Taunt

Lore & Background

In the Breach, creatures do not think in the way humans do. They lunge, they swarm, they follow the nearest heat signature or the loudest mechanical whine. The pilots who survived long enough to file after-action reports described Taunt not as a weapon but as a *choice*—a deliberate decision to be the thing the creature wants most. The Wasp pilots, in particular, were known for it: small, fast, expendable in the eyes of command, yet stubbornly unwilling to let a Hornet or a Beetle get swarmed while they could still stand.

The tactical doctrine around Taunt in the field manuals is blunt. You do not Taunt to win. You Taunt to *delay*. One tick of redirected aggression is one tick your ally can slide behind cover, one tick a Wasp can Stinger a creature mid-lunge, one tick a Beetle can patch a shattered shield. The Breach does not reward the pilot who hits hardest; it rewards the pilot who makes the creature hit *them* instead.

There is a grim, almost ceremonial quality to it in the stories the pilots tell each other in the hangar bays. A Taunt is a small, personal act of heroism in a game that is otherwise all geometry and cold optimization. The creature does not know it is being *chosen*. It only knows the mech that is closest, the mech that is *there*, and it strikes. And the pilot who Taunted takes that hit, and the squad breathes, and the next turn begins.

In Their Own Story

The Wasp pilot—designation 7-Kappa, though she went by "Marrow" in the comms—watched the Hornet's shield flicker down to one bar. Two Broodlings, already lunging, already committed to the Hornet's tile. The grid was locked. The Hornet had no escape vector that didn't cut through a third creature's attack cone.

Marrow did not think. She never thought, not really. She just *moved*, sliding two tiles into the gap between the Broodlings and her friend, and then she hit the button that tasted like copper in her mouth. Taunt. The little chime in her cockpit. The Broodlings' targeting reticles snapped, cold and absolute, onto her hull.

"You're welcome, 7-Kappa," the Hornet said, and was already sliding behind the ridge.

Marrow felt the first Broodling's mandibles close around her left arm. She did not flinch. She had a Stinger ready for next turn, and the second Broodling was, for one precious tick, looking at *her*.

That was enough. That was always enough.

Reader's Guide

Taunt is a range-1, adjacent-only ability. You must be on a tile directly next to (orthogonally or diagonally) the enemy creature you want to redirect. No line-of-sight check applies because the range is always one; terrain walls do not block it as long as you are adjacent.

The core interaction: on the enemy's next turn, every creature that was adjacent to your mech at the moment of Taunt is forced to target *you* instead of any other valid target. This overrides their default priority (usually the nearest or lowest-HP mech). If a creature has multiple possible targets, it still picks from among them, but your mech is now the *only* valid target for the creatures that were adjacent.

Synergy tips: Pair Taunt with a Wasp's Stinger on the following turn—you draw fire, then punish the creature that strikes. Pair it with a Beetle's Heal: Taunt the swarm, let them hit your low-HP Wasp, then patch them next tick. In multi-mech squads, Taunt is the glue that lets a fragile Hornet reposition while a sturdier Wasp soaks the hit.

Watch for the edge case: if a creature is already mid-attack animation (committed), Taunt does not interrupt it. You must Taunt *before* that creature acts, meaning you are using it on your turn to affect their upcoming turn. One tick of foresight is the entire game.

Did You Know?

• Taunt deals zero damage and grants no shield—its entire value is in *redirection*, making it the purest control tool in the ability pool.
• Because Taunt is range 1, it can be activated even if the taunting mech is in a dangerous position, making it a genuine act of tactical sacrifice rather than a safe zone ability.
• In the Wasp's kit, Taunt and Stinger create a natural two-turn loop: draw the creature in, then punish it before it can recover, a rhythm many players describe as the 'Wasp dance.'
• Taunt does not stack with itself—if two adjacent mechs both Taunt the same creature, the creature still only targets one of them, typically resolved by game-internal priority rules rather than a player choice.