Breath attack

Breath attack is a special ability typical for living dragons, but also for   Firebirds and Phoenixs  (and   Mechanics and Engineers ). It enables them to attack two consecutive hexes at once, making individual damage to both hexes. However, creatures that are two hexes wide do not suffer double damage from the breath attack. Although creatures with breath attack specialty cannot directly attack allied creatures, they can - similar to   Liches and Power Liches' Death Cloud and  Magogs' Fireball Attack - cause damage to allied creatures located on the second hex. In other words, breath attack will also damage the hero's own troops if they are standing directly behind the attacked hex.

Damage for each attacked stack is calculated separately.  Black Dragons' hate against  Titans works even if the latter were not attacked directly and suffered from breath attack. If your Black Dragons by mistake attacked Titans who are part of your army, they will still deal 150% damage.

Creatures with breath attack:

•   Green and Gold Dragons
•   Red and Black Dragons
•   Firebirds and Phoenixes 
•  Rust Dragons 
•  Azure Dragons 
•   Mechanics and Engineers 

Dragons without breath attack:

•   Bone and Ghost Dragons
•  Crystal Dragons 
•  Faerie Dragons 

In-Depth Explanation

When attacking from any of the six primary hex sides breath attack also attacks the hex behind, in the direction of the attack.

A special case arises for breath attacks by two hex wide creatures, since they can be positioned centrally above or below the target hex and attack vertically.

In this case, ambiguity arises as to which of the two hexes behind should be subject to damage.

Resolution of the ambiguity depends on the approach vector of the attacking creature... specifically, the hex to the rear of the approach vector will be subject to damage.

If the attacking creature approaches from the left for a vertical attack, the hex behind and to the left will be subject to area damage.

If the attacking creature approaches from the right for a vertical attack, the hex behind and to the right will be subject to area damage.

Within the special case of vertical attacks, another special case arises when the approach vector of the attacking creature is also vertical. In this case, resolution of the ambiguity depends on the facing direction of the attacking creatures army... specifically, the hex to the rear of the armies facing direction will be subject to damage.

If the attacking creature approaches vertically for a vertical attack and the attacking creatures army faces right, the hex behind and to the left will be subject to area damage.

If the attacking creature approaches vertically for a vertical attack and the attacking creatures army faces left, the hex behind and to the right will be subject to area damage.

Notes

• Mechanics and Engineers cannot attack vertically, as they are 1-hex creatures.

Dragon Breath Exploit

This exploit is a result of:

1. AI will always attempt to minimize the retaliation received.
2. AI will always use the Breath Attack to maximize damage, if possible.
3. Fire breath does not work when attacking vertically on the creatures on the right side of the attacked unit.

If a stack of units strong enough to survive a Dragon's single attack stands at the red hex, and another, weaker stack of units (that can die to a single attack by the Dragon) stands at either of the orange hexes, the Dragon will attack from either of the sets of green hexes, but will not burn the unit on the red hex. AI believes this attack will trigger the Breath attack reaction, but it does not.

Note, that either (but not both) of the orange and red hexes can have 2-hex units, as long as the back of the first unit is on one of the orange hexes or the front of the second unit is on the red hex.

Mechanic and Engineer's breath attack direction

Mechanic's and Engineer's Breath attack, when attacking a 2-hex creature from the middle hex directly above or below them, does not follow the direction of the sword-arrow, but rather the direction of Mechanic's or Engineer's movement. The following image shows the problem in detail:

If the Engineer (or a Mechanic) approaches the 2-hex enemy standing on the orange hexes and attacks it from the green hex, starting her movement from the left side (yellow path), she will burn whomever is occupying the yellow hex. If she approaches said 2-hex enemy from the right instead(teal path), she will burn whomever is standing on the teal hex. If she starts her movement from a hex on the same file as the green hex, the approach direction determined by the pathfinding algorithm will determine whether she burns the yellow or the teal hex. This path may vary due to creature and obstacle placement. With no obstacles or arena edges to consider the path will tend to go right first, then approach with a leftward vector, but there are many variables to consider. If she starts on the green hex itself, she will always attack in her facing direction, even if the sword cursor was pointed the other way.

In the setup above, the Mechanic (or Engineer) cannot burn enemies located on the black hex.

User Commentary

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HotA is most likely aware of the Dragon breath exploit, but decided not to fix it as a result of it being rather niche and mostly used for tactical advantage.

The AI can play rather well around breath attack, so do not expect to bait enemy dragons into retaliation onto their own stack.

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