As unbelieveable as it sounds, there seems to be a need to reiterate this: The Javelin is probably the single most broken overpowered weapon in the entire game and it needs to be severely weakened. I got it, DLC has to be powercreep to sell it, but Fartshark, you got your money, now can you please relieve us of this menace? Who in the right mind thought it would be OK to have a ranged weapon with infinite ammo, armor pen, infinite body penetration, and enough damage to one or twoshot most elites and specials AND THEN LEAVE IT IN THE GAME LIKE THAT? Bonus: it’s a somewhat decent melee weapon, as well. All this for Kerillian, whose careers already range from A to S tier without such BS weapon.
Besides the obvious problem of trivializing the game, being basically a cheat button to delete bunched up hordes, elites, specials, all without any sort of meaningful limitation (like ammo, or the need to build the career around making the weapon effective, sacrificing other aspects, as with most dedicated ranger careers), which is a huge issue in and of itself, the current state of the Javelin also encourages a highly toxic, selfish, and overconfident playstyle that made the term “Javelin Elf” a widely recognized slur in the community. Javelin Elf is the player who won’t let anyone get temp HP, because throwing an infinite amount of Javelins at trash mobs is FUN. Especially if it goes through a teammate or two’s back. Javelin Elf is the player who won’t switch to their melee weapon, because the Javelin’s melee can carry them most of the time. Until it suddenly can’t, they start taking hits, and they consume all the healing, too. Javelin Elf is the player who is a complete idiot, playing completely oblivious to the fact that while they sweat to get all the green circles, their teammates carry the game when it really matters. They cover the Javelin Elf who is there to have FUN by having a point-and-click adventure, until, because they play a broken weapon that trivializes the game, the Javelin Elf vastly overestimate their ability. They run ahead, alone, thinking they can own anything and everything, then die miserably because they are alone. And then they ragequit. Javelin Elf is the player who, when they see a teammate fighting an elite in front, and about to be backstabbed by a skaven slave, they throw the elite to steal the kill and let their teammate get shanked from the back. The green circle for elites is more prestigious, after all. The list goes on, and frankly, bringing up all the moronic deeds and ways of thinking this weapon inspires would make this post way too long.
I can’t fathom how Fartshark could go without nerfing this thing to the ground in the latest update. I refuse to believe that they do not know about the problem.
There is no reason why this thing should have a base ammo count of 3. Make it 2. Waystalker will still get 4, and Handmaiden with 40% extra ammo talent will still get 3. And make the reload significantly slower. Then the player will actually have to think where they throw, and not just spam Javelins non-stop. There is no reason why this thing should have infinite body penetration. It should be no more than 3. Then the weapon would not delete entire hordes. There is no reason why the Javelin should have a melee option that is viable enough to allow using it exclusively. Like with other ranged weapons that have melee, it shouldn’t be useful beyond killing the odd enemy or two that surprises you from close range. There is no reason why the Javelin should have devastating damage AND with some practice, excellent range and accuracy. It should either be a highly damaging close to mid-range elite-deleter, OR a less damaging sniper, not both at the same time. The weapon needs some weaknesses, limitations, and drawbacks, not just strengths, infinite versatility, and advantages, as it is the case now.
Fix this damn broken sh*t already.