In my little experience with group combat, I have found it to be really disorienting. Understanding what's happening with just two people beating on each other is hard enough, but when you have something on the scale of wildnodes going on?

Highlighting is... acceptable for 1v1 duels, but I tried running onto Mag's sphere yesterday during the event, and all manner of things happened to me - I barely made it out alive, thanks to trueheal. I know knights go for damage, and can spend their power on lunges to try to pinleg people, but what about Celestines? The best I can think of is using lust so that if they run I can empress them back. Hangedman is ok, but a lot of people are size 1.

First, how do you process all the stuff that's going on in group combat?
Second, what is the best action to be doing in a group? Damaging the target? Hindering with hangedman/shieldstun?

Once I know what to do in a group against another group, what do you do when you are 1 person fighting 5-6 defenders? How do you manage to get kills when they're in a group? I know isolation is probably key, but how do you break one guy away from a group and kill that person?

Processing stuff is hard. Learn to read paragraph sizes and the orientation of names in paragraphs and pick up names. If you start seeing a lot more blue names in orientations where it's a paragraph for them starting an attack, they're doing well. If you starts seeing a lot of red names in that position, oh dear.

The best thing to do to a target depends on who is with you. Aeon is a good general-purpose one, as is damage. If you have newbies there webwhoring, you don't need to web yourself and it'll just get redundant.

You have options what you want to do:
-Aeon
-Try for absolve on a knight
-Quicken and try to damage a squishy target
-Web or hinder someone
-Start inqui
-Fear to try to break the group
-Exit and try to beckon people to you
-etc

Rub hermit at a supermob location

Fling lust at @target

Fling hermit at ground

Fling empress at @target

Does beckon only bring one person at a time? I've not been too willing to use it since I thought it might bring 3-4 enemies into my room at a time.

Quicken and absolve sounds like the best "kill" option. The rest sound like assists, which is fine, since guardians don't hit very hard anyway.

Thanks for the replies.

Targetted beckon brings one specified person. Untargetted goes for all enemies in adjacent rooms, though I think the chance to move them is reduced exponentially.

Since you're a Celestine, heretic/infidel/inquisition is on the cards, especially in group combat when it's harder to notice. In addition judgement, which is a timed instakill, is harder to notice in all the spam.

Well. I mean. Anyone decent would have a colorful echo, that tells them death is imminent, no?

You'd be surprised how often you can catch even experienced combatants off guard with instakills in group combat. Especially if they're a priority target and are having to deal with other people entangling or wailing away at them.

Then again they could be like Forren or Murphy and have echos that take up half the screen...

I would stick with trying to take kills with damage or absolve. Else beckon or fear to try to break groups. Your hindering is limited to flinging aeon with angel on anorexia stupidity otherwise. Which isnt bad but I would honestly rather kill the person then aeon them (for obvious reasons).

Nerf.

I got a lot of kills by quickening/amission/absolving, and sneak judges. Also, aeon-whoring is extremely helpful, especially on a non-deaf target with a Cantor around (the only time the no-eat song is useful).