At what point do heroes affect drops?

Do they affect them when inside aggro range - albeit not doing anything?
Do they affect them when inside spirit range - albeit not doing anything?
Do they affect them when inside compass range - albeit not doing anything?
Do they need to be grayed out in the party list?

Assuming it's not one of the first two - does a hero bonder affect drops? Does this depend on the bonds used? Does the bonder need to be inside or outside spirit range? If using life bond (where an attack will trigger on the hero) - will they be including in the drops? If there's no attacks being triggered, but energy lost through bonds (ie, protective bond), will they be considered in the drop chance? If there's any bonds at all, will they be considered?

These are questions that have been bugging me that I haven't been able to find answers for (through wiki, or searching here), yet haven't had time to test. Wanted to see if they were known.

My instinct is that someone should have an idea of these answers, because bonders are used in the raptor/vaettir farming on some professions. Note, I'm not asking about experience, I'm asking about drop assignment.

If you kill an enemy where you stand, and your hero's name is "white" in the party menu, it will be eligible for drops, no matter what it did during the fight.
- If I go on a run with you, and do absolutely nothing but /dance, but remain "white" in your party menu, I'll be eligible for drops from anything you kill. Leecher-ific!

If you kill an enemy where you stand, and your hero's name is "grey" in the party menu, it will not be eligible for drops.

That said, there's no possible way for your bonder to be ineligible for drops, because if your bonder is far enough away to "go grey" then it's also too far away to maintain bonds.

Bonders eat drops... that's just how it goes.

Bonders eat drops but also gain zero xp from your kills unless either they hit target /cast at target or cast on you just before a kill ( power levelers used to do this ).
So what they gain in drops you get full xp from kills usually - its funny how 600/smite teams used to get arguements over splitting the drops as the smite didnt do much etc - but if you think - hes the poor bugger who has to keep you bonded and follow you around and if they who is unimportant dies your screwed - so really they are important.

Makes sense, answers my questions. That'll be useful for the builds I'm creating- wasn't sure to give my girlfriend the bonds or take a hero along. I was surprised it wasn't somewhere in the wiki.

It's actually slightly bigger than compass range (depending on your point of view) known as your Sphere of Influence, which can be determined to 95%~ accuracy through the "party member's name is white on the party window" method.

Also heroes eat their gold share, no matter if their name is 'white' or 'gray' on party list.