Thief class (backup) when dead

Gameplay Chat (PC/Mobile)
1

When the hero dies, why does this class skill still activate? The hero is dead and the skill tree should too. But no… bandits

2

The talent can activate on the damage that kills the hero. If you’re still seeing Bandits appear after that, then something else is happening.

3

It’s the last will.

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4

It sort of makes sense, we just don’t have a well-defined mechanism like MtG’s stack to help us understand how things like this should consistently resolve.

Instead of writing a page, here’s how it works via observation:

  • There’s a list of “when a troop dies” things the game will check to see if it should trigger a trait. When the game starts, the hero’s trait is added to it.
  • When a troop dies:
    • All of the “when a troop dies” conditions are checked, and if any can run they run.
    • The troop is removed, and any traits it had are removed from any lists of trigger conditions.

So the hero’s Backup trait can trigger when the hero dies because traits are removed after being checked.

One problem is there are other cases where it feels like the troop dies earlier, like when a Sunbird cast combined with a “summon on death” trait blocks Sunbird from reviving. In this case, Sunbird dies and is removed from the game before the summon trait resolves. Then the summon trait resolves while Sunbird is dead but has not re-summoned itself. Then Sunbird tries to re-summon itself and can’t, because the newly summoned troop blocks it.

So it suggests that when a troop “dies”, it’s removed from the board before triggers are checked, but also that “removing a troop from the board” doesn’t remove its traits immediately. I guess we could say the order of operations is when a troop dies:

  • Remove the card from the board and treat the player as if they have one less troop.
  • Check all trait triggers, even the ones for the troop that no longer exists.
  • When all traits have resolved, finish resolving the current skill (which may recurse into this process.)
  • When the turn is over, check trigger lists and remove all traits that belong to troops that are no longer alive.

I don’t know if that’s quite it, but it works with all the examples I know.

2 Likes