Occult Scarab Terminators' Rocket Spam Needs Balancing

[Frost]

As a melee-focused player, I’ve noticed a significant imbalance when facing Occult Scarab Terminators, particularly due to their rocket-spamming behavior. Their mechanics feel overly punishing, especially for melee classes.

Here are the key issues:

High Rocket DPS and Splash Damage: Even with careful positioning, their rockets consistently chip away at your health, making it nearly impossible to avoid damage. Their DPS feels overtuned, creating frustrating encounters.

Dependence on RNG Tools: Successfully countering them often requires specific tools like melta bombs or krak grenades, which are reliant on RNG drops. This makes these encounters inconsistent and less skill-based. Its exponentially more fun fighting a Lictor vs these units.

Absurd Close-Range Behavior: Even when you close the gap, these terminators continue to spam rockets at their feet instead of switching to melee attacks. This removes any incentive to engage them in close combat and feels completely unbalanced.

Run-Ending Potential: When two or more of these enemies spawn, it often results in a run-ending scenario for melee players if no reliable counters are available. This creates a disparity in survivability between melee and ranged classes.

Suggestions for Improvement:

• Adjust their AI to prioritize melee attacks when players are in close range.
  
• (edit) Allow a small window where you can perfectly dodge the rockets. This would enable counterplay based on skill and transform this frustrating experience into a more rewarding one.
  
• Reduce rocket DPS or splash radius to make the fight more manageable.
  
• Provide melee classes with reliable anti-armor tools to counter them effectively.
  
• Introduce perks or traits that mitigate explosive damage for melee-focused builds.

I enjoy the challenge of facing tough enemies, but Occult Scarab Terminators feel unfairly tuned, especially for melee builds. Balancing their mechanics would create a more rewarding experience for all players. Thoughts?

[Sloths]

Originally posted by Frost:

Suggestions for Improvement:

• Adjust their AI to prioritize melee attacks when players are in close range.

That right there. That's a gold star suggestion. You get points for that.

[SievertChaser]

I have never seen the rocket-enabled ones use their melee. At all.

[Lowbei]

The terminators are fine.

Their rockets are easily dodged and they will usually switch to melee if you engage them in melee, unless they are shooting at someone else. Not that it matters because you can just dodge roll out of the way.

The constant "ok please nerf this mob next" threads are wild. The game is well balanced.

[realskeal]

Right up there with Spore Mine's spawning in a whole group and wiping out any player and the new Flying chaos enemies with almost unreadable telegraphing

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by realskeal:

Right up there with Spore Mine's spawning in a whole group and wiping out any player and the new Flying chaos enemies with almost unreadable telegraphing

unreadable? their moves are very well telegraphed.

[realskeal]

Originally posted by Lowbei:

Originally posted by realskeal:

Right up there with Spore Mine's spawning in a whole group and wiping out any player and the new Flying chaos enemies with almost unreadable telegraphing

unreadable? their moves are very well telegraphed.

Yes so you manage to dodge/parry every single attack from them while also focusing on the melee units in front of you and the ranged units behind you? While the enlightened attack you from so high up that they are out of your field of view?

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by realskeal:

Originally posted by Lowbei:

unreadable? their moves are very well telegraphed.

Yes so you manage to dodge/parry every single attack from them while also focusing on the melee units in front of you and the ranged units behind you? While the enlightened attack you from so high up that they are out of your field of view?

well not every single attack, as there are a lot of mobs, but thats why we have armor brother.

[Chaos]

Originally posted by Frost:

• Adjust their AI to prioritize melee attacks when players are in close range.

While everything else is probably subjective.

This one is probably one of the core flaw in this game to me.

And that apply to like every ranged unit in the game really.

Not much point in closing in to melee when they just gonna attack you with ranged attack pointblank, that you can't punish back due to their insane damage.

Maybe forced the AI to do some melee strikes if players are within like 5m from them before their usual backstep/teleport spam would be nice.

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by Chaos:

Originally posted by Frost:

• Adjust their AI to prioritize melee attacks when players are in close range.

While everything else is probably subjective.

This one is probably one of the core flaw in this game to me.

And that apply to like every ranged unit in the game really.

Not much point in closing in to melee when they just gonna attack you with ranged attack pointblank, that you can't punish back due to their insane damage.

Maybe forced the AI to do some melee strikes if players are within like 5m from them before their usual backstep/teleport spam would be nice.

players shoot at mobs from close range all the time. why should mobs be forced to lose the ability to do the same, especially when it would be advantageous for them?

they are fine.

[Chaos]

Originally posted by Lowbei:

players shoot at mobs from close range all the time. why should mobs be forced to lose the ability to do the same, especially when it would be advantageous for them?

they are fine.

Did you read it properly?
Who said they should be locked out of shooting forever?

What I meant is to give the melee class a window to do something useful and by forcing the AI to stop shooting and do melee for "A BIT" for some gunstrike/melee window before they go back to backstep and shoot again.

You know, like how WE have to stop shooting to do parry and dodge to not get stunlocked and die before we can start spraying again?

So it's totally fair I would say.

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by Chaos:

Originally posted by Lowbei:

players shoot at mobs from close range all the time. why should mobs be forced to lose the ability to do the same, especially when it would be advantageous for them?

they are fine.

Did you read it properly?
Who said they should be locked out of shooting forever?

What I meant is to give the melee class a window to do something useful and by forcing the AI to stop shooting and do melee for "A BIT" for some gunstrike/melee window before they go back to backstep and shoot again.

You know, like how WE have to stop shooting to do parry and dodge to not get stunlocked and die before we can start spraying again?

So it's totally fair I would say.

they do tho brother. they typically engage someone in melee quite often. there is an achievement for parrying their melee combo that people usually get quite quickly, because they melee a lot at close range.

[Chaoslord 87]

Originally posted by Chaos:

Maybe forced the AI to do some melee strikes if players are within like 5m from them before their usual backstep/teleport spam would be nice.

Sometimes they actually try to strike you before retreating but it seems random at times.
Mostly when cornered or when you close the gap fast enough.

[Chaos]

Originally posted by Lowbei:

they do tho brother. they typically engage someone in melee quite often. there is an achievement for parrying their melee combo that people usually get quite quickly, because they melee a lot at close range.

Originally posted by Chaoslord 87:

Sometimes they actually try to strike you before retreating but it seems random at times.
Mostly when cornered or when you close the gap fast enough.

Sometime yes, that's why I said "Forced" to eliminate any RNG factor in this part.

Since right now, it's totally up to luck if they will engage you properly or just keep spamming for rockets anyway, or worst, start to reving up their gatling cannon in melee.

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by Chaos:

Originally posted by Lowbei:

they do tho brother. they typically engage someone in melee quite often. there is an achievement for parrying their melee combo that people usually get quite quickly, because they melee a lot at close range.

Originally posted by Chaoslord 87:

Sometimes they actually try to strike you before retreating but it seems random at times.
Mostly when cornered or when you close the gap fast enough.

Sometime yes, that's why I said "Forced" to eliminate any RNG factor in this part.

Since right now, it's totally up to luck if they will engage you properly or just keep spamming for rockets anyway, or worst, start to reving up their gatling cannon in melee.

i mean if that gatling cannon does the job at melee range i dont see why not

[Chaos]

Originally posted by Lowbei:

i mean if that gatling cannon does the job at melee range i dont see why not

That's the neat part, our heavy can't do that.
Because staggered is a thing we have to bear if we don't parry/dodge but AI terminator doesn't get staggered most of the time.
How is that "fair"?

So forcing the AI to guarantee switch to melee for a moment is the only I can think of to make it "fair" and not an instant "you die" to the poor guy some got up to the termy face.