Hero aggro and equipped weapons

1st Official Post

    So the common thought is that if caster heroes are equipped with (for instance) a spear and shield, they are less likely to get hit with caster hate from mobs.

    I've been away from the game for so long that I can't recall the details. Is this confirmed to be 100% true, or is it anecdotal via players? And assuming it is true, what is the extent? Like, will they 100% not be the target of anti-caster spells? Also, is it based on mainhand only, or both? Meaning, would spear/focus yield the same result?

    It's true, but if that's what you're building your teams around, you have issues.

    Also, they will still be targetted by anti caster spells, but also with anti melee stuff.

    However, if you are using anything other than staves and 40/40 sets on your heroes, that's dumb. Your heroes should have so much shutdown that no enemy will ever get an attack through, anyway. And you as the player should be the only melee player, if at all.

    Yeah, I'm aware. I wasn't suggesting it's a great idea to outfit every caster hero with a physical weapon. I've noticed that it's a fairly common suggestion on PvX though.

    I guess I should clarify. Do we "know" this through player observation (anecdotal), because some industrious player or guild made a combat parser and tested it on 2000 pulls, or because John Stumme (or someone else at ANet) said so?

    Let's go full anecdotal. There are lots of chest runners around. While chestrunning, do you still get hit with caster hate (Arcane Conundrum/Backfire/Guilt etc) while using spear/sword/axe and a shield? Do you still get hit with blind/weakness when you switch to a high-energy staff?

    It's incredibly apparent in game. Just think of what a terrible, terrible idea it is to use caster sets in the deep at one room. Or what a retarded idea it would be to use non-staves in the Twin Serpent Mountains in the Underworld. As I said, it's true. Those were literally my first words.

    While it's true, it's also somewhat of a flexible rule.

    I use a wand on my warrior to draw with and he gets hit with anti-caster hate first however he has a shield and can draw anti-melee hate as well. Most often it's the anti-caster hate first but, some spells like Empathy can come first. I believe it's due to the fact that spells like Empathy will work against any attack and when drawing you have attacked + you're the only target.

    A Smite Monk Hero equipped with a Wand and Shield will mostly draw some of both.

    A Healing Monk equipped with a +5 energy sword and a shield will generally draw Ahti-Melee hate first even when set to Avoid Combat.

    A Touch Ranger Hero equipped with a +energy weapon and an focus draws about an equal Anti-Caster Anti-Melee mix. A player will get somewhat more Anti-Caster hate. I believe it's because the Hero uses the weapon more often than the player.

    When playing a caster, the Tank most often used is Koss with level 3 Illusion Magic = Shrinking Armor + Signet of Clumsiness (He will draw some Anti-Caster hate because Shrinking Armor is most often the first thing he'll use but, his Rusty Machete and Shield Draw the Anti-Melee hate first and more.)

    The second most used Tank is Wintergreen Warriors (Mostly a mix of hate.)

    To some extent the weapons are what first decide the type of hate they get but, the skills/spells used will alter it afterward.