Fighting is an important aspect of a Rogue or a Clan Cat's life since it's how cats defend themselves. It's easy enough to do; just walk up to a cat from a different Clan (or any Clan, if you are a rogue) and press the space bar to scratch the enemy with your claws. You win when the enemy dies or flees, but you only get experience if they go into the wounded state.
If you have an apprentice, they will, upon sighting an enemy, charge towards it and begin to attack. (If you are a rogue, this also applies to any fellow rogues who are following you.) This may help keep you safe if there are lots of foes ganging up on you, but keep in mind that your allies won't back out of the battle after starting to fight, allowing fatalities to occur. You can keep them safe and alive by leaving the area, but by doing this, there is a chance your foe(s) will disappear when re-entering the previous tile.
If you are on your own Clan's territory, randomly-generated cats from your Clan will sometimes appear, usually to help you fight. It's safest to attack when you have more cats on your side, unless you want a challenge. This is especially useful (and safest) to do in the beginning of the game, when your cat has not gained much experience and has little or no skills yet.
When an enemy cat is defeated, it will turn red and curled up on the ground, and a red "X" will appear on top of it - meaning that they are wounded, and you have earned experience. If you continue to strike the injured cat with your claws, it will be replaced by a gray cross which will remain onscreen until you leave the area, meaning that you have killed the cat. On the other hand, if you leave the cat alone, it will disappear after few seconds.
Special Abilities/Skills
As of v15, special techniques have been introduced that may help you in battle. After gaining experience points by defeating other cats in battle, catching prey, doing quests, going to gatherings, etc. you can talk to the Trainer in your Clan/Four Trees and have him/her teach you these techniques in exchange for the experience points. Each skill costs 10 experience to learn.
Once you've learned a skill, you can increase its rank by earning more experience and returning to the Trainer. Increasing the rank of a skill will make it more effective in battle by increasing its power or duration or decreasing its cooldown time (see below). The Trainer can also increase the power of your basic claw attack in this way.
You can only have three active skills at a time. To activate a skill's effect, you can either click its icon in the lower right corner of the screen or press 1, 2, or 3, each corresponding to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd skill on the skill bar. Once a skill has been activated, its icon will become dull and the skill will go into cooldown- it cannot be used again until the icon returns to its former brightness.
Hold Your Ground: "This skill allows you to specify an area for your ally cats to stay near. It also provides a defensive aura which decreases incoming damage and cures all bleeds. Higher ranks grant tighter control and lower cooldowns."
Herblore:"Using the art of herbal knowledge, you are able to heal all allies near you. Higher ranks provide higher levels of healing and shorter cooldowns."
Killing Bite: "Considered dishonorable by most cats. This dirty tactic will instantly kill your opponent. Higher ranks provide shorter cooldowns."
Intimidating Glare: "You can unnerve your opponent with a sharp glare. This takes some of their health and gives it to you. Higher ranks provide higher health steals and shorter cooldowns."
Track Prey: "You sniff the air for scents left by small creatures. This skill instantly reveals all hiding prey in the area. It also reveals any hidden foes. Higher ranks lower the cooldown."
Charge: "Launch yourself into battle in a frenzy so powerful that you become temporarily invincible! Higher ranks increase invincibility duration."
Roar of the Lion: "Make your enemies quake in fear with this powerful ancient roar! Causes your opponents to run away in terror for a few moments. Higher ranks reduce the cooldown."
Feral Slash: "A deep-cutting attack that will leave your enemies bleeding. All nearby enemies are given a damage over time effect. Higher ranks increase the amount of damage inflicted over time."
Sprint: "Temporarily increases movement speed. At higher ranks, Sprint will last longer."
Places for Fighting
If you talk to the deputy of your Clan, he/she will give you a battle quest, asking you to go to a certain area and fight for the honor of your Clan. When you enter the area specified by the deputy, several cats from your Clan and the enemy Clan will appear, and a fight will take place. If all of the warriors from the opposing Clan are defeated/killed or decide to retreat, you will earn 7 Reputation for your participation in the battle.
These are the areas to which the deputy can send you:
Occasionally, warriors from another Clan will wander onto your territory in non-quest areas. You can fight them, but you won't receive reputation (although as of v15, you will earn experience points for defeating them). Randomly-generated cats from your own Clan may appear to help you fight.
When you are a rogue, it is possible for you to be attacked almost anywhere but Fourtrees. You are attacked more often in battle areas, such as Sunningrocks, or the WindClan moors (where battles happen on most tiles in the territory).
Enemy Classes
As of v15, randomly-generated warriors can have "classes" or "ranks" that determine how they fight you and may grant them special abilities. A warrior's "class" is displayed in front of his/her name; for example, "Ambusher Cliffridge". When the cat is defeated, the "class" name disappears. Higher ranks appear more often as you progress in the game.
(Note: Player characters do not have these "classes" and cannot earn them.)
Novice - Inexperienced; move and attack slowly; easier to defeat than regular warriors. They used to have apprentice names before classes came out.
Regular Warrior - The average enemy warrior. (These warriors have no class name to display alongside their regular names, so they show up as, for example, just "Preypool" or "Softheart".)
Scout - Can run at extremely high speeds. They are usually the first cat in the battle.
Ambusher - Can turn invisible for several seconds at a time, reappearing to strike you when you least expect it. (Invisible Ambushers can be detected with the "Track Prey" ability, and most allies will aim straight for them anyway.)
Veteran - Has higher health than any other class (besides Deputy). Has the special ability Charge. A yellow skull icon is added to his/her Clan symbol.
Deputy - Has higher health than any other class, including Veteran. Has the special abilities Herblore and Feral Slash. A red icon is added to his/her Clan symbol.
Unkillable Enemies
You can't kill dogs, twolegs or adders by your claws. However you can trick dogs and Twolegs onto the Thunderpath. Adders cannot die from the Thunderpath, as Snakerocks has no Thunderpath in it, but you can "kill" them by pouncing on them at a short range.
Even though killing is against the warrior code, your reputation is not affected for killing a cat in battle if you are a Clan cat.
A strategy to fighting the Veteran and the Deputy rank cats: Try circling around multiple times and use the Feral Slash to allow the other cat to lose health while you evade their attacks. If you want to go back and attack directly, it's suggested that you use Charge and run when it's about to wear off.
Pressing the hotkey buttons (1-3) to reposition rogues will force you to use your skills in the same instant.
If you are in ShadowClan, the deputy will never tell you to fight RiverClan, and if you are in RiverClan, you will never be asked to fight ShadowClan; the game does not have any fighting landmarks for these two Clans specifically.
Among randomly-generated enemy cats in v15, apprentices can be classified as "Deputy". Don't be too surprised if you see an enemy called, for instance, "Deputy Rainpaw" or "Deputy Whitepaw".
Also, the deputy rank has no correlation with the clan's actual deputy. For example, if you are battling ThunderClan and you know the Deputy is Preyheart, the randomly generated names might as still be "Deputy Redpelt" or any name like that.
Apprentices and kits in rogue Clans tend to die faster due to their lowered hit-points than a warrior.
If you are in WindClan, your deputy may send you on a battle against RiverClan. Many people mistake the location of the battle, often fighting RiverClan at the falls (The gorge entrance) instead of the real battle area. (4 tiles left of Fourtrees)
Rogue cats that are affected by Hold Your Ground at low levels do not stay in the specified area and will instead fight the enemy cats like normal. However, when they are in range of Hold Your Ground, they are
Hold Your Ground: "This skill allows you to specify an area for your ally cats to stay near. It also provides a defensive aura which decreases incoming damage and cures all bleeds. Higher ranks grant tighter control and lower cooldowns."
Herblore: "Using the art of herbal knowledge, you are able to heal all allies near you. Higher ranks provide higher levels of healing and shorter cooldowns."
Killing Bite: "Considered dishonorable by most cats. This dirty tactic will instantly kill your opponent. Higher ranks provide shorter cooldowns."
