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Aspects of combat are addressed throughout this wiki. [[Weapons]] and [[skills]] are detailed, [[monsters]] are described, [[strategy|strategies]] are promoted, and more. This page covers the basics of combat, and how the game is designed to facilitate it, with numerous quotes from the [[D3 Team]].
==Damage Types==
As in previous games in the series, there are various types of damage in Diablo III. Various spells, skills, and weapons channel their destructive might into one (or more) types of damage. Characters and monsters counter these attacks with equivalent types of resistance and immunities, and players must find the right balance of each if they wish to succeed in their battles.
Damage in Diablo III takes the following forms. Every form of damage can count for a [[critical hit]] (caused by various item or skill properties) and when a "crit" is landed, a bonus effect is added along with increased damage.
* '''Physical Damage: '''
** Critical hit: Deals double damage. Might also knockback, but not confirmed.
* '''Arcane Damage:''' Purple in coloration.
** Critical hit: Arcane crits "silence" targets. (Silenced targets can not cast some spells, such as a [[Skeletal Summoner]] or [[Goatman Shaman]] resurrecting fallen minions.)
* '''Cold Damage: ''' Blue in coloration.
** Critical hit: Cold crits freeze targets for 2 seconds.
* '''Fire Damage:''' Red in coloration.
** Critical hit: Fire crits set targets ablaze, adding [[DoT]] to the initial fire damage.
* '''Lightning Damage: ''' White in coloration.
** Critical hit: Lightning crits stun targets for 2 seconds.
* '''Toxic Damage:''' Green in coloration.
** Critical hit: Toxic (poison) crits deal an unknown bonus.
The visuals tied to damage types are meant to add eye candy, but also to inform the player about events occurring on the screen. As Julian Love explained during Blizzcast #8, in March 2009. [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/blizzcast-8-live-with-diablo-iii-goodies]
::'''Bashiok: '''A lot of the effects that you make factor in to the abilities that the characters are using, so fire and arcane and all that stuff, but in the world of Diablo it seems like there are very specific magic types that exist... it is actually a pretty broad spectrum, but is there any limitation there to what you can do with different damage types?
::'''Julian: '''Yeah in fact that’s a common input that I’ll receive is “Hey this guy’s a fiery this or whatever, but can we make that fire look green?” And that’s where the sort of designer in me has to kind of come out and say, wait a minute if we make fire green all of a sudden it’s a bit of a miscommunication in terms of the gameplay. And so there is a bit of constraint there that, at one point I’m trying to make things look as epic as they can, but at the same time they have to be really clear to the player so that they’re not confused that you know, green fire might mean poison. Then there’s the other part of it which is it’s really easy in my department to make a big mess. We can just clobber the screen with so many effects that you just can’t see the game anymore. So those are really the two constraints we really work with most.
==Critical Hit Visuals==
[[Image:Critical-hit2.jpg|frame|Cold critical hit, with highlighted gore.]]
[[Critical hits]] inflict extra damage and/or bonus effects (detailed above). Various skills and items can improve the odds of a critical hit, as well as the damage it deals. Other skills or item effects trigger each time a critical hit is scored, creating an interesting and interconnected system of damage bonuses.
Critical hits existed in Diablo II, but they were indicated only by a small sparkle of white light. That concept has been vastly upgraded in Diablo III. Now, when a [[monster]] takes a "crit" there's a dramatic graphical effect, especially if the death is due to crits. Monsters so slain literally explode, shattering into gory chunks that fly across the screen and litter the ground. These animations are customized for whatever type of damage killed them; flames will be seen on the hunks of meat if the critical was fire-based, sparks rise from lightning, etc. Physical damage crits leave huge slicks of blood and give a battlefield a lovely post-massacre patina.
* See the [[critical hits]] page for much more detail.
==In Depth Combat==
