How does 'Silver Armour' pick its target?

Well the title says it all, this could be more suited to questions and answers but i really doubt the answer is simple enough to not warrent a discussion.

I had always assumed it worked like Whirling Defense, but it also hits you if you trigger it as well.

'Sliver Armour'. For x seconds, you have a x% chance to block. Whenever you are the target of a hostile attack or spell 1 nearby foe is struck for x damage.

Where exactly in there is information on which target is struck first and which target is priority? I've seen it change targets multiple times so it doesn't always target 1.

[Removed reference to deleted post. - Mercury Angel

AFAICT, there is no set priority - when it deals damage it queries whatever collision structure they're using and hits the first target found. So given a constant set of targets in range, the same one will always be struck, but as targets move in and out of range the one that gets hit changes.

My experience/memory suggests the following mechanic:

The initial target seems to be selected at random from among the possible targets in range. This target continues to take damage until it moves out of range, in which case a new target is selected.

I believe initial target selection is random because I've been chosen as the target without actually targetting the monster with anything (attacks, spells, etc.), and (as far as I could tell) not being the closest target either. It's possible that the game uses other criteria, such as the target with the most/least health, or the most/least armor.

I am fairly sure that the same target takes all hits from Sliver Armor until they move out of range. Whenever a Shiro'ken elementalist (particularly a boss) activates Sliver, it's extremely obvious from the party roster, because one person's health will begin to drop rapidly - the damage is not distributed. In my experience as a warrior, when I am selected as the target for Sliver Armor I continue to take damage from it until I am outside of its radius of effect, so simply 'shuffling the order of collison', as suggest above, does not seem to affect the Sliver Armor target.

This skill works in the exact same way as Lava arrows. Like Lava Arrows Sliver armour will always attack the one who is at the furthurest in it's possible range, and like Rera said, Sliver armour will continue to attack that target until he/she moves out of range.

Again, Sliver armour will choose 'one' target from furthurest to closest, and then that target will be the only target until he/she moves out of range completely. When that happens, Sliver armour will begin the process again.

And yes, Lava arrows shoots three arrows at up to three targets, so what it does is that it will strike target foe, and then strike two other targets at its maximun range first, before moving inwards. In some cases Sliver armour will never hit a warrior if there is one other person in range.

The skill description isnt the same as whirling defense, because that stance states that it will affect "All adjacent foes" and not just one.

Just to add my own personal experience with said skill and it's targetting mechanics:

Sliver armour would seem to favour Bosses or Higher level mobs when target distance is equal.

Example: Make use of SA on a Vermin farming run. When you get to Shreader, Sliver Armour will always target him, without exception, from amongst a mob of up to ~15 Vermin.

I'm still unsure of exactly how this skill chooses a target, but based on the Mo/E Solo G build (http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Mo/E_Solo_G) on guildwiki it does seem to target the boss each time (check out the video), and not the farthest out target because, as far as I can tell, he's standing next to Ghial both times.

Yes, It has ALWAYS targeted a boss over any other mob in my experience. This is what makes Sliver Boss Farming possible.

Sliver Armor doesn't always choose Sunreach as it's target.

Sometimes when there are multiple mobs, Sliver Armor doesn't go for bosses first. It's usually a warrior or an assassin if that happens, and sometimes a ranger if it comes up close. I think it might have to do with armor and/or the order mobs might have been created.

In certain areas bosses will be targetted first, but in other areas other creatures will be targetted first.

For example, the scar eater is almost always targetted first, while the mesmer construct often latches onto the afflicted sins, wars, etc. There is a definite priority based on the creature type and boss. I'm just not sure what it is. Spirits always seem to have priority.

Sliver does switch targets when higher priority targets come within range.

Never tryed it with Sunreach, so couldnt tell, can just account for the bosses I've tryed it on.

I can go with the explanation that only SOME bosses always get targeted first :\