COMBAT INITIATION

What is an "initiation" of "combat", anyway?

Combat Initiation is a roguelite shoot-'em-up that can be played either solo or with friends, with aesthetical inspiration stemming from ye olden days of Roblox, alongside combat and story with heavy inspiration from ULTRAKILL. To put it simply, it's basically ULTRAKILL if it was made in Roblox during 2013.

Its main campaign, ACT 1, currently has 5 stages, with each stage having 10 waves and a boss at the very end to test your might. It also has a couple of other campaigns, most notably TEST.exe, a kaizo joke campaign with the purpose of shortening your life-span by a couple years.

Gallery

This gallery showcases all kinds of stuff related to CI, including memes, creations and some of my own stuff. Taken from either Discord, Reddit or the game itself.

My main loadout's avatar in game. It's a tank/run when things get spicy build.

Musée des Bloxxeres (acts as a place for credits and an art gallery)

A fixed version of the ruined church in Chaos Canyon by me. Pretty sure this is outdated now

Something I made with the in-game Sandbox's paint tool

Journeyman. Originally a fake boss created by Winkwing, he found new ventures in shilling lesser-to-greater user courses to desperate noobs. This photo was taken shortly before his assassination by the Bloxxers.

The Combat Initiation logo, painted by the community in WPlace. This logo would later be griefed by a user named Catthepropellar, causing a 3 month long conflict. (trust me, I was one of the belligerents in this war :B ) The war has since ceased and the logo now rests peacefully, alongside an entire art corridor which arose with it. You can visit the logo here.

the fellars

On June 24, 2025, CI's Discord members were asked to help a Noob retrieve their beloved tix from a menacing Giant. There were hundreds of creative submissions, and this would even be made into an official video. This would also spawn many more similar threads down the line, like "help the Noob serve Vagabond something delicious" or "help the killbot look dapper". Original thread:

Forced Perspective my beloved

Combat

First and foremost, this game is heavily reliant on movement. Alongside their health bar, players have a stamina bar with 3 bars as well. Players can instantly dash away from harm or towards it by pressing LShift for one stamina bar, but pressing LShift and then space allows players to execute a dash-jump, a long jump that costs 2 stamina. The stamina bar regenerates slowly, so don't waste your breath!

Players have access to 21 weapons (although they usally can only afford four or five), based on the original weapons in the extinct brickbattle genre along with other weapons found on Roblox:

  • Sword: The average melee weapon, with the ability to parry incoming projectiles and hits. This weapon can also be used to pogo-jump, which is used to retain momentum. The Katana is a variant of the sword, focusing on speed, lifesteal, and swift deflection of attacks; the Firebrand is a fiery variant of the sword, focusing on blunt-force trauma. As its name suggests, it imbues fire as well.
  • Paintball Gun: A good 'ol pistol, dealing moderate damage at an average speed. The best tool for direct hits. The BB Gun is a faster variant of the paintball gun, but with worse damage, and the ability to charge a richocheting shot. The Freeze Ray is a frosted variant of the pistol, with less speed but much heavier damage. It imbues ice which can freeze even the mightiest of foes.
  • Slingshot: A minigun type of weapon with great speed but little damage output. Pairs greatly with the sword and paintball gun due to its ability to fire a pellet of TIX, which can be shot to redirect into an unsuspecting victim. The Scatterblaster is a shotgun variant of the slingshot, which has the ability to charge a shot through five tiers - the fifth tier fires a gigantic bullet instead. The Flamethrower is a fiery variant, offering quick and easy AOE damage through flames and fire.
  • Superball: Literally a dodgeball, with a focus on killing lots of enemies in a single blow. Has the ability to bounce off walls that the players place with the Trowel. The Cannonball is an upgraded variant of the dodgeball - simply imagine a bowling ball and that's practically it. The Ninja Stars are much more different; they swiftly slice through hordes of enemies, and with the magnetic kunai, can morph into a deadly, spinning ring of shuriken.
  • Timebomb: A bomb that explodes after some time, or after you detonate it with something like a bullet. Synergizes with almost every weapon in the game. The Subspace Tripmine is a variant that explodes on contact instead; The Explosive Pinata is a variant of the bomb with a longer fuse. Its explosion can be charged up by repeatedly hitting it.
  • Rocket Launcher: A secondary weapon that fires a rocket after a long reload. Upon contact, the rocket explodes, dealing lots of damage in a moderate area. Best for crowd control. The Multi-Rocket Launcher is a brutal weapon that fires 7 rockets in a horizontal line; The Bazooka is a variant with faster reload but worse damage.
  • Trowel: Builds walls to protect from oncoming projectiles, but the walls crumble after a period of time. Placing a wall on an enemy is an actual method to maim or even kill them! The Hammer is a much better variant of the trowel, with the added ability to store projectiles and bombs; The Wrench is a variant of the trowel that builds turrets instead, and for some reason, you can the throw the wrench to parry an attack??

These weapons have tons of synergies with eachother, where the functions of different weapons can be combined to deal even more damage. For example, a superball can be redirected into an enemy by shooting at it with a paintball gun. A trowel's wall can be blown up by a bomb or rocket launcher to spew deadly debris everywhere. And most notably, a bomb thrown into the air, then hit with a sword and shot at with a rocket launcher causes a Nuclear Explosion, a devastating explosion that can easily wipe out hordes of enemies.

Players also have access to gears, which are little gadgets that either passively or actively help them out during combat. These gears are split into four categories, those being Utility, Active, Refresher and Passive. Utility gears for agility are strongly recommended, as the game features bosses with sweeping attacks; active gears are yet another powerful tool for your arsenal; refresher gears focus on helping you out in a tough situation; and passive gears give you a little helping hand in chaos and pandemonium.

Last but not least, the hats which players don can also bring positive effects. Core accessories, equipped through the avatar shop, give passive benefits that affect your weapons and yourself. For example, the Pirate Hat allows you to burst fire your guns like a shotgun every three shots.

The combat system in Combat Initiation is truly vast and complex; but it's up to YOU to decide how to use it!

Lore

The story of Combat Initiation is still very unrefined - we don't even know the true motives of the players yet! But from what I can tell...

The game takes place in a time period after a series of chaotic wars and incidents. Robloxia is stuck in a feudal state, where many new players (noobs) and veterans alike cannot ascend to a higher tier. Tyrannic kings take hold of the lands that make up Robloxia, with the administration struggling to keep control. Destructive weapons, such as killbots (drones) and cannons still roam the districts. Overall, Robloxia is in a pretty terrible state.

Bosses

The highlight of Combat Initiation is definitely the bosses. Here are my personal top 4.

Proceed with caution - I recommend you look at these AFTER you’ve completed Act 1.

V █ █ █ █ █ █ █

G █ █ █ █ D █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █

S █ █ █ █ █ █

D █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █

Nightmare Knight

STATS

> TOTAL KOS: 129901

> ACHIEVEMENTS UNLOCKED: 127/145 (+5 SECRETS)

> MOST BLOOD-STAINED WEAPONS:

  1. SWORD (15125 KILLS)
  2. SLINGSHOT (13831 KILLS)
  3. KATANA (10233 KILLS)

> LEVEL: 75 MAX [2735555/75000]

MARGARUINE'S TIPS AND TRICKS TO

WHAT DO I LEARN FIRST?

- Some techniques you should definitely learn first are:

- Parrying: deflecting projectiles or slashes with your sword. Something that's not very known about parries is that they give you lots of HP upon successful deflection; in fact, the katana gives even more HP per parry. You can use parries to break even with the damage you take from enemies.

- The other kind of parrying: Interruptions are another kind of parrying, where you interrupt an enemy in the middle of their attack. Like parries, they give lots of HP but are usually less obvious. Examples include shooting at a Gunman or Emeraldblaster's pistol while they charge up a shot and planting a wall in the path of a charging Smith.

- Pogoing: dashjumping, then repeatedly hitting the ground with something to "pogo" across it. This can be done with the Sword, Slingshot, Paintball Gun and Superball, alongside the Bazooka. Pogoing is basically a superior form of dashjumping, with its ability to cross long distances with the same velocity as a normal dashjump, and it can also be done in mid air. Pogoing is critical when you have to escape a horde or an enemy while your utility is locked or non-existent. (Trivia: Pogoing is a technique that was borrowed from traditional brickbattle games!)

- What gears do: Weapons aren't the main focus of CI. Take some time to learn what different gears do as well. As an example, the Slateskin Potion might just seem like a consumable that gives extra armor at the cost of speed, but when paired with high altitude, you can press G to slam into hordes of enemies, and damage scales with how high you are. My top picks:

  • Utility: Jet Boots, Grappling Hook + Bazooka (you can grapple onto rockets for a quick escape!)
  • Active: Slateskin Potion (armor + damage) or Epic Sauce (conditional armor + lotsa buffs)
  • Refresher: Cheeseburger (easy healing + team healing if your teammates aren't dense)
  • Passive: Teddy Bloxpin (cheat death itself...)

- Running away: Sometimes, you just gotta run away from your problems...


LOADOUT

- Always try to pick a loadout with good crowd control and easy heavy damage. My favorite weapons for wiping out hordes of noobs include the Explosive Pinata, Freeze Ray and Flamethrower. For easy heavy damage, I would recommend something like the Cannonball or the Ninja Stars, but do note that you can only buy either in a run since they're both branches of the Superball. The Firebrand is also really good for both heavy damage and crowd control.

- The slingshot is a must if you're bad at aiming - it comes with aimbot projectiles that you can simply slash with your sword to deal enough damage to kill a Noob or a Gunman.

- Pick weapons with deadly synergies. For example, Rocket Launcher + Bomb gives way to both the +SUPER REACTION! and +NUCLEAR REACTION!! synergies. The +NUCLEAR REACTION!! synergy is much harder to set up though. Another good example is Ninja Stars' Kunai + Bomb, which gives the +DUAL VOLATILITY! synergy. This synergy basically acts like a grenade, launching shrapnel everywhere.


IN GAME

- Try not to die: I know this sounds trivial, but please try not to die, especially from hubris. If you suddenly find yourself at low health, don't be afraid to run away and get some easier enemies for quick lifesteal. Also, don't be overconfident and try to aura-farm. In a game like this, that usually ends badly.

- Pick off the annoying enemies first: Enemies like the Cannon and Beacons can target you anywhere on the map, and tend to deal lots of damage, so make sure to take them out as soon as possible. You should also target enemies with stupendous health, such as Giants and Firemen (oh how I loathe them)

- Practice with sandbox: You can visit the game's sandbox mode when you create a lobby by changing its type. The sandbox mode features the ability to spawn enemies, try out new loadouts, practice tech and even try out different combinations of core accessories. It even has the ability to freeze enemies, give you infinite stamina and change the map. Also, you can build stuff too.


MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE

- Try out modifiers: Modifiers are extra challenges that can be tacked on to regular lobbies as extra challenges or slight tweaks to gameplay, with most of them granting a bonus multiplier for player points. Pick some that you think are relatively easy to deal with, like Shadows, Size Variation, Perkless or One Shot.

- Hunt for achievements: Achievements are pretty cool, you should totally like grab them or something (they can also directly/indirectly teach you obscure tech!)

- Consult the wiki: Self explanatory.