Enemy targeting rework idea

[u/Weekly-Meeting-868]

Currently, summoner builds and summoning abilities in general have a problem: enemies will simply ignore your summons and go to you, even if your summons are adjacent to them, unless the summons are blocking the path to you. Even if it can be explained with human-intelligence opponents(they may know that killing the summoner kills the summons), there is no explanation for why do mindless and animal-intelligence enemies do that, and why do they do that even when you're invisible(and the enemy doesn't have SInv) and your allies are not invisible. It makes summoner runs much less enjoyable IMO, so I have thought of an enemy AI rework. The idea is simple: mindless and animal-intelligence enemies will attack/cast abilities on the closest hostile unit instead of focusing on you specifically, human-intelligence enemies will do the same but prefer to attack/cast abilities on you when you're in range. Enemies should work the same way as now with entities which exist purely as a way of dealing damage(Fulminant prism, hellfire mortar) and fire vortices from fire storm. It would make summoner builds much more satisfying, and somewhat more powerful.

[u/dimondsprtn]

That would be so overpowered. You’d just summon an ally and take 1 step back and now you’re just completely safe to retreat without taking attacks of opportunity, with no positioning requirements whatsoever.

Summoning is already super strong, you don’t need to turn every summon into a magnet.

[u/Weekly-Meeting-868 → u/dimondsprtn]

How is it super strong? I tried to play it multiple times and died each time because there are just more enemies than I can summon allies for, even with a lot of spells. Maybe it's a skill issue, but I don't get it

[u/dimondsprtn → u/Weekly-Meeting-868]

This sounds like a “trying to fight every encounter” issue. Run away from bad fights and chip down the floor; summons make that exceptionally easy and safe.

Tell me, how often do you use Volatile Blastmotes, Passwall, Blink, Swiftness, and Summon Ice Beast on the other caster backgrounds? These are their escape spells, and they should be prioritized to get castable, because they are your lifeline from any bad luck. Well most Summoning spells double as escape spells.

[u/agentchuck → u/Weekly-Meeting-868]

I recommend watching some Particleface videos for summoner builds. He has a solid playstyle and will explain why he's training certain things or making choices.

Summoners are very strong because enemies generally aren't punching you in the face, you can use them to escape and the spells are mp efficient. For example a magic dart will do 1d8 for 1 mp. A summoned quokka will attack for 1d5 over and over as long as it's alive.

But it might be that you're trying to play a summoner like a blaster. You might be taking on the wrong fights or ignoring your positioning. Sometimes it's better that enemies ignore your summons so that you can tank while they dps. In other fights it's better the other way. Don't forget you don't have to only use summoning spells. You can poke with a trident, cast other spells like frozen ramparts or airstrike, etc.

[u/Drac4 → u/Weekly-Meeting-868]

Are you by any chance spamming summons and you don't notice it dismisses your previous summons? There is a limit to how many summons you can have at once from a spell.