Area attacks · Black Box

Some abilities hit an area instead of one person, such as a grenade, a fireball or a sweeping strike. How you aim them depends on your sim’s rules: they pick their own targets, hit a whole row, or are aimed with a placer you move in-world. Each of these is a switch, so your sim may use one, several or none.

Kind	How you aim it	Who is hit
Picks its own targets	No aiming. The tile says Area:	Whoever the ability names, within its range
Whole row	Pick one person	Everyone standing in that person’s row
Placed area	Move the placer, then Throw	Everyone inside it on record, you included

Abilities that pick their own targets

If your sim uses multi-target attacks, some abilities choose who they hit by themselves. On the All list their tile reads Area: and who they hit, such as:

Area: every opponent within 6m
Area: everyone within 8m, allies too (allies are hit, you never are)
Area: you and every ally within 10m
Area: the closest 3 opponents within 12m

Press it and the picker says who it hits, then No target to pick. Press the Use button.

Distance is measured from where the fight has you on record to where it has everyone else. Walls don’t stop it.
Each person it takes gets the ability’s full attack rolls, and their usual chance to react.
Anyone downed is left out. If your sim’s stealth rules hide people sneaking In Cover, they are left out too.
With nobody in range, chat says so and nothing is spent.
If your sim uses rows, distance doesn’t count. The ability takes the front row first, up to its limit.

Area abilities with rows

If your sim uses both aimed areas and front and back rows, an area ability hits a whole row and the placer isn’t used.

Press the ability and pick one person.
Press Use. It hits everyone still standing in that person’s row on their side.

Each person in the row is attacked as usual, with their own rolls and reactions. Melee still can’t reach a back row while anyone stands in its front row. See Rows, cover and range.

Areas aimed with the placer

If your sim uses aimed areas, an ability with an area is aimed with the AoE Placer: a see-through orange shape your HUD rezzes at your avatar. It is the size of the area, either a ball or a flat disc, and its hover text names the ability.

Aim and throw

On your turn, press the ability, or use a grenade from Use item. If the HUD asks you to pick someone, pick anyone and press Use. The placer decides who is caught.
The placer rezzes at you. A question asks you to Throw, Drop at my feet or Cancel. It says how big the area is and, if there is a limit, how far you can throw it.
Edit the placer in your viewer and drag it where you want the area.
Press Throw.

While you aim:

Nothing is spent yet. A grenade is used up as you throw it.
The fight waits for you. Nobody can use an ability until you answer.
Drop at my feet lands it at your spot on record, wherever the placer is.
Too far: chat says how far away it is and how far the ability reaches. Move the placer closer and press Throw again.
If the placer has gone, for example after waiting too long, chat says it couldn’t find your placer. Use the ability again.
Without enough Energy when you throw, the placer goes and nothing happens.
If your sim uses stealth, you can’t throw on the turn you start sneaking. If your sim allows one attack a turn, a throw counts as it.

Wiggle

If your sim uses wiggle, an area that wiggles lands a random distance off where you aimed, in a random direction.

Your Explosives skill makes it land closer.
Drop at my feet has its own wiggle, and your skill doesn’t change it.
A throw while sneaking, before you have attacked, wiggles further.
Aiming where everyone you would catch is sneaking counts your skill lower.

The placer then jumps to where the area landed, and its text says how far off it landed, or “on target”. Chat names everyone caught.

Who is caught

Everyone whose position on record is inside the area: either side, and you too. Downed people aren’t caught.
Positions come from the fight’s record, which can differ from where avatars stand now. Where Am I in Tactics shows your recorded spot.
Anyone with no position on record isn’t caught, and chat lists them apart.
A ball counts distance in every direction. A flat disc counts flat distance, and only catches people within a set height above or below it.
Caught people are hit with no roll to hit. If your sim uses it, an area spell rolls once instead, and that roll is checked against each target’s Ward.
Some areas catch only the thrower’s enemies, and some heal the thrower’s allies caught in them.

Tip: Info on the fight page shows how far each fighter is from you on record. Someone standing beside your target may be on record somewhere else.

The evade question

If your sim uses evading, everyone caught who has an evade ability ready is asked before the area hits. Ready means a reaction left, off cooldown and enough Energy. The question names the area and their evade, and the roll they need. They answer Yes or No.

Yes rolls it. It costs the evade’s Energy, starts its cooldown and uses a reaction. On a pass they get clear and take nothing.
No leaves them in it.
Some traits give a once-a-fight dodge, asked the same way.
The fight waits for each answer. Missed it? Press Show Prompt at the top of the fight page, or type @party prompt.

Areas that stay

If your sim uses lasting areas, some stay for a few rounds after they land. The placer stays where it landed, and its text shows the rounds.

Anyone whose position on record is inside when they end their turn is hit. Some areas hit at the start of a turn instead. Chat says who ends (or starts) their turn in it. These hits cost the thrower nothing and need no roll.
Walking your avatar out isn’t enough. If your sim uses tactical movement, use Move to get out before you end your turn.
When its rounds are up, chat says it fades and the placer goes. Every area ends with the fight.

If your sim uses them, two kinds of area work differently:

A trap lands hidden and catches nobody at first. The first enemy of the setter who moves into or through it stops there and is hit. An area spell landing on a trap sets it off harmlessly.
Smoke stays for its rounds and blocks sight: no ranged attacks or spells into, out of or across it.

Cancelling

Press Cancel. The placer goes, nothing is spent and you can act again. Chat says you put the ability away.
If you leave the fight while aiming, or it ends, the placer goes too.

Some gear, such as a Snap-Shot weapon, splits an attack between people instead of hitting an area. The tile reads, for example, 3 attacks to share out.

Each target gets - and +, and the note counts how many you have shared out.
Attacks you leave over go to the target with the most.
Each target has to be close enough to the one before. Chat tells you if they are too far apart.
With one target, all the attacks go at them.

If your sim uses equipment passives, a cleaving weapon also rolls one attack on each other enemy close to you, for part of the damage. Chat names who it cleaves.