Critical Kill Loops
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This is a guide, tutorial, or gameplay strategy written by one or more players to better assist others with their gameplay enjoyment. The information presented here may be subject to the personal opinion of the contributor(s), and may additionally require periodic updates to keep current as the game environment changes.
Title: Critical Combat Loop Options
Author: Darcimer
Date Published: 2026-11-5
A kill loop is a setup that disables the target, followed by an aimed finisher whose critical is fatal at that location. This page lists the strongest setup and finisher pairs by weapon category, with the chance each finisher kills at a given base critical rank.
It is the third page in a set:
- Status Effects and CMAN Quick Reference covers what prone, Vulnerable, Staggered and the other conditions do.
- Critical Effects Quick Reference lists the critical rank at which each damage type stuns, knocks down or kills at each hit location.
- This page combines them into setup and finisher pairs.
How to read the kill chances
- Base rank is the highest critical rank a hit can produce. The game rolls the actual rank evenly between half the base rank (rounded up) and the full base rank. See Critical for the formula.
- Aimed attacks use the weapon's natural damage mix. Precision does not work with aimed (ambush) or ranged attacks, so a dagger aimed at the eye still rolls slash one-third of the time. Each kill chance below weights the fatal threshold of every damage type the weapon can roll.
- Guaranteed at base is the lowest base rank at which every possible roll is fatal. "Never" means at least one damage type the weapon rolls is not fatal at that location even at rank 5, the lowest roll a base 9 can produce.
- Kill chances assume the aimed hit lands on the chosen location. Aiming success depends on Ambush, Combat Maneuvers and Perception; see Ambush and Open ambushing guide.
- Flares (grapple, impact, fire and so on) are separate criticals and are not counted. They add extra control or kill rolls on top of these numbers.
- Damage-type mixes come from the player research tables on Edged Weapons, Blunt Weapons, Two-Handed Weapons and Polearm Weapons.
Top 5 finishers
Ranked by kill chance at base 7, the point where the setup has typically raised the base rank.
| # | Weapon | Aim | Damage mix and fatal rank | Kill at base 6 | Kill at base 7 | Kill at base 9 | Guaranteed at base |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spear / pilum | Eye | slash 5+ (17%), puncture 4+ (83%) | 71% | 96% | 100% | 9 |
| 2 | Dagger / rapier / estoc / katar | Eye | slash 5+ (33%), puncture 4+ (67%) | 67% | 92% | 100% | 9 |
| 3 | Arrows / bolts (fired) | Eye | slash 5+ (33%), puncture 4+ (67%) | 67% | 92% | 100% | 9 |
| 4 | Awl-pike | Eye | crush 7+ (13%), puncture 4+ (87%) | 65% | 90% | 95% | never |
| 5 | Mace / cudgel / leather whip / ball and chain | Head | crush 5+ (100%) | 50% | 75% | 100% | 9 |
Puncture to the eye is fatal from rank 4, the lowest fatal threshold on any critical table. The weapons that roll the most puncture therefore make the best finishers. All-crush weapons are next, because crush to the head is fatal from rank 5.
Best loops by weapon category
Edged weapons
| Setup | Leaves target | Finisher | Aim | Kill at base 6 | Kill at base 7 | Kill at base 9 | Guaranteed at base | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamstring | Prone (may knock down) + major bleed | Dagger / rapier / estoc / katar | Eye | 67% | 92% | 100% | 9 | Hamstring needs a one-handed slashing weapon; these all qualify. |
| Sweep | Prone, Vulnerable, Staggered | Katana / whip-blade | Eye | 50% | 75% | 100% | 9 | All-slash weapon, so every crit uses the slash eye threshold of 5. |
Blunt weapons
| Setup | Leaves target | Finisher | Aim | Kill at base 6 | Kill at base 7 | Kill at base 9 | Guaranteed at base | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweep | Prone, Vulnerable, Staggered | Mace / cudgel / leather whip / ball and chain | Head | 50% | 75% | 100% | 9 | All-crush weapon; crush head is fatal from 5. |
| Aimed leg crit (crush leg knocks down 4+) | Prone, stun 3+ rounds | Morning star / war hammer | Head | 42% | 67% | 93% | never | One-third of hits roll puncture, which needs head 6+. |
Two-handed weapons
| Setup | Leaves target | Finisher | Aim | Kill at base 6 | Kill at base 7 | Kill at base 9 | Guaranteed at base | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tackle or Sweep | Prone, Vulnerable, Staggered | Maul / war mattock / quarterstaff / runestaff | Head | 50% | 75% | 100% | 9 | All-crush weapon; crush head is fatal from 5. |
| Aimed leg crit (crush leg knocks down 4+) | Prone, stun 3+ rounds | Military pick | Eye | 50% | 75% | 87% | never | Two-thirds puncture; the crush third needs eye 7+. |
Polearm weapons
| Setup | Leaves target | Finisher | Aim | Kill at base 6 | Kill at base 7 | Kill at base 9 | Guaranteed at base | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trip | Unbalance damage to the legs (unbalance leg crits knock down at 2 and 4+), Vulnerable, Staggered | Spear / pilum | Eye | 71% | 96% | 100% | 9 | Trip needs a two-handed polearm, so use the spear two-handed. Highest kill chance of any weapon here. |
| Trip | Unbalance damage to the legs (unbalance leg crits knock down at 2 and 4+), Vulnerable, Staggered | Awl-pike | Eye | 65% | 90% | 95% | never | 13% crush crits need eye 7+, so it never reaches a guaranteed kill. |
Ranged weapons
| Setup | Leaves target | Finisher | Aim | Kill at base 6 | Kill at base 7 | Kill at base 9 | Guaranteed at base | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aimed leg shot (puncture leg knocks down at 2 and 4+) | Prone, stun 3+ rounds | Arrows / bolts (fired) | Eye | 67% | 92% | 100% | 9 | Precision does not work with ranged attacks, so one-third of arrow crits roll slash. |
| Grapple-flaring bow, aimed eye | Grapple eye crit: knockdown at 2–5 and 7–9, stun 3–20 rounds | Arrows / bolts (fired) | Eye | 67% | 92% | 100% | 9 | The grapple flare never kills on the eye; the kill comes from the arrow's own puncture or slash crit. |
Setup knockdown odds
Crit-based setups knock down only when the rolled rank carries a knockdown. This table shows the chance per hit at each base rank. CMAN setups such as Sweep, Hamstring, Tackle and Bull Rush use their own success rolls instead.
| Crit type | Location | KD at base 3 | KD at base 4 | KD at base 5 | KD at base 6 | KD at base 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puncture | Leg | 50% | 67% | 67% | 75% | 100% |
| Slash | Leg | 0% | 33% | 67% | 75% | 100% |
| Crush | Leg | 0% | 33% | 67% | 75% | 100% |
| Unbalance (Trip, bolts) | Leg | 50% | 67% | 67% | 75% | 100% |
| Unbalance (bolts) | Chest / abdomen / back | 100% | 67% | 67% | 75% | 75% |
| Grapple (flares, spells) | Leg | 50% | 67% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Grapple (flares, spells) | Eye | 100% | 100% | 100% | 75% | 75% |
Notes:
- Puncture and unbalance legs knock down at rank 2 but not rank 3, so they stay below 100% until base 7, when rank 3 drops out of the roll range.
- Unbalance torso hits knock down at ranks 2, 3 and 5–9 but not 4, so the odds dip once rank 4 enters the roll range at base 4.
- Grapple eye hits skip the knockdown at rank 6, which is why the odds fall above base 5.
Limits
- Universal combat (UCS) punches, jabs, kicks and GRAPPLE use their own critical tables and are not covered here.
- Bolt spells are treated here as random-location attacks. Unbalance bolts such as Hand of Tonis (505) work as a random-location knockdown setup; see the table above.
- Noncorporeal creatures use the Noncorporeal critical table, and creatures with heavy critical padding lower the base rank of every hit.
- Weapon damage-type ratios are player research and may be imprecise for some weapons.