Tried to make a triggered AoE slow but it's not working - what am I doing wrong/why is it not working properly

[TehSDragon]

So I made a spell based on Fan of Knives (I like the animation) and added a trigger (see below) 'cuz I wanted to throw an AoE slow on top of it.

Problem is, the slow seems to only activate on one enemy each time I cast the ability instead of all nearby enemies, and I'm not sure where the issue lies. Is it a problem with Fan of Knives specifically that I'm unaware about? I know it's not a pick range issue since doubling the range still made the slow affect only 1 target

Important, maybe: I'm using World Editor version 1.24d (yeah this thing is ancient)

Checklist:

• Made sure that my dummy's Cast Backswing and Cast Animations were 0
• Added Invulnerable (Neutral) and Locust to the Dummy
• Model File is Zone Indicator (Custom Campaign)
• Attacks Enabled: None
• Movement Type: Fly
• Collision Size: 0.01
• Dummy Spell (based on Human Sorceress' Slow) has no cooldown, no mana cost, no casting time, and has a big cast range
• Dummy unit has a decent vision radius so it shouldn't lose sight of nearby enemies
• Made sure that the enemies I'm testing the spell on are alive, aren't magic immune/structures/allied

• Stone Edge Level 3 Trigger
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
  • Conditions
    • (Ability being cast) Equal to Stone Edge
    • (Level of Stone Edge for (Casting unit)) Equal to 3
  • Actions
    • Set StoneEdgeCaster = (Triggering unit)
    • Set StoneEdgeOwner = (Owner of StoneEdgeCaster)
    • Set StoneEdgePoint = (Position of StoneEdgeCaster)
    • Unit - Create 1 Stone Edge Dummy for StoneEdgeOwner at StoneEdgePoint facing Default building facing degrees
    • Set StoneEdgeDummy = (Last created unit)
    • Unit - Add StoneEdgeSlow Level 3 to StoneEdgeDummy
    • Unit - Add a 2.00 second Generic expiration timer to StoneEdgeDummy
    • Set StoneEdgePick = (Units within 375.00 of StoneEdgePoint)
    • Unit Group - Pick every unit in StoneEdgePick and do (Actions)
      • Loop - Actions
        • Set StoneEdgeTemp = (Picked unit)
        • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
          • If - Conditions
            • (StoneEdgeTemp is Magic Immune) Equal to False
            • (StoneEdgeTemp is A structure) Equal to False
            • (StoneEdgeTemp belongs to an enemy of StoneEdgeOwner) Equal to True
            • (StoneEdgeTemp is alive) Equal to True
          • Then - Actions
            • Unit - Order StoneEdgeDummy to Human Sorceress - Slow StoneEdgeTemp
          • Else - Actions
    • Custom script: call RemoveLocation(udg_StoneEdgePoint)
    • Custom script: call DestroyGroup(udg_StoneEdgePick)

Is there something I missed somewhere?

I'd rather not base the dummy slow on Thunder Clap because of the ground deformation, for what it's worth, but if I have no choice I can switch to that instead

 

[Uncle]

First confirm that you can cast the Slow ability by adding it to your Hero and testing it from there.

Next, make sure that your Dummy unit has the correct settings:

Base it on the Crypt Lord's Locust and modify the following:
Model: None,
Shadow: None,
Attacks Enabled: None,
Movement Type: None,
Speed Base: 0.

The Movement stuff is what's most important to get your Dummy unit casting spells immediately. With these settings your Dummy unit can have an expiration timer of 0.01 seconds without any issues.

Also, I recommend ordering the Conditions in your If Then Else to happen in order from most common to least common. So that would likely be:

• (StoneEdgeTemp belongs to an enemy of StoneEdgeOwner) Equal to True
• (StoneEdgeTemp is alive) Equal to True
• (StoneEdgeTemp is A structure) Equal to False
• (StoneEdgeTemp is Magic Immune) Equal to False

This is because the function which checks the Conditions will return on the first failed condition, so putting the most common failure first is a nice optimization. In other words, if the unit doesn't belong to an enemy player then it never has to check if it's alive/a structure/magic immune.

Also, Text Messages are a great debugging tool, you can add them throughout the trigger to get a visual indicator of what's happening when you test the map. For example, displaying the name of StoneEdgeTemp can help confirm which units are actually being picked in the Unit Group - if any.

Finally, update your damn Warcraft 3 There's a fairly stable 1.31 version if you don't want to deal with Reforged but still have access to newer stuff. You can even go back to 1.29 or something, 1.24 seems WAY unnecessary but maybe you have your reasons.

 

[TehSDragon]

Speed Base: 0.

The Movement stuff is what's most important to get your Dummy unit casting spells immediately. With these settings your Dummy unit can have an expiration timer of 0.01 seconds without any issues.

Oh my god, this was the problem. I can't believe I missed it

Maybe next time I won't copy-paste an older dummy unit just because I was too lazy to modify it oops - that one has to move to follow its target to cast a delayed spell lol

Also, I recommend ordering the Conditions in your If Then Else to happen in order from most common to least common. So that would likely be:

• (StoneEdgeTemp belongs to an enemy of StoneEdgeOwner) Equal to True
• (StoneEdgeTemp is alive) Equal to True
• (StoneEdgeTemp is A structure) Equal to False
• (StoneEdgeTemp is Magic Immune) Equal to False

This is because the function which checks the Conditions will return on the first failed condition, so putting the most common failure first is a nice optimization. In other words, if the unit doesn't belong to an enemy player then it never has to check if it's alive/a structure/magic immune.

Good idea, I'll fix it up

Also, Text Messages are a great debugging tool, you can add them throughout the trigger to get a visual indicator of what's happening when you test the map. For example, displaying the name of StoneEdgeTemp can help confirm which units are actually being picked in the Unit Group - if any.

I do this sometimes but as we know by now, the text msg would probably only appear on the 1 target it slows because the cast gets interrupted by the movement command

Finally, update your damn Warcraft 3 There's a fairly stable 1.31 version if you don't want to deal with Reforged but still have access to newer stuff. You can even go back to 1.29 or something, 1.24 seems WAY unnecessary but maybe you have your reasons.

When I originally got WC3, I may or may not have received a legal version of it ... is the primary reason

---

Thanks for the help uncle, as long as you don't throw a "one more thing" my way

 

[nchp1903]

Additionally, you can also order the Dummy to cast custom ability based on Silence, which has its Attacks Prevented set to None, and the Movement Speed/Attack Speed reduction and Buff accordingly, to imitate Slow. That way, you don't have to do the (Pick every unit in the region) very often, which can reduce lag if the map has a ton of units.

Thunder Clap/Slam is also a choice, but no one wants to deal with the terrain deformation.

 

[TehSDragon]

Additionally, you can also order the Dummy to cast custom ability based on Silence, which has its Attacks Prevented set to None, and the Movement Speed/Attack Speed reduction and Buff accordingly, to imitate Slow. That way, you don't have to do the (Pick every unit in the region) very often, which can reduce lag if the map has a ton of units.

Thunder Clap/Slam is also a choice, but no one wants to deal with the terrain deformation.

I forgot Silence had a slow effect! Like, I've indeed used it in the past to replicate Thunder Clap without terrain deformation! I gotta start remembering these things

 

[DarckGeek90]

I change a little few bro you can see i put all the Booleans in one inside "StoneEdgePick" you can check all the booleans are inside
You are good bro need to put The unit for all the picking units that you want to make the slow ability.

 

[Uncle]

Stone Edge Level 3 Trigger

• 
  
  Events
  • 
    
    
    Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
• 
  
  Conditions
  • 
    
    
    (Ability being cast) Equal to Stone Edge
  • 
    
    
    (Level of Stone Edge for (Casting unit)) Equal to 3
• 
  
  Actions
  • 
    
    
    Set StoneEdgeCaster = (Triggering unit)
  • 
    
    
    Set StoneEdgeOwner = (Owner of StoneEdgeCaster)
  • 
    
    
    Set StoneEdgePoint = (Position of StoneEdgeCaster)
  • 
    
    
    Set StoneEdgeDummy = (Last created unit)
  • 
    
    
    Set StoneEdgePick = (Units within 375.00 of StoneEdgePoint)
  • 
    
    
    Unit Group - Pick every unit in StoneEdgePick and do (Actions)
    • 
      
      
      
      Loop - Actions
      • 
        
        
        
        
        Set StoneEdgeTemp = (Picked unit)
      • 
        
        
        
        
        If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • 
          
          
          
          
          
          If - Conditions
          • 
            
            
            
            
            
            
            (StoneEdgeTemp is Magic Immune) Equal to False
          • 
            
            
            
            
            
            
            (StoneEdgeTemp is A structure) Equal to False
          • 
            
            
            
            
            
            
            (StoneEdgeTemp belongs to an enemy of StoneEdgeCaster) Equal to True
          • 
            
            
            
            
            
            
            (StoneEdgeTemp is alive) Equal to True
        • 
          
          
          
          
          
          Then - Actions
          
          • 
            
            
            Unit - Create 1 Stone Edge Dummy for StoneEdgeOwner at StoneEdgePoint facing Default building facing degrees
          • 
            Unit - Add StoneEdgeSlow Level 3 to Lass created unit
          • 
            Unit - Add a 2.00 second Generic expiration timer to Last created unit
          • 
            Unit Order Last created unit to Human Sorceress - Slow Picked unit
        • 
          
          
          
          
          
          Else - Actions
  • 
    
    
    Custom script: call RemoveLocation(udg_StoneEdgePoint)
  • 
    
    
    Custom script: call DestroyGroup(udg_StoneEdgePick)

That's just an objectively worse trigger. You only need 1 Dummy unit, not one per unit in the Unit Group. Remember that the Loop - Actions occur once for EACH unit inside of the Unit Group.

Also, see this in case you didn't already know:

How To Post Your Trigger

TopHow To Post Your Triggers I've seen many and many members around the site who need help with their triggers but don't know how to post their triggers in a thread, especially the newcomers. Posting your triggers in a thread is very important when you're asking a help from other members to fix...

www.hiveworkshop.com

Silence could work nicely but note that it's Area of Effect won't quite matchup with this:

• Set StoneEdgePick = (Units within 375.00 of StoneEdgePoint)

Triggered AoE is not the same as Ability AoE because abilities take into consideration collision size. It's not the end of the world but if you want that perfect 100% consistency then it might be something to take into consideration.

 

[TehSDragon]

Silence could work nicely but note that it's Area of Effect won't quite matchup with this:

• Set StoneEdgePick = (Units within 375.00 of StoneEdgePoint)

Triggered AoE is not the same as Ability AoE because abilities take into consideration collision size. It's not the end of the world but if you want that perfect 100% consistency then it might be something to take into consideration.

Oh yes I'm aware - I actually changed the triggered AoE (375->378) to reflect the base spell's range, since by default I have most if not all units at 0.01 collision size. I think 0.03 should just about cover it and likely won't cause any issues