walk through the full decision process for this enemy:
| Skeleton Knight — Attack Stats (determine which shield to equip) | |
|---|---|
| Quick Damage | 0 |
| Heavy Damage | 80 🔴 (highest → equip a Block Shield) |
| Mystical Damage | 0 |
| Skeleton Knight — Defence Skills (determine damage reduction) | |
|---|---|
| Defence | 20 |
| Evasion | 15 🔴 (lowest → use Quick/Pierce weapons) |
| Warding | 20 |
| Skeleton Knight — Defence Stats (determine hit accuracy) | |
|---|---|
| Pierce Defence | 50 |
| Slash Defence | 15 🔴 (lowest → highest accuracy) |
| Ice Defence | 75 |
| Fire Defence | 20 |
| Lightning Defence | 5 🟢 (very low → best accuracy for magic) |
Step 1 — Shield: Heavy Damage is 80, Quick and Mystical are 0 → equip a Block Shield to mitigate all incoming damage.
Step 2 — Weapon: Evasion is the lowest defence skill (15) → use a Quick Damage weapon to maximise damage reduction bypass.
Step 3 — Weapon: Slash defence stat is only 15 → slash weapons will land most accurately. Combined with the low Evasion skill, a Quick Slash weapon gives the best results. Best current option: Mithril Sword.
Step 4 — Magic alternative: Lightning defence is extremely low (5), giving excellent hit accuracy — but Warding skill (20) will reduce Lightning damage somewhat. Still a viable option if you prefer magic.
Conclusion: Equip a Block Shield to handle the Heavy attacks, and use a Quick Slash weapon (e.g. Mithril Sword) to exploit the low Evasion skill and low Slash defence. Lightning magic is the best magic alternative despite the Warding penalty.
Step 2 — Weapon: Evasion is the lowest defence skill (15) → use a Quick Damage weapon to maximise damage reduction bypass.
Step 3 — Weapon: Slash defence stat is only 15 → slash weapons will land most accurately. Combined with the low Evasion skill, a Quick Slash weapon gives the best results. Best current option: Mithril Sword.
Step 4 — Magic alternative: Lightning defence is extremely low (5), giving excellent hit accuracy — but Warding skill (20) will reduce Lightning damage somewhat. Still a viable option if you prefer magic.
Conclusion: Equip a Block Shield to handle the Heavy attacks, and use a Quick Slash weapon (e.g. Mithril Sword) to exploit the low Evasion skill and low Slash defence. Lightning magic is the best magic alternative despite the Warding penalty.
💡 Key Tips
- Combining the right shield to reduce damage taken with the right weapon to exploit weakness significantly improves survivability, damage output, and skill training speed.
- At higher levels, choosing the wrong shield becomes much more punishing — enemies hit harder and the mitigation difference is larger.
- Check the Enemy List page on this site for specific enemy weaknesses per mob.
- Boss enemies often alternate between multiple attack types — be ready to swap shields mid-fight.
- Some Bosses have 2 strong or identically strong Damage stats. This is because some bosses switch damage type mid fight (Example: heavy to mystical)