Welcome to the Tempest Combat Framework Wiki!
Tempest Combat Framework (TCF) is a modular, component-based combat system for Unreal Engine 5. This wiki covers everything you need to install, understand, and extend it for your own game.
📌 This wiki is being updated to reflect TCF V2.0. Some sections are still in progress — new content and video tutorials are added regularly. Join our Discord if you can't find what you need.
🎯 What is TCF?
TCF is built around a simple idea: combat should be modular, not monolithic.
Most combat systems lock you into a single approach — change one thing and ten others break. TCF takes the opposite path. Every system is a self-contained component (State Manager, Ability System, Targeting, Collision, etc.) that you can use, extend, or replace independently.
At the heart of the framework is the Ability System. Abilities aren't hard-coded into your characters — they're modular extensions you plug in. This means:
Versatile gameplay without rewriting core logic
Per-attack reactions — every swing of a weapon can trigger different enemy behaviour
Scalable complexity — your combat grows with your game, not against it
Once you understand the foundations, building rich combat becomes straightforward.
📋 Prerequisites
Before diving in, you should be comfortable with these four Unreal Engine concepts:
Blueprint Inheritance — child classes, overrides, parent calls
Enhanced Input — Input Actions, Input Mapping Contexts, triggers
Blueprint Communication — interfaces, casting, event dispatchers
Gameplay Tags — tag containers, tag queries, tag inheritance
If any of these feel unfamiliar, take some time to learn them first. TCF assumes intermediate-level UE5 knowledge — trying to use it without these foundations will be frustrating.
⚠️ Important Rule
Do not modify files inside the plugin's Content folder. The plugin contains the core framework. All your customisations, child Blueprints, and game-specific logic should live in your project's Content folder, not inside the plugin itself. This keeps your project clean and lets you safely update TCF in the future.
🚀 Where to Start
We recommend watching the video tutorials HERE.
📚 What's Next
Once you've watched the General Overview, work through this wiki in roughly the order shown in the sidebar:
Setup: Enabling the Plugin
Core Components: State Manager → Ability System → Enhanced Input & Buffer
Key Concept: Difference Between Abilities & States (read this early — it's foundational)
Combat Systems: Attributes, Targeting, Collision, Camera Modes
Architecture: Foundations of TCF, Combat Component
Content: Weapons, Data Assets, Integration
💬 Need Help?
💬 Join the Discord — fastest way to get answers
🐛 Bug reports and feature requests welcomed in the Discord
📺 Subscribe to the YouTube channel for new tutorials
🎯 The TCF Philosophy
Combat is the hardest system in any action game to get right — and the easiest to get tangled. TCF is the framework I wished existed when I started: small, readable, modular, and built to be extended. Use what you need. Change what you want. Ship your game.