Morale is a combat mechanic that models bravery and cowardice to make battles more real. Breaking the enemy morale is one of possible ways to win a battle.
Morale states
Morale has six states and represents the mental condition of combatants and their effectiveness in battle. Unbreakable state is exclusive to Undead亡灵, and can not be changed. Steady is the default state, and non-undead enemies start with it and it can raise and lower as they pass or fail morale checks. Brothers' morale depends on their mood: good mood gives a chance to start with Confident morale, and bad mood lowers the maximum possible level of morale the brother can have. Some traits also affect starting morale or its maximum.
If morale drops to Fleeing, the unit cancels its active Shieldwall盾墙, Spearwall矛墙, Riposte还击架势 and Indomitable不屈, is also instantly moved to the end of turn order. At the start of a round Fleeing units have a penalty of -1000 initiative for turn order only, so they will act last, if not under Adrenaline肾上腺素. Fleeing units try to run away from enemies and can't fight or use skills, and even don't fight if surrounded. Player loses control over fleeing brothers. Fleeing units can rally on their own when not adjacent to enemies, or if targeted by skills like Rally the Troops重振士气 that restore their morale.
Morale states apply multipliers to some attributes as shown below. They count after additive bonuses from skills, perks and equipment, affecting them as well. Some states are indicated by icons.
| Icon | State | 
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unbreakable永不动摇 | ||||||
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Confident | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 | |
| Steady | ||||||
 |
Wavering | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
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Breaking | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
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Fleeing溃逃 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
Morale checks
Morale checks are dice rolls to change morale or resist an effect. They are not shown in the combat log. Resolve is the base chance to succeed. The maximum chance to succeed is 95% (5% chance to fail), but minimum is 0% (always fail). Some morale checks are mental attacks against which Witchhunters, Undead Trophy亡灵战利品项链, Protective Runes and Sigils护佑符文与法印 and Mad疯狂 trait are effective and Superstitious迷信 is vulnerable. Positive checks raise morale by one level, negative ones lower it by one level, but there are exceptions.
Morale checks are skipped if:
- A unit is unaffected by morale (displayed as Unbreakable).
- The chance to succeed is more than 500% before it is capped. Same as being unaffected by morale, positive checks also don't work.
- Positive check tries to change Fleeing to Breaking (it fails).
- Positive check tries to raise morale of the brother on the map egde (it fails).
| Cause | Type | Modifier | Mental attack | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allies adjacent | Modifier | +3 per ally | Only for negative checks | |
| Enemies adjacent | Modifier | -3 per enemy | ||
| Fearsome威慑 | Modifier | -0.15 * user's resolve, capped at -20 | ||
| Direwolf Pelt Mantle恐狼皮披肩 | Modifier | -5 | Multiple mantles stack | |
| Cursed Crystal Skull诅咒水晶骷髅 | Modifier | -10 | Stacks with Direwolf Mantles | |
| Stop fleeing | Positive | +2 * rounds fleeing (+7 * rounds fleeing in the arena) | Must not be next to enemies. Morale becomes Wavering on success. | |
| 15 HP damage | Negative | -40 * missing HP percent | Rolled after damage is applied. | |
| Enemy dies | Positive | -30 + 0.04 * enemy XP value - distance3, killer gets extra +15 | No effect on Fleeing morale. | |
| Ally dies | Negative | +20 - 0.035 * ally XP value + distance2.4 | ||
| Ally flees | Negative | +30 - 0.035 * ally XP value + distance3 | ||
| Enemy surrounds | Negative | +50 - 0.1 * enemy XP value, capped at +10 | Only rolled when number of adjacent enemies exceeds its maximum on this turn. | |
| Pushed or pulled into surrounding | Negative | +40 | Only rolled when number of adjacent enemies exceeds its maximum on this turn. | |
| Brother moves to the map edge | Negative | -1000 | Lowers morale to Breaking. | |
| Rally the Troops重振士气 | Positive | +0.4 * user's resolve, but extra -10 * distance if not fleeing | Can't raise morale above Steady. Fleeing changes to Wavering on success. | |
| Ancient Priest古代祭司's Horror恐怖威慑 (morale drop) | Negative | -15 | Yes | |
| Ancient Priest古代祭司's Horror恐怖威慑 (stun) | Resist | -5 | Yes | |
| Alp梦魇's Sleep沉睡 | Resist | -70 adjacent, -35 from polearm range | Yes | |
| Geist怨魂's Horrific Scream恐怖尖啸 | Negative | 0 | Yes | 4 morale checks on each target. |
| Goblin Overseer地精督军's Whip鞭击 | Positive | +9000 | Raises morale to Steady, or from Steady to Confident. | |
| Hexe女巫's Charm魅惑 | Resist | -35 (-40 if adjacent) | Yes | Rolled twice, one success is enough to resist. |
| Mortar臼炮's Fire Mortar (0 fatigue) (explosion) | Negative | 0 | 2-3 morale checks on each target. The order is: first check, Shellshocked炮击震荡 is inflicted, second check, damage (15 or higher causes third check). | |
| Nachzehrer食尸鬼's Gruesome Feast血腥盛宴 | Positive | +20 | Rolled after growth. | |
| Orc Warlord兽人军阀's Warcry战吼 on enemies | Negative | +5 + distance2.4 | Yes | |
| Orc Warlord兽人军阀's Warcry战吼 on allies | Positive | +10 - distance3 |
XP value of a brother is 100 + 30 * (his level - 1).
Distance modifiers:
| x | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| x2.4 | 1 | 5.28 | 13.97 | 27.86 | 47.59 | 73.72 | 106.72 | 147.03 |
| x3 | 1 | 8 | 27 | 64 | 125 | 216 | 343 | 512 |