Hook and Drag

This information is reliable as of patch 2.0.210.23.

Hook and Drag

	Axe
	150 sp
	23 Strength
	50
	Axe_HookAndDrag

Activated; cooldown 50. You grab an opponent's limb with the heel of your axe and pull them toward you. If successful, you pull your opponent with you as you move and make a free attack with your axe. Your opponent is forced to move with you but can attack you while moving. Your opponent gets a chance to resist the move (strength save; difficulty 20 + your strength modifier) and a chance to break free at the start of their turn (same save). This effect lasts for 9 rounds or until you dismember the opponent.

Hook and Drag is a skill belonging to the Axe skill tree.

Hook and Drag grants the "Hook and Drag" activated ability, which can only be used on adjacent targets while the user wields an axe in their primary limb.

Activating Hook and Drag is instant. It does not cost a turn.

Despite the wording, Hook and Drag is always guaranteed to succeed on initial usage. However, without sufficient strength, the victim will be able to break free relatively quickly.

A hooked creature's DV is -10.

The attacker only gets a free attack if it moves and forces the target to move - that is, if it moves more than 1 tile away from the opponent. Attempting to drag an immobile creature such as a chain laser emplacement will result in one attack chance before the creature is automatically unhooked. The opponent gets a chance to resist each move individually. If the opponent resists the move, no movement of either the opponent nor the attacker will occur.

The chance to break free occurs at the start of the opponent's turn, and not for every move made.

Ability Cooldown

Hook and Drag's cooldown (CD) in rounds depends on the user's willpower (WI) attribute:

WI	CD	WI	CD	WI	CD	WI	CD
9	68	15	53	21	38	27	23
10	65	16	50	22	35	28	20
11	63	17	48	23	33	29	18
12	60	18	45	24	30	30	15
13	58	19	43	25	28	31	13
14	55	20	40	26	25	32	10

Factions That Teach Hook and Drag

Hook and Drag is not taught by any of Qud's persistent factions. However, procedurally generated factions such as village factions can teach randomly chosen skills as part of their water ritual.

Creatures That Have Hook and Drag

• Jotun, Who Parts Limbs
• Warden Indrix, Goatfolk Pariah
• Warden Neelahind

Tips

This section is opinion-based. Your mileage may vary.

• The attacker is not limited to dragging after hooking a target. The attacker can take any action with a target hooked.

• Bump attacks and weapon skills are more effective against a hooked target because its DV is -10. Creatures with multiple weapons can potentially deal more damage by bump attacking the target instead of dragging.

• Since Hook and Drag's initial use is instantaneous and guaranteed to hit, the skill can be used to nearly guarantee hits on otherwise slippery targets like crypt ferrets.

• Hook and Drag's DV penalty synergizes well with Cleave's AV penalty to make targets very vulnerable.

• Dismembering the target ends Hook and Drag early. Not learning the Dismember skill gives up the benefits of removing an enemy's limb in exchange for more total damage.

• Creatures with high movement speed can drag and attack more than 9 times before the 9 rounds are up.

• Since the chance to break free occurs only at the start of the target's turn, mutations like Time Dilation are highly effective at reducing chances for the target to break free. Time Dilation also has the added benefit of operating at maximum efficiency on the target, since they are forced to always be within 1 tile of you.

• Dashing using the Flume-Flier of the Sky-Bear while hooking an enemy counts each tile moved while dashing as a movement for the purposes of making free attacks. In an open area, this can be a very effective way to deal a significant number of hits, as all movement in a dash is guaranteed to happen within the span of 1 round, and each dash can move up to 20 tiles at once.

• If Hook and Drag comes off cooldown before the current target is unhooked, either through high Willpower or Opportune Attacks, rehooking the current target will refresh the hooking duration.

• If multiple targets are hooked, only the most recently hooked target will be dragged and targeted by attacks.