Hello, been a while. The itemization rework has done wonders for my soul, that along with the Psyker tree rework has me so interested in general buildcrafting that I actually went about downloading mods just so I could increase the number of loudouts I could have at my disposal. It’s been a treat, even if the number of Psykers has made quickplay Auric a bit…interesting to navigate (we are paper thin, ohh so paper thin).
BUT, I use this all the preface why I’m here. This talent tree rework has completely shifted how one can build Psyker, and I’ve adored it, but to say the other classes have felt a bit ‘lack luster’ comparatively (in terms of build crafting, not in terms of effectiveness, just want to make that clear XD) is an understatement. For them I’ve pushed to maybe 2-3 extra builds past the 5 initial loudouts, meanwhile my Psyker has 12 and I’m making another one as I have 3 more in mind XD.
(I just put a quote around this as it’s mostly a preamble, I thought it could be collapsed…unsure how to do that xD)
So, while I understand certain characters are meant to be more simple, and some talents are meant to be locked behind choices for balance reasons, I felt with all this ‘thinking’ I’ve been doing, I’d offer a few things that came to mind across all of them, in hopes they will ‘liven up’ the choices available, if even just a little.
Psyker
- Swap Soul Drinker with Unlucky for Some, while I understand this gives crit, having a ‘soulblaze’ ability just, hanging off to the side on the complete opposite side of the tree of soulblaze just doesn’t feel that great/feels very difficult to take. And moving it in place of a talent I don’t think anyone has ever really used seems like nothing but a great idea, while still keeping the talent ‘accessable’ for those that do feel like expecting their team mates to fall over is vital.
Veteran
- Swap Tactical Reload with Get Back in the Fight, I see no reason why both of these are on the sides of the tree they are on. What help does a boost in stamina and some immunities give to a dedicated gun veteran? (give it’s behind ranged damage and right before survivalist), what does reload speed for a pre-mature mag do to a melee vet? I feel both of these swapped would make taking Survivalist not feel like nearly as much of a point dump being able to get a synergistic talent that encourages you to reload into your excess reserves often, while also making that melee side of the tree a weee bit more appealing with the ability to get suppper slippery when the fight gets dire.
- While I’m here, make Killzone function like Longshot but based on the target you’re shooting. The talent is basically entirely dead the higher you go up in difficulty, and while the buff to Opening Salvo is nice, it would be cool to be able to specialize in ‘long bomb shots’, so to speak, with a talent that says ‘if the target is more than 8m away, do 20% more damage’. Could rename it to ‘Dialed in’ or something.
Zealot
- Swap Emperors bullet with Unremitting (and maybe extend it’s attack speed time to 10s instead of 5s?). I know Unremitting isn’t the greatest, but it’s at least a ‘general starter’, and as much as I’d like shield of contempt right there so I can take it on more builds it’s a super potent effect so I feel it does need to be behind something. This feels the most apt, given it puts the ‘gun part’ right before the other perk it so desperately wants to be paired with, and makes the combo of the two of them a lot easier without locking you to it if you wanted to go to the other side of that tree (though if you wanted to then also swap Unremitting with Hammer of Faith, I’d take that too).
- Swap Dance of Death with Good Balance (or then also swap it with Grievous Wounds), same concept as before, why do I have to spec into a gun talent in order to be stun free or have toughness DR? feels terrible, to the point I don’t take Thy Wrathe be Swift on any of my builds despite many using it/me really wanting it because the act of taking a dead talent just urks me. Again, I’d like a generalist talent in that slot, be it the DR from Dance of death or even just the impact strength if that feels to strong, and move the gun talent next to the other gun talent so everything actually feels thematic and not randomly placed. There’s a reason people love going down the undying tree, and while it’s largely because of the effect, it’s also because 5% movespeed is just always relevant, not just sometimes.
- With the changes above, I’d like to see ‘the line’ right after the grenades to be moved before them, and then have a second line created after them using the movement speed pip, Unremitting/Hammer of Faith, and Good Balance/Greivous Wounds. I don’t see the reason the grenade types need to be locked behind specific tree types, why can’t a Bleed for the Emperor Zealot take knives if they want to? Why can’t a crit Zealot let loose flame if they feel like it? I feel this would be the best change that wouldn’t screw up existing builds (As the point allocations would stay the same in most cases), but lead to a wider variety of applications.
- The random ‘suppression dealt’ node can be moved into places above to depending, not sure about it’s location given it’s kinda just, there, but also don’t know where it could really go, so just figured I’d bring it up.
Ogryn
- I feel if the most recent change to there tree is any indication, I think having ready and easy access to toughness DR is something that should kind of just be a part of their identity. They already are super slow and lumbering, but now I see so many just falling over repeatedly to gunfire they have no way to get away from, and don’t have the ability to just soak it up like they used to with both Delight in Destruction getting nerfed AND the toughness DR pip on the right tree getting moved down. I get some replenishment should be thought about within one’s blessings, but it would be nice if it didn’t feel like the ‘excessive wound Ogryns because they expect to go down a bunch’ didn’t just feel like the correct choice in higher difficulties.
- To that end, ‘put back’ the toughness DR node at the start of the ‘gun lugger’ tree, and move the suppression back down to the middle of it.
- and too a similar vain, move the 5% melee pip down and move the 10% DR pip up in it’s place, so that the sides of the tree match, and going down the middle (the tree that’s supposed to emphasis being SUPER tanky in loue of anything else) get’s ready access to both!
- I feel this would help them hit that proper middle ground again, while also not feel like Delight in Destruction is just required to live. Might actually see people use that Too Stubborn to Die talent that they seem to want people to use as well, given it will be right there after nabbing all that sweet DR, and be a nice addition to gun luggers survivability.
- Besides all that though, I’d just like to see Soften them Up made a central component after your grenade choice. It’s such a useful and integral part to Ogryn, and not being able to take rock on like, any of my builds because that locks me to impact just saddens me. I like rock friend, I want to have more applicable builds with rock friend, but right now rock friend is only able to exist on one build, and that build probably should just us Bomb’s Away anyway…
Breaths, ok! That’s it. It’s…a lot! But uhh…hope people like it/the parts of it that apply to them!