Summons
Pets, minions and temporary allies. A summon ability spawns units that fight for the caster: they take the caster’s faction, follow it, attack by stance, earn its kills, and count as its party.
Every field, its default and every member you can call: Summons reference.
Authoring
- Make a unit prefab for the summon with a unit definition, a basic attack that can auto-cast, and a mover if it should follow.
- Create → Vantage → Abilities → Effects → Summon and assign the prefab.
- Add the effect to a Self ability, or a Ground Point ability to summon at a spot.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Prefab | Unit prefab to spawn. |
| Definition Override | Definition to use instead of the prefab’s own. |
| Count | Units per cast, spread in a circle of Spawn Radius. |
| Max Active | Most summons from this effect at once. The oldest is dismissed to make room. 0 means no limit. |
| Lifetime Seconds | How long each lasts. 0 means until it dies or is dismissed. |
| Dismiss On Owner Death | End the summons when the caster dies. |
| Inherit Owner Faction | Fight for the caster’s side instead of the definition’s faction. |
| Add Companion Ai, Stance | Give each summon a VtCompanionAi starting in this stance. |
Stances
| Stance | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Passive | Follows the owner. Never attacks. |
| Defensive | Attacks the owner’s target and anything that damages the owner or the companion. |
| Aggressive | Defensive, plus the nearest hostile inside the summon’s Aggro Range. |
VtCompanionAi has Follow Distance, Leash Distance (teleport back beyond it), Assist Range (ignore targets farther from the owner) and Think Interval. It turns off a VtHostileAi on the same unit.
What a summon shares with its owner
- Kill credit. XP, currency drops, kill objectives and loot reservation all treat a pet’s kill as the owner’s, including the owner’s party share.
- Party. A pet counts as a member of its owner’s party, so party-only heals and auras reach it.
- Threat. Monsters build threat on the pet that hits them, so a pet can tank.
Runtime
var summons = player.GetComponent<VtUnitSummons>();
foreach (var summon in summons.Active) DrawPetFrame(summon.Unit);
summons.SetStance(VtCompanionStance.Passive);
summons.DismissAll();
summons.Active[0].Dismiss();
summons.OnSummoned += summon => { };
summons.OnSummonEnded += summon => { };
summon.SecondsRemaining;
VtSummon.ResolveCreditUnit(unit);A summon that dies, times out or loses its owner ends on its next tick and despawns. Summons are not saved; permanent pets are recast after loading.
Multiplayer
Dismiss and stance calls forward from the owner’s client. Summons spawn and despawn through VtSpawning.InstantiateFn and VtSpawning.DespawnFn; the co-op sample’s spawn hooks point them at network spawning, and its summon sync sends the owner link to clients. Networked summon prefabs carry VtSummon, VtCompanionAi and the sample’s sync ahead of time, since components added on the server do not replicate.