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{{crawlquote|When you move away from an enemy, they have a small (1/3) chance of taking advantage and launching a free attack. Repositioning and retreating is often still good, but keep an eye out for those extra attacks.}}

'''Attacks of opportunity''' ('''AOO''', '''AOOp''') can trigger whenever you move away from an enemy in melee.

==Useful Info==
Whenever you move away from an enemy's melee attack range, and the monster would pursue, it has a 33% chance to trigger an attack of opportunity. This allows it to move and attack simultaneously. They can only occur if a monster would choose to pursue. Enemies with [[reaching]] attacks can make attacks of opportunity from 2 tiles away.

The time spent to do both actions is a single monster turn, but with a 50% chance for it to lose an extra 10% of a turn. If a monster attacks slower than it moves, or moves slower than the attacks, it takes time equal to the slower of the two actions.

Note that [[random energy]] does not apply whenever an attack of opportunity happens. However, if a monster would be eligible for an attack, but doesn't actually get one, random energy will apply.

===Avoiding===
The following conditions will prevent attacks of opportunity entirely:
*If a monster would choose not to move or melee attack, it won't make attacks of opportunity. For example, a [[centaur (monster)|centaur]] will prefer to use its bow over a weak melee attack.
*Monsters who cannot move or melee attack will not perform attacks of opportunity, so the following statuses stop them entirely:
**Incapacitation: [[Asleep]], [[paralysed]], [[petrified]], or [[confused]]
**Cannot move: [[Constrict]]ed, caught in a [[web]]/[[net]]
**Cannot attack: [[Fear|Fleeing]]
**Cannot see you: you are [[invisible]] to the attacker or the attacker is [[blind]]ed
*If you swap places with an [[ally]], so that the ally blocks the monster's movement, you avoid an attack of opportunity.
*[[Zin]]'s Sanctuary prevents all attacks. This protection is retroactive - if you were previously outside the area and moved inside, the Sanctuary still protects you.
*You become immune to attacks of opportunity while performing [[Wu Jian|martial attacks]], [[rampaging]], or Serpent's Lash.
*[[Translocation]]s don't count as movement, so you can use them safely.

Being faster than the monster can help you escape from a melee monster, but attacks of opportunity can still occur. For example, against a 100% speed monster, a [[haste]]d player can take at most 2 attacks of opportunity before escaping melee range.

==Strategy==
Watch out! When retreating, a 100% speed enemy with AOO gets more attacks than an [[adder]] would without AOO. Always try to reposition (say, to a [[stair dancing|upstairs]]) ''before'' you get adjacent to them. Once you're adjacent to a melee enemy, you should only move if you have a good reason to.

Should you need to retreat from a bad fight, your options are limited. Common ways to escape include:
*Swapping places with a [[summon]] or other type of [[ally]]
*Prevent the monster from moving: [[Throwing net]], [[BVC]], [[wand of roots]]
*Translocating yourself away: [[Blink]], [[Passage of Golubria]], [[scroll of teleport]], [[scroll of blinking]]
*Sending the monster away: [[Iskenderun's Mystic Blast]], [[Dispersal]] ([[Dispersal|spell]] and [[dispersal (brand)|darts]]), [[scroll of butterflies]], [[scroll of fear]], [[phial of floods]]

==History==
*In [[0.31]], attacks of opportunity were reworked. Prior to this version:
**Monsters didn't have a 50% chance to lose 0.1 of a turn after making an opportunity attack.
**Monsters only made attacks of opportunity if you were ''adjacent'', not in ''melee range''. Therefore, monsters with [[reaching]] attacks couldn't make attacks of opportunity. Their AI would let you get 2 tiles away before chasing, thus invalidating opportunity attacks.
**You were immune to attacks of opportunity if you moved faster than the monster.
**Certain [[attack flavour]]s, such as [[engulf]], [[constrict]], and any effect that moved the player or monster, were disabled during attacks of opportunity.
:Also, [[random energy]] was re-introduced in this version.
*Attacks of opportunity were introduced in [[0.29]], as a replacement for [[energy randomisation]].

[[Category:Game mechanics]]

Attacks of opportunity - Revision history

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