The Smite Solution

[IGN_Vera]

Primary Fire

Single Target stun, Ogryn type enemies get stunned on intial blast but recieve stronger resistance for a period of time after. Pretty much exactly how it is right now. It could use a bit more range though, like Trapper Net range.

Secondary Fire

Powerful bolt that deals 400 damage to initial target (about half of BB), then immediately chains and knocks enemies in a wide radius around the intial target to the floor for 8s. Affected enemies recieve Electrocution status effect during these 8s, that weapons with High Voltage or Enfeeble debuff would be able to take advantage of. So, 8s on the floor with Electrocution status debuff, then enemies begin recovery animations.

Like this (minus enemies exploding):

Secondary bolt would have a brief charge up period that gives the player time to aim a precise shot at a distant target, but brief enough that the bolt can be fired in an emergency. Think Electrokinetic staff at 3 stacks of Warp Flurry. The Psyker would recieve 50% Peril on cast, and would not Overload from casting the bolt.

This bolt would be a linear projectile like Voidstrike, which would give Psykers more options to how they approach situations with many ranged enemies, as they’d be able to fire Smite from further away.

Ogryns - while they would still be knocked to the floor initially - by the initial bolt or chain lightning, and receive Electrocution status debuff for 8s, they would immediately begin their recovery animation upon hitting the ground (similar to how Frag affects them).

Monstrosities - would be momentarily stunned: BoN will spit players out, Plague Ogryn would be knocked out of charge animation and Chaos Spawn would drop players it has grabbed. Also, they too would recieve the Electrocution status debuff for 8s.

Charges: 3 Charges max, 1 charge replenished every 60 sec. Plenty of charges to always have one ready for emergencies, but not enough to constantly disable enemy groups.

Enfeeble - The time between affected Enemies’ Melee Attacks is increased by 25% and they take 15% increased Weakspot damage while afflicted with Electrocution.

Charged Strike - For 5s after a push attack, your melee strikes apply Electrocution status debuff to enemies.

First, this would allow more playstyle flexibility by including light attacks.

Also, Charged Strike would now be tied to Stamina consumption so the potential increase in melee damage from the Enfeeble debuff would have more of a limiter than if Charged Strike was tied to heavy strikes - which can be spammed much more frequently without consequence (Spam push, less Stam for block, more risk of damage taken).

Empowered Psionics - The intial target takes 50% increased damage from all sources during the effects of Electrocution (8s) and the AOE of Chain Lightning is increased by 50%.

Basically it gives the team 8s to whale on whatever target is hit by the initial bolt.

[Heretical_Cactus]

Tbh, at this point I think sealing Smite in the current look, and introduce new Biomantic weapons.

Smite remain a CC tool. And we see more “killy” lightning in weapons. Both in term of Staves/ranged weapon, or new melee weapons.

[IGN_Vera]

@Heretical_Cactus

Smite remain a CC tool.

It can still be a CC tool with the above changes, and arguably a much more versatile utility than it is right now. It’s not as if this is a new idea, Smite in it’s current form is far too spammable to be of the utilitarian value that it could be if Secondary fire was adjusted and that has been the case for a long time. But, it’s possible it could get adjusted with future Psyker reworks🤷‍♂️

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Make Smite’s charged attacks have limited uses (like Ogryn’s Big Friendly Rock) and then rework Smite’s uncharged attack to be an insta-stun against a singular enemy with the typical unlimited uses. Charged attacks would end when the Smyker either stops the flow of their Smite manually or reaches critical Peril. Let’s say (for example) that it has 2 charged uses with a 60-second cooldown per replenishment, taking a total of 120 seconds to fully replenish them both. That way, Smykers could use …

[ramrod_ikarus]

I don’t think hiding smite behind a timer is the way to go. It should remain spammy. The problem is the insane spread of the charged variant as is the case with many other near infinite cleave options.

Maybe it should not be an infinite cleave mod but rather charging it increases stunning power while reducing cleave - upto the point it stuns 3 crushers/1 monsti. With the peril cost scaling with the stun/stagger resistance of the enemies stunned.

And remove the autovent on reaching 100% and make it a blitz modifier costing an additional skill point

[Jaj22]

Charges: 3 Charges max, 1 charge replenished every 60 sec.

[IGN_Vera]

“I don’t think hiding smite behind a timer is the way to go. It should remain spammy”

So, that increases the odds that:

• Enfeeble can’t be buffed - as it is right now 10% damage increase to electrified enemies is a total joke of a Talent allotment but increasing the damage it gives any further with Smite’s current availability would make it incredibly broken.

• It can’t stagger monstrosities - even if charge up was required to stagger Monstrosities, Smite in it’s current form is available all the time. A stagger resist period could be given to Monstrosities and Crushers as you suggested, but at that point just give charged Smite actual Charges so that it can also have the increased range as a linear projectile and Specialist OHKO without being completely broken.

Psykers don’t need 24/7 on tap semi-game pausing medicore stagger, they already have plenty of viable, readily available stagger options available through staves and melee weapons at their disposal that require just a tad bit more thought to use.

It would be much more beneficial to Psykers to get the enhanced Enfeeble, enhanced Smite with far more utility through increased range to hit distant Gunner groups, Specialist OHKO by direct bolt hit, and Monstrosity stagger - even if it requires a little bit more cooldown between uses.

Also, 60 seconds is not that long. Frag Grenades, Shock Mines have that cooldown period with their respective Talents and they’re plenty available for when the situation calls for it.

[IGN_Vera]

Why ? Too strong? Too weak?

[Jaj22]

Neither. But initially I thought too weak.
Anyway regardless of how good the other changes could be, I don’t like cd on pysker blitzes.

They seem to be about peril management and making the choice between using your weapons or blitz in x situation.

If you make it a cd it’s going to be venting shriek 2. Press g when the screen is full of enemies and keep playing normally.

[psyk]

@IGN_Vera

Single Target stun, Ogryn type enemies get stunned on intial blast but recieve stronger resistance for a period of time after. Pretty much exactly how it is right now. It could use a bit more range though, like Trapper Net range.

make it quick cast like zealot knives and a slow instead of a stagger youll have a deal.

it would actually work with melee you could smite say a crusher trying to overhead a teammate making it overhead at 1 mile per year then stab it to death.

[IGN_Vera]

@psyk

make it quick cast like zealot knives and a slow instead of a stagger youll have a deal.

That works too, I do like the idea of it being faster to cast

[IGN_Vera]

@Jaj22

If you make it a cd it’s going to be venting shriek 2. Press g when the screen is full of enemies and keep playing normally.

Adjusted Secondary Smite wouldn’t even be comperable to Venting Shriek damage without Empowered Psionics dedication, so only in ease of use would it be comperable to Shriek. Why is that bad, that Psyker would easily be able to deploy Smite and continue playing normally?

@Jaj22

I don’t like cd on pysker blitzes

Assail has Charges and it’s fine. The key is that the Blitz is readily available for when the intensity increases, and that wouldn’t go away if Smite had 3 Charges that each replenish over 60 seconds. It would need to be deployed more strategically, but the increased utility and increase to Enfeeble damage would offset that.

[Jaj22]

Why is that bad, that Psyker would easily be able to deploy Smite and continue playing normally?

Because it defeats the point of having to stop murdering everything with your staff and commit to using your blitz for some unique mechanic/utility.
That’s the ““real cd”” of blitzes, lots of quote marks here. I didn’t mean to comparte venting shriek to smite in power, I meant that it’s going to have the same use case so venting shriek 2.

You mention that assail has charges and yeah I don’t like them. Even then they require a bit of commitment because it takes some time to throw them all. And despite being fun they feel redundant, i’m stopping damage with my staff to… do damage with aimbot crystals? cool I guess but i’ll take another blitz.

This new smite sounds like assail but without committing to anything, free stagger and damage for the sake of it.
It wouldn’t even be that bad to have an effective blitz to be honest but I hope you can see how it’s a different design and that it has the potential to make the other blitzes worthless (and it’s not like they are amazing in the first place).

[Jaj22]

Anyway I know the point was to stop psykers smiting the whole game, so I’ll try to be useful.
Maybe smite should have the stun removed and apply a crapload of stacking debuffs instead. It rewards holding smite but psykers would be as exposed as they are with any other blitz.
I would make smite faster too so it debuffs and generates peril in a more reasonable time.

[IGN_Vera]

“This new smite sounds like assail but without committing to anything, free stagger and damage for the sake of it.”

But it would not be free damage, outside of the intial target. To effectively horde clear it would need Empowered Psionics and/or Enfeeble, otherwise it would be a more versatile burst CC tool by default. Ogryn nades, Vet Frags, Zealot Immolation are all “commitment free” in that context, as they allow players to immediately go back to their melee/ranged weapons. Their use is limited by various means, as Smite would be by a reasonable CD of 60s.

"Anyway I know the point was to stop psykers smiting the whole game”

That’s a point, not necessarily the only point. Smite could use more versatility, as it stands right now Psyker has no CC options against Monstrosities, nothing to give Psyker a second of breathing room when aggroed by them during clutches. Vet has VoC, Kraks, Ogryn has Indomitable, Zealot has Shroudfield.

Same goes for mixed Elite hordes when trying to revive Teammates. Smite may currently pause the horde while held, but it could be better at CCing in the most important moments if it had a CD with limited Charges to offset that increased versatility, making revives more attainable in clutch scenarios.

[Jaj22]

But it would not be free damage, outside of the intial target. To effectively horde clear it would need Empowered Psionics and/or Enfeeble, otherwise it would be a more versatile burst CC tool by default. Ogryn nades, Vet Frags, Zealot Immolation are all “commitment free” in that context, as they allow players to immediately go back to their melee/ranged weapons. Their use is limited by various means, as Smite would be by a reasonable CD of 60s.

What..
Standard grenades are limited, very strong and free of any commitment.
You are comparing this scarcity to a 60s cooldown as if they were even close?

Veteran gets 1 grenade every 60s and we know how insanely strong it is. Ogryn gets 1 rock every 45s and it’s average to underwhelming.
This is the spectrum and something in between would be reasonable, but unless it is garbage it will outclass the other blitzes because the new smite works in a more practical way for all that it does, just press g man.

I was wrong initially thinking that it was weak because you aren’t allowed to spam your blitz, that somehow felt like a downgrade. It’s the opposite, giving it a cd means that psyker no longer need to hold his blitz to achieve meaningful results, either that or the blitz is underwhelming.

So in the end you have an aoe stagger, electrocution dots that can kill groups (with talents), zero commitment to do so and 3 charges on a 60s cooldown. This sh*t is so strong that people want grenadier veteran become an archetype, so maybe don’t change its design with a cooldown? Something has to give you can’t have it all.

Smite could use more versatility, as it stands right now Psyker has no CC options against Monstrosities, nothing to give Psyker a second of breathing room when aggroed by them during clutches. Vet has VoC, Kraks, Ogryn has Indomitable, Zealot has Shroudfield.

He could, but come on man, you are telling me it can stun monstrosities as well?

[ramrod_ikarus]

Enfeeble’s potency is not tied to smite`s uptime. Electrokinetic staff and any melee weapon can already achieve 100% electrocuted uptime and deal a lot more damage.

I do not see the problem with stunning a monstrosity when that is all the smiter does (because of reduced cleave) especially if it has an increased peril cost. Let sparky focus all his mind powers in temporarily suppressing one monsti.

[IGN_Vera]

Enfeeble - The time between affected Enemies’ Melee Attacks is increased by 25% and they take 15% increased Weakspot damage while afflicted with Electrocution.

Empowered Psionics - The intial target takes 50% increased damage from all sources during the effects of Electrocution (8s) and the AOE of Chain Lightning is increased by 50%.

Scrap the horde clear, Smite should be a Stagger tool and you’re right Enfeeble would be broken with Electrokinetic. I got a bit carried away there.

[IGN_Vera]

@Jaj22

So in the end you have an aoe stagger, electrocution dots that can kill groups (with talents), zero commitment to do so and 3 charges on a 60s cooldown. This sh*t is so strong that people want grenadier veteran become an archetype, so maybe don’t change its design with a cooldown? Something has to give you can’t have it all.

You’re right, after reading through it again I realized it would do too much. Smite would be best utilized as the stagger tool it was meant to be, a tool to give openings for allies to deal extra damage to high priority targets during critical moments - not a jack of all trades Blitz.

Also toned down Enfeeble.