Difference between revisions of "User:Silverhawkes/Flash charging with Mixmaster"

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This page details the effects of flash charging with {{Equip|Overcharged Mixmaster}} or {{Equip|Celestial Orbitgun}}. For simplicity, "'''Mixmaster'''" will refer to both handguns in this page.
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This page details the effects of flashing {{Equip|Overcharged Mixmaster}} or {{Equip|Celestial Orbitgun}}. For simplicity, "'''Mixmaster'''" will refer to both handguns in this page.
  
==What is flash charging?==
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==What is flashing?==
[[file:Autogun_flash_charge_demo.gif|frame|right|Flash charging with Blitz Needle]]
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[[file:Autogun_flash_charge_demo.gif|200px|thumb|right|Flashing a Blitz Needle charge]]
[[file:Divine_Avenger_flash_charge_demo.gif|frame|right|Flash charging with Divine Avenger]]
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[[file:Divine_Avenger_flash_charge_demo.gif|200px|thumb|right|Flashing a Divine Avenger charge]]
'''Flash charging''' (or '''flashing''') is a bug that happens when a knight's attack speed changes during an attack animation. There are four ways to achieve this.
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'''Flashing''' (or '''flash charging''') is a bug that happens when a knight's attack speed changes during an attack animation. There are four ways to achieve this.
 
* Being inflicted with [[Stun]] or have it wear off.
 
* Being inflicted with [[Stun]] or have it wear off.
 
* Using [[Maskeraith]]'s [[Deadly Shadow Cloak]] skill.
 
* Using [[Maskeraith]]'s [[Deadly Shadow Cloak]] skill.
 
* Using [[Drakon]]'s [[Frenzied Firestorm]] skill.
 
* Using [[Drakon]]'s [[Frenzied Firestorm]] skill.
* Applying or removing Attack Speed Increase bonus or Attack Speed Decrease penalty, through sprite perks, trinkets, or equipment bonuses (such as [[Swiftstrike Buckler]]).
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* Applying or removing [[Abilities#Attack_Speed_Increase|Attack Speed Increase]] bonus or Attack Speed Decrease penalty, through sprite perks, trinkets, or equipment bonuses/penalties.
  
For clear reasons, the last option is not particularly viable – the only notable combat floor that allows knights to freely change equipment is [[Unknown Passage]]. Similarly, the first option requires knights take damage from enemies that can inflict stun. As such, it is not a desirable method to perform flash charging. However, it's still important to keep in mind so that it could be exploited should the situation arises.
+
For clear reasons, the last option is not particularly viable – the only notable combat floor that allows knights to freely change equipment is [[Unknown Passage]]. Similarly, the first option requires knights take damage from monsters that can inflict stun. As such, it is not a desirable method to perform a flash attack. However, it's still important to keep in mind so that it could be exploited should the situation arises.
  
When a knight's attack speed modifier changes mid-attack, the attack is interrupted and a second attack occurs instantly afterwards (as well as all associated effects). The attack animation will continue playing to its conclusion, however, it will no longer generate any hitboxes. Therefore, timing is key in exploiting this bug. There's a catch, though – not all weapons behave the same way when flashed, which brings us to the next section.
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Generally speaking, when a knight's attack speed modifier changes mid-attack, the attack is interrupted and a second attack occurs instantly afterwards – though the particular details vary between different weapon types. The attack animation will still continue playing to its conclusion, however, it will no longer generate any hitboxes. Therefore, timing is key in making use of this exploit.
  
==Flash charging with Mixmaster?==
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It's important to note that it's not necessary to use a charge, as basic attacks can be flashed as well. But in order to get the most out of a flash attack, it is preferred to use a charge attack – hence, some has taken to call this exploit "''flash charging''".
It was previously mentioned that when an attack is flashed, the second attack occurs instantly. This glosses over the fact that all associated effects with the second attack also happen instantly; any status inflicted expires instantly – e.g. causing thaw damage with Freeze weapons, as well as causing "death" animations (hereafter referred to as ''despawn'' animation) to be skipped, in a sense. This applies more generally to exploration entities as well. For example, timed explosive blocks detonate instantly when hit by a flashed attack. The same cannot be said, however, for flashed Mixmaster charges.
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<!-- perhaps we could make an article on flash charging instead and link there, also detailing individual weapon behavior -->
  
[[file:Lumber_normal_death.gif|frame|left|Lumber despawning under normal conditions]]
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==Flashing a Mixmaster charge?==
[[file:Lumber_flashed_death.gif|frame|left|Lumber despawning via flashed charge]]
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[[file:Lumber_flashed_death.gif|200px|thumb|right|Lumber despawning via flashed charge]]
When flashed, Mixmaster's charge doesn't simply get duplicated &ndash; its exact behavior is not precisely known, but observations suggest that it teleports instantly to a corner towards the direction of aim, no matter how far, even if there's obstacles along the way. Corners can be made by level geometry, blocks, entities, and even monsters. On top of this odd behavior, objects hit by the charge behaves strangely as well. They do not simply skip despawn animations, should the charge deplete their HP.
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[[file:Retrode_in_limbo.gif|200px|thumb|right|Retrode entering limbo instead of despawning]]
 +
It was previously mentioned that when an attack is flashed, the second attack occurs instantly. This glosses over the fact that all associated effects with the second attack also happen instantly; any status inflicted expires instantly &ndash; e.g. causing thaw damage with Freeze weapons &ndash; as well as causing "death" animations (hereafter referred to as ''despawn'' animation) to be skipped, in a sense. This applies more generally to exploration entities as well. For example, timed explosive blocks detonate instantly when hit by a flashed attack. The same cannot be said, however, for flashed Mixmaster attacks.
  
Tests seem to indicate that enemies hit by (and dying to) a Mixmaster charge get stuck in the death animation &ndash; it plays as normal, but is stopped at the end. The enemy then takes a while to despawn, taking upwards to 30 minutes in one case; I settled on calling this status being '''in limbo'''. In this state, the enemy is impervious to damage and any (status) effect. However, if it has a passive effect &ndash; such as [[Alpha Wolver]]'s attack boost or [[Silkwing]]'s passive healing &ndash; will persist until the enemy despawns for good. Enemies in limbo are considered to still be alive by the game, hence, respawn pads will not spawn more monsters while its associated monster is in limbo (effectively disabling the pads), and monster doors will stay closed until the monster leaves limbo (most likely hindering progress).
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When flashed, Mixmaster's attack doesn't simply get duplicated &ndash; its exact behavior is not precisely known, but observations suggest that it teleports instantly to a corner towards the direction of aim, no matter how far, even if there are obstacles along the way. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByAvWWGODgs] Corners can be made by level geometry, blocks, entities, and even other monsters. On top of this odd behavior, objects hit by the charge behaves strangely as well. They do not skip their despawn animation, should the charge deplete their HP.
  
==Effects on monsters==
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Repeated attempts have shown that monsters hit by (and dying to) a flashed Mixmaster attack get stuck in the death animation; it plays as normal, but is stopped at the end. The monster then takes a while to despawn, taking upwards to 30 minutes in one case; I settled on calling this status being '''in limbo'''. In this state, the monster  is impervious to damage and any (status) effect. However, any passive effects &ndash; such as [[Alpha Wolver]]'s attack boost or [[Silkwing]]'s passive healing &ndash; will persist until the monster despawns for good. Monsters in limbo are considered to be still alive by the game, hence, respawn pads will not spawn more monsters while its associated monster is in limbo (effectively disabling the pads), and monster doors will stay closed until the monster leaves limbo (most likely hindering progress).
&hellip;
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==Effects on other entities==
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Monsters will eventually exit the limbo state, and this is always accompanied by bullet explosions at the initial location. The monster will invisibly replay its despawn animation before finally despawning for good, dropping whatever it would have dropped initially; note that this can cause a slight delay between bullet explosion and loot appearance.
&hellip;
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 +
==List of known effects on monsters==
 +
[[file:Lumber_in_limbo.png|200px|thumb|right|Lumber in limbo; note that only its shadow is visible]]
 +
[[file:Retrode_sliding.gif|200px|thumb|right|Retrode in limbo maintaining constant speed and direction]]
 +
The following list documents interactions with monsters in the limbo state.
 +
* Most monsters play the despawn animation to the end and turn invisible, leaving behind a shadow &ndash; which is not visible under Low graphics setting &ndash; unless the monster completely disappears together with the shadow as part of the despawn animation; e.g. Deadnaughts. This shadow blocks paths and any action that displaces monsters under normal conditions would also displace this monster (e.g. shield bumping, weapon knockback).
 +
** Trojans stay visible and do not turn to statue while in limbo.
 +
* Some monsters do not turn invisible. However, they react strangely to knockback; moving far less than normal, as well as keeping a constant speed and direction unless knockback is reapplied. Moreover, simply walking against the monster is capable of displacing it. The following are monsters known to behave this way:
 +
** Scuttlebots
 +
** Shufflebots
 +
** Retrodes
 +
** Zombies
 +
** Silkwings
 +
** Greavers
 +
* There are some interesting exceptions for monsters that don't fall under the previous two categories.
 +
** Wheel launchers stay visible, tangible, and immovable. Hence, it is possible to completely (but temporarily) block progress through [[Firestorm Citadel]].
 +
** Similarly, shankles (and probably wisps) are also visible, tangible, and immovable.
 +
** Lost souls despawn, and once all existing lost souls despawn, no more will respawn &ndash; presumably until the bug wears off. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrrVCQYuALw]
 +
<!-- Phantoms probably wouldn't be able to spawn afterwards, but it can be considered a special case of spawner pad-monster relationship -->
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** Howlitzers seem to be immune to this bug.
 +
* As mentioned earlier, status cannot be applied to a monster in limbo. Any status applied beforehand would expire as normal.
 +
** [[Catalyzer]] tags are considered status effects. Hence, they will expire 30 seconds after they are applied even if the monster enters limbo. They are still capable of exploding, though.
 +
* Monsters in limbo are still capable of inducing Frenzied Firestorm bonuses.
 +
 
 +
==List of effects on other entities==
 +
The following list documents how [[Exploration|exploration entities]] respond to a flashed Mixmaster attack.
 +
* Explosive blocks and timed explosive blocks detonate on despawn, so a flashed Mixmaster attack will effectively disable them temporarily &ndash; attacks will no longer detonate them.
 +
** No testing has been done yet, but it is likely safe to assume that super explosive blocks, timed super explosive blocks, and vortex blocks behave the same way.
 +
* Ghost blocks behave as normal; it seems like they don't simply despawn, both themselves and neighboring blocks.
 +
* Treasure boxes and loot-yielding breakables disappear and drop their loot much later on.
 +
* Toggle switches, timed switches, as well as levers, become visually glitched &ndash; seemingly irresponsive to attacks. If they toggle gates, this will also affect the gates, allowing knights to pass through raised gates and be blocked by lowered gates.
 +
** One-way switches (ones that change irreversibly) behave almost similarly; visually the switch looks activated (together with its associated gate), but it actually is not &ndash; most likely preventing progress. The bug must wear off first before the switch becomes truly activated.
 +
* Explosive rockets (as seen in [[Ironclaw Munitions Factory]]) disappear and detonate shortly afterwards.
 +
* Monster cages and swarm spheres behave very oddly when hit by a flashed Mixmaster attack. The following have been observed:
 +
** A monster spawns as usual.
 +
** Two monsters spawn from one spawner.
 +
** A monster spawns already in the limbo state. Sometimes this monster is intangible, other times it's tangible (prevents knights from moving through it) yet immovable.
 +
*** This has been observed only once: when the glitch wore off, the monster appeared, played its despawn animation and entered limbo. Things proceeded as expected afterwards.
 +
<!-- do testing on the following: swarm source, mush blocks, bunkers -->
 +
<!-- healing totems, gun blocks don't seem to be affected -->
 +
 
 +
==Other stuff==
 +
This article is nowhere near completion &ndash; as long as the exact mechanism is not known, how entities will interact with flashed Mixmaster attacks cannot be known for sure. Moreover, one thing has been conveniently left out: fellow knights. Nothing is known yet regarding how knights react to having their health depleted by a flashed Mixmaster attack, so testing would need to be done on this.
 +
 
 +
Any suggestions on how this article can be improved should be placed on the talk page.
 +
 
 +
==Acknowledgements==
 +
This article was motivated by Noxiousnarwhal's video on this particular bug, as seen [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_TRL9HWGso here].

Revision as of 12:05, 12 September 2018

This page details the effects of flashing Equipment-Overcharged Mixmaster icon.png Overcharged Mixmaster or Equipment-Celestial Orbitgun icon.png Celestial Orbitgun. For simplicity, "Mixmaster" will refer to both handguns in this page.

What is flashing?

Flashing a Blitz Needle charge
Flashing a Divine Avenger charge

Flashing (or flash charging) is a bug that happens when a knight's attack speed changes during an attack animation. There are four ways to achieve this.

For clear reasons, the last option is not particularly viable – the only notable combat floor that allows knights to freely change equipment is Unknown Passage. Similarly, the first option requires knights take damage from monsters that can inflict stun. As such, it is not a desirable method to perform a flash attack. However, it's still important to keep in mind so that it could be exploited should the situation arises.

Generally speaking, when a knight's attack speed modifier changes mid-attack, the attack is interrupted and a second attack occurs instantly afterwards – though the particular details vary between different weapon types. The attack animation will still continue playing to its conclusion, however, it will no longer generate any hitboxes. Therefore, timing is key in making use of this exploit.

It's important to note that it's not necessary to use a charge, as basic attacks can be flashed as well. But in order to get the most out of a flash attack, it is preferred to use a charge attack – hence, some has taken to call this exploit "flash charging".

Flashing a Mixmaster charge?

Lumber despawning via flashed charge
Retrode entering limbo instead of despawning

It was previously mentioned that when an attack is flashed, the second attack occurs instantly. This glosses over the fact that all associated effects with the second attack also happen instantly; any status inflicted expires instantly – e.g. causing thaw damage with Freeze weapons – as well as causing "death" animations (hereafter referred to as despawn animation) to be skipped, in a sense. This applies more generally to exploration entities as well. For example, timed explosive blocks detonate instantly when hit by a flashed attack. The same cannot be said, however, for flashed Mixmaster attacks.

When flashed, Mixmaster's attack doesn't simply get duplicated – its exact behavior is not precisely known, but observations suggest that it teleports instantly to a corner towards the direction of aim, no matter how far, even if there are obstacles along the way. [1] Corners can be made by level geometry, blocks, entities, and even other monsters. On top of this odd behavior, objects hit by the charge behaves strangely as well. They do not skip their despawn animation, should the charge deplete their HP.

Repeated attempts have shown that monsters hit by (and dying to) a flashed Mixmaster attack get stuck in the death animation; it plays as normal, but is stopped at the end. The monster then takes a while to despawn, taking upwards to 30 minutes in one case; I settled on calling this status being in limbo. In this state, the monster is impervious to damage and any (status) effect. However, any passive effects – such as Alpha Wolver's attack boost or Silkwing's passive healing – will persist until the monster despawns for good. Monsters in limbo are considered to be still alive by the game, hence, respawn pads will not spawn more monsters while its associated monster is in limbo (effectively disabling the pads), and monster doors will stay closed until the monster leaves limbo (most likely hindering progress).

Monsters will eventually exit the limbo state, and this is always accompanied by bullet explosions at the initial location. The monster will invisibly replay its despawn animation before finally despawning for good, dropping whatever it would have dropped initially; note that this can cause a slight delay between bullet explosion and loot appearance.

List of known effects on monsters

Lumber in limbo; note that only its shadow is visible
Retrode in limbo maintaining constant speed and direction

The following list documents interactions with monsters in the limbo state.

  • Most monsters play the despawn animation to the end and turn invisible, leaving behind a shadow – which is not visible under Low graphics setting – unless the monster completely disappears together with the shadow as part of the despawn animation; e.g. Deadnaughts. This shadow blocks paths and any action that displaces monsters under normal conditions would also displace this monster (e.g. shield bumping, weapon knockback).
    • Trojans stay visible and do not turn to statue while in limbo.
  • Some monsters do not turn invisible. However, they react strangely to knockback; moving far less than normal, as well as keeping a constant speed and direction unless knockback is reapplied. Moreover, simply walking against the monster is capable of displacing it. The following are monsters known to behave this way:
    • Scuttlebots
    • Shufflebots
    • Retrodes
    • Zombies
    • Silkwings
    • Greavers
  • There are some interesting exceptions for monsters that don't fall under the previous two categories.
    • Wheel launchers stay visible, tangible, and immovable. Hence, it is possible to completely (but temporarily) block progress through Firestorm Citadel.
    • Similarly, shankles (and probably wisps) are also visible, tangible, and immovable.
    • Lost souls despawn, and once all existing lost souls despawn, no more will respawn – presumably until the bug wears off. [2]
    • Howlitzers seem to be immune to this bug.
  • As mentioned earlier, status cannot be applied to a monster in limbo. Any status applied beforehand would expire as normal.
    • Catalyzer tags are considered status effects. Hence, they will expire 30 seconds after they are applied even if the monster enters limbo. They are still capable of exploding, though.
  • Monsters in limbo are still capable of inducing Frenzied Firestorm bonuses.

List of effects on other entities

The following list documents how exploration entities respond to a flashed Mixmaster attack.

  • Explosive blocks and timed explosive blocks detonate on despawn, so a flashed Mixmaster attack will effectively disable them temporarily – attacks will no longer detonate them.
    • No testing has been done yet, but it is likely safe to assume that super explosive blocks, timed super explosive blocks, and vortex blocks behave the same way.
  • Ghost blocks behave as normal; it seems like they don't simply despawn, both themselves and neighboring blocks.
  • Treasure boxes and loot-yielding breakables disappear and drop their loot much later on.
  • Toggle switches, timed switches, as well as levers, become visually glitched – seemingly irresponsive to attacks. If they toggle gates, this will also affect the gates, allowing knights to pass through raised gates and be blocked by lowered gates.
    • One-way switches (ones that change irreversibly) behave almost similarly; visually the switch looks activated (together with its associated gate), but it actually is not – most likely preventing progress. The bug must wear off first before the switch becomes truly activated.
  • Explosive rockets (as seen in Ironclaw Munitions Factory) disappear and detonate shortly afterwards.
  • Monster cages and swarm spheres behave very oddly when hit by a flashed Mixmaster attack. The following have been observed:
    • A monster spawns as usual.
    • Two monsters spawn from one spawner.
    • A monster spawns already in the limbo state. Sometimes this monster is intangible, other times it's tangible (prevents knights from moving through it) yet immovable.
      • This has been observed only once: when the glitch wore off, the monster appeared, played its despawn animation and entered limbo. Things proceeded as expected afterwards.

Other stuff

This article is nowhere near completion – as long as the exact mechanism is not known, how entities will interact with flashed Mixmaster attacks cannot be known for sure. Moreover, one thing has been conveniently left out: fellow knights. Nothing is known yet regarding how knights react to having their health depleted by a flashed Mixmaster attack, so testing would need to be done on this.

Any suggestions on how this article can be improved should be placed on the talk page.

Acknowledgements

This article was motivated by Noxiousnarwhal's video on this particular bug, as seen here.

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