Attack

An Attack is an action taken as part of the player’s moveset that damages or kills enemies. An Attack may have secondary or tertiary actions, such as applying a Status Effect, but it is defined by its damage. Notably, an Attack is a method by which the player directly deals damage, not through secondary effects such as Damage Over Time.

An attack can be a part of another action (ex: Jumping). Attacks may be Melee Attacks or Projectiles. Some attacks may have an associated cost or drawback, such as Self Damage or a Resource-Dependent Attack. The strength of an attack may be modulated by various factors, such as specific enemy type (see Type Effectiveness), the influence of Weak Point, or random chance (as in Critical Hit).

Super Mario Bros. series – Jumping on enemies is an attack, as it kills them, or otherwise deals damage.

Chess – Moving can take an opponent’s piece.

Pokemon: Emerald (2004) – When used in battle, moves such as Dig and Fly still count as attacks, despite their effects being delayed a turn. Moves such as Perish Song also count as attacks for this reason, as it is a delayed “kill” move. Moves that inflict a status effect, such as Thunderwave, are not attacks.

Persona 5 (2017) – Some moves that do damage cost different resources (HP, SP). These are still attacks.

Hollow Knight (2018) – Attacks deal damage, with scaling Knockback. Attacking refills the player character’s soul meter.

Status Effect – frequently inflicted by Attacks

Damage Over Time – opposing paradigm

Jump – frequency co-occur

Knockback – frequent consequence of attack