Skills

Skills are special moves that your hobo uses in battle when drunk.

Skill Shop

Skills are obtained at the Skill Shop, which becomes unlocked in the City upon completing the Skill Shop Mini Adventure. They are bought with tokens. At first, only three skills can be bought at the Skill Shop; however, as you raise your drinking stat, more skills will become unlocked at the Skill Shop, in groups of three. Each unlocked skill group costs more tokens, but has better special effects in battle. At 500 drinking, all 33 skills at the Skill Shop become unlocked. You can only have up to 999 of each skill at any time.

Due to HoboArena's lack of tokens, theres is no Skill Shop on that version. Because of this difference, you simply obtain skills via consuming non-mixed drinks on HoboArena. All other aspects of the skills are shared between all versions on HoboWars.

Mechanics

Upon buying a skill, it becomes placed in your Skill Repository on the Skills page, which is accessible through the Living Area and the "Skills" side bar link. From there, skills can be "set" into a skill slot. In order for a skill to be fired, it must be placed into a skill slot. Also, as you raise your drinking stat, you will unlock more skill slots, up to nine maximum at 400 drinking. Once a skill is placed into a skill slot, it can be dragged up and down into other skill slot positions, that is, if you have more than one skill slot. The skill in the first skill slot will fire first, the skill in the second skill slot will fire second, and so on; basically, they are used in the order you place them. You cannot set the same skill in multiple skill slots. Once you are done arranging your skills, click the "Set Order" button to save your skill arrangement. Leaving a skill slot blank will not cause a "pause" in between skill firing, so make sure you take advantage of all of your skill slots!

In battle, skills automatically fire at set intervals, which are determined by your BAC. The higher your BAC, the earlier your skills will fire. Usually, skills fire every 20 or so rounds. Once a skill is fired, it becomes used up and disappears, so, make sure your skills are always well-stocked! Also, each skill will only fire once during battle; once all of the skills in your skill slots are fired, you will not fire any more skills for the remaining duration of the battle.

The special effects of skills vary from skill to skill; some skills buff your stats, some lower your opponent's stats, some heal you, some damage your opponent, and some do something entirely unique.

If you are a donator, you can save the current skill lineup you have as a named Skill Set and switch to it when desired. You can have up to five saved Skill Sets at any time. If your donator status goes away, you will not have access to your saved Skill Sets.

If you have the Cabana Club Card special item from Bernard's Mansion active, your opponent's skills will miss 25% of the time.

The following is a comprehensive table of certain drinking stat intervals and the skill-related benefits they provide:

Comprehensive Drinking Stat and Skill-Related Benefits Information Table

Drinking Stat Max BAC Skill Fire Interval Skill Slots Number of Unlocked Skills 0 0.20% Around every 23 rounds. 1 3 50 0.22% Around every 23 rounds. 2 6 100 0.24% Around every 23 rounds. 3 9 150 0.26% Around every 22 rounds. 4 12 200 0.28% Around every 22 rounds. 5 15 250 0.30% Around every 22 rounds. 6 18 300 0.32% Around every 22 rounds. 7 21 350 0.34% Around every 21 rounds. 8 24 400 0.36% Around every 21 rounds. 9 27 450 0.38% Around every 21 rounds. 9 30 500 0.40% Around every 21 rounds. 9 33 550 0.42% Around every 20 rounds. 9 33 600 0.44% Around every 20 rounds. 9 33 650 0.46% Around every 20 rounds. 9 33 700 0.48% Around every 20 rounds. 9 33 700 + Tattoo 0.78% Around every 17 rounds. 9 33 700 + Tattoo + JS* 1.56% Around every 12 rounds after firing. 9 33 700 + Tattoo + KS* 2.34% Around every 8 rounds after firing. 9 33 *JS = Jello Shot and KS = Keg Stand.

List of Skills

There are 49 skills present in the game.

The following is a list of all them, as well as information pertaining to their costs, special effects, and unlock criterion. The skills on HoboArena are gained through consuming certain drinks instead of requiring purchase or unlocking.

Skills

ID Image Name Cost Special Effect Unlock Criterion HoboArena Drinks -9999  !a -9999  !a -9999  !a 1 Sprint 25 Tokens Buffs your speed by 5%. 0 Birdbath Gin 2 Strengthen 25 Tokens Buffs your strength by 5%. 0 Albino Ale John Cuervo Tequila Shot of Tequila 3 Empower 25 Tokens Buffs your power by 5%. 0 Goon Sack Purple Pigeon Vodka 4 Slow 50 Tokens Reduces your opponent's speed by 5%. 50 Drinking Wild Terrier Whiskey Shot of Whiskey 5 Reduce 50 Tokens Reduces your opponent's strength by 5%. 50 Drinking Rev's Rum 6 Weaken 50 Tokens Reduces your opponent's power by 5%. 50 Drinking Ruiner's Rum Shot of Ruiner's Rum 7 Double Punch 75 Tokens Throws a punch that deals 50% more damage than usual. 100 Drinking Octuple Sec 8 Leap 75 Tokens Causes the opponent's next attack to miss, and, 33⅓% of the time, backfire, causing him/her damage instead. 100 Drinking Boxcar Boxed Wine 9 Jello Shot 75 Tokens Doubles your current and maximum BAC for the remaining duration of the battle, causing your skills to fire faster. 100 Drinking Montreal Bourbon 10 Drain 100 Tokens Throws a punch that drains your opponent's health, adding it to yours. 150 Drinking Aunt Flo Amaretto 11 Mighty 100 Tokens Buffs your power, strength, and speed by 5%. 150 Drinking Portly Stout 12 Sissify 100 Tokens Reduces your opponent's power, strength, and speed by 5%. 150 Drinking Zima Light 13 Heal 125 Tokens Restores 15% of the health you started out with. 200 Drinking Brandy Brand Brandy 14 Takedown* 125 Tokens Halves your opponent's current health. Has a 75% chance of missing. 200 Drinking Irish Cream 15 Paralyze 125 Tokens Paralyzes your opponent for 5~30 rounds, preventing him/her from attacking or firing skills. 200 Drinking Homeless Hennessy 16 Triple Punch 150 Tokens Throws a punch that deals 100% more damage than usual. 250 Drinking Mutton Chop Scotch 17 Buff Rat 150 Tokens Increases your rat's damage and speed by 25%. 250 Drinking — 18 Concentration 150 Tokens Doubles your stat buffs gained during the battle. 250 Drinking Jagermeister 19 Double Drain 175 Tokens Throws a punch that deals 50% more damage than usual and drains your opponent's health, adding it to yours. 300 Drinking Bottle of Two Buck Chuck 20 Yoink 175 Tokens Steals your opponent's current status effect and makes it yours. 300 Drinking Jack Daniel's 21 Debuff 175 Tokens Negates your opponent's status effect and buffs previously gained during battle. 300 Drinking Everclear 22 Heal More 200 Tokens Restores 20% of the health you started out with. 350 Drinking Buttery Nipple 23 Defend 200 Tokens Reduces your damage received from opponents by 20% for the remainder of battle. 350 Drinking Decaf Kahlua 24 Keg Stand 200 Tokens Triples your current and maximum BAC for the remaining duration of the battle, causing your skills to fire much faster. 350 Drinking Tapped Keg Canadian Flag 25 Quad Punch 225 Tokens Throws a punch that deals 150% more damage than usual. 400 Drinking Lemon Drop 26 Cripple* 225 Tokens Halves your opponent's current health. Has a 66⅔% chance of missing. 400 Drinking — 27 Average 225 Tokens Averages your opponent's stats for around 10 turns. 400 Drinking Rainbow Road 28 Triple Drain 250 Tokens Throws a punch that deals 100% more damage than usual and drains your opponent's health, adding it to yours. 450 Drinking The CMYK 29 Tiebreaker 250 Tokens Gives you a 33% chance of winning a stalemate. Does not work against NPCs. 450 Drinking — 30 Charm Rat 250 Tokens Charms your opponent's rat to sometimes fight for you or do nothing. 450 Drinking — 31 Quint Punch 500 Tokens Throws a punch that deals 200% more damage than usual. 500 Drinking Five Star General 32 Champion 500 Tokens Buffs your power, strength, and speed by 12%. 500 Drinking Bottle of Bernard's Barbaresco 33 Peon 500 Tokens Reduces your opponent's power, strength, and speed by 12%. 500 Drinking — 34 Leap Frog Food Stamps Does 2X Damage and next two enemy attacks miss you and sometimes damage them instead. Skill Pack — 35 Drunken Rage Food Stamps Doubles your current and maximum BAC and buffs power, strength, and speed by 5%. Skill Pack — 36 Espresso Shot Food Stamps Reduce enemy BAC by 50%. Skill Pack — 37 Instant Karma Food Stamps Buffs your power, strength, and speed by 7% and reduces enemy power, strength, and speed by 7%. Skill Pack — 38 Meditation Food Stamps Restore 15% of life and reduce enemy damage by 20% for remainder of battle. Skill Pack — 39 Focus Punch Food Stamps Does 2X Damage and doubles your current stat buffs. Skill Pack — XX Ram Jam Awake Does 1.5X damage, next enemy attack misses you and sometimes damages them instead. Arena Package Beat The Ram** — XX Ear Chomp Awake Bleed opponent for 1% of their max life every four turns. Bleeding stops at 20% of max life remaining. Arena Package Beat Lil' Tyson** — XX Pacifism Awake Enemy temporarily refrains from attacking, restore 15% of life. Arena Package Beat Bizarro Gandhi** — XX Double Average Awake Averages enemy stats for about 20 turns. Arena Package Beat Average Adam** — XX Vooduplex Awake Does 2X damage, 1/4 chance of reducing enemy life by 50%. Arena Package Beat Voodoo King** — XX Robo Hobo Slam Awake Does 3X damage, earn some cans based on damage dealt. Arena Package Beat Hobot** — XX Ignite Awake Does 3X damage, reduce enemy power by 10%, set them on fire. Arena Package Beat The Balrog** — XX Latter Day Pain Awake Does 3X damage, reduce enemy strength by 10%. Arena Package Beat George Mormon** — XX Crowning Moment Awake Reduce enemy stats by 5%, Debuff them, and buffs your stats by 5%. Arena Package Beat Lucius The Grand** — XX Crush Awake Does 5X damage, reduce enemy stats by 15%. Arena Package Beat The Older Man** — XX Vampire Bite Awake Does 5X damage, drains enemy life, buffs your stats by 5%, reduces enemy stats by 5%. Spooky Gift — XX Bite in Half*** 9999 Hobosaurus Rex's Instant kill move. — — XX Eradicate*** 9999 Santa and Malord's Instant kill move. — — XX Sleigh Hells*** 9999 Santa consumes an elf to regain life. — — XX Peace on Earth*** 9999 Santa's skill. ??? — — XX Eggnog From Mrs. Claus*** 9999 Santa's skill. ??? — — 9999  !z 9999  !z 9999  !z

* The Cripple and Takedown skills used during a UFC fight DO count towards the damage dealt and damage received totals.
** These NPCs are only available on HoboArena.
*** These skills are used by NPCs and cannot be obtained by players.

Advanced Strategies and Information

The following section discusses advanced skill-related strategies and information.

Extended Skill Information

Average

When Average is fired, it averages all of your opponent's stats for 10 rounds, but over those 10 rounds, their stats gradually return to normal.

For example:

Round 20: Hobo A has 800 speed, 100 power, and 100 strength. Hobo B uses Average! Round 21: Hobo A has 333 speed, 333 power, and 333 strength. Round 22: Hobo A has 379 speed, 310 power, and 310 strength. Round 23: Hobo A has 425 speed, 287 power, and 287 strength. ... ... ... ... ... Round 29: Hobo B has 754 speed, 123 power, and 123 strength. Round 30: Hobo B has 800 speed, 100 power, and 100 strength.

BAC-Boosting Skills

Jello Shot and Keg Stand do not stack with each other. If Keg Stand is fired sometime after Jello Shot, the BAC boost from Keg Stand replaces the BAC boost from Jello Shot, and if Jello Shot is fired sometime after Keg Stand, the BAC boost from Jello Shot replaces the BAC boost from Keg Stand.

Buff Rat

The rat stat boosts from Buff Rat stack with the rat stat boosts from the Chocorat status effect and the rat stat boosts from the Rodent Ring.

Charm Rat

When Charm Rat is fired, it has a 20% chance of charming your opponent's rat to turn on its owner and attack him/her, a 20% chance of charming your opponent's rat to distract itself and not attack you, and a 60% chance of not charming your opponent's rat at all.

Concentration

When Concentration is fired, your current net stat buffs gained during are doubled. Concentration doesn't affect your net stat buffs if they are at or below 0%.

A few examples:

Round 20: Hobo A uses Mighty! (Hobo A's stat buffs: + 5% speed, + 5% strength, + 5% power.) Round 40: Hobo A uses Concentration! (Hobo A's stat buffs: +10% speed, +10% strength, +10% power.) Round 20: Hobo A uses Mighty! (Hobo A's stat buffs: + 5% speed, + 5% strength, + 5% power.) Round 40: Hobo A uses Concentration! (Hobo A's stat buffs: +10% speed, +10% strength, +10% power.) Round 60: Hobo B uses Sissify! (Hobo A's stat buffs: + 5% speed, + 5% strength, + 5% power.) Round 20: Hobo A uses Mighty! (Hobo A's stat buffs: +5% speed, +5% strength, +5% power.) Round 40: Hobo B uses Sissify! (Hobo A's stat buffs: +0% speed, +0% strength, +0% power.) Round 60: Hobo A uses Concentration! (Hobo A's stat buffs: +0% speed, +0% strength, +0% power.) Round 20: Hobo B uses Peon! (Hobo A's stat reduced: –12% speed, –12% strength, –12% power.) Round 40: Hobo A uses Concentration! (Hobo A's stat reduced: –12% speed, –12% strength, –12% power.) Round 60: Hobo A uses Champion! (Hobo A's stat buffs: + 0% speed, + 0% strength, + 0% power.)

Additionally, Concentration affects Leap. However, in order for it to, Leap needs to be active until Concentration is fired, meaning that your opponent has to not attack you during that time, or else Leap will be used, and your active Leap chance won't be doubled when Concentration is fired.

Two examples:

Round 20: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Hobo A uses Leap! (Hobo A has one Leap chance.) Round 21: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 22: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 23: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 24: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 25: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 26: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 27: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 28: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Hobo A uses Concentration! (Hobo A has two Leap chances.) Round 29: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 30: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 31: Hobo B tries to hit Hobo A, but they leap out of the way! Round 32: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 33: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 34: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 35: Hobo B tries to hit Hobo A, but they leap out of the way! Hobo B crashes into the ground and takes damage! Round 36: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 20: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Hobo A uses Leap! (Hobo A has one Leap chance.) Round 21: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 22: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 23: Hobo B tries to hit Hobo A, but they leap out of the way! Round 24: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 25: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 26: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 27: Hobo B attacks Hobo A. Round 28: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Hobo A uses Concentration! (Hobo A has no Leap chances, since they used their previous one.) Round 29: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 30: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 31: Hobo B attacks Hobo A. Round 32: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 33: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 34: Hobo A attacks Hobo B. Round 35: Hobo B attacks Hobo A. Round 36: Hobo A attacks Hobo B.

Concentration does not affect Average, Buff Rat, Charm Rat, Cripple, Debuff, Defend, Double Drain, Double Punch, Drain, Heal, Heal More, Jello Shot, Keg Stand, Paralyze, Peon, Quad Punch, Quint Punch, Reduce, Sissify, Slow, Takedown, Tiebreaker, Triple Drain, Triple Punch, Weaken, or Yoink.

Damaging Skills

Double Punch, Triple Punch, Quad Punch, Quint Punch, Drain, Double Drain, Triple Drain are affected by stat-buffing skills and status effects, and can score both drunken and Animal-Style critical hits. However, they are unaffected by the Can Cannon's damage multiplier.

The damage both Takedown and Cripple do is independent from any damage bonuses provided by skills, status effects, equipment, and combat stats. The two skills, if they manage to hit, simply halve your opponent's remaining health.

Double Punch, Triple Punch, Quad Punch, Quint Punch, Drain, Double Drain, Triple Drain, Takedown, and Cripple can all be drunkenly dodged. They can also be dodged with the help of the skill Leap.

Leap

When Leap is fired, you will dodge your opponent's next attack, even if your opponent's next attack is a skill.

The following skills can be dodged: Average, Cripple, Debuff, Double Drain, Double Punch, Drain, Paralyze, Peon, Quad Punch, Quint Punch, Reduce, Sissify, Slow, Takedown, Triple Drain, Triple Punch, Weaken, and Yoink.

In addition to causing your opponent's next attack to miss, Leap also has a 33⅓% chance of causing your opponent to crash into the ground and take damage. The damage your opponent receives from crashing into the ground is the damage you would have received from your opponent's attack if it didn't miss because of Leap.

Paralyze

When Paralyze is fired, it creates a counter of 30 rounds. Every turn of the player who launched the Paralyze skill decreases the counter by 1. Every blocked attack attempt of the paralyzed player decreases the counter by 6. Every blocked skill fire attempt of the paralyzed player decreases the counter by 11. Once the counter reaches 0, the paralyzed player returns to normal.

Blocked skill fire attempts of a paralyzed player are delayed, not skipped.

Stat-Buffing Skills

Stat buffs all stack with each other. (Examples: Sprint, Strengthen, Empower, Mighty, and Champion') They simply get added together, so the order in which they are fired doesn't really matter.

An example:

Round 20: Hobo A uses Mighty! (Hobo A's stat buffs: + 5% speed, + 5% strength, + 5% power.) Round 40: Hobo A uses Champion! (Hobo A's stat buffs: +17% speed, +17% strength, +17% power.) Round 60: Hobo A uses Sprint! (Hobo A's stat buffs: +22% speed, +17% strength, +17% power.) Round 80: Hobo A uses Strengthen! (Hobo A's stat buffs: +22% speed, +22% strength, +17% power.) Round 100: Hobo A uses Empower! (Hobo A's stat buffs: +22% speed, +22% strength, +22% power.) Round 120: Hobo A uses Concentration! (Hobo A's stat buffs: +44% speed, +44% strength, +44% power.)

The stat buffs are based on the target's base combat stats. Combat stat bonuses from status effects and equipment are not affected by these.

Stat-Reducing Skills

Stat reductions all stack with each other. (Examples: Slow, Reduce, Weaken, Sissify, and Peon) They simply get added together, so the order in which they are fired doesn't really matter.

An example:

Round 20: Hobo A uses Sissify! (Hobo B's stat reductions: – 5% speed, – 5% strength, – 5% power.) Round 40: Hobo A uses Peon! (Hobo B's stat reductions: –17% speed, –17% strength, –17% power.) Round 60: Hobo A uses Slow! (Hobo B's stat reductions: –22% speed, –17% strength, –17% power.) Round 80: Hobo A uses Reduce! (Hobo B's stat reductions: –22% speed, –22% strength, –17% power.) Round 100: Hobo A uses Weaken! (Hobo B's stat reductions: –22% speed, –22% strength, –22% power.)

The stat reductions are based on the target's base combat stats. Combat stat bonuses from status effects and equipment are not affected by these skills.

Tiebreaker

If Tiebreaker is fired by both players in a battle, the second player to fire it has a shot at getting the tiebreak if the first player to fire it fails to get it. If the first player to fire it gets the tiebreak, then the second player to fire it can't get it no matter what.

Yoink

When Yoink is fired, it steals your opponent's status effect for the battle and subtracts 10 minutes from that status effect's remaining duration, giving those 10 minutes of that status effect to you after the battle ends.

Recommended Skill Sets

For those of who haven't unlocked all 33 skills yet, replace Keg Stand with Jello Shot, Champion and Peon with Mighty and Sissify (respectively), Cripple with Takedown, Triple Drain with Double Drain, and Quint Punch and Quad Punch with Triple Punch and Double Punch (respectively).

All-Purpose

1. Keg Stand
2. Defend
3. Champion
4. Concentration
5. Peon
6. Heal More
7. Cripple/Quint Punch
8. Heal/Debuff/Yoink
9. Takedown/Quad Punch

A general, all-purpose skill set. Combines offense and defense.

General Offense

1. Cripple
2. Keg Stand
3. Champion
4. Concentration
5. Peon
6. Quint Punch
7. Quad Punch
8. Triple Drain
9. Triple Punch

A skill set that aims to hit fast and hard.

General Defense

1. Keg Stand
2. Defend
3. Champion
4. Concentration
5. Peon
6. Heal More
7. Paralyze
8. Heal
9. Tiebreaker

A skill set that prepares for the worst and tries to make you hold out for as long as possible in hope of a tie and a possible tiebreak.

Rat-Heavy Offense

1. Buff Rat
2. Keg Stand
3. Champion
4. Concentration
5. Charm Rat/Takedown/Quint Punch
6. Peon
7. Cripple/Quad Punch
8. Paralyze
9. Heal More

A skill set with a focus on boosting your rat first if it's going to be dealing the most damage in the fight.

Anti-Buff

1. Yoink
2. Keg Stand
3. Champion
4. Concentration
5. Peon
6. Debuff
7. Triple Drain
8. Heal More
9. Cripple/Quad Punch/Average

A skill set designed to counter skills and status effects.

Hobosaurus Rex Raids

1. Keg Stand
2. Champion
3. Concentration
4. Quint Punch
5. Quad Punch
6. Triple Drain
7. Triple Punch
8. Double Drain
9. Double Punch

A skill set designed to optimize the damage done against Hobosaurus Rex in gang raids.