Combat in Rift is similar to other multiplayer online role-playing games.We will make a simple introducation to you today.
Whenever you take or give an attack,your status will change to 'In Combat' condition.You can use a ranged or a melee weapon to auto-attack,which is also called physically attack by right click the target to fight with other players.It will send your pet to attack that same target as well,but the pet will only attack the target you attack if its stance is set to Defensive.Most of the abilities or skills trigger a Global Cooldown,which prevents another skill or ability from being used within one second after the first one.
You can target another player, a monster or a Non Playing Character by using the left click, or certain hotkeys like TAB.Once the target has been selected,you need to use abilities and skills on this very target as soon as possible.The target will die when its health points reduce to zero.Somtimes,other players' corpses also drop items.Meanwhile,if your opponents are dead,you will stop being 'In Combat' immediately.