Spiral Knights - Armor and Helmet abilities!

Armor and Helmet abilities!

12 replies [Last post]

Sat, 08/24/2013 - 13:36

Autofire

Hello! After reading Fehzor's thread, it gave me an idea...

Let's all make suggestions toward this! I hope to eventually cover every armor, though some may miss out because their current, passive bonuses are good enough to warrant lack of ability.

Now, you don't have to do it this way, but I suggest a few guidelines.

Helmets get active abilities which are cast like Battle Sprite skills.
- These skills would have cool downs attached to them.
- The dash would be replaced by this to keep needed buttons from cropping up too much. (I suggest that Merc or another speedy helmet/s would get a dash functionality.)
Armors would get passive abilities which would either activate when a certain condition is met, or would enable some other functionality.
- These would get cool downs, too, though probably not such a large one.
- There should be a button to toggle these abilities in case their effect isn't wanted in the current situation.
These abilities should complement each other, but they shouldn't depend on each other. If I wear a whole set, I want its function to match an intended play style well, but I don't want to have to craft a Dragon Helm in order to use the ability of my Mail in a viable way.
It's best if armors get abilities at lower star ratings, at least at 3*. This way, the player can try the ability early on and know what their investing in instead of being having to fully upgrade said armor in order to try it. (This is a glaring flaw of Mercurial, because you must upgrade it all the way before you get the MSI at all, and it helps to be able to try it for yourself first. Videos don't suffice for me.)
Try to keep the mindset that gear doesn't necessarily have to be balanced (though it's a plus), but rather diversified and non-bland.
Be vague when it comes to numbers. Don't say "Cool down of 17 seconds," but instead "Cool down of around 17 seconds." The devs would be tinkering with numbers, so 17 seconds might not be balanced at all.
Some armors should probably get a buff or nerf defense-wise. For example, I think Cobalt stuff should be kept as a beginner's armor, and should receive a large defense boost but no abilities.
As long as you are adding your own idea, you may necro this thread.
You can make something up for another piece of gear when someone else did it. So that means you can come up with your own Mad Bomber or Skelly abilities even though Spy and I already came up with ideas for 'em.
Skills for branches may be different. I.e. Dragon Scale and Radiant Silver Mail would be candidates for different skills.

I have reasons for doing a suggestion like this:

There is no way I can suggest stuff for every armor in the game. That would be massively tedious, biased, and error prone.
I want the community to have a part in this.
It makes it easy for me to add more ideas whenever I get them. I'd rather not edit a 3-page long post to shove a small idea in there.
I like hippos.

Sat, 08/24/2013 - 13:37

Autofire

You are experiencing a PICNIC ERROR!

Though it is all open-ended, I suggest following a format like this one. It will make things neater.

--Skelly Mask Line--
Name: Black Light
Target: AoE around the user
Effect: Any monsters caught in this area lose ALL agrro and get knocked back slightly. Has a chance of flinching. This fails on most bosses.
Cool down: Roughly 30-40 seconds.
Upgrade's effect: Increases AoE and chance to flinch. Decreases cool down.

--Skelly Armor Line--
Name: Cruel Ambush
Target: User
Trigger: When the user attacks an enemy which has no aggro. (Doesn't include hazes or thrown items.)
Effect: For a short duration, the user's attacks are boosted.
Cool down: Roughly 4-6 seconds.
Upgrade's effect: Decreases cool down slightly and increases attack boost.

--Vitasuit, Vitasuit Plus, and Vitasuit Delux--
Name: Emergency Sacrifice
Target: Ally
Effect: After clicking on a dead party member, you have the option to give them your emergency revive if you still have it.
Upgrade's effect: None (Vitasuit's health boost is okay.)

Sat, 08/24/2013 - 14:34

Waffleconecake

no thanks. -1

We don't need more free attacks, autofire.
As much as I love the skelly powers I would rather have armor passives used by the devs as a kind of balance tool. Good passives to under powered armor, weakening effects to over powered ones.
I like having armor balanced because I dislike the idea of a single prodominate armor.

Sat, 08/24/2013 - 18:26

Possiblespy

That ambush sounds fun.

--Mad Bomber Helmet Line--
Name: Attention Getter
Target: AoE around the user
Visual Effect: Same animation as /shout.
Effect: Any monsters caught in this area lose ALL aggro to party members other than the user.
Cool down: Roughly 20-30 seconds.
Upgrade's effect: Increases AoE. Decreases cool down.

This would be neat for if you wanted to have everything walking towards, say, the Nitronomes at your feet.

--Mad Bomber Suit Line--
Name: Big Getaway
Target: User
Effect: User gains a puny amount of movement speed increase for every monster aggro'd at him/her.
Cool down: Constantly in effect
Upgrade's effect: Ever so slightly increases MSI per aggro'd monster.

This would be good for in case you get too much attention, and have to try to outrun greavers or mecha-knights.

Sat, 08/24/2013 - 19:10

Soulstaker

i haz idea

Maybe for Royal Jelly line you can summon some mini-jellies to fight for you (Should deal less damage than a mecha knight but idk how much damage a mecha knight does.) You can summon 3 at a time and maybe upgrade to 5 mini jellies? I don't know if they should attack the nearest target, attack the monstor you are attacking, or you can choose which target to attack (I don't know how this will work though.) Ice queen armour set's mini jellies should have slight higher damage and have a small chance of inflicting low or medium freeze. I honestly think OOO won't implement this but I guess it doesn't hurt to suggest anything new that is game changing but reasonable. Why not suggest something for my favorite armour set (Even though I don't own it :P)

Edit: For Jelly set: You can summon only 1 yellow mini-jelly and it won't do as much damage as Royal Set's jellies. Brute Jelly set should be able to summon 2 blue mini-jellies that are stronger than the 2* version but still weaker royal jelly's set. Royal set's mini-jellies should be the classic purple ones to indicate that they are superior.
I don't want to give any damage numbers due to jot knowing if they will be too OP. As for the cooldown, maybe around 40-50 seconds? I don't know, if OOO ever decides to make this real they should tinker with the numbers.

Sat, 08/24/2013 - 19:28

Autofire

You are experiencing a PICNIC ERROR!

I like having armor balanced because I dislike the idea of a single prodominate armor.

What predominate armor? Whenever something is OP you always can just increase the cooldown. I don't get it...

Oh wait, nvm. You are talking about the helms, right? These aren't supposed to be attacks. They are supposed to be supportive or aiding, but never supposed to deal direct damage. Just like the dash. This isn't an attack. Also, you would lose the dash unless you wear something which grants it.

@Possiblespy

Good, yes this is what I mean.

@Whoever

I didn't make this clear, so I'll put it in now...you can make something up for another piece of gear when someone else did it. So that means you can come up with your own Mad Bomber or Skelly abilities, though Spy and I already came up with idea for 'em.

EDIT: @Soulstaker

I like it. Even if you do not use my format, it's still fine. It just makes things neater.

I propose a few additions, though. Using the helmet skill should hurt you a bit, though only by a small amount. The armor variation, which would be very similar, would have a chance of spawning more slimes when you take damage. The mini jellies should have limited lifetimes to prevent abuse. (Weee look at me! I have an army!)

Sat, 08/24/2013 - 19:18

Possiblespy

Branches!

I have what I think is a neat idea for Arcane Salamander, but I'm not sure what to do about the rest of the Chroma lines. Should I try to make it all work together, or just treat the branch off as a completely new line of one?

Sat, 08/24/2013 - 19:38

Autofire

You are experiencing a PICNIC ERROR!

You don't have to include every deviation in your idea. Sorry, I forgot about that...

Branches can have different abilities. It's mostly things of the same line or set. What is considered part of a line, IMO, is when the 5* result is like the starting version. For example, Wolver goes to Skolver (both have Freeze, Pierce, and Attack Damage) and Jelly goes to Royal Jelly (similar stats). So you could just say your idea for Arcane, and leave the rest alone. (Because Arcane is notably different from Volc, at least in looks and description.)

For me, my idea was to give Virulisk and Arcane invisibility stuff. (The difference here is defenses.) Volc Salamander would probably get something entirely different. My Virulisk and Arcane Mask idea is something like a very short lived invisibility which cannot be broken early, and Suits get invisibility when standing still for long enough, which would get interrupted when moving or when the timer runs out. (This is so that Maskeraith's cloak isn't made useless-it would last much longer than either.)

Sat, 08/24/2013 - 20:10

Tahno

Hey Autofire

Its a neat idea, but all abilities would have to be passive, we don't want to overshadow our battle sprites with both weapons AND helmets. We also don't want more buttons, cause our 4th vial on default is 6. Lets not make that 7. But passive, or maybe "automatic" abilities are different. Lets change it to..

--Skelly Line--
Name: Cruel Ambush
Target: User
Trigger: When the user attacks an enemy which has no aggro. (Doesn't include hazes or thrown items.)
Effect: For a short duration, the user's attacks are boosted.
Cool down: Roughly 4-6 seconds.
Upgrade's effect: Decreases cool down slightly
Full set effect: The damage bonus given is doubled, and the user is given slight ASI.

Sat, 08/24/2013 - 21:39

Possiblespy

Lizard is kinda pet-themed, right?

--Arcane Salamander Mask--
Name: Witchcraft
Target: User
Effect: The user's next three attacks are guarenteed to inflict statuses, if they normally have the possibility of doing so.
Cool down: Roughly 30-40 seconds.

All the statuses we have can be caused by and therefore enhanced by magic, right? Plus, this should work well with my idea for a suit.

--Arcane Salamander Suit--
Name: Energy Transfer
Target: User's battlesprite.
Trigger: When the user stuns an enemy.
Effect: The Battle Sprite's cool downs instantly finish.
Cool down: Roughly 20-30 seconds.

Through the magic of magic, you take the energy from an enemy and give it your your Battle Sprite. The enemy slows down, (stun,) and your Battle Sprite speeds up. (cooldowns.)

Sun, 08/25/2013 - 03:37

#10

Thunder-The-Bright

tahno, as autofire already said, you should be able to use hybrids to combine abilities. full set should work in synergy, not buff each other so that it's useless to get another armor type.
that being said:

ancient plate helm
name: shield of the guardian
target: user
effect: increases your maximum health with blue pips.
duration: 30 secs
cooldown: 60-90 secs

ancient plate mail
name: guardian's oath
target: user and a party member.
trigger: when a party member is dealt normal damage.
effect: all/half normal damage is deflected to the user. apply the user's defenses to the attack.
cooldown: 30-40 secs

Sun, 09/15/2013 - 19:07

#11

Cartoonknight

Gunslinger Stuff and a Quicksilver Idea

--Nameless Set--
Name: Bottomless Clip
Target: User
Trigger: When the user does a certain amount of gun damage (based on stratum level)
Effect: The user gains a low ASI on their guns, and the ability to fire continously without reloading.
Duration: About 12 seconds (5 per piece, bonus for the full set)
Cooldown: About 30-40 seconds

--Deadshot Set--
Name: Skull Splitter
Target: User
Trigger: When the full moon rises (Every 30-40 seconds)
Animation: Like the charge attack flash, but eerie blue
Effect: Non-alchemer projectiles will penetrate enemies, with a little slant (Up to 2, not including the original target)
Duration: 10-25 seconds(?)

--Justifier Set--
Name: Sniper
Target: User
Trigger: Dash button(?)
Effect: Bullet range and speed is doubled (The projectiles, not the firing speed), may include sprite's 1st attack
Duration: (?)

--Quicksilver Set--
Name: Supercharge
Target: User
Trigger: Dash button
Effect: User gains a med MSI per armor piece(stacked with base MSI, totals to MSI Maximum!) and applies Shock to enemies that come in contact with the user.

I'm not sure if this thread is dead or not, just thought I'd throw my two cents in.

Sun, 09/15/2013 - 21:52

#12

Blandaxt

Ideas..

@Autofire:

For this idea I would like that all armors that have a set and that comes with a shield such as the breaker sets to have passive abilities that do not boost stats but has an actual combat effective ability and armors that do not have sets such as the Silvermail to have passive abilities that are always active. Armors that come with sets that do not come with a shield will have abilities that boost stats but are not always active. This would categorize the armors in abilities that help in combat, abilities that boost stats and abilities that boost stats and are always active.

So for example Silvermail would fall under the category of having an ability that boost stats and is always active sense it does not have a helm or a shield. This ability could be that the armor would increase its shadow defense by 15% of the damage taken from an undead creature. Radiant Silvermail would increase this by 30%.

Vog set would fall under the category of having an ability that boost stats but is not always active sense it does not have a shield. Vog ability could be that when on a level that is fire theme, player can activate this passive ability where the attack speed is increase to high and damage inflicted by fire is reduced further by a small percentage. Also, normal and elemental defense rises significantly.

Ancient set would fall in the category where it has a combat effective ability sense it comes with a matching shield. Ancient set's ability could be Maximum shield where the shield becomes impenetrable and all push back from attacks like the Trojan, lumber, and vanaduke smash for a short duration (like 5 seconds).

About weapons, I feel all weapons should automatically come with their own abilities that can be passive or active without the player having to do anything different from attacking like they normally have to do. For example, "Cold iron Vanquisher" Should automatically reduce undead attack power with each normal hit to the undead creature. The charge attack ability would remain the same except for one small change. The charge attack would stack up the souls of the undead on that it destroys on the chains surrounding the blade. Then after reaching the maximum amount of souls that it can keep, it will unleash a charge attack that unleash the chains on the blade that would attach itself to any undead creature in a wide bomb like radius and pull them towards the knight, and the knights blade would grow 2 inches while spinning around for the normal charge attack damaging all undead creatures near the knight. The number of undead creatures needed to activate this attack can be 10 and the charge attack damage do not change from the normal charge attack, but when the chains attach itself to the undead creature, it will do a small amount of damage. The player does not have to do anything different to activate this attack. Once the knight has killed 10 undead creatures with the blade, it will unleash that attack (undead turrets do not count "Howlitzer"). When the monsters are being pulled towards the knight, they would ignore all objects and just pass through them. I would call this attack "Chains of redemption"

I think all weapons should come with this kind of system where the player just has to meet certain conditions to activate their ultimate attack and the player do not have to do any kind of different actions to activate the attack. This way it would differentiate from pet skills and would not require a cool down.

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Armor and Helmet abilities!