Casting spells in melee

[moderation]

I've noticed sometimes an SC can manage to cast spells in melee range of enemy troops and sometimes he cannot. Does high defense or etherealness make it easier?

What are the mechanics of this? I would like to figure out how to use close range spells like Flame Eruption more effectively.

[MaxWilson]

AFAIK, it's just a flat 50% chance to cast spells when in "melee range," i.e. within an enemy's zone of influence.

-Max

[Baalz]

Note, if you've got spells scripted and your guy decides to melee instead the script is not consumed, which means your spells will eventually be cast unless you're killed. Several of the touch spells are pretty darn fearsome at taking down SCs. Take Hand of Death for instance, 40+ AN damage. Protection doesn't help. MR doesn't help. No such thing as a resistance. Defense helps, but not a shield. Luck, mistform, & twist fate help a little, but basically if you cast that spell a couple times most anything is going down. Not bad for a level one research spell any D2 mage can cast. 'course, you've generally got to have a guy tough enough to stand next to a thug for a couple rounds, but there are several undead death casters who fit this bill (and plenty of national troops like Dia Oni and Neifel giants). What I particularly like is this is a great way to pack a hell of a wallop without needing to equip any items. Perfect for vampire lords, demi liches, wraith lords and immortal pretenders. The best is if you can fly (or better yet, the bad guy flys in to you away from any support staff). I love this with swarms of LA Ulm's cheap vampire commander in dominion: attack large enemy monsters, hand of death X4. You might melee a couple times, but those hands of death will eventually go off provided you don't die first. Alternatively to equipping no gear you can do fun things like dual wield shields since you don't need a weapon - equipping 2 black iron tower shields is a pretty cost effective way to survive standing next to a SC that wasn't geared for dropping defense, and a vine shield is a great way to land that touch attack against somebody with high defense. You can do similar things with Shocking Grasp (18+ AN), Fists of Iron (16+ damage + strength, number of effects 1+), and leeching touch (15+ AN, life draining and requires no blood slave)

[Sombre]

Can you actually script 'attack large monsters' followed by specific spells? I thought you could only script 'attack one round' without specifying a target until you reached the final bit of the script.

I'm not surprised if I have that wrong though, never having really tested it.

[Dedas]

Baalz said:
Note, if you've got spells scripted and your guy decides to melee instead the script is not consumed, which means your spells will eventually be cast unless you're killed. Several of the touch spells are pretty darn fearsome at taking down SCs. Take Hand of Death for instance, 40+ AN damage. Protection doesn't help. MR doesn't help. No such thing as a resistance. Defense helps, but not a shield. Luck, mistform, & twist fate help a little, but basically if you cast that spell a couple times most anything is going down. Not bad for a level one research spell any D2 mage can cast. 'course, you've generally got to have a guy tough enough to stand next to a thug for a couple rounds, but there are several undead death casters who fit this bill (and plenty of national troops like Dia Oni and Neifel giants). What I particularly like is this is a great way to pack a hell of a wallop without needing to equip any items. Perfect for vampire lords, demi liches, wraith lords and immortal pretenders. The best is if you can fly (or better yet, the bad guy flys in to you away from any support staff). I love this with swarms of LA Ulm's cheap vampire commander in dominion: attack large enemy monsters, hand of death X4. You might melee a couple times, but those hands of death will eventually go off provided you don't die first. Alternatively to equipping no gear you can do fun things like dual wield shields since you don't need a weapon - equipping 2 black iron tower shields is a pretty cost effective way to survive standing next to a SC that wasn't geared for dropping defense, and a vine shield is a great way to land that touch attack against somebody with high defense. You can do similar things with Shocking Grasp (18+ AN), Fists of Iron (16+ damage + strength, number of effects 1+), and leeching touch (15+ AN, life draining and requires no blood slave)

Yep, this is awesome when it works and almost totally unexpected too.

[Wick]

Sombre said:
Can you actually script 'attack large monsters' followed by specific spells?

No, you can't.