Very Late Ideas for a Bounty Hunter Rework

[Velsix]

How do we feel about this change to Quick Release?

• “Killing an enemy with a melee strike reloads half of your clip or 2 shots whichever is lowest.” Renamed to Blessed Strikes.

I think whichever talent has reload on melee kill is going to be a must pick, so removing it from Salvaged Ammunition (SA) and moving it to a passive solves both the redundancy of the live passive and makes balancing SA easier.

The issue this can create is it forces BH into a hybrid melee/range playstyle. While I think this isn’t terrible, I’d understand if some players disliked this change. Any thoughts?

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Ammo Sustain

BH has it rough when it comes to ammo sustain. Huntsmen gets ammo on headshot, Keep it Coming, crit chance on headshot, 10% on special kill, ult doesn’t use ammo+can get 30% cdr for it. Waystalker gets 100% base capacity, Kurnous’ Reward and Blood Shot (apparently Conservative Shooter on ult as well). RV can get tons of ammo from special kills at his feet. On top of that, all three get access to Scrounger too.

Even with the changes in the rework post, BH is still very reliant on Scrounger/SA to sustain ammo. An ammo passive could be added, like:

• “Tagging an enemy and dealing the most damage to it by the time it dies restores 5% of your ammunition. Can only trigger once every 10 seconds.”

Wouldn’t be massive on its own, but would help BH be less reliant on Scrounger. Provided the Crossbow receives adjustments, it shouldn’t be made too strong by such an addition.

I think the changes to Salvaged Ammunition help BH a lot, but it I wouldn’t want BH to pigeonholed into using it just to have sustain that’s comparable to the other 3 when they aren’t even maxing it out.

[alsozara]

@Velsix

“Killing an enemy with a melee strike reloads half of your clip or 2 shots whichever is lowest.” Renamed to Blessed Strikes.

I like it, though I do certainly still find myself reloading manually with volley bow in particular, so it may hurt cruel fortunes Volley builds a touch, though if you’re dipping into melee at all getting 2 shots reloaded per kill may well balance this out just fine. It’s certainly a more unique and fitting passive than straight reload speed. I would also be interested in something that allowed quicker/smoother quick swapping between melee and ranged, though that would certainly make quick swapping core to his identity, which I personally dig but would understand why others may not.

[Velsix]

@alsozara

These are all fair points which I hadn’t considered. You could either commit hard to the low cooldown option and remove its boss stagger, or go the route you suggest and make it higher impact. Both could certainly be effective and a viable choice, I’d just be happy to have a reason to pick it at all honestly.

The live version is underwhelming. I swear it manages to feel less effective than a normal Blunder/Grudge shot even with the extra pellets.

Speaking of the extra pellets, while the pellet effect for the live version is interesting, it results in BH saving the ult and being reliant on density. All it really does it make it so that BH uses it on a horde and avoids aiming it at armoured elites. I think removing the extra pellets from the rework version would be fair considering the pellet damage and spread increases.

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@alsozara

I like it, though I do certainly still find myself reloading manually with volley bow in particular, so it may hurt cruel fortunes Volley builds a touch, though if you’re dipping into melee at all getting 2 shots reloaded per kill may well balance this out just fine. It’s certainly a more unique and fitting passive than straight reload speed.

It does hurt Volley the most, especially when there isn’t chaff enemies around to kill which is often vs bosses. Volley is pretty goofy on WHC/Zealot, so reducing the reload time from 4s to 3.5s/3.75s might offset this enough. Definitely wouldn’t make Volley overpowered.

@alsozara

I would also be interested in something that allowed quicker/smoother quick swapping between melee and ranged, though that would certainly make quick swapping core to his identity, which I personally dig but would understand why others may not.

I was thinking of this before as well. Something like:

• “Increases weapon swap speed by 40% after killing an enemy with your currently unholstered weapon.”

So BH gets quicker swap speed but on the condition that the weapon was used effectively. Bit of a unnecessary condition though, I’d prefer:

• “Increases weapon swap speed by balanced Fatshark approved and cerfified percentage.”

Probably 30% or 40%.

Not sure where it would go ideally. If made a passive, it would have to come at the cost of something else, like one of the live passives, replace Quick Release (would have to move reload on kill to a talent) or could be added as a new passive instead of a new ammo sustain passive.

It could also be added to the altered Quick Release:

• “Killing an enemy with a melee strike reloads half of your clip or 2 shots whichever is lowest and increases weapon swap speed 30% for 2 seconds.”

[Incandescent]

@Velsix

The live version is underwhelming. I swear it manages to feel less effective than a normal Blunder/Grudge shot even with the extra pellets.

Yeah the BH shotgun blast is legitimately the most awful feeling thing in the game rn in terms of feel…possibly also effectiveness

[alsozara]

@Velsix

Perhaps the current version with just a passive CDR instead of the cooldown regen would work?

Upon further consideration I do think cooldown regen has too many issues to be used here, not least of which is stacking badly with 10% CDR on trinket. I think a flat 50-60% CDR would be most apt for your version of Indiscriminate, alternatively it could be given a trigger based on how many pellets hit a target, that way you wouldn’t need high density to get your CDR, you could run up and point blank an elite and still get the cooldown. Something like 10% per pellet that hits an enemy capped at around 60%, though at that point it might basically end up being a flat reduction regardless.

@Incandescent

Yeah the BH shotgun blast is legitimately the most awful feeling thing in the game rn in terms of feel…possibly also effectiveness

I know HM mains quite reasonably complain about their Ult options but I’d legit take HM’s base Ult without talents over current BH shotgun every time if given the option

[Velsix]

@alsozara

Something like 10% per pellet that hits an enemy capped at around 60%, though at that point it might basically end up being a flat reduction regardless.

Interesting idea. I’d wonder what effect this would have on its usage. The only real effect I can think of would be it discouraging using the ult on low counts of chaff enemies. You’d pretty much get the full CDR against elites, bosses and hordes, with the exception of lone Maulers/Berserkers which die to a low number of pellets (5 for Maulers, 3 for Berserkers base without any properties/Enhanced Power/Talents on non-crit bodyshot).

It would require a bit more thought on the BH’s part. I’ve added it the main post but made it 5% per pellet, since you get 20 pellets with two shotgun blasts, and it makes it less effective against single elites (not by too much though).

Do the pellets penetrate dead armoured bodies? Iirc there was a thread about the Repeater Handgun not doing this. If the pellets don’t either, then just a flat 50% CDR would be best.

Edit: Tested it, and they don’t penetrate dead armoured bodies.

[alsozara]

@Velsix

Do the pellets penetrate dead armoured bodies? Iirc there was a thread about the Repeater Handgun not doing this. If the pellets don’t either, then just a flat 50% CDR would be best.

Edit: Tested it, and they don’t penetrate dead armoured bodies.

That’s a very good point. Yeah however you look at it flat CDR is probably the best way to go. Makes sense for a somewhat defensive option anyway.

[anon75893681]

I think that was @Rebel his idea, from the bh thread he made.

[alsozara]

Ohhhhh my bad, thanks for correcting

[Battering-Ram]

Bounty hunter shotgun mode should be equal to 2-4 blunderbuss shots with 40-50 CDR