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Stats Affected: [Affects visible muscle definition]
Description:
A rare skill in this day and age, warriors only consider it a last resort. At normal skill levels, an unarmed man is always at a huge disadvantage against an armed opponent of similar ability. There are stories however, of high-level martial arts masters who can match any master swordsman in combat with just their bare hands. Physical conditioning is an important factor for a martial artist.
-Unlocks better techniques
-Frequency of unarmed attacks on opponent
-Chance of attacks not getting blocked
-Reduces injury when striking metal
Ways to Train:
-Fighting unarmed
-Using special training equipment
-Combat-


Martial arts is a hard skill to train at first. Most enemies can knock you down before you ever become a true threat; however, with the right time and training, a martial artist can become a potent ally. As characters level up in the Martial arts skill, they will gain new attacks. This is a unique trait as no other "weapon" gains new attacks as skills increase. Martial Arts has the largest damage output of any weapon in the game but suffers from a short reach on its "weapon" as well as animations as a trade off.

Martial Arts is a very dangerous combat method to train because characters engaging in 'unarmed combat' can be injured through their attacker's hits as well as when landing their own hits. Robot Limbs are incredible useful as they will prevent taking recoil damage when attacking as well as boosting damage (Lifter Arms) by a massive degree. Certain armor can negate fist damage during attacks. As a character becomes a seasoned Martial Artist, they progressively will take less damage from landing hits. Because Skeletons already have Robot Limbs they do not receive recoil damage so they can make good Martial Artists without much investment.

Racial Experience Multipliers
Negative Multiplier:
-Soldierbot
Positive Multiplier:
There are no races which have positive experience multipliers for this stat.
All multipliers are either 0.8x or 1.2x unless marked otherwise.


-Although Soldierbots have a negative multiplier for Martial Arts they gain the same experience as any other race in the skill.

Training[]

As with Melee Fighting skills, the XP rate of Martial Arts is connected to Stronger Opponent Logic. As such fighting an opponent with a higher defense level (Or Martial Arts) than your Martial Arts level will result in more experience, while facing someone who is weaker results in less. Wearing Equipment which increases Martial Arts stats will result in less stressful battles but much longer training time because of this. The fastest way to train Martial Arts is to wear Martial Arts reducing Armour and overencumbering yourself.

Some armour which gives Martial Arts stat boosts are: Martial Artist Bindings, Gi Pants, Gi, Assassin's Rags, and Sleeveless Dustcoat. Additionally, fighting indoors provides a +8 level boost to martial arts.

Self-Inflicted damage (Recoil)[]

The damage you take when using Martial Arts depends on what you are hitting, their armour "material" (Shown on the top right) which you hit as well as your Martial Arts and Toughness level. Robots do not take any recoil damage for using Martial Arts.

  • Recoil damage you take for hitting a non-skeleton in a bodypart which has nothing, [cloth] or [leather] material armour (or if their armour fails to "cover" them) is;
    • Cut = 0
    • Stun = 1-((Martial Arts + Toughness) x 0.005)
  • Recoil damage you take for hitting a non-skeleton in a bodypart which has [chain] material armour is;
    • Cut = 1-((Martial Arts + Toughness) x 0.005)
    • Stun = 1-((Martial Arts + Toughness) x 0.005)
  • Recoil damage you take for hitting a Skeleton (Regardless of armour) or a non-skeleton in a bodypart which has [Metal Plates] material armour is;
    • Cut = 2-((Martial Arts + Toughness) x 0.01)
    • Stun = 2-((Martial Arts + Toughness) x 0.01)

Non-Skeletons must use robotic limbs, fist protection (up to the % they require) or reach a total of 200 combined Martial Arts + Toughness to prevent recoil damage. (Although "fist protection" may seem like it only affects your arms, it works for all of your limbs) Regardless of your total level or Robotic limbs, non-skeletons will always do 0.6x damage when dealing Martial Arts damage to robots.

Skill cap[]

Hard cap is achieved when one of the xp multipliers becomes 0 or so close to zero that it rounds down the final xp gain to zero.

Hard cap breakpoints[]

  1. 100.7722
  2. 553 (Not possible for the player to achieve this in the base game. The only NPCs who can level their Martial Arts this high are ones who spawn above ~101.23 and none of those who do (Tinfist) are recruitable)

Combat Techniques[]

Combat Techniques for Martial Arts are only usable if specific limbs are not crippled. If you lack an arm or your arm is below 0 health, you will be unable to use Bad Punch, but can still use kicklow (as an example) provided you have the required skill level. Once you reach higher levels of Martial arts, some are abandoned and will not be used again. Combat Techniques have power assigned for their attacks and some have 2 "techniques" which means they have two damaging attacks in the animation. If a Combat Technique below lists two under the Power of attacks section, that is why. Possible targets hit are the max units an attack can damage at once. Highly unlikely to ever actually hit 99, but still important to list so players can know if an attack will lead them open or may stagger other enemies currently attacking them. Depending on your Encumberance % (shown at the bottom left, right above Martial Arts in game) you will be unable to perform certain Combat Techniques if you are over the limit. Any Combat Technique with a value over 100 can always be used at any Encumberance % as 100 is the maximum you can reach.

Name Animation Enabled Minimum to Max level Max

Encumberance

(%)

Max Range Chance to be used (Relative) Limbs used Power of attacks Possible targets hit Description
Headbutt
Headbutt
No -100 to 6 999 4 1 70 99 If it was enabled, it would be discarded at level 6.
Bad Punch
Badpunch
Yes -1000 to 20 999 -4 1 Left Arm 50 1 This is the punch you start out with. It's very weak and is nearly useless when fighting an enemy alone. Very similar or identical to a very bad hook punch.
Kicklow
Lowkick
Yes 5 to 999 999 2 0.5 Left Leg 70 99 Is considered a "low strike" meaning it is designated to aim at the legs.
Shotei/Straight Palm Strike
Shotei
Yes 15 to 999 999 7 1 Left Arm 100 99 A straight palm strike, dealing damage in a straight line towards your targeted enemy.
Double Strike
Doublestrike
Yes 25 to 999 999 3 1 Left Arm + Right Arm 60 + 100 99 The Double Strike is great at one on one combat, like the Shotei, but sets you up to be attacked by another enemy behind you. The first strike is with the left hand with a power of 60 followed up by a right hand attack which had a power of 100.
Double Punch High
Doublepunchhigh
No 25 to 999 999 3 1 Left Arm + Right Arm 80 + 100 99 Not enabled but if it was it would have been a faster, stronger version of Double Strike.
Jump Kick
Jumpkick
Yes 30 to 9,999 50 9 0.4 Left Leg 120 99 The Jump Kick is self-explanatory; you jump into the air and kick the upper region of the enemy. Important to note that this has no impact on where you will deal damage.
Double Punch Mid
Doublepunch
Yes 35 to 999 999 3 1 Left Arm + Right Arm 80 + 100 99
Mega Kick
Megakick
Yes 45 to 999 40 7 (5 Static) 1.5 Left Leg + Right Leg 180 99 A hard-hitting Kick. The hardest hitting single instance attack in the game. Characters like Tinfist (122 Martial Arts indoors) can deal 377.46 total damage with a single Mega Kick on a unit with level 50 Toughness. Your character runs towards the target and does a sideways roundhouse kick in the air.
Jump Knee Strike
Jumpknee
Yes 55 to 999 0 13 (10 static) 0.15 Right Leg + Right Arm 100 + 150 99 The Jump Knee Strike is like the Jump Kick, but instead of kicking, you knee them for a 100 power hit, following that is a downward palm strike dealing a 150 power hit. This combo is the highest total damage dealing animation in the game. Mostly used after dodging back away from an opponent. It's used to a maximum reach similar to Heavy Downcut V2 for weapons.

Damage[]

Damage that is done while using Martial Arts depends on three skills: Martial Arts, Strength, and Toughness. The damage done with a 100 power attack by Martial arts is (2.5+0.075MA)+(2.5+0.075MA)(0.1Strength)+(2.5+0.075MA)(0.08Toughness) . Fill in your Martial Arts, Strength and Toughness levels (Even the percent, so level 10 with 31 % would be 10.31) to calculate the damage done with a 100 power attack against an enemy with 50 Toughness. This formula is for total damage and cannot tell you the exact amount of cut to blunt damage. Skeletons do NOT do bonus Martial Arts damage compared to other races, however they do deal full damage to robotic foes. Other races do only 60% damage to robotic units with their fists even if they replace them with robotic limbs.

Important to add that Dexterity will only affect your attack speed. The +unarmed damage found on some robotics limbs have no actual use and do not affect damage in any way. The only two limbs which increase your damage for Martial Arts are Industrial Lifter Arms and KLR Series Arms as they boost your Strength. For the highest damage output use two Masterwork Industrial Lifter Arms.

Despite not being a weapon and not weighing anything in your inventory, Martial Arts does have a required Strength Level as though it was a normal weapon. Unlike normal weapons, though, its required level will shift over time with your Martial Arts skill. The level of strength needed is equivalent to 80% your Martial Arts skill level (Divide your Martial Arts level by 50 to get the damage value, then multiply that by 40 to get the required Strength level). Because of this, it may be better to train Strength up a lot before even starting to work on Martial Arts if you wish to attack at a normal speed.

Trivia[]

  • For the damage calculation Toughness is 0.08 instead of 0.1 like Strength because of the "unarmed damage mult" under GLOBAL CONSTANTS in FCS being set to 0.8. It states that it is the "global multiplier , affects all damage calculations for this damage type", however it only affects Toughness damage scaling for Martial Arts.
  • The 0.65 Damage Multiplier (not to be confused with damage resistance from Toughness) applied to "all damage calculations" does not affect Martial Arts.
  • At level 0 Martial arts, Strength and Toughness using a 100 power attack you deal 0 cut and 2.5 blunt damage. With 100 Martial arts, 0 Stength and Toughness this goes up to 6 cut and 4 blunt.
    • If it was possible to level past 100 in Martial Arts the damage gained for each level would go up by a massive amount past around the 160 mark and would do only cut damage.
  • Over Encumbering yourself will lower your Martial Arts, based off a percent. Every 1% Encumbrance is equal to -0.8% Martial arts. So -80% Martial arts at 100%, which is also the cap as you cannot go above 100% Encumbrance.
  • Backpacks do not reduce your Martial Arts level, as such you are able to use a Thieves Backpack instead of a Small one without being negatively impacted.
  • Skeletons have a bloodloss of 0.2 on their fists which is four times that of any biological race using Martial Arts... however 0.2 bloodloss is only twice that of a Jitte. So this is not really an advantage over the other races.
  • "FISTS" and "FISTS -robo" have a length (Reach) of 18.
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