Charge · Game Mechanic Compendium

Definition

A charge is an attack that rushes the user along the ground to a chosen target and strikes or disables it on arrival, the rush and the blow resolving as one act. A rush that only relocates the user, even through enemies, is a dash, and so are wound-up runs that hit whatever they meet. Where the arrival’s main effect is a push, as a bull rush at the end of a charge is, the act is knockback; a push riding on a damaging charge stays here. A stop applied without closing distance is a stun; a stun on arrival is a charge’s payload. A leap attack passes over everything on an arc, and a teleport-strike is blink. Plain movement into contact is not a charge unless the rules treat the charge move differently. Morale and rout covers the fear of being charged. The charged attack, the fighting-game charge input, and the charges gating term are unrelated.

Behaviour

The rush has its own measure: a faster rate in 1824 and 1971, a percentage on speed in 1979, a dash to a chosen monster on screen. Arrival adds an extra die, +2 to hit, a bash, or damage scaled by distance or speed, and often the first blow. Chainmail requires a near-straight line. Counterplay runs through initiative and set weapons: the longer weapon strikes first in 1979, and spears set against a charge double their damage.

Variations

Run-up scaling (Little Wars; League of Legends; Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord): the bonus grows with slope, distance travelled, or speed held.
Disabling charge (World of Warcraft): the arrival stuns, by chance at advanced ranks of Charge, always with Intercept and Feral Charge.
Knockback rider (League of Legends): Hecarim’s charged attack pushes the target as well as damaging it.
Weapon multiplier (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Players Handbook): the lance, not the move, doubles damage from a charging mount.
Compulsory charge (Chainmail): Knights charge an enemy in range regardless of orders unless a 6 is rolled.

Gating

Wargames limit the charge by position and tempo: formation and numbers in Little Wars, terrain and expected contact in Chainmail, and a recovery afterwards in Kriegsspiel and Chainmail. The 1979 Dungeon Masters Guide allows one charge per ten-round turn and prices it in armour class. Diablo II spends mana behind a level gate. World of Warcraft inverts the cost, since Charge generates Rage, and gates it by combat state, minimum range, and a cooldown; League of Legends uses a cooldown. Bannerlord has no cost; the speed that must be built and kept is the limit.

History and provenance

Reisswitz’s Kriegsspiel (1824) is the earliest documented charge, a cavalry rate resolved by die, cited from an OCR of the German original; earlier war games remain unsurveyed. The appendix of Little Wars (1913) adds an explicit charging bonus. Chainmail’s charge move and Impetus Bonus are cited from the 2nd edition (1972), and the 1971 wording is unconfirmed. Men & Magic (1974) has no charge rule and points players to Chainmail; the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons charge appears in the Dungeon Masters Guide (1979), the Players Handbook (1978) having only the lance footnote. Diablo II (2000) and World of Warcraft (2004) made it a targeted skill, and Mount & Blade couched the lance by a 2005 beta.

Notable examples

Notable examples, in chronological order. Notes describe how the ability behaves in each game; gating is what limits its use there; the latest reference is a widely played game from 2020 or later.
Game	Year	Medium	Gating	How the ability behaves
Kriegsspiel Georg von Reisswitz	1824	Board & card	At will	The movement scale gives the cavalry charge its own rate, 800 paces a move for heavy cavalry and 900 for light, against 600 at the trot. A charging line pushes its blocks against the enemy front and a die decides the outcome; a line that has charged successfully stands for one move before it may pursue.
Little Wars H. G. Wells	1913	Board & card	At will	In the appendix's sketch rules for a Kriegspiel, no body of fewer than eight cavalry may charge, and only in proper formation. One charging sabre kills five stationary sabres and puts fifteen more three feet to the rear; downhill charges are multiplied by two to four with the contours crossed, and losses against infantry depend on the starting distance.
Chainmail Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (Guidon Games)	1971	Board & card	Cooldown	Each horse type has a charge move longer than its normal move (Heavy Horse 12 to 18 inches), allowed only when melee contact is expected and in a near-straight line. The Impetus Bonus adds a die on smooth or downhill ground, a charge forces a morale check on the defender, and the charger moves at normal speed the next turn.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide Gary Gygax (TSR)	1979	Tabletop RPG	Cooldown	A charge brings the attacker into melee the same round, at a third more speed for bipeds or half again for quadrupeds outdoors. The charger loses its Dexterity bonus, is 1 worse in armour class, and gains +2 to hit; the longer weapon strikes first. One charge per 10-round turn is allowed, and weapons set against a charge deal double damage.
Diablo II Blizzard North	2000	Video	Mana	A Paladin combat skill from level 12, after Smite, costing 9 mana. The Paladin rushes at a monster not already in melee range and delivers a bash on contact, with damage +100% at level 1 rising to +575% at level 20 and attack rating +50% to +335%.
World of Warcraft Blizzard Entertainment	2004	Video	Cooldown	The Warrior's Battle Stance Charge dashes to the targeted monster and generates Rage, usable only out of combat and beyond a minimum range; advanced ranks add a chance to stun. Intercept, in Berserker Stance, charges in combat with damage and a stun. The cooldown is reportedly about 15 seconds.
League of Legends Riot Games	2009	Video	Cooldown	Hecarim's Devastating Charge (the champion was reportedly added in 2012) gives him rising movement speed and lets him pass through units for a short time; his next attack knocks the target back and deals extra physical damage scaled by the distance travelled since activation. It reportedly runs on a cooldown.
Dota 2 Valve	2013	Video	Mana, Cooldown	Spirit Breaker's Charge of Darkness fixes on an enemy unit and charges through trees, cliffs, and units, building to 275 to 425 bonus speed over 1.5 seconds; the target and every enemy passed through take a Greater Bash stun, and if the target dies the charge turns to the nearest enemy. 80 to 110 mana, 22 to 13 s cooldown in 2026 data.
Path of Exile Grinding Gear Games	2013	Video	Mana	Shield Charge is a Travel skill that rushes the user to a target and deals damage on impact. Since 3.7.0 the impact hits a cone in front of the user, its damage depends on the equipped shield rather than the weapon, and it costs 10 mana (from 8) at all gem levels.
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord Latest TaleWorlds Entertainment	2022	Video	At will	Mounted with a polearm that can be couched, the rider presses X once the horse has gained speed and an icon lights. The lance then lands by steering, with no swing, for damage far greater than a standard swing, and only while the horse keeps its speed.

Provenance

Earliest documented use: Kriegsspiel (1824), board & card. Confidence: low. Reisswitz's Anleitung (1824) gives heavy and light cavalry a charge rate of their own on the movement scale, resolves a charge into contact by die, and halts a line for one move after a successful charge. The text is cited from an OCR of the Fraktur original, so the wording and section numbers are approximate, and no bonus for charging is cited from it. Earlier war games, such as Hellwig's and Venturini's, remain unsurveyed. Little Wars (1913) is the earliest source cited with an explicit charging bonus and a slope multiplier, in its Kriegspiel appendix; the main game's melee has no cavalry bonus. Chainmail carried the charge move and Impetus Bonus into the rules from which role-playing grew.

Sources

Georg von Reisswitz. (1824). Anleitung zur Darstellung militairischer Manöver mit dem Apparat des Kriegs-Spieles. Rulebook §. 3, movement scale (Charge der schweren and leichten Cavallerie); c. §. 53, charge into contact; c. §. 58, halt after a successful charge. Accessed 2026-10-24. The charge rates, the charge resolved by die, and the halt afterwards; section numbers read from an OCR of the Fraktur text.
H. G. Wells. (1913). Little Wars. Book Appendix, Little Wars and Kriegspiel: Rules as to Cavalry Charging. Accessed 2026-10-24. The minimum body and formation, the charging-sabre ratio, the downhill multiplier, and the start-distance rule; also that the main rules have no cavalry charge bonus.
Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. (1972). Chainmail, 2nd edition. Guidon Games. Rulebook Charge, c. p. 12; Impetus Bonus, c. p. 15; Cavalry Charge and Knights, c. p. 16; Man-to-Man, first blow on a charge, c. p. 23. Accessed 2026-10-24. The charge move, the straight-line rule, the Impetus Bonus die, the morale check, and the compulsory charge of Knights; page numbers inferred from OCR markers.
Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. (1975). Chainmail, 3rd edition. TSR. Rulebook Movement table, c. p. 10; Charge, c. p. 15; Impetus Bonus, c. p. 17. Accessed 2026-10-24. The normal and charge move distances by horse type.
Gary Gygax. (1979). Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeon Masters Guide. TSR. Rulebook Combat, Further Actions: Charge; Set Weapons Against Possible Opponent Charge, c. p. 66. Accessed 2026-10-24. The role-playing charge, its speed increase, armour-class cost, +2 to hit, the one-charge-per-turn limit, and set weapons.
Gary Gygax. (1978). Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Players Handbook. TSR. Rulebook Weapons table, footnotes, c. p. 37. Accessed 2026-10-24. The heavy horse lance doing twice indicated damage from a charging mount.
Blizzard Entertainment (Blizzard North). (2000). Diablo II manual. Rulebook Paladin Skills, Combat Skills: Charge, p. 61. Accessed 2026-10-24. The Charge description, a bash delivered on contact after closing the distance.
Blizzard Entertainment. Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Paladin Combat Skills. Website Charge. Accessed 2026-10-24. The mana cost, required level, prerequisite, damage and attack-rating progression, and the melee-range restriction.
Blizzard Entertainment. (2004). World of Warcraft: Warrior. Website Battle Stance Abilities: Charge. Accessed 2026-10-24. The out-of-combat restriction, Rage generation, and the chance to stun at advanced ranks at launch.
Blizzard Entertainment. (2006). World of Warcraft: Warrior spells. Website Charge; Intercept. Accessed 2026-10-24. Intercept as the in-combat charge with damage and a stun.
Michael Lummis and others (BradyGames). (2004). World of Warcraft Official Strategy Guide. Book Warrior chapter, Arms talents: Improved Charge; Druid talents: Feral Charge. Accessed 2026-10-24. Improved Charge adding Rage, and Feral Charge stunning and interrupting spells.
Riot Games. League of Legends: Hecarim. Website Abilities. Accessed 2026-10-24. The Devastating Charge text, with speed, passage through units, knockback, and distance-scaled damage.
League of Legends Wiki, Hecarim. Wiki The champion's release year and cooldown values, reported only.
Bogdan Robert Mateș (GameWatcher). (2020). Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord couched lance: how does it work. Article Accessed 2026-10-24. The couch key, the speed requirement, and the damage of a couched hit.
RPG Codex. (2005). Mount & Blade Upgrades to 0.621. Article Accessed 2026-10-24. Couching in the beta, where the "lance is couched at lower speed".
Grinding Gear Games. (2019). Path of Exile: Legion Patch Notes (3.7.0). Website Accessed 2026-10-24. Shield Charge as a Travel skill, its impact damage in a cone, damage from the equipped shield, and its mana cost.
Valve. Dota 2 hero data, Spirit Breaker. Website Charge of Darkness. Accessed 2026-10-25. Current charge speed, wind-up, Greater Bash on the target and on enemies passed through, retargeting, passage through trees and cliffs, mana, and cooldown.

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West, James, Jr. (2026). "Charge." Game Mechanic Compendium, updated 2026-10-25. http://localhost:4321/abilities/charge

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