Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Suggestions and Feedback Taunt should NOT act like charm.

Given the latest patch, the biggest issue players have is that Taunt is basically acting like Charm.

If you or one of your companions is taunted, then the player should still have full control over the character. AI should not take over. If you're taunted, you should still have full control of the character, and be able to cast buffs/heals upon your companions. However negative effects/damage dealing skills should only be targetable upon the enemy toon that landed the taunt. Heck, even make sure the character can't move away from the taunter, but only toward (if they so choose to move). But no, Taunt shouldn't be a Charm mechanic.

Granted, it's a "limited" charm in that it will still attack an enemy, it's likely to burn skills you don't want set into multi-turn cooldowns.

Case in point, enemy casts shackles on a toon, then gets a guaranteed taunt on that same toon. You lose every option to NOT attack that toon if the AI takes over. And you watch as your toon kills itself.

Taunt was fine when used by enemies before the change to it piercing armor, as it basically just acted as another form of CC, but it was completely underwhelming when used on enemies as it really didn't change what they did.
Honestly I don't think Taunt is a suitable skill for enemies to have and should be removed from them.

Agreed that NPCs should simply not have taunt.

Haven't touched the game in a while, but apparently we've just had a new patch and got a new Taunt, which bypasses physical armor.

Pretty sure the main reason we complained about Taunt is that it was blocked by armor. So it sounds to me like we got just what we wanted. The idea of using Taunt is to manipulate enemies' targeting, forcing them to use attacks on someone who can tank them, not really to manipulate their skill-using. They shouldn't become dumber while taunted.

And losing control of your char is almost the whole point of being Taunted, too.

If we want to adjust anything, it would be the range and duration of the skill, as well as preventive measures.

I do sympathize with the original instinct to complain about taunt being resisted by physical armor since by the time you remove the armor the enemy threat is nearly removed anyway. That said, what I don't think people expected is that the net result would be a nerf when compared to how much it buffs enemies. I outlined my issues in this thread so I won't double post them here.

What I like:

* Tanking becomes an option, lets put 1H melee weapons and shields for melee fighters (not only for our summoners and support casters) to good use after the Joy!
* This brings much more tactical depth

What I don't like:

* That it acts like charming and lets the AI take over completely

What I would like to see:

* Keep it piercing, but make it so that taunted means that we are forced to use attack skills on the enemy who attacked us, but still get a say WHICH attack skill gets used

I think something else that would help tone down taunt a bit would be to make it single targeted rather than AoE. I mean, Taunt now being an AoE skill that has no resistance whatsoever is stronger than most source skills.

this is incorrect on every level

a consistent complaint about taunt since i started visiting this forum was the disparity between how it affected human players vs NPCs

human players lose all control and effectively act as if they've been hit by a "mad" spell or demonic possession

AI characters will behave virtually the same as if they weren't taunted, only they cannot directly target characters other than the taunter. for example, i once used an incarnate to taunt an enemy magister, expecting it to keep the magister occupied so it wouldn't go after my squishier characters. the magister proceeded to run directly past the incarnate and use aoe skills like whirlwind on my other characters - he hadn't specifically targeted any character, so it was perfectly within the parameters of the way taunt works in this game. however, human players cannot do this

taunt is also not specifically about losing control of your character, but rather forces you hit only the target who taunted you. it's meant to prevent other characters from taking damage. it is not, however, necessarily meant to make your skill usage up to the whims of the AI. if the AI is allowed to behave intelligently and loophole the effects of taunt, the player should be too

personally, i never saw anything wrong with taunt being blocked by physical armor, but now that it isn't anymore, the effects of taunt need to be adjusted even more than they did before, because now the human player is going to be experiencing madness-lite much more often than pre-patch

Who asked for Taunt to have piercing effect is beyond me.I am okay with one character losing his physicar armour and be taunted ,so i can counter it with enrage ,permafrost.Now it taunts everyone.
Anyway it was a useless ability and the change didnt make it useful.The A.I still acts as it would without being taunted.So the change only hurts our Godwoken,specifically from paladins in Arx.Havent made it there with the new patch yet.

Maybe so, but we did also establish that it was useless because it was blocked by armor. And by the time their armor is down, there's no reason to use it anymore.

Either way, there's no need to freak out over this. One simple solution is to implement forced basic attack when being taunted. Anyone being taunted will only basic attack the taunter. Problem solved.

i don't think anyone's freaking out, rather, just pointing out why taunt is currently not well implemented

what you just suggested is something i think others have suggested, and would probably work fine. it likely wouldn't cause issues for staff holders either, since most (all?) taunt skills are melee range

I agree that taunt is poorly implemented still. A 2 turn duration would be nice, if its going to have a 5 turn cooldown, and it should force whoever is taunted to auto-attack (like Try2Handing said). Taunt + shackles of pain would be a mean combo then, as it is though the taunted enemies will just throw a water bomb or use a low damage ability, I get the AI is clever but it feels like a wasted opportunity.

I think the change to make taunt ignore armors is good though, before I saw literally no reason in ever using it - why would you taunt an unarmored target when you could just knock them down and take 0 damage?

Sooner than Arx.The demons in Bloodmoon Island..Everyone was taunted and one character used a source scroll.And i was watching not able to do anything.I used Taunt as well the ai hitted other member without aoe.Simple attack.Sebille got taunted twice from 2 different demons.
It is obvious that the ability is wrong

Is there any way of resisting taunt in this new implementation?

Casting Enrage-Peace of Mind if your turn is before the enemy who has taunt turn starts.But still...lol.

There is no willpower/body building, so no, no way of resist, because every CC is hit or miss in this game.

I still think, if you are taunted, you should only be able to auto-attack, would solve pretty much every issue with this skill.

You could try that MOD to avoid the using of consumables during charme/taunt.
I don't know if it works also after the last patch but perhaps someone could give a try , because atm i don't have any encounters with taunting enemy to test

https://www.nexusmods.com/divinityoriginalsin2/mods/301?tab=files

Or.. Make it single target.Taunting all 4 Godwoken is terrible..They dont do much when ai takes over and wasted 2 mind maggot grenades in Arx because the ai loves to throw them.
The paladin ai walked through the sea of necrofire from the other side of the room just to use Taunt.He died next turn.
The combat system here was never about tanking to take the aggro away from another character.

I like that Taunt was increased to 2 AP and is no longer resisted by Physical Armor.

What I don't like is that, when my character is taunted, he'll use a teleport to move AWAY from the taunter, and then he'll use consumables like grenades and scrolls, and walk around in damaging surfaces for no apparent reason. I thought the status was supposed to make the taunted character attack the taunter. Why don't they do that instead? Just walk into attack range of the taunter and then, you know, attack them. Not use my Source scroll I'd been saving for a special occasion. Or, like has already been suggested, leave me in control of the character, but restrict him to only being able to attack the taunter.

You know, prior to the last patch, I'd never used a Potion of Strong Will before. I've gone through a few, now.

I agree with Darxim suggestion. Taunt needs to be re-redone. On a three levels below mine fight, three of my four companions got taunted and they started throwing grenades (which I don't usually use) like mad.