Fighting: the basics
Click a creature to target it and start fighting. Your character walks up and swings or shoots on their own; that is your auto-attack. Mages and Priests only select a creature with the first click and stay where they are, so a spell can be cast from range; a second click walks in to attack (Esc > Settings > Gameplay changes this for any class). Press Tab to select the next creature nearby, nearest first, and Shift+Tab to go back; Tab never walks or attacks: press Space to start auto-attacking the creature you have selected (handy when other players crowd it and a click would land on them). While fishing, Space reels in instead. Targeting is always your choice: the game never picks an enemy for you. If you press an ability with no target, the creature under your cursor is chosen.
After a fight, press E (or the Loot all button above the hotbar) to walk over and pick up everything of yours nearby. Hold Alt to see every drop of yours, with its name, even behind trees and roofs. When trees or a building hide you, a faint outline of you shows through them.
Press Esc to clear your target. The target frame shows the creature's level, health and anything it is casting. Click another player to select them; clicking a player never attacks them, and clicking a fallen ally helps them up.
Your hits can miss, crit or be blocked. Attributes, gear and your class decide how often. Creatures weaker than you, by six levels or more, give less XP; stronger ones give a bit more.
If you go down, see "When you fall". Creatures that are hurt badly may run away if they are the skittish kind, and many will call friends nearby if they are in a pack.
Keys: Click Tab E Esc
The hotbar and casting
Your abilities live on the hotbar at the bottom of the screen. Press keys 1 to 6 or click a slot to use one. Open your Character window (K) and click or drag an ability onto a slot to put it there. Up to three bars stack above each other: the second uses Shift+1 to 6, the third Alt+1 to 6 (Esc > Settings > Display > Hotbars; Esc > Settings > Controls changes the keys). That is eighteen active slots, plus four passive slots. Click the padlock at the end of the bottom bar (or Esc > Settings > Display) to lock the bars: nothing can then be dragged or right-clicked off them by accident, though you can still place abilities from the Character window.
Stances and auras, such as the Warrior's Hearthguard Stance, do not use a hotbar slot. They sit on their own small stance bar beside the hotbars (it appears only once you know one). Click one to enter the stance, and again to leave it; the one you are in glows. Stance keys are free to set in Esc > Settings > Controls, and Esc > Settings > Display > Stance bar hides the bar.
Using an ability costs mana, or Stamina or Energy for Warriors and Rogues, and then waits out a cooldown, shown as a sweep over the slot. Some abilities need a moment to cast. A cast bar fills over the hotbar; moving, being stunned or being interrupted stops it.
Help abilities such as heals go to the friend you have selected, or to yourself if nobody is. Abilities that need an enemy tell you "No target" if you have none.
Abilities from other sources, such as Legacy powers and masteries, use keys 7 to 9.
Keys: 1-6 Shift+1-6 Alt+1-6 7-9 K
Warnings, casts and interrupts
Strong creatures warn you before a big attack. A shape appears on the ground, such as a cone in front of the creature, a circle under a player, or a ring around it. Step out of the shape before the warning runs out. The warning time is longer on easier settings and shorter on harder ones.
Creatures also cast spells, with a bar above their head. A blue "Interruptible" cast can be cut short. A stun, a knockdown, a silence or a fear will do it, and so will each class's own interrupt: the Warrior's Shield Rap, the Rogue's Thistle Jab, the Monk's Still the Breath, the Mage's Ember Snap and the Wayfarer's Road Stone. An "Unstoppable" blow cannot be interrupted; you block it, heal through it or avoid it.
An interrupted ability is locked for a few seconds. Healers among the creatures, such as hedge-witches who mend their friends, are worth interrupting first.
Bosses cannot simply be stunned forever. Control hits fill a Break Meter instead, and when it is full the boss is stunned and takes more damage for a few seconds.
Elites, roles and named creatures
A creature marked "Elite" in gold is much tougher than the others around it. It has more health and hits harder, with extra moves and often a second phase. On your own it is a close fight at best; two friends make it a clear win. An elite grows tougher when more players join the fight, up to a limit, and it resets fully if you leave it alone for a few seconds.
Ordinary creatures play different roles. Archers back away to keep their distance. Shieldmen turn their guard toward you, so hit them from behind or with spells. Casters and healers should be interrupted. Ambushers stay hidden until you get close. Commanders rally their friends, and summoners call more of them.
Your Bestiary (in the Journal) teaches you about every kind of creature you meet.
How creatures notice you
Creatures have senses. A creature that is idle can see in front of it, in a wide cone, and can hear or smell anything very close. At night, in the dark, they see less far. A lamp, forge or fire close to you lights you up again.
A "?" over a creature means it is suspicious or searching: it noticed something and is looking. A "!" means it has spotted you and is attacking. If you slip away it will search around the place it last saw you, then give up and go home.
Noise gives you away. Fighting and casting can be heard some distance away, so a battle can draw in neighbours. Newly appeared creatures do not notice anyone for a few seconds.
You can often pass a sleepy creature by keeping out of its line of sight, or choose your moment and attack first.
Slain creatures come back somewhere in their haunt out of your sight. If you stand in the middle of a small haunt, they return after a short wait at its far side.
Health, mana and class resources
The bars at the top left show your health (red), mana (blue) and XP. Health comes mostly from Constitution. Mana comes from Intellect and Wisdom. Both come back faster when you are out of a fight. Eating a meal helps with that.
Warriors use Stamina instead of mana, and Rogues use Energy. Some classes have a second, special resource beside it. Warriors build Grit by hitting and being hit, and it fades when they rest. Rogues collect Openings from Shinnick Cut and critical hits, up to five, and Gloaming Lunge spends them all; any Opening gained while full takes a second off Gloaming Lunge instead of going to waste. Priests gather Grace from their healing and a little from every spell that lands, and Monks build Flow by striking. Each class panel in the Character window tells you what its abilities spend and give.
Your Wayfarer starts with mana and a small set of abilities. Class resources only appear once you take a class.
When you fall: Downed, Release, Scars and Echo
When your health runs out you fall, and a death screen gives you a minute. A nearby player can revive you by standing close and clicking you; it takes about 3 or 4 seconds, you rise with a quarter of your health, and there is no Scar. After that you have a minute of Revival Strain (falling again in it is a True Death). If you Release, or the minute runs out with nobody to help, it is a True Death: you wake at the nearest sanctuary with a Scar. Each Scar costs 2% of your health (three at most); one fades after a real-world day without a death, and Fíona in Greenhollow or your patron's shrine can ease one sooner. Every True Death and every Scar that leaves is written in your Legend.
If nobody comes, or you press Release, you suffer True Death. You wake at the nearest sanctuary of the land you fell in: its town, outpost or inn (in the Marches, the Waystone of that stretch); the Heatherway's is Greenhollow. Inside a dungeon you return to the group's checkpoint instead. True Death costs you: one Scar (up to three, each lowering your top health by a small amount), a little wear on your armour and weapons (worn gear gives much less until repaired), and some Echo. Echo is a small part of your level's XP that is held back and comes back as you earn XP again. You never lose a level, and you never lose gold or items.
If a player reaches you after a True Death and is out of combat, they can still revive you, which takes a few seconds longer.
Scars can be cleansed. Fíona the herbalist does it for gold, and your Power's shrine can do it for Favor. Daire the smith repairs worn gear. In a dungeon, a wipe undoes the Scars and Echo from that fight.