Why are rat slaves the pinnacle of difficulty?

[Reverend Slapimus]

You make specials a complete joke to be one shot by anyone, yet the rat slaves (not slave rat / hook rat) will down you in 2 hits and they cover the entire map. I just don't understand this reverse logic of gameplay

[Free Luigi M.]

Originally posted by MofineBovine:

If they could just fix the damn running attacks on them...

The single most annoying thing in the entire game since V1.

[Cacomistle]

Originally posted by Myrmidon:

Originally posted by Boneripper:

I get hit by slaverats and stuff all the time, but thats not even close to true for me. My deaths are primarily to assassins, hordes of elites, the rest of specials, bosses, single slaverats, and hordes in that order. Single slaverats are really obnoxious, but if I start dying to them I just hold block while walking and it invalidates them.

I'd say my deaths are fairly roughly split between a lone pinky killing me because I've not been aware enough of whats around me (happens to all of us) and non-hit detection which is actually less of an issue with bigger enemies and more easy to correct when it occurs.

Problem when you're waist deep in slave rats is your engaging and swapping back and forth between multiple targets, planning 20 steps ahead with a sequence in your head that you may not even look at the slave who you've just smashed in the head because it's fast automatic, next step in the sequence and that's when you get ♥♥♥♥♥♥ because you realise that head smashing contacted their head but nothing happened so suddenly your sequence is ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and you've got to adapt and you get flooded with all these new variables that you had only semi-accounted for because you expected the mechanics to work as intended.

It's equally as bad when you're fighting a lot of storms because you shield rim 1 in the chops then immediately orientate to the next target knowing the previously engaged 1 is staggered, except he isn't and you've just turned away uh oh!

I play classes with damage reduction and pyro (with temp hp on ult). Cause I don't want to deal with the stupid poke damage from slave rats, and if I play classes that take nearly 0 damage from it (or regen like pyro), then I just avoid the problem.

When I play the 100 hp classes, it becomes a problem, but its always the chaos zombies, or occasionally marauders. I never have problems with slaverats.

[-=SaRuMaN=-]

Originally posted by vegetable:

Originally posted by neVen:

If a slave rat kills you in 2 hits, an SV will kill you in 1.
You can kill multiple slave rats in 1 swing and usually need several swings to kill 1 SV.
Not logical? ok..

There ususally isn't a lot of SV, but slave rats come at you in large groups and all you need is one stabbing you in the back for a huge amount of damage, which makes them more danagerous because you are more likely to eat a hit from a slave rat you didn't see then a SV, becuase of how easy it is to see an SV unless it somehow sneaks up on you.

oh sweet summer child. On legend there are silent pat, the director spawns random enemies around you as well (specially on dense and multilevel maps like War Camp).
And trust me, YOU WILL GET sucked punched by SVs in higher difficulties.. by a lot.

[Target Drone]

Uncle Joe Stalin said said it well: "Quantity has a quality all its own".

[DeMasked]

Lone rats getting buffs to damage never really made sense to me. Unless it's an elite or some unique enemy type sure I could see them mustering enough courage to attack the hero that killed everything else.

A rat slave would probably run away shrieking in terror.

[argenex]

What sucks about being host usually, is I will take damage, turn around, and there's nothing there, then magically a slave rat litterally slowly rises out of the ground as they are attacking again...

I see them fall through the map and stabby stab from below ALL THE TIME.

And I dont mean from a spawn spot, from just normal pathing areas in the map. I think because they have horrid code for collision and dont collide with us, plus thier magical noclip so they can climb walls and things (which causes them to stack up) is the stupidiest idea I've ever seen and causes more issues than creates a decent gaming mechanic.

Really, I think they need to take a look at source and l4d2, they could learn a lot, especially since this is their own engine that they built and can edit however they want.

[Cacomistle]

Originally posted by -=SaRuMaN=-:

Originally posted by vegetable:

There ususally isn't a lot of SV, but slave rats come at you in large groups and all you need is one stabbing you in the back for a huge amount of damage, which makes them more danagerous because you are more likely to eat a hit from a slave rat you didn't see then a SV, becuase of how easy it is to see an SV unless it somehow sneaks up on you.

oh sweet summer child. On legend there are silent pat, the director spawns random enemies around you as well (specially on dense and multilevel maps like War Camp).
And trust me, YOU WILL GET sucked punched by SVs in higher difficulties.. by a lot.

Stormvermin are still a lot easier to keep track of. Especially since they aren't part of hordes or ambushes so they usually won't spawn behind you.

Slave rats (or for me the zombie guys) hit you in the back a lot. This happens very infrequently for me with stormvermin. And its not like silent patrols for example would affect that, you'll get hit in the face (or just kill them ofc).

[Sekzon]

just saying people demanding to "fix sound cue" - how about you look behind you more often?

asking for a proof fail sound cue to react is kind of like the same if asking for a green square right side of the screen. if it turns red you have 0.5 sec to dodge.... how about some overlay program giving you more hud options kind of like iron man in his suit you know... turboHUD anyone? you get my point?!

[SkacikPL]

Because damage has an inverse curve.
In short - less enemies are targeting you at the moment, more damage you get.
If within a horde of ~10 enemies targeting you, you get hit once - you will get less damage compared to getting hit by the same enemy if he is alone.

[Myrmidon]

Originally posted by Boneripper:

Originally posted by -=SaRuMaN=-:

oh sweet summer child. On legend there are silent pat, the director spawns random enemies around you as well (specially on dense and multilevel maps like War Camp).
And trust me, YOU WILL GET sucked punched by SVs in higher difficulties.. by a lot.

Stormvermin are still a lot easier to keep track of. Especially since they aren't part of hordes or ambushes so they usually won't spawn behind you.

Slave rats (or for me the zombie guys) hit you in the back a lot. This happens very infrequently for me with stormvermin. And its not like silent patrols for example would affect that, you'll get hit in the face (or just kill them ofc).

Indeed just to expand on this for newer players PING ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ EVERYTHING even if they're isolated miles off, even if they're a milisecond away from being hit by 2 handguns. Specials and Elites.

Even the best players can sometimes miss things that are actually quite close by and easily within their peripheral but they may be distracted by something else that you don't know about. When room clearing or just hooking corners in general you ping, even if it's the first thing you engage, it warns those behind you.

When sneaking past patrols it can often pay to have 3 people ping them, you ping the pointman, rearguard and someone in the middle, it lets you track it's shape as it moves allowing you to further ensure you don't inadvertently come into contact with it (as we all know they love to randomly stop and pause), update the pings when they wear off as well, there's nothing to stop anyone pinging something else should the need arise.