[Merc Concepts] Bore, Puppeteer, and Conduit

(Mr-Penguin) #1

A few merc concepts because I haven’t made anything new in about a month and because I can’t be arsed to come up with a backstory or appearance.

Bore- Fire Support
100 (110?) HP, 420 SP
Primary Ability- Breach Charge
CD- 45 sec
Bore loads a breach charge into a launcher and fires it. With a two-step detonation process, the breach charge will impact into a target and then begin to drill into it. Pressing the Primary Ability button again will cause the charge to detonate. The longer the charge is allowed to drill into the target, the more damage it will do at the cost of AOE damage. If the charge is detonated without drilling, it will act as a massive grenade of sorts with a 1.5 second delay before detonation. Be warned though- the charge can be destroyed by gunfire while drilling, which will cause it to deal much less damage.

TL;DR- Letting the charge drill in more will deal more damage to a single target (usually the EV), but not drilling it will turn it into a massive egg of death.

Puppeteer- Assault
120 HP, 400 SP
Primary Ability- Snare Bomb
CD- 25 sec
Puppeteer tosses a Snare Bomb that rolls shortly (can also roll on ceilings and walls!) before detonating, releasing a cloud of strands into its AOE that temporarily slow enemies. If they are unable to escape the AOE after 2 seconds, the strands knit together and lash the unfortunate enemies to the remains of the bomb, slowly dragging them in and restricting their movement while dealing 10 DPS.

TL;DR- Tosses bomb that ensnares enemies and makes them easy targets for headshots, as well as clumping them together for more lethal explosive abilities.

Conduit- Assault
130 HP, 395 SP
Primary Ability- Volt Spike
Conduit launches a spike that deploys quickly after landing. After deployment, the spike quickly emits a massive jolt of electricity that stuns and deals all enemies in its radius for 40 damage over 2 seconds. After that, all enemies in the radius suffer from a 10% speed decrease and periodic visual aimpunch as long as they remain in the AOE of the spike. Also, if another enemy comes closed to a shocked enemy, the electricity jumps to them, dealing damage and slightly stunning both the affected enemy and the one that came close. Enemies can be reshocked, and deployables act as a conduit of sorts to extend the range of the shock AOE and refresh damage.

TL;DR- Tosses a spike that electrifies enemies. Shocked enemies can have their charge chain to other enemies, and deployables extend shock AOE.

Notes and Analysis
[spoiler]
Bore is a rather novel fire support idea revolving around the trade-off between AOE and direct EV/objective damage. Should I wait to drill and risk the destruction of my breach charge? Or should I detonate early to eliminate the enemies around the EV? That’s what should be going through Bore player’s heads.

Puppeteer is a re-imagining of a previous merc idea, Grapple, that could lash enemies to walls to set up quick kills and limit mobility. Rather than go and reuse the single target lash though, Puppeteer uses an AOE snare, and enemies unlucky enough to be caught within will find themselves unable to escape and quick to eliminate with headshots.

Conduit is a little bit more interesting. I imagine a merc with the Volt Spike as a hybrid between Thunder and Stoker- stuns and an AOE area that keeps enemies out lest they want to be slowed and damaged. As a plus, it also keeps teammates away from each other and turns their deployables against them, as they become jumping points for more electric shocks. I had a great time imagining this put to work against Bridge defenders camped in the barricade room or the GH building.
[/spoiler]

I hoped you liked these merc ideas! Thanks or reading, and feel free to leave feedback below!

(Your worst knifemare.) #2

The first one seems too much like rainbow 6 seige

(Mr-Penguin) #3

Inspired by it, yes, but it’s not busting down walls or anything.

Think of it as an alternative to Javelin’s rocket launcher.

(Your worst knifemare.) #4

Do like the other 2 though, Conduits my favorite

(gg2ez) #5

Yooooo! It’s Ash!

(Mr-Penguin) #6

?

(ZeroFactor) #7

So is bore just Fletcher’s sticky bombs fired out of Nader’s nade launcher but with more damage?

(Mr-Penguin) #8

Sort of. The detonation process is a bit different, as there is a time the charge has to drill to achieve optimum damage against a single target. It can be detonated without drilling, but that results in less direct damage but a larger AOE.

(gg2ez) #9

?[/quote]

Ash from R6 Siege. There’s literally no difference apart from the fact that, it’s a two-point detonation and can’t break surfaces. Even the name is identical.

(Mr-Penguin) #10

?[/quote]

Ash from R6 Siege. There’s literally no difference apart from the fact that, it’s a two-point detonation and can’t break surfaces. Even the name is identical. [/quote]

It’s hard to think of anything original when another game has already done it. :pensive:

But as long as it provides a different playstyle than similar abilities provide, I’m happy to take creative liberties.

And you haven’t even said anything about the other two…

(gg2ez) #11

?[/quote]

Ash from R6 Siege. There’s literally no difference apart from the fact that, it’s a two-point detonation and can’t break surfaces. Even the name is identical. [/quote]

It’s hard to think of anything original when another game has already done it. :pensive:

But as long as it provides a different playstyle than similar abilities provide, I’m happy to take creative liberties.

And you haven’t even said anything about the other two…[/quote]

Yeah. Cing up with distinguishable ideas is difficult.

Don’t really have anything to say about the other mercs apart from the fact that Puppeteer sounds interesting.

(Naonna) #12

Bore: People already said it’s a copy: not the problem here - issue is how it interacts with maps in DB. - I won’t say it’s overpowered, just unnecessary in this game.

Puppeteer: That’s BASICALLY the job that thunder was intended to do. - Just without the rooted effect. Do we really need more reasons not to play poor Thunder?

Conduit: an aoe which punishes indoor enemies for clumping together is a nice idea, but by the same logic, it discourages teamwork: knowing you can’t go to an aura station where your teammates are is a bit demoralizing and could be problematic in higher-class play.
(Once DB gets to that point.)

(Mr-Penguin) #13

[quote=“Naonna;148472”]Bore: People already said it’s a copy: not the problem here - issue is how it interacts with maps in DB. - I won’t say it’s overpowered, just unnecessary in this game.

Puppeteer: That’s BASICALLY the job that thunder was intended to do. - Just without the rooted effect. Do we really need more reasons not to play poor Thunder?

Conduit: an aoe which punishes indoor enemies for clumping together is a nice idea, but by the same logic, it discourages teamwork: knowing you can’t go to an aura station where your teammates are is a bit demoralizing and could be problematic in higher-class play.
(Once DB gets to that point.)[/quote]

Bore: Perhaps I wasn’t specific enough on the mechanics if the charge. It does not drill through walls. It’s simply a (plausible) way to add in a device that requires you to wait for second before detonation to deal more damage to a specific target (EVs and generators) while retaining the ability to detonate early to deal AOE damage.

Puppeteer- Thunder has a flash, and the Snare Bomb doesn’t root enemies. It pulls them towards the place where the bomb exploded instead of blinding or (pitifully) stunning them. If Thunder was actually viable (and he still isn’t), then Puppeteer would fill a different role than him. Alternatively, the snare could instead be a fast pull to the detonation point followed by an actual explosion.

Conduit- Kinda the point. Could be overpowered in comp though. I could change him to be a fire support to offset the potential of the Volt Spike. Or I could make the thing destructible.

I see that most of the feedback here was based off of confusion and the fact that most of the descriptions were unclear. These were ability concepts, and the full merc pages will go into further detail rather than the generalized mess I have here.

Thanks for reading!

(boerhae) #14

Very interesting, I’ll say what I think so far

Bore: Shoots a projectile which can be detonated early. If detonated early, it’s like a bigger version of Fragger’s grenade. If detonated later, it’s like a short burst of Kira’s laser. Problem with that is, it overpowers Fragger’s ability. That would need some tweaking I think. Maybe a longer cooldown?

Puppeteer: Could be good with the Grandeur or Dreiss or something. Throw a Snare Bomb, if it hits an enemy, it restricts their movement for some seconds (6 sounds good IMO), making them an easy target. The problem is that the Snare Bomb sounds too much like a downed merc. It would be too OP in Execution, for starters. Maybe the restricted player could still be able to use their secondary weapon while ensnared? I also think Puppeteer could be a good Ammo Station merc.

Conduit: Cool, but maybe a 40-50% speed debuff (hear me out) and lightning around affected player vision (similar to the blood around your vision when you’ve got low HP). Re-shocked players only get a 15% speed debuff. The attack could do no damage, but instead debuff all affected players’ rate of fire and reload speed. This could be good when you’ve got a bunch of enemies clumped together, resisting any attempt to push through. You could trap them there and make them weaker, and make any potential reinforcements pay the price. I don’t know how I feel about AOE and deployables.

This is really interesting though. You have some great ideas for mercs!

(Mr-Penguin) #15

[quote=“Boerhae;149138”]Very interesting, I’ll say what I think so far

Bore: Shoots a projectile which can be detonated early. If detonated early, it’s like a bigger version of Fragger’s grenade. If detonated later, it’s like a short burst of Kira’s laser. Problem with that is, it overpowers Fragger’s ability. That would need some tweaking I think. Maybe a longer cooldown?

Puppeteer: Could be good with the Grandeur or Dreiss or something. Throw a Snare Bomb, if it hits an enemy, it restricts their movement for some seconds (6 sounds good IMO), making them an easy target. The problem is that the Snare Bomb sounds too much like a downed merc. It would be too OP in Execution, for starters. Maybe the restricted player could still be able to use their secondary weapon while ensnared? I also think Puppeteer could be a good Ammo Station merc.

Conduit: Cool, but maybe a 40-50% speed debuff (hear me out) and lightning around affected player vision (similar to the blood around your vision when you’ve got low HP). Re-shocked players only get a 15% speed debuff. The attack could do no damage, but instead debuff all affected players’ rate of fire and reload speed. This could be good when you’ve got a bunch of enemies clumped together, resisting any attempt to push through. You could trap them there and make them weaker, and make any potential reinforcements pay the price. I don’t know how I feel about AOE and deployables.

This is really interesting though. You have some great ideas for mercs![/quote]
Yet again, much of this feedback is only here because I wasn’t overly specific on the abilities. Still going to reply to it though!

Bore: 45 second CD seems like a fair trade-off for an ability that can be destroyed and is non-cookable with a 1.5 second fuse if you choose not to detonate it. Obviously the charge won’t be able to be airbursted in the final version, and the fuse will have to be increased.

Puppeteer- Weapons won’t be disabled when the Snare Bomb goes off, but weapon switching and ability usage will. Movement isn’t completely restricted, but since the bomb lashes the opponent and pulls them in, strafing and jumping is restricted (take that, wall-jumping Proxies!) .

Conduit- That strays too much into Thunder’s “stun and then rush them” combat style. As a plus, Conduit would do a better job than Thunder at stunning with your suggestion since that’s a guaranteed speed reduction and affects their weapons as well. Deployables simply extend the AOE and turns them into a weaker version of the Volt Spike’s initial deployment shock in order to punish those that think that their health stations will save them.

(Naonna) #16

Whenever you take away another player’s ability to perform an action, it will be met with some level of rage.
Even under the effects of thunder’s nade, a player can still move around and fight back: even while blind. There was a large backlash when it invoked mouse-sensitivity changes.

Being rooted in place may have a similar result. The only game (recently) which has a non-rage-y stun ability is Overwatch.

(And even then, it’s debatable.) Mccree has a MINIMAL stun-nade which halts motion for a moment - allowing him to head shot an opponent easily. I’m skeptical if this same ability-type would fit into Dirty Bomb in a productive way.