I’m not really a fan. That to me at least seems to be the general consensus when I hear people talk about it. Right now it seems to be in this odd place where it’s really good at killing trash mobs which other things just do better and bringing down the team by CC’ing things.
Fundamentally changing smite and enemies afflicted with electrocute and its interaction is a must. I would propose taking Smite and altering how it works, but also how it effects your psyker abilities.
The basic changes to the ability use would be simple, left-click is a small cone of lightning that staggers trash mobs and applies electrocute and enfeeble to everything within the cone. The big change I would propose would be the right-click charge, once released would be a bolt of lightning that hones in on a nearby elite and does an aoe lightning strike that applies electrocute on impact (Similar to burning head for Pyromancer).
Changing electrocute and how it is applied would need some changes as well. A simple solution would have it work similarly to soulblaze and have those nodes similarly apply stacks of electrocute and enfeeble. For each stack of electrocute it would slow the enemy movement (or apply a stagger modifier, I’m open to either) while also applying an enfeeble stack. Have enfeeble scale to 10% instead of a flat 10% all the time.
The massive change, scale down the damage by a lot and have Smite modify which ever ability chosen to be the main way to apply electrocute. This way making electrocute application smites main damage output. I also believe that enfeeble should just be baked into electrocute. Vent could apply electrocute with its base point. Telekenetic shield ranged attacks passing through it to apply electrocute that scales with enervating threshold node or Dome changes it so enemies within it gain stacks of electrocute passively. While Scriers Gaze could simple make it so crits also apply electrocute while SG is up.
I feel like this would make Smite a better support style ability to take while not just hard CC’ing and making the game boring. I think everyone would still enjoy the damage buff enfeeble brings while not complaining about how you apply it.
So just put a higher CDR on it with a stack amount? I think it needs to be gutted entirely. Fundamentally change how it applies damage and is used to make it more of a support class ability. Remove the hard CC entirely.
And I feel like that might be too much of a risk and possibly even a waste of precious Dev time.
Fatshark’s already slow enough as it is, unfortunately.
My suggested solution would keep Smite’s intended function of being a CC Blitz intact while completely preventing Smykers from constantly spamming Charged Smite like they do now.
The whole point of Charged Smite is to be a run saver when the Team’s being overwhelmed, but the game currently allows Smykers to constantly spam it instead of forcing them to save it for when it’s needed.
Just feels like a band aid on something. I don’t think it’ll bring new people to use smite and it would probably push people away from using it if you add charges. Ultimately I wouldn’t have an issue with your change, it would still be far better than what it is now. I’m just wanting something that could be more support oriented without that easy button mentality it has now.
Smite definitely needs either a full rework or be HEAVILY limited. Moreso than just being OP (it is) the issue I take with it is that it’s absolutely no fun to play with. Not only does it turn off enemy AI and makes the game feel like a training exercise, it also prevents enemies from closing in and clumping and keeps them spread instead, which is both annoying and cucks a lot of weapons and skills that benefit from density.
Another issue is how on/off it is. When an ogryn bowls an enemy over, that enemy is going to stand back up and you can visually see and predict when he’s back in the fight. When a smite psyker smites a stack of enemies from behind you, you have literally no way to tell when it’s going to break. You can’t even play around it very much as a result.
Any alternate solution should address these things, it shouldn’t disrupt the gameplay too much
If people stop using Smite because of my solution, they’re either using Smite wrong and are part of the problem or Smite’s simply not meant for them.
For example: I personally don’t like Ripper Gun but that doesn’t make it an Underperforming Weapon. It’s just not meant for me.
Smite’s not really worth a full Rework, especially when Ogryns are drowning.
My solution is fixing an established concept’s one exploit to round it out into what it was intended to be. No one loses their playstyle if we keep what makes Smite, well, Smite intact while nipping its only genuine issue (spammability) in the bud.
Oh how I love these Smite threads. No instead of another complaint that it’s too strong and keeps you from playing etc, suggest a complete change/reinforcement of the BB.
Don’t tell me that BB needs to get used to or take on his cast speed, if you have even 1 person in your team with a reaction faster than 1.5-2 seconds BB makes no sense at all.
Likewise Wall, which is well inferior to Buble.
Shards - they are either in melee builds, or with cannons, and again they are not as a full weapon, but as a simple spigot that is used in a branch build.
Smite won’t give you instant kill enemies, it takes time, even on small enemies, it’s a good saport skill (especially in random), and oddly enough in its simplicity not everyone plays with it effectively (though it would seem). However, there is one more nuance here, everyone scolds Smythe for simplifying the game, but in 40% of the moments when I use it, other players simply do not realise that they can hit enemies without fear, and for some reason it is Psyker that is ahead of the group, not Ogrin/Zealot.
So before fixing a good saport skill in the right hands, maybe we should make other skills more attractive so that players realise that there are more attractive alternatives.
There are builds that utilize the wall for quicker brainburst. ( you can place 2 walls doubling down on BB CD )
That said, i posted in the balance post i made the proposed change:
Brainburst chargetime decreased
the second ability in BB tree to trigger every 10 sec and a 20% change to trigger.
Assail: 15 faster recharge. ( anything more and reddit will be swarmed with post )
When i join a pub and a psycker is only using smite i just walk past them and let them deal with it. Every game i give feedback but they just ignore it unless it are higher level players.
And here I’m wondering, do higher level players suddenly stop using smite on a single request?
And regarding Wall and BB, yes I have that build, and again it’s still far inferior in effectiveness to any shooter who is awake. But this skillet as to me is rubbish at the moment for me personally, and not attractive
Higher level players use Smite for when it is needed, not on 4 trash mobs which they can kill in one swing. You don’t have to ask them.
Just had a game, 2 players went down, psycker used Smite so they could be helped up. Perfect use of smite.
About to be overun and cant fall bag further, smite.
In both example you will hear not one player complaining.
Regarding bb and assail, I think the changes i prupose should be enough. Anything more and it will be broken.
Edit: not trying to say low level players are bad, they are just used to it beeing effective at low difficulty killing all mobs, which doenst translate to higher difficultys. They get overwelmed and panic. Also Some players use it to get carried but you mis 1/4th the damage.
There so are many ways to go, all of which would be better than how it works now. But ppl have a good point about the cost & pace of heavier changes. So in the interests of keeping things short-ish & simple for once I honestly think this would be enough:
Double the peril costs, at least for secondary atk
Leaving primary as-is would likely be even better, making it far more worthwhile & enhancing the tactical depth of the blitz as a whole
That’s it
Smite’s main problem imo is how spammable that sky-wide CC is. With massive peril cost even approaching sustained use would require extreme talent investment and become far more situational either way. It could no longer freeze a room full of elites forever, and even newbies would find it wasteful to spam against mere hordes.
In other words, it would change the ability into something far less frequent and much more tactical. Thus massively reducing its current disruptiveness and wastefulness, while prioritizing these roles & uses specifically:
Short bursts for that stagger you only get when canceling before 100% peril
Empowered Psionics, Battle Meditation, and Soulblaze (from Vent & Creeping Flames or Purge/Inferno staff) would still make it strong & sustainable against massive spawns only
Scrier’s & Warp Unbound’s 11s+ use would still be an option, but the ult itself would be the compromise, ensuring far more limited & tactical use cases
If primary was left unaffected, it would still make for a fantastic sustained support ability, but against key targets & small groups only
All in all I feel this would greatly reduce smite’s biggest problems while intuitively encouraging its proper use instead, all without changing its identity. And to get there, the devs would need minimal changes: Just double the cost is all.
That won’t stop Smyker spam like my solution would. They’d have to Quell more often but the status quo would still be allowed to continue. They simply won’t stop this constant Smite spam nonsense until a harsh enough measure is taken, and my solution is that exact measure.
Smite needs REAL downtime. Giving it higher Peril Generation could even be a DIRECT BUFF at the end of the day because Smite can’t cause the Psyker to blow up like Assail and Brain Rupture can, allowing the Psyker to keep consistently high Peril and just cheesing everything with an infinite supply of unimpeded Peril Toughness due to it CCing everything around you while said Peril Toughness is being replenished… and there’s no risk of blowing themselves up with it?
Ergo, Tesla Tower Infinite Toughness Regen Smyker… May the Emperor have mercy.
Like I said several solutions would work, personally I like yours a lot too. The only reason I added mine was to provide a simple fast & easy solution for the devs.
As for harsh enough measures, these things are almost always an issue of degrees and statistical probability. Peril is a shared resource, doubling the cost wouldn’t just nerf smite spam itself but also make it compete much harder with other peril actions. In a sense it’s a double negative, one which should severely discourage spam.
Even if some ppl would still spam & quell it over and over, that short break is enough for specials & elites to get some hits in. It wouldn’t be even close to the same “render everything afk & safe forever” problem it is now.
But the main point ofc is that it would be really easy to do: Just change whatever variable determines smite’s peril cost to 2x of what it is now and done.