[Inconspicuous Kitty]

Hi, someone's probably going to kill me for posting this but I'm gonna do it anyway.

I feel as though a large amount of Ranger's elemental spells are a little... well, underwhelming. I'm not one to try to get things nerfed, but buffs? I love buffs. I'm pretty much talking about all the arrows that aren't either Cherry Blossom, Thunderbolt or Frigid Arrow, as they all tend to be under-used, especially in PvP, as I understand it.

So without further ado, I'm going to get into them, explain what I think is wrong and how we might be able to fix them!

Wind Runner
This is a pretty cool concept, if you ask me, and it's plenty versatile, too. The problem is, Ranger already has multiple ways to move and attack as is, and this one doesn't give you the benefit of critting.



As well, it takes the Annorum effect to apply this, and while that and the immediate knockdown is stellar, when you compare it to the - albeit delayed - knockdown of Thunderbolt across the range it gives, it's a tiny bit underwhelming.

My suggestion: Give it an Air Shaft tile at the end of the line, and when Annorumed, grant the user some sort of movement buff, such as the ability to remain airborne for a while or +1 move. I think this'll give it the little bit of oomph it needs to be more liked as a tool to move yourself and others around.

Ghost Arrow
Another cool one! Honestly, it's already pretty unique, and just needs a little bit of a boost to match up with other arrows, as currently most of them are around 130% elemental scaling, while Ghost Arrow is at 100% and only hits one enemy.

Given how common Dark Resist is to come by, and that you're meant to use it's annorum to finish an enemy off...

My suggestion: If it kills a target, Annorum's cooldown OR the FP cost is refunded (Both would be a little strong.) I think it also would benefit from inflicting fear on enemies it phases through as well as it's primary target, and maaaybe a baseline SWA scaling increase by 10 or 20% to account for the commonness of darkness resist.

Agile Androcobra
This is actually a strong skill that's made incredibly difficult by the way it moves. I don't think it needs any number buffs, and it's not weak, per se. It's just difficult, and often you'll fire off one just to have mistakenly predicted it's path and it misses an enemy by a hairlength.

My suggestion: Mark the spaces that Agile Androcobra will hit with blue tiles as per most abilities, instead of just saying it's a projectile that'll go this way, so people know what it's gonna hit. It'd also be nice if we could decide which way it first starts curving with the +/- keys.

Deos Danzai
Y'all knew this was coming. This is.... probably my favorite skill, actually, just due to how unique it is - there's not anything quite like it in the game, and it's actually the reason I started this thread in the first place. The issue is it's just straight up weak. You're spending three momentum for four attacks that's not going to activate until the turn after your next, or just the next turn if it's annorumed, but even then... The damage is incredibly pitiful. When you could just end up snake-shotting for a similar sort of single target DPS that lasts a few turns, which ALSO deals an instant hit of damage on it's own, Deos Danzai just doesn't match up to that kind of DoT.



As well, the target it hits can't be prioritized. Which isn't a bad thing, per se, but when you combine it with it's pitiful damage compared to almost any other instant source of damage that you would already be able to pull off with ranger, as well as the fact it takes a few turns to actually deal it's damage at all, it's... It's not very good. It's not something you'll use often, and you'll certainly never see an Annorum for it. And the damage being as is, and that it's split into four attacks?

It means that Magic Armor reduces the damage. Since it's multiple, small instances of damage, this is a pretty big deal.

My Suggestion: I'm not great at balance stuff, but I think a good start would be to allow it to ignore Magic Armor and anything similar to it, as well as a small increase to it's numbers - 10% to 25% on both the elemental scaling and SWA scaling, or 5% per level.

I'm not too sure what you might be able to do with the Annorum effect, but I think it'd be pretty neat if Annorumed Deos Danzai arrows also qualified as both Holy and Blessed.

[strike]it'd also be pretty cool if they had a much smaller scale version of Soaring Spear's effect so we know which arrow launched at who since it's not as visually telling as most skills are[/strike]

Pressure Fletch
Not a bad spell, but when you compare it to, say, Kel...


...you can see that it's only comparable upside is that it has an additional range, if we're to ignore it's Annorum effect (which is fine as is - I'm here about the baseline skill)



Considering that this is a promote class - and I'm not saying base classes are weak mind you - and that it's baseline effect is weaker and doesn't do much interesting on it's own, I think it just needs a little push to use it a little more than just the annorum effect.

My Suggestion: Decrease the FP cost by 5-7. That's really it. It won't devalue the annorum or buff it much, as a lot of the FP cost comes from Annorum itself, and will make the skill on it's own more enticing to use in combat.

Forest Fiend
This one... I'm honestly not too sure what the issue is.

It's got a pretty unique effect and when Annorumed it's suddenly a huge AOE then. But I'll take a shot at what we can do to see it more liked.

My Suggestion: When it damages either an enemy or destroys a plant, it could leave a Sear tile in those spaces only. I don't mean cinder, I mean the old Sear effect that only dealt damage when you stood on it at the start of a new round, and not when you were pushed through it. Fire being fire, this is the only thing I could think of, because fire is damage and fire hurts n'all.




That's really it. I do have something in mind for Sonic Arrow as well, but I'm putting that in another topic.
Thoughts, everyone?