One of the most common attack modifiers is combat advantage. Combat advantage represents a situation in which the defender can’t give full attention to defense. The defender is pressed by multiple enemies at the same time, stunned, distracted, or otherwise caught off guard. When you have combat advantage against a target, you gain a +2 bonus to your attack rolls against that target.
Some powers require you to have combat advantage in order to use them against a target, and other powers have a better effect against a target you have combat advantage against. If a feat, power, or other ability grants you a benefit when you have combat advantage, that benefit applies only against a target you have combat advantage against.
Combat advantage is relative. In any given pair of combatants, either, both, or neither might have combat advantage against the other. It’s possible for a single creature to be adjacent to one enemy that has combat advantage against it and a second enemy that does not.
Combat Advantage
- +2 Bonus to Attack Rolls: You gain a +2 bonus to your attack roll when you have combat advantage against the target of your attack.
- Able to See Target: You must be able to see a target to gain combat advantage against it.
The following situations give an attacker combat advantage against a defender.
When a defender is...
- Balancing
- Blinded
- Climbing
- Dazed
- Flanked by the attacker
- Helpless
- Prone
- Restrained
- Running
- Squeezing
- Stunned
- Surprised
- Unable to see the attacker
- Unaware of you
- Unconscious
- Some powers and skills may grant combat advantage for a short time. For example: Once per encounter, you can try to gain combat advantage against a target by making a Bluff check.