Creature

Basics | Combat

Creature Abilities
All creatures have skills at their disposal and these are the same which are available to characters. To figure out what exactly is available to each creature, players can use two different techniques. The first being the use of skill capture spells such as the Mesmer's Mimicry and secondly, paying close attention to the GUI's inflicted attack displays.

Varieties
Players will often notice similar creatures in completely different regions and may assume that they may use the same tactics from region to region and be successful. But, this is not true as even though they may appear similar, they often have different skill sets and react differently to situations.

Styles

Boss - Stronger than most and drop better loot. They can be identified by their glowing aura and peculiar names.
Healer - They heal and resurrect their allies.
Offensive Spellcaster - Target's characters and hostile creatures and unleashes offensive natured spells.
Melee - Engage in up and close combat, can be wielding weapons or not.
Ranged - Uses ranged weaponry against hostiles.

Creature Differences [not taking the appearance into account]:

Speed - How slow or fast they are able to move.
Range - The distance they need to be before being able to attack.
Health Points - The amount of damage they can withstand before dying.
Energy Points - Quantity of energy determines the effectiveness of a spellcaster is at casting numerous spells.
Skills: The attacks/buffs/debuffs/spells which are at their disposal.
Level: Determines the strength of the creature at hand.
Resistance [or lack of]: Increases or reduces the damage received by elemental attacks. ex: Undead are vulnerable to Holy Damage damage.

Patrols
Most creatures do not remain stationary, but rather move around within their general area. This is important to understand as they may come within a player's general vicinity even though they have not been made ware of his/her presence. When facing tougher opponents, their movements can be used to the team's advantage as a group of creatures can, at times, become separated from eachother and hence render themselves easier targets.

Creature Healing
Certain spellcaster creatures have the ability to use healing skills upon themselves and their nearby allies. These opponents can be quite the menace due to their long lasting nature and tendency to resurrect their fallen allies. Attacking these monsters first is essential, otherwise the battle will not only last much longer but may become impossible to overpass. In general, healers are much less resilient than their fighter counterparts, nevertheless their healing can render them quite difficult to kill off unless a coherse strategy is put to good use.

To the last man
Creatures, no matter the damage inflicted upon them, will never flee from battle. They will fight to the last man even if the chance of success is almost nil. Hence, always make sure the creature is in fact dead before switching to another target. If a monster is left untouched for a few moments; it will gradually regain it's health.

Sneaky Creatures
Monsters do not always appear in your mini-map and sometimes are not visible to the naked eye, even though they are there.. somewhere. This occurs when the creature is hiding somewhere which the character cannot reach. As an example, devourers can burrow out of the ground and surprise their targets; Once out of the ground and standing on solid soil, they then appear upon the mini-map as red dots (hostile).

Bosses
These creatures are often larger than their less powerful counterparts and they can easily be identified by their colorful glow surrounding them. They are also the creatures of which skills can be captured. They often drop more valuable items.

Charr Race
The Charr race has a peculiar attribute, they hate everyone. They will engage in gruesome combat with any non-charr creature and in a general sense, they almost always win. This can be used to a player's advantage when faced with tougher opponents as the charr can be used as decoys.