Taunt (Status Effect)
Taunt is a game mechanic that is used to hold or draw aggro onto you. Most often used by Tankers and Brutes, it is available to any Archetype.
Powers
The following is a list of powers that cause Taunt, as of Issue 11:
- Confront (Available to Scrappers in Broad Sword, Claws, Dark Melee, Dual Blades, and Spines)
- Calling of the Wolf (Available to Scrappers in Katana)
- Warrior's Challenge (Available to Scrappers in Martial Arts)
- Invincibility (Available to Scrappers and Tankers in Invulnerability)
- Rise to the Challenge (Available to Scrappers, Tankers, and Brutes in Willpower)
- Blazing Aura (Available to Tankers and Brutes in Fiery Aura)
- Chilling Embrace (Available to Tankers and Brutes in Ice Armor)
- Icicles (Available to Tankers in Ice Armor)
- Mud Pots (Available to Tankers and Brutes in Stone Armor)
- Taunt (Available to Tankers in Battle Axe, Ice Melee, and War Mace, available to Brutes in Dark Melee and Electrical Melee, and available to both Tankers and Brutes in Dual Blades, Energy Melee, Fiery Melee, Stone Melee, and Super Strength)
- Challenge (Available to all Archetypes in Presence)
- Provoke (Available to all Archetypes in Presence)
In addition, attacks from a Tanker's secondary or a Brute's primary will also Taunt.
Function
Taunt works by multiplying the Threat generated by attacks, with the multiplier dependent on the AT in question, the duration of the Taunt, and the character's proximity to the enemy. Recently[1] Castle create a thread revealing this fact, as opposed to the commonly accepted explanation (and description in the game documentation) that Taunt simply overrode all Threat.
The Taunt power (and Confront, Calling of the Wolf, Warrior's Challenge, Challenge, and Provoke) counts as an attack, so that hate may be gained with just the damage-less Taunt. Attacks made after the Taunt is applied have their Threat multiplied by 1,000 * Duration (where Duration is the duration of the Taunt effect).
AT modifiers, damage dealt, and proximity to the enemy affect the amount of Threat generated. While a Tanker or Brute should normally be able to build Threat much faster than any other Archetype (especially with the help of the Taunt in all of their attacks), Castle's post was prompted by Issue 11 testing with a Tanker using Taunt that was unable to pull enemies away from a Willpower Scrapper using Rise to the Challenge. The combination of the Scrapper's enemy proximity, pulsing Taunt, and constant damage far outdid the ranged Taunt by the Tanker. After further testing, Ghost Widow followed the code logic to discover that the game's internal documentation on the subject (supporting the "Taunt overrides Threat" argument) was incorrect.
Notes
- ^ Taunt: How it works (Clarification) Post by Castle, 11/26/07