addition to storylines because, up to now, endgame players have nothing to do but grinding vana. I have something in mind, I'll explain later. way later.
you can counter me as many time you like. I'll improve the suggestion if what you say makes sense, if it doesn't destroy my suggestion and if it's not a necro. control the date of the last post before posting. thank you.
swarm boss
please note: I want this to be as hard as possible. blame me if you want, but it will get hardcore in later depths.
WALL OF TEXT INCOMING
To be allowed, you must have vanguard rank and you must have completed all SLs before this. if you don't have the requirements, you don't enter, even if all other members of your party have the requirements. You must have one shadow key.
the gate name would be "heart of the swarm" (no StarCraft reference. actually it seems that when I think of some ideas they probe me and steal them; last was sonic generations)
consisting in 5 depths, the setting would be like the unknown passage in the first 2 levels, then the background will become black for 2 levels. On the last one you will not see the background at all.
In the first 3 levels you can change equips at any time, like in the unknown passage; in the last two, you can’t.
first, when on the elevator, the elevator gates are up but you remain still. the echo stones fly from you to create a field, that powers the elevator, and so you can go on. this happens on every elevator.
first depth: descent into darkness
this is the swarm depth of a normal shadow liar. nothing is added up to now.
second depth: the reign of darkness
this will be in a castle, like scarlet fortress or RJP. it begins with an arena. large room, 5 spawning points, swarm seed at center, 4 waves. then a party button leading to a long narrow corridor full of spawning points and swarm seeds. after battling your way through, a party button in an horizontal room. upon activating, blast boxes appear at the sides, along with 6 spawning points, and 2 swarm seeds. 3 waves. after that, 2 more spawning points and one seed appear, and 2 swarm Trojans will spawn. swarm Trojans and swarm cubes will spawn too from now on. Trojans will have a low chance of spawning, but with 8 swarm sources it will be likely. 3 more waves. after, a maze like unknown passage, then the elevator.
notes:
swarm Trojans: the swarm versions of your preferred fiend. it acts just like the last phase of Arkus. or like a normal Trojan, still have to decide. It will be the only enemy dropping hearts; he will drop a big heart and a medium heart once killed, for a total of 5 pips.
swarm cubes: the second jelly type makes its appearance as a swarm enemy. the appearance is like a black ice cube, but fire will not melt it. may cause strong freeze on hit.
third depth: enemy approaching
this will be like a deconstruction zone. the elevator will be next to you, you need a golden key. you need to go from the lower left to the upper right corner to get the key. obviously, there would be lots of swarm sources and of seeds on all the way.
going on the party button will trigger a dialog (well, monolog). the swarm says you: "so, finally, someone has descent into our reign. it will be pleasant see you being slaughtered by our endless minions!" possibly, this should be as the echo stone thing.
now, to get the key, you need to do an arena. little room, 4 spawning points, swarm seed at the center, 5 waves. after this battle, the sources and the seed disappear, and the key appears. now you need to get from the upper right to the lower left with the key. after polarising and brandishing your way through, you get on the elevator. but actually, supernova would be better.
notes:
enemies outside the arena will still spawn while you are inside, but they should be capped at 100.
I would add swarm menders and/or demos here. and retrodes too.
fourth depth: the swarm champions
this will be a boss run. you heard that. to give difficulty to all this, you can change equips only before the run. then you will have to do all the bosses with the same equips. bosses, instead of tokens and loot, will drop hearts. 10 pips of health for each boss.
another swarm dialog, just after you go off the elevator: "we see our weaker minions are no match for you... we will go with something different then."
let's give some y-axis style to all this. after the party is on the party button, the button goes down to the boss floor, then the boss appears. on the last one, you will find the elevator instead.
fifth depth: hell
you will find yourself in a city like heaven, but swarm infested. You can heal to full health right after you get off the elevator. The swarm lets you pass on until a party button at the center of a square; then the swarm says: "you are powerful indeed. the light gives you strength. but darkness is powerful too. we have a surprise for you. *eyes flash on the background, same color as the swarm "lines"*" at this point, a knight emerges from the darkness. his color is purple, and he is wearing proto armor. he shouts: *purple text field* "we will show you how much is OUR strength!" yep, it's the boss.
this guy will have 6 phases. at the end of every phase, heavy knockback and interruption is dealt to all party members, and all status dealt to the boss will be canceled.
note: when I say a set, I mean "a dark reskin of *insert name* set".
phase 1:
swarm knight wears proto set. he is strong against shadow, and weak to nothing. he will attack with proto sword (melee), proto gun(ranged) and proto bomb (used to /not to be cornered) dealing normal damage. he will use normal attacks and charge attacks. he will cause fair knockback with the sword and heavy knockback with the bomb, and no knockback with the gun. he will have some tracking, but not so much. after taking enough damage, phase 2 triggers.
phase 2:
swarm knight now wears spiral scale set, and has bolted blade, pummel gun and an upgraded proto bomb (no normal bomb 1*, so this one.). his attack and defense defenses increase slightly. charge time decreases. his tracking is upgraded. he deals interruption on sword and bomb. his movement speed is slightly increased. after taking enough damage, phase 3 triggers.
phase 3:
swarm knight now has full cobalt set. attack is increased. defense is increased, especially piercing. charge time is decreased. he can shield bullets now, but no shield bump. his shield will work like Arkus'. he will deal interruption with all weapons. tracking improved. 1 phantom knight is spawned. movement speed increase. after taking enough damage, phase 4 will trigger.
phase 4: here things get tricky.
3* cobalt set. defense increased, but more piercing defense. attack increased. full tracking. MSI. CTR (he gets all the good UVs, dammit!). 2 swarm seeds are spawned. they slowly heal the swarm knight if he is idle (i.e.: when not shielding, attacking or charging.). he deals knockback with gun too (what the). same shield pattern. when he has taken enough damage, phase 5 triggers.
phase 5:
4* cobalt set. he is now strong to piercing too. attack and defense increased. MSI and CTR. he now shields like a normal knight. he can avoid attacks with a striker dash (short). Now swarm seeds will not heal him only when he attacks or charges. another phantom knight is spawned. when he has taken enough damage, phase 6 triggers.
phase 6:
azure guardian set. attack and defense increased. CTR. 2 more swarm seeds. striker dash lasts longer, and he uses it to lounge too. this will be a pain. after enough damage is taken, battle is over.
you immediately get a material (to all party): wicked soul- a completely corrupted soul. just holding it fills you with anger. it seems it's haunting you.
the swarm knight falls and sink into darkness. "very well" the swarm says. "now we know your kind enough. you are not required to us anymore. you will just join us, as your fellows before you!" 4 more swarm knights emerge from the darkness. as they go for you, you are pulled to the party button while they will be knocked back. a white knight appears in the center of the party button. he wears the white guardian armor set (explained later) , and has an argent peacemaker. a shield protects you as everything else falls into darkness. you go down with the knight, into the light.
notes: boss is not immune to status effects, but since spawn monsters do not drop vials, you will be likely to be prepared before entering the shadow liar.
sixth depth: the temple- source of the light
you find yourself in the entrance of a temple. the white knight has left you. the door is closed. there are 4 little pillars, as you approach them, an echo stone flies from you to the top of the pillar, forming a statue of a boss. after all pillars are activated, the door opens. you go up and find yourself in a white temple. here you find:
10k crowns. that is more than UFSC I think, and it's not market destroying due to difficulty of entering.
material: pure soul- a soul purified from evil. just holding it fills you with a sense of peace. it follows you for his own will.
the temple alchemy machine: used to craft the white guardian set and the dark guardian set. not a reskin of the guardian sets we have, please. I’m still undecided if add it without an alchemy line or make it match others. I thought of drake scale set ( radiant silvermail) for white guardian and skelly set for dark guardian. I’m no designer, and I cannot explain well, but I’ll do what I can.
White guardian: shadow and elemental defense on the mail, shadow and normal on the helm. Half stun resistance to both. Level 1+: +5 health; level 5+: +6 health. Based on: radiant silvermail
Armor: the chestplate is a little bigger that the radiant silvermail’s one. And the “feathers” on the gloves will be a bit longer. It will be pure white on the most; even arms should be. The rest should be light grey. Add a white glowing aura. I know, it’s similar to the Valkyrie.
Helm: I know that the set hasn’t got an helmet. Practically we have to make a terrible terrible thing: take it from the Valkyrie set. Just because I would rather shoot myself than having to design a brand new helmet by myself. So I’ll just do it.
The lower part of the helmet would be closed, not open like the actual Valkyrie. The “feathers” would be more vertical and a little longer. No halo. Pure white to this too, but there will be light grey where the actual Valkyrie is… light grey.
Materials:
Light Shard 20
Ecto Drop 5
Owlite Feather 4
Fine Fabric 3
Silver Coil 2
Pure Soul 1
Silvermail / Seraphic Helm (or none) (Level 10)
Dark guardian: shadow and elemental resistance to armor, shadow and normal on the helm. 1 bar of all status resistances to both pieces. Level 1+: +5 health. Level 5+: +6 health. Based on: dread skelly.
Armor: a bit littler armor on the shoulders, and way littler on the hands. Make the “claws” go down. Add a plate so they don’t punch you in the stomach. Plates pure black, dark grey on the other parts.
Helm: take down those horns. Higher the lower edge. Add claws to the lower edge, facing downwards. Pure black the sides, dark grey the top and the claws.
Materials:
Dark Shard 20
Ecto Drop 5
Grave Soil 4
Soul Dust 3
Blighted Bone 2
Corrupted Soul 1
Sinister Skelly Suit (Level 10)
I don't really know how I can buff something without destroying everything, but I have some kind of limit I won't cross.
more normal defence on the helms and more piercing/elemental on the armors than normal 5* armors.
CTR +1 per piece.
I would like a new boss music for this, along with a new one for the temple. but those are accessories I will not whine for.
Note: due to demand, I’ll add guild hall thingy things.
The temple alchemy machine lets you craft “dark iron”: an extremely flexible yet resistant material. You can do many things with this. Cost: 5 reaper rib, 5 shadow steel, 1000 cr.
I have seen the enormous amount of materials and crowns you need for a piece of boss furniture. Well.
Phase 1 swarm knight replica: I would say 1 of each other SL materials, and 1 dark iron. And 50k cr, of course.
Phase 3 swarm knight replica: 2 of each other SL materials, 4 phase 1 replica, 75k cr.
Phase 6 swarm knight replica: 4 of each other SL materials, 4 phase 3 replica, 100k cr.
Ok, that should do.
boss: the guardian
to "where the crap this is going to get us":this.
That's quite a post you got there.
um...i'm not Luguiru so I don't have the will-power to read it all so, yea just skimmed over it
The idea seems alright. There has to be a Swarm nest (you know? Where the Swarm lives) and using the monsters listed seems also okay.
Personally (just me) would like to see just one location used for the entire run.
The idea of fighting swarm infested knights seems quite dangerous and adds to that storyline of lost soldiers.
p.s. quite funny that the soldiers have a purple color to them. just as the Three Ring Guild also uses this Purple -_-