Occasionally when fighting off enemies, some retreat when they are near death. Oddly enough I have found this to also be the case with a few Trojan. Is it understandable that the only enemies that do not seek to gain space are construction-type enemies? Or are some of them just bugged to run when they are near death?
And between mecha-knights from kits and allied NPCs, why do they have shields if they do not use them?
I believe those instances have to do with a border within the scripted AI when it comes to reacting between idling and registering a knight's presence and actions. I've even seen Scuttlebots and Retrodes do it, even though they are far less common due to having slow and straightforward movements and actions.
Actually, almost all the members of the Gremlin family run away when at low health. It's especially annoying with the Darkfang Thwackers due to their shield D:<
But something I'm completely sure is that Wolvers and MiniGremlins do not have this behavior :P
If you take your time with the kill, you'll see more than just the Gremlins do this. But some of that changes with distance where even a thwacker may occasionally attack. On few occasions, I have seen even Trojans to do this. And it is difficult to tell with Devilites because they run regardless. And of course I do not observe this in any of the slimes or mewkats.
The only enemy I can recollect running when they are at low health, is the freaking gremlin menders. It's like they have a dash ability, without the cool down.