Spiral Knights - Zombie Lunge Attack

Zombie Lunge Attack

13 replies [Last post]

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 19:53

Antistone

I'm a bit confused by this attack. As far as I can tell:

It usually misses, even if you're directly in front of the zombie.
If it hits, there is not necessarily any obvious visual indication of this, either on your knight or on the zombie.
When it hits you, you cannot move, rotate, or shield.
The zombie stays on you and continues damaging you until it is attacked.

So...if a zombie manages to grab you from the side or from behind, or you have only bombs equipped, you're totally helpless until you die or an ally rescues you? That seems rather arbitrary.

Am I supposed to be able to tell that this attack has landed in some way other than the fact that I can't move? Because frequently the zombie doesn't seem to appear particularly close to me or to play any special animation, and I haven't noticed any indicator on my actual knight or status window like I would have for a status effect. Everything else that hits you in the game seems to have an immediate and flashy indicator, but not this.

Is there something I'm missing? I admit, I haven't experimented a lot, because as I mentioned this attack usually doesn't seem to do anything to me even if I'm directly in its path. But every once in a blue moon, it just completely screws me.

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 20:03

Pokenuevo

Technically

The Zombie's lunge is not an actual attack, but rather away for it get close and attack. It actually was an attack until recently, but people complained that it was "overpowered" when the lunge was spammed in levels such as Graveyard. You see nothing because it is not an attack.

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 20:06

Agazide

It kind of sucks.

I think that it used to be a normal attack, then somewhere along the line they patched it and it became a grapple attack. There's no way to tell if you've been grappled.

Occasionallly, rejected zombies will hang midair and do the "chewing on skull" animation. I think that they bite you three times before you can get free, which translates to a ton of damage.

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 21:19

Nicoya-Kitty

The way it's supposed to

The way it's supposed to work: A zombie lunges at you, goes into a "skull chewing attack", which immobilizes you and damages you once at the end of the attack. This attack can be interrupted by yourself or any ally hitting the zombie.

The way it actually works:

Scenario 1: You shield, the zombie gets bumped away in the nomnom attack animation and hangs in midair for a bit before returning to normal. You are not immobilized and take no damage.

Scenario 2: You do not shield, and the zombie lands beside you. You are immobilized, but instead of performing the nomnom attack the zombie instead performs regular slash attacks, getting in a good 2-3 hits before you're released.

Scenario 3: The zombie lands where you were previously, and immobilizes you from across the room and out of range of attacks.

Scenario 4: The zombie lands next to a barrier that you're on the other side of, immobilizing you through it but doing no damage. (I think this one was supposedly fixed).

Scenario 5: You walk within range of zombie who has just completed a lunge, and become immobilized while the zombie goes to town with slash attacks.

...

Scenario 9001: The zombie lunges out of Nick's screen and gnaws off the part of his brain responsible for coding multi-stage attacks that actually work right.

I don't personally have confidence in OOO being able to code this attack properly, so I'd really just rather see them remove it entirely and replace it with something else to make zombies more menacing.

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 21:29

Otaia

Oh, I thought it was just

Oh, I thought it was just coded to make Zombies take out like 75% of your life when they actually catch you with the lunge. It's certainly killed me a couple of times.

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 21:31

Deliciousness

Yea whenever I get attacked

Yea whenever I get attacked by a zombie lunge I feel as if my controls have stopped working, then I check my keyboard and mash buttons

Next the zombie latches onto my character, and i can't shield or attack or anything until he's taken like two bites. Unless someone else hits him for me.

This sucks if you're in FSC and then they also set you on fire D:

Well it boils down to that its making players check if their keyboards aren't working, which jars them out of gameplay. I think its poor game design, as when I get hit by attacks I shouldn't want to check if my mouse is working :v

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 22:45

Sternlock

For the longest time I didn't

For the longest time I didn't even know this is an attack. The zombie usually just slides past me harmlessly; I believe I've only ever gotten hit by the lunge all of once in my lifetime, and I say this to illustrate the zombies' own ineptitude with this attack, not any fantastic dodging abilities of my own.

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 23:29

Demonicsothe

Occasionally, they will land

Occasionally, they will land directly and nom, but do no damage. Or they'll nom, and deal damage multiple times with the bite.

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 02:22

Diamondshreddie

ONLY ONCE

once has this attack been preformed properly on me... so they have some of the coding right... but obviously not for mobile targets ... seeing as i was charging an RSS and eating an apple with my free hand... :P it connected perfectly, the slag wrapped around me in a seductive position and started nomming my brains out until the RSS detonated and he was blown away into dust with over 1600 points of damage...

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 02:59

Fallenhope

it looks weird when a zombie

it looks weird when a zombie noms you and you stand and do nothing......
IMO there should be an animation for the knight when they get nommed (non-existant word LOL)

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 08:46

#10

Shidara

@Fallenhope

I could agree to that if you were actually paralyzed and unable to do anything, but if you have the option to attack it it'll just be out of place and a bit of a wasted animation because nobody will want to let a zombie gnaw on them just to look at an animation.

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 08:58

#11

Tom-Awsm

Nicoya: "I don't personally

Nicoya: "I don't personally have confidence in OOO being able to code this attack properly, so I'd really just rather see them remove it entirely and replace it with something else to make zombies more menacing."

This. +9001

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 09:48

#12

Idespawn

Only about 2 times I've been

Only about 2 times I've been hit from this attack, it's way too easy to block or dodge their attack, but most of the time they're just missing.
@Nicoya,

That's a great idea.

Sat, 02/11/2012 - 11:14

#13

Tengu

latency increases the chances by a lot.

I get stapled by that attack all the time, even when for all intents and purposes I was out of range. Last night in fact, i was running with a guildie to get down to FSC and a poison zombie did a jump, landed a good body-length away, and killed me with a nom attack. I got a "What lol" from the other guy, as he was dead too. I said "how far was I away from him?" "far enough"

but yea, I get hit with that CONSTANTLY in FSC when I'm gunning.

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Zombie Lunge Attack