How does Flanking Work?

[Xharlie]

I can't seem to find any information about Flanking but I am sure I saw something, at one point, saying that my character was flanked. How does flanking work?

 

Is there even a flanking mechanic or am I imagining it?

[PBJam]

Not sure how it works, but this barbarian ability mentions it so that might be a clue

[Xharlie]

Alrighty, then, there IS a flanking mechanism. It wasn't just the brown ale.

 

I hope someone can explain how it works.

 

I really expected the manual to explain stuff like this but, to be honest, the manual is rubbish.

[Pixies]

What it seems like is that if anyone attacks you from behind you get the flanking debuff, giving you -10 deflection from all sources. Certain spells also produce flanking.

[Zwiebelchen]

I'm pretty sure it works like this: if you are attacked by more enemies than your engagement limit allows, attackers get the flanking bonus. This makes the "Hold the Line" talent interesting beyond just disengagement attacks, as it effectively increases the number of enemies you can tank before getting flanked by one.

 

However, engagement mechanics are melee only and also seem to bug with +range melee weapons.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Zwiebelchen

[santanzchild]

There are  a few spells that cause enemies to get flanked status as well.  I have never managed to get flanked status on an enemy with just weapons though.

[Zwiebelchen]

There are  a few spells that cause enemies to get flanked status as well.  I have never managed to get flanked status on an enemy with just weapons though.

 

Had it several times. It seems that the flanking mechanics for enemies simply require more than 2 characters engaging the same target (so you need 3 or more green lines towards the target).

[santanzchild]

That might be it for me then I have my two swords and all the rest are ranged.  Other then the ranger pet but I usually use him for crowd control on the mages.

[Zwiebelchen]

Yeah it seems that 2 characters attacking the same target isn't enough for flanking. You need at least three. I don't know if pets contribute to flanking, though. If they do, then that would be a big reason to get a hunter in your group.

 

Other than that, it might be a good choice to equip one of your low-might-low-accuracy characters with a pike or any other long-range melee weapon just to get the flanking bonus if you have two melees anyway. Not sure if the flanking bonus outweights the benefit of another gun/arbalest, though.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Zwiebelchen

[Faydark]

I just tested it on the wolf at the starting encampment:

1) The enemies engagement target (ie, the tank) must be in the frontal 180^o arc of the enemy.

2) A character must be attacking the rear 180^o arc of the enemy with a melee weapon (or fists). Also, Increased reach weapon range doesn't trigger it, have to move closer into normal melee range for that to work.

 

It's hard to tell, but I think the wolf can only engage a single target, so potentially on targets that can engage more at once, you may need to have more than two characters attacking to flank.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Faydark

[Zwiebelchen]

I just tested it:

1) The enemies engagement target (ie, the tank) must be in the frontal 180^o arc of the enemy.

2) A character must be attacking the rear 180^o arc of the enemy in normal melee range only (increased reach weapon range doesn't trigger it, have to move closer).

 

So 2 characters are enough to flank? Awesome! Gotta try that out asap. For some reason it didn't come to my mind that the direction towards the target also matters.

 

Bummer that long-range melee weapons don't trigger it. I'd say this is a bug (also, long-range melee weapons don't trigger disengagement attacks properly either!).

Edited April 2, 2015 by Zwiebelchen

[santanzchild]

Its the back 180 part that is screwing me usually there is a mob scene when I enter a battle and my guys are all at the front and sides of the mobs.