The Tao of Combat is a difficult path to follow. It needs discipline and patience and total fortitude. It will lead to many deaths (mostly your own). It will end in excellent and then lead to many deaths (mostly other people's).

Maxims:

1. Death does not matter. Wurtfoil/restoration is easy enough to obtain. Death does not shame you. Laugh silently at death.

2. Defeat teaches more than Victory. In the Tao of Combat: Winning is defeat. Losing is victory.

-- Combat is a sequence of your actions and your opponent's actions and the conditions you both create and encounter. When you are killed this sequence will ALWAYS have some mistake you made or something you do not know and must learn to counter/block. When you win the combat sequence can only give abstract improvements for there is no absolute failure. This is harder. Thus victory is a loss and to be defeated is to win.

3. Check out the index HELP 26 and see the files therein!

4. There is NEVER an attack that has no defence, counter or way-to-neutralise. This applies across all the professions. You may find something used to kill you and you may receive no info how to survive it but this is ALWAYS a matter of 'too little info' rather than 'no way out'. All players are fallible. All players have finite know-how. Do not think it is so singular if there are times when none of your allies know how to defend a rare power or attack method used by the enemy. It will NOT mean a defence is impossible. Defence is never impossible. But it may mean you are the one destined to discover, test and publicise the countermeasures required; and in so doing save thousands from being killed thereafter.

5. There once was a time when jegga was called "instakill" and complaint was made that it was a spoiler poison because it was a kill without skill. It took a few weeks for denallo to be known as cure. Immunity potion was initially thought a version of Endurance "resistance" on permanent cycle. Consider this rather bland analogy. It has applied to every deadly strike ability at some time or other, for some player or other. Avalon reality is unchanging: no spoiler "instakill" would be introduced. Always with the attack(s) will be numerous counters or defences or preparations for safe rebuttal. Always. For the gamesystem to evolve otherwise would be daft.

6. For a player to conclude we have made spoiler instakill attacks without defence is almost an insult. Are we idiots, or incompetent, or has your perspective veered so far from clear and objective thinking you've explained away an instant kill without defence or escape by telling yourself Avalon's vast gamesystem has been prejudiced to play out a bias against you personally or in favour of some lucky individual? If you ever find yourself thinking this way, please do us all a favour and go to your bathroom mirror - look yourself in the eye - and slap yourself about the cheeks until that ancient spirit of Twat Miyn'd is banished, until the pestilence of Lay'Zee Baa Star'd is overcome. Soon as this is done, return to Avalon and start looking for the solution. If all else fails, you won't find the Gods silent if questioned in good faith and with positive brave and pro-active attitude. Promise.