Basics

From Torchlight Wiki

Runic Wiki » Torchlight » Basics

This page contains information that all players, old and new, need to know about Torchlight to be successful. This includes things like controls, the interface, and gameplay mechanics.

Contents 1 Controls 2 Interface 3 Gameplay Mechanics 3.1 Elemental Damage 3.2 Death

Controls

You control your character by pointing and clicking on where you want to go. Clicking on enemies makes your character run to that enemy and, when in range, attack it. Skills are used by hotkeying the 1-0 buttons or the mouse buttons. You can hotkey the mouse button skills to F1-F12.

Holding down SHIFT keeps your character from moving while you left-click on the environment to attack, and is useful for aiming ranged attacks (such as ricochet) toward a location instead of running there.

SHIFT-left-click on an item will cause your pet to run over and pick that item up.

Interface

Main article: Interface

The image to the right shows a good look at the main user interface that the player sees while playing Torchlight.

There are 3 main panels that you can see in this image: the pet panel, the enemy panel, and the main panel. The pet panel lets you see your pet's health and control its aggressiveness. The enemy panel tells you the type of monster you are fighting, its health, and its level. The main panel contains all of your hotkeyed skills, your health and mana, and buttons to access the other interfaces.

Gameplay Mechanics

Elemental Damage

Several weapons and spells acquired during the course of the game deal additional damage with an elemental focus. Some monsters will have a resistance to one (or more) of these element types, so it's up to the player to discover what works best on what foes. Spells (and weapons) that use a particular elemental damage sometimes also possess additional effects, as listed below:

• Fire - Fire can burn enemies, dealing high damage over a short period of time.
• Ice - Ice can chill enemies to slow them, or freeze them outright, leaving them temporarily paralyzed.
• Lightning - Lightning can stun enemies, leaving them immobile for several seconds.
• Poison - Poison deals less damage over time than burning, but generally lasts for a longer period.
• Physical - All normal melee and ranged weapons deal 'Physical' damage. Some physical attacks have 'Knockback', an effect that can push enemies away from the player.

Death

When you die in Torchlight, you can be resurrected in one of three locations:

• Current Location - The player's character simply gets back up where they fell. While the most convenient option, its also the most costly, as it subtracts a large portion of both your Experience Points (XP) and your Fame.
• Beginning of the Floor - Less expensive than being resurrected on-the-spot, this is usually the most frequently-chosen option, as it only moves you to the beginning of the floor you died on, and it merely subtracts a sum of gold from your assets. The money can usually be earned back without too much trouble.
• Torchlight - The player is revived back in the town of Torchlight. While the most inconvenient place to recover, it doesn't cost the player anything to be resurrected here.

There is a forth option, which is to quit and return to the main menu. When the player chooses this option, it is effectively travelling back in time. The character is returned to the beginning of the floor, and any area they explored, gold they earned, or items they acquired disappear.