One Elden Ring player tried to find the truth behind a suspicious situation with a potential “input reading” when enemies act like cheaters.
Many enemies in Elden Ring react very quickly to certain player actions. Some attack as soon as you start healing. And if you played with magic, then you saw how the enemies dodge the very second when you use the spell. Gamers assumed that the enemies were just cheating, reacting to keystrokes, and not to the actions of the character. This process is called “reading input”. However, technically, the system may work differently… or it may not.
As Zullie the Witch found out, the monsters in the game react to the player’s actions when the animation is turned on. Technically, this is reading in-game information, not input. However, these reactions happen instantly when the animation starts. In the case of healing, the enemies immediately react and try to get the character when he reaches for the flask.
This method differs from reading input in one important fact – it is possible to activate the treatment at the end of a certain animation, for example, dodge. In this case, the delay in the reaction of enemies will be slightly longer.
The same animation reading system also answers another question – why do enemies dodge magic attacks, even if they are clearly not directed at them.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to draw a 100% conclusion about how the enemies work without access to the decompiled files. But the explanation is convincing.