Nerf Blood yesterday

[suejak]

This guy's special ability and item are annoyingly good for his tier! I actually feel bad using him.

I know, I know. It's all fun and games, don't use it if you don't like it, they should buff other things instead, have you considered therapy. I've heard it all before. I just want to suffer a little more than Blood's letting me.

First of all, he doesn't need infinite knives. You should have to supply the knives. They're pretty common anyway. On Impossible Ironman, I currently have about 3 knives across the whole team at the 2nd town. This alone would be reasonable, as it would actually make me have to use my brain (due to slightly more resource scarcity management) rather than just get infinity resources from this man's sphincter.

You have Steroid out here limited to one single punch before he needs a kill with another weapon to reset it -- something that would make much more sense to be infinite -- but for some reason Blood gets infinite knives. (As an aside, let Steroid use his special punch multiple times per turn. He is so AP-limited that it's hard to get in close range with him anyway. The punch ability is cool and fun, but you hamstring him this way for no reason IMO. Let me fall on them like a tree in the forest.)

Yes, I know the special is distinct from the item, so it's apples and oranges. I would just delete the special item altogether, or clog up the slot in another way so that he only accepts knives in that slot without making them infinite. Maybe a knife-holder that is still there even at 0 knives but can hold up to 10 knives at a time.

Second, Blood doesn't need to do something like 7 AP movement (rough estimate) for 2-3 AP while ALSO throwing two knives. The ability itself is interesting, but it is just too efficient. I would simply make it slightly less efficient, e.g. normal move cost while also throwing knives would be more than good enough.

The specific numbers are totally open to debate. I just don't like how efficient he is. It's honestly boring. I want to be managing my resources (knives, AP) a little more and getting fewer handouts.

Also make Steroid's special punch infinite at 3 AP a pop.

xoxo,

suejak

[dq_177]

There's no need to nerf Blood, but certainly buff Steroid.

[sooshon]

personally I think Livewire has a weirdly strong ability for a cheap merc, her special almost feels like it would be a difficulty setting (showing where enemies are with intel) rather than a merc ability

[w.f.schepel]

Originally posted by sooshon:

personally I think Livewire has a weirdly strong ability for a cheap merc, her special almost feels like it would be a difficulty setting (showing where enemies are with intel) rather than a merc ability

Yep. That one is stupidly OP.

[Dre G Writer]

Originally posted by sooshon:

personally I think Livewire has a weirdly strong ability for a cheap merc, her special almost feels like it would be a difficulty setting (showing where enemies are with intel) rather than a merc ability

I think the same thing. in my opinion, she has the best ability out of all the mercs.
Her ability alone should make her a legendary merc.

Being able to see all enemies through walls gives all kinds of intel you can make use of, with a variety of strategies, preparation and tactics that makes combat x1000 better and smoother.

It was a pain trying to sneak around everywhere not knowing where the enemies were, who the enemies are, and what type of enemies they were and suddenly being face to face with one as you sneak around a corner and then combat begins leaving you completely unprepared with your pants down.

With livewire, that all changes.

She MVP on a stealth team, period.

[Null Winter]

They either need to strip unique items that act as bonus talents, or give everyone a unique item. A lot of the talents, even in the same tiers, just aren't made equal.

Vicki straight up has 4 talents, effectively: Modded weapons get insane bonus stats, she's ambidextrous, she has a unique locksmith kit that guarantees success and can be repaired, and she passively repairs anything she has equipped without needing to start a repair operation. That's before considering stats!

[some guy]

i think at least ice and barry are still better bang for your buck. he misses a lot if you approach with knives and also its hard to not put him out of position doing that. i think hes pretty fun but i would put him into b tier as far as my hire priority goes.

[some guy]

vicki can do 2x37 with 2 deagles :]

[Saethulu]

I hope they don't nerf unique abilities. If you don't want unique abilities. Don't use them or don't hire the merc.

[some guy]

yeah i dont think theres any reason to balance mercs against each other, it should be somewhat reasonable to hire almost any merc but there can be favorites. i mean look at ivan. hes 20k for 30k stats. or ice is 7k for 15k stats.

[dq_177]

Kalyna could do with a slight boost to her wisdom perhaps (since there's no way to raise the stat), but that's the only change can think of apart from buffing Steroid.

[Sardonac]

Best thing they could do IMO is remove all unique abilities and add a separate way of obtaining them available to anyone with investment. As it is tying them to specific mercs really defeats the purpose of having a pseudo-rpg character development - your custom IMP will never be anywhere near as good as Ivan or Vicki in combat, regardless of how you develop them. A single trait should not be so powerfully defining.

[some guy]

why not you can start with 85 aim, 85 wisdom, 85 agi and 70 in dex and strength

[some guy]

also free merc is free

[Trolleur_Durden]

For me Blood is a solid A tier in a vacuum, but sadly at the polar opposite of the current rifle-ranged meta, which makes him less desirable than a straightforward marksman.

I really like the idea of personal items, but in his case, the endless knives end up being a liability when you start getting enough crafting components to have 3/4 sharpened/balanced knifes, meaning that you have better throwing alternative than the endless knives but no weapon slot to use them.

[Keith 'Blood' Hanson]

I throw too many knives, even 3-4 sharpened ones would disappear in the blink of an eye. But I definitely consider him S class in all regards, not just the best melee character.

A pure melee squad can absolutely destroy all enemies if you know what you're doing with them. But yes, he has infinite knives, but they're not able to be sharpened or balanced, so I feel it evens out. He also needs the work put into him to get the higher tier perks to absolutely demolish enemies. But as it stands I feel like he's one of my MVPs, edging out my dedicated sniper in kills, but lacks range, obviously.