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woethehero · 1 year ago

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Wyrd RPG Blog Post #2 - Combat Discussion

Hey Hero! Check out the much improved lettering of the name lmao.

Welcome back! This time were discussing the Combat mechanics and what has been worked on so far. Some things are in better spots than others, but everything is open to criticism. Everything is subject to changing as review and testing occurs.

We're going to be covering a lot, prepare! Just as a reference for what I'm going to be talking about today:

Asymmetrical Combat (PvE, PvP, GM and Players)

Health Systems (Core, Health, Armor, and Magic Protection)

Defining Enemies (Minion, Elite, Champion, Boss)

Phases of Combat (Move!, Fire!, Fight!, Plan!)

Grouping (For Friend and Foe, Individuals or Squads)

Player and Foe Actions

Combat for this system has a very large amount of influences, but you can expect turn orders to play like a war game may. This has been a very interesting thing to try and adapt to a TTRPG combat system, as I quickly figured out why you don't often see tactical/squad based gameplay in RPGs. Regardless, we're going to try our best anyways.

Asymmetrical Combat

It's important to understand right away that the design behind the combat is that GM's take on a largely different role in play than the players do. Players control their Champions in a much more specific and detailed way than most creatures the GM is responsible for, specifically in PvE, which will be the intended way to play.

Player Characters have access to Effort, a plethora of abilities and items, and a custom understanding of how to operate their character. At the head of the table, the GM has a much more simple task in playing the monsters. I wanted the GM side to foundationally be scalable from small encounters to massive battles without much change required in how things are played. As anyone who has played more than a couple sessions of any TTRPG with combat in it, it can be really slow.

I don't want to rush the players, but I do want most of the time to be spent on their decision making and thoughtfulness. The game is aimed to be a little more difficult than others and discourage direct fighting all the time, not without tipping the scales first anyways, so naturally the players are encouraged to be genuinely thoughtful.

As for PvP, I currently don't have the desire to incorporate PvP into the balancing process of enemy types, champion abilities and equipment, etc. This is an RPG first and foremost with war game style combat that's focused on the players. I don't see myself ever wanting this to be a competitively viable project, but a cooperative one most definitely. Doesn't mean I won't change my mind later though!

Health, for Friends and Foe

For Player Characters, Health has a bit more going on and is broken into 3 distinct categories, Armor, Health, and Core.

Armor Pips (AP): Like a standard Health Pip, but it has it's own armor save of at least Armor 2, up to Armor 5, determined by the equipment of the character. Once they run out of Armor Pips, damage defaults to Health Pips.

Health Pips (HP): Your flesh and blood, typically takes damage directly without intervention. If unarmored, be very careful! Once you run out of Health Pips, any damage goes to Core.

Core Health Pips (CHP): A small number representing your resistance to fatal damage. When taking damage at Core, all incoming damage is reduced to 1. This represents great injury or mental anguish. Healing Core Wounds takes a long time, and when you run out of Core, you die. Most characters have at a minimum 2. Protect it well!

There was originally an idea for another layer of armor called Magic Armor Pips, but after further ideation were later moved, as Armor Pips had changed quite a lot from first conception. Now Magic Protection is going to be a type of spell ability to allow different types of mechanical advantages to occur that deny damage from going through. Armor Pips were originally going to work the same for Foes as well, but when testing on a larger scale, it got to be way too difficult to determine how groups take damage where and when, so a more simplistic design was created in attempt to remedy this. This actually has worked out so far, because Asymmetrical Combat and GM ease of management are big goals of the design.

For Foes, it depends on how they're defined.

How Foes are Defined

Minion / Grunt / Gribbly - The "Bandit Sniper" "Skeleton Swordsman" "Gob Thug", the nameless guys who populate dungeons and typically exist more in numbers. They can have specializations, but are ultimately disposable. Typically with limited action choices, d6 table outcomes, and basic fighting styles. They don't worry about managing Effort (just get exhausted after some time).

✴ no Effort maintenance, no Core, base Armor #.

Elite - A step up above, often found as particularly capable leadership for Minions, but also in small groups to form dangerous Elite squads. They have a broader selection of abilities usually requiring some strategizing from the GM. Actions are more advanced and may involve more GM focus, but doesn't require managing Effort. Elites have Core HP and can React.

✴ no Effort maintenance, but wider range of actions, and they do have Core, still Armor #. (Armor # doesn't apply to Core)

Champion - Equal complexity to the players in some regard. Player Characters may face opponent Champions. Not frequent in a fight and can be viewed as a "mini-boss" of sorts. Effort will need to be managed by the GM and Health will behave the same as players. (Core HP, HP, Armor)

✴ very similar to Player Characters in complexity, same Health system AND Effort maintenance.

Hero/Boss - Behave in rules beyond what's available to players. The scale of them varies, but their defining factors are usually unique abilities not seen elsewhere in the game specific to the unit. Some abilities or actions stretch beyond what is otherwise mechanically possible within the game, primarily for fun, lore flavoring, or to express otherworldly power. Huge BBEGs or characters "Achieving Daemonhood" type stuff, so special occasion things.

✴ a step beyond normal design, allowed to break some rules to provide unique challenge and/or flavor.

Combat Battle Phases:

Alright! This is the more War-Gamey part of the combat system. Fans of Warhammer will likely notice similarities. There are currently 4 Distinct Phases for Combat:

Move! (positioning, determining engagements)

Fire! (ranged abilities and attacks)

Fight! (melee abilities and attacks)

Plan! (time for decision making, grouping, or bailing)

A turn begins at Move!, which is Regen applies. Effort must be carefully maintained through each round. At the beginning of each phase, participating group of combatants must Roll Off to see who has priority.

Roll Offs

Each acting unit rolls a d12 to determine turn order for each phase to determine in what order things happen. For all phases, the lower number goes first, then the next, and so on until the lowest.

Winning a Roll Off means you have Priority, which looks a little different each Phase.

Move!: When you have Priority on Moving, it means you as a Player can elect to Move or React. If you end your movement in proximity to a Foe, you are considered to be Engaged, where neither can leave without first attempting to Disengage. If you want to lock someone up in a fight where they are, that's the time to Go. If you want to wait and React to what a Foe does before you Move, you can put yourself behind them in turn order so you can Move afterwards.

- If you're the target of a React, you cannot React and must Move! (I don't love this one, but I don't want players to feel punished by moving first, then another enemy moves out of range) - Minions cannot React, but Elites and up can. - Critical 1's on Move! Roll Offs grant extra movement. 12's cannot React, even to other 12's.

Fire!: Having Priority on Fire! means your ranged attack goes off before someone else's. In a shootout with multiple combatants, this could mean your shot interrupts or takes out a Foe before they can Fire their attack.

- Unique to Fire! is the Cover mechanic. Cover utilizes terrain pieces of different sizes, determined by the GM of giving Cover 1-4, acting as a secondary armor save. Fire! targets that decided to Hunker Down get an additional Cover 1. - Critical 1's on Fire! give you an auto-success on your next action.

Fight!: Units Engaged in a Fight! roll for Priority to see who gets to hit first and who defends, followed by a reversal.

- Previously, the Fight! System was the Roll Off determines who is on the offensive and who is on the defensive, meaning there was an Attacker and Defender and that was it. This lead to cool interactions of one party being on the defensive or have dramatic back and forth, but quickly fell apart in encounters where multiple combatants were fighting, so a more traditional wargame "my turn your turn" is something I'm going to try for now. It currently forces a lot more energy usage from the champions than the previous iteration, but I don't hate that.a - Critical 1's on Fight! Give you an auto-success on your next action.

Plan! doesn't Roll Off, this is just time for thinking and changing things up. Namely, reconfiguring grouping or bailing on the fight.

When you decide to Bail!, you and your party escape the encounter. I currently haven't set up any mechanics for how this works, as it's yet to be something people wanna do in basic testing. I'm currently debating between letting it be an easy out but with immediate penalties, or setting up a more complex mini game of trying to escape that may lend to a chase. Regardless, I don't want players to ever feel trapped in an encounter they know they don't wanna do anymore. It's purely unfun.

Last note on Roll Offs, I'm currently experimenting with an character mechanic called Speed, which would affect Roll Off successes. I'm either going to make it a Stat for characters to build or not, or make it a property of actions/weapons/traits, or a third option I haven't thought of yet.

Character and Unit Grouping

As combat is designed to be scalable with the size of the engagement, the grouping of enemies may change. In the beginning of a character's career, it may be common for the Party to fight a number of opponents approximate to their party total. For contained instances like this, having each unit act independently or maybe in pairs is fine.

However, enemies may appear in larger numbers or be working together more strategically. Player Characters may also have their own minions or companions to manage and running them all separately is just too much slog. Before any encounter or during Plan!, you can revisit squad configurations and Group Up or Split Up as makes sense to the table, as long as units are able to make the changes happen, such as being in relative proximity or have some form of communication from distance.

In cases like these, say you have 4 town guard under the command of a character, you'd roll them together as a single acting unit. 1 Roll Off die for all 4 as they act cohesively, Move or React all together, 4d6 to determine attacks and defenses, etc.

During Plan!, you could decide to split up those guard and give two to an ally. Or regain control of all 4 again. You could pair up with another Champion to ensure you act together at the same time during your phases if you have something planned.

Foe Actions

Minions and Elites, the bulk of what Player's may encounter, play very simply. Champions and Bosses are more related to players actions, but will be explored further on in a future post.

On a Minion and Elite level, their Attacks and Defenses are prepared on a d6 table for each action that the GM simply has to pop a d6 on to see how they behave.

Let's look at this Gob Thug. Whenever it's their time to Fight!, the GM will roll a d6 to determine their outcome depending on if they're in Defense or Offensive stances. If there are multiple of the same unit in the group, you can roll multiple d6 to determine them all. Here are examples of some abilities minions may have.

For Attacking, Spiked Mace:

1 - 1 Damage w Crush 1

2-3 - 1 Damage

4-6 - Miss

Short Bow:

1 - 2 Damage

2-3 - 1 Damage

4-6 - Miss

For Defending, Wooden Shield:

1 - Block 2

2-3 - Block 1

4-6 - Fail to Block

Basic Weapon Block:

1-2 Block 1

3-6 Fail to Block

Player Actions

An Action on the Player side requires Effort to complete to determine how well the task is performed, unlike a simple pop of a d6. Primarily, this is for things that require some Skill or Attribute to perform, like making an attack with a particular weapon, disengaging from a fight, performing an ability, etc.

The inspiration behind this system is Pathfinder 2E's Degrees of Success, of Critical Fail, Fail, Success, Critical Success. However in this, there isn't critical failure, and the highest success result written is considered the best or "critical" success.

By default, totaling below the minimum successes needed on a roll means total failure, you did not do what you intended. It simply fails. Some actions can specifically mention consequences of failure or change the cost of success around depending on the nature of the action. Some actions could even include failure as one of the lower results or as a result of overshooting.

Additionally, so far in the default, we've been doing 3 basic degrees.

For example, a plain Short Sword may look like this:

Slash

1 Success: 1 Damage

2-3 Successes: 2 Damage

4+ Successes: 3

Damage

Pommel Strike

0-1: Miss, Trigger Target Riposte

2: 1 Damage, Crush 1 (Reduce Target Armor)

3+: 2 Damage, Crush 1

Weapons as a basis are currently thought having some basic actions that come with it with fixed outcomes. They're not restricted to this, think of them more as a template. You can alter the success requirements, add more outcomes, add new attack types for the weapon, give it custom properties, and so on.

There is still a strong spirit of "can I do this?" available in the game. My partner is a fan of flipping or throwing furniture on enemies during testing, which grants them cover or improvisational damage. For these instances, I've just been asking for "Toughness Checks, 1-3 successes" depending on what they're trying to move.

Wrap Up

This is everything done for Combat so far, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I know it was a lot so I appreciate you reading up, just a lot to get caught up on as I'm starting this documentation process a bit after the fact.

The next post is going to cover Character Creation, attributes, skills, and current stat ideas I'm playing with. Moving forward from this post, things will have a much more exploratory and uncertain tone as I'm sharing more so my less polished ideas, which I hope encourages more discussion in the future from anyone with their own ideas or concerns!

Thanks for reading Hero (:

See you in the next one!

Woe <3

#digital illustration #fantasy #monster art #rpg art #indie rpg #ttrpg art #ttrpg #devlog #woelock #woecore #WyrdRPG #dnd #pf2e #pathfinder #indiedev

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genkishoujo · 1 year ago

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monetized gambling that you can sell to people legally has been a business strategy in free to play games for as long as i can remember, as far back as 2004 in Nexon mmorpgs that sold "Gachapons". i absolutely understand hating that mechanic and i do too, but the fact is that ZZZ, Star Rail, and Genshin Impact you can clear everything in those games by simply playing them. "free to play" is a real, viable option because the stupid gambling system they force you to use gives you enough currency to get enough characters and weapons from playing it, and the actual games themselves aren't hard. it's all exploration, writing, storytelling, character design, music, and fan engagement -- the gambling is a buildup of everything else so that you WANT to swipe, and you are making the ACTIVE DECISION to do so because you don't want to miss out/she's so cute/his animations are soooo cool/he does so many numbers/whatever. you don't actually NEED these characters to play these games, which is a huge departure from other games in the mobile industry such as Puzzle and Dragons, Fate: GO, Princess Connect RE:Dive, Cookie Run Kingdom, AFK Arena, Idolm@ster, Youkai Watch, pretty much any card-style JP gacha game or western mobile game requires you to have the newest (usually limited) characters or upgrades to progress past a certain point, the meta of the game is designed that way. many of these games incorporate social PvP/PvE competitive elements to create artificial barriers that further incentivize swiping on their own gambling systems so that you can compete/experience that content with your friends, or even lock paid currency farms behind these rotating meta game modes. while Star Rail/Genshin/ZZZ/WuWa/PGR have their own versions of this, it is absolutely treated as extraneous bonus content designed for people who have nothing left to do in the game, and offers scraps of rewards. Spiral Abyss gives you two pulls for fully clearing it (36 stars). Star Rail Memory of Chaos is clearable to a high degree using free characters, weapons, and grindable gear, and even if you clear it the rewards rotate on a monthly/bimonthly basis, so it's not exactly intended to be a source of income the way that PvP in Priconne/NIKKE affect your paid currency payouts every month. in Genshin, Star Rail, ZZZ (and even Kuro Games' games) you can pick it up, download it, and run through everything, even as a casual player who spends $0, but to the people with disposable income that are desperate for more content (or already have habits built from other games in the industry lol), they have the option to pay more to play slots for cute animated characters that, in the long run, won't have much bearing on whether or not you can actually experience everything. If you stick with these games, you will get enough characters and weapons to clear content, and even if you have to use 4 stars you can grind out the gear your characters wear to make them strong enough to handle just about anything. additionally, i just want to point out that Kuro and Hoyo both have extremely generous pities in these games. Even in Honkai Impact 3rd, the precursor to Star Rail, Hoyo implemented alot of these mechanics I mentioned above in order to force people into pulling for the newest characters and all their gacha weapons, but they had a pity system, which was not common in gachas originally. Puzzle and Dragons, one of the original JP mobile gachas, NEVER guaranteed you ANYTHING you pulled on until forced to by competition from other games. Arknights, Priconne, Fate: GO, and a whole slew of idol anime mobile games hesitantly implemented a 300 pull hard pity on certain banners after competition from other games, including Genshin, and backlash from the community.

these games all have predatory business models built on trying to get you to pull on their slot machines. but if you're gonna hate on the industry at least understand that the games are one thing, and the gambling simulator they wall their waifus behind is another.

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ashinaisshin · 1 year ago

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thought about my experience with some of the “souls-likes” i played recently and how my experience differed for each game. if i made time vs my git-gudness graphs for four games in particular (sekiro, elden ring, armored core vi, and sifu – i also played them in this order with some other games in between), they’d kinda look like this. explanation/rant about each game under cut…

sekiro: contrary to the common “it’s very hard at the start but once it clicks everything is a cakewalk” experience that i’ve heard many people had with sekiro, i felt like i was more in a loop of “i got gud - nope i didn’t - i got gud - nope” while i gradually improved in general over time during NG. then on NG+ i saw just how much easier everything became and went “wow i really got better at this game” (and proceeded to get clapped again by the difficulty of a charmless run on NG++)

elden ring: i had a slow start, not only about the combat itself but also just understanding all the stats and weapons and items etc.. but after stormveil i think i sorta got the hang of things and proceeded from there relatively smoothly, at least more smoothly than i expected (with some big bumps on hard bosses ofc), though i also felt like i never got as gud at ER as the other games by the end of NG, hence the flatter curve with a lower end point on my ER graph

armored core vi: i felt like i was honestly clueless about how to play ac6 for a VERY LONG TIME, maybe all the way till 1/2 or even 2/3 of NG, where i kept hitting walls after walls (though for some reason i still couldn’t put the game down lol), but then at some point things started to make sense. the more i played the easier things got, and in the end after NG++ i think ac6 is the “easiest” among these 4 games (only talking about pve) once you more or less master the mechanics. i think my initial trip up was probably mainly due to my unwillingness to understand the parts and builds, which imo is a lot more critical to a smooth progression through ac6 (especially during NG) compared to the other games. “banging head against bosses to learn patterns” was honestly a pretty viable strategy for the other games but less so for ac6

sifu: i think i was learning the game slowly but steadily at the start, a large part of it thanks to the extremely helpful training mode, but it was still a bumpy road, and kuroki especially was a big road block. i spent the most amount of time redoing the museum level and grinded XP there. but once i unlocked all the skills and got toward the end of NG/start of NG+, at one point i actually had a “click” where i just suddenly started playing the game a lot better, and i finished NG+ with wude ending much sooner than i thought. i’m still pretty clueless about how to combo and have yet to try master difficulty though, and i'm ready to get obliterated again lol

#personal #sekiro #elden ring #armored core vi #armored core #sifu

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zydrateacademy · 1 year ago

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Current Activities in ESO #7

A lot of my gameplay has been catchup by day, RP by night.

I had a decent windfall of selling a chunk of crowns for 19mil gold, and I've spent the bulk of that decorating several households to serve as heist targets for thief-based RP with variable difficulty. I mentioned that in the last post.

I was trying to conserve my last few mil to buy and decorate the upcoming Merryvine villa in Gold Road. However I kept getting into gearing and re-gearing old and new alts to make them playable. Some of my older alts had a far too hefty reliance on Briarheart and Hundings when the new(ish) Order's Wrath set for crit is now the go-to baby. I set up one of my arcanists as a tank and following a build online got incredibly expensive, utilizing those runes that cost ~90k each (they buff all three stats). That tank set is stupidly well geared now, but I still generally prefer healing. I've been slowly but surely trying to gear up a lot of my "most used" alts for double duty. DPS in overland, questing, zone clearing, etc, but having a heal/tank set for faster queues and generally having more to offer my roster than others.

Exception being perhaps my werewolf orc, whom I've retooled with Oakensoul. She has some insane light attack crits and can almost braindead her gameplay but she's so much more viable than the basic bow/bow bitch that threw cliff racers at people.

I've discovered I don't much care for B/B builds anymore except in one scenario; Battlegrounds. It's fun to plug away with poison-based arrows, whittling down enemy HP bars while it takes them several seconds to figure out where all that damage is coming from. Sure I get spotted and gunned down like I usually do, I'm not invisible, but it's fun to join already in-progress fights and plug away before they realize where that damage is coming from.

An exception to this exception is that my main necromancer. The class just isn't very fun to play at all. Our main sources of damage are all deeply flawed. Their biggest his is the blastbones skill that every Necro build uses but it takes a full 3 seconds to even leave the ground. By that time the trash pack might be dead already, or against single target bosses that's 3 seconds of not doing very much else. You have a skeleton pet (usually archer, I don't even know what the other morph is because nobody uses it) that only lasts 16 seconds and only shoots every so often, but mostly serves as another corpse to use once it goes down. Then there's the corpse-based laser beam that's very awkward to use and position reliant, and in certain boss fights your position may matter more than the laser beam. So that's another DPS loss.

I couldn't even play melee necro because you spend your whole rotation summoning blastbones, throwing the skull, or using some other skill that I found myself not swinging my weapons at all. Just a clunky cooldown chase. Gross.

The good thing is, she has a functional heal kit so that's another queue in the bag usually. Not as good as my arcanist healer whom is amazing, but still feels better to play than any kind of DPS.

On an RP standpoint, I've joined and left a couple of RP guilds. Well, more on the cusp of being kicked before just quitting to maintain my own dignity.

I won't name any names but it was a guild based on the Brotherhood. I have an assassin character and wanted to put her to use. They had this fun little system where they had a discord bot that would spit out a target, custom added. It gave more variance to overworld stabbing because it feels like base-game DB radiants just send you to the same six places over and over. So it was fun to get a change in scenery, and even helped push my assassin girl to collect a few wayshrines from lesser-seen towns. It also tied in their promotion system. Normally I wouldn't like PvE achievements leaking into RP promotions but it was a fun thing to do. The guild was also heavily hybridized, they had a lot of their membership that don't RP at all.

I found this culture to be a bit taxing. They had this strangest system of using local chat for OOC and only RPing in emotes, which I have never seen before (in any RP setting, ever). They claimed it was for filtering purposes.

There was also a jarring moment where, after claiming I was doing OOC movements, went around to take OOC screenshots of their promotion event. I have a reshade and screenshot helper mod to help me get very cinematic shots but while my UI was hidden apparently I was getting yelled at for being on the main stage where all of the officers were. I had already specified I was OOC but they claimed I was "breaking the sanctity of the ceremony". So my first day in there, it felt as though I had joined a guild of people that were incapable of keeping their attention on anything specific. Can't differentiate any posts between IC and OOC, and can't handle a crouched, hiding character in a corner taking cool screenshots of your proceedings.

I was in this guild for a solid three weeks or so but eventually an officer contacted me about there having been multiple complaints against me. It felt like this post's situation all over again, though the officer here was significantly more diplomatic than that link. I just got the "I've gotten complaints about you" vibe when a large portion of this guild barely interacted with me at all to know otherwise.

Basically my style or personality was conflicting with people. Naturally I never got any specifics or names so I couldn't defend myself properly. According to this officer my previously mentioned conflicts about the way their do their RP, I was trying to set my standards as "THE" standard. While I was in fact, trying to make conversation and understanding their way a bit better. But it rubbed some people the wrong way. I decided instead of being shadow-shunned by several people I would just leave. The options were to shut my own personality down and be much more silent in the guild (which defeats the fucking purpose of RP as a hobby), or continue to RP and interact with a guild where I know there's several people purposefully avoiding interaction with my character because they didn't like me as a player. I just can't really handle being in a guild where I know most people don't want to interact with me. Or is it most? Or is it just two or three complainers? I have no idea! Because the officers that have these conversations never tell me!

This happened before in another guild I quite liked. Though a while ago, back when I was much more active in 2021. I liked that guild, its systems, but the officer of the 'roguey' sub-faction in the guild just decided he didn't like how I spoke to him (completely ICly, mind you) and chastised me for that.

And much like that guild from three years ago, this Dark Brotherhood one wasn't all bad. In some cases I'd even recommend it to people, but it would come with a few asterisks and extra thoughts on the matter to those who would care to hear it.

Kinda put me off for a couple days. I'm not really sure how to adjust my own self when approaching a future RP guild to replace my lost 5th slot. Do I just... talk less? It's certainly some food for thought.

#Elder Scrolls Online #ESO #Gaming #Pc Gaming #MMO #RP #Roleplay #Roleplaying #TES

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massacre-girlypop · 2 years ago

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So I usually try to re-up this every once in a while to make sure those people that follow my Destiny 2 stuff and actively struggle with or have hit a stopgap in their attempts to improve at the game or finding it hard to enjoy the game at a base level.

Things You Should Know About Destiny 2 that will help you improve:

Survivability is the most important thing. I know. A lot of Destiny players tell you that having good damage numbers is the most important thing and using the best weapons will help you achieve that. They’re wrong. Ten out of ten times, I would pick the person who knows how to survive but doesn’t have the best damage over the guy that can rack up 3 mil damage but I have to pick up 4 times an encounter. Eventually, damage becomes an issue, but that can be fixed in-game by loadouts and will not help you if you’re dying consistently.

Weapon choice doesn’t matter as much as you think. When you’re picking a loadout, a staple ideal to look for is to cover your bases. PvP is a little more lenient on this, but in PvE, you want to fight smart. One weapon for ad clear/stunning champions, a high-value melter, and a DPS machine. These roles can swap around and doesn’t always come from the same slot. Use what makes you comfortable, but know when your loadout isn’t cutting it. Use a little common sense. If you’re using a sidearm in a large group of ads that are in a wide space and you’re dying a lot or you’re attempting to use a sword on a flying boss for dps, maybe that’s a cue to switch it up.

Every subclass has bonuses. Finding synergy within the subclass you like to use is important and every class is viable as long as you’re capable of leveraging your abilities to keep you alive. There are times where you may have to switch to something else but it’s very rare and only in the highest end of content (GMs and Master Raids).

Comfortability beats effectiveness every time. Some weapons just outright don’t feel good to you. I feel that way with several weapons that sit squarely in the meta. That’s ok. Find a replacement. It’s better yo se what you’re good with than to play worse because you’re using something you don’t like.

Just because a weapon isn’t good now doesn’t mean it won’t be good in the future. I see a lot of people make this mistake. Every weapon is a patch away from being the next big thing. This doesn’t mean you have to pick up one of everything, but if you like something and it’s not good at the time, don’t just delete it. One day, a patch will come and that weapon will feel great and the people around you might be scrambling for that weapon while you already have one. On the inverse, all good weapons eventually get hit with a nerf. Make sure your skill set is well rounded so that you aren’t spending two weeks after the sandbox changes reacquainting yourself with the new meta.

Game Sense outweighs weapon choice. Igneous Hammer, Witherhoard, and Jotunn cannot save you if you don’t have good game sense. Learning to position and shoot with your team and complimenting their play styles, flanking in tandem with your squad and knowing when to turn and run, and knowing when hiding and peek shooting is detrimental to your ability to win are all very important skills that will improve your game massively.

#destiny2 #season of the witch

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per-se-idit · 3 hours ago

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The difference between laguz loyalty and friend gives me headache so I tested them both

Having (finally) read about the two different laguz skills from so many sources and not being native english nor code -speaker I decided "Sothis damn it, I'll do it myself". (Thus, for the previous reason I'm not gonna go into the skill text itself. This is already long as [redacted] anyway)

Example 1. There isn't much difference in plain numbers, (which often means nothing these days) as you can see from the first example. The difference between the skills affects the dmg of his special attack (numbers not visible) thus causing very different results:

What makes this so maddening is that both are situational. Which skill is better? Well, it varies a lot depending on the skill users stats and the opponent, Example 2:

Yeah, obviously a speedy character like brave felix doesn't give a shit about his younger, weaker self's laguz friend.

To be clear yes, base Felix is obviously not meant to be a tank, he's built like a dmg dealer, a hit and run -poker. He survives in pve just fine, but won't survive in PvP in the danger zone anyways. So.. might as well boost the thing he's good at: being annoyingly fast.

For now I'll settle with loyalty and see where that takes me in the long run. Or, until some other better skill finds its way to me at least. In conclusion, I agree with the statement "LL is a sidegrade not a downgrade from LF".

Obviously he could benefit from something else than laguz but for now I find the constant aether funny and viable enough to not completely re-do his build again. Maybe in the future.

Tldr: results vary, ATK/SPD go brr, tests continue.

(The build now. He has so many skills cutting his special cooldown that he activates Aether every turn. It's silly. I am still waiting to get a better X skill for him but I don't have anything else available now and this one is necessary for the Aether memeing. Atk + SPD excel as A-skill is probably still better but the counterattack from any distance tho.. decisions, decisions.)

(Rest of the team during tests:)

#fire emblem #fe heroes #feh #fire emblem heroes #felix hugo fraldarius

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haplogamingchef · 21 days ago

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Dune Awakening S-Tier Starter Setup – Full Skills & Weapon Guide

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Introduction: Best Starter Build Guide for Dune Awakening

Getting started in Dune Awakening can be overwhelming with all the gear, skills, and class options right out of the gate. If you’re looking to start strong and progress smoothly from early game to endgame, this S-Tier starter setup is what you need. Whether you’re going solo or teaming up, this guide breaks down everything—from class picks and skill trees to weapons, gear, and survival tools.

We’ll focus on building a character that is fast, aggressive, and versatile, perfect for both leveling and staying competitive in tougher fights. This build prioritizes high mobility, strong burst damage, and flexible combat style—ideal for players who want to dominate early zones and remain viable through endgame.

Let’s dive into the full breakdown of how to make the most of your starting experience in Dune Awakening.

Choosing the Right Starting Class

For the best early-game experience, go with Bene Gesserit. This class provides useful passive bonuses and high mobility—essential while you're still without vehicles. It gives you early access to Bindu Sprint, a speed boost skill that helps you stay agile during fights or when escaping danger.

Why Bene Gesserit?

Strong mobility tools out of the gate

Great synergy with aggressive, fast-paced combat

Useful passive skills for survivability and stamina management

Avoid starting as a Trooper—it’s easily unlocked later and doesn’t offer the early movement tools needed for this build. After you unlock both Trooper and Planettologist in the first zone, you can expand your skill set with their mobility and utility abilities. This gives your build the versatility it needs early on.

Best Early Skills to Prioritize

Early progression should focus on movement, survivability, and crowd control. These core skills are critical for staying alive, clearing mobs quickly, and controlling engagements.

Mobility & Control:

Bindu Sprint (Bene Gesserit): Major speed boost, useful for both chasing and escaping.

Compel (Bene Gesserit): Pulls enemies out of cover, exposing them to damage.

Voice Chaining (Passive): Reduces Compel cooldown, allowing more frequent control plays.

Survivability:

Trauma Recovery: Boosts healing speed.

Bindu Stability: Reduces stagger, improves defense.

Metabolize Poison: Grants poison immunity when stamina is active.

Unlock these skills early by investing across Bene Gesserit, Trooper, and Swordmaster trees. Mixing trees gives you a wider set of benefits early without locking you into one path.

Midgame Skill Setup & Passive Prioritization

Between levels 20–30, your focus should shift from individual skill power to building a well-rounded set of first-level passive abilities. These provide a variety of benefits without committing too heavily to one tree.

Best Midgame Passives to Unlock:

Max Health Boost (Trooper or Swordmaster): Increases your durability.

Stamina Regeneration (Bene Gesserit): Helps maintain high mobility during fights.

Healing Efficiency (Planettologist): Reduces downtime and improves sustain.

Energy Regeneration: Essential for maintaining your utility skills and movement tools.

You’ll also want to start integrating combat support tools like explosive grenades and anti-gravity grenades from the Trooper tree. These skills add burst damage and crowd control, which are crucial for close-quarters fights or group combat scenarios.

Combat Strategy: Shotguns, Crowd Control, and Skill Rotation

Your main weapon should be a shotgun, supported by crowd control skills and gap closers. Shotguns work best with aggressive, mobile gameplay, and their synergy with your skills makes them deadly in both PvE and PvP.

Key Weapons for This Build:

GRDA44: A strong early shotgun, great for close-range damage.

Distributor: Effective for breaking shields and staggering targets.

Drillshot FK7: Ideal for mid-range damage and shield shredding—great as a follow-up weapon.

Effective Skill Combos:

Vering Step: Teleports you behind an enemy and stuns them—perfect for setting up a headshot.

Knee Charge: A damaging dash that stuns on impact—great for opening or interrupting.

Shigware Claw: Functions like a grappling hook—pulls you to targets and staggers them.

These skills can be chained together to keep enemies stunned, vulnerable, and within shotgun range. The trick is to rotate these abilities efficiently to maintain a constant flow of damage and control.

Best Gear & Armor for Survivability and Speed

Armor in Dune Awakening isn’t just for protection—it’s a vital part of your movement and survivability strategy. Each piece should enhance your ability to handle environmental hazards, boost stamina regeneration, and help you stay agile in combat.

Top Starter Armor Set:

Kira Gab Scout Set: Balanced mobility and durability, ideal for early-game desert survival.

Emperor Swing MK1 Suspenser Belt: Enhances movement abilities. You’ll need the blueprint from the Imperial Testing Station.

As you progress, look for armor with the following traits:

Increases stamina regeneration

Adds environmental resistance (e.g., to sandstorms or toxic zones)

Boosts agility and reduces cooldown on movement skills

Proper armor will help you move faster between fights, take less environmental damage, and recover more quickly during prolonged engagements.

Tools and Utility Equipment for Maximum Efficiency

This build heavily relies on movement tools and energy-efficient equipment. That’s where your suspenser belt and power pack come into play.

Early Game Tools:

Emperor Swing MK1 (Suspenser Belt): Boosts damage and mobility, key for fast-paced skirmishing.

Old Sparky MK1 (Power Pack): Increases power regeneration, allowing for longer skill uptime.

Mid to Late Game Strategy:

Upgrade to suspenser belts with longer travel distances. Just make sure they have traits that lower energy drain or improve efficiency.

Focus on power packs that offer max power increase and faster recharge, letting you maintain your momentum during long fights.

Efficient tool use can be the difference between dominating or dying in fast-paced combat. These pieces directly support your mobility-driven playstyle, allowing for fast disengages, quick flanks, and constant repositioning.

Weapon Variants and Loadout Flexibility

While the core of this build focuses on shotguns for fast burst damage, it’s flexible enough to adapt to other weapon styles based on enemy type or personal preference.

Primary Weapon Choices:

GRDA44: Best early-game shotgun with consistent short-range power.

Distributor: Excellent for breaking shields and staggering enemies.

Drillshot FK7: High damage output and effective at mid-range; pairs well with Distributor for a 1-2 combo.

Alternative Options Based on Playstyle:

Karpo 38: If you prefer ranged engagements, this rifle has a high rate of fire and works well against groups.

Califf Jinker: A melee weapon with quick attack speed; solid choice for close combat duels.

These options let you tailor your approach depending on your mission or enemy behavior. Whether you like up-close brawls or hitting from a distance, there’s a weapon that fits within the build.

Endgame Build Optimization

Once you’ve got your skills and gear in place, endgame progression is all about passive refinement and gear upgrades. Here’s what to focus on:

Essential Endgame Skills:

Vering Step: Teleport and stun—sets up high-damage combos.

Knee Charge: Great gap closer with built-in crowd control.

Shigware Claw: Keep this in rotation for mobility and staggers.

Passive Trees to Max Out:

Survivability: Boost max health, stamina, energy efficiency.

Damage Output: Headshot bonuses, cooldown reduction, shotgun perks.

Gear Enhancements:

Keep upgrading weapon perks and armor stats to match your progression.

Look for items that further increase mobility, power efficiency, or damage scaling.

With these in place, you’ll be able to maintain a fluid, high-damage playstyle that excels in solo and group combat. Your mobility tools keep you unpredictable, and your burst potential will let you eliminate threats quickly.

Conclusion: Mastering the S-Tier Starter Build in Dune Awakening

If you want a fast, aggressive, and highly flexible playstyle, this build is one of the strongest ways to start your journey in Dune Awakening. By combining powerful shotguns, mobility-driven skills, and smart passive selection, you'll dominate in both PvE and PvP environments. Prioritize tools that improve your stamina, energy, and movement to keep the pressure on your enemies.

From early game exploration to endgame challenges, this setup adapts easily to solo and group scenarios. Just remember to keep evolving your gear, experiment with skill rotations, and fine-tune your utility tools to match your preferred combat rhythm. With the right choices, you’ll be controlling fights and climbing power levels faster than most.

FAQs: Dune Awakening S-Tier Starter Build

Q1: What’s the best class to start with in Dune Awakening? A: Bene Gesserit. It offers top-tier early mobility and great passive bonuses for solo or group play.

Q2: Which skills should I unlock first? A: Focus on Bindu Sprint, Compel, Voice Chaining, and survival passives like Trauma Recovery and Metabolize Poison.

Q3: What’s the best weapon combo for this build? A: Start with the GRDA44 and Distributor. Upgrade to the Drillshot FK7 for mid-game and endgame synergy.

Q4: Can I use this build for PvP? A: Yes. The high mobility, burst damage, and control skills make it excellent for PvP.

Q5: Is this build viable for solo play? A: Absolutely. It’s designed for solo efficiency but scales well in group play too.

Q6: What gear should I prioritize early on? A: The Kira Gab Scout Set and Emperor Swing MK1 suspenser belt are top choices for movement and survivability.

Q7: How should I manage my power and stamina during fights? A: Upgrade your power pack and use energy-efficient gear. Use skills in short bursts and retreat when needed to recharge.

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