Question about Hero / henchmen control... - Guild Wars Forums

kidochipark · Feb 23, 2012, 02:54 AM // 02:54

I had a question about control over your party and your minions (I'm a MM).

When you click on a enemy, does everyone attack that enemy first?

For example, in the midst of a fight, I mis-micro a bit and my party ends up spread out. I wanna get them back together (I know about the flag... just let me finish).

If I click on a certain enemy and start attacking it, are my party and my minion supposed to leave whoever they are dealing with and attack that enemy that I have marked?

I tried to experiment with this and found out that it works just 50% of the time... so I'm not really sure about this. Sometimes they come and aid me. Sometimes they just continue fighting their own 1v1.
According to your experience, what do you think?
Ty in advance.

Wenspire · Feb 23, 2012, 03:14 AM // 03:14

Minions attack randomly, I believe. Your heroes will attack what you are attacking, unless you've "called" a different target; in-which-case they will keep attacking until 1) it's dead, 2) you "call" a different target or 3) manually assign them a target to focus on (via hero window). If you do not "call" a target, they do take time to switch and attack what you currently are locked onto.

The Guildless · Feb 23, 2012, 11:03 AM // 11:03

From: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Minions#Behavior

Quote:

Behavior

Minions will always attack foes in their Danger Zone, sometimes aggroing groups that the player might have wanted to avoid.
They will not attack a called target, but they will go after targets that their master is attacking. (Minions do not consider spells to be attacks.)
Minions do not flee from area of effect (AoE) damage.
Minions will not retreat from battle regardless of their master's actions.

drkn · Feb 23, 2012, 11:23 AM // 11:23

To be sure about h/h behaviour, always call your targets by ctrl+space. This should do the trick. If you want your heroes to focus on a boss while you disable the healer, just target the boss, hit ctrl+space, and then spam your skills away at another target. You will know that the called target is dead when a T by your party tab disappears, even if you, personally, are attacking something else.
As for minions and spirits, they can't really be controlled. More often than not, they do tend to attack what you attack (not necesserily calling first), but it's not always true, and you have to keep that in mind. There's no workaround for minions afaik (unless you have many corpses at your disposal and cast Aura of the Lich, which would re-create your minions, and the 'fresh' ones will maybe more eagerly follow your command).

Blackbirdx61 · Feb 23, 2012, 12:22 PM // 12:22

Quote:

Kidochipark Said: If I click on a certain enemy and start attacking it, are my party and my minion supposed to leave whoever they are dealing with and attack that enemy that I have marked?

I tried to experiment with this and found out that it works just 50% of the time... so I'm not really sure about this. Sometimes they come and aid me. Sometimes they just continue fighting their own 1v1. According to your experience, what do you think?

It may be I'm still pretty new myself but I think your about right in saying about half the time when I switch targets my Warriors continue their respective 1 on 1's; and certainly some percentage of the time when say you use the + on the control panel to switch them to say a healer, they remain Stuck to their current target.

I know there is a certain amount of 'Stickyness' built into the combat system; I have heard/seen 'Runners' talk about it in strategy/build videos on U-Tube.

One Question I would like to add to the thread is this...

Is their a way to customize the Target Call?

I know it defaults to CTRL-Space; and I use a pretty heavily customized keyboard; but it never seem to get that one to work somehow; but I would definatly prefer to tie that command to a single key. Is there some 'trick' to binding controls or Alts to a keyboard command?

drkn · Feb 23, 2012, 01:17 PM // 13:17

Don't think so. You might, however, want to check whether the pinging is actually ctrl+space or highlight_enemies+attack. Although not tested myself, i believe in the latter, so you could move your ctrl and space bindings onto something else, at your convenience.
Other than that, you might try out a third party macro application that would let you bind ctrl+space combo to one key, but that's a gray area of the EULA.

That said, there's pretty much no reason why you should use melee heroes/henchmen for general PvE, unless for a specific reason or specific testing purposes.

kidochipark · Feb 23, 2012, 03:22 PM // 15:22

When you say 'Call your targets' do you mean when I press Ctrl+ click on the monster I go 'I'm attacking --------!' on the chat box?

Would calling my targets affect my minions?

"They will not attack a called target, but they will go after targets that their master is attacking. (Minions do not consider spells to be attacks.)"

-this confuses me... if I call the target and attack it... the minions should attack the called target... right?

If you 'call the target' do YOU automatically attack it as well?

P.S. - 'calling the target' is ctrl + space? Wasn't it just ctrl + click?

Quaker · Feb 23, 2012, 04:31 PM // 16:31

You can "call" a target without attacking it, by using shift-ctrl-spacebar for example. Even if you use Ctrl-skill or ctrl-spacebar, you can attack a different target after the call.

Minions tend to go their own way. They will often continue to attack a target after a "call" to a different target. This is kind of useful in a way - they are very good at body blocking foes and keeping them busy until you get around to them.

Note that, when it refers to "their master", it means the Necro that summoned them (which is usually a Hero these days), not the leader of the group or the "caller".

Feb 23, 2012, 02:54 AM // 02:54	#1
kidochipark Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Feb 2012 Profession: N/Rt	Question about Hero / henchmen control... I had a question about control over your party and your minions (I'm a MM). When you click on a enemy, does everyone attack that enemy first? For example, in the midst of a fight, I mis-micro a bit and my party ends up spread out. I wanna get them back together (I know about the flag... just let me finish). If I click on a certain enemy and start attacking it, are my party and my minion supposed to leave whoever they are dealing with and attack that enemy that I have marked? I tried to experiment with this and found out that it works just 50% of the time... so I'm not really sure about this. Sometimes they come and aid me. Sometimes they just continue fighting their own 1v1. According to your experience, what do you think? Ty in advance.

Feb 23, 2012, 03:14 AM // 03:14	#2
Wenspire Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: USA - W.Coast Guild: HiME Profession: Mo/	Minions attack randomly, I believe. Your heroes will attack what you are attacking, unless you've "called" a different target; in-which-case they will keep attacking until 1) it's dead, 2) you "call" a different target or 3) manually assign them a target to focus on (via hero window). If you do not "call" a target, they do take time to switch and attack what you currently are locked onto.

Feb 23, 2012, 11:23 AM // 11:23	#4
drkn Forge Runner Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Wroc??aw, Poland Guild: Midnight Mayhem Profession: Me/	To be sure about h/h behaviour, always call your targets by ctrl+space. This should do the trick. If you want your heroes to focus on a boss while you disable the healer, just target the boss, hit ctrl+space, and then spam your skills away at another target. You will know that the called target is dead when a T by your party tab disappears, even if you, personally, are attacking something else. As for minions and spirits, they can't really be controlled. More often than not, they do tend to attack what you attack (not necesserily calling first), but it's not always true, and you have to keep that in mind. There's no workaround for minions afaik (unless you have many corpses at your disposal and cast Aura of the Lich, which would re-create your minions, and the 'fresh' ones will maybe more eagerly follow your command).

Feb 23, 2012, 01:17 PM // 13:17	#6
drkn Forge Runner Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Wroc??aw, Poland Guild: Midnight Mayhem Profession: Me/	Don't think so. You might, however, want to check whether the pinging is actually ctrl+space or highlight_enemies+attack. Although not tested myself, i believe in the latter, so you could move your ctrl and space bindings onto something else, at your convenience. Other than that, you might try out a third party macro application that would let you bind ctrl+space combo to one key, but that's a gray area of the EULA. That said, there's pretty much no reason why you should use melee heroes/henchmen for general PvE, unless for a specific reason or specific testing purposes.

Feb 23, 2012, 03:22 PM // 15:22	#7
kidochipark Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Feb 2012 Profession: N/Rt	When you say 'Call your targets' do you mean when I press Ctrl+ click on the monster I go 'I'm attacking --------!' on the chat box? Would calling my targets affect my minions? "They will not attack a called target, but they will go after targets that their master is attacking. (Minions do not consider spells to be attacks.)" -this confuses me... if I call the target and attack it... the minions should attack the called target... right? If you 'call the target' do YOU automatically attack it as well? P.S. - 'calling the target' is ctrl + space? Wasn't it just ctrl + click?

Feb 23, 2012, 04:31 PM // 16:31	#8
Quaker Hell's Protector Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Canada Guild: Brothers Disgruntled	You can "call" a target without attacking it, by using shift-ctrl-spacebar for example. Even if you use Ctrl-skill or ctrl-spacebar, you can attack a different target after the call. Minions tend to go their own way. They will often continue to attack a target after a "call" to a different target. This is kind of useful in a way - they are very good at body blocking foes and keeping them busy until you get around to them. Note that, when it refers to "their master", it means the Necro that summoned them (which is usually a Hero these days), not the leader of the group or the "caller".