How to properly implement hurtbox, hitbox, pushbox and the like?

I'm already on my slow journey of studying game dev where I want to implement "the boxes". I know what they do and a general idea of what I need to implement them. But after researching, I found out that it isn't that simple. Colliders alone won't give the best detection. And you need a RigidBody paired with the Collider? Because it affects the engine's performance? I found this amazing article which was really informative to me: https://strangewire.blogspot.com/2018/05/hitboxes-and-hurtboxes-in-unity.html. But, the problem is, this only talked about the code side, not how/where to place Colliders. My instinct was to add them as a child of a bone so it moves without animating them again, disable/enable the GameObject with the Collider when necessary. But after my research, I'm not really sure if that's the right thing to do anymore.

 

No, you dont need Rigidbodies for this type of hit detection. Collider can be marked as Trigger and then do things using OnTriggerEnter script update keyword.
And a known problem with placing colliders on bones is fast animation. It is easy to run into situation when the bone completely passes through a target between two animation frames, and doesnt register a hit. Using such setup will require an additional hit test, like storing the position of a bone on a previous frame, and then tracing BoxCast or SphereCast backwards to that position

 

Oh, thanks for that additional explanation. I did read about that somewhere. Thanks, now I have some pointers I can use to plan how to implement the boxes

 

Yes, exactly.

 

Also 'boxes' can be dissociated with animation, some game parent them to the root for fixed placement (like always in front of character), really depend on your game design.