Extremely Simple No Stun Projectile Spells with GUI

[sniffitz]

What is this?
A way to create custom abilities with customizable damage that launch a projectile and deal damage without stunning.

Why not use a DDS?
This is very basic, if you want to be picky you can use a DDS. This is intended for newbies and people who don't know JASS.



Step 1:
Import the empty projectile attached into your map. This will allow you to change it later.

Step 2:
Create your spell based on Channel (Fireball and Arcane Missiles in the map).

Step 3:
Take an orb attack modifier ability, make it a unit ability, remove the effect on the unit and change the projectile to what suits your spell.

Steps 4:
Create a Spell dummy (with all the things a basic dummy has - also set collision to 0, apparently the unit fits closer to the caster this way and makes it look better).
Set its base damage to 1 and dices to 1/1 (this will give you 1 more damage on the spell but you can remove this if you are pretty anal about precision).
Add the empty projectile as its damage projectile.
Make the dummy ranged to your needs.
Set the Animation Backswing and Animation Damage Point to 0 (this will make the dummy attack quicker so you don't get weird delays in animations).
Set damage type to Chaos (to get 100% damage on all armor types).
Set weapon sound to none.
Set weapon type to Missile.

Step 5:
This is just the trigger that does the magic:

• Fireball
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
  • Conditions
    • (Ability being cast) Equal to Fireball
  • Actions
    • Unit - Create 1 Spell Dummy for (Owner of (Triggering unit)) at (Position of (Triggering unit)) facing (Facing of (Triggering unit)) degrees
    • Unit - Add Fireball Missile to (Last created unit)
    • Unit - Set Base Damage of (Last created unit) to (Intelligence of (Triggering unit) (Include bonuses)) for weapon index: 1
    • Unit - Order (Last created unit) to Attack (Target unit of ability being cast)
    • Unit - Add a 1.00 second Generic expiration timer to (Last created unit)

That's about it, its pretty basic stuff but this will help people that want a fast and easy way to create these types of things.

Things you can do with this:
Do custom damage based on attributes without using the "Make unit damage unit" trigger which is instant;
Increase the number of projectiles by modifying the attack cooldown on the dummy and the expiration timer from the trigger - see Arcane Missiles in the map;
Add a Critical Strike chance by adding the crit chance spell to the dummy;
Modify how the damage interacts with targets depending on their armor;
Works with spell damage type and the Runed Bracers/Giant's spell damage reduction abilities;
Probably has many more things but I did this fast to change the whole system on my map, so didn't get to experiment much.

Will try out different things in the future and update this thread with examples if there is anything fancy.

 

[Prometheus3375]

I created projectile spells with no buff based on Death Coil since there is no units with class 'Undead' in my map. he only weird thing is that the effect of hitting the target is hard-coded (it's not possible to change it), what's why I replaced it by an empty effect.

Previously I tried to do the same (projectile spells with no buff) with autocast attack modifiers (mostly with Searing Arrows). A unit can still use modified attack even if attack is disabled by Battle Stations. But a unit cannot use such spell too many times in a second, so I preferred the way with Death Coil.

Traditionally, projectile spells with no stun are created using Acid Bomb or Shadow Strike abilities, but they put buffs.

 

[Chaosy]

I have a few questions.

1. Why use unit attack + orb instead of just an ability which directly creates the projectile?
2. Why not use a missile system instead, way more flexibility.

Both of those options seem better to me, especially the second one since you do not have to use dummies of any sort.

 

[sniffitz]

I have a few questions.

1. Why use unit attack + orb instead of just an ability which directly creates the projectile?
2. Why not use a missile system instead, way more flexibility.

Both of those options seem better to me, especially the second one since you do not have to use dummies of any sort.

1. Unit attack allows you to create interactions between damage type and armor types easier + allows to put attack modifiers such as crit strike on the dummy to create extra effects (for example you can check a trigger to see if you have a buff on the target and then grant 100% crit). Orb ability applied to dummy allows for an easy change of projectile.
2. As I said, this is an easy alternative. I don't have time to learn JASS and to learn how the system works in order to apply it to my project. IF you don't want something complicated in your map, you can apply this method. If you want something complex and very flexible, you can use a missile system.

I created projectile spells with no buff based on Death Coil ....

Well yeah, you can use Acid Bomb but if you want dynamic damage, you can't delay the damage until the projectile hits the damage without DDS. Regarding the buffs, they can last for 0.01 seconds and its not noticeable.

 

[Chaosy]

1. But if you use "deal x damge to y" you can specify type anyway so you should be able to interact with armor. And while the crit addition is nice you can easily do the same.
2. For me personally, I absolutely hate systems that require object editor stuff. Mainly because it is annoying to import. But fair enough, I guess.

 

[sniffitz]

1. But if you use "deal x damge to y" you can specify type anyway so you should be able to interact with armor. And while the crit addition is nice you can easily do the same.
2. For me personally, I absolutely hate systems that require object editor stuff. Mainly because it is annoying to import. But fair enough, I guess.

Well ordering a unit to damage another unit will make the damage instant so you need to detect when the missile hits which further complicates things. And if you use something like acid bomb to create a projectile and the damage is instant upon cast, 90% of the times the projectile wont even fire and the target just dies.

Also, as I said this is simple, you don't need to import anything except the empty projectile the rest is just basic dummy and GUI triggering.

Bonus: You can add hit chance by using Curse applied to the dummy.

 

[Pyrogasm]

Also, as I said this is simple, you don't need to import anything except the empty projectile the rest is just basic dummy and GUI triggering.

Chaosy's point isn't about the imports. It's that you have to have a different ability (in your example Fireball Missile the orb effect) for every different projectile you want to use. If you want to change the missile for something in a spell/system you can't just type a new path into the code, but you have to go into the OE and change the path there.

 

[Chaosy]

I actually meant more along the lines of
"Copy object editor item 1" > "open your map" > "paste item 1"
"reopen test map"
"Copy object editor item 2" > "open your map" > "paste item 2"

I know it is kinda minor, but it is a turnoff for me.

 

[sniffitz]

@Pyrogasm - I know but if you have multiple spells that use the same projectile, you can reuse the orb modifier.

@Chaosy I know, but if you don't want to complicate your life to learn JASS, you can use this. Trust me, as a n00b who looked for a solution to this, this will help other newcomers or inexperienced map makers.

If this helps even one person with his map, I'm ok with it.

 

[Devalut]

Being one of these simple caveman GUI'ers, it's very useful, but how can you change it to spell damage as IIRC spell damage (Damage type) is considered "normal" damage.

But overall:

 

[sniffitz]

Spell damage is magic damage, you can create another dummy with spell damage type. Its also affected by runed bracer's spell damage reduction and resistant skin of the mountain giant. Basically you can create a dummy for each situation. For what I needed I created one with magic and one with normal attack for ranged abilities and magical spells and one with instant attack type for projectile spells.

GUI Cavemen forever