Pulling shot is extremely strong, mostly its power is tied to the Knockdown it has, on top of the damage it provides.
I think for the skill to be balanced, the knockdown needs to be updated to have a requirement, so that round 0 pulling shot isn't the king of any 1v1 fight, here's what I'd suggest:
-Dynamic Shooting's effect changed to only knockdown targets effected by movement impairing effects (Snake Wrap/Immobilized/Celcius etc.) or if the target is marked with Marked Shot.
It's been a long time coming.
I support this.
No because this one of the only reliable ways to get into skills that require a knocked down target next to you to use.
"Lolzytripd" Wrote:No because this one of the only reliable ways to get into skills that require a knocked down target next to you to use.
Which is one of the main reasons to get this skilled brought into line in the first place?
Pulling shot is insane for a base class skill, and one of the relics of the pre-GR era where some skills just outright knocked you down with no caveats (see: old turnover, old QHK). Those got nerfed, now it's time Pulling Shot had its turn.
Charge > Bash succeeding, a successful crit with a Deadly Smile, abusing Thunderhooves to fuel a charging strike'd Turnover, the list goes on with how many ways you can knockdown a person then somehow enter 1 range with 3 or more momentum to utilize.
All Pulling Shot has to do is hit. And Archers can achieve range exceeding 15+ tiles, easily encompassing the entire map to knock you down constantly whilst never entering your threat range themselves.
I would honestly suggest a bigger hit to the requirements of the knockdown, since Thorn Shooter exists and is one of the most meta bows in the entire game due to its ridiculous on crit effect. A status infliction check could be introduced in order for it to knockdown on top of requiring the aforementioned status(es) to even be possible in the first place.
Hell, it could even consume Longdraw on use, because it makes sense you no longer have the benefit of pulling your bow back for that extra distance when you just pulled a dude with your bow. Mechanically it'd make it more unlikely the Archer can follow up after using a Longdraw > Pulling Shot to abuse their hapless target.
Wouldn't it be better to put it on a cooldown then? Or the KD only occurs if the target is pulled within 1 tile of the user.
To be as concise as possible, the knockdown should indeed be removed or made less accessible. It's an extraordinarily powerful crowd control with no caveats, +15 more damage than a full basic attack (much more than the autohits that also knockdown), no cooldown, and huge range. On top of that, it can be used to drag people through cinders or equally harmful tiles for even more damage.
It's disproportionately powerful, and desperately needs to be tuned down.
As someone who uses Pulling Shot very regularly, it's a pretty ridiculous skill and hit stacking from Archers is quite easy.
Frankly speaking though, slapping a CD on it is a silly idea and Spoops suggestion seems to be fine; having more reason to use marked shot is always nice.
Well maybe give it a negative hit modifier due to the weight of the rope, or If it doesn't pull you over a trap/into something, or to 1 tile of the user it doesn't KD.
Or make it a status resist check.
making it rely on marked target hampers it reliabilty as a KD tool that leaves the user with 3m.
I'd rather have simpler solutions, Lolzy. I'll support Spoops on this, the reasons imposed in the op are all acceptable as they are:
- Snake Wrap in this case would require you to spend 7M to prepare it, seems fair.
- Immobilize would require you to get to a closer range or have a completely new preparation for it to be inflicted, also fair.
- Celsius would require you to sub-hand a gun or use Lantern Bearer, which can limit how you'll be playing Archer or require some teamwork between you and a friend with it, which can also be fair.
- Frozen too, maybe? It 'is' a movement impairment debuff.
Any other future 'movement impairment'-type debuff will also synergize with this, too, hopefully. I like this, since it promotes more teamwork in combat, and adds a fine cap on the 1v1 salt.
I prefer the idea of needing a movement impairment. Like cripple leg or snake wrap.