To preface this, I think just buffing up old blitzes to the level of hive scum’s is not the way to go - if two blitzes fulfill the same niche, they’re always going to be in contest when it comes to who should get the grenade pickup in optimal play - any buffs/nerfs will simply shift that priority instead of making for more interesting decision-making on the part of the players.
Obviously the AI director and positioning creates situations where it’s better somebody takes the pickup instead of waiting for whoever could have in theory used them best. Likewise, I don’t think all classes need blitzes that kill the same amount of the same enemies, as each class has its own strengths and weaknesses and that’s part of what makes them interesting.
Hence, I think adding some extra utility to old grenades would shift the thought process with pickups from “who has got the strongest grenade for y“ to “do we want damage or utility?“
With that in mind, these are the grenades I think could use some tweaks to set them apart from their alternatives:
- Immolation: These compete most closely with hive scum’s chem grenades for area denial and just buffing the damage of these isn’t an ideal solution, as it’ll simply shift the priority to restocking these over those, and a lot of zealots are taking throwing knives as is.
I suggest giving a cleansing flame kind of effect to immolation grenades, which could for example:
Option a. Remove tox gas and flames, tox flames and burgle-spew in the area when first thrown. If this is too much of a hassle to code:
Option b. Players standing in the immolation grenade area when it explodes gain 5s of immunity to tox gas and ground effects.
Chem bombs may well get nerfed in the future, but without any differences in utility it will stay a contest of which of these two gives the best area denial. I think getting ahead of that now would be a good idea.
Utility can also be balanced with blitz talent nodes like ogryn has, requiring a point investment. For immolation grenades I’d only go for that option if they want to add more utility than I’ve outlined above however; if they just receive a one-time environmental hazard clear/protection per nade, a talent point cost wouldn’t be necessary imo. - Frag bomb: Again, going with the utility idea, regardless of whatever buffs/nerfs come to the various blitzes, I suggest: give the frag bomb terrain blowthrough so it hits enemies through cover. This would prevent any whiffs from terrain i ncertain map areas and make sure it’s always impactful. It might still need some extras, but I think having it ignore cover as a built-in feature would be a good baseline going forwards.
- Zealot stun nades: Totally outclassed by arbites’ shock mines, which are extremely strong - and nerfing shock mine regen or removing the regen would simply make shock mines even more of a priority for grenade pickups over stuns.
I’d suggest increasing the carrying capacity of stun nades to six. - Honourable mention: Arbites impact grenades could use a buff. I’m undecided as to what/how, but either carrying a few more or some sort of small utility.
Again, I think buffing their damage just runs of the risk of making them flat out better than other damage nades, so I’d prefer utility, not damage buffs.
Arbites is already very, very strong as a class, but these grenades are such a cut below I don’t think giving them a boost will be a problem - and to tune arbites, it’s really the rest of their kit that makes them so strong.
Class abilities:
- Executioner’s Stance: Everyone I see takes VoC or if not that, stealth. I think part of the problem with executioner’s is just how vulnerable you when things are going south coupled with the added micromanagement of needing to reload first and potentially cover your activation with a grenade vs the breathing room veteran’s other abilities give you, obviously with the exception of weapons that anyway give you tons of breathing room like the bolter, plasma etc.. I’d make two small changes that I think would make executioner’s feel a lot better with the other weapons in veteran’s arsenal:
- Refill vet’s toughness back up to full on activation, and
- Reload vet’s ranged weapon using ammo from their reserve.
Right now Executioner’s is often a win more button and falls flat in emergencies. Even if VoC gets nerfed, the added micromanagement around activating Exec is a hassle that imo isn’t warranted.