I feel as if this combat ability has been sorely lacking in direction and I would like it to lean further into the Veteran’s role as “the leader/specialist killer” rather then just feeling like a weaker/sidegrade version of the Zealot’s Shroudfield with a longer cooldown and give it more value, so this is how i would rework it with more of a melee vet flavor in mind.
Infiltrate
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Replenish all toughness and Enter Stealth for 8s, gaining +25% Movement speed and Highlighting Specialists in a 20m Range.
Leaving stealth suppresses nearby Enemies.
While in stealth and for 5s afterwards you have +10% Attack Speed and +20% Damage on Backstab and Flanking hits.
Killing highlighted Specialists in melee or with Ranged Backstab hits extend Infiltrate duration by +0.5s, 4s Max Cooldown restored.
(Duration cap of 4s so as to prevent over stacking, requiring 8 specialist kills)
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Low Profile : Stagger nearby enemies and deploy a smoke screen when entering Stealth, Smoke cloud remains active during stealth, dissipating 5s after exiting stealth and gain -90% Threat for 5s.
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Hunter’s Resolve : Infiltrate provides +25% Damage Reduction & +20% Melee Finnese bonus for 10s upon leaving stealth.
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Overwatch : Your combat ability gains +1 Charge but +33% Cooldown and for 10s after leaving stealth, Gain 15% Block Efficiency, Perfect blocking replenishes 10% Cooldown of Infiltrate. (1s Cooldown)
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New Concealed Positions : Allies in Coherency gain Stealth for 8s and +50% Toughness upon entering stealth, Allies gain 10% attack speed and 20% damage on Backstab and Flanking hits for 5 seconds after leaving stealth. Allies will leave stealth after attacking.
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(“Allies attacking while in this state will break stealth” referring to Individual’s stealth, and this should have a 1s grace period for the ally to realize that they have been stealthed, just to prevent them from using it up unintentionally)
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Passive : Covert Operative: 30% Damage to Ranged Backstab attacks → 30% Damage on Ranged Backstab Attacks and 15% Damage on Melee Backstab Attacks
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Smoke Grenade New Effect: Smoke Clouds extinguish nearby Tox Gas & Scab Bomber grenades. You and Allies within the cloud see enemies highlighted in a 15 meter range.
(and please please please, could we get the Clear Smoke mod as a QoL toggle in the settings <3)
I really liked playing with the Mortis Trial buff “Ambusher” (“Give stealth to nearby allies upon entering stealth. While in stealth become invulnerable and able to attack without canceling stealth.”) So i want to try to see if we can get some of that to the main game
I hope this is interesting enough as a way to differentiate Infiltrate from the single target annihilator that is Shroudfield, giving it a bit of identity as “the melee vet ability” rather then getting more usage out of Voice of Command for the melee vet enjoyers out there.
Made a few edits and fudged the numbers toward the lighter end, since the ability modifiers were just too similar to exe stance (eating its lunch entirely) as Refreshing stealth to that extent would be too strenuous on your team.