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Combat & Controls
Learn movement, targeting, stances, resources, spells, weapon abilities, parries, rolls, and Voidstep.
The combat loop
Dread Crown is server-authoritative arena combat. Position with right-click movement, manage health, mana, and stamina, switch between Magic and Weapon stance, and punish an opponent's resource or casting window.
- Weapon stance uses a two-swing sword combo: the first swing deals 5 damage for 6 stamina. Its grey feet ring marks the 1-second [400ms, 1400ms) window to re-aim a second swing for 7 damage and 7 stamina. The shared 3-second basic recharge begins after swing two, expiry, or stance-switch forfeiture.
- Magic stance gives access to Hollow, Fray, Blight, and Heal. Its 1-damage, 3-stamina punch serves as an interrupt and space check. Its shared 2-second basic recharge begins after the 400ms presentation, overlapping recovery.
- The same basic-recharge deadline carries across stance changes and blocks only another basic attack. Movement, defense, spells, and abilities become available after their normal animation restrictions.
- Taking damage during an active cast interrupts it and prevents another cast from starting for 250ms. A previously prepared spell remains held. Rolling or switching to Weapon stance also cancels an in-progress cast.
- Counterflow is always active: Weapon stance restores mana at 3.99/s while stamina restores at 1.66/s; Magic stance restores stamina at 4.98/s while mana restores at 1.33/s.
- Guarding stops stamina regeneration, and sprinting while moving drains 5 stamina/s.
- Falling from the arena is lethal. Late in a match, the Devouring Abyss reduces playable space and forces an engagement.
Default controls
These are the defaults. Permanent accounts can change them under Profile → Settings → Keybinds; saved bindings synchronize back to the game client.
| Group | Action | Default input |
|---|---|---|
| Movement | Move Character | Right Click |
| Movement | Sprint | SHIFT |
| Movement | Roll | Space |
| Combat | Spell/Ability 1 | Q |
| Combat | Spell/Ability 2 | W |
| Combat | Blight (Hold to Channel) | E |
| Combat | Heal (Hold to Charge) | R |
| Combat | Weapon Ability 1 | Q |
| Combat | Weapon Ability 2 | W |
| Combat | Parry | E |
| Combat | Weapon Ability 4 | R |
| Combat | Execute Readied Spell | Left Click |
| Combat | Switch Combat Mode | Tab |
| Combat | Cancel Ready Spell | T |
| Combat | Basic Attack | F |
| Combat | Self-Cast Ready Spell | D |
| Combat | Clear Target | X |
| Camera | Toggle Camera Mode | G |
| Camera | Recenter Camera on Player | C |
| Interface | Game Menu | ESC |
| Interface | Open Chat | Enter |
Targeting and spell execution
Aim with your cursor. Basic attacks and spell execution have separate bindings, so you can keep a spell ready while attacking.
- F — Basic Attack attacks toward the cursor in either stance without consuming your readied spell. Press F again during the grey ring window to aim the sword follow-up.
- Left click — Execute Readied Spell fires the spell at your aimed target or ground point. With no spell ready, it does nothing.
- D — Self-Cast executes a readied spell on yourself while preserving your enemy combat target. It does nothing when no spell is ready.
- X — Clear Target removes your selected combat target. Selection alone never causes an attack.
- Right-click an enemy to select them directly. Right-click the ground to move.
Magic stance reference
| Spell | Key | Mana | Cast | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hollow | Q | 18 | 1.25s | Place a warning field that rapidly collapses into a damaging void implosion. |
| Fray | W | 16 | 1.5s | Tear through matter with a focused surge of void energy. A damaging hit Frays a target holding a prepared spell, preventing its release for 0.75 seconds. |
| Blight | E | 7.5 to start, 4 per tick | Hold to channel | Hold to channel a cursor-tracked beam. Damaging contact and its 1-second residual make Hollow and Fray deal 33% increased damage. Repeated hits interrupt casting. After release, Blight takes 500ms to recover before reactivation. |
| Heal | R | 7–11 | 0.75–1.5s | Focus your will to restore life through discipline and control. Hold to charge — longer focus restores more health and consumes more mana. |
A completed cast becomes a readied spell that can be held while you reposition or switch stance. Left click executes the readied spell at a precise target or ground point. F performs a basic attack toward the cursor while preserving that spell, and D executes a readied spell on yourself. The Cancel Ready Spell binding discards it.
Weapon stance reference
| Ability | Key | Stamina | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunder | Q | 15 | Two sweeping frontal attacks. The second swing scales from the Sunder stacks held before casting. After the cast, each distinct target hit across either swing grants 1 stack, up to 5. |
| Pierce | W | 10 | Fire one of three bolts. Damage rises with distance and damaging hits reduce the target's maximum health, stacking up to 10%. |
| Parry | E | 1 | Spend 1 stamina to raise guard, then 1 stamina per second while held. Auto-attacks are fully blocked. Raise the guard as Sunder, Pierce, or Voidstep lands to negate the hit at no additional stamina cost, gain a parry Voidstep charge, and stun the attacker for 0.5 seconds. |
| Voidstep | R | 18 | Spend 18 stamina to dash through enemies toward your cursor for 15 damage. Damaging hits make targets Phasebound and unable to start a roll for 1 second. The Basic charge refreshes every 12 seconds. Perfect Parry grants a separate Parry charge; for 1 second, aim Voidstep toward the stunned attacker for unlimited range and a fast combo reposition. |
Defense and targeting
- Roll costs stamina and is invulnerable during the opening portion. Dodging attacks no longer grants Voidstep charges.
- Sunder attacks twice: the first swing deals 20 damage, then the second deals 5 damage + 3 per Sunder stack held before casting. Each distinct target hit across either swing grants one stack after the cast, up to 5.
- Spend 1 stamina to raise Parry and 1 stamina per second while holding it; stamina does not regenerate during guard. Basic attacks are fully blocked, Hollow and Fray are not guardable, and Sunder, Pierce, or Voidstep deal 75% chip damage unless caught during the 250ms Perfect Parry window. A Perfect Parry has no additional impact cost, fully negates the hit, stuns the attacker for 500ms, and grants a parry Voidstep charge.
- A damaging Fray hit makes an opponent holding a prepared spell Frayed for 0.75 seconds. The spell remains prepared but cannot be released during that window.
- Damaging Blight contact and its one-second residual make the target take 33% increased damage from Hollow and Fray.
- Voidstep costs 18 stamina. It starts empty and refreshes one basic charge every 12 seconds after use. A perfect parry can add a persistent second charge. Damaging hits make enemies Phasebound and unable to start a new Roll for one second without cancelling a Roll already in progress. Aim through your still-stunned attacker to dash any distance and land behind them.