Dragon's Tooth not losing durability? (not a bug)

[bobrossw]

Dragon's tooth does not lose durability when killing allies...not sure if this is intended, as it does say that it kills on attack, so by the time it strikes I guess they're already dead? BobRoss vs Dredon

[Gondorian]

Dragon's tooth does not lose durability when killing allies...not sure if this is intended, as it does say that it kills on attack, so by the time it strikes I guess they're already dead? BobRoss vs Dredon

The weapon has been used for an attack, so it should lose durability. I think this is a new bug caused by some fixes I made for some durability-related bugs in 2.85 - my hunch is that weapons that remove allies from play before doing combat damage have got a buff in this version. I'll look into it!


EDIT: I should have read the card more carefully. Proper answer is a couple of posts down.

[bobrossw]

The weapon has been used for an attack, so it should lose durability. I think this is a new bug caused by some fixes I made for some durability-related bugs in 2.85 - my hunch is that weapons that remove allies from play before doing combat damage have got a buff in this version. I'll look into it!

I know that if an ally is killed with Threbin's ability, or Emore Crossbow's ability or black garb (if it has defender) the weapon doesn't lose durability...but those are fairly limited and have worked that way for a while.

[Gondorian]

I know that if an ally is killed with Threbin's ability, or Emore Crossbow's ability or black garb (if it has defender) the weapon doesn't lose durability...but those are fairly limited and have worked that way for a while.

I think death on entering combat is fair game, and shouldn't lose durability because the weapon hasn't been used to do a whack.

But, actually, looking at Dragon Tooth's wording, it triggers off your hero attacking. And the attack by your hero is what causes you to enter combat, so actually it might be the correct behaviour because the death is going to be triggering at entering combat too. If it always worked this way, then I think we just need a clear ruling on it. If not, I'll discuss with my DT colleagues and fix it if we think it was previously correct.

Yes, I'm going to backtrack on my poor original answer, since the weapon HAS NOT been used for an attack YET. Your hero has launched an attack and the wording on Dragon's Tooth has killed the ally even before the weapon has been used to whack. Therefore, not a bug!

[jacelkos]

Dragon's tooth used to loose durability when attacking an ally with cost >= 5.
Even though I would agree on your ruling based on the card's wording, it's a pretty big buff to make it not loose durability!
(e.g. you can check TJ SamuelJ Vs A1 Tiffblue from last weekend (the one won by SamJ) to see DT loosing durability)

[Gondorian]

Dragon's tooth used to loose durability when attacking an ally with cost >= 5.
Even though I would agree on your ruling based on the card's wording, it's a pretty big buff to make it not loose durability!
(e.g. you can check TJ SamuelJ Vs A1 Tiffblue from last weekend (the one won by SamJ) to see DT loosing durability)

Thanks for the info. The more I think about it, the more I think it is correct behaviour to not lose the durability. If we consider the steps of combat, the first step is the attack, which is where DT triggers. If its ability was written on an attachment or armor, it would still work just the same and certainly before any weapon is used to whack, which is what durability loss is tied into. No whack == no loss.

I'm hoping this belated buff is a good thing for the meta.

[Gondorian]

UDPATE: Having looked at the replay, it does show the weapon doing a whack, but I am going to class this as a visual bug. The opposing ally should already be dead as soon as combat is entered, so there should be no whack animation.

[Gondorian]

UPDATE: Having now looked at the code, I can see that the new behaviour is very intentional.

It was done to fix this bug:

http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....dragon-s-tooth

The code was previously having the effect trigger off delivering combat damage, meaning that Decoy Trap blocked the combat damage and the kill got through. It is now working correctly, with the kill happening first (triggered off someone being attacked, which is the first step of combat) and with the combat damage (and associated durability loss) afterwards when the kill is blocked by Decoy Trap!

[bobrossw]

it seems that Dragon's tooth has just gotten extremely powerful. Is it possible to change the wording (and the rules) so that it is either

1 unpreventable damage and the ally is killed

or

The ally is killed on attack: Dragon's tooth loses 1 durability.

or

change the rules on durability loss so that it happens on attack, not on hit (this would also affect those other combos I mentioned).

As is, Boris will be ridiculous, as he can crippling blow/yari marksman/ability anyone 4 and under, and can dragon's tooth anyone else - and keep doing it, unless opponent has a weapon or item destruction. This also makes Logan completely obselete.

[Daemon Rayge]

A Boris buff? WOOT WOOT!