LTS Combat Strategy

Please send any suggestions, corrections, or nitpicks you have to Beau (#447324).

The LTS strategy lets you kill monsters with high monster level without having to rely on muscle increasers, but rather, melee increasers. At heart, the strategy is using Lunging Thrust-Smack and Eye of the Stoat in conjunction with high-power weapons and melee boosters to defeat monsters. The goal is to get the jump on the monster and kill it while sustaining as little damage as possible, often using monster level increasers like the MCD or Stainless Steel Scarf to increase stat gains.

Here are some useful damage formulas related to the strategy:

Regular weapon damage: 10-20% of Weapon Power + Melee damage modifiers + (Your Muscle - Monster Defence) + (Elemental damage * modifier)

Thrust-Smack damage: (10-20% of Weapon Power + Melee damage modifiers) * 2 + (Your Muscle - Monster Defence) + (Elemental damage * modifier)

Lunging Thrust-Smack damage: (10-20% of Weapon Power + Melee damage modifiers) * 3 + (Your Muscle - Monster Defence) + (Elemental damage * modifier)

These mean that weapon power and melee damage modifiers are doubled/tripled, however, the extra damage you deal for having more muscle than an opponent's Moxie and all elemental damage is added at the end, and not tripled. For instance, Flaming Talons will do 20 extra damage with a Lunging Thrust-Smack against a non-elemental monster.

Here is a useful damage calculator for your (Lunging) Thrust-Smacks.

Required Skills:

Class	Skill	Notes	Level
Seal Clubber	Lunging Thrust-Smack	Triples Damage 8 MP (Combat Skill)	10
Seal Clubber	Eye of the Stoat	Passive Lunging Thrust-Smack and Thrust-Smack always hit	6

Other Notes: I suggest taking Lunging Thrust-Smack before Eye of the Stoat because it saves you 4,000 meat in the run where you buy Eye of the Stoat, whereas it costs an extra 4,000 if you carry Eye and then buy LTS.

Support Skills:

Class	Skill	Notes	Level
Turtle Tamer	Tenacity of the Snapper	8 MP (Buff) +8 Melee Damage, +16 with TS, +24 with LTS	6
Accordion Thief	Jackasses' Symphony of Destruction	9 MP (Buff) +12 Melee Damage, +24 with TS, +36 with LTS Also +12 Spell Damage	10
Seal Clubber	Thrust-Smack	3 MP (Combat Skill) Doubles damage	3
Pastamancer	Springy Fusilli	10 MP (Self-Buff) +40% Initiative	6
Seal Clubber	Claws of the Walrus	Passive +4 Melee damage, +8 with TS, +12 with LTS	8
Disco Bandit	Overdeveloped Sense of Self-Preservation	Passive +20% Initiative	2
Seal Clubber	Rage of the Reindeer	10 MP (Self-Buff) +10% Muscle +10 Melee Damage, +20 with TS, +30 with LTS	11
Seal Clubber	Double-Fisted Skull-Smashing	Passive Allows Equipping of 2 One-Handed Weapons	12
Seal Clubber	Claws of the Otter	Passive +3 Melee Damage, +6 with TS, +9 with LTS	2
Seal Clubber	Super-Advanced Meatsmithing	Useful for Smithing some weapons (see below). Weapons that require this skill are indicated with (RAMS).	5
Turtle Tamer	Armorcraftiness	Useful for Smithing Penguin Shorts (see below)	5
Accordion Thief	Cletus's Canticle of Celerity	4 MP (Buff) +20% Initiative	3

Other notes: (Skills are ranked in order of importance.) Acquiring these skills helps expand your strategy and makes it more viable. Initiative skills make it more likely that you'll get the jump, and you'll therefore take less damage. The +damage skills are doubled and tripled by TS and LTS, so piling on more makes it more likely you can one one-hit kill monsters. Canticle gets very low priority, as there are so many more important AT skills to acquire, and Fusilli in combination with Overdeveloped is usually enough.

LTS Strategy Weapons:

Item	Strategy-related Enchantments	Power	Hands	Notes
Plexiglass Pike Pike	+25 Melee Damage +30% Muscle	180	2	Hardcore Oxygenarian Seal Clubber Reward +10 PvP Fights
Batblade	+15 Melee Damage	145	1	Drops in the Palindome
Ridiculously Huge Sword	+10 Melee Damage	140	2	Drops in Penultimate Fantasy Airship
Titanium Assault Umbrella		130	1	Drops in Penultimate Fantasy Airship Slight Resistance to All Elements
Pitchfork	+9 Melee Damage	125	1	Drops in the Haunted Gallery
Heavy Metal Thunderrr Guitarrr	+11 Melee Damage	120	2	Meat Paste: Acoustic Guitarrr+Chrome Ore
Spiked Femur	+6 Spooky Damage	100	1	Drops in The Defiled Nook, Misspelled Cemetary One-Handed
Super Magic Power Sword X	+20% Initiative +4 Muscle X2 Chance of Critical Hit	100	1	Smith (RAMS): Savory Sword+Tasty Fun Good Rice Candy One-Handed
Bamboo Bokuto		100	1	Purchase in Armory and Leggery One-Handed
Stainless Steel Shillelagh	+20 Melee Damage +15% Muscle 4X chance of critical hit	90	1	Hardcore Seal Clubber Reward One-Handed
Kneecapping Stick	X3 Chance of Ciritcal Hit	90	1	Drops in The Icy Peak, from Frozen Penguin (Clover Adventure) One-Handed
Crowbarrr	+10% Intiative	80	2	Drops Obligatory Pirate's Cove Two-Handed
Sabre Teeth	+4 Melee Damage	60	1	Drops in The Goatlet One-Handed
Flaming Crutch	+3 Hot Damage	60	1	Drops in Deep Fat Friar's Gate, Dark Elbow of the Woods One-Handed

Other notes: Though any weapon besides a ranged weapon or a staff with spirit of rigatoni will work with the LTS Combat Strategy, the above weapons work very well and are the ones one is more likely to come across during a hardcore ascension. For softcore, Ice Sickles work very well, as well as anything on this list.

LTS Strategy Equipment:

Item	Strategy-related Enchantments	Power	Type	Notes
Plexiglass Pith Helmet	+30% Muscle	180	Hat	Hardcore Oxygenarian Turtle Tamer Reward +5 Familiar Weight +10-12 HP & MP every adventure
Stainless Steel Skullcap	+15% Muscle +60 Damage Absorption +30 Maximum HP	90	Hat	Hardcore Turtle Tamer Reward
Mohawk Wig	+10 Melee Damage	140	Hat	Drops in Penultimate Fantasy Airship
Worn Tophat	+20% Initiative +7 Moxie	125	Hat	Drops in the Haunted Ballroom
Mullet Wig	+2 Sleaze Damage	40	Hat	Drops in Whitey's Grove
Flaming Talons	+5 Melee Damage +5 Hot Damage		Off-Hand	Drops in the Valley Beyond the Orc Chasm
Enchanted Brass Knuckles	X2 Chance of Critical Hit		Off-Hand	Purchase in The Smacketeria
Hors d'Oeuvre Tray	+20% Initiative +7 Damage Reduction		Off-Hand	Drops in the Haunted Ballroom
1-Ball	+5% Initiative		Off-Hand	Drops in the Haunted Billiards Room
Plexiglass pants	+25% Initiative +30% Moxie	180	Pants	Hardcore Oxygenarian Disco Bandit Reward +20% Item Drops
Furry Pants	+5 Sleaze Damage	150	Pants	Smith: Furry Fur+Pants Kit Requires Armorcraftiness
Penguin Shorts	+20% Intiative	120	Pants	Smith: Penguin Skin+Pants Kit Requires Armorcraftiness
Stainless Steel Slacks	+15% Initiative +15% Moxie	90	Pants	Hardcore Disco Bandit Reward +20% Meat
Leotarrrd	+15% Initiative	90	Pants	Drops in Obligatory Pirate's Cove
Bloody Clown Pants	+3 Spooky Damage	50	Pants	Drops in The "Fun" House
Bonerdagon Necklace	+30% Initiative +5 Muscle +5 Moxie		Accessory	Mysticality Sign Only: MCD Setting 10
Sk8board	+15% Initiative		Accessory	Drops in eXtreme Slope
Infernal Insoles	+10% Initiative		Accessory	Drops in Deep Fat Friars' Gate, Dark Heart of the Woods Slight Hot Resistance
Hamethyst Necklace	+5 Melee Damage +4 Muscle		Accessory	Mysticality Sign Only: Jewelry-making Can Only Equip One at a Time +3 PvP Fights at Rollover
eXtreme Mittens	+2 Melee Damage		Accessory	Drops in the eXtreme Slope Not worth getting if you have Astral Shell or Elemental Saucesphere
Disembodied Smile	+2 Spooky Damage		Accessory	Meat Paste: Gnoll Teeth+Gnoll Lips Items Drop in Degrassi Knoll
Dirty Hobo gloves	+2 Stench Damage		Accessory	Drops in Sleazy Back Ally

Other notes: There aren't many good hats for this strategy. If none of the above are available, moxie-increasing, HP-increasing, and muscle-increasing hats are all good ones. Pants that increase moxie will help reduce the damage you take if you're killing a monster with two hits.