07-22-2018, 12:30 PM
Currently, Smoke Screen has two effects. One is to block off the view on the enemy, other is to reduce the Hit of whoever is inside it. But none of those are usable in combat at all, not even against monsters since they just ignore the smoke screen and stroll by anyway. So this skill has pretty much zero utility, and it's just a waste of your skill points.
So! I'm requesting a few changes on it this time:
- Please, change the effect range from a horizontal line to a circle that goes from 2 to 5 tiles, like Sanctuary for example. A 'sanctuary' of smoke tiles.
- Change Smoke Tiles to increase yours/ally's Evade by half of the Hit penalty.
- Change Smoke Tiles to have their Hit penalty halved by Blind Fighting.
- Give Smoke Screen a 2 round cooldown, and increase the FP cost to 38 (-2 per rank).
This is quite necessary, for a better use of its secondary effect and create a distraction. And since smoke tiles can be cleared with Air Pressure, Crystal Rose and such, it won't be much of a problem, but will sure make ninja-themed characters have more fluff, too. With the clear downsides that it might benefit the enemy too, since Smoke Tiles are neutral. But my main point of view on this is PvE, since monsters will sure be heavily affected by it.
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And for my second request, Flying Dagger, can the skill work the same as Fleeing Spectres or Acid Shuriken? (Dagger projectiles thrown in all directions around the user, up to Rank+2 tiles)
As you can see, it is really just a very underwhelming skill to use when you lack anything else to waste that 1M left, so might as well as make it become an AoE that can hit multiple monsters if your positioning is good enough or you're surrounded.
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Originally, I would want those for... I don't know. Either Void Assassin or Rogue alone, to be honest. Spellthief has already a lot going for it, but at the same time, it's the only class that bolsters trickery and ninja-ish tactics of smart hitting and stealth, and since it already has both of the most ninja-esque stuff... I begrudgingly put up this balance-fu thread.