It seems like there is still a lot of confusion about how targeting mechanics work, especially after the introduction of gear and a lot of recent heroes with targeting mechanics, like Hivernal. So I wanted to go ahead and make a reference for how this all works. Keep in mind that this is an oversimplification of the actual code.
By default, every hero is targeted by enemies based on their squad positioning using specific weighting values:
Large creatures - 300
Front row - 200
Back row uncovered (no ally in front) - 20
Back row covered (ally in front) - 1
Every hero in YOUR squad has a weighting given to every enemy in the opponents squad. So with all 5 heroes alive in both squads, there are 50 different weighting values being tracked to determine each heroes' chances of attacking each opponent hero. For example, A1 vs B1, A1 vs B2, B1 vs A1, B1 vs A2, etc.
If no heroes have any special targeting mechanics, then all 5 of YOUR heroes will all end up with the same weighting values for each enemy. In this case the total weighting would be 300 + (200 x 2) + (1 x 2) = 702. At this point none of the enemies meet the criteria currently for "back row uncovered" weighting because all 5 enemies are alive, and thus no one in the back row is currently "uncovered". All your heroes give the large creature a target weighting of 300, and thus a 300/702 chance (43%) of being targeted.... and they each give EACH front row hero a weighting of 200 and thus a 200/702 chance (28%) of being targeted... and they each give EACH back row hero a weighting of 1 and thus a 1/702 chance (0.014%) of being targeted. Then let's say one of the front row heroes dies, so there is now a new total weighting of 300 + 200 + 20 + 1 = 521, and the same logic applies to determine the targeting chance of EACH of your heroes to target each enemy.
Flank - Heroes with descriptions that say "More likely to attack the back row". For the specific hero who has this ability, it adds 25,000 to the target weighting for any enemy meeting the criteria of 'back row uncovered' OR 'back row covered'. So assuming all heroes are alive, the total weighting for a flanker is now 300 + (200 x 2) + (25,001 x 2) = 50,702, and thus the chance to attack EACH back row hero is now 25,001/50,702, but since there are 2 back row heroes then the chance to attack ANY back row hero is 50,001/50,702 or roughly 99% chance. Flank uses a much higher weighting than all other targeting types, so in the case of a hero having multiple types of targeting working at the same time, Flank will still have a significantly higher chance of occurring.
Other Targeting - There are various other types of targeting. Brave Targeting ("More likely to attack the highest Power enemy"), Wounded Targeting ("More likely to attack the enemy with the lowest percentage health remaining"), and Slow/Quick Targeting. If an enemy meets the criteria for that type of targeting, then the weighting on that specific enemy is increased by a set amount for the hero who has that type of targeting... the exact amount varies but it's generally between 2,000 - 5,000. Brave Targeting, for example, adds a weighting of 5,000. So if hero A has Brave Targeting, and enemy B is a front row enemy who has the highest Power stat in the enemy squad, then hero A's target weighting on enemy B is increased from 200 to 5,200.
Multiple Targeting Mechanics - A hero can have multiple targeting mechanics all working at once, via their native ability, gear, targeting runes, or an aura given to them by an ally. In this case it simply updates the target weighting of each enemy meeting the targeting criteria, which effects the final chances. No targeting mechanics "override" other targeting mechanics, they all just change the weighting for any hero who has the targeting vs any enemy who meets the criteria for that targeting.
Taunt/Elusive - These are multipliers of the final target weighting values. Taunt is a multiplier of 1.5 or 2 ("More likely to be attacked" vs "Much more likely to be attacked..."), which means that the final weighting is multiplied by 1.5 or 2, further increasing the chances of that hero being targeted. Elusive is a multiplier of 0.2 or 0.1 ("Less likely to be attacked" vs "Much less likely to be attacked..."), which means that the final weighting is multiplied by 0.2 or 0.1, decreasing the chances of that hero being targeted. So for example a large creature with taunt goes from the standard target weighting of 300 to either 450 or 600 (depends on the level of taunt), while a front row hero who is elusive goes from a standard target weighting of 200 to either 40 or 20 (depends on the level of elusive). But let's say that we put that front row hero with elusive (0.1) in the back row (covered) and have him fight against a flanker. The flanker would target that back row elusive hero with a weighting of (25,001 x 0.1) = 2500. On the other hand let's say there is a front row hero with taunt (2x)... they would get targeted by that same flanker with a weighting of (200 x 2) = 400... in this case the flanking is irrelevant against the front row hero.
Note that we've discussed the fact that the default multiplier amount for Taunt is a bit low, and we've considered possibly increasing it in the future to something like a 3x/5x multiplier for the 2 levels.
That's pretty much everything to the targeting mechanics. Hopefully that helps answer any future questions!
By default, every hero is targeted by enemies based on their squad positioning using specific weighting values:
Large creatures - 300
Front row - 200
Back row uncovered (no ally in front) - 20
Back row covered (ally in front) - 1
Every hero in YOUR squad has a weighting given to every enemy in the opponents squad. So with all 5 heroes alive in both squads, there are 50 different weighting values being tracked to determine each heroes' chances of attacking each opponent hero. For example, A1 vs B1, A1 vs B2, B1 vs A1, B1 vs A2, etc.
If no heroes have any special targeting mechanics, then all 5 of YOUR heroes will all end up with the same weighting values for each enemy. In this case the total weighting would be 300 + (200 x 2) + (1 x 2) = 702. At this point none of the enemies meet the criteria currently for "back row uncovered" weighting because all 5 enemies are alive, and thus no one in the back row is currently "uncovered". All your heroes give the large creature a target weighting of 300, and thus a 300/702 chance (43%) of being targeted.... and they each give EACH front row hero a weighting of 200 and thus a 200/702 chance (28%) of being targeted... and they each give EACH back row hero a weighting of 1 and thus a 1/702 chance (0.014%) of being targeted. Then let's say one of the front row heroes dies, so there is now a new total weighting of 300 + 200 + 20 + 1 = 521, and the same logic applies to determine the targeting chance of EACH of your heroes to target each enemy.
Flank - Heroes with descriptions that say "More likely to attack the back row". For the specific hero who has this ability, it adds 25,000 to the target weighting for any enemy meeting the criteria of 'back row uncovered' OR 'back row covered'. So assuming all heroes are alive, the total weighting for a flanker is now 300 + (200 x 2) + (25,001 x 2) = 50,702, and thus the chance to attack EACH back row hero is now 25,001/50,702, but since there are 2 back row heroes then the chance to attack ANY back row hero is 50,001/50,702 or roughly 99% chance. Flank uses a much higher weighting than all other targeting types, so in the case of a hero having multiple types of targeting working at the same time, Flank will still have a significantly higher chance of occurring.
Other Targeting - There are various other types of targeting. Brave Targeting ("More likely to attack the highest Power enemy"), Wounded Targeting ("More likely to attack the enemy with the lowest percentage health remaining"), and Slow/Quick Targeting. If an enemy meets the criteria for that type of targeting, then the weighting on that specific enemy is increased by a set amount for the hero who has that type of targeting... the exact amount varies but it's generally between 2,000 - 5,000. Brave Targeting, for example, adds a weighting of 5,000. So if hero A has Brave Targeting, and enemy B is a front row enemy who has the highest Power stat in the enemy squad, then hero A's target weighting on enemy B is increased from 200 to 5,200.
Multiple Targeting Mechanics - A hero can have multiple targeting mechanics all working at once, via their native ability, gear, targeting runes, or an aura given to them by an ally. In this case it simply updates the target weighting of each enemy meeting the targeting criteria, which effects the final chances. No targeting mechanics "override" other targeting mechanics, they all just change the weighting for any hero who has the targeting vs any enemy who meets the criteria for that targeting.
Taunt/Elusive - These are multipliers of the final target weighting values. Taunt is a multiplier of 1.5 or 2 ("More likely to be attacked" vs "Much more likely to be attacked..."), which means that the final weighting is multiplied by 1.5 or 2, further increasing the chances of that hero being targeted. Elusive is a multiplier of 0.2 or 0.1 ("Less likely to be attacked" vs "Much less likely to be attacked..."), which means that the final weighting is multiplied by 0.2 or 0.1, decreasing the chances of that hero being targeted. So for example a large creature with taunt goes from the standard target weighting of 300 to either 450 or 600 (depends on the level of taunt), while a front row hero who is elusive goes from a standard target weighting of 200 to either 40 or 20 (depends on the level of elusive). But let's say that we put that front row hero with elusive (0.1) in the back row (covered) and have him fight against a flanker. The flanker would target that back row elusive hero with a weighting of (25,001 x 0.1) = 2500. On the other hand let's say there is a front row hero with taunt (2x)... they would get targeted by that same flanker with a weighting of (200 x 2) = 400... in this case the flanking is irrelevant against the front row hero.
Note that we've discussed the fact that the default multiplier amount for Taunt is a bit low, and we've considered possibly increasing it in the future to something like a 3x/5x multiplier for the 2 levels.
That's pretty much everything to the targeting mechanics. Hopefully that helps answer any future questions!
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