Searching for base ability, help!

Hi, I need an ability to base my spell on.
I need a base ability from original Wc abils. I can't use "channel", it won't work for some reasons.

Requirements.
0. The ability belongs to original WC abils.
1. The ability doesn't change caster's facing.
2. Targeting. When you hit the ability hotkey, you should be able to target it (like in attack move, far sight etc); Targets allowed - all: ground, units, etc
3. (not strict) The ability doesn't stop the caster .

The last requirement is not obligatory.

Overall it's very similar to Attack Move (A).
(Omg why can't I base an ability on attack move?)
So far the only ability that fits is "Reveal" (and some of its clones), found in human arcane towers and in goblin lab.
Unfortunately, casters cannot have more than 1 ability based on Reveal, otherwise one overrides the other. I already have another skill based on it :(

PS. Don't say there is no such ability because Wc has 778 standard abilities!!! There must be something!

0. Any ability you make has to be based off something. Unless you mean RoC only abilities?

1. I cant confirm but Ive heard that this is based on the unit and not the ability.

2. Can it target the floor or just units only?

3.Theres very few abilties that dont stop orders, AFAIK only berserk does this.

There's few more. Divine Shield and roar i think. If you set casting anim to 0.000 a few more abilities should have the non-stopping effect but I don't recall which.


If you want to target something else you have to put extensive trigger work to it cuz no wc3 abilities fill all your requirements listed there. It crashes with 2. and 3.

Why won't channel work? There's probably a fix/workaround to any problem you have with it.

wind walk and an ability based off of (i dont remember the name but its is that ability that dispells one magical target attack like "storm bolt")

perhaps if you explain the problem with channel we can help you there

First of all, the ability should be able to target both ground and units (like attack move or far sight). If you played ladder you know how "attack move" works - it can target both ground and units.

Obviously abils like Divine Shield, Immolation and berserk don't fit as they don't have any targeting at all.
The only ability I've found to fit is "Reveal", found in human arcane towers. There's also a similar item Reveal ability (clone).

Channel doesn't work because it can be interrupted, if you're fast enough.
Example:
The caster is moving forward, uses channel ability, and targets a point behind himself.
Caster starts to change its facing to face that point.
Now if you very quickly issue a Move command to that same point, the channel spell will be interrupted, it won't be even triggered.

The delay that must be maintained to not interrupt the ability is quite small but it really matters in my map, because it's based on very fast input dynamics.

So I've figured, if a targetable ability doesn't have any effect on caster's facing, then it's instant (like Reveal), and can't be interrupted. Thats why I'm looking for an ability to meet aforementioned requirements.

By the way, requirement 3) "The caster must not stop upon ability casting" is not obligatory and can be omitted.

Then your only option is making a selection dummy function to carry out your requirements. You need 2 abilities.

Thanks, can you elaborate? Some sort of alternative route?

did you try flare? (human mortar team)

he says that you use an ability that instantly creates a dummy unit in the targeted position (i think).

But the caster needs to cast the ability. we have the same issue here :/

Yes, I've tried flare. It also changes caster's facing and can be interrupted.
At some moment I realised I should be noting down the abilities I've already tried; here's the list. (some of them are item or special abilities.)

=Other:= Web, cluster rockets, dark portal (archimonde), death and decay,Rally, flare
=Can be interrupted:= devour magic,Build scout tower,Impale, BoF, Blink,detonate(+death), silence, carrion swarm
=Critical error:= Get Corpse (using this ability caused my wc3 to crash LOL)
=Can't target ground:= mass teleport, staff of teleportation,unload transport(WTF?), wand of shadowsight,harvest, dark summoning

I had a funny bug with Unload transport ability where I couldn't target ground... Strange because it should be able to. Moreover, there was no error sound and no error message (like "Must target unit with this action"). I was just clicking but the cursor didn't change and nothing happened.

There likely aren't any more abilities that match your criteria; your best hope is looking at other structure abilities, however I can't think of any one that would target ground besides reveal.

Why is order interruption such a big deal? We might understand the problem better if you gave us a description of your gameplay.

Well if you change the units cast point to ridiculously low number or even 0 if that works. I highly doubt anyone could interrupt it in time.

How about this work around:
You use a none-interrupting ability (wind walk or immolation) and make a dummy with an ability that targets whatever you want and give it a certain hot key. On spell cast, the dummy is created and selected vie triggers and the player is forced to press the hot key (Game- Force UI Key) and that should give you what you want. Once the dummy casts its spell, it is killed and the selection is returned to the original caster.

The only problem in this approach is if the player cancels the order without choosing a target (after the dummy is created and the selection is transformed to it) and then the player would end up with his selection on the dummy and not the caster.
If you could work around this new problem, you should get your spell.


A simpler solution would be just as Kinorhynkar suggested, set the cast point value (object editor, third or fourth field in the art category) to zero and some spell would be executed immediately before the hero turns towards the cast point (like sea witch's Tornado).