Game Mechanics A Comprehensive Review of the Acrobat Rework

Well, it’s finally happened. The long awaited Acrobat rework is finally here, and ooooh boy has it brought a TON of controversy with it. And while most people talk about just Swan Dive (which is fair, it’s the most drastic revision), I thought I’d give my opinions on the other changes as well, and how they impact acrobat (also assassin in general).

Just a disclaimer before I get started, I was an AVID player of the old acrobat playstyle, and thus my critiques might be biased as to how I feel acrobat should be played. This post is meant as constructive feedback to the rework, not as me berating the devs. Again, these are just my first thoughts and experiences.

For more detailed feedback to specific changes and abilities, look under the spoilers. The general feeling is at the bottom. Ability tree is actually not terrible, but there are always flaws.

NODE AND FEATURE TWEAKS:

Spoiler: Lacerate + Hop Superjump Tech

Spoiler: Change

Using Hop while Lacerate is active launches you further

This change DOES make flying a lot easier and clearer. Hopping at ANY point during Lacerate will give the boost, so there is not much precise timing like before. Flying is now a lot more friendly to beginners, and getting Hop and Lacerate right after each is great for early game (although without Wall Jump and Eviscerate it’s hard to stay in the air for long periods of time). One issue that others have pointed out quite a bit is that this technique, though easier, is SLOWER than old Lacerate+Hop. Acrobat was already a fairly slow archetype, but this has made it pretty much the same speed as WALKING. Giving it just a little more forwards momentum would really be great for QOL.

Spoiler: Blade Fury

Spoiler: Change

Multhihit deals an additional 10% damage per hit, and can be aimed in all directions.

YES! YES! THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! NO MORE DRAGGING ENEMIES SO THAT THEY CAN EXPLODE RIGHT ON YOU! NO MORE BEING YELLED AT IN PARTYFINDER FOR KIDNAPPING ENEMIES! NO LONGER ON THE LIST FOR TAKING BABY VILLAGERS! Seriously though, this was great. The damage nerf doesn’t matter too much, since the damage buff from Finality+Mutilate cancels it out. Great change, highly suggested and followed through.

Spoiler: Shurikens (and Ricochets as well)

Spoiler: Change

After dashing you prepare 3 shurikens, to a max of 9 (3 dashes). Each shuriken deals 120% of your DPS. Using your main attack throws all prepared shurikens.

Another banger. This change is also FIRE! Even at max stacks, the shurikens take significantly less time to be thrown. And now you aren’t sacrificing DPS every time you dash accidentally; you’re just saving them for a big burst! With ricochets, Shurikens becomes a ridiculously satisfying crowd clearer, capable of doing respectable damage for just a couple dashes, unlike some abilities (cough cough STOMP cough cough).

Spoiler: Wall Jump

Spoiler: Change

Hop’s cooldown is reduced by 1 second. Using Hop into a wall will bounce you off of it (hold shift to cancel)

I didn’t even know this got changed, but damn it’s nice. By holding shift you can cancel out bouncing on walls, one of the most annoying things in caves. Small change, but great nonetheless. One issue I have is that pressing shift will briefly trigger Righting Reflex if you have it, which is a little off-putting (oh, but what if it was optional? Hmmmmmmmmmmm…..).

Spoiler: Dancing Blade

Spoiler: Change

Enemies you dash through take 120% of your DPS. After using Swan Dive, your next Dash deals +80% of your DPS and has more velocity

The damage buff didn’t really do anything. It deals the same amount of damage as Stomp, which isn’t a lot. But the bigger problem is actually LANDING THE DANG ATTACK! This change was probably made with comboing it with Swan Dive in mind, but the player model isn’t exactly very… wide. So landing a Dancing Blade from straight down (especially from very high up like you’re encouraged to) is pretty difficult. (Pirouette also struggled with this, which is why Trickobat was only really used for raid bosses and big targets, not so much general use). Also Empowered Dancing Blades are kind of pointless, unless you recover from your Swan Dive by going THROUGH your enemy (which isn’t very wise, literally flying straight into damage).

Spoiler: Pirouette

Spoiler: Change

Node removed.

Honestly this node did have to go. As much as I love trickobat and bouncing off mob’s heads, it was just no-skill flying, making insane playsytles possible that were too rewarding. It wouldn’t combo well with Swan Dive having to land on the ground either. However, there has been nothing left to fill in the gap of a “quick and easy way to get up into the air”, and especially with Swan Dive not giving you anything to get back up. We’ll talk about that more later.

NEW ABILITIES:

Spoiler: Stomp

Spoiler: Description

Falling 8 blocks or more deals 120% of your DPS around where you land. Damage is increased by 10% for every block fallen above 8, to a max of 12 blocks (240% of your DPS total)

This node was supposedly designed for early game, but I really don’t see it having much of a use. The damage is still pretty pitiful, and actually triggering it during a fight is never happening. But, most of the “first archetype nodes” are pretty much useless anyways, so I’ll give this one a pass. Definitely not super impactful. Side note: Is the damage scaling from higher heights bugged? I tested it and Stomps from 20 blocks and 8 blocks don’t seem to have any significant difference in damage. Maybe my tests were inaccurate…

Spoiler: Finality and Mutilate

Spoiler: Description

Multihit’s damage ramps up by +4% of your DPS per hit, which caps at 8 hits(+28% of your DPS). With Mutilate the cap is increased to 11 hits.

This one is just kinda a numbers upgrade. Yes, it is technically different from Fatality (the old version), but in practice it’s the same idea: let your Multihit finish completely to do the most damage. And this just happens to deal more damage than Fatality in total. Not much to say, just a good (much needed) damage buff. Finality and Fatality both fit thematically too. (BTW I’m really excited to see how this will fit with +JUGGLE. Definitely going to be a lot better now! #ROILINGRUCKUS)

Spoiler: Swan Dive

Spoiler: Description

Landing 30 hits will give 1 Momentum, to a maximum of 5 (which is 150 hits). Stomp will deal more damage for every Momentum you have, to a max of 125% (25% per 1 Momentum) and reset your Momentum. Having over 3 Momentum and using Stomp will cause a “massive” explosion, dealing 200% of your DPS and also blinding for one second. Having over 3 Momentum will also cause Dash to have a lot more downwards velocity.

Oooooh boy, this node is a DOOZY. Increasing Stomp’s damage is… pretty pointless. Even at endgame, it still deals PITIFUL damage for a supposed “burst”. The explosion helps a bit though, and the blindness lets you get out quick, but still, the damage doesn’t really justify the effort. However, the blindness isn’t quite enough… charging straight into an enemy is sometimes a death wish, especially a ranged one (looking at YOU rapid ranged). Even attempting a Swan Dive is EXTREMELY risky and can lead to massive loss of health. Implementing some sort of resistance while Swan Diving might solve this. Also, when getting over 3 Momentum, the change to Dash’s downwards velocity means that casting Dash facing any lower than 90 degrees basically means plummeting into the ground, which is hella annoying and inconvenient. It forces you to land and sacrifice all your Momentum, which unless you’re right above your target, is terrible. Oh lemme try to fit this downward Multihit into my cycle to hit some enemies below me! Oh shit, now I’m on the ground and about to get jumped. After landing a Swan Dive, there’s also nothing to get you back INTO the air, requiring you to go from looking straight down to straight up, which just feels clunky (like you just accidentally landed).

Spoiler: Jasmine Bloom Explosion (Big addition, so basically new ability)

Spoiler: Description

Jasmine Bloom gains one bloom for every 2 Momentum gained. Using Swan Dive with 5 blooms will trigger a massive explosion dealing 720% of your DPS and resetting the size of Jasmine Bloom.

This might possibly be the only thing making Swan Dive not complete trash. You can actually get blooms fairly quickly with Momentum, and 720% is NOT a small amount of damage! Also, Jasmine Bloom gets pink highlights at 5 blooms, a great indicator for when to Swan Dive. This is actually a fairly good change! Problem is, base Swan Dive deals such little damage that even THIS is not enough. With Hanafubuki (which has a MAJOR ID buffing this explosion), you can reach 300k bursts. But that’s BURSTS, the actual DPS is much lower (below 200k). Honestly this is pretty good, but Swan Dive is so bad that it holds this great concept ability back.

Spoiler: Aerial Ace (Is that a Pokémon reference?)

Spoiler: Description

Landing Swan Dive or an empowered Dash on an enemy will give a 25% damage buff for 6 seconds.

Again, not bad, but definitely held back by Swan Dive. This sort of functions as the replacement for Flow State, with less damage for no cooldown and longer duration. And the first thought is to combine this with Swan Dive for even MORE damage… but that doesn’t really work. First, it’s kind of a time crunch to try to get everything in the right position within six seconds, and trying to get the Swan Dive in time can lead to miscalculated downward dashes and stress. Also, even with this buff, Swan Dive still deals mediocre damage! It’s just not enough…

ABILITY TREE:

• Stomp is the early game useless archetype node, which is fine
• Getting Hop and Lacerate right after each other is great
• Eviscerate being so far down the tree is a bit confusing, as it makes flight a lot easier (I guess the new Lacerate+Hop is easier, but still Eviscerate makes it so much more forgiving)
• Having to take Righting Reflex for Mutilate (big damage boost) feels… redundant. It was, and still is, fairly useless in practice. I could suggest juggling it with Cheaper Spin Attack, Cheaper Multihit I, Far Reach, or Eviscerate (which would solve the problem with Eviscerate’s placement)? Though Righting Reflex, in my opinion, should be optional.
• Getting Finality before Far Reach is… ok? Trying to land a Multihit without Far Reach while flying is cancer, but moving Finality to later is also jarring (big damage buff)…
• A lot of trees used to use Blazing Powder, which now needs the EXTREMELY useless Dagger Proficiency II (You’re flying, landing melee is almost impossible). I’m not sure why Dagger Proficiency II was ever on Acrobat’s tree, but it needs to go regardless
• Getting all the Swan Dive nodes (Swan Dive, Dancing Blade, Aerial Ace) relatively close is nice.
• Cheaper Multihit I is just… gone? How do you miss a whole ability? Although it is a confirmed oversight, I take it as a sign of rushing, probably due to community pressure.

General Thoughts on Swan Dives:
I genuinely think Swan Dive is a great concept! Working up with tons of little blows and then descending from the heavens like a blazing meteor to obliterate your enemies into dust, ripping through their inner organs and shredding their skin into little organic bits (gracefully)… sounds SUPER fun. The problem is… the execution.
Swan Dive deals little damage (for a burst ultimate) and feels clunky (like you landed on the ground on accident). One thing I’d like to talk more in depth about is gaining Momentum. There is such a HUGE difference when fighting lots of mobs and fighting one singular (or just a few) enemies, simply due to how fast you gain Momentum. With just five targets, getting to 5 Momentum takes 2-3 seconds, but when fighting one target, it can easily take 7-8 seconds depending on how many Multhihits and Lacerates you do.
However, fighting many targets means that they usually have less individual health, so Swan Dive isn’t needed to kill them. And fighting one target (usually a boss with a LOT of health) means Swan Dive would be SUPER helpful in taking them down, but takes too long to charge. Thus the dilemma of Swan Dive is created: more enemies=faster and more powerful Swan Dive, but Swan Dive is completely unnecessary. Less enemies = slower and weaker Swan Dive (NO AERIAL ACE), but Swan Dive would be much more helpful. Minions DO help, but those aren’t guaranteed. I’m not sure how to solve this, it’s just something I noticed.

General Thoughts on Rework:
To be honest, I really love the concept of this change. However, it feels a bit rushed and not fully thought through and tested. Still, a lot of the tweaks WERE positive, and with just a few more patches, I’m sure this archetype can make a comeback (trust).

(Btw this post is in the General Suggestions section because istg NO ONE reads the stuff in the Feedback section)

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Also I might be understanding Stomp wrong. Idk if it means that 20 blocks high is max damage, or 12 blocks high is max damage

 

great feedback overall!

 

Ok after some more playtesting I have more feedback.

1. Pull is literally the ultimate counter for everything Swan Dive. One pull and its over; you're out of the sky, likely didn't hit your attack, lose all momentum, and will probably take a hefty amount of damage. Doesn't help that half the bosses have pull, and they're almost all old AI bosses (I just had a terrible experience at Legendary Island, missed 7 Jasmine-boosted Swan Dives during rat fight because of Pull). Push is a bit better, but still sucks, especially when you're about to Swan Dive.

2. You're almost guaranteed to take damage during Swan Dive, if the enemy is ranged. Who knew that flying straight down into a ranged mob is gonna hurt. And it hurts a LOT. Every Swan Dive is taking a lot of risk, not even for that much damage. Even with a damage upgrade, it doesn't quite fit acrobat to be a literal Kamikaze for your ultimate attack. I BEG add some sort of resistance during Swan Dive, I can't take this anymore.

btw i just finished an LI session, having failed 4 times due to these (mainly at Dr. Legendary, my man spams projectiles, flamethrowers, push, and pull, and seems to have a spidey sense to do it right when I'm Swan Diving)

 

suggestion: make swan dive trigger good ol' pirouette and other stomp effects. it would let you stay off the ground so you don't get immediately jumped and would also keep you from having to jerk your mouse up so you can get back in the air

 

This is a very popular request, and it does seem like a very nice addition. However, it doesn't answer one of my primary concerns which is that Swan Diving is allowing yourself to be shredded. Especially with glassy builds, you might die before even getting to the ground! Adding some sort of damage reduction or resistance is one of my top suggestions.

 

I am an acrobat main and i quit acrobat, we are not flying shadestepper