The five stats
Every cockle starts with Attack 5, Defence 5, Speed 5, Health 10 and Elemental 0, and earns 5 skill points per level. Each stat drives exactly one combat channel. Each channel is diluted by a base that scales with level, so a point is worth the same relative amount at level 20 and level 2,000. The yardstick for those bases is ref(L) = 5 + 1.25 x (L - 1), the stat a balanced build carries at level L.
| Stat | Channel | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | Damage per blow | power = weapon damage + 1.45 x (Attack + 0.8 x ref) |
| Speed | Attack rate. The faster fighter strikes first AND lands more blows, with no cap. | rate = 1.45 x (1.1 x ref + Speed) |
| Defence | Mitigation: the fraction of a physical blow that lands on you. Doubling effective Defence halves the damage you take. Never below 12%. | through = ref’ / (Defence + armour x 1 + 0.9 x ref), where ref’ is set so a balanced build takes ~42% of full damage |
| Health | Hit points | max HP = 40 + 10 x (Health + 0.95 x ref) |
| Elemental | Bite through your weapon’s element channels and ward through your armour’s. Bypasses Defence entirely. See Elements. | see Elements |
Resolving a blow
Each blow deals (power x defender through + net elemental bite) x variance, where variance rolls 0.65 to 1.35. One blow in ten is a critical hit and deals 1.8x. Battles are event-driven: each fighter strikes on their own clock (interval inversely proportional to rate), the soonest blow always lands next, and a felled cockle never strikes back.
A fighter’s combat power is the product CP = max HP x power x rate / through. Time-to-kill is inversely proportional to CP, so the better CP usually wins, and because CP is a product of the four channels, a balanced spread beats a lopsided one point for point. Variance and crits mean an underdog still wins sometimes: short, hard-hitting fights are the swingiest and long grinds the most decisive.
Difficulty labels
| Label | Your estimated win chance |
|---|---|
| Easy | 70% or better |
| Fair | 42% to 69% |
| Tough | 18% to 41% |
| Deadly | under 18% |
Turns and the fight board
Every attack costs one turn, win or lose. Turns cap at 50 (permanently raised by the hardest trophies) and regenerate one every 5 minutes. Snapjaw’s board offers 18 rivals spread from Easy to Deadly, anchored on your par level: the level whose typical build you would beat half the time. Out-build your level and the board reaches higher; real players always claim slots ahead of bots. Swapping fought rivals and the full board wipe each carry their own cooldown, and each beaten rival pays out once per three days.