Hello, just wanted to make notice that hook rats might need a slight rework
As they stand in the game right now:
whenever there is a massive horde fighting you they are very hard to spot as they are smaller than the average of the enemies fighting you and the only defense option you have is to smash the tag button in hopes to tag it before it reaches the frontline, but if at that time there happens to be a bunch of elite troops in the fight then they become effectively invisible
on top of that their hook animation at certain angles and with little amounts of latency becomes undodge-able
My suggestion for. a fix would be to change the model so it is visible when walking behind a horde , maybe he can carry a banner or something so that it can be spotted, or maybe the tag funcion has a priority for this kind of enemy
Finally I think the hook animation should be reworked so dodging it becomes more consistent independent of the angle or latency you are facing at the time
After so many consecutive player nerfs maybe an enemy nerf could be made instead?
Idk; they are fine in terms of visibility. The only things I would change are that they ignore any dash/teleport ult (catching your BW/FK/HM/Zealot from 10-15 meters away), the fact that sometimes they slide without animation or sound for long distances, and that they can occasionally ignore stagger from FK ult or ults like the Merc one.
I don’t think that’s a reason to make them less visible. Maybe it’s intentional, but they do blend with hordes. I think the game could have benefited a long time ago from having some kind of change to make these guys visible with a little glowing warpstone trinket, or something.
Only thing that is strange about them and should be changed is their armor type. They should be infantry and gain more health instead.
There is only one special that need bigger rework and that is Blightstormer because they often cast from places where they can not be reached and players can not fight the storm.
Assasins are a way bigger problem as they can jump trough everything and generally attack from unusual angles. Hookrats you can hear from a mile away at least.
They can always be reached if you stand in the storm circle before it fully forms. The Blightstormer has line of sight to where he is casting. Stand in the circle and look for the green lines leading away from the circle to the caster.
Thus there are two counters to him:
Stay in the storm, find and shoot him during the cast animation before the storm forms
Run like hell
Positioning is an important skill here too. Often Blightstormers seem “impossible” only because players allow themselves to get cornered in a small space with no escape first. Blightstormers play a noticeable span sound long before they begin casting, and characters will often call them out too. If you hear these things and you’re a) in a bad location without room to maneuver, and b) can’t try shooting him (out of ammo, melee only, etc) then do something about it (move to new location)
I believe the current event makes this problem more obvious.
I don’t have trouble hearing them, and they being hard to spot is part of the point in their design, but I think the problem is in the collisions.
When fighting a huge, several layered horde of mobs + elites, which is fairly common in Twins+Vanguard, hook rats easily ignore the whole crowd, a feat that players can’t do. IMHO this is what needs fixing.
However, I’m skeptical this will ever get done. Blightstormers need a rework since forever, and Tower of Treachery end event is still a sorry mess players avoid. I don’t get the feel that FS is really balancing the game, but the latest rework of the loot system gives me a little hope.
Yes, please give hook rats a little red skaven banner that sticks up a few feet so they don’t disappear among trash mobs. Their hook grabs players through mobs, while players cannot cleave through mobs to stop them, and dodging often fails (you can side dodge with precise timing, and dodging backward generally fails)
Dodging backwards will always fail. The hookrat “grab” zone is a long cone that gets wider the further you are from him. Move towards him and dodge sideways is the best way.
Listen for hookrat
Give yourself space to maneuver
Even better, be fighting right next to your teammates so you can save each other. Sometimes someone just has to eat the hook so that teammates can easily target it
Plus there are so many career skills that make dealing with them easier. Pretty much every character’s career skill is helpful I would say.
