Bardin Goreksson potential new career - Runesmith

Assuming Bardin is going to have the next career because of the order of the heros in the menu…

…and assuming the new careers are all going to be support based, I’d have to assume he would be a Runesmith. Note-this is what I think would be the best and coolest if this type of character were to be implemented. That is also applies to my ideas in the rest of the thread.

Why Runesmith?
Runesmith would be the best choice because in lore and in tabletop they are known for their supportive runes and dampening of enemy winds of magic. I think this would be a better choice than a Master Engineer because game wise, the Engineer buffs war machines and range units, instead of the whole army. Master Engineer would also be way harder to implement because (A) It would be too similar to ranger veteran in terms of ranged weapons and gameplay (B) Master Engineers are known for their use of war machines, which would be difficult to implement and probably hard to balance. Overall I think a Runesmith would be better.


Lore-wise, how would it work?
Well we know Fatshark puts gameplay first, and lore second so that in itself isn’t a problem, as most of the careers are what if situations. So I’m going to write a little snip-bit on how Bardin could become a runesmith.

Bardin hails from a long line of Runesmiths and Runelords from Karak Norn, and he now returns looking for ways to aid the Ubersreik 5. His great uncle see’s great fury and pride in him, so as a Runelord he bestows some of his rune knowledge to him, but of course not all of it. So now Bardin continues his quest to find Karak Zorn, and maybe uncover some master runes along the way.

Of course this isn’t a flawless backstory, but it may do.

What would his gameplay be like?
I’m going to be taking inspiration from the lore, the tabletop game and Warhammer games for this.
He would act as a support character with decent melee killing potential and being able to essentially cancel blightstormer and lifeleech casts with a click of a button. Now the problem is here now is how he deals with ranged threats. You could go three ways about this.

(1) Have him equip a Forgehammer or a Runestaff as his melee weapon, and then any Ranger Veterans ranged weapons he could use. Runesmiths aren’t often seen use guns and crossbows but this is possible lore-wise.

(2) His runestaff could shoot out magic that’s embeded into the runes on the weapon and from the book. This would be basically be like Sienna’s staffs and could potentially have its own overheat meter. This would be pretty cool and interesting in my opinion but I don’t think it would make sense lore-wise. However, Warhammer age of reckoning did do this.

(3) His rune weapons could have Rune of flight, essentially it would be exactly like Bardin’s throwing axes, but on his Forgehammer and his Rune staff. He could also be able to use the throwing axes.

<-Runelord w/ ForgeHammer

Base Stats:
Base HP: 125HP
Career Skill Cooldown: 90 to 120 seconds (Depends on talents)
Perks:

  • 50% damage reduction to all types of magic.
  • Runestaff can interrupt and dampen enemy spells for 5 to 10 seconds with a cooldown of 30.(possibly on bosses as well with talent)

Passive ability:
The Runesmiths passive could be two passives in one, and these passives could be enhanced by pressing Mouse 5 after a visible cooldown you could see on the Forgehammer. The passive could be called something basic like ‘runic power’. (Rune staff could also interrupt enemy spells by pressing Mouse 5 on the target).

Forgefire: Aura that increases power versus armoured or power by 10-20%
Ancestral Shield: Aura that reduces damage taken by 10-20%

Active ability:
Rune of Wrath and Ruin/Rune of Slowness: Essentially this would act as a crowd control ability that would reduce enemy movement speed by 50-70% for 10 seconds. Instead of acting like an ability that you press once and all enemies get stunned for a bit and then continue on like IB ult, I would imagine it would be like a banner around the Runesmith and it would follow him around for 10 seconds. All man sized enemies would get knocked down to the floor from charged attacks if they are in the radius. Maybe Chaos warriors as well, but thats pushing it as it is.

image <-What I would imagine it would look like

Terms of talent wise, different types of runes could be implemented into his gameplay. For example Rune of Parrying could increase block cost reduction etc, etc. The list could go on. But thats my thoughts on how a Runesmith career could be potentially added to Bardin. I would love to here some thoughts and feedback on this as I find Runelords and Runesmiths very cool.

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Yeah, runesmith or engineer with portable mini turret could be fun.

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This is very situational It’s reaching Heroic Intervention levels of situational. Pretty much, if you can’t shoot them it becomes useful. You also have to factor in not getting Sorcerer spawns.

Now, if he can nullify other magic effects, Beastman Banner, Troll Regen, stop Leeches/Stormers from teleporting and be somehow beneficial against the caster Bosses, then maybe it could work. I think this will eventually become good when they add more Specials. :')

Maybe the introduction of the Bray Shaman, and allowing Beastman banners (also making Bannermen spawn at different times) to effect other enemy types in different ways in the update would make him better too.

Another simple idea is to give him a special Tag, which stays forever on one target at a time, this would allow him to show where Gutter Runners etc are through walls. Wouldn’t be completely amazing vs Sorcerers, but would mean he’s not instantly useless vs the Skaven Specials.

I like this idea. It gives the impession that he’s put magic runes on his friend’s armour and he’s choosing when to activate them. It’s a clever way of making a Passive feel Active. The Passive could also start low and then slowly build as he performs his role on Specials/magic.

I’d say that there’s another option, which is making his magic or Special nullification good enough to surpass the need for being a Special killer. The Tag suggestion I made could do this, but it may also be stepping on WHC’s toes.

I’d love a Staff that’s channeled like Beam with a different alternate fire to the shotgun of Beam. Maybe an AoE stunlock that takes a lot of Overcharge, but doesn’t slow him, so he’s got sort of a mini AoE stun cooldown, but he isn’t super effective at damage. This also means you have to choose between an easy kill on a Horde, or killing Specials.

@TurboTrodan

Another idea I just thought of is even having a Spellbook as your secondary that’s purely for utility and not damage. It could carry out the Tag effect or carry out some other form of Special/Elite/Boss/Horde interference.

I guess my over all idea of this type of support would be to turn him into a full Utility Career, but that has to be quite active with Buffing allies and Debuffing enemies.

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I like this idea with him being able to nullify the Beastmen banners and stopping the Lifeleeches and Stormsorcers from teleporting. I’d imagine it would be like a debuff on them for 10 seconds so they can’t cast. I’d think it would also be cool if he could also be able to affect Boss spells but I’m not sure how it would be balanced. Maybe his 50% damage reduction to magic could be an aura as well? I’m not sure on that one. In terms of him being able to stop troll regeneration, trolls don’t heal through magic they heal because of their biology so that wouldn’t work.

The problem is with that is some specials don’t do magic damage like assassins and hook rats. I think one of the three options that you have quoted from me would be the best. I also don’t want this class to out do special killers.

I do like this, maybe by pressing a button on your rune staff you could open your book and a bunch of Runes could paper and you could select one. This selected rune would be the only one you could use by pressing a hot key and then you can switch it again by opening the book. Or to make it simpler, you can pick talent that chooses a debuff for Bosses, specials or elites.

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This is all just speculation tbh, but in my opinion, if they really wanted to try something experimental, like a Career that could just mess about with nullifying enemy mechanics and not straight up being a DPS, things like what you’re suggesting ‘shared 50% magic DMGR’, isn’t so crazy.

It completely depends on how much DPS they’re willing to drop to make him use these kinds of things. The only issue then is that he has to be active. He can’t just do one spell and then run around hitting things for 5% of their HP. He needs to somehow be buffing his team, and debuffing enemies actively.

Sorry if some of my suggestions aren’t lore-friendly or are far-fetched. I’m just thinking of ways to make the way he sounds more useful and different to other Careers who can give buffs, and maybe try a new playstyle.

Reading up on what a Runesmith does gave me the feeling he would be super utility-support based. His roles seems to be, dampen magic, buff allies, and deal some melee damage, but within the limits of V2, there’s not much magic to dampen. So they either have to focus on the buffing, or make the game and him work as a debuffer.

I’ve always loved those utility or support style playstyles that can completely carry while not being a DPS at all.

  • BF4 MAV users (basically a little space ship drone that spots people)
  • Guild Wars 2 Mesmer Class - harasses the enemy team and debuffs them and annoys them with mirror images
  • OW Sombra/Mercy/Mei/Wrecking Ball
  • WoW Mages and Rogues playing for CC in battlegrounds
  • Valorant Cypher and Sova
  • V2 Ranger Vet as Potion build, WHC CDR build with Flail, GK somewhat, FK for CC as a utility, Unchained Conflag, etc

I’ll be surprised if they’re not being more adventurous with their Career design, seeing as OW is trying PVE too.

They probably won’t go in my direction anyway. :sweat_smile:

Yeah, something like that.

Oh, I didn’t mean damage-wise being a Special killer, I just meant being strong enough in utility so that he’s not outdone by a Ranged Weapon completely. But again, it’s in the same vein as I mentioned before, where he loses out on damage for that utility. Doubt they will do it that way.

But also my point was that his magic dampening will be worse against Skaven Specials, so his usefulness with it can be completely RNG and maybe too situational. Even versus the Sorcerer Bosses, he’ll still be limited with the DMGR, as it assumes people are going to get hit by the spells. That’s why I’m suggesting bigger things.

I would have to choose the third suggestion you made, I think it would suit Runesmith best.

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Please give us the Runesmith. The Dwarven engineer with portable turrets is so over played.

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I would prefer the engineer with turret though :stuck_out_tongue:

He says the Rune is the future during playing Athel Yenlui when he seeing ruined elven temple. So, I think Runesmith would be fits.

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Had she acted she would be really cool as a bardin’s fifth class… what would her talent tree be like?

There’s nothing like a little forum necrophilia, right?