So I've been playing with the tortofists lately and I've come to the conclusion that these weapons aren't actually that bad. However, there are a lot of moments while using them that will turn people off almost immediately, and over time you come to know what they are more.
- Tortofist range
- Charge attack
- Damage
The tortofists have a pathetic amount of range to their standard shots. The combination of a punch-shoot makes this gun optimal in close ranges right? Wrong. This gun is a single-target gun, but it's still a gun. I would say increasing the bullet range by a single tile would make all the difference in the world for standard use. The bullet oftens falls short right in the face of an enemy.
The charge attack has a problem in that you only hit so many times, then it stops being effective. Everyone knows the problem with invincitinks. However, if you miss a charge enemies will rarely ever actually find a way into the crystals. Many times I have attempted to knock an enemy into the ground crystals after they land, and 3/4 times I shieldbump/knock them back just as the crystals disappear. Having those ground crystals stay around for another second would increase the charge's potency, and with invincitinks still in effect, wouldn't increase damage output to much.
Additionally, enemies will try to walk around tortofist charges. This is neat and all, but enemies don't try to avoid shard bombs or the likes, so it shouldn't be anything different here. Either remove the collision on the crystals or make them act like a low wall that enemies would try to get right up against and attack you from (gremlins in decon zones will attack you over the low-walls).
The gun does a fair amount of damage - if you get every hit in. I would say add a higher knockdown chance on the melee hit and slightly more damage on the bullet (take a bit of damage away from the melee hit to make it do roughly the same damage). This allows you to hit more often. Additionally, give the bullet a larger explosion radius so that it deals damage across more than a single target.
That's about everything I have an issue with. Attack and reload speed is fine, even without boosts. Damage is kind of lackluster but with damage boosts it's competitive. The way I see tortofists right now is something similar to how cutters are viewed - they are lacking just slightly, and a very small push will get them over into a wider used area. Cutters need another half a tile of range, and a tiny boost in damage - additionally they need a piercing variant. Adding damage/ASI boosts make them a powerhouse. Tortofists need another tile of range, longer lasting charge crystals, and stacking the damage more on the bullet. Right now, CTR and damage boosts make them a pretty good weapon, but the standard attacks are lacking and very situational, much like how a cutter's charge attack is very situational.
what if the shards worked like a minefield, i.e. they exploded only if an enemy was near them? to balance that, you can only have 1-2 fields of shards active at any time.