Charge

Charge into battle and attack an enemy.

Charge is a level 12 Paladin Combat skill that requires Smite and opens Holy Shield. The Paladin runs at a target that is out of melee range and strikes it on arrival: one melee hit with a large damage bonus and a guaranteed knockback. Two numbers decide it: the damage bonus, +100% at level 1 and +575% at level 20, and the velocity, 150% (Param1), which is what makes it the fastest way across a map.

The numbers

The damage bonus is Param3 100 as the baseline and Param4 +25 a level: +575% at level 20 and +825% at level 30. The attack-rating bonus is ToHit 50 plus LevToHit 15 a level: +335% at level 20. Both read lvl, so +skills from gear count. Mana is 9 at every level, and the velocity is Param1 150% at every level (the table's calc2).

How it works

Charge is a melee attack with a hit check against the target's defense (Chance to Hit) that deals weapon damage with the bonus above (Dealing Physical Damage). The Basin's page gives the rules around it:

• The target must be selected, in line of sight, unobstructed and outside melee range. The Paladin charges and attacks when he arrives. Whether or not the attack hits, an eligible target is always knocked back (Knockback), which normally puts it back outside melee range, so you can charge again.
• When the target is already in melee range, or no target is selected and anything is in melee range, Charge costs its mana but performs a plain Attack with none of its bonuses. It also costs mana when used while obstructed.
• Attack Speed does not apply to the charge attack. The Basin's page says consecutive charges land 8–9 frames apart depending on charge speed.
• While charging, blocking is cut to a third (at most 25%), and attackers still need a hit check against you.
• Charge speed is not raised by Faster Run/Walk but is changed by every other walk/run modifier (Vigor, armor and shield penalties, cold, Holy Freeze, Decrepify, Slows Target). The Basin gives base charge speed as 9 yards a second (base run) plus 9 × 1.5, that is 22.5 yards a second, the Param1 150% velocity bonus on top of the run speed; the floor of −50% run speed makes 18 yards a second the normal minimum.

In melee range Charge is a 9-mana normal attack. The Basin suggests Smite as the companion skill: it knocks the target back out of range so the next Charge is a real one.

Synergies and +skills

Two skills feed Charge, both read as hard points (blvl), both at Param8 20% a point:

• Vigor: +20% damage a point.
• Might: +20% damage a point.

Forty hard points across the two add +800%, more than Charge's own twenty levels (+475% above the base). Charge feeds nothing. The Basin notes that a monster with the Might aura (an Aura Enchanted Claw Viper or Reanimated Horde) gets the Might synergy on its own Charge.

Against players

A player's hit on another player is cut to 17% of its value (difficultylevels.txt PlayerDamagePercentVSPlayer) before anything else, see Player versus Player. The knockback is applied whether or not the attack hits, as above. The Basin's page adds nothing else about players.

Build notes

• Level 20 reads +575% damage and +335% attack rating for 9 mana a charge, with the knockback on every charge regardless of the hit.
• Each hard point in Vigor or Might is worth 20% to Charge, almost a Charge level's 25%, and both do something on their own; Vigor also raises the charge speed as a run/walk modifier.
• Faster Run/Walk does nothing for Charge; the 150% velocity is the whole of its speed bonus.