The Wandering Vagrant's nuke attack needs some adjustments.

[SynthRose]

Every once in a while, the Wandering Vagrant charges up a "nuke" attack that deals massive damage to any players nearby. The range on the attack is massive and it's guaranteed to hit if you're in range and not behind cover. (Even then, the cover detection seems to be a little wonky sometimes. Both me and the people I've played with have reported being hit despite being being cover). While the charge-up takes quite a while and you're sure to notice it, the player is often not in a position to actually do anything about it. If the teleporter happens to be in a location where little cover is available, or if you were busy fighting other enemies and aren't near cover, the charge-up simply doesn't give you enough time to get out of the way of the attack. This results in a frustrating experience where you take massive damage (sometimes even a one-hit kill!) at no fault of your own. It's frustrating, it doesn't challenge the player's skill (since you can't dodge the attack - it always hits), and even when you can find cover, it disrupts the flow of combat.

Here's some possible remedies:

• Decrease the damage. This is probably the least effective remedy, since it doesn't actually solve the underlying issue; it just makes it less important.
  
• Increase the charge-up time dramatically (by a factor of 2 or more). This helps ensure that players have sufficient time to find cover before the attack activates. That way, if you do get hit, it's definitely your fault.
  
• Decrease the range dramatically. That way, players can dodge the attack by getting away from the boss *or* by taking cover, which ensures that players are less often stuck in a situation where they can't dodge the attack.
  
• Just remove or replace the attack altogether. Guaranteed-hit attacks (i.e. no beam or projectiles to dodge) are just not a fun mechanic, since the core of the game revolves around dodging enemy attacks. This attack doesn't support the game's design.
  
• If the attack is kept at all, the cover detection needs to be improved.

[GhostDragon]

A few tips from me:

1. Stay at long range if you can
2. He only uses the nuke at low health
3. He can't one hit you if you are full
health

[Nathan119]

Alternatively, consider that the "nuke" attack will start to happen at around 40%-30% health remaining and prepare yourself to move into cover at that point in the fight.
It's easy to prepare for an attack you know is coming. If you die to it, it is entirely your own fault because you didn't pay attention & you didn't prepare accordingly.

[SynthRose]

Originally posted by GhostDragon:

A few tips from me:
1. Stay at long range if you can

This isn't possible (or at least practical) with all characters.

Originally posted by GhostDragon:

2. He only uses the nuke at low health

Originally posted by Nathan119:

Alternatively, consider that the "nuke" attack will start to happen at around 40%-30% health remaining and prepare yourself to move into cover at that point in the fight.

This isn't well-communicated in-game.

Originally posted by GhostDragon:

A few tips from me:
3. He can't one hit you if you are full health

I swear I've seen this happen (granted, we were pretty underleveled because we decided to activate the teleporter earlier than we normally would), but it's possible I was somewhat damaged going into the attack. Either way, the attack can easily wipe out 70% of your health in a single go, which can be devastating.

Originally posted by Nathan119:

If you die to it, it is entirely your own fault because you didn't pay attention & you didn't prepare accordingly.

I think it's unfair to expect players to predict attacks before their start-up animation begins, especially when the battlefield is littered with other enemies you need to be paying attention to. But you're welcome to disagree.

[Vahnkiljoy]

The nuke IS well communicated, it literally only starts doing it at low health, not the gamea fault you don't want to pay attention.

[Zeddy]

There's always cover, because there's always a teleporter.
https://youtu.be/edhy2jLYlBA?t=120

At 2 minutes in this video, the player uses the teleporter spike for cover. Experienced players can plan ahead and know when the attack is coming because it's always going to be at low health. Knowing it's coming means the 5 second chargeup is plenty. Doubling it just makes the attack meaningless, because 10 seconds is more than enough to simply kill the boss before they're done.

Inexperienced players should keep a safe distance and play with caution. Any good video game is balanced as such. Facerolling with no idea what's going to happen should be punished.

[BlahBlah]

Originally posted by SynthRose:

While the charge-up takes quite a while and you're sure to notice it, the player is often not in a position to actually do anything about it. If the teleporter happens to be in a location where little cover is available, or if you were busy fighting other enemies and aren't near cover, the charge-up simply doesn't give you enough time to get out of the way of the attack.

You're failing to prepare for a very predictable attack, and rather than accept the need to improve, you demand changes are made to support your inability. The only time the player should be often in a position to not do something about it is when it's their first couple of times dealing with it. You ALWAYS have something to hide behind, the teleporter event doesn't suddenly delete everything from the map. If you need to walk out of the bubble for a few seconds, you do so. You will rarely ever need to do this, there are almost always small obstacles around to hide behind, the only time you can't use those is if the wandering vagrant floats above them, and that's easily dealt with by walking to the edge of the teleporter bubble to use other cover.
The wandering vagrant AOE is so piss easy to deal, it's like a stone titan laser except you can jump out of cover the second it's activated rather than need to wait several seconds. The only thing that needs fixing is how it's seemingly designed specifically to destroy all your drones, which really devalues an already costly purchase.
tl;dr git gud

[Enyo]

Most of your complaints seem to come from a place of being a bit of a scrub or playing the merc matchup too aggressively, to which i say don't be afraid to leave the teleporter bubble and/or cool your jets.
That said, it would be nice if they had the vagrant start nuking at a slightly lower hp threshold so that accidentally causing a pack of them to nuke isn't so common.

[KoJeT_]

I can't be bothered to read the entire wall of text here but. If its possible putting cover between you and the vagrant prevents damage as well. It can't hurt you if it doesn't have line of sight.

[Devily]

Fall off damage could also work: the further away from the vagrant you are, the less damage you take from the explosion.
The same could work with a lot of auto hit enemy attacks really, specifically the Aureolite and Titan, maybe the wisps too: the far away you are the less damage you take.

[Ghaleon]

That attack d oesn't bother me THAT much except for when you get like 4+ spawning on the top of the cliffside seperated from the rest of t he map area on that one map. god that's such an annoying place to fight multiples.

[Zeddy]

Originally posted by Devily:

Fall off damage could also work: the further away from the vagrant you are, the less damage you take from the explosion.
The same could work with a lot of auto hit enemy attacks really, specifically the Aureolite and Titan, maybe the wisps too: the far away you are the less damage you take.

For vagrant and titan laser this is already in the game. Haven't tested wisps.

[Jayscee]

Git Gud

[Xilo The Odd]

Originally posted by GhostDragon:

A few tips from me:


3. He can't one hit you if you are full
health

yes.... yes he can. i'd post a vid but plenty of us know by the 3rd or 4th loop it has this level of power.

[Professor Placid]

I think a better solution might be making better visual indicators that the attack is one that cover works on, perhaps indicating with a sort of lighting effect. Without research, or extensive trial and error, it can feel like the vagrant is a broken boss.

[TrjMan]

It's a line of sight attack that starts at the same point of all it's other projectile attacks. You can even avoid it just by standing on it's head.

Just like a lot of the other bosses you should try and keep some cover near by so when they start telegraphing the attack you can duck behind it.

If you're the Mercenary on the other hand just jump on it's head and chop away till it's dead.