Lightning Spear AOE?

[TeeWee]

How is Vincent's Lightning Spear's Area of Effect determined? It's "wedge shaped". If Vincent is standing diagonally aligned to his target, the wedge shape is clear. But in other configurations, the shape is less intuitive. And it can make a difference in who I'd target if there's a cluster and I'd have to go for a certain "optimal" target area.

[TeeWee]

Nobody answering this?

Perhaps a picture to make this more clear. Yes, I can experiment, but my current playthrough is Kjartan, so I was hoping somebody had already figured this out. 



V is Vincent in these three scenarios, E are enemies. His target is the darker of the lot. Scenario A is completely ambiguous, where both the yellow and the blue AoE are just as likely to be correct. Scenario B and C seem logical, but if the wedge configuration is either random or fixed instead of best fit on a cluster of enemies, it makes the positioning of Vince even more delicate.

Anyone? 

[contributor]

Hmmmm, sorry nobody got back to you. I've used Vincent's LS extensively. I think the thing is that it's hard to explain. It definitely works more like your Scenario A. Though as it's AoE grows you would be able to hit all of those targets. Eventually it even starts skipping and will hit targets that are not in a direct line. There could be an empty square between them and it will still hit them. My advice would be just to go play with it a lot and eventually you'll get a good feel for where it is going to go. Sometimes it's hard to know if it's not hitting somebody because they are outside of the pattern or if they are just getting good dodge rolls. For me LS is definitely better than Energy Storm because of it's ability to hit irregularly shaped groups early on. Once you've got it to the next level of AoE it will even hit targets that are two squares directly to the left and right of your original target. Maybe a general rule is that it will travel directly perpendicular (90 degrees) to the direction that it is cast, but it won't travel at any things less than 90 degrees.

[Deleted]

In scenario A, you have a possibility to hit all 6 of the enemies as long as your sorcery is high enough. LS starts as a 4 target wedge as opposed to Selen's Pinning Shot which starts as 3.

Vince's Charged Speed is great for working the angles to get as many enemies as possible.

[En1gma]

Rearick- you just gave me my new Vincent, I think! I usually just move him into a side position so I can move in to flank and shock the next turn, but that would keep him so quick on his feet it's not funny.

Concerning the aoe- I typically finding that I consistently hit targets at 90° so I would assume that the effect either turns itself to one side depending on where the enemies are, or the effect kinda flattens itself out... We might need dev help to clarify on this one

[Cory Trese]

Heroes of Steel is ultimately designed to be in the "board game style" of table top games, and Vince's LS rules are a homage to that.

* You tap Target1

* A line is drawn from Vincent to the center of the Target1 and Range is checked.

* The Target1 is attacked. If the Target1 is hit, continue to {Targets}

* For each Target2 in {Targets} Check distance from Vincent to Target2 . Must be greater or equal than than Target1 distance

* Check angle to Target2 from Vincent. Can be no more than 30' different than the angle to Target1.

This makes a cone, but means you MUST shoot from offset to be awesomest.

In "A" and "B" you should move east 1 tile.

In "C" you should move west 1 tile.