Warrior Mini-rework + Level Iv Spells

Hey everyone,

My biggest gripe with Warrior, after using it for quite a long while (also my only starred class) is its lack of utility compared to other classes. Assassin employs high damage in close range and stuns enemies, Mage is the epitome of utility in and of itself, Shaman has excellent AoE damage and crowd control... while Archers and Warriors are damage dealers and tanks, respectively.

Archers however are good at what they do (which is dealing damage, something they excel at thanks to the Hawkeye Major ID), Warriors are not. They lack control, which says something, and while they're meant to have limited mobility, it doesn't mean they should have limited utility as well. War Scream is the biggest outlier of this.

Also, the spell levels cap at Level 66 for Level III 4th spells. Now that the max cap is 105 (and has been over 100 since Gavel!), more spell levels should be added... yes?

This suggestion page contains two ideas - a Warrior Mini-Rework to give this class somewhat better utility, and Level IV Spells to give all classes some maybe much needed bonuses to better deal with things while not causing (or trying not to cause) power creep.

UPDATE (9.4.20):

Spoiler

According to the poll, the consensus is that Warrior needs more power over other aspects, while nobody states that Warrior is fine as is. Until a much larger sample size (read: n = 100 or greater) is achieved, I won't be able to call it an unanimous agreement that Warrior needs a buff ASAP.

Charge IV has been changed - instead of making you unstoppable, it now cancels spells, which means if a spell is being chanted or has been already cast, it will be cancelled, blocking the spell. No more chain teleports, flamethrower teleports or Cybel wrecking players! Do note that it has a cooldown of 10 seconds (20 for bosses), and it is per mob and not per player. What this means is that you can't chain cancel the spells on mobs with multiple Warriors charging on the same target. Even with these restrictions, this upgrade makes Charge arguably the single most powerful 2nd spell in the game, with the exception of Vanish.

I'm also slightly nerfing the Meteor's Flames (Meteor IV) as 0.5s/hit is a bit too overpowered for its own sake.

UPDATE (10.04.20):

Spoiler

Changing Charge (again): It no longer grants the resistance buff, but now has increased damage reduction on enemies as a tradeoff.

This combats the ongoing issue of Warrior suddenly becoming defenseless after a Charge.

First, the Warrior Mini-Rework.

Warrior's War Scream is the main target here, it simply lacks utility. It's a great knockback and buff, but that's it.

My idea on improving War Scream is to turn it into a mid range control spell that stuns enemies, pulling or yeeting them at Level IV. Of course, Strobelight will still benefit from War Scream, since Taunt will have a longer duration (or inflict Taunt on all mobs in a radius - depends on balancing concerns).

War Scream (Old)

• Level I: Gives a +10% defense boost.
• Level II: Defense boost increased to +15%, now deals damage while pushing back mobs.
• Level III: Defense boost increased to +20% AND to a 4 minute duration. Increases outgoing damage by +10%.

War Scream (New, including the Lv. IV proposal)

• Level I: Unleashes a conical blast that paralyzes enemies. Cone radius is 6 blocks forward (direction-dependent), in a 45° arc.
  
• Level II: Cone blast deals damage.
  
• Level III: Gains the old War Scream III buffs.
  
• Level IV: Cone blast now sends enemies flying on shift-cast (+300% knockback), or pulls them towards Warrior.

Charge is also getting a slight buff as well.

Charge (Old):

• Level I: Charges in a direction.
  
• Level II: Gains +50% defense boost after hitting enemies while charging. Overrides War Scream buff, and because this buff takes precedence, the War Scream buff is dispelled.
  
• Level III: Allows Charge to be controlled mid-air.

Charge (New, not including the Lv. IV proposal)

• Level I: Same as before.
  
• Level II: Aerodynamics is moved to Level II, from Level III.
  
• Level III: Decreases hit enemies' outgoing damage by 35% on hit with Charge (doesn't stack - it's refreshed instead). Somewhat same as the old Charge II, except it allows a Warrior to better protect their allies by reducing enemy damage. Weakness debuff lasts 4 seconds.
  
• Level IV: See below.

Level IV Proposals for Spells

While not necessary, it's a fine addition - Level IV spells are unlocked at the following levels:

• Level IV (1st): Level 66
• Level IV (2nd): Level 76
• Level IV (3rd): Level 86
• Level IV (4th): Level 96

Note that all classes that are above these thresholds will retroactively unlock these spell levels.

Warriors gain utility benefits, which it desperately needs, and response against ranged attacks:

1. Bash IV: During Uppercut, casting Bash will slam all airborne enemies to the ground, dealing massive damage and slowing enemies down dramatically (70%).
   
2. Charge IV: Cancels spells. Spell cancellation has a cooldown of 10 seconds per mob (it will be visible on the boss bar). Bosses have a cooldown of 20 seconds.
   
3. Uppercut IV: Inflicts AoE damage on landing (an additional 15% on landing). Damage is singular, and is bound to the spell itself - not the mobs affected.
   
4. War Scream IV: See above.

Archers gain general bonuses that are fairly minor, but still noticeable in combat:

1. Arrow Storm IV: Arrow damage is slightly increased for each arrow that lands (this builds up rapidly considering there's 60 arrows, tearing down singular targets), increasing overall damage by ~10% if all arrows hit. With Hawkeye, it instead deals 3% more damage. Resets upon casting a new Arrow Storm.
   
2. Escape IV: *slightly* better control over Escape when floating.
3. Bomb Arrow IV: Bomb velocity does not reset when it collides with solid ground (or mobs).
4. Arrow Shield IV: Arrow Rain slows down mobs.

Mages gain a new spell disguised as an extant spell's 4th upgrade, but otherwise gain fairly interesting buffs:

1. Heal IV: Shift-cast Heal to instead cast Flamethrower. Uses 15% of your max HP (cannot bring you below 25% HP) on top of its regular mana cost, deals damage similiar to Smoke Bomb.
2. Teleport IV: Ignores block collision. You will still be put in an "inside bounds" area rather than an out of bounds one. You cannot teleport past quest barriers, token gates or Discovery-specific puzzles.
3. Meteor IV: Reduces Flames damage by 35%, which now ticks every 0.7 seconds instead of just once. Entropy causes it to inflict this damage 3.33x times faster.
4. Ice Snake IV: Neutralizes inbound Heavy Charge / Charge II+ spells. Deals higher damage.

Assassins are in a good spot utility-wise and instead gain slight buffs to mobility:

1. Spin Attack IV: Grants Speed I (0:03) for a short time after casting. Must hit at least 1 Hostile/Neutral mob.
2. Vanish IV: Grants Jump Boost I for the duration of Vanish.
3. Multihit IV: Shift-casting Multihit will also send you flying, allowing you to chain Multihits or cast Spin Attack. Mana costs do not reset during Multihit.
4. Smoke Bomb IV: Smoke Bomb now acts as a smoke screen for allies, causing Hostile mobs to lose aggro. Attacking while inside Smoke Bomb will break this buff.

Shamans gain the least for themselves from Level IV, since their kit already gives plenty:

1. Totem IV: Mana cost is reduced, Totem damage boost is increased to +20% for other players (Self boost is still +35%).
   
2. Haul IV: Increases Haul cast range.
3. Aura IV: Allies caught in Aura gain the full Totem boost (same boost as the one you get while inside your own Totem). Does not stack with the original Totem boost buff. You can't gain this buff - it does not stack with itself.
   
4. Uproot IV: You can now "Uproot" other players. Instead of getting pulled toward you and being rooted, they gain Speed II for 5 seconds (Archer's Speed buff overrides this). You can't Uproot yourself.

I'm well aware that I'm asking a bit too much, but Warrior, being the lowest utility class of them all despite being the most durable, needs these buffs to be better viable in PvP situations (such as Hunted), though as I said it's not entirely necessary to get the Level IV upgrades.

 

It will most likely be a Major ID, not a spell upgrade - and it will be castable mid-air ONLY ONCE.

Because here's the thing, if you let Escape be cast mid air casually, people will reach y = infinity in no time flat. They will go out of bounds, explore new areas, reach places where you weren't supposed to reach and the very fabric that holds Wynn together will cease to exist.

Sure, the idea of self-sustain seems interesting, but Warrior does have very tanky builds with the likes of Guardian, Cancer, Praesidium etc. that give obscene defenses and/or health regen anyway. Giving War Scream some healing won't help in the long run since the bigger problem is the ranged enemies that Warrior can't do anything against, except charge and face tank a ton of projectiles (looking at you; Death, Qira, Dr. Legendary).

Current War Scream is literally a buff and a long range high knockback projectile. Arguably the simplest spell in the game that does nothing against ranged enemies (except help them more by shoving them away), which Warrior is countered by.

 

Reduced bounce count. I'm not further touching this.

The damage boost is minor (at around 10% overall damage boost if all arrows hit), so it doesn't break the game instantly.

Magic. Magic and clever use of regions. I'm not sure why myself.

Assume the Spin Attack buff to be the same as the current Charge buff's duration (roughly 3s).

 

Bump, you may notice some changes on the post.

 

*laughs in Warp*