- Phantom’s Cloak
This should come as no surprise to most people who are familiar with Dirty Bomb, as Phantom is notorious for being useless in both a team setting and in a duel setting. As of right now Phantom is easily visible while cloaked unless completely still, he’s beyond loud even when he is standing still, the EMP doesn’t quite provide enough utility to warrant a pick over an explosive merc (which can simply destroy deployables without putting themselves super close to the enemy team, aside from Turtle’s shield which can be dealt with by coordinated focus-fire). Phantom’s cloak cannot be used while Phantom is fighting someone, so in order to utilize the cloak, your team has one less gun backing them up. Other mercs, such as Fragger, need only moments of pause to use far more effective abilities.
I think Phantom’s cloak could be improved in a number of ways. The simplest would be to separate the EMP from the Cloak itself, but I personally don’t like this; I would rather the EMP go back to Thunder (along with some nerfs to the Conc) because I think it fits his playstyle far better than it fits Phantom. Thunder is a point man, he’s going to be regularly attacking areas where the enemy is taking a stand, and if the conc is nerfed to be reasonable, I think he would be overshadowed by Fragger. The EMP going back to Thunder would give people a reason to choose him over Fragger, especially with the addition of Turtle, which Thunder would have an easier time dealing with. Phantom is a bit more of a lone wolf, killing those that stray too far from their teammates, I don’t think the EMP fits him.
So, with that out of the way, what would I do about Phantom? My fix has a lot going on, but I think it fits his playstyle better than the EMP. First, I would give the EMP back to Thunder, then I would replace it with a recon ability. The recon ability I would suggest is heavily inspired by one that I’ve seen suggested on the forums a number of times, that being a Comms Hack type ability (I forget who originally suggested this, I’d give credit if I remembered). I would go about this ability by having those players killed by Phantom dropping a radio the about the size of a small health pack upon being killed (similar to the Looter augment). The radio despawns if the player is revived and can only be seen and picked up by the Phantom that killed the target. To use the comms hack ability Phantom wouldn’t need to do anything special, simply collect the radio and instantly (if it took any more time it would be FAR too slow for the pace of this game) spots everyone on the enemy team for X seconds (I think 5-10 would be alright, but I honestly have no idea how good this would be).
So that’s the recon ability, so what about the cloak? First, I would make any damage (potentially excluding fall damage) remove Phantom from cloak, giving maximum cooldown (which would be his pre-EMP one). This would also mean that any damage Phantom takes while cloaked translates directly into character damage. I would make the cloak far quieter, and nearly silent when stationary. I would make visibility based on distance, the further away from a cloaked Phantom you are the harder it will be to see him. Visibility would still be connected to movement speed, but he should ideally be difficult to see while sprinting at a distance. However, he should be easily seen while sprinting at close range, somewhat visible while running at close range and sprinting at medium range, and difficult to see while sprinting at long range, running at medium range, and stationary/crouchwalking at short range.
Interactions with other abilities (whether currently in-game or not) would be as follows: Vassili’s HBS spots Phantom while cloaked; Redeye’s IR Goggles spot Phantom while cloaked; Aimee’s Snitch (Read the part about Aimee before getting confused) will not spot Phantom but can damage him, taking him out of cloak, and then be able to spot him; Bushwhacker’s Turret cannot see a cloaked Phantom unless he is currently spotted; Proxy mines will detect a cloaked Phantom.
- Aimee’s Snitch
This also should come as no surprise to be on this list, as it is commonly considered weaker than the HBS, on a merc with less health and worse guns than Vassili. This is important: The Snitch should be buffed to a point of superiority to the Heartbeat Sensor because the rest of Vassili is more powerful. As of right now, there is too much working against the Snitch, aside from the cringeworthy name. The Snitch has less spotting range; it is easier to see both while being deployed and after being deployed; and it requires line-of-sight to function.
My solution to this issue would simply be to remove the trail from the deployment of the Snitch, change the texture to better blend in with the environment, and most importantly, give it better spotting capability. This would be done by increasing (by my judgement doubling, to be greater than Vassili’s) the radius of effect. I would then give Aimee an E ability allowing her to switch from a Debilitation mode with the new radius to a Spotting mode with a further increased radius but no debilitation capability.
What this change would do would make Aimee more versatile, allowing her more leeway in Snitch placement via the increased radius, as well as an option between a more Spotting-focused mode and a Debilitation mode
- Stoker’s Molotov
This entry might surprise a few people, but I think Stoker’s molotov is in a bad place right now. The molotov can easily be extinguished by smoke or explosives and has too long of a cooldown for what can be done with it. The only real option for use is area denial, which is quite powerful, but not powerful enough to warrant such a long cooldown, especially when said area denial can be removed by a Frag grenade with half the cooldown. An ability that can provide a similar use to the molotov, but has other utility would be Kira’s Lazer; if the player so chooses they can place Kira’s lazer on top of the C4 or Delivery point, even in places the Molotov wouldn’t be able to reach (for instance coming back from spawn on trainyard first obj you can call in the lazer behind the bridge, then point to the ground directly inder the C4, which would be an incredibly feat to hit at range with a molotov) and the Lazer damages the EV more and lasts longer.
Yes, Stoker has more health than Kira, and should naturally have an inferior ability, but the molotov is simply too hard to get value out of.
My recommended fixes would be to revamp the damage model on the molotov, starting at lower levels (probably lower than current) just after being thrown (allowing those in the area to scram), then once it begins to “heat up” it deals more damage (probably Kira lazer leves of DPS), plateaus, and begins to taper off as it “cools down”. This would make the molotov more useful as an indoor anti objective tool, while maintaining its ability to deny a team access to an area.
Keep in mind these are suggestions based off of my experience, I’m not claiming any of this as an objective “best way” to fix what I see as problems, just putting how I feel into possible changes.