What triggers mobs to run away?

[Peacemoon]

One big issue I’ve been having on my Defender is enemies are so afraid of him. Particularly bosses. He’s really good at AoE damage so lieutenants and minions don’t last long, and bosses tend to just up and run off. And they run far, like two rooms away in an indoor mission. Sometimes they go so far their aggro switches off and they just casually walk back to their spawn spot. 
 

He is a Rad/ and the toggles seems to really

demoralise enemies. It’s gotten to the point where I’m wondering if he should try take provoke to keep them from running (not even sure it would work), but at the moment I’m going to just try to play more effectively. 
 

He has 46% ranged defence and with rad toggles, most enemies can’t hit him in melee either. Is it the whiffing of attacks that makes them give up and run?

 

[Lost Deep]

I've seen this across every character I've played except the Controller and the Dominator, and those are the exception only because I've stapled the enemy's feet to the floor. It's the worst with ghosts or other flying enemies, because they move FAST. I have no idea what triggers it, it's not always the last enemy in a group, it's not always an enemy that's mostly dead, it's not even a certain type of enemy (ranged enemies might try to get some distance, but while that's annoying it's not the 'flee' behavior we're looking at). I've seen it from both minions and lieutenants, and I suspect I'd see it from bosses too if I gave them a chance.

 

So... no, I don't know what causes it. It's less notable on single-target characters, because I'm pretty sure it only happens if the enemy has been damaged some? But if there is a specific trigger, I don't know about it.

[Peacemoon]

Yes controllers and dominators are my usual characters too, so not a problem I’ve had to deal with much before. I think it’s more pronounced as I’ve just been fighting Talons of Vengeance and the bosses fly away something crazy, and before that it was Crey power suits who are snare resistant. 
 

Sometimes I think because I rely a lot on defence, the anti-kiting is kicking in as they’re missing everytime they attack me.

[Major_Decoy]

Yesterday I attacked a pair of level 23 Warriors in Talos on my level 20 Dual Pistols/Invulnerability Sentinel. I was using my attack chain of Executioner's Shot, Suppressive Fire, Dual Wield, and Pistols against the one while the other, entirely uninjured, ran off away from the hill down an alley.

 

Which enemies choose to run seems almost entirely unpredictable.

[ArchVileTerror]

While Street Sweeping, it's important to know that some enemies are actually scripted to run away.  These are the purse snatchers and illicit-materials dealers.  Keep an eye on their dialogue, it should give a hint along the lines of "crap, a cape!  I'm outta here!"

Also note:  Sometimes they get buggy, and the wrong NPC utters the dialogue while his buddy runs away.

[RikOz]

2 hours ago, ArchVileTerror said:

Also note:  Sometimes they get buggy, and the wrong NPC utters the dialogue while his buddy runs away.

Indeed. I've seen, any number of times, a mob yelling about how he's going to tear me apart as he runs away.

[Coyote]

45 minutes ago, RikOz said:

Indeed. I've seen, any number of times, a mob yelling about how he's going to tear me apart as he runs away.

 

He's just squirting out verbal ink to confuse you as he makes his getaway 😉

[America's Angel]

Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot.

[Naraka]

Not entirely on topic but an observation I noticed when I was running my DA/EM Tanker through Croatoa: Fir Bolg do not move while stunned.  They all just politely stand in my Oppressive Gloom and never wonder away or even stagger around.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Naraka

[Redlynne]

The absolute WORST for this is the Destroyer Horde at TPN where you have to defeat 100 Weakened Destroyers in order to complete the mission.

 

I simply (ninja) hopped my Ninja Mastermind up on top of one of the lights at the top of the steps in front of TPN (so everyone inside could admire my heroics!) and took down all 100 Weakened Destroyers PETLESS ... using Snap Shot, Aimed Shot and (occasionally) Fistful of Arrows.

 

The battle started at noon ... and ended a couple hours after dawn ... and the whole thing was just "shooting fish in a barrel" (because they only have melee attacks and couldn't path up to me to reach me for melee attacks on top of the lamp), but man did they just run ALL OVER THE MAP like chickens with their heads cut off!  Run in, then run away.  The hardest part was waiting for one of them to run back so I could take potshots at him with my bow in front of the audience clapping inside TPN.

 

At least Praetor Sinclair was impressed ...

[ForeverLaxx]

Mobs generally run if they miss too many attacks in a row or have their powers recharging so slowly that they have none ready after a seemingly random amount of time has passed. This ignores more regular "flee" behavior such as running out of damage zones or scripted runners.

[AShyStarspawn]

I have heard that this occurs when mobs get debuffed a bunch but cannot confirm.

 

I do know it occurs extremely often on my demons/elec mastermind whom can make it so the enemies can't even attack me so maybe its specific debuffs like -to hit and -DMG that trigger it? Whatever it is its extremely annoying when an elite boss or AV runs away, especially if they are a flier or its an open map were clearing all the enemies will take a long while so they will likely run into another pod or two of mobs.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Sleepymoth

[Peacemoon]

This makes sense guys. They honestly seem really effected by my Defender’s rad toggles. The numbers on the debuffs are so high maybe it causing them to panic.

I’m fighting +4s too so not exactly “easy” stuff. 
Might be why it always seems to be my anchor that runs!

[tidge]

On 5/10/2020 at 4:01 AM, Sleepymoth said:

Whatever it is its extremely annoying when an elite boss or AV runs away, especially if they are a flier or its an open map were clearing all the enemies will take a long while so they will likely run into another pod or two of mobs.

Oh Hai Diabolique!

[Luminara]

There are a handful of triggers.  The Avoid mechanic is a component of some powers (Rain of Arrows and Oil Slick Arrow, for example).  Avoid is pulsed, with variable timing dependent on the power, so some powers might appear to cause little fleeing, whereas others cause critters to run willy-nilly (with brief pauses to fire ranged attacks).

 

If a critter with all melee attacks  or almost all, is attacked from range and cannot retaliate, it will appear to be running away, though it's really an attempt to find a path to reach you.  If there is no path, the critter will may continue to search until it resets and returns to the spawn point (at walking speed).  Note that this is different from "leashed" behavior, in that the "leashed" critter immediately resets when the AI determines that no path to you exists (outside the map boundary, or attacking from extreme vertical distance (beyond normal snipe range)).  "Leashed" behavior also includes returning to the spawn point if you try to pull it beyond a set distance or boundary (to prevent kiting).

 

Slows also tend to cause critters to give the impression that they're giving up and going home, but this is typically a result of confusion on the part of the scripted behavior.  They're trying to attack, can't reach you with their melee attacks and begin searching for alternate routes.

 

Reducing a critter's health to a certain threshold without defeating it can cause it to run.  Critters with teleport, flight or superspeed exhibit this behavior most noticably (and frustratingly).

 

Some critters are scripted to run at specific health thresholds.  Named critters and certain boss fights are notable examples, as the goal when scripting was to advance the story by extending the fight, giving the players a breather, giving the critter a breather, or moving the story forward by interrupting the fight and forcing a restart in another location.

[XaoGarrent]

53 minutes ago, tidge said:

Oh Hai Diabolique!

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Diabolique is living, breathing proof that purple triangles was a mistake.

[tidge]

30 minutes ago, Luminara said:

Some critters are scripted to run at specific health thresholds.  Named critters and certain boss fights are notable examples, as the goal when scripting was to advance the story by extending the fight, giving the players a breather, giving the critter a breather, or moving the story forward by interrupting the fight and forcing a restart in another location.

Here is one example of extremely annoying enemy behavior:

 

Heather Townshend's Dark Astoria arc. 2nd Mission. The final two Banished Pantheon spawns.

 

I've triggered 'Aura of Confusion' on them as they spawn. Once they have done enough damage to each other, the 'survivors' will run away... and NOT return to where they spawned. I've found some of those guys flipping through the empty desks on the upper level of that floor just waiting for me to find them.

[ZekeStenzland]

On 5/10/2020 at 1:01 AM, Sleepymoth said:

I have heard that this occurs when mobs get debuffed a bunch but cannot confirm.

 

I do know it occurs extremely often on my demons/elec mastermind whom can make it so the enemies can't even attack me so maybe its specific debuffs like -to hit and -DMG that trigger it? Whatever it is its extremely annoying when an elite boss or AV runs away, especially if they are a flier or its an open map were clearing all the enemies will take a long while so they will likely run into another pod or two of mobs.

I have a vague recollection from live that damage resist debuff was one of those triggers that encouraged running away.

[SlimPickens]

Ive noticed this behavior with rad toggles lately as well.

 

I think the enervating field and radiation infection toggles are causing a fear panic effect in mobs for some reason.

 

Its very noticeable on AV fights like Director 11 on Tin Mage TF when running with a rad whos got the toggles.

[Neogumbercules]

I did a video about this back on live because I noticed it happening a ton on my Traps Corr. It's still on my old channel. 

 

 

 

If the video you can see that my Rad user with all debuffs experiences no fleeing, however with acid mortar, an enemy would flee every single time. 

 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Neogumbercules

[Mister Mass]

2 hours ago, ZekeStenzland said:

I have a vague recollection from live that damage resist debuff was one of those triggers that encouraged running away.

Yeah, I was getting a lot of this on my Sonic/Sonic Defender this weekend.  Really?  A big bad Elite Boss runs away from a wimpy hover-blasting scream machine?  It is as if that they didn't like Sound Byte's singing.  Everyone is a critic these days! 😝

[XaoGarrent]

I just had an ITF yesterday where Romulus spent a solid 10 minutes trying to run away from my DM/Ninjitsu Scrapper. I jumped in first, and before anyone else could so much as drop an ability on him, he immediately started running. He took off like he had a plane to catch from the moment I threw the first punch, and then proceeded to just endlessly run all over the damn place. He went as far as to jump on top of the roof and start climbing the rocks above and behind it.

 

It was both hilarious and incredibly frustrating. Resulted in the team wiping multiple times.

Edited May 12, 2020 by XaoGarrent

[Heraclea]

10 minutes ago, XaoGarrent said:

I just had an ITF yesterday where Romulus spent a solid 10 minutes trying to run away from my DM/Ninjutsu Scrapper. I jumped in first, and before anyone else could so much as drop an ability on him, he immediately started running. He took off like he had a plane to catch from the moment I threw the first punch, and then proceeded to just endlessly run all over the damn place. He went as far as to jump on top of the roof and start climbing the rocks above and behind it.

 

It was both hilarious and incredibly frustrating. Resulted in the team wiping multiple times.

This is one reason why I always lead with Taunt on a character that has it.  Debuffs without Taunt, like Dark Melee attacks will apply, will trigger this, at least potentially.  This is separate from the mechanic that sends mobs running in open world set piece encounters.  Luckily I can't attack anything without also applying the taunt of Gauntlet, but without some level of taunting debuffed mobs will cut and run. 

Edited May 12, 2020 by Heraclea

[Peacemoon]

12 minutes ago, Heraclea said:

This is one reason why I always lead with Taunt on a character that has it.  Debuffs without Taunt, like Dark Melee attacks will apply, will trigger this, at least potentially.  This is separate from the mechanic that sends mobs running in open world set piece encounters.  Luckily I can't attack anything without also applying the taunt of Gauntlet, but without some level of taunting debuffed mobs will cut and run. 

This is what makes me think about dumping combat jumping and picking up Provoke... on my Rad Defender 🤪

[MTeague]

On 5/10/2020 at 3:41 AM, ForeverLaxx said:

Mobs generally run if they miss too many attacks in a row or have their powers recharging so slowly that they have none ready after a seemingly random amount of time has passed. This ignores more regular "flee" behavior such as running out of damage zones or scripted runners.

This would explain why they run so much from my Storm Defender whenever I solo. 

Hurricane is one HELL of a to-hit debuff

 

Happily, on the Stormie, I can also generally catch most of them in Snow Storm and savage their running speed.

Or, you know, toss down Freezing Rain and make them flop like fish out of water, or throw out a KB-to-KD Gale to drop them in place while I activate something else.