Difference between revisions of "Reaching"

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A weapon with a [[reaching]] brand gives the player the option to attack a target 2 tiles away. You can activate this with the '''[[v]]''' key or by auto-attacking a monster within reaching distance.  This brand can occasionally be found on [[whip]]s. Additionally, all [[polearms]] have a reaching attack, but are not so branded, thus they enjoy the benefits of reaching along with those of their actual brand, if any.
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'''Reaching''' is a property exclusive to and innate to [[polearm]]s. Reaching weapons may attack from two spaces away, one tile greater than usual. You may also attack through monsters, though not with perfect success.
  
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A reaching attack through an interposing monster's tile has a 25-50% chance of either failing outright or affecting the interposing monster itself (see below).  Immobile and/or neutral monsters like [[bush]]es and [[toadstool]]s are treated like mobile, hostile monsters when determining whether they block an attack.  Reaching attacks ''may'' be freely made through inanimate [[statue]]s with no penalty. However, reaching attacks may ''not'' be made through [[tree]]s or [[iron grate]]s.
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==Useful Info==
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You will automatically make reach attacks when appropriate while auto-attacking with [[Tab]], and you can manually make a reach attack with the '''v''' command.
  
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Evoking a weapon for a reaching attack does ''not'' use the [[Evocations]] skill and is processed in the same way as a traditional melee attack.  
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Other than the extra range, reaching is nearly identical to other melee attacks. When attacking from a distance, you won't make [[auxiliary attack]]s, and you won't be hurt from attacking [[spiny]] monsters. That ''only'' applies when attacking from a distance; using a polearm on an adjacent enemy will trigger aux attacks and spiny as normal.
  
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==Reaching Attacks by Monsters==
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If there is a monster or obstacle between you and your target, there is a chance that your reaching attack will fail. See below for details.
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Those monsters that are able, are free to use whips of reaching and polearms, just like the player.  However, there are several monsters that have an ''inherent'' (and quite powerful) reaching attack: [[snapping turtle]]s, [[alligator snapping turtle]]s, and [[Geryon]].
 
  
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==Game Mechanics==
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===Reach Attack Failure===
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When there is exactly one avenue of attack (eg, the attack is exactly vertical, or a wall partially intervenes), and there is an intervening, non-submerged monster, the attack on the reached-for monster has a outright 50% chance of failure: if the intervening monster is friendly, the attack fails completely; if the intervening monster is neutral or hostile, the attack is instead made upon this intervening monster (See Example 1). 
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Reaching may fail if there is a monster in the way. If there are two possible paths to attack the tile (i.e., the attack is like a chess knight's move [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_%28chess%29] with no walls in the way), they are randomized. Then, if a monster is in the way, there is a 50% chance that reaching fails. You will then hit the intervening monster if it is [[neutral]] or hostile, and fail if they are [[friendly]]. See the below examples:
  
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When there are two avenues of attack (ie, the attack is like a chess knight's move [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_%28chess%29]), but both are occupied, the attack is resolved as above, with the avenue chosen randomly (See Example 2).
 
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When there are two avenues of attack and only one is occupied, there's a 75% chance of the attack moving forward on the reached-for monster, and a 25% chance of failure. In the case of failure, if the intervening monster is friendly the attack fails completely; if hostile, the attack is instead made upon this intervening monster (See Example 3).
 
 
   A reaching attack on Monster M:
 
   A reaching attack on Monster M:
 
   Example 1:                      Example 2:                    Example 3:
 
   Example 1:                      Example 2:                    Example 3:
Line 23: Line 20:
 
   With A interposed.              With A and B interposed.      With A interposed, plus
 
   With A interposed.              With A and B interposed.      With A interposed, plus
 
                                                                 one free avenue of attack.
 
                                                                 one free avenue of attack.
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<!-- I think this might be overkill:
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*In example 1, there's a 50% chance that the attack on M fails. If A is friendly, the attack fails outright. If A is hostile, the attack is redirected to A.
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*Example 1: There's a 50% chance that the attack on M fails. If A is friendly, the attack fails outright. If A is hostile, the attack is redirected to A.
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*In example 2, there's a 50% chance that the attack on M fails and is instead directed on the intervening monster at A/B (randomly chosen). If A/B is friendly, the attack fails outright. If A/B is hostile, the attack is redirected to A/B.
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*Example 2: There's a 50% chance that the attack on M fails and is instead directed on the intervening monster at A/B (randomly chosen). If A/B is friendly, the attack fails outright. If A/B is hostile, the attack is redirected to A/B.
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*In example 3, there's a 25% chance that the attack on M fails. If A is friendly, the attack fails outright. If A is hostile, the attack is redirected to A.
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*Example 3: There's a 25% chance that the attack on M fails. If A is friendly, the attack fails outright. If A is hostile, the attack is redirected to A.
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-->
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The message given when the attack fails due to a friendly monster blocking your attack is rather uninformative:
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The message given when an attack fails due to a friendly monster blocking your attack is less than informative:
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{{crawlquote|You could not reach far enough!"}}
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{{crawlquote|"You could not reach far enough!"}}
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Immobile and/or neutral monsters like [[bush]]es and [[toadstool]]s are treated like mobile, hostile monsters when determining whether they block an attack. Reaching attacks ''may'' be freely made through inanimate [[statue]]s with no penalty. However, reaching attacks may ''not'' be made through [[iron grate]]s.
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Friendly monsters you can fire projectiles through, such as [[Fedhas]] plants or [[Hepliaklqana]] ancestor, are treated as empty squares for reaching attacks.
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===Reach+===
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The [[artefact]] [[demon trident]] [[Rift]] has a special, smite-targeted reaching attack. It has an extra tile of reach (3 tiles), and completely ignores intervening monsters and obstructing terrain (including grates).
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==Strategy==
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*Even when you consider the 50% failure rate of attacks made through friendly units, reach attacks can be extremely useful for characters with access to summoned or permanent allies. When dealing with monsters capable of casting dangerous enchantments like [[Banish]] or [[Malmutate]], letting your summoned units block the enemy's line of fire while you poke it from behind is a perfectly valid strategy.
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*If you can both move and attack faster than your enemy can move, it's possible to [[kite]] melee opponents with reach attacks. Simply flee the enemy until you're two spaces away, then stab at the enemy until it closes the gap. Repeat until the enemy is dead.
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==Reaching Attacks by Monsters==
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Any monster wielding a polearm can make reach attacks, just like you. However, there are also some monsters that have ''inherent'' reaching attacks:
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*{{monsterlink|Orange demon}}
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*{{monsterlink|Snapping turtle}}
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*{{monsterlink|Alligator snapping turtle}}
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*{{Magenta|X}} [[File:Cigotuvis monster.png]] '''[[Cigotuvi's Monster]]'''
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*{{monsterlink|Geryon}}
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*{{monsterlink|Serpent of Hell (Dis)}}
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
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Prior to [[0.10]], only polearms or whips with the reaching brand were capable of reaching.
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*Prior to [[0.14]], reaching was also available as a [[brand]] which could generate on [[whip]]s and [[demon whip]]s.
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*Prior to [[0.10]], polearms did not have intrinsic reaching. They would only be capable of reaching if they had the reaching brand.
  
 
{{brands}}
 
{{brands}}
 
[[Category:Brands]]
 
[[Category:Brands]]

Latest revision as of 23:34, 9 December 2023

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Reaching is a property exclusive to and innate to polearms. Reaching weapons may attack from two spaces away, one tile greater than usual. You may also attack through monsters, though not with perfect success.

Useful Info

You will automatically make reach attacks when appropriate while auto-attacking with Tab, and you can manually make a reach attack with the v command.

Other than the extra range, reaching is nearly identical to other melee attacks. When attacking from a distance, you won't make auxiliary attacks, and you won't be hurt from attacking spiny monsters. That only applies when attacking from a distance; using a polearm on an adjacent enemy will trigger aux attacks and spiny as normal.

If there is a monster or obstacle between you and your target, there is a chance that your reaching attack will fail. See below for details.

Reach Attack Failure

Reaching may fail if there is a monster in the way. If there are two possible paths to attack the tile (i.e., the attack is like a chess knight's move [1] with no walls in the way), they are randomized. Then, if a monster is in the way, there is a 50% chance that reaching fails. You will then hit the intervening monster if it is neutral or hostile, and fail if they are friendly. See the below examples: 

 A reaching attack on Monster M:
 Example 1:                      Example 2:                    Example 3:
 .......  .......  .......       .......                       .......
 ..@....  ..@AM..  ..@A...       ..@A...                       ..@A...
 ...A...  .......  ####M..       ...BM..                       ....M..
 ....M..  .......  ####...       .......                       .......
 With A interposed.              With A and B interposed.      With A interposed, plus
                                                               one free avenue of attack.
  • Example 1: There's a 50% chance that the attack on M fails. If A is friendly, the attack fails outright. If A is hostile, the attack is redirected to A.
  • Example 2: There's a 50% chance that the attack on M fails and is instead directed on the intervening monster at A/B (randomly chosen). If A/B is friendly, the attack fails outright. If A/B is hostile, the attack is redirected to A/B.
  • Example 3: There's a 25% chance that the attack on M fails. If A is friendly, the attack fails outright. If A is hostile, the attack is redirected to A.

The message given when an attack fails due to a friendly monster blocking your attack is less than informative:

"You could not reach far enough!"

Immobile and/or neutral monsters like bushes and toadstools are treated like mobile, hostile monsters when determining whether they block an attack. Reaching attacks may be freely made through inanimate statues with no penalty. However, reaching attacks may not be made through iron grates.

Friendly monsters you can fire projectiles through, such as Fedhas plants or Hepliaklqana ancestor, are treated as empty squares for reaching attacks.

Reach+

The artefact demon trident Rift has a special, smite-targeted reaching attack. It has an extra tile of reach (3 tiles), and completely ignores intervening monsters and obstructing terrain (including grates).

Strategy

  • Even when you consider the 50% failure rate of attacks made through friendly units, reach attacks can be extremely useful for characters with access to summoned or permanent allies. When dealing with monsters capable of casting dangerous enchantments like Banish or Malmutate, letting your summoned units block the enemy's line of fire while you poke it from behind is a perfectly valid strategy.
  • If you can both move and attack faster than your enemy can move, it's possible to kite melee opponents with reach attacks. Simply flee the enemy until you're two spaces away, then stab at the enemy until it closes the gap. Repeat until the enemy is dead.

Reaching Attacks by Monsters

Any monster wielding a polearm can make reach attacks, just like you. However, there are also some monsters that have inherent reaching attacks:

History

  • Prior to 0.14, reaching was also available as a brand which could generate on whips and demon whips.
  • Prior to 0.10, polearms did not have intrinsic reaching. They would only be capable of reaching if they had the reaching brand.
Brands
Melee weapons Antimagic • Chaos • Distortion • Draining • Electrocution • Flaming • Freezing • Heavy • Holy wrath • Pain • Protection • Reaching • Spectral • Speed • Vampiric • Venom
Disruption • Dragon slaying • Reaping • Silver
Launchers Antimagic • Draining • Electrocution • Flaming • Freezing • Heavy • Penetration • Speed
Throwing weapons Atropa • Curare • Datura • Dispersal • Poisoned • Silver
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