[Article] True Strike

[Robzor]

True Strike

Introduction

There have been many questions regarding how True Strike works and what the mechanics behind this ability are, the purpose of this article is to answer every question regarding True Strike.

Ability Data

Here are the stats of the True Strike ability as seen in the data dump;

[A1BY]
code=AOcr
levels=1
targs1=air,ground,enemy,neutral
DataA1=100
DataE1=1
targs2=_
targs3=_
targs4=_
Art=ReplaceableTextures\PassiveButtons\PASBTNCriticalStrike.blp
Buttonpos=2,2
Name="True Strike"
Tip=Critical Strike
Ubertip="Gives a <ACct,DataA1>% chance to do <ACct,DataB1> times normal damage on an attack."

For those who don't know how to read the data dump and want to do it on their own may refer to this topic which I've written on the matter, and for all others I'll now give a description of the ability.

True Strike is a Critical Strike based ability with a 100% chance to land a critical strike, meaning that it will trigger on every attack against a valid target, and an option called "Data - Never Miss" set to True, which is what makes you ignore miss chances. The critical strike multiplier is 0, which makes you deal 100% of your damage on every attack without showing the red pop-up number which normally would be shown when you land a critical strike.

Just as any other critical strike ability this is a buff placer on ranged heroes on the attacks where it triggers, in this case on all attacks since there's a 100% chance for the ability to trigger.

Miss Chances

True Strike will make the attack ignore all miss chances, this includes;

• Smokescreen
• Laser
• Drunken Haze
• Blind
• Height elevation
• Evasion

I'll stop the list there seeing at is goes on for every ability providing an actual miss chance.

Since Structures aren't declared as valid targets you can miss attacks when attacking buildings, which leaves us with one sole thing which still can cause you to miss against a valid target, and that thing is the Motion Range Buffer.

Here's a short explanation of the Motion Range Buffer;

Every unit has what is called a Motion Range Buffer value.

What this data field does is to provide a chance to hit targets which moves out of your maximum attack range, and its value is commonly set to 250. If you start an attack on a target the unit may move up to 250 range units away outside of the attacking unit's attack range while the attack will still be completed.

In case the target manages to move over the specified distance away from the attacking units the attack won't have any effect, and in the case of melee heroes the common red "Miss" text will be shown.

Critical Strike Interaction

This is where it becomes interesting, it is possible for multiple critical strike based abilities to work on the same attack under the presumption that the multiplier is equal to or less than one. This matter was once elaborated on in this thread, albeit I've also made recent tests to confirm the behaviour.

What this means is that there are no stacking issues between True Strike and other critical strike based abilities, which also holds true on ranged heroes.

Just to mention it, True Strike still behaves like any other critical strike ability when you attempt to couple it with a bash ability. I'd recommend reading the Critical Strikes and Bashes guide in case you're unfamiliar with the interaction between the two of them.

Miscellaneous Information

On ranged heroes True Strike will prevent the red critical strike pop-up number on all critical strike abilities which were acquired before True Strike, this does however not mean that the ability does not work, the bonus damage will still be dealt on the attacks where the critical strike triggers albeit you will only be able to tell from the actual damage dealt to the target.

[Cáno]

Déjà vu.
Good work.

Greets
Cáno

[mDREAMm]

Good article is good.(this is not )

[Snake]

Cool, i didn't know how it really works :]

[ImmolatusBurn]

How do I moved topic?

[Cáno]

Originally Posted by ImmolatusBurn

How do I moved topic?

Accidentally.

Greets
Cáno

[Foede]

article stealer!

[Robzor]

Originally Posted by Foede

article stealer!

Me so sorry for stealing articles from people who are better than me (`-')

[china_white]

nice article. But how does it interact with orb effects on melee/ranged heroes?

[Robzor]

Originally Posted by china_white

nice article. But how does it interact with orb effects on melee/ranged heroes?

As I wrote;

Just as any other critical strike ability this is a buff placer on ranged heroes on the attacks where it triggers, in this case on all attacks since there's a 100% chance for the ability to trigger.

If we neglect all extremely rare cases Critical Strike will override every buff placer apart from manually casted arrow abilities and bash abilities which were acquired after True Strike (the latter case due to the common Bash contra Critical Strike stacking rules).

This is only true for ranged heroes, on melee heroes there is no interaction between True Strike and orb effects or buff placers.

[SoletLuna]

Originally Posted by e00E

Me so sorry for stealing articles from people who are better than me (`-')

You are just not as awesome as him o.o

[Jirico]

Does it work with Nerubian Germinate orb?

I was playing with him so it doesnt work, so I desactivated it and worked, but I activated it again and worked a few times...

[Foede]

This skill is a critical strike, and according to this page, Crits override geminate.

[Manta]

Originally Posted by Foede

This skill is a critical strike, and according to this page, Crits override geminate.

Wasn't true strike considered bash there?

True Strike

It's important to know that both Bash and Critical Strike are basically the same skill using different settings, Critical Strikes with a factor lower than 1.0x will not interfere with other Critical Strikes, and all Bashes have a factor of 0x by default (using 0x as a damage factor will make you deal 1x damage without the red number) , creating the interaction explained above. The ability True Strike from MKB is a good example of this, It uses the setting "Never miss" which makes it disregard evasion, blind and others,and it uses a 0x damage factor so it has no stacking issues with other Critical Strikes, for those reasons it's better to consider it a "Bash with no stun" rather than a "Critical Strike with no bonus damage", True Strike will follow the "Bash" setting on the main table.

TS still overrides GA anyways.

OT:
Nice article! Never know that it doesn't work with structures!

[Robzor]

Originally Posted by Manta

Wasn't true strike considered bash there?

That's a faulty assumption which is made, when discussing critical strike and bash interaction you cannot regard True Strike as a bash. You can only ever consider it as a bash when considering orb effects and buff placers while completely disregarding how bashes and critical strikes interact as well as that ranged bashes are blocked by magic immunity.

To be honest the critical strike True Strike contra bash True Strike discussion which I've been seeing is completely superfluous and considering True Strike as a bash can only cause confusion.

[Mizuchiro]

So, this will ignore (i.e) Blur and/or Butterfly evasion making them completely useless ?

[Cáno]

Are you serious?

True Strike will make the attacked ignore all miss chances

[MKC]

Originally Posted by Mizuchiro

So, this will ignore (i.e) Blur and/or Butterfly evasion making them completely useless ?

Yes. You will hit 100% of the time against someone with a butterfly or if you're blind, smoke screened, w/e, so long as the True Strike is active on the MKB.

[Moonshine]

Hello, for example:
A potm is attacking a riki. While the projectile is flying, Riki becomes invisible. Will TrueStrike prevent that attack from being missed?
Thanks

[Cáno]

No.
It has nothing to do with going invisible.