This is a quote replying to (yet another) “Is Rhino OP?” thread.
[quote=“LifeupOmega;65207”]I just don’t get how they made a merc who’s so outright boring to fight and play as. There’s nothing interesting about him at all, and outside of tap-fire sniping people he’s just there being a more mobile turret. They could have given him some fun abilities or something but nope, minigun.
This rotation is really driving that home for me.[/quote]
While I don’t think Rhino in his current form is overpowered, he is a tad boring. During his free rotations, a lot of newer players tend to gravitate to him. I think it’s the Minigun’s infinite ammo and Rhino’s high health that draw crowds. Whenever someone as Rhino actually uses their shotty or pistol, it’s treated as an event.
Don’t get me wrong, the concept of Rhino has appeal. He’s slow, requiring constant deliberation and planning. Careful positioning is required to be effective with Rhino. In return, he can take a beating and give it right back to the enemy. However, in his current incarnation, he’s neither fun to play nor fun to fight. There’s nothing even playing up the “party tank” role he looks and acts suited for. He’s just another butthole for your gun or knife to violate on a regular basis, just with a bigger gun and more health.
Reworking Rhino, then, needs to keep to the concept of “party tank” while simultaneously giving him unique and powerful roles no one else can bring to the fight.
Class: Assault
Health: 200
Speed: 350
Primary Weapon: Minigun
Functions identically to the current Minigun, except with less bloom, no overheating, and limited ammo this time around. Never needing a reload, the Minigun’s 150 round (250 with the Spares augment) magazine can floor quite a few of the crunchies should they dare to challenge him. It’s recommended to catch Rhino off guard, as the Minigun takes awhile to spin up or to switch away to another weapon.
Secondary and Melee selection remain unchanged.
Ability 1: Body Armor
Much like 'Bonez drops medpacks or 'Hammer drops ammopacks, Rhino can drop armored vests for his team. 15s cooldown, 2 in reserve at a time. When armored, the vests protect against 50% of all incoming non-explosive damage, even headshots. The vests will break after absorbing 120 damage, but that doesn’t mean the wearer won’t be dead before then.
Ability 2: Rampage
After sitting still and holding the button down for 3 seconds to prime the ability, Rhino will issue forth a mighty warcry. For the next 10 seconds, Rhino deals double damage and resists headshots, but cannot be healed or resupplied for the duration. Surrounding teammates are conferred a 50% damage boost. 90 seconds cooldown and only one in reserve at a time, so use it wisely. Stop an enemy Rhino from successfully bringing this Ability to bear by hitting him while he primes the Ability; if this happens, Rhino will need to wait 30 seconds before retrying. Alternately, just brute-force it; if Rhino is incapped, the Rampage continues but he can’t be Revived until it ends.