What makes Proxy weak, and how should we fix it?

(Sir_Slam) #1

I’ve had my ear to ground here around the forums for a while, and its seems that Proxy just isn’t up to snuff in a lot of people’s eyes. Compared to Fletcher and Bushwacker, she lacks the offensive skirmishing capability that Fletcher has and cannot defend as well as Bushwacker due to mines being one off (and very shootable).

Also, the majority of her loadouts come with shotguns. Shotguns, against any player that knows what they’re doing are going to be much weaker. Now, she gets the Hochfir, which is far from a bad weapon, so this can be minimized somewhat.

Her weakest spot IMO, is her ability. Mines are SO EASY to counter. Literally just look down before you enter a room and you’ve got nothing to worry about. Honestly, what kills me more when it comes to mines is having to take that extra 1/8th of a second to shoot them. That isn’t enough to justify playing Proxy. Now a Proxy that feels like trolling an enemy team can throw her mine into a room and shoot it before it arms to blow everyone up, but at that point why aren’t you just playing Fletcher?

She’s really fast with a low HP pool. I’ve ran into a few good players who were able to abuse this well enough to be aggravating, but it only takes a few good whacks from a player before you start to single them out. After you realize that the enemy is bumrushing you, a simple adjustment in tactics makes them pretty useless.

So what do we do? I was thinking about giving her a third mine, but meh. It would just be another, really easy target to get around. Wouldn’t accomplish much.

(SiegeFace) #2

Proxy is my favourite, and i have no trouble using her offensively (unless with a slow team), im also very sneaky with my mines, I dont plant them out in the open where everyone can see like everyone else.

Proxy is not weak in my opinion but she does have her downsides, can be quite a map dependent/team dependent merc imo, which is why I only really make sure to bring her out on underground/trainyard.

(BananaSlug) #3

nah she is fine. she is just glasscanon and that makes her bad in comp

(watsyurdeal) #4

Honestly I’d give her more SMGs in future loadouts, like the Blishok and SMG 9

(Telzen) #5

Proxy is amazing imo. Not sure how it is in high level play, but on normal servers people fall for mines all the time.

(Dawnlazy) #6

There are many places where you can put a mine and it won’t get destroyed without doing damage unless they use explosives. I think they could take away the audio warning unless the enemies have Guardian Angel though. Also replace stupid Try Hard, Pineapple Juggler etc with perks that would actually help like Lock On or Unshakeable.

(CCP115) #7

Sadly, a lot of mercs in Dirty Bomb have CORE problems, meaning that if they want to be fixed, they’ll be changed quite drastically.

Proxies core problem is that she’s an annoying little shit. Mines are annoying, Shotguns are annoying, and speed is annoying.

She can flank relatively well, and defense is her stronger side, but overall a competent player should only get killed by a mine once. After that, they’ll be listening for the sounds of the mine.

There isn’t really a way to “fix” Proxy unless you were to remove some speed and slap on some health, or buff her ability in some way. Noone wants to give Proxy more health, so buffing her ability would seem like the only real option. Now the question is how would you go about doing that?

In the end she is a flanker who shines in pubs. In competitive, just go use Bushwacker or something.

(streetwiseSailboat) #8

I think, her mines should be buffed by decreasing their arm time a bit.

(Szakalot) #9

that wont change a thing.

Imo removing sound from mines sounds like the way to actually make them useful, not sure the pub whine can take it though.

(Eox) #10

I once though about giving a detection effect to all enemies harmed by a mine. How is this ? I though it could be a decent buff.

(Sir_Slam) #11

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Not a bad idea actually.

(Szakalot) #12

i like ! @Eox

Multiple other buffs could work: large AoE but smaller damage, or a slowdow , no sound except guardian angel, or putting mines on walls

(Eox) #13

[quote=“Szakalot;107779”]i like ! @Eox

Multiple other buffs could work: large AoE but smaller damage, or a slowdow , no sound except guardian angel, or putting mines on walls[/quote]

That’s Fletcher’s property, I wouldn’t add that, and I vaguely remember SD saying that they wouldn’t implement that.

However, just to suggest another small buff : I’d also increase the throwing range of mines a bit to make offensive use of mines a bit easier, as well as being a small QoL change for defense. So a Flanking Proxy can throw a mine and shoot it more efficiently.

(LifeupOmega) #14

Her mines are literally useless against good players unless you throw > shoot into a crowd. Removing the sound from them would be a start. But it still doesn’t help that she’s a 90hp merc who gets eaten by the other two engineers assuming equal skill levels.

(RyePanda) #15

Speed up the throwing animation. That way you can throw a mine and shoot it or your enemy quicker.

(Sir_Slam) #16

This. [quote=“Szakalot;107745”][quote=“streetwiseSailboat;107744”]I think, her mines should be buffed by decreasing their arm time a bit.[/quote]

that wont change a thing.

Imo removing sound from mines sounds like the way to actually make them useful, not sure the pub whine can take it though.[/quote]

The pub whine can stuff it IMO. The game should be balanced around comp play. Pubs are clusterf*cks.

(JJMAJR) #17

What about Proxy being able to set up a plasma fence in addition to landmines?

Like, she places a post for the fence, then puts down another one, facing away from her first post for safety concerns, and blocks off an area? Enemies can then try to take out the barbed wire in the same way as a player defuses C4, which the Proxy can see them doing through a HUD element. This also maximizes Proxy’s speed and her ability to control an area.

Friendly Proxy fences can be colored cyan and be passed through, while enemy fences are colored yellow and are solid, as well as painful to touch. Enemy fences should’t be easily seen, but should be able to catch sprinting players off-guard.

Meanwhile even in friendly fire plasma fences should be clearly visible so that a Proxy can’t end up team killing a bunch of people by accident.

I am just saying that the Proxy should have more options on the table besides “make a bigger boom”. And why can’t she use different tools? Her character literally made decontamination vents from scrap, so she should have a more versatile arsenal of gadgets.

(wolvie) #18

I think proxy is just a pub merc, like phantom. A merc not made for competitive but good and fun for pub-stomping.

(Sir_Slam) #19

I’m actually ok with that, as long as that is whats intended by SD.

(Eox) #20

Okay, I’ve just though about something. It’s pretty “experimental” and probably OP as shit, and am I totally unsure if it’s a good idea myself, but I think it can be interesting to read.

How about the possibility to throw mines like a frisbee ? After all what’s a mine ? A big disc, that explodes if you walk past it. The idea behind that is to actually allow an offensive use of Proximity mines in a way a bit like the UT’s shock rifle.

Let me explain how it would work :

  • When you have your mines equiped, you would still be able to throw in the classic way, but holding your fire button will allow you to throw your mine farther. At maximum throw power, you’ll throw the mine like a flying disc.
  • The disc will travel slowly compared to other projectiles, and directly fall on the ground if it hits a player or a wall.
  • The mine WON’T activate as long as it’s still flying.
  • Proxy can detonate the mine during its flight, but as long as the mine is not on the floor, it’ll deal only 45% of its max damage (or something like that) in 60% of its radius. Indeed, Proxy is not supposed to replace Fragger.

I am really unsure about myself with what I am suggesting here, but I do think there’s maybe something insightful to keep from that idea… I hope so.