Phantom buff? Give him 2nd ability.

(Guziol) #1

We were brainstorming with my buddy about phantom and he said that maybe his emp should be a deployable like snitch or heartbeat sensor instead of being stuck to his invis and i love that idea. Too many times i used invis to get past the frontline and then thinking “well, i could use that emp effect now but my invis is on cooldown”.
There is just too much put on the invis and afaik the long cooldown even for tapping it on and off was put in there to prevent constant EMP effect, and with that change it could be lowered. Phantom is a decent “assassin” if he actually is sane and uses his guns but he doesn’t contribute much at all compared to other mercs. His armor is an invis tool, damage prevention and EMP. Maybe with spreading it into 2 abilities it would give him a bit more flavor and usability.

Any opinions?

(TheStrangerous) #2

Yeah, many have suggested separating EMP to a secondary ability, due to jammed deployables revealing his presence.

His cloak on the other hand is wildly debated. Whether it should be 100% invisible while standing/crouching still, or act like TF2 invisibility watch (100% invisibility while moving, but no interaction like shooting, repairing, carrying, reviving,etc.).

The whole cloak armor is a questionable concept. It only takes few bullets to wear off, so what’s the point?

Personally, I don’t like how Phantom’s unable to equip Refractive armor at any cooldown level, like RedEye’s IR Googles.

(SaulWolfden) #3

Letting him cloak as long as it’s not on full cooldown would make him far more usable. Katana cultist idiots would still end up failing with it regardless of what happens. I’d also like the EMP separated, but it can be used with the cloak if you’d want to. It would be like Redeye’s smoke grenade in this case to continue that comparison. It has to finish its cooldown before it can used again.

(GatoCommodore) #4

[quote=“TheStrangerous;c-223361”]Yeah, many have suggested separating EMP to a secondary ability, due to jammed deployables revealing his presence.

His cloak on the other hand is wildly debated. Whether it should be 100% invisible while standing/crouching still, or act like TF2 invisibility watch (100% invisibility while moving, but no interaction like shooting, repairing, carrying, reviving,etc.).

The whole cloak armor is a questionable concept. It only takes few bullets to wear off, so what’s the point?

Personally, I don’t like how Phantom’s unable to equip Refractive armor at any cooldown level, like RedEye’s IR Googles. [/quote]

i bet people will play him more if he can turn cloak on and off like red eye ability
it will be a massive buff as well to a very weak merc
(you can already hear kids rage in the background)

Make phantom a great merc

(TheStrangerous) #5

I just noticed how every other recon merc has ability to throw something (Smoke Grenades, Heartbeat Sensor, Snitch), while Phantom has nothing. Could next new recon merc have something to throw? No wonder Phantom felt off in recon category…

(watsyurdeal) #6

I volt for an emp nade rather than a field. And making him invisible when stationary.

(pumpkinmeerkat) #7

EMP throwing knife would be cool.

(Reddeadcap) #8

Imho the cloak should’ve been on a toggle, forcing Phantom to position himself before deactivating it, rather than have it go off when he fires.

It could drain only when moving and not as loud as it is now, making Phantom nearly invisible, maybe emmiting a loud noise when deactivated.

His damage absorbtion could be a secondary ability running on the same timer or an emp jammer or grenade as @TheStrangerous Or @watsyurdeal suggested.

(Raven_Marine) #9

a bit more speed without a health penalty would be nice

(ThunderZsolt) #10

Fletcher has the same HP and 10 more movespeed, so why not?
On the other hand, Sawbonez and Bushwanker also have the same movespeed and HP.

As many others suggested, I’d say being able to toggle on and off cloak at will would be enough, maybe also make poor dude less visible while standing still.

@TheStrangerous I see the “armor” feature as a counter to the invisibility. I mean if you spot Phantom, you can shoot it so he becomes visible and can’t escape.
I didn’t play in the closed beta, but they say Phantom could survive an airstrike whith the refractive armor…
…and I’m glad I haven’t experienced that.

(TheStrangerous) #11

@TheStrangerous I see the “armor” feature as a counter to the invisibility. I mean if you spot Phantom, you can shoot it so he becomes visible and can’t escape.
I didn’t play in the closed beta, but they say Phantom could survive an airstrike whith the refractive armor…
…and I’m glad I haven’t experienced that.[/quote]

Good point.
There still lies the issue of refractive armor’s usefulness. As mentioned before, the silhouette is easy to spot by experienced players. Even if he gets useful throwable EMP device, the cloak is a tricky thing to balance.

(Naqel) #12

@TheStrangerous said:
I just noticed how every other recon merc has ability to throw something (Smoke Grenades, Heartbeat Sensor, Snitch), while Phantom has nothing.

That’s because Phantom isn’t a “recon” merc.

He’s technically a combat specialist like Nader, Fragger, Rhino, etc. Which is why his cloak is also an armor.

(JJMAJR) #13

Give Phantom Nader’s HP/Speed. He’s basically an assault anyways.

Also, what if players below half health don’t get a “detected” notification? This could give Phantom an option for detecting enemies.

(TheStrangerous) #14

@Naqel said:

@TheStrangerous said:
I just noticed how every other recon merc has ability to throw something (Smoke Grenades, Heartbeat Sensor, Snitch), while Phantom has nothing.

That’s because Phantom isn’t a “recon” merc.

He’s technically a combat specialist like Nader, Fragger, Rhino, etc. Which is why his cloak is also an armor.

Phantom is in “schizophrenic” merc group, at the moment. :wink:

Yeah, so far SD denied giving him spotting ability, nor turn him into engineer.
Looks like exploiting the EMP possibilities is where they’re at. Not sure if the cloak would be that useful, even if they did change it, to function like TF2 Spy’s cloak or 100% invisibility staying still.

(GatoCommodore) #15

@TheStrangerous said:

@Naqel said:

@TheStrangerous said:
I just noticed how every other recon merc has ability to throw something (Smoke Grenades, Heartbeat Sensor, Snitch), while Phantom has nothing.

That’s because Phantom isn’t a “recon” merc.

He’s technically a combat specialist like Nader, Fragger, Rhino, etc. Which is why his cloak is also an armor.

Phantom is in “schizophrenic” merc group, at the moment. :wink:

Yeah, so far SD denied giving him spotting ability, nor turn him into engineer.
Looks like exploiting the EMP possibilities is where they’re at. Not sure if the cloak would be that useful, even if they did change it, to function like TF2 Spy’s cloak or 100% invisibility staying still.

Punished Phantom
a merc denied of good abilities