Talk:Advanced Combat Techniques

Availability

Its available pre hardmore i got one while fishing for the new summon. i dont have a way to show proof The822man95725 (talk) 06:53, 18 May 2020 (UTC)

You do have a way to show proof. Taking a screenshot would be greatly appreciated, and if you’ve fished up some pre-HM crates as well, then it would be near-concrete as you would have no reason to go to that much effort to fake it. 108.217.54.150 22:04, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

It is definitely available pre-hardmode, I got it too. There is the slight problem that I used it though so I don't have it anymore.DanZeMan (talk) 16:25, 24 May 2020 (UTC)

Here's a screenshot I took, this is pre-hardmode and after I just used the book. Caught it while fishing in a blood moon, standing on the surface at that oasis fighting monsters with my shield of cthulu and minion, while I fished.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by LovelyNatureWalks (talk • contribs) at 17:47, 24 May 2020 (UTC)

Permanent

Are we sure it's permanent? Some evidence would be appreciated. XXfirelXx (talk) 22:01, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

Yes - there's a flag in the game code named combatBookWasUsed, which is saved with the world and is never reset. --Eraloiz (talk) 22:08, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

Rarity

Took me something like ten Blood Moon fishing trips but I finally got one for myself in pre-Hard Mode. Is there any info about its rarity other than 'green'? Like, 1 in 100 or whatever? https://i.imgur.com/mUZhXJW.png 14.2.104.97 04:25, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Yes! It is a Extremely Rare-quality catch that occurs roughly 1 in 3 successful Extremely Rare catches (i.e. at most 1 in 18 catches, depending on your fishing power), which can only be caught if it has not been used in the current world (see #Permanent), and only during a Blood Moon. (Source: 1.4.0.4 game code) - Fistsh (talk) 04:36, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

How to tell if already used?

Without resorting to external tools, is there a way to tell if this has already been used? -Jatopian28123 (talk) 11:09, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

I'm not sure if it allows this, but probably if another character (from a different world) could bring the item to the world then it couldn't be used (if it had already been used in the world). I'd also imagine you could calculate the damage that the NPCs should be doing with and without it and figure it out that way. Neither solution would be ideal though, but that's all I can think of personally.

MatthewTh0 (talk) 00:58, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

According to the game code, that's all, yes. You'd probably want to either (a) remember if you [or another player] used it or not, (b) try to fish one up (you won't catch one if it's been used in the world you're in), or (c) get one in a different world and try using it in your world. - Fistsh (talk) 02:09, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

Question about which NPCs this affects (if you don't have them all yet)

Does anyone know if this affects only currently obtained NPCs or if it includes all future NPCs that you don't have yet? I currently have this pre-hardmode but I don't want to use it if it won't affect NPCs I don't have yet. I'd assume it will affect the future NPCs (and NPCs that are "active" but dead upon use), yet I still want to make sure. I also assume if an NPC dies the successor will be affected as well, but technically this isn't explicitly stated. --MatthewTh0 (talk) 00:06, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

To quote Eraloiz from a few lines above: "[T]here's a flag in the game code named combatBookWasUsed, which is saved with the world and is never reset." So it affects the world, rather than individual NPCs. Thank you, Eraloiz. :) --94.230.208.147

I read that, but I guess my thought process was that the game could technically save a list of alive NPCs when it is used (although I realize that point probably wouldn't have been omitted in hindsight). Anyways, thank you! :) -- MatthewTh0 (talk) 00:49, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

Improving Chances

I know that improved fishing power from using better rods, better bait, the fishing outfit from that jerk kid, and trinkets increase your odds of finding quality catches, but does anybody know if using the Flesh Catcher or Chum Buckets helps at all? My logic is that this is a Blood Moon exclusive, but not one of the creatures, so it could go either way. If the player doesn't have access to a stronger rod, the Flesh Catcher could be their best bet. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.193.152.10 at 18:20, 4 September 2021 (UTC)

Regarding specifically how to improve the chances of catching an Advanced Combat Techniques: There is no way to increase your chances of catching an Advanced Combat Techniques in particular, much like almost every other individual fishing catch - the best you can do is to try to maximize your chance of catching rarer items. Only Fishing Power actually improves the chances of catching rarer items while fishing. Therefore, increase your fishing power to have a better chance of catching an Advanced Combat Techniques. Note that there are one or more hidden factors which affect your Fishing Power. The Advanced Combat Techniques is an Extremely Rare catch which can only be caught during a Blood Moon, so by consulting the relevant article on catch quality, we can see that - for example - on Desktop with 100 fishing power, you have roughly a 2.22% chance per catch that if you catch a non-crate item, it will be an Extremely Rare item. In fact, looking at the game code, I can provide a more accurate estimate of roughly a 1-in-135 chance, or about 0.74%, that a non-crate item caught while fishing with 100 Fishing Power will be an Advanced Combat Techniques in particular. This drops to 1-in-150 or 0.67% if you account for the 1-in-10 chance of catching a crate instead, and finally drops to 1-in-180 or 0.56% to account for the 1-in-6 chance of catching a blood moon enemy instead. If you can reach 300 fishing power, your chances would thus improve to (1/45) * (9/10) * (5/6) = 1-in-60, or 1.67%. And finally: using Chum Buckets may help due to it temporarily increasing your fishing power; the Fleshcatcher is an ordinary fishing pole, so using it will be of help because it increases your fishing power - unless, of course, you have a better fishing pole, of which there are many. However, using the Chum Caster is probably actually a hindrance to catching Advanced Combat Techniques, because it increases your chance of catching enemies, thereby decreasing the chance of catching items. - Fistsh (talk) 04:29, 9 September 2021 (UTC)