# Martial arts

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/martial-arts/1761>\
**Category:** The Bunker\
**Created:** [June 13, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/martial-arts/1761 "2013-06-13T20:45:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![esran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@esran](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/esran)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/martial-arts/1761/1 "2013-06-13T20:45:29Z")

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so i found an npc who knows almost every martial arts. despite having no unarmed skill i kind of want to do martial arts because he can teach me unarmed combat anyway, and i have a bunch of mutations that boost unarmed combat.  
i have a few questions though.  
which martial arts styles are the best for general usage?  
how does martial arts compare to similar skill with a nail bat?  
does anarmed combat get bonuses from bashing skill?  
how much unarmed combat do i need with a good style in order to be able to reliably kill hordes of zombies?  
edit: actually he doesnt know nearly every style, he knows only a few styles but repeated multiple times on the teach screen, which is a really wierd bug. he knows viper, tai chi, leapord, muay thai, and karate. which of these should i learn?  
edit: i dont quite have the ost recent sdl build, but in the sdl build i have learning martial arts crashes the game. in addition i overpayed fro training with an item worth of 4000 for a traing worth 200, and now he gives me all the training for free. except of course martial arts training because the game crashes if i try that.

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**Author:** ![halberdsturgeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ab992/32.png) [@halberdsturgeon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/halberdsturgeon)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/martial-arts/1761/2 "2013-06-13T22:56:23Z")

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NPCs are heavily bugged in all builds, as far as I’m aware. I tried learning taekwondo from one the last time I played with NPCs activated and instead he taught me dodge. Over and over again, with no limit. I ended up with dodge at over 30. Anyway, don’t count on this working correctly; aside from cheating, the only reliable way of acquiring a martial art is to start with the Martial Artist trait.

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**Author:** ![esran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@esran](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/esran)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/martial-arts/1761/3 "2013-06-14T00:02:42Z")

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he taught me karate without crashing, but instead my character learned “capoere” which rrandomly adds “+attack” and “+dodge” after its name. it does ridiculous damage with 6 unarmed attack though.

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**Author:** ![KA101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/278dde/32.png) [@KA101](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KA101)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/martial-arts/1761/4 "2013-06-14T00:05:40Z")

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Guess I’ll have to finish that [wiki page](http://www.wiki.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?title=Choosing_Martial_Arts_Styles) after all. It’s a work-in-progress, but it ought to provide some guidance.

(Briefly: Karate is good, Tai Chi only if you’re a ranged build, Viper/Leopard are sorta “meh” and Muay Thai looks pretty good. Capoeira gives bonuses based on movement: it’s a dance-based martial art out of Brazil, IIRC. Not bad to have, but I wouldn’t take it at chargen.)