Waystalker:
As nothing was changed with Waystalker in the BBB patch, and her last two rows are still kind of dull and too passive, I thought I’d make a thread to discuss why, and maybe see what can be done about it.
There’s barely any diverse or interesting builds other than Asrai Focus + Kurnous’ Reward, as they passively offer too much, when compared to the alternatives.
In my opinion, getting rid of the Asrai Focus + Kurnous’ Reward combination altogether, and replacing those Talents with more interesting, and less passive, mechanics- would be better (adding CDR and ammo regen inherently to the other Ults).
I’ve played Elgi since V1, and before WoM changes, and this iteration of WS, compared to every other Career in the game, is quite dull. Mainly because of those two last Talent rows.
Level 10 Row is awesome.
Level 20 Row is awesome.
This picture is here to show the current state of Talent choice.
X = not worth using, reasons described below
? = questionable Talent or may be worth using in certain circumstances
?:
Mainstay:
The majority of Kerillian’s Weapons don’t use much stagger to deal their damage, and rely more on headshots or fast single target damage. Smiter would be better suited for this position.
Waystalker is also missing the Power necessary to make use of it.
Piercing Shot:
Is overshadowed by Kurnous’ Reward, other than on Lord Bosses and Monsters, if you can spam enough, but that means less ammo in general.
X:
Fervent Huntress:
It’s too reliant on specific enemies, and is overshadowed by Asrai Focus. It can be ok for survival on specific high difficulty modes, but feels like it’s missing something.
Ricochet:
- Completely useless, because of pinpoint accuracy of Kerillian’s Ranged Weapons
- Vermintide maps and details (objects/terrain) make it extremely difficult to land an actual ricochet, even if you’re trying
- With Hagbane, the initial Ricochet explosion does no damage, which was the only reason people thought it may be a decent Talent.
- The Arrows stop bouncing after the first bounce. *
Another game where this mechanic exists and is done well is OW, the character Sigma. The reason it works in that game is because his orbs can bounce as many times as they want within a certain distance, only exploding once they reach the distance his attacks are capped at or if they hit an enemy. *
The maps are simpler and more basic, with not a huge number of open spaces.
The character has unlimited ammo.
The projectiles are huge, and the enemy hitboxes are bigger.
Loaded Bow:
Trueshot Volley is already unreliable, this Talent effectively makes it more reliable, but removes the Ammo regeneration, which is why Kurnous’ Reward or Piercing Shot are better.
(if the changes I mention: about Cooldown Reduction on all Ults and Ammo from all Ults, while deleting Asrai Focus and Kurnous’ Reward, this will be a good choice)
My recommendations:
Kerillian has no damage reduction, and relies on THP and her regen as a survival mechanic. As she’s more mobile, focus should be put on movement and THP Generation rather than Damage Reduction.
- Remove Asrai Focus
- Reduce ALL Ult Cooldowns by 10%
- Remove Kurnous’ Reward
- Add Ammo Regeneration on Special kills to ALL Ults (as she has no other source of ammunition)
What to do with those two rows?
25:
As Kerillian has no Damage Reduction, Talents on this row should offer some defensive benefit too. WS also receives very few melee buffs, so something interesting could be done there.
Fervent Huntress:
Keep the current mechanic, but add:
Fervent Huntress gains a damage bonus to 1H Weapons (maybe Spear too) after a Ranged kill on Specials/Elites. This combos extremely well with Bloodshot, and would make a cool mobility Weapon switching build.
- All of Kerillians 1H Weapons have Single Target Heavy Attacks with no attack prior, so she can do one Charged hit for Bloodshot and return to Range
- This will work better if Mainstay becomes Smiter
Ricochet:
Remove Ricochet and replace it with something else. It’s useless.
Asrai Focus:
Remove Asrai Focus and replace it. The talent is too passive and boring, and also too good. When stacked with 10% CDR on Trinket, for 30% CDR (there’s no reason to stack Crit on WS, unless you’re running a 2H Weapon), it’s unbeatable.
Ideas:
IGNORE NUMBERS, AS THESE ARE JUST IDEAS
Match an offensive and defensive pick.
- Headshots cause arrows to split(shotgun) OR bounce between enemies, hitting more enemies for 50% of the damage (take the cleave into account) Shortbow also uses Bloodshot, and Longbow isn’t amazing for Hordes, so it could work as Cleave won’t be an issue with it.
- Kills on ‘x’ enemy cause Amaranthe to tick once (20 second cooldown)
- Execute on range (15% more damage on enemies below 50%)
- Health generation increased by ‘x’ (combos well with Amaranthe)
- Increased dodge range/increased amount of dodges
- 1H/DW damage bonuses: Killing ‘x’ enemy increases your next dodge range by 100% (can pass through enemies)
- Gain stacking Crit% per headshot, lasts all match (I miss her old Crit build :’) )
- Enemies close to Kerillian increase her dodge distance (similar to how the proximity Power stacking Talent on Mercenary Kruber works)
- Camouflage: enemies become less likely to target you after ‘x’
- Movement Speed
- Bleeding enemies take 20% more damage (for Serrated Shots)
30:
- Replace Kurnous’ Reward
- If Ammo and CDR are added to the Ults, leave Piercing Shot and Loaded Bow alone
Ideas for an Ult to replace Kurnous’ Reward:
- Trueshot Barrage: shoot lots of smaller arrows, so it becomes a sort of Crowd Clear, and looks cool
- Trueshot killing a Special buffs the party for 1 minute with ‘x’.
- Trueshot also makes Kerillian leap back 15 ft (may not work, because of sometimes having to shotgun it)
Additional:
- Handmaiden’s Ult is still the worst in the game, hitbox too small for Crit stacks and bad positioning from bleed/Crit stacks. I just want to Ult like every other character (even FK Kruber’s AS Ult procs off dead bodies, and with block-cancelling in front of Hordes)
- Handmaiden Focused Spirit being removed by FF sucks. This mechanic also makes no sense, as no other Power increase on any other Melee Character can be removed by damage, especially FF.
- Shade’s Exploit Weakness (Bleed and Poison damage increase) is useless now that the Bleed stacking bug has been fixed. It’s best for Daggers and SnD, but they work better with Cruelty or Exquisite Huntress, anyway.
As usual, I’ll add suggestions and good points from people responding.
