Combat

Damage power curve

What actually does the damage shifts as you level — in short, bows early → point-blank Static Charge / Poison Spray mid → melee & Blasters late. Build and pick your party with this in mind.

Early game — Bows

Everyone shoots. While spell points are scarce and melee is risky, bows are your main damage. Get every character's Bow skill up immediately (Mist's Duelist's Edge teaches it to all classes), and fight from range — pull enemies a few at a time and feather them before they close. Casters chip in with single bolts, but the bows do the work.

Mid game — Point-blank Static Charge & Poison Spray

The mid-game damage spike comes from casting a multi-projectile spell at point-blank (melee) range so that every bolt strikes the same enemy at once. Static Charge and Sparks (Air) and Poison Spray (Water) each fire several shots that fan out at range but stack on a single adjacent target up close — enough to delete most mid-game monsters in one cast. Run in, point-blank the spread, step back. (Your Sorcerer/Archer/Druid are the casters for this; raise Air and Water.)

Late game — Melee & Blasters

By the endgame your fighters have the stats, weapons and Armsmaster to out-damage spells in melee, and the Blaster (the Ancient Weapons skill, looted in the Control Center) bypasses armour and shreds everything — it's effectively required for the Hive reactor and the final bosses. Train Blaster up and let the front line carry; spend spell points on buffs, healing, and the occasional big AoE nuke (e.g. Shrapmetal).

Principles

Fight for a reason, not for tidiness. Kill mobs that gate a quest item, sit on loot/chests, or are low-HP free XP (red mages, goblins, Baa cultists, thieves). Run past anything that is purely in the way — MM6 has no aggro penalty for leaving monsters alive once you walk off.
Check resistances before you pick a damage type. A monster with Imm in a channel takes zero from it. Never throw Fire at devils/Red Dragons/Fire Lizards, Cold at Blue Dragons/eels/water elementals, Electricity at sorcerers/Titans/Lightning Lizards, or Poison at undead/spiders/wyrms. Wrong-element nukes feel like the fight is bugged.
Magic-immune tanks are a melee/arrow job, and physical-immune ones are a spell job. Minotaurs, Genies/Djinn/Efreet, Guardians of Varn, Medusas and the robot Units shrug off all spells — shoot and stab them. Oozes, Diamond Gargoyles, Agar and the Lich King ignore weapons — only magic-damage hurts them. The Guardian of Varn and the Reactor are immune to everything but one channel (physical / Blaster respectively).
Pull through doorways and corners. Closing a door breaks line-of-sight on ranged casters; standing in a corner lets you hit a tank around the wall while it can't reach you. This is how you survive Fire Archers, Warlocks, Flying Eyes, Death Knights, even Terminators — never stand in the open trading blows with a pack of casters.
Treat fast flyers as nuisances, not targets. Bats, Suckers, Agar's birds, Harpies and Gargoyles flit around, are hard to land hits on, and pay almost nothing. The danger is the status they hang on you (disease, curse, paralysis), not their damage — clear only the few blocking your shots and move on.
AoE the swarms, single-target the elites. Low-HP packs (rats, suckers, goblins, cultists, eels) melt to one Fireball/Sparks/Starburst. Save single-target weapon DPS for the 200+ HP elites that resist or out-range your spells.
Status effects are deadlier than raw damage. Paralyze (Gargoyles, Agar's), petrify/Stone (Medusas, needs Stone-to-Flesh to cure), Insanity (Warlocks, Maddening Eyes), Mass Curse (Harpy Witches), Eradicate (Terminators, only Resurrect cures it) and SP-drain (Devil Kings/Queen) can disable the party before HP is even an issue. Keep your distance from these even when you could win the slugging match.
Buff up and learn Fly before the late islands. Bless/Heroism/Day-of-the-Gods, Protection-from-X and Fly turn the Dragonsand / Hermit's Isle / Paradise Valley gauntlets from death-traps into fly-overs. Most end-game outdoor monsters are meant to be flown past to a shrine/obelisk/dungeon, not cleared.
No-loot fights are optional. Eels (Sea Serpent line) sink and can't be looted; Titans/Dragons/Wyrms drop great gear but cost a real fight — only commit when you actually want the drop or the XP, never just because they're there.

⏭ Skip these

Monster	Where	Why skip
Gold Dragon	Dragonsand, Temple of the Snake roof	1300 HP, Magic-immune and resists every element 90%, and its breath can one-shot a character. Almost nothing in your kit hurts it — fly straight past to the shrine/cache unless you specifically want its chests.
Red Dragon / Blue Dragon	Dragonsand and Blackshire desert	880-1080 HP and each is immune to its own element (Red=Fire, Blue=Cold) while resisting the rest 50-70%. Huge HP for poor return on the road; fly over them.
Fire / Lightning / Thunder Lizard	Blackshire desert and Dragonsand (half-power dragons)	280-540 HP, each immune to its own element and resisting the others 30-50%, hitting for 10-14d6. They line the open desert with no objective — fly past.
Wyrm / Giant Wyrm / Great Wyrm	Dragonsand	400-700 HP, Poison-immune, breathe poison, and cannot be reliably out-ranged on foot. Their loot is good but optional; skip on the way to the cache unless you want the drop.
Titan / Noble Titan / Supreme Titan	Paradise Valley and Hermit's Isle	617-1187 HP, Electricity- AND Magic-immune, and the Supreme can one-hit-kill a character. Top-tier drops, but only fight from cover when you actually want the loot/trainers; otherwise fly to the obelisk.
Hydra / Venomous Hydra	Hermit's Isle and Paradise Valley	337-467 HP; the Hydra is Fire-immune and the Venomous one Poison-immune, so half your nukes do nothing. Fly over them to the temple/obelisk.
Ooze / Acidic Ooze / Corrosive Ooze	Dragoon's Caverns, Iron Mines, Lair of the Wolf	Poison-, Magic- AND Physical-immune, so only direct-damage spells like Fireball touch them and they break your gear. SP-hungry for tiny reward — leave them unless one blocks a required path (then nuke just that one).
Diamond Gargoyle	Silver Cove islands and Silver Helm areas	207 HP, Physical-immune (weapons do nothing) and paralyzes on hit. Flying and off-path; not worth a touch-and-go fight — only engage with spells if it gates an obelisk.
Marble Gargoyle	Silver Cove / Frozen Highlands	114 HP behind 30% physical resist and Poison-immune, and it paralyzes characters who then sit out the fight. Annoying flyer with weak payoff — skip clusters.
Medusa / Medusa Enchantress / Gorgon	Castle Darkmoor and off-path caves	227-337 HP, completely Magic-immune, and they petrify (Stone) party members — a stoned character needs Stone-to-Flesh to recover. Never melee them without that cure ready; walk around them if they're not on the objective.
Minotaur / Minotaur Mage / Minotaur King	Kriegspire canyon and Castle Kriegspire	269-861 HP, Magic-immune, and the Mage casts Finger of Death. Magic does nothing so they're a slow weapon grind; fly over the outdoor ones, and only door-trick the King for its chests if you want them.
Rock Beast / Earth Spirit / Earth Elemental / Devil Spawn (Kriegspire)	Kriegspire canyon	Magic-immune (earth monsters) or Fire-immune (Devil Spawn) tanks with no quest payoff in the open canyon. Fly over them to the cave you actually need.
Maddening Eye / Terrible Eye	Castle Darkmoor (in the open)	280-400 HP, Magic-immune, travel in packs and cast Dispel Magic + Insanity/Fear/Sleep — they strip your buffs and disable the party. Fight only from a blocked doorway one at a time, never out in the room.
Devil Warrior / Devil King / Demon Queen minions	Demon Lair, Superior Temple of Baa, the Hive, Sweet Water	Fire-immune (so no fire) and the Warrior/King are also Magic-immune; the King drains a caster's ENTIRE SP pool in one hit. Brutal in a no-rest dungeon — avoid the ones you don't need and back into a corner so they confuse-mill instead of chasing.
Devil Spawn / Devil Worker (Iron Mines)	Snergle's Iron Mines	Fire-immune and they cause Disease; do NOT hit them with Fire spells. Run past if you can — cold/lightning/melee only when forced.
Warlock	Gharik's Forge and the Superior Temple of Baa	~400 HP, Electricity-immune, and casts Insanity nearly every turn. Engage only from a doorway in small numbers; standing in the open against a pack is a wipe.
Magyar Matron / Magician / Sorcerer	Castle Alamos and Gharik's Forge	Electricity-immune casters that hammer the party with electric spells; high HP (137-227). Worth it only behind cover where you can shoot them — skip open packs.
Fire Archer / Master Archer	Free Haven and Frozen Highlands (open world)	Shoot multiple times per turn and the Fire Archer's Fireball hits the whole party. Dangerous and not worth it at low level — fly past or skirt early; come back with arrows when you out-range them.
Greater Werewolf	Frozen Highlands and Lair of the Wolf	280 HP and its hit can knock a character unconscious in one blow (lesser Werewolves disease you). Don't melee the full swarm — leak them a few at a time or engage from the air with arrows.
Harpy Witch / Harpy Hag	Mire of the Damned and Frozen Highlands (outdoors)	The Witch casts Mass Curse, so flying too close to a flock curses the whole party. Fast, annoying flyers with weak loot — fly around clusters rather than diving in.
Dust Devil / Twister / Air Elemental	near the Temple of the Snake and the Blackshire desert	Air-, Poison- AND Magic-immune; only Fire/Cold and weapons touch them and there's no objective in the open. Fly past — their dungeon is a later return.
Water Beast / Water Spirit / Water Elemental	Eel Infested Waters	Cold-, Poison- AND Magic-immune; the obelisk here is a fly-by. Don't grind them for an obelisk you can just touch and leave.
Sea Serpent / Sea Monster / Sea Terror (eels)	Eel & Hermit's Isle waters	Cold-immune, need Fly to even reach, and their bodies sink so you get NO loot — pure XP only. Skip unless you specifically want the experience.
Agar's Abomination / Agar's Monster / Agar's Pet	Eel Infested Waters islands, Agar's Lab, Castle Kriegspire	Flying, Magic-immune birds that paralyze/petrify; the Eel-island obelisk is a fly-by. Don't tangle with the flock for an obelisk you can just touch.
Efreet / Djinn / Genie	outside the scroll chests in the Pyramid of Varn	Magic-immune (and the Efreet adds Fire-immunity), so they're an arrow/melee grind that breaks gear. The guide says run past the genie/Guardian corridor on the way to the scrolls rather than clearing it.
Guardian of VARN	Pyramid of Varn ledges you can slip past	617 HP, immune to ALL magic and ALL elements (physical only) and breaks your weapons. A miserable tank for poor value — only kill the ones actually sitting on a code-scroll chest; slip past the rest.
Lurch	behind the optional Castle Kriegspire door	2000 HP and Physical-immune — a magic-only marathon with no quest payoff. Pure time-sink; leave it alone.
Terminator Unit	Control Center, off the loot path	1080 HP, Magic-immune robot whose hit Eradicates a character (only Resurrect, not Heal, brings them back). Dodge the ones off your route; only fight from a corner where you can hit around a wall.
NWC staff / wandering peasants	outside New Sorpigal and roads	Hitting one aggros the whole group and tanks your reputation for zero meaningful reward. Walk past townsfolk.
Witch Doctor	Bootleg Bay and the Tsantsa Temple	Resists every element 5% and throws Deadly Swarm; not immune, just spongy for a road mob. Favor arrows/physical and don't waste elemental SP on them.

✅ Clear these

Monster	Why clear
Goblins / Goblin Shamans / Goblin Kings	13-40 HP each — bow them from behind walls for the easiest early XP, gold and camp crates.
Apprentice / Journeyman / red Mages	Red mages have the fewest HP in the game; free XP and they go down before they cast much. Always worth clearing.
Followers / Mystics / Fanatics / Clerics / Priests of Baa	9-25 HP cultists that drop sellable Temple Gongs; fast XP and they often hold quest keys (Superior Temple).
Thieves (Cutpurse / Bounty Hunter / Thief / Burglar / Rogue)	9-133 HP and easy, but they STEAL items — kill them quickly and pick your loot back up off the corpse. Good XP and the Prince of Thieves chain.
Lizard Men / Lizard Archers / Cannibals / Head Hunters	13-40 HP road trash; weak, good XP and chest loot. Clear them to keep your retreat path open.
Dwarves / Dwarf Warriors / Dwarf Lords	High elemental/magic resistance but NO physical immunity — bows and melee farm them through doorways for solid XP and gem/gold loot.
Skeletons / Knights / Lords + Lichs (undead)	Poison- and Magic-immune, so hit them with weapons, Light or Spirit (never poison/magic). Required undead like Ethric and the Tomb lichs drop quest items; the Temple-of-Baa gong horde is huge XP.
Specters (Corlagon's Estate)	93 HP but knock a character unconscious in one hit — kill them FIRST and from range, then take the boss. Required to reach the Crystal of Terrax.
Quest bosses (Queen Spider, Snergle, Devil of Baa, Longfang Witherhide, Corlagon)	Mandatory for their drops (Heart, Snergle's Axe, Devil Plans, Dragon Claw, Crystal of Terrax). Snipe the low-HP ones; use the correct non-immune element on the rest (Water/Cold on the Fire-immune Devil of Baa).
Genie / Djinn / Efreet on the scroll chests	Magic-immune, so kill them with arrows and melee — required because each one sits on a Varn code-scroll chest.
Guardians of VARN on the code-scroll chests	Immune to all magic and elements (physical only) and break weapons, but you MUST clear the ones holding the code scrolls. Bring a spare weapon.
Patrol / Enforcer Units (robots)	Magic-immune machines — physical/arrows/Blasters only. Required: they guard the Blaster and Blaster Rifle chests and the wall-panel that teaches the Blaster skill.
The Reactor (Hive)	Immune to everything EXCEPT Blaster fire — a required boss, so equip Blasters and ignore every other damage type.