What are you doing the most every game? That's right, autoattacking. I decided to do little write ups for the features, cons, and bugs that are part of everyone's favorite action. I describe the bugs at the bottom of the post.
Torchbearer Ice: Torchbearer in Ice mode shoots a icy ball as his autoattack. It's simple, accurate, and doesn't seem to suffer from any particular issues. It deals damage when the ball hits. Torchbearer can attack while moving in Ice form and does so slowly.
Torchbearer Fire: Torchbearer in Fire mode shoots a fireball as his autoattack. It's mostly similar to the ice except for a few key differences.
1) He cannot attack while moving. I'm not sure why this is the case, as every other Demigod can attack while moving but it seems perhaps an oversight? This is a big disadvantage because unlike every other hero you can no longer attack while chasing. Your best bet is to just get off one final Fireball on a fleeing hero because you can't rely on autoattack beyond 2 or 3 hits if they start to flee.
2) There is a bug where the fireball will not hit targets if they are very close to the Torchbearer, especially if they are small. A minotaur attacking Fire TB is a good example of this, the small fireball will try to arc towards the small target and hit the group and appear to fizzle! This is annoying to say the least and should be fixed sometime in the future. Sometimes it will even miss ranged targets, but seems inconsistent.
Regulus: Regulus' autoattack really doesn't have anything special going on with it. If you're in range he'll shoot a bolt and it will fly over and hit you. It homes, so there is really no escape. Occasionally it has missed a target and spun wildly around trying to reach them but that seems rare. As everyone knows, with the +2 range boost autoattack outranges normal towers, at +4 it outranges archer towers, and +6 outranges fortresses. The wings cause Regulus' autoattack to hit a small aoe area.
Queen of Thorns: 2 modes, significantly different range autoattacks. Both modes are subject to the "Multiplier Bug" I will describe later.
1) Open mode: Shoots a thorn attack through the ground. This is instantaneous and cannot miss as far as I can tell. Hits one target, pretty straightforward.
2) Closed mode: Shoots the same thorn attack, but it hits a small aoe area. This is a pretty big advantage and can be used to hit multiple creeps at once, and sometimes hits the minions with an enemy Demigod. Pretty useful to say the least.
Rook: Rook's autoattack is a bitch slap with his free hand. Not only is it hilarious, but it deals hefty damage. Later on Rook's autoattack will send creeps flying, which autokills them if they aren't dead already. (I am not sure if you need his +50 dmg upgrade to grant this effect). Rook suffers from both the "Fake Attack Bug" and the "Mistarget Bug" I will describe later. When Rook autoattacks towers he switches to the hammer for a cool animation. Can attack while moving, but if the running enemy is faster than Rook (which they almost certainly are) you won't get much use out of this.
Unclean Beast: A melee slash with his claws. Fast and mostly accurate. Can attack while moving and does so in a smooth motion. Can apply debuffs if you've specced it. UB has many bugs on his autoattack, with three - the "Mistarget Bug", the "Multiplier Bug" and the "Fake Attack" bug.
Sedna: A melee slash with her sword thing, or Sila will attack with claws. Usually accurate, can attack while moving, pretty standard. Sedna's autoattack suffers from all 3 negative bugs - the "Fake Attack Bug", the "Mistarget Bug", and the "Delayed Attack Bug." But not usually the "Delayed Attack" bug after Pounce or Silence, only Heal. Odd....
Oak: Melee attacks with his axe. He can attack while moving, as can most everyone else. Oak suffers from all 4 autoattack bugs - the "Fake Attack Bug", the "Mistarget Bug", the "Delayed Attack Bug", and the "Multiplier Bug." Oak suffers the "Delayed Attack" the most out of all heroes in my experience, almost always following Surge of Faith.
Erebus: Melee slash with the scepter. Can attack while moving. Erebus suffers from several bugs - the "Fake Attack Bug", the "Mistarget Bug", and the "Delayed Attack Bug." It should be noted that Erebus seems to suffer the "Fake Attack" and "Mistarget" bugs more than all other heroes.
Now that I've gone through all the heroes I will describe the various bugs that occur with autoattack.
Multiplier Bug: This bug is the only one beneficial to the player. When an enemy is fleeing from you and you are autoattacking them while moving as the enemy just reaches the limits of your autoattack range sometimes your hero will start delivering autoattacks in rapid succession. Happens most often with Queen of Thorns and Oak, but I have seen it with UB as well. Your hero just starts hitting them over and over. I've seen attacks multiplied 5 or even 6 times at once, though it's usually 3-4 attacks. Can happen when you are faster than they are and chasing (when they just get into range) or when they are faster than you and fleeing (just as they are leaving your range). Regardless, you should not get to machine gun your attacks like this for way more damage than you do normally.
Mistarget Bug: This bug is a nuisance. Often when you right click on a target your hero will walk up to that target but then....attack something else. Right click again - they attack a different creep. Enraging to the say the least, but usually only happens when you are attacking creeps, not enemy Demigods. Still, if I issue an attack order to the archer I don't want to walk up then start hitting the minotaur behind me. I've started to get into the habit of clicking right NEXT to the creep I want to attack so my hero walks to the spot then autoattacks the nearest target (the creep I wanted) on their own.
Fake Attack Bug: This bug is a real pain. Often you will right click a target and you hero will walk up to it and attack - except nothing happens. The second attack will almost always go through though. But usually your first attack is wasted. Happens all the time to enemy Demigods, particularly after you have used a skill of some kind, or when the enemy Demigod is running towards you. Still, how many times has that one hit been the difference between life and death, or an escape or a kill? This happens constantly to Erebus, but very often to Sedna, UB and Oak. Rook too, and his attack is slow so you really don't want to be wasting a hit.
Delayed Attack Bug: This bug is easy to see. After many actions (casting a skill for example) you expect your hero to resume autoattacking, but instead they simply stand there. Eventually, 2-4 seconds later they resume autoattacking, but you've already lost 3+ attacks. This happens constantly to Oak, especially after Surge of Faith. It can happen both if you use a skill then wait for autoattack, or right click a target that is already within your attack range. To break the hold of this bug you can move your hero and your autoattack will "reset" and you can attack again without having to wait. Similar to the skill bug of old, come to think of it.....
Missed Attack Bug: This bug affect pretty much every hero. If you are in the autoattack animation and the target you are attacking dies, you still go through with the fuil animation and eat the autoattack cooldown before you can attack again. Happens constantly when you're trying to autoattack through a normal group of creeps. Not sure if this is a bug or just an undesirable feature. If your attack "misses" you should get the attack back on whatever you attack next without having to wait, in my opinion.
And that's the state of autoattack. If I've overlooked anything let me know, and if anyone has more info to contribute regarding the bugs that would be helpful as well.