Unarmed combat

Unarmed combat occurs when a player or creature has no weapon equipped in their primary hand or in additional limbs capable of attacking.

Unarmed combat is a form of melee combat, but it uses natural body equipment, such as the player's \natural fist. In many cases, unarmed attacks have no effective strength cap to penetration, meaning that creatures with very high strength can gain very high penetration and do significantly more damage than they could with most melee weapons. The Fist of the Ape God is one of the only non-unarmed weapons with similarly uncapped penetration potential.

In many cases, unarmed combat uses the Cudgel skill. However, there are exceptions to this rule, such as for creatures whose "natural equipment" uses a different skill (like the knollworm's \crab-crushing beak), or for the player when they have a mutation like Burrowing Claws or Horns - both of which use the Short Blade skills.

Unarmed combat can be enhanced through a variety of means:

  • Learning the relevant power and skills associated with the unarmed weapon, such as the Cudgel power and its subskills.
  • Starting with or obtaining the carbide hand bones cybernetic. This increases unarmed damage to ♥2d32-6 (Avg: 4).
  • Obtaining fullerite hand bones. This increases unarmed damage to ♥2d4+13-9 (Avg: 6).
  • Obtaining crysteel hand bones. This increases unarmed damage to ♥3d43-12 (Avg: 7.5).
  • Gaining a fungal infection on the hands. waxflab is the best for this purpose, as it provides ♥2d32-6 (Avg: 4) unarmed damage.
  • Wearing any spiked gauntlets. This adds additional bleeding damage to unarmed attacks made by a hand.

Common Unarmed Options by Damage

Unarmed Implement Damage Associated Power
\natural fist  1d2-10-1 (Avg: 0.5) Cudgel
 fickle gill on the hands  1d41-4 (Avg: 2.5) Cudgel
 glowcrust on the hands  1d41-4 (Avg: 2.5) Cudgel
 mumble mouth on the hands  1d41-4 (Avg: 2.5) Cudgel
 waxflab on the hands  2d32-6 (Avg: 4) Cudgel
 helping hands' metal fist  1d3+12-4 (Avg: 3) Cudgel
 carbide hand bones implant  2d32-6 (Avg: 4) Cudgel
 fullerite hand bones implant  2d4+13-9 (Avg: 6) Cudgel
 crysteel hand bones implant  3d43-12 (Avg: 7.5) Cudgel
 Burrowing Claws mutation  1d21-2 (Avg: 1.5) - 1d121-12 (Avg: 6.5) Short Blade
 Horns mutation  2d32-6 (Avg: 4) (level 1) -  2d132-26 (Avg: 14) (level 20)
no theoretical damage limit
Short Blade