Editing Mnemon Explains Solar Combat (section)

====How do you know when a target is vulnerable?====
*An unarmored target is almost always vulnerable, since even with good defences they're likely to be badly wounded by a lucky hit. Even targets using charms for soak are usually worse off than armored targets, since they usually need to spend essence - often a great deal - to bolster their soak, and can be quickly ran out of essence in this fashion. There are exceptions, particularly some Lunars, Solars and Earth Immaculates, but even these tend to be vulnerable while putting up their scene-length soak charms, and thus can be killed swiftly if caught unawares.
*Virtually any target other than a Celestial Exalt who has already been attacked that turn will have been forced to use defence actions, and will have few if any actions left to defend (and at reduced dice to boot). This goes doubly if they've also attacked. As a bonus, you'll almost certainly have been able to tell how skilful they were when they were attacked, and you'll have an excellent idea of how badly you'll maul them. Even if they spent essence to defend against or survive the earlier attacks, they're still an excellent target, since you can force them to spend more, moving them quickly towards being exhausted.
*Any enemy who uses an offensive charm without a combo signature is vulnerable, since you know they can't use any defence charms. The exception to this is Dragon-Blooded, who can still use reflexive charms, but don't hesitate to fall upon them like hungry wolves if they've used a Simple or Extra Action charm, since their reflexive charms simply aren't good enough without actions to back them up, or so expensive that it's almost as good as wounding them anyway. In my opinion, if they're stupid enough to not make me Empress, and then compound it by using a Simple charm in front of a Solar, they deserve to be spitted on an eight foot golden razor. Useless inbred leeches. Watch out against Earth or Water Immaculates, though, since they actually have some rather nice Reflexive defence charms.
*Enemies in difficult conditions. Prone enemies, those thigh or waist deep in water or mud, on the wrong side of scree or abatis - they'll all have defence penalties against you. Wounded enemies also count, and will be quicker to finish off to boot.
*A sorcerer casting a spell is exceptionally vulnerable. On the downside, they may explode when you gut them, so don't try this unless you have decent soak or are feeling lucky.
*Any enemy in a clinch is extremely vulnerable. Kill them swiftly.
*An enemy unable to defend against your attack mode is vulnerable. For instance, if your enemy is relying on reflexive dodges, hit them Cascade of Cutting Terror, an undodgeable attack. If they are unable to use perfect defences, use Accuracy Without Distance, which is a perfect attack - even if they get more defence successes than your attack successes, the attack will hit for base damage. As an extension of this, anyone relying on their Soak to defend is deeply vulnerable to non-damage deleterious effects of a hit (Ox-Stunning Blow, anyone?).
*An opponent who has not acted is not vulnerable, but by attacking them and forcing them to abort to a defence, you may consume enough of their defensive resources to make them vulnerable to a Circlemate.

Concentrating your Circle's attacks on a single target is usually a good way to go, since that will overwhelm and quickly kill most enemies. There's no need to concentrate on this, however, since it's quite likely that the most vulnerable target available to you will be the one just attacked by a Circlemate.

These tactics are exceptionally effective, but there are occasions where you should not use them relentlessly. When facing a group of enemies, some who you could easily kill, and some who would be difficult foes for you, but impossible for some of your Circlemates, you should probably ensure that you leave enough lesser foes for your Circlemates to fight, and engage the greater foes. Otherwise, your Circlemates will probably whine because they have nothing to do, and I think all of us hear enough whining as it is, don't you? Wishy-washy types like Arianna would probably say you're hogging the spotlight and not being a good player too. Of course, if there's plenty in the field for your less-combatitive friends to do, you won't need to worry about this too much.

Whether or not Extras (who are always vulnerable by their nature) can be safely ignored depends on your circlemates - if their defences are poor enough that massed extras (particularly archers, where more than five can attack an individual at once) pose a threat, you may want to kill the extras swiftly. Some situations somehow manage to produce limitless streams of extras, however (filthy Pattern Spiders), and if you suspect such is the case, ignore them.