09-24-2017, 10:03 AM
Kensei is a good class. It has a lot of damage output, a lot of ways to deal it, and is definitely not short on defenses, coming with things like Sheathe Sword and Hidden cut, reflect bullet.
Two of it's best skills are in the Absolute series. One of them is very sad and lonely, because nobody ever picks it.
I'm of course, talking about Absolute Pace.
Absolute Death is a godsend in the damage category. 25% can add up. Pick opponent, and with a solid enough build, your 120 damage strikes can hit 170, 200 to 250, etc.
Absolute Fear would be it's defensive thing as far as absolute's go. It inflicts fear, making it easier to dodge things, Hesitation, for when the dodge decides to give up, and silence, shutting down mages without any way to counter it, ignoring status infliction.
Then there's absolute pace. It's not point and click for a silent effect like the other two. Well, it is - but it's situational, because you have to dodge something first. The biggest issue with this is just that it's situational. The Kensei is supposed to keep up with the flow of battle - but with this skill, you're actually losing the flow of battle by using momentum to apply it, and in PVP, where many of the Balance Fu discussion comes from, anyone can simply pop an autohit, because I do not believe it triggers evasion. With the up-and-coming global evasion update in mind, this can be remedied. Even were it not the case, it's effect is mediocre at best, for a few reasons.
1. 50% scaled strength is not much. At 60 scaled strength, that's an additional 30 flat damage.
2. Absolute Death does it's job, but better, and non situationally.
3. What with numerous katana's being majors in skill, Kensei's don't have to build STR, but often go for SKI instead. This is just a statistic, and less a reason, but still!
Fortunately, it's just a weak skill. We can keep it with some simple buffs. I propose one or more of the following, perhaps not all, but they're ideas to keep in mind, and can be combined as Dev sees fit for the sake of balance.
1. Buff the 50% scaled STR to 100% scaled STR.
2. Switch the bonus from STR to a simple bonus from scaled weapon attack.
3. Make the skill capable of triggering on evasion.
4. Make the skill capable of triggering on successful parries.
5. Perhaps make Absolute Pace have one, or no momentum cost; potentially with an FP increase.
6. Battle Pace does not disappear per the skill used immediately after it.
7. No requirement of dodge in the first place. I frankly don't like this one, but it's an option.
With these more solid suggestions put up, I'm going to delve into the fact that it's called 'Absolute Pace' and not 'Absolute Coolness' (seriously the effect on Kagekiri looks amazing!!)
Basically, I'm suggesting it have a utility use instead. The Kensei is to keep up with his opponents. Therefore to spark discussion!
1. Triggering Absolute pace will instead give the Kensei momentum per turn with Battle Flow.
2. Triggering Absolute pace will make the next Kensei skill cost no momentum.
3. Triggering Absolute pace will make the Kensei's movement free once per turn.
4. Triggering Absolute pace will pull a Geist, and cause the Kensei to dash towards their opponent immediately. Perhaps, while Battle Flow is active, the Kensei will also dash to the opponent at the start of each of their own turns. This will fit the idea of it being a 'pace' quite nicely. In this one, it would be a double edged sword, as they may potentially dash through cinders, so to circumvent this, the Kensei may battle pace themselves for no momentum for free to cancel battle flow.
*HEAVY BREATH*
I think I'm done. These are all to spark discussion, my own ideas. I went crazy, I know, but the jist of the this post is this:
Dev pls buff Absolute Pace, it's lonely
*flees*
(i promise I'll never do this length of post again, i just feel like Absolute Pace has so much friggin potential)
Two of it's best skills are in the Absolute series. One of them is very sad and lonely, because nobody ever picks it.
I'm of course, talking about Absolute Pace.
Absolute Death is a godsend in the damage category. 25% can add up. Pick opponent, and with a solid enough build, your 120 damage strikes can hit 170, 200 to 250, etc.
Absolute Fear would be it's defensive thing as far as absolute's go. It inflicts fear, making it easier to dodge things, Hesitation, for when the dodge decides to give up, and silence, shutting down mages without any way to counter it, ignoring status infliction.
Then there's absolute pace. It's not point and click for a silent effect like the other two. Well, it is - but it's situational, because you have to dodge something first. The biggest issue with this is just that it's situational. The Kensei is supposed to keep up with the flow of battle - but with this skill, you're actually losing the flow of battle by using momentum to apply it, and in PVP, where many of the Balance Fu discussion comes from, anyone can simply pop an autohit, because I do not believe it triggers evasion. With the up-and-coming global evasion update in mind, this can be remedied. Even were it not the case, it's effect is mediocre at best, for a few reasons.
1. 50% scaled strength is not much. At 60 scaled strength, that's an additional 30 flat damage.
2. Absolute Death does it's job, but better, and non situationally.
3. What with numerous katana's being majors in skill, Kensei's don't have to build STR, but often go for SKI instead. This is just a statistic, and less a reason, but still!
Fortunately, it's just a weak skill. We can keep it with some simple buffs. I propose one or more of the following, perhaps not all, but they're ideas to keep in mind, and can be combined as Dev sees fit for the sake of balance.
1. Buff the 50% scaled STR to 100% scaled STR.
2. Switch the bonus from STR to a simple bonus from scaled weapon attack.
3. Make the skill capable of triggering on evasion.
4. Make the skill capable of triggering on successful parries.
5. Perhaps make Absolute Pace have one, or no momentum cost; potentially with an FP increase.
6. Battle Pace does not disappear per the skill used immediately after it.
7. No requirement of dodge in the first place. I frankly don't like this one, but it's an option.
With these more solid suggestions put up, I'm going to delve into the fact that it's called 'Absolute Pace' and not 'Absolute Coolness' (seriously the effect on Kagekiri looks amazing!!)
Basically, I'm suggesting it have a utility use instead. The Kensei is to keep up with his opponents. Therefore to spark discussion!
1. Triggering Absolute pace will instead give the Kensei momentum per turn with Battle Flow.
2. Triggering Absolute pace will make the next Kensei skill cost no momentum.
3. Triggering Absolute pace will make the Kensei's movement free once per turn.
4. Triggering Absolute pace will pull a Geist, and cause the Kensei to dash towards their opponent immediately. Perhaps, while Battle Flow is active, the Kensei will also dash to the opponent at the start of each of their own turns. This will fit the idea of it being a 'pace' quite nicely. In this one, it would be a double edged sword, as they may potentially dash through cinders, so to circumvent this, the Kensei may battle pace themselves for no momentum for free to cancel battle flow.
*HEAVY BREATH*
I think I'm done. These are all to spark discussion, my own ideas. I went crazy, I know, but the jist of the this post is this:
Dev pls buff Absolute Pace, it's lonely
*flees*
(i promise I'll never do this length of post again, i just feel like Absolute Pace has so much friggin potential)
![[-]](https://neus-projects.net/forums/images/collapse.png)
