Hero behavior

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[edit] Modes

Heroes' pets will use the same combat mode as their heroes.

[edit] Fight

Heroes will aggressively confront enemies:

They will attack (in priority order) called targets, selected targets within range of the hero, enemies actively engaged with the party, and non-selected enemies within the hero's aggro range.
They will separate from the party, as necessary.

[edit] Guard

Heroes will guard the area near a flag or the controlling player (whichever is closer), refraining from combat until actively engaged.

They will not attack enemies unless forced to use a skill, the target is called, the foe actively engages the party, or the enemy enters the party's aggro circle.
They will not move beyond the guarded area unless forced to use a skill and the target is out-of-range.
They will return to the guarded area after using a forced skill or the enemy moves far beyond the area.

[edit] Avoid Combat

Heroes never attack and will attempt to avoid enemies when attacked, kiting as needed. They will not attack selected or called targets unless forced to use a skill.

They generally will not use skills that directly target foes or cause Point Blank Area of Effect damage.
They will use skills that indirectly affect the enemy:
- Damaging skills that target allies, such as Smite Hex and Balthazar's Aura.
- Ward and well spells that inflict detrimental effects on foes.
- Trap setting skills.
- Summoning skills that bring forth minions or spirits.
- Item spells, that require activating urns and dropping them.

[edit] Detection

As would be expected, heroes can "read" health bars, and can detect the presence of hexes, conditions and enchantments.
Heroes appear to be able to detect all buffs and debuffs, as they will not try to apply an enchantment, hex, condition or weapon spell on someone who is already affected by the same enchantment, hex, condition or weapon spell.
Heroes appear to be able to detect party members' energy, as they will not use skills such as Blood Ritual on characters with full energy pools.
Heroes can detect enemy skill activation, and will only use interrupts which are appropriate to the skill type, however they cannot prioritize high-threat skills, and sometimes waste interruption skills in failed attempts to interrupt skills with short activation times.

[edit] Formation

Heroes (as well as henchmen) will not always line up ranged characters at the rear, with melee characters in front, as you might expect.
Heroes will change formation when the player changes from a melee weapon to a ranged or a ranged weapon to a melee.
Heroes wielding item spells will be in the front with the melee wielding heroes.

[edit] Healing

Heroes will pick the ally with the least health as target.
Heroes are unable to tell when battle is about to start and will thus protect allies far from combat.
Heroes (and henchmen) are able to tell which dead allies have usable resurrection skills, and prioritize them when resurrecting an ally.
Heroes generally only use full party healing skills such as Heal Party when multiple party members need healing.
Heroes generally use multi-target healing skills such as Healing Ribbon and Healing Burst the same way they use single target healing skills.
Heroes can use Life Sheath as efficiently as Reversal of Fortune.

[edit] Skills

[edit] Forced skill use

Heroes can be ordered to execute skills by clicking on the appropriate skill on the hero skill bar.
When a hero is ordered to execute a skill during the activation of another skill, the hero will cancel the activation of that skill and proceed with the ordered skill.

[edit] Spells

Reusable resurrection skills are activated regardless of whether or not other party members are already resurrecting the same ally.
Heroes will run into combat to activate PBAoE spells, including ones designed for self defense, such as Whirlwind

[edit] Enchantments

Maintained enchantments are generally only used during combat and are dismissed outside of combat, and heroes will quickly dismiss any maintained enchantment they are ordered to activate unless that skill is set to deactivated. The only exceptions are Blessed Aura, Divine Boon, Unyielding Aura and Mending.
If a maintained enchantment is disabled, the hero will neither cast nor dismiss that enchantment, so a player can order the hero to cast the enchantment on a selected target and it will not be dismissed.
Heroes sometimes improperly use maintainable enchantments by removing them shortly after casting. To mitigate this behavior, disable the skill, select the desired target, and manually trigger the enchantment.

[edit] Interruption

Henchmen don't seem to be able to prioritize which skills to interrupt. For example a hero could waste an interruption skill to interrupt Flare while letting another foe cast Rodgort's Invocation.

[edit] Item spells

If an urn causes an effect when dropped, heroes will drop the urn when the opportunity presents itself, otherwise, they will hold the urn for the spell's entire duration.

[edit] Weapon spells

Heroes will cast offensive weapon spells such as Guided Weapon and Splinter Weapon on passive characters and characters holding bundles.
Heroes will overwrite weapon spells with other weapon spells.

[edit] Touch skills

Heroes will run into combat to activate touch skills.

[edit] Patches

The Hero AI is not always updated to account for changes in the functionality of skills, and uses some skills (e.g. Healing Burst) as though they still behave as they did at release.

[edit] Specific skills

Unused Skills are those that heroes never use or never seem to use; consider these carefully before including in heroes' builds, as you will have to manually activate them.

Heroes do not seem to use Falling Lotus Strike or Falling Spider on their own.
Heroes will not use Steady Stance to prevent self-induced knockdowns from skills such as Drunken Blow.
Heroes will not use Rage of the Ntouka, "Coward!", or Deadly Paradox.
Heroes will not use Blood Ritual or Blood is Power on allies wielding martial weapons, including spellcasters wielding such weapons.
Heroes under enchantments that cause them to deal earth damage will not activate Ebon Dust Aura unless they are already wielding earth-damaging weapons.
Heroes will not use Moebius Strike on enemies above 50% health, even if they have a charged dual attack ready to use afterwards.

Misused Skills are those that heroes use in odd or improper ways; carefully enable/disable them according to the situation.

Heroes will use Throw Dirt on Spirits.
Heroes will use Rotting Flesh on non-fleshy foes.
Heroes will use "For Great Justice!" in combat whenever it is recharged, rather than waiting to get close enough to attack.
Heroes will use "To the Limit!" whenever a single foe is within range, even if more foes are barely out of range. This generally means that they will only get one strike of adrenaline when they use it at the start of combat.
Heroes will only use Assassin's Promise on low health targets, even if it is vital to their attack chain.
Heroes will use Renewing Memories even if they do not hold bundles.
Heroes will use Agonizing Chop when the foe doesn't have Deep Wound, even when they can use Dismember, they'll use agonizing chop first.
Heroes will use Dismiss Condition on allies that have enchantments, but no conditions on them, as if it were primarily a healing skill.
Heroes will use Power Drain as an interrupt, not to intentionally manage their energy.

Limited-Use Skills are those that heroes do not use to their full potential or use inconsistently with general hero behavior; use caution when including them in hero builds and consider enabling/disabling according to the situation.

Death's Charge and Death's Retreat are only used for healing.
Glyph of Lesser Energy does not encourage heroes to use higher-energy spells; Glyph of Energy does not encourage heroes to use exhausting spells.
Renewing Memories does not encourage heroes to take advantage of item spells.
Ancestors' Rage is used on characters who are within range of more than one foe and taking damage. Unlike most damaging skills which target allies, heroes will not use Ancestors' Rage while set to "Avoid Combat".
Patient Spirit is cast as a heal, but the hero will cast another heal before Patient Spirit ends if the ally still needs health immediately, thus most of the time over-healing that ally.
Heroes do not seem more likely to cast Signet of Rejuvenation on allies who are attacking or casting spells.
Heroes do not seem more likely to cast Dwayna's Kiss on allies with hexes and/or enchantments.