How Karma/Style Bonuses Work

In chapter 1 of the game, a few combat encounters in, the game introduces the player to the concept of karma bonuses with this infuriatingly vague popup. Like most people, I assumed this meant using multiple attacks and varied weapons, but I eventually learned through experimentation and observation that this was wrong.

So what does boost it? We'll get into the particulars soon, but the short version is this:

It's the style bonuses listed on the screen and nothing else.

Style bonuses are awarded when the player kills or injures an enemy in an interesting way, such as cutting their head off with the katana (Beheaded), removing one of their limbs (Shredder), killing them while stunned on the ground (Sleepyhead), on fire (Merciful), or within a few seconds of another kill (Massacre). By default they are displayed as floating white text above a dead enemy; they may alternatively be shown on the left-hand side of the UI if changed in the options.

The more of these bonuses the player gets in a combat encounter, the more bonus karma they will get at the end, and the higher score on the five-star ranking system they will be shown. The threshold for each rank is per-encounter based on how many enemies there are, and of what type.

Things that have absolutely no bearing at all on karma bonuses include:

• Time taken to complete the encounter
  
• Variety of different attacks used, or lack thereof
  
• Damage taken
  
• Being forced to use Drain Soul
  
• Score on previous encounters
  
• Difficulty setting
  
• Any other stylish method of fighting not listed below
  
• Literally anything else that is not that floating white text

The likely reason so many people thought things like time and variety mattered (other than that bastard text popup) is the true wildcard style bonus, Massacre.

Massacre is awarded for kills in quick succession, and I do not fully understand how it is awarded, because it has a lot of criteria that changes how many times it is given. The maximum multiplier is 5 Massacres awarded per kill, seemingly based on the length of the killstreak, time between kills, killing multiple enemies in a single shot, and probably several others I haven't figured out. Since Massacre means the player can get huge karma bonuses for kills one after the other, it's easy to see how people might misconstrue this as raw speed providing more points.

And so, here is every style bonus it is possible to attain, to the best of my knowledge. This section is based on my personal observations only and may not be 100% accurate, so take these with a pinch of salt.

That sure is a lot of boxes full of words, Cosmic, but how do I actually use these white numbers to get more karma?

Well, here's some wisdom from my personal experience to help:

• I strongly recommend setting combat readouts to UI mode. It makes it much easier to monitor what bonuses you're getting in the heat of battle.

• In general, you want to get several bonuses at once from enemies as much as you can. For example, instead of just hacking a Crawler's head off (Beheaded), you could wait until it's enraged, hit it with a fully charged Shockwave, and poke it in the head with Divider of Heavens when it's on the ground (Beheaded, Specialist, Sleepyhead, Tranquillizer). Set up stunts. Get crazy. Coolness over efficiency.

• Shoot environment objects. The game space is absolutely layered with explosives, and some of the things that can explode are patently ridiculous, so just shoot things when demons pass nearby and see if they blow up. Great for combos!

• Merciful can be stacked on top of almost any other bonus - setting an enemy on fire is free extra karma, as long as it dies before extinguishing. It's like pepper for murder.

• The two enemy-disabling spells, Flux and Shockwave, are a great way to both add another bonus and get several demons right where you want them for Massacre.

• Demon Heads award a free bonus and penetrate targets, making them very effective against clustered enemies, lines of demons lifted by Flux, and trolls using their shield.

• For planned manoeuvres, but especially Massacre, consider gradual damage sources like the PDW or Flamethrower to soften up enemies, making getting them all at once easier. The Birdman mounted gun encounters are basically all this: sweep the line of fire over them briefly, then chain together as many as you can for ludicrous Massacre numbers - 50x, easily.

• In the late game, the Revolver is best used for weakening larger enemies, to maybe get a Toasted or Massacre off them. Greater demons are immune to many attacks like Shockwave, Flux, and Demon Hearts, but every little helps.

Above all, though, I don't want you to treat cheesing the game for extra karma as gospel. Do not let chasing after pictures of ninja stars dissuade you from enjoying cutting shadow beings in half on your own terms. Shadow Warrior is a fascinating little hack/slash/shooter that wants you to play around and experiment with its components, so don't let my suggestions restrict you. Do whatever.

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This is the part of the guide where I ask you to give it a thumbs up, and I genuinely mean it this time. More people need to know about the wonderful gameplay systems SW2013 has going on under the hood, Your support could bring psychotic, violence-absorbing smiles to hundreds of players, and help them really enjoy what Flying Wild Hog put together here.

Special thanks to KindaRandomUsername, whose 2016 video on the topic I found while researching, and who I stole the screen capture of five stars in the thumbnail from because I wasn't good enough to get it myself on demand. It's an entertaining watch, and they also show a highly effective cheesing technique in the video if you're of a game-breaking disposition.

That's all, folks. Happy wanging.