3. Automatic hit back after attack

Automatic hit back after attack


  • Hi,

    I stumbled upon this section of the documentation of creep.attack()

    "If the target is a creep with ATTACK body parts and is not inside a rampart, it will automatically hit back at the attacker."

    Some questions about this:

    1.) Does this mean, if I attack an enemy creep with multiple creeps the enemy will hit back multiple times?

    2.) Asume 1.) as false. If an enemy creep is attacking a wall and I attack him, does it force the enemy to attack my creep and NOT the wall?

    3.) I have read in some older reddit posts, that the hit back is as hard as the attack itself. So if my creep has 25 ATTACK and the enemy has only one, the hitback would be 25 ATTACK and not only one. This seems highliy unlogical. Is it (still) true? Or was it any time?

    Thanks for the answers! Greetings Draco


    1. Yes
    2. Reflected damage is extra on top of the damage you do with your actions.
    3. Reflected damage is equal to the strength of the creep being hit.
    1 Reply

  • @tigga thanks for the answers!

    Just to be sure. That means an enemy creep would be able to do 9 times the damage of its ATTACK parts, if it is attacked by eight creeps?

    Does this apply to NPCs, too? I had calculated a fight with a Source Keeper, for a specialized creep. I assumed 400 HP/t (ranged and close) attack power by the source keeper. So it would do 3600 damage over 9 ticks. My creep had exactly the attack power to kill the source keeper within these 9 ticks. If the damage would have been reflected it would be 700 damage (400 ranged and attack, 300 reflected) per tick, which my creep would not have been able to survive. But the creep I had designed is working quite well.

    Or does this not apply if the creep I am attacking is attacking me, too?

    And a last question: doesn't this give a ranged attack massive advantage over close range attack? You can easily create a creep which is able to kite. It might be more expensive, but just to think about the needed healing for attacking other attack creeps makes me shiver.

    By the way, I am currently moving into your neighborhood (though a portal). I have seen creeps of you creeping around me 😃


  • Just to be sure. That means an enemy creep would be able to do 9 times the damage of its ATTACK parts, if it is attacked by eight creeps?

    I believe so.

    Does this apply to NPCs, too? I had calculated a fight with a Source Keeper, for a specialized creep. I assumed 400 HP/t (ranged and close) attack power by the source keeper. So it would do 3600 damage over 9 ticks. My creep had exactly the attack power to kill the source keeper within these 9 ticks. If the damage would have been reflected it would be 700 damage (400 ranged and attack, 300 reflected) per tick, which my creep would not have been able to survive. But the creep I had designed is working quite well.

    I'd have to see the replay. Remember the Source Keeper gets damaged reflected from your creep as well.

    And a last question: doesn't this give a ranged attack massive advantage over close range attack? You can easily create a creep which is able to kite. It might be more expensive, but just to think about the needed healing for attacking other attack creeps makes me shiver.

    I don't see how this in particular makes a difference. Kiting can go wrong awfully quickly around swamps or room edges.

    By the way, I am currently moving into your neighborhood (though a portal). I have seen creeps of you creeping around me 😃

    Good luck!


  • Also ranged deals only 1/3rd of melee damage at nearly twice the price per part, so I'd say that balances it out pretty well.

    Edit:

    Also I wouldn't treat the damage as "reflected" per se. In RPG terms, this is more of an attack of opportunity hit/hitback, and as such depends on the part composition of the creep being hit, regardless of how much damage it gets hit for (as long as it survives the damage, i presume).

    So if two creeps with ATTACK parts are hitting each other, they effectively deal twice the damage of their ATTACK parts to the other creep.

    Which also makes the point that it's more cost-efficient to create fewer but bigger creeps than a lot of small ones, unless you're making ranged swarms.