It feels to me like the class is a mishmash of a support and berserker and not really nailing either. It’s somewhat lite on support abilities and has a harder time surviving at higher difficulties in a berserker role. Given that the current zealot class might be a better fit for a berserker at higher difficulty levels some of the below suggestions could help better distinguish the current Ogryn Class in a role that is unique and canonical or maybe just as a future class suggestion.
Skullbreaker “Bull Ogryn”;
Special: I would replace the current charge with a shield special. Just use the current Shield Model. Increase Aggro, like a reversed camo talent for the veteran. Slowdown movement like the shield block already does. Increase DR by 40% and regen toughness 5% of damage blocked. You are going to take shots to the flank but the toughness regen and DR should help mitigate that with good positioning. The Special would be on a seconds active bar but would otherwise be an infinite stamina block like the alternate of the shield currently is. This would free up other team members to fulfill their roles more effectively and relieve pressure as well as being the most tankiest of lil’ un bodyguards.
a. This would help the Ogryn utilize more of their coherency talents without running off and provide a clearer role for the class.
b. Unlike VT2 there is only one shielded weapon, 2 if you get a blessing on a force sword. I would love to see shield variants of every weapon but likely is way out of scope at this point but this special opens up all the better melee weapons as options and still block ranged attacks. Also current stamina drain for shields at higher levels just rips through shields.
Grenade adjustments: I would give the Ogryn 4 and speed up their draw speed like some clutch pocket sand; especially if all those mutties and dogs are going to be gunning for you.
a. The grenade boxes are hand sized for the ogryn, no reason they couldn’t carry 4, they’re not overly powerful.
Talent Adjustments
a. Tier 2:
i. Blood and Thunder: Ideally change it to On Block Push. Give dem heretics some scuffed knees.
1 Stack doesn’t feel worth it on many heavy weapon swings.
ii. Bombs Away: Activate on a fully charged grenade throw. O’ Captain says to member to pull da pin.
'Using this against a carapace enemies feels like a waste when it could pop a mutty or some other more annoying target and actually damage it.
b. Tier 3:
i. Bullfighter: Auto Stagger dogs and mutants that charge your shield; Lose 20% of your max Shield Bar. Torro
ii. Lead the Charge: increase Shield coverage angle by 40% and no longer slow down in Shield Mode.
c. Tier 4:
i. Die Hard: Stand up again with 50% health if everyone in the team is down. (Can only Occur once every 120 seconds) Must protect the lil’ uns.
'I dont see what other talents would want you to aim for being at low health to get a benefit.
d. Tier 6:
i. Unstoppable: Gain 20% more DR in shield mode.
ii. Non Stop Violence: Gain 10% of your shield bar back whenever you take health damage. Max once a second.
iii. Bull Gore: Cause a stack of bleed to anyone hitting you in melee while shield is active.
Aura Adjustment:
a. Intimidating Presence: +10% Damage to Staggered Foes. (Allies in Coherency)
There is definitely something to the idea of building the shield into the Ogryn’s base kit instead of making it a near mandatory weapon’s choice if you want to actually be tanky.
Since the Ogryn is huge and really bad at dodging they effectively have no real defensive strategy other than pushing and blocking, which doesn’t work all that well against ranged enemies until you add the slab shield into the mix.
The problem is that the slab shield is a weapon choice. Because it expands the capabilities of the class so drastically it’s practically mandatory. In fact I rarely ever see an Ogryn who doesn’t use it.
One thought though would be that right now we don’t have any two handed Ogryn weapons, so arguably the best solution to all of this would simply be to add a shield to ALL Ogryn melee options. Doesn’t always have to be a slab shield, some could be smaller shields or storm shields.
If they want to add the ability to go full berserker to the Ogryn in the future they can still introduce two handed Ogryn weapons without a shield later, or give future Ogryn variants like the Gunlugger all the various weapons without the shield since they will have more ranged firepower to deal with enemy ranged attacks.
I’ve been thinking about the skullbreakers lack of identity recently. Even the name has no connection to the class, there’s nothing headshot related and almost no damage talents. His current talent config would lend itself much more to the class being a bodyguard.
After playing Ogryn the things I dislike the most is: being shot from everywhere because I’m so big, and on the veteran side, being so big I block all my team mate’s bullets. Really annoying.
When I play Ogryn and I’m in the front, I try to stand one side of the pack of mobs so I’m not blocking everyone. I see almost no one else doing this.
I would love if they added in shield variants (Honestly a quick way to add more weapons count*) or a Void Shield Blessing.; If some tiny assassin target can carry one; take it off his corpse. Just use the deflector Blessing and Color it Yellow.
You would still need some tweak to stamina drain on higher difficulties as a ranged mass can rip apart your normal shield in seconds and the shield wall alternate doesnt draw aggro to make it useful for the team at higher levels. Enemy ogryn can tank laz shots all day but yours will not last long without fulling specing into Block/Stamina boons just to make it work. Ideally either the Ogryn Shields would come with a large block efficiency bonus or stamina drain on shields is eased up against ranged shots, especially laz shots and small rifle rounds.
Then throw in a few talents that are more shield / block oriented
i. Bullfighter: +50% Stagger on Shield Bash
ii. Lead the Charge: +40% shield block efficiency while moving forward
Ya and then their main special is a bull rush right in front of you. If you are staggering a dog or some other elite in an sprawl it becomes hard to not block some fire. Some of those corridors are barely large enough to stand to one side. Its important to remember firing lines. I’d be nice if every friendly ranged weapon had a blue laser sight so you could see where your allies are trying to aim when they are switched to ranged so you can get out of the way and not target the same guy.
Ideally i would enjoy if the class leaned into meat shield aspect a bit more by letting the ogryn draw enemy aggro but then providing talents to help you absorb some of it that would work through to damnation.
It would be awesome to have a technological equivalent to “Deflector” for some melee weapons that need help. Just allow them to block ranged with a shield. That’s not totally unheard of in the 40k universe.
The assassination targets the characters actually interact with in game have some sort of yellow technological void shield. The rejects could have just taken one. Given the prevalence of ranged shots many weapons could benefit from a blessing or built in.
I don’t mind your idea but maybe turning their grenade slot into a shield slot and keeping the charge would fit in and “box” could become a full ranged weapon or something since that’s our class identity: bearers of the box.