Choosing Martial Arts Styles

Guide created using 0.5 of Cataclysm DDA.
Some of the information present here might not apply to future versions.

See Hymore246's detailed examination for a detailed comparison of martial arts styles current for May 2019 0.D experimental builds; a major overhaul of martial arts is expected shortly, so this will likely become obsolete soon.

Introduction

Martial arts can greatly extend your character's viability, and by extension, their life. However, not all styles are equally viable. Some work well in the early going, some excel in a particular situation, and some are missing key components.

If you don't have NPCs available to teach you, you'll be limited to one style (per trait) for the entire game. Even if you can find a trainer, you may not be able to afford all the styles they know, and you might never get the opportunity again. Therefore, it's important to know what you're getting.

You can also learn martial arts from books often found in Mansions and Dojos. Currently this is the main way to learn new martial arts.

The Basics

If you haven't checked out the basic listing yet, feel free.

 @ : Yikes! what does all that stuff mean?

The table is a pretty straightforward listing of each style, its damage bonus, the in-combat special moves it gives you, and then any special effects related to the style. Here, we aim to give you some insight into how those listings actually stack up in-game.

 @ : Why should I mess around with all this? My Nail Board/Crowbar/Katana/Longbow/.22/M1911/AK-47/Deathmobile works great already.

Yeah, maybe it does. But you had to craft that Nail Board, find or craft the Crowbar, Katanas are fairly rare, Longbow wooden arrows bounce off armored foes, the guns need ammo, and the fuel-thirsty Deathmobile can't fit underground or into small spaces.

You'll always have your style(s). They weigh nothing, and take up no volume or inventory letters. You don't need to futz around crafting your Martial Arts. The only way the RNG can impair your Martial Arts is by denying you a "101 Wrestling Moves" book. You'll never need to reload your hands and feet--or at least, not separately from the rest of your body.

Besides, Martial Arts works well with mutations, is generally much faster than any melee weapon, and never gets stuck in your target. Finally, you can still use defensive Martial Arts even with minimal investment in unarmed - you just won't benefit so much from the offensive effects (except for Ninjutsu!).

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Under the current build (0.5, as of this writing), you're likely to only get one style, and it will be one of the basic 5. As such, you'll likely want a style that provides the following elements:

• Defensive capability
• Special offensive capabilities, preferably ones that can scale as you go on
• Some amount of additional damage

Defensive capabilities are essential in the early going, when your Dodge isn't that great and you probably don't have much armor. Things like Block and Feint can help with this. Disabling or displacing your opponent can help in a tight spot, so your improved offensive options are always worth considering. In particular, Grab and Rapid Attack can even the odds. Finally, another point or two of extra damage only hurts them. Different styles provide varying amounts of damage.

 @ : OK, but I can't handle that huge list over there. What's a good starting style?

If this is your first time with Martial Arts, it's probably best to stick to the all-purpose styles available from your neighborhood dojo. Karate and Taekwondo are fairly popular with most players. If you're familiar with the basics, dedicated melee-players have had good results with Tiger Style, Muay Thai, Centipede Style, and Dragon Style. Several other styles are good in limited situations, but those four seem to be widely applicable.

Your Neighborhood Dojo

A character with Martial Arts Training can start play with any one of Akido, Judo, Karate, Taekwondo, or Tai Chi.

	Only style?	Starting style?	Supporting style?
Aikido	Not Recommended	Not Recommended	Not Yet
Judo	Not Recommended	Not Recommended	Could Work
Karate	Could Work	Could Work	Recommended
Taekwondo	Could Work	Recommended	Could Work
Tai Chi	Seems Underpowered	Situational	Situational

Aikido

This is the only martial art which actually reduces your damage output below that of just improvising with your fists; however, it doubles your Pain output. If critters or NPCs feel Pain in the same sense as the player...it certainly isn't obvious. Likewise, you probably won't encounter very many armed opponents as of stable 0.5, so disarming moves don't seem useful. As such, this can probably wait until NPCs are stable.

Only Style?	Not Recommended
Starting Style?	Not Recommended
Supporting Style?	Not Yet

Judo

Grab is effectively an extra attack, so it's always good to have. Throws can help, either by downing the opponent for your next attack or by buying you some distance to start running. Unfortunately, you can't control when they happen, nor can you particularly aim your Throws. Since most critters do not use throws or sweep attacks, immunity to such attacks' knockdown effects seems unimportant.

In one anecdotal test, an NPC armed with Judo was unable to hold his own in a Megastore, even with the player character nearby and dispatching his share of zeds. RIP, Joshua.

Only Style?	Not Recommended
Starting Style?	Not Recommended
Supporting Style?	Could Work

Karate

Having Rapid Attack from the start will likely come in handy, and by the time you've finished with 101 Wrestling Moves, you'll be able to Block as well. If you're a dedicated melee fighter, a pair of stylish Metal Arm Guards can help further take the edge off hostile critters, by soaking up their attacks. The Precision Attack you'll earn adds a bit of extra damage, but its stun-effect will generally give you the initiative in most fights. Finally, the additional Dodge and Blocks ought to make small groups much more survivable.

Of the five starter-styles, Karate is probably the best in terms of offensive power.

Unlike most of the basic styles, Karate gives a base +2 bashing damage to all attacks you make using it. These add up.

Only Style?	Could Work
Starting Style?	Could Work
Supporting Style?	Recommended

Taekwondo

Though Taekwondo takes a few points to get going, once you've finished 101 Wrestling Moves you'll be able to use all of your limbs to block. This can be a significant advantage: you have another four HP pools. Further, a dedicated melee character will likely have at least 10 Strength, meaning that the blocking limb takes well under half the damage your torso would have taken. (Particularly strong and well-armored characters can soak hits entirely; you'll always take at least 15% of the attack, but if you've got arm guards or Army Pants, those will absorb punishment before you do.)

Unfortunately, the Knock-back and Sweep attacks are extremely uncommon. However, the Precision attack provides increased damage and the Stun it provokes can make your life easier. Of the five starter-styles, Taekwondo is probably the best in terms of defense and survivability.

Unlike most of the basic styles, Taekwondo gives a base +2 bashing damage to all attacks you make using it. These add up.

Only Style?	Could Work
Starting Style?	Recommended
Supporting Style?	Could Work

Tai Chi

This used to be Taekwondo for ranged-weapon fighters, based on the Perception blocking bonus. Since Perception no longer makes firearms supernaturally accurate, it may not be as useful as it used to be...until the Stealth mechanics get in. If your Perception is higher than your Strength, you might consider this. That said, Defensive Disarm won't do you much good until armed attackers (primarily, NPCs) become commonplace, and ranged-weapon users probably want their arms unencumbered so they can shoot straight--thus, you probably won't be able to fully take advantage of your Block. Precision Attack may be handy to buy you a few turns to open the range, though, and Unarmed 4 isn't terribly difficult to obtain.

All in all, this doesn't make sense for a melee-heavy build, but as a fallback for ranged fighters, it could have potential. If you'd like a more exciting alternative, consider Snake Style Kung Fu, one of the five Shaolin animal forms.

It's worth noting that lead dev Kevin Granade practices Tai Chi IRL, so that's one reason to take it.  :-)

Only Style?	Seems Underpowered
Starting Style?	Situational
Supporting Style?	Situational

Exotic Styles

	Only style?	Starting style?	Supporting style?
Capoeira	Rough Start	Not Recommended	Could Work
Krav Maga	Looks Great	Looks Great	Looks Great
Muay Thai	Suitable	Recommended	Looks Great
Ninjutsu	Could Work	Not Recommended	Could Work
Zui Quan	Not Recommended	Not Recommended	Recommended

Capoeira

This one focuses on high-mobility combat, giving bonuses for moving around. So if you can avoid large swarms and confined spaces, that'd help. However, the closest thing to a defensive ability available is the Feint--and all that does is ensure you don't overswing. In practice, that means that you're entirely relying on heavy armor (kevlar or platemail) or good Dodge (high skill, low armor, and possibly some mutations). As for abilities, the Sweep seems fairly uncommon so far, Counter-Attack is nice but doesn't actually reduce the damage you take, and reports on the circle-kick are mixed.

This style adds a point of bashing damage to all attacks made with it. Small, but measurable.

Only Style?	Rough Start
Starting Style?	Not Recommended
Supporting Style?	Could Work

Krav Maga

This looks great on paper, and probably is great in practice. By the time you finish 101 Wrestling Moves, you'll have Rapid Attack, (arm) Block, Feint, and Precision Attack. Frankly, that combination is already good enough for the middle and possibly late game: your attacks will tend to come out quickly, lose little to no time on a miss, possibly Stun on critical hits, and you can use arm-guards to soak damage. But if you call in the next 20 minutes, we'll throw in a complete defensive suite and an extra attack, absolutely free! (Just take separate levels in Unarmed.) Level 4 provides leg-blocking and counter-attacks, as well as the less-immediately useful (until NPCs get re-integrated) anti-grab and defensive disarm training. At level 5, Grab becomes available.

In short, there's very little a KM fighter can't do...except get exotic bonuses. This wealth of special moves is all the style grants, but they're probably good enough.

This style adds four points of bashing damage to all attacks made with it, making it one of the strongest styles by base damage output.

Only Style?	Looks Great
Starting Style?	Looks Great
Supporting Style?	Looks Great

Muay Thai

Not every dangerous critter in Cata is big, but quite a few of them are. If you don't mind the thought of going toe-to-toe with a Zombie Hulk, xLemor had great luck using this to put them on the ground where they belong. Knockback doesn't kick in as often as you might like, but apart from that this is a strong all-round style.

This style adds four points of bashing damage to all attacks made with it, making it one of the strongest styles by base damage output.

Only Style?	Suitable
Starting Style?	Recommended
Supporting Style?	Looks Great

Ninjutsu

Unfortunately, there's no Ninja Suit. Apart from that, ninja training offers three good specials and sounds like it'd be great in areas with dynamically spawning critters. (As in, everywhere but cities set to Static.) However, those silent strikes require skill 3-4 before any specials come out, and the Block shows up a little late, at level 3. If you find a 101 Wrestling Moves book, yeah, this could work as a starting skill--but you probably won't have the damage output to one-shot most critters for a while. Unless you took points in Dodge or otherwise have a way to deal with enemy attacks, the way of the ninja is likely to be painful and probably shorter than you might like. However, it really shines later in the game for characters who primarily use melee weapons. Unlike other martial arts, all of Ninjutsu's special abilities are fully compatible with melee weapons. In particular, the Precise Attack deals 200% cutting and 140% bashing damage in addition to its normal stunning effect, and works with melee weapons! This makes Ninjutsu easily the strongest offensive style for martial artists who don't want to go unarmed.

This style adds a point of bashing damage to all attacks made with it. Small, but measurable.

Only Style?	Could Work
Starting Style?	Not Recommended
Supporting Style?	Could Work

Zui Quan

You don't actually have to be drunk, or have Drunken Master, to practice drunken-boxing. Its damage output leaves a lot to be desired, and the only specials are Feint & Counter-Attack--at levels 3 and 4 respectively. But if you take this as your only starting style, you're missing the point. Zui Quan is a premier style not due to its damage output; rather, it's because 50* dodges after you score one successful hit is enough to keep a decent Dodger out of trouble, period.

(*For all practical purposes, 50 is "unlimited", and keeps the code manageable.)

This style adds a point of bashing damage to all attacks made with it. Small, but measurable.

Only Style?	Not Recommended
Starting Style?	Not Recommended
Supporting Style?	Recommended

Shaolin Animal Styles

These are all Kung Fu, in case it wasn't clear. Fortunately, you don't need to learn philosophy, religion, or how to lift a several-hundred-pound, red-hot cauldron in order to learn them.

	Only style?	Starting style?	Supporting style?
Crane Style	Not Recommended	Not Recommended	Seems Underpowered
Dragon Style	Workable	Recommended	Recommended
Leopard Style	Rough Start	No Defense	Could Work
Snake Style	No Defense	Situational	Situational
Tiger Style	Rough Start	No Defense	Recommended

Crane Style

This one is primarily defensive and favors high Dexterity--but Grab Break isn't that useful currently, and the Dodge bonus for moving only goes so far. There doesn't seem like much to recommend this one, unfortunately.

Those playing the experimental versions may want to consider this one upgraded to "could work" as a supporting style. Multiple types of zombie now feature grabs, including several of the hardest hitting types, making it a somewhat more attractive feature. The style as a whole also seems to be well suited to taking advantage of the increasing emphasis on strategic combat over brute force.

Only Style?	Not Recommended
Starting Style?	Not Recommended
Supporting Style?	Seems Underpowered

Dragon Style

Dragon style is easy to overlook and undervalue. It starts slow, for one thing. Block takes a bit of reading before it comes out, and the rest of the special attacks only show up at fairly high levels: 6, for the exceptionally rare Knockback attack, is the highest MA level requirement in Cata. You're going to be doing a lot of reading and vanilla punching before you unlock this style's full potential. You also need to account for the fact that this is a style that lives and dies by low encumberment, low fatigue, and high moral, and that strength and intelligence are your ruling stats. The mid-game payoff, however, is a character that can turn a Jabberwock into chunks of meat spattered across the nearest solid surface without breaking stride.

One big selling point of Dragon Style is that it bases damage and accuracy on half each of one's Strength and Intelligence. This means that you essentially have two strength stats, both of which are stats you want to put points in anyway. This can make a big difference while scraping by in the early game: Any boost to either one is a boost to your combat ability (a pack of caffeine gum will probably save your hide at some point), and any penalty can be mitigated by the other: a Dragon master with two broken arms and 0 strength isn't completely screwed as long as they can still think straight. That's only the start of the fun, and the bonuses, however: this style also adds two points of bashing damage to all attacks made with it, and the (easy-to-miss) Dragon's Flight boost adds a healthy damage boost to any attack made after moving. After your grabs and counter-attacks show up at 4, so long as you can keep moving, most melee attacks made against you will end in the pulping of the attacker. This can be a godsend when forced into a retreat or fighting your way to an exit, and can turn the tide on a horde when you unlock Knockback.

Dragon Style can be relied upon as a primary combat method into the midgame without too much trouble, and a dedicated unarmed fighter in the late game can find themselves dealing more damage with a pair of steel knuckles and Dragon Style than with an assault rifle.

Only Style?	Workable
Starting Style?	Recommended
Supporting Style?	Recommended

Leopard Style

This one is all about offensive power: none of its specials assist on defense. Further, Leopard derives bonuses from both Perception and Intelligence, requiring that you boost all your stats in order to take advantage of its effects. As such, it really doesn't seem suitable for new characters. If you're studying the Shaolin, best to stick with Dragon or Tiger.

This style adds three points of bashing damage to all attacks made with it. Worth thinking about.

Only Style?	Rough Start
Starting Style?	No Defense
Supporting Style?	Could Work

Snake Style

This seems like Tai Chi's Shaolin counterpart, given its synergy with Perception. However, it doesn't provide defensive bonuses (aside from the currently-dubious Grab Break--most critters don't grab you). Though Rapid & Precision Attacks are nice and show up at fairly reasonable levels, high-Perception folks would probably prefer to use ranged weapons to deal damage.

If you want to play ranged, yet be able to dish out quick melee damage, Snake Kung Fu may be right for you. On the whole, however, Tai Chi seems the safer bet, thanks to its extra-effective Blocks.

This style adds a point of bashing damage to all attacks made with it. Small, but measurable.

Only Style?	No Defense
Starting Style?	Situational
Supporting Style?	Situational

Tiger Style

This is the Shaolin all-out offensive style: as it says in its description, it focuses on relentless attacking above all else. It's not kidding. If you're strong and can either Dodge well or soak hits with heavy armor, this may be the best option in the game: it provides a hefty base damage bonus and adds to it for every repeated hit you make. Since the sustained-hit bonus tracks only repeated hits, rather than repeated hits on the same target, this can charge up to permit one-shotting horde members.

This style adds four points of bashing damage to all attacks made with it, making it one of the strongest styles by base damage output.

Only Style?	Rough Start
Starting Style?	No Defense
Supporting Style?	Recommended

The Five Deadly Venoms

These kung fu styles focus on special effects, along with a decent selection of moves.

 @ : I feel like there's a film crew following me around or something...?

Yep, these are based on The Five Deadly Venoms. Toad's weak point is awfully easy to locate, but apart from that minor difficulty, they all work reasonably well.

These styles have been moved to the Mythical Martial Arts Mod in 0.E (Ellison), and are no long available without this mod.

	Only style?	Starting style?	Supporting style?
Centipede Style	Could Work	Could Work	Recommended
Lizard Style	Situational	Situational	Situational
Scorpion Style	Could Work	Could Work	Recommended
Toad Style	Situational	Situational	Could Work
Viper Style	Rough Start	Rough Start	Could Work

Centipede Style

Venom's all-out offense focuses on increasingly rapid attacks, rather than increasingly damaging ones. Every attack that connects deducts 4 points from the cost of subsequent attacks, up to -40 after the tenth hit. When combined with the Rapid Attack available at Unarmed 2, this can allow characters to attack three or possibly four times for every one shot the opposition takes. It completely drains if you take damage, and drops a level for every step you move or pause you take, so there are limits.

However, the only defensive ability available is a Block--fortunately, it arrives at level 3. Though this may take a bit of work to get started, a strong or properly mutated character can use this to great effect, up to and including the endgame.

Only Style?	Could Work
Starting Style?	Could Work
Supporting Style?	Recommended

Lizard Style

This is probably the closest you'll get to wire-fu in Cata, given the current lack of aboveground z-levels. (They're working on it.) If you plan on being an urban or underground fighter, yeah, there will generally be a wall handy for you to buff yourself. Apart from that, though, this style only offers a Block and the Counter-attack. Thus, in the event you end up having to cross a field, you may feel a bit unprotected.

This style adds a point of bashing damage to all attacks made with it. Small, but measurable.

Only Style?	Situational
Starting Style?	Situational
Supporting Style?	Situational

Scorpion Style

Though the Block comes out later (Unarmed 3, the end of 101 Wrestling Moves), Scorpion Style offers a key advantage: all criticals carry Knockback, as well as stunning the target. Precision attack at Unarmed 4 doubles the fun with a second way to stun. As stuns stack, this style can be devastating against hard targets. It's also a fairly good option against small packs of enemies, with stuns buying you time to deal with foes one by one, and knockbacks potentially damaging multiple enemies with a single attack. Sadly, mutating a Tail Sting (with or without Poisonous) so far has no added effects.

This style adds three points of bashing damage to all attacks made with it. All those free hits add up.

Only Style?	Could Work
Starting Style?	Could Work
Supporting Style?	Recommended

Toad Style

Being able to generate armor on-demand seems fairly useful; however, it all drains if someone gets through once. As such, it's not something to rely upon against a crowd, but could be interesting against hard targets. The Block after finishing 101 Unarmed Styles should help, but with the Grab being the only attack upgrade available and the style providing no additional damage, you may have a tough time becoming immune to those last few weapons.

Only Style?	Situational
Starting Style?	Situational
Supporting Style?	Could Work

Viper Style

The Viper Strike seems nifty, and looks to do decisive damage quickly provided that the artist's arms are healthy (in the green). However, you'll need that capability, as the style only offers Rapid Attack & Feint to improve the character's basic combat capabilities (and both of those only after being finished with the 101-level study). Probably something to pick up later in your career, rather than hoping for combination-initiating critical hits at Unarmed 2-3.

This style adds two points of bashing damage to all attacks made with it. These bonuses add up.

Only Style?	Rough Start
Starting Style?	Rough Start
Supporting Style?	Could Work