Game Mechanics A rework of crepuscular ray for Boltslinger

Ok so, I think every sharpshooter player agrees that crepuscular ray (you know, the one that makes you levitate and shoot a ton of homing arrows) is an abysmally bad ability. Its DPS is terrible, it costs your focus which makes every other attack lose damage and makes you levitate very slowly, leaving you extremely vulnerable to every single attack that can reach you (which aren't few). It synergizes extremely poorly with the rest of the archetype's abilities and is more of a nuisance than an actual ability you want to use.

Now, you know which archetype could benefit a lot from an ability like this? Boltslinger. I've already seen some discourse during this last beta about Boltslinger being pretty bad right now or something, and while I can't confirm personally, I think this would help buff Boltslinger in a way that makes sense and engages the rest of its kit. But not with the current iteration of crepuscular ray. So I'm suggesting a rework that takes inspiration from bullet hell shoot 'em up games, which already seem like an inspiration for the archetype given that there is literally an aspect for shrapnel called "Aspect of Bullet Hell".

• The new condition: Hit chaining

Okay so, as I said, the problem with the ability is that it makes you extremely vulnerable and its damage doesn't make up for the potential dps it steals from you by eating all of your focus.

So since we are moving it to Boltslinger, we are changing the focus condition. Boltslinger is all about shooting tons of arrows and attacks. Bullet hell style. So the new condition should be landing a certain amount of hits. It doesn't matter if they miss or what the source is, whether it is arrow storm, arrow bomb and its shrapnel, guardian angels or escape and arrow shield's stuff, you just have to land them.

Obviously, arrow storm will be the main star for racking up hits, but it is already the spine of the entire archetype so I think it is fair. Though, if necessary, other attacks could be buffed slightly to make the archetype attack faster, such as buffing the attack speed of Guardian angels at the cost of damage or something. They already look like shmup options anyways (the flying things around the player in shoot 'em ups that also shoot at the enemy. See the image below if you still can't figure it out), so I think it would fit nicely. Also, all Boltslinger aspects I've seen seem to buff attack speed or add even more arrows to the attacks, so I think this condition will synergize well with the rest of Botslinger's kit.

Let's say that you need to land 1000 hits or so to be able to activate this ability. And to encourage actively attacking, the arrow count will decrease if you stop landing hits for let's say 5 seconds. Once you fill the meter, you can activate it. I don't think the activation method needs much of a change. And obviously, once the ability ends, the meter is reset to 0, so you have to do the hit chain again.

The inspiration for this condition is the Dodonpachi series' chaining system, which works similarly and rewards you with higher scoring (also killing enemies in that game fills the hyper meter too, so just hitting things alone regardless of chaining is already rewarding you).

• Crepuscular ray: Hyper shot edition

Now, the actual ability also has issues. As I said, vulnerability. The DPS can just be balanced by buffing the damage it deals, and it no longer takes away focus so that alone should be already a massive damage buff. So the only issue left is probably the levitation.

The levitation is boring and leaves you vulnerable to basically everything. Since I'm taking inspiration from the Dodonpachi series for this already, I may as well just suggest something similar to that game's hyper.

Which isn't very different. Just make the ability not make you levitate. You stay on the ground and move just like you normally would. And in case there is some enemy that might require you to not attack it at some point (I can't think of any, but just in case), make the shooting tied to your main attack. In other words, if you don't shoot your main attack, you don't attack. Perhaps it could also grant a mild resistance and speed buff during the duration of the ability in order to make it easier to focus on shooting while it is active. In Dodonpachi Resurrection it already does something like that since the hyper in that game allows your own shot to destroy enemy bullets.

As for the timer, just make it the current max. Maybe make it extend for every certain amount of extra hits or something.

And while I don't think the arrows need to be aimed here, I think the visual effect that is produced by the homing arrows should be kept in some form. If they aren't homing, still make them particle based or make a cool effect for them. Just make it look cool like it already does.

• What about Sharpshooter? What does it gain in exchange?

Honestly, just getting rid of this ability and letting Sharpshooter spend the two points on literally anything else is already enough of a buff for the archetype. It really synergizes with it that poorly. I think I speak for all Sharpshooter users when I say that this ability causes more trouble than it's worth.

So it is a win-win for both. Boltslinger gets a cool flashy ability that actually synergizes with its kit and Sharpshooters become free from the horrors of accidentally casting a phantom ray and losing all the focus that took so much effort to build up, all while becoming fodder for all ranged attacks around.

So ya crep ray more like crap ray. This ability needs changes and this is my idea.