I’ve been itching to talk about this subject, but due to other games, procrastination, and cake spamming, I haven’t had the time. I would poot excuses here, or craft a fake alibi, but I will just ignore it. Anyways, let’s get on to the subject!
Buffing Vanaduke
Why? Because, my friend, he is just too easy. At least, for pros or Blitzslingers/Shivermisters. I will not talk about professionalism, but I will about the practically no-skill weapons. This, coming from someone who owns a dusty Polaris and Rocket Hammer, if you can imagine. No, this is not a nerfing gear post, it’s a buffing monster post. Against gear. Similar, not congruent. If anyone is wondering why these pieces of equipment are targeted, search ‘Vanaduke Run’ on YouTube. Reason enough for you? Also, I’ll be changing a few mechanics around. I should stop procrastinating in writing this on Word. Anyway, I will propose my changes one at a time, in one post.
Against Blitz Needle
Easy. Blitz’s ludicrous damage is practically doubled when it’s effective. I propose a change to make Vanaduke neutral to everything, since he’s currently a Fien-remlin combo right now. This will hamper the damage. A lot. Blitz Needle still sounds sweet to you? Yes? Fine, change the Slag Guards’ AI to target any stationary target at a much higher priority than moving ones. For me, it seems un-ideal for FSC. Unless you’re bringing it for the Trojans.
If you’re wondering how this will change that much, when soloing, Vanaduke in his first stage has approximately, I’d say 36k health? I think, since I counted the numbers up a few months ago. Blitz charge does 4080 on the Duke. Without bonuses. What? That means, in 9 charges, he’d bite the dust. Or fling his mask off first. After the proposed change, the needle will do2865 damage- way less. That means, you’ll charge up 12 times. Still good, but with those Guards flying around, I’d leave my needle at home.
Against Shivermist Buster
This weapon is weird. With minor freeze, it manages to freeze-lock the game’s (normal) final boss! That seems wrong. This weapon isn’t necessarily too powerful, but it has such a ludicrous combo with Blitz and range that it’s a mostly-must-have for FSC Junkies. It freezes mobs of monsters fine, that’s what it was meant for. But a massive, 20- foot gargantuan, frostbitten by this minor freeze thing-a-ma-bobber? Not okay. I should probably get on to balancing Vanaduke.
(Vanaduke + Immune to Minor freeze = Good!) Make Vanaduke immune to minor freeze. That’s all I ask for. This will make Shivermist useful for doing its actual job, not as an abuse toy. And, maybe more Hail Drivers will show up in the near future. You never know.
Ceiling Timbers
Other than causing lag and spreading Shadow Fire, these things have no use. I suggest that while, they should inflict medium stun, while this post is talking about boosting the Duke. No, I’m not going to re-add the damage or repeat the stun isn’t broken anymore. Why haven’t they fixed Sudaruska? Anyways, the timbers should be effective now. Why? Because, my friend how long does it take to execute a Blitz charge whilst stunned? A long time. I could literally crack and check all of my fingers and toes by the time it finishes. And you’re a sitting duck. Heh. But this also works on other weapons, because everyone hates stun when there’s a big guy who smashes the slow.
Also, they should stack stun, like increase effectiveness of the stun while lengthening it to make it a very lovely day for Stagger Stormers. Ahem… Moving on!
Da Mace
Why is it that his mace only has a hitbox about three meters away? So that you can stand under his armpit and get knocked back, but not damaged. I mean, it’s not like his arm passes through you. Instead, when he smashes, anyone under it gets knocked to the side, stunned, and damaged. So it looks realistic, you know?
Also, to make him scarier, once he smashes, if he hits no one, wait for it… *Signals for drumroll*
dumbadumbadumba dumbadumbadumba
dumbadumbadumba dumbadumbadumba
dumbadumbadumba dumbadumbadumba… Ding-Crash!
…He drags his mace across the floor to the nearest knight, stunning, burning, leaving a trail of shadow fire, although not redirecting, yes Nick; I’m proposing a cheap screen wipe. He’s the final boss, what do you expect?
Big, Fat, Hissy Fire
This is not one of my better suggestions, but here goes. I propose….
… That it goes in linear directions. Yes, I am an OCD freak. Sort of. Now, people don’t have to worry about cheap homing fire, but they get another obstacle. Math! Just kidding. Sort of (Again).But it goes like this. For the last stage, how much percentage his health is relative to the stage’s maximum increases the amount of fire streams, or increases the thickness. Here’s the info.
% Health | Thickness* | Numerosity | Angle
100 | 0.56 | 3 | 60 degrees
80 | 0.75 | 4 | 45 degrees
60 | 1 | 4 | 45 degrees
40 | 1.3 | 5 | 36 degrees
20 | 2 | 6 | 30 degrees
0 | ..what? | N/A | …lol
*(cm on full screen, 1680x1280)
Wow. That was quite an adventure. This is my first balancing post, so I don’t expect it to be perfect. Bring on the criticism!
Blitz is not doubled on targets weak to piercing; it's more like 40%. This is before you get to damage bonuses. Since defence works lineary, at max damage the difference is barely 20%. The problem doesn't lie in piercing weakness, Blitz is just overpowered, period. I use Volcanic Pepperbox on Vana and wouldn't dream of using anything else against him, for the record.
Minor freeze immunity is already in place on Darkfire Vana. I think that instead of making him immune, you could give the man some kind of attack to deal with targets he aren't facing. Maybe, if he goes too long without being able to attack anyone, he'll start smashing the ground furiously in order to spawn fire tiles. Maybe he'll summon extra slag guards in random locations. Plain freeze immunity is a bit boring.
Maybe he'll stop up and expand his rotating rings of fire. This would encourage players to water those things, in addition. A big draw to the blitz needle is that it'll let you fire right through them and not have to bother about the fire orbs at all. I don't blame the one bit, as the fire orbs just tend to respawn at inopportune moments and burn you to death by surprise.
Stun on the ceiling timbers seems good. It'll teach players to avoid them.
The dragging thing is interesting, but it should be some kind of predictable, avoidable deal. Maybe just drag it 90 degress to the right. It would be avoidable if you were close enough to or far enough away from Vana, in addition.
Someone may or may not point out that I also made a thread about rebalancing Vanaduke. People got really caught up in me wanting to fix some things that are broken and unfair in the fight and figured it meant I wanted the fight to be easier. I enjoy my games tough, but fair.