#don’t stand in the marked aoe on the ground

[impossible-rat-babies]

idk are we at a point where it’s like. if ur wearing lvl 100 gear i expect u to not fail basic mechanics in a raid

[tk-duveraun]

If you character were to be any boss in the game, whether it be a dungeon, trial, guildhest, etc., what would they look like? Can you give some ideas as to what their boss music would be like? Maybe mechanics? What might be the story as to why some adventurers would face them?

I have 2 boss encounters!

The first one is Prime Lightwarden | Forgiven Murder

Appearance: Lian's torso is attached to a dragon's body. The scales on her torso, arms and face have all spread until only small areas of skin remain. Her hands are full claws. She has four, curling, ram-like horns on her head. Her eyes are fully red.

Phase 1:

Fratricide: 6 items marked “Supplies” will spawn in a circle. Fratricide is cast 6 times, approx every 6% health. The cast duration is 4s. ONE person must pick up the supplies, enabling the “carrying” debuff per cast of Fraticide. They will die when the cast ends and be unable to be rezed. The recommended order is: Offtank, dps, dps, heal, dps, dps. If no one picked up Supplies, it’s a wipe.

Patricide: Reduces aggro target’s health to 1.

Matricide: Distributed damage. This does decreased damage as party members are lost to Fratricide.

You want to end the phase with a tank and healer, but dps and healer will do in a pinch. You must healer LB 3 in the phase transition to move on.

Phase 2:

Sickness: Purple fire on the ground that applies a small DoT when standing in it.

Exile: Knockback. If you fall off the arena, you cannot be rezed.

Robbery: Full party reduced to 1 health.

Tank Lian in the center. Don’t get thrown off, don’t stand in the fire.  Phase 2 ends when you drain her health bar.

Phase 3:

MASH MASH MASH (Active Maneuver)

Warrior of Light: Medium-sized circular AOE. Shadows warn for position before the circle appears.

Warrior of Darkness: Gaze -> confusion.

Savior of Ishgard: Large frostbite AOE

Hero of Ala Mhigo: After the cast bar, Lian will teleport around the arena, backstabbing three people at random before returning to the original position.

Champion of Eorzea: Unmarked, one of Raging Bull, Grace of the Elementals and Captain’s Orders. Raging Bull: Frontal cone Grace of the Elementals: Gaze, applies debuff preventing heals from skills Captain’s Orders: Second on the aggro table becomes first on the aggro table and is put to 1 health

For Champion and Hero, healers should make sure everyone is topped off.  It’s harder than it sounds like because Warrior of Light is more frequent than you think it will be. Make sure the DPS focus on not getting hit by Warrior of Light more than on DPSing.

Music: Oldest Daughter Syndrome (a fast-paced bop, with an eerie chorus doing call and response)

The arena is concentric circles with golden twin carp motif and is positioned outside of the false Amaurot!

I also have a Villain AU!

Lian is approached after her village is destroyed in the 7th Calamity. They ask if she would bring back her people at any cost, the answer is yes. She doesn't ask for details because she's so broken at that point.

Ascians collect the keystones that sustained the protective bubble over her underwater village. They then use the stored aether & dynamis to transform Lian into a primal a la Tsukiyomi. Lian is an Eastern dragon aspected to water, but still red and yellow highlights like her hair

Her monologues call the WoL/Scions an infection, accuses them of cultural Imperialism, calls the Eorzean gods blights upon the world and equates Hydaelyn to a ghost king, destroying the world in her own image. Early in the campaign against her, Lian can still maintain an "au'ra" form, though she has substantially more scales than the typical au'ra and her footsteps leave behind a trail of water wherever she goes. Her scales are also wine-red.

Attacks: Bloody Depths Boundless Sea Riptide Midnight Tsunami Whale Fall (enrage)

Her campaign comes between 4.1 and 4.2 and takes place Southeast of Kugane in the Glass Ocean

The song is demure, with trailing flutes and wails between stanzas. The arena is sectioned by a Dharmachakra pattern on the floor and ringed with falling water.

[shinebrightlikeanarwhal]

Genshin SJ: He uses an ice sword in Cryo state. His passive is like Xiao Xingchen's Frost Fall Technique where he leaves a Frost Flower Cut on his enemies that freezes them even without water. His normal & charged atks deal constant Cryo DMG until the E timer resets & he returns to Dendro state. His Cryo Ult is also AoE where a raging blizzard covers everything in permafrost and a forest of bamboo-shaped ice sprouts from the ground, piercing enemies with the sharp points indiscriminately. (2/2)

OMG FINALLY SOMEONE MENTIONED GENSHIN SJ WITH ME AOFUHJAI YOU DON'T KNOW HOW EXCITED I AM ABOUT THIS!!!

I love the delusions and how some wielders have more than one form. Like Tartaglia/Childe having three forms where the final form has control of both his delusion and his vision. SJ having this kind of adaptability and control of his forms and powers would be terrifying to Traveler Bing! Vision only SJ having the leaf technique being his E burst is plaguing my lil rat brain!! Plus, the delusion forms having the best fashion. His Cryo form has the markings similar to MBJs on his forehead. "Frost Demon Xiao Jiu' a play on when he was discovered as a cold and terrified child and grew into a cold and cruel demon(?). I have too many ideas for the design of his clothes. However to add spice I wanna add that he got his delusion when he was young. Similar to Tartaglia, however instead of being a child that fell into the abyss, he was just a street kid that managed to steal the attention of their version of the Tsaritsa. I'm torn between the Tsaritsa being OPM or TLJ. Some form of antagonist, but not sure if I want purely antagonistic or redeemable goofball emperor that adores his harbingers.

Traveler Bing and Paimon SY meeting this cold and calculative harbinger. He is like the opposite of how Tartaglia is. WHile we are introduced to this relatively bubbly menace to society, SJ is this recluse that sticks close to archon QJPL. Even the bank fight is opposite. While Tartaglia was excited to finally fight, SJ

"Regrettably, we are at an impasse and you cannot get in my way." SJ having sad and past hinting voice lines like the other fatui. Especially after he uses his delusion. OH!! If he is dying and seeking a way to cure his disease or trying to support YQY even though his days are numbered. (IF YQY is the Tsaritsa that would be a fun play on the pl's being harbingers. Scaramouche being LQG (which would tie into some fun lore that I cant spoil).SJ being similar to Amber in being one of the only people to help Bing search for his twin. He has no quests aside from the Teucer (NYY) quest and any other quest in his area is from someone else that wants to avoid overworking SJ.

SJ is very easily the greatest potential for one of the tragic stories in Genshin.

The affects of the delusion could either prolong his life or worsen his symptoms but not physically kill him. Like it would be something to screw him over, as YQY is always good at, and make his suffering for the man more prevalent. I personally think the worsening his symptoms part is more interesting. He doubles over and can barely stand. Has to hide or risk being found by YQY and getting special treatment, which is NOT something SJ needs or wants.

[bmblboop]

“Ren! Nora! Flower-Power!”

(This analysis is a little bit gif/image heavy so I will include image descriptions below each photo. Please message me if you wish to submit a more detailed description for each gif/photo OR if you want to request I add a cut/keep reading function.)

Team attacks in RWBY have always been interesting to see - how they combine the strengths of each pair and demonstrate the strength of their bond. I could go into detail about every attack and variation of each (including this little tidbit about how the Pyrrha/Nora attack ‘Pomegrenade’ has since become Jaune’s signature team attack with his teammates) BUT, Today I want to focus on these two.

(ID. A screenshot of Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie from RWBY)

Ren and Nora are arguably the closest characters in the RWBY canon, having grown up together following a deeply traumatic experience in the destruction of Kuroyuri. So, if team attacks are all about understanding and complimenting each other’s abilities, why haven’t we seen their combo attacks more often?

The History of Flower Power

Okay, the short answer is that the ‘Flower Power’ team name didn’t exist until Volume 3, when Jaune was inspired by team RWBY’s team attacks from Volume 2 and sought to replicate it. We don’t even see the attack formation since JNPR had a miscommunication and discussed that for the rest of the battle. The name has not been brought up in canon since.

The longer answer is that team attacks involve a great deal of trust and coordination with your partner. The team attacks that JNPR attempted at the Vytal Festival fell apart due to lack of clarity and communication. We will come back to this later.

Why are we talking about a team attack was mentioned exactly once?

Because it existed in the, now deceased, mobile game Amity Arena:

(ID. A gif of Ren and Nora from from the RWBY Amity Arena mobile game. The art features their Volume 4 outfits, both pointing their weapons toward the camera.)

Flower Power is basically a Ren card with a special attack that calls Nora to the screen. She then launches him into the air and he delivers an AOE explosion where he lands.

(ID. A gif of the unlock animation for the Legendary Flower Power card. Ren somersaults into view, and punches the air a few times. Nora then arrives behind him, riding her hammer, before winding back and hitting Ren with it. Ren is now in the air, landing with a punch to the ground and an explosion to indicate the impact. He stands up and poses beside Nora, his symbol illuminating the background.)

Okay, so what? Now we know what their team attack could have looked like?

This was one of the few attacks that existed in Amity Arena without any direct references from the show (or After the Fall/Before the Dawn for that matter) aside from the name. Did the Amity Arena designers just, make it up because they’re a popular pair?

For a while, I thought nothing of it. Until the Volume 7 finale.

 (ID. A gif of Nora following through on a hammer swing off camera. The footage pans up to reveal Ren in the air, moving toward the camera. It cuts to Neo smiling and Ren crashing through her illusion.)

This IS the Flower Power team attack from the game. The card was released in the 1.13.0 patch on October 24th 2019, and this episode aired in early February 2020. Given the amount of time it takes for an episode of any show to be written, boarded, animated and finished - I will operate under the assumption this attack existed in the show first and CRWBY informed the game team behind the scenes, rather than claim the show copied the move from the game.  (Additionally, AmityArena needed RWBY permission on all their cards, costumes and hidden lore, so there is no way this was a coincidence.)

What it means for Character Development

Flower Power, as a combo attack, isn’t super complex - but it does require a lot of trust. Any team attack that involves one partner launching the other to deliver a devastating attack is going to be a very elaborate trust-fall exercise, but I find it even more dangerous considering the method yeeting being employed here is Nora’s hammer. Add onto that the fact that Ren is facing away from Nora in all of these versions of Flower Power - he has to be prepared for the momentum of the hammer swing even though he can’t see where she is or how she is swinging it.

TL;DR - Trust is important for this attack to work or else someone is gonna get really hurt.

While Ren and Nora are very close friends, and have proven their closeness over and over again, they aren’t as open with each other as they appear. Nora doesn’t tell Ren she’s fallen in love with him, Ren doesn’t tell Nora he’s concerned about the responsibility of being a Hunstman. They don’t spend time figuring out their relationship after the kiss and the election night massacre, thus leaving a big floating question mark above the future of their relationship as they entered Volume 8.

I think it is very intentional that the first time we see the team attack, and it fails, is when their relationship has hit it’s lowest point at the end of a volume centered around Trust.

(To clarify - Nora and Ren’s teamwork was fine vs Neo there, I’m saying symbolically and thematically that is why it failed)

So what does that mean for the future? Will we see a true version of Flower Power? Well, that’s going to depend on when Nora and Ren figure out themselves and their relationship to each other. So when Ren and Nora survive the fall of Atlas and reconcile their feelings, I expect their relationship to improve and become more open with each other. Ren’s ability to see/sense emotions will help greatly with that. It may not be for a while, personally I would not expect it before Nora’s new arc of self-worth reaches it’s climax. Eventually, we’ll see a successful Flower Power attack with all the power and triumph of the first time we saw Bumblebee or Ice Flower or Pomegrenade in action.

And it’s going to be beautiful.

[inviouswriting]

For Endwalker au’s

Since I am unable to play right now, but want to create things. Here is this. Another boss au.

Instance: Purgatory’s Angel. - Raid -

Required party number - 36

Level requirement - 90.

Ilvl - 666

Stage - circle room stage

Stage effects - Thrice come ruin penalties for failing mechanics.

Description - Kivera has seen the ends of the world, and now it is time for this world to end. Guided by her guardian planets of Pluto and Kore, she is prepared to bring hell to Ethyeris. “I have come to sunder this world as I have done Amurot. It is foolish to think you can change fate.”

Lengthy underneath. (but for real who would take her on? I’m curious.)

Attacks - 4 phases

Rend - Room wide Aoe, reduces health down to 1. Healer check.

There is a combined of single slashes, and donut aoes.

Fire bolt - triple tank Tankbuster - She targets one tank and they must stack together to mitigate damage.

Silence - She’ll target healers and silence them followed up with another Rend.

Quagmire - She’ll designate half the room with a Leaden effect with a “doom” effect for those who linger too long.

Column of light - Followed up on the side of the room with quagmire is a straight blast of energy. She flies off the stage to administer it. instant ko for those who don’t get out.

Phase 2 - Pluto’s servant Health at 75%

“O’ Pluto, I am but your humble servant, grant me your strength so that I may make them see reason.”

First of four phases, she’ll enable a tank lb3, and send a concentrated blast of dark green fire at the party that lights the stage on fire.

Rain of the Heavens - Kivera will disappear from the stage and cast a stack mark on one person and two out markers. the out markers must be opposite of each other will hit first then the stack. A barrage of fireballs is rained down finished with a rend attack.

Rain of Hell - The ground itself will split off into two sides where most of the room is a wide aoe save for two spots to stand. The ground will have fire come from it and shoot upwards.

She drops back onto the stage and targets a DPS with a doom marker. Must be lifted before it runs out due to thrice come ruin.

Quagmire + Rend: She’ll use both of these back to back in either order. Healer check.

Hells flames - Where the edges of the stage are lit on fire, will create a wall and timer.

Phase 3 - 50% of health + Health restored to 75%

“You’re still here? I guess I need to go harder. O’ Persephone, I beseech your strength, I ask as the front of your power, to grant me what I need to remove these pests and not even their ashes shall remain.”

Add phase with Four spirits added, Aiden the Ram, Killian the Crab, Parn the Goat, and Divinity the Scales.

Aiden the Ram - “I will not disappoint her this time!”

Killian the Crab - “I’ll lend my spear this time.”

Divinity the Scales - “I shall return the strength you gave me on that pyre.” She and Parn heals Kivera while Aiden and Killian distract the party with dragoon plunges and conal attacks. The pattern would be Parn, Divinity, Killian and Aiden.

Parn the Goat - “Yes my friend.”

If done correctly Kivera will comment.

“Rest my friends. Go back to Sanctuary to restore.”

Immediately after the add phase Kivera will launch another full room attack.

“Let’s get serious now. I shall snuff out these flames not even Tartarus will want you when I’m done.”

Another Tank Lb3 is granted, to two of them, and they must use them within seconds of getting them. A stack and out marker together are generated. There is one spot to stand with the out marker and one spot for the split damage.

Angel’s Sphere - Similar to Judgement Bolt from Ramuh. Kivera will toss down her scythe to the center of the room, and stand on the top of it. A wide room circular aoe with a donut underneath it. Party must be spread out to mitigate the damage just right or be wiped out through an instantaneous kill.

If failed - “Not even you can withstand the raw power of Zeus it seems.”

If succeeded - “Ha, you’re giving me quite the run. Let’s see how you match after this.”

Rain of the heavens and Hell are done together followed with Fire Bolt. The out marker must be stacked with the tanks. The person marked will be wiped.

Rend immediately follows the above. After healer check is done or healer lb3 Kivera will go into using quagmire and column of light.

Kivera will follow these up with either Rain of Hell leaving two spots to stand in.

New attack is a stage shift.

“Let’s dance with ice and fire.”

Under parties feet are colored tiles and each are marked with a temperature to stand in the opposite element. She’ll go into three successions of the stage lighting up under their feet. Failure to mitigate your temp damage will result in doom.

Heart and Body - Kivera will throw her scythe to one side of the room. Where it lands and where she hovers at the end of the stage creates a cross. Similar to spoken cataract from Hippokampos. The scythe is a line while Kivera is a wide aoe. Kivera lights the upper half on fire and leaves burn pools afterwards. At the end of the attack if the stage is cleared, she will whistle and where the scythe is will leave one more line attack as the scythe is called back to her hands.

She’ll use heart and body with Rain of hell. Rend and fire bolt till her health is down to 20%

Final phase -

“I haven’t met a worthy opponent since Vanth. I commend your efforts, but here you shall meet your end.”

Kivera will change her appearance to resemble her fallen angel self. This last phase will use Heart and Body, tied with a unique attack, without a tank lb3 granted. Saving the last one is a must.

Angel’s Destruction - Roomwide aoe, with a instant wipe if lb3 isn’t executed. Her using this attack will destroy half the stage to stand on. Precise standing is needed for the rest of the fight.

If failed - “I knew you weren’t anything special, not a soul exists that can withstand my power.

If survived - “Maybe you are unique to survive even than attack. They don’t call you warriors of light for no reason. Maybe even you can lay to rest this old soul.”

On the small platform, Rend mixed with column of light are done. Quagmire is followed up only with vines coming from the ground.

Mandragora - Should party members die to it, their health with be added to Kivera’s.

Quagmire will affect only the upper half of the room, to give party spots to stand. She’ll use heart and body in a cross formation.

Holy flames - A quadruple split damage with a barrage of fireballs all party members must be stacked or it will wipe the team.

The above attacks will repeat until her life is depleted.

“So even death must rest... Please take care of Antares. Damien, so this is what you felt.”

Rewards -

Gladiators - Aries’ sword and Beatrice’s shield.

Warriors - Hephaestus’ hammer.

Gunblade - Ophiuchus’ snake bite

Dragoon - Hera’s Lance

Reaper - Antares

Monk - Gemini’s bracers

Ninja - Daphne’s needles

Red Mage - Selene’s Rapier

Black Mage - Vanth’s Lich staff

Dancer - Mini Antares

Bard - Chiron’s Bow

Machinist - Vanth’s pistol

Sage - Angel’s feathers

White Mage - Libra’s Cane

Scholar/summoner - Sphinx’s chew toy

Astrologion - Device of the 12.

Unique -

Minion of death. “She’ll silently judge you and all your life choices. But you won’t hear her comment on them.”

[milfisolde]

under read more bc i put too much effort into my ocs and there is A Lot. tw for violent stuff

this will be updated every time i think of something for him!

deviantart link

Rollick

“The Ravenous” ? idk I suck at titles

no accessories

Size reference

why does he have anime hair if hes a fish? because he’s my oc and i say so

I MADE ICONS FOR THE LOCATIONS AND CLASS AND OTHER CHAMPIONS’ ABILITIES AND TUMBLR WONT’T LET ME ADD THEM WITHOUT FUCKING THE WHOLE POST UP

Short crappy bio

A young shark-like Vastaya. Born in Ionia, west of the island Sudaro. He was captured as a child by  Bilgewater pirates after straying too close to the surface and being found. Was then put to work on the Slaughter Docks, and trained to hunt in the traditional Serpent Isles manner: “launching themselves at their targets to secure tow-hooks with their bare hands, and beginning to butcher the creatures while they yet lived.”.

I need to update myself on League lore, but I would like him 2 be acquaintances with Nami and Fizz. Also, Rollick would have heard stories about Pyke and would find him really cool. Ideally, he would have Johnny Yong Bosch as his voice actor because I love how he voiced Kung Jin in Mortal Kombat X, but I don’t know how he’d do with a pirate accent lmao.

Kit

Would be classed as a Fighter with the sub-class Diver. At least I think he would.  

His kit is basically just a mash-up of multiple champions with extra ingredients. Riot do it themselves, so I'm allowed to, too. Pirate lingo used for most of his abilities and voice lines b/c I'm not creative for naming things.

 Passive "Blow the Man Down." : A mash-up of Rengar and Darius' but more complicated. Auto-attacking 3 times in a row, or using abilities, gives his unused abilities 3 different tiers of empowerment. (Like, if you auto-attack 3 times, use W, then Q, his E will have tier 3 empowerment.). Tiers 2 and 3 gives the target bleed when hit by abilities, applying "Blood in the Water."  Applying the bleed multiple times makes it stack, tier 2 stacks like two stacks of tier 1 bleed, tier 3 stacks like two stacks of tier 2 bleed. How many times can it stack? Idk. 5? 7? 10?? ok probably not 10 that would be stupid.

2nd passive "Clipper." : Rollick moves faster in the river; this move speed scales with his normal move speed.

Q "Feed the Fish." : Tier 1 is a swipe in an AOE cone with his claws. Tier 2 is a small lunge in a targeted direction with two swipes, one with each hand. Tier 3 is a longer distance lunge with a bite. If tier 3 lands on a moving target (examples: scuttlecrab when it dashes, Ezreal using his E), it will follow the target like Warwick Q/Evelynn E. The bite will also heal him for a small amount.

W "Hook, Line, Sinker." : is like Rengar's Bola Strike with a wider but shorter range for tiers 1 and 2, but he leaps in the targeted direction at tier 3 and if he hits something, covers it with his net and stays on top of them for a short amount of time. Tier 2 spins the target around from they way Rollick throws his net and will turn the opposite direction of the way the target was originally standing. If you're facing Rollick and the tier 2 net hits you, your back is now turned to Rollick.

E "Chase." : Warwick Blood Hunt but either less or more annoying. Cooldown is shorter in duration, but so is its active. The passive part of it only shows paths to champions affected with a bleed, burn or poison DOT effect. (Includes: Rollick's "Blood in the Water", Darius'  "Hemorrhage", Brand's  "Blaze", Gangplank's  "Trial by Fire", Lillia's  "Dream Dust", Cassiopeia's  "Noxious Poison" and  "Debilitating Poison", Twitch's "Deadly Venom", Teemo's  "Toxic Shot" and  "Noxious Trap", Singed's  "Poison Trail", the  "Scorch" rune,  "Ignite" summoner spell,  "Challenging Smite" summoner spell, "Azakana Gaze" from  Demonic Embrace, and "Torment" from  Liandry's Anguish.

R "Cleave 'Em to the Brisket!" : Similar to Skarner's "Impale". Rollick takes the hooked blade he has on his belt and lunges at the target, stabbing into the enemy champion's chest with his chest to their back, and drags them away. "Cleave 'Em to the Brisket!" can only be used on a champion that has their back turned towards Rollick. It applies a tier 3 "Blood in the Water." upon use. It can yank champions out of  Displacement Immunity, but doesn't suppress the target champion entirely, they are still able to use dash and blink abilities, use Thresh's  "Dark Passage", recast  "Death Sentence" , and use most movement summoner spells ( Flash, Hexflash, Mark/Dash), but if they do, half of their current HP is taken away from the hooked knife being dragged/yanked out of them. If you are 30% HP and you use one of the movement abilities mentioned, you will leave with 15% HP and two stacks of tier 3 bleed. For 5 seconds after using his ult, Rollick uses his knife to attack, gaining increased auto-attack range and his autos apply a tier 1 bleed stack per hit. The enhanced auto-attacks drag his targets towards him because of the hook part in his knife getting caught on them.

Animation ideas

(I used google to find every gif/picture, save for the “dance” one. they have tumblr links bc when writing this tumblr shit itself when i wanted to save it as a draft and i kept it open in a different tab and copy/pasted everything. im sorry some of the gifs are weird aslkfjdjf)

Walking animation is him using his arms and tail to "crawl". imagine the gif has a tail instead of legs

Running animation is the same concept, just with much more effort put into making himself move faster. Moving in the river looks more like he’s swimming rather than crawling. Slowed animation is him dragging himself slowly with his head facing the ground, putting weight on his elbows instead of using his arms completely. Like an army crawl but in pain.

Idle animation is him crossing his arms and resting on his elbows, then looking around and inspecting his claws.

If left in idle animation for more than 15 seconds, he drops down completely and puts his head in his arms and dozes off. Moving after the sleep idle will have him shake his head awake when starting to move.

Death animation is him trying to crawl, being unable to, then collapsing on his side and flopping onto his back.

Taunt animation is him straightening himself then lashing out with his hands and baring his teeth before "biting" the air in the direction he’s standing, voice lines coming out before the bite part.

Joke animation is him chasing his own tail? Maybe he gets tangled in his net after doing it for a second and just struggles there until the animation is interrupted.

Dance is uh. He straightens up and does knife tricks. He doesn’t have legs, doesn’t have a staff like Nami, and just wouldn’t dance like Cassiopeia.

I made the gif using footage from here.

His laugh animation would be him laughing and flopping onto his back, then turning back onto his stomach. All but one of his laughs would be loud and hearty, the one that isn’t would sound like Kung Jin’s laugh.

Voice line ideas

First encounters:

Bilgewater/Bilgewater themed champion:

"Ahoy!" "Ahoy, bucko!" "Ahoy, scallywag."

Multiple champions simultaneously/champions who have a visible partner/partners with them (examples: Kindred, Sejuani, Lulu with Pix, Elise with her Spiderlings, Azir with his Sand Soldiers):

"Ahoy, me hearties."

Pyke:

"Pyke?! I’ve heard stories of you! Though… You’re smaller than I had imagined..." "Hey there, old salt! " "Ahoy, seadog! "

Nami:

"Good to see a friendly face! Shame it’s on the wrong side." "Oh! Little lass! Have you found your stone yet? "

Fizz:

"Little trickster! Where’s your big friend? "

Illaoi:

“Test? Gonna get myself an A-plus-plus! …That’s the good grade, right?

Taunts:

Any champion:

"Scurvy dog! " "AAARRRRGGGGHHHH! "

Bird/bird themed/winged champion:

"Polly want a cracker? "

Tahm Kench:

“The only creature with an appetite bigger than mine” “You put me to shame with that maw of yours! You could fit me in it!”

Abilities/eliminations:

Tier 3 "Feed the Fish.":

(after used on champion wearing armour/with tough skin)

"Ouch… I think I broke a tooth. Good thing I got more. "

(after used on champion with fur/feathers/long hair)

" (violent spitting-out-fluff noises) Blegh! "

Tier 1 and 2 "Hook, Line, Sinker. ":

"Catch! " "Avast, ye! "

Tier 2 "Hook, Line, Sinker. " after turning someone around:

"Bring a spring upon ‘er! " "Broadside! "

Using "Chase. " with a DOT’d champion in range:

"Chum in the water…" " (deep inhale, then a rumbling growl) "

Using "Chase. " with affected champion visible:

"Lookin’ a bit squiffy there…" " (laughter) Yesss… "

Eliminate champion:

"Take a caulk. "

Eliminate champion while using "Cleave ‘Em to the Brisket!" or the enhanced auto-attacks after:

"Hah, keelhauled! " “Taste me steel n’ may the devil take ye!”

“PENTAKILL!”:

"Dead men tell no tales…"

Respawn:

"What a flogging…" "Alright, I’ve fed the fish… Now it’s their turn. "

Pings:

(Danger!):

"Heave to! " "Avast ye! "

(Assist me!):

"All hand hoy! " "All hands on deck! "

(Assist me!) followed up by (On my way!), or vice versa:

"Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen! "

(Area is warded.):

"They’ve got a lookout. "

(Target champion):

"Thar she blows! " "Sail, ho! " "Savvy? " "Hang ‘em from the Yardarm! "

Miscellaneous:

Allied champion drinks potion or gets healed by another ally when Rollick has missing HP:

"Splice the mainbrace! Please?"

Alone with low HP, no potions or actives available, or sells all items:

"Looks like I’m marooned…"

Healed by ally:

"Feeling shipshape!" "Much obliged." "I’m in your debt." "Thank you!" "Thanks!"

Receives shutdown gold:

"Ha-ha! Plundered! " “Bounty taken.”

Flashing away from enemy:

"Blimey! " "Gah!” "Sink me! " " (girly shriek) "

[box-bunny-grey]

Hey remember when I talked about a video game and didn’t edit what I wrote? Guess what I’m doing again

So decided to see if I can’t make a habit of talking about games I finish here and there.

So here’s me talking about 13 Sentinels.

Gonna do my best to be non-spoiler too.

So 13 Sentinels is the latest game from Vanillaware, a company I’ve enjoyed a lot of games from (Muramasa: Rebirth, Odin Sphere, Dragon’s Crown) and is pretty heavy divergence from the ones I’ve played. I’m straight up just going to ramble on here in an order of events that makes sense to me. Also this is like just right after finishing the game so I might be general about some things/completely wrong.

Once you get past the prologue, you’ll have access to two gameplay modes, which you can choose at your leisure, provided you’ve met the requirements to unlock them (explained later in the story section).

Gameplay

13 Sentinels is, at its core, a tower defense game. You have a terminal you have to defend and, depending on the map, in addition to a city, whereyou either have the option of holding out for two minutes or taking out your enemies, the kaiju. The exception is generally boss levels, whose only goal is do defeat the boss enemy.

Your tools in defending your Terminal are the afformentioned 13 Sentinels, where you pause the game to make commands but otherwise the rest of the game functions in real time.  Sentinels are divided into 4 generations and their pilots.

Generation 1 sentinels are your melee fighters. They get up close to the enemy and clobber them for big damage, and these are usually what you’ll be bringing in to deal with bigger, more armored kaiju. Their toolkit can lead to some interesting combinations. For instance, they have access to a buff that can massively increase their attack and movement speed but also massively increase damage taken, or massively increase defense but take a hit to their movement speed. They also have the ability to jump around the arena to smash smaller enemies while moving up to their targets. Finally, they have access to anti-air flares and EMPs to ground aerial units (which they generally have no was to attack unless they do so). A quirk of their EMPs is that they also function as a taunt, if a Gen 1 uses their EMP the kaiju will focus target them.

Generation 3 (we’ll get 2 for a reason later) are the opposite of Gen 1. Generation 3 are your long range units, able to use EMPs in a wide range with no taunt attached, along with rail cannons and a variety of missiles. Initially the Gen 3s might seem like the most powerful units, as in early game their ability to clear massive swaths of early kaiju seems overpowered. But as the game goes on you’ll find that while they’re excellent support fighters and crowd clearing units, some high level enemies will either have so much health or anti-missile tactics that you’ll realize the strength of your other generations for dealing with these situations. But as said, these units are great for clearing out massive swaths, and while not as powerful as the other generations in dealing with certain massive enemies can hold their own regardless.

Generation 4 are most support units. While able to stand on their to some extent, their primary focus will usually be applying shields and spawning interceptor drones, and dropping mines to impede kaiju advance. In addition, some can even draw enemies into a gravity pool to set up other sentinels to take them out in one fell swoop. Though depending on how you build you can also use them for some melee abilities, especially with one pilot’s passives, both mech and otherwise. Gen 4 are also the only flying sentinel, so if they have to be somewhere they can get faster and more directly than other sentinels.

I saved Gen 2 for last because they are all rounders, and thus have access to melee, ranged, and support abilities. Though they do not excel as any of the others do, and thus their abilities may incur higher cost, sacrifice range, or have a longer cooldown. Gen 2 however is not simply a lesser version, and that difference comes in their support. All Gen 2 support comes in the form of various stationary summons. Including a shield generator, healing generator, sentry turrets, and perhaps most valuable guardians. Guardians are the only way other than Gen 1 EMP to force kaiju to target something, but instead of one of your sentinels it is instead a dummy, thus allowing your melee units to sneak in a back attack or simply take the heat away from other units.

You have access to 3 of each generation, with the exception of generation 4 which was 4 sentinels. Each sentinel as said has a different pilot, and this allows you to build their arsenal differently to suit their strengths. For instance, as above I stated a Generation 4 can be melee built. This is due to some of the pilots skills (for instance, one where their stats get higher as more kaiju surround them) and passives for their mech which means low damage attacks of smaller kaiju can’t hurt them, and they can even counter those moves against them. Combine that with an armor piercing melee attack and point blank aoe missile attack and this support unit might wind up patrolling around the battlefield as much as your Generation 1s.

Other abilities of note could be that certain pilots get a stat increase if they’re far away from allies, or nearby other ones of note, or using the defensive action leading to a buff for the active team. While it all seems overwhelming at first the game eases you into different generations and kaiju types, that by the time you have access to the game proper post-prologue you’ll at least have an idea of what each unit can do, and even if you don’t chatter in between battles will suggest you give some thought to other systems.

In addition, how the game does ranking is interesting. Rather than having ranking and score intertwined, the ranking system is determined by how much damage sentinels, the city, and the terminal took. In addition, there are separate bonus objectives which are usually using certain characters or generations of sentinel, and/or either clearing the map in a set amount of time or without something taking a particular amount of damage (sentinels, city, or terminal). Getting maximum rank (S) and completing bonus objectives unlocks extra lore in the archives, while score is simply bragging rights to comboing together a lot of attacks.

Another feature exists in which once you get past the tutorials, pilots can only fight a certain number of times on the active party before needing to take a break. Thankfully the game gives the ability to recover all exhaustion of pilots if a bonus objective calls for it, and the only advantage to paying attention to this feature is a score bonus multiplier.

In short, the game does a great job of separating the meta version of the game (racking up maximum score) from fun challenge intended to be done for lore.

Story

Like I said trying to avoid spoilers so this might be short.

While the battles are their own part of the story, the general story portion of 13 Sentinels is its own, visual novel style section. After the prologue you’ll have unlocked about eight of the thirteen stories, and gotten an idea of each of these character’s goals. As you move on you’ll unlock the remaining 13, and play an interesting balancing act.

See, the stories have a point where you’ll be cut off from it, and either will have to do other stories or the Sentinel gameplay sections (Sentinel gameplay areas also function like this). It helps keep a good balance in the non-linear narrative, so reveals tend to come naturally as getting farther in certain stories will elaborate on revelations of the story that unlocks them.

It’s a fun ride and the stories have neat variety both in protagonists and structure. Unfortunately in the interest of keeping away from spoilers is why this section isn’t very big. I’d say if you even have a passing interest in sci-fi or mecha I think you’ll enjoy it.

Oh yeah also don’t worry about missing things in the story. The game does a good job of making sure you get everything, so if you see stories you think you missed it’s either something you’ll be able to do later OR an event that can be summed up as “well we accomplished nothing that sucks.”

Nitpicks

Really, I only have two issues with the game, and I can honestly say both are nitpicks.

The only gameplay problem I have is that the game doesn’t really tell you the difference between maxed out systems (your moves) and maxed out sentinel upgrades (your stats). The best way I can put it is this: systems level up to level 8 maximum. Sentinel upgrades level up to 999.  So would have liked an indicator to that.

The other is a story problem and the best way I can think to put it is this: early on these are more that one character has discovered a truth of the world and the reason you’re cut off is you need to understand what’s happening with the other character’s story, or to have a good momentum of reveals. But as the story goes on, probably at about the 75% mark, stories start interrupting each other and the ping ponging is less teasing out hints and more because the character you were just playing as isn’t technically the protagonist of that plot point. I say this because some sections were light on this overlap as what was going on in the main story of one character was background for another, so they sometimes get a little messy as they overlap properly. It doesn’t hurt the game’s story tremendously and  only happens a few times, but it did take me out of it when it did happen.

Really that’s it for negatives.

Is good game would recommend.

[luma-aylin]

Boss Battle: Luma Aylin

Instance Name: The Garden of Liminality

Boss Title: Voidmage Luma

Boss Music: Once Upon A December

Questline: A Sweet Surprise, Curiouser and Curiouser, Mirror Mirror...

Questline Synopsis: A normal day took an unexpected turn when you bumped into a tiny miqo’te in the streets of Gridania, the frosting of her cupcake smeared across your shirt. She introduces herself as Luma, and to make up for her clumsiness she treats you at her favorite cafe, introduces you to her mentor, lets you borrow a book.. Eventually you’re escorted by Luma and her mentor through the Shroud to their home, the Adreus Manor. 

You’re whisked around the manor by the energetic girl, she’s far too happy to show you around and insists you stay the night, they haven’t had any visitors in such a long time. How could you say no to such big, glossy, pleading eyes? The looming presence of her intimidating mentor makes the decision easier. You join them in the lounge after a long evening of activities, but Luma’s final request is to show you her special mirror. She demonstrates how it works before eagerly handing it over to you, watching over your shoulder while her mentor observes with a smarmy smirk. Nothing seems to happen as you stare into the mirror, so you glance back to ask Luma but she’s already asleep. You call out to her but you’re hushed by her mentor. 

When you turn back to the mirror your reflection is accompanied by a demon behind you, the skull of a goat-like creature curling above you. There’s nothing there when you turn to look, but you can feel a cold, large claw grip your shoulder, then another around your arm. Any scream or shout for help is unheard, your voice is caught in your throat as your field of view is consumed by bright red eyes. 

The sound of familiar giggling wakes you. As you come to you recognize Luma’s voice somewhere nearby, then a strange deeper voice that resounds through your body in an unpleasant flood. You’re propped up against a tree in a lush forest, wildflowers crawl across your legs and hang unnaturally from the trees above. You’re ensnared within a verdant willow, and as your vision returns to normal you find the flowers tickling your cheeks are staring at you curiously. Their pistils are eyes of all colors, peering at this mysterious stranger within their woods. You shoot up in alarm and push your way through the thick hanging leaves, emerging from the flowery woods you rush through a trellis of a garden only to find Luma and her company: the same dark demon you saw in the mirror. 

(ooc: I put the fight under the cut, it just makes the post super long because I don’t know how to write short things.. genuinely it’s really long and I don’t know how to write a fight! Nobody tagged me I just did this for fun, saw it from @glorified-thieves​ who asked me to tag them if I ever finished this! If you want to do this tag me!)

The Fight

“Wha-? You’re not allowed in here! Get out!” 

Phase 1: Heartstorm

Voidmage Luma’s encounter is similar to fighting Edda Blackbosom, she possesses powerful black magic and melee ability. Luma begins with a barrier cast around her that the party will have to break periodically throughout the fight, much like Stoneskin. Luma will attack with melee swipes, party wide magic damage, target one member to combust and force them to move out of the party, and use a homing ice strike on one party member until approximately 60% of Luma’s health. 

Tank Buster Voice Line: “Why won’t you just leave me alone!?” 

Tank Buster Action: Luma will launch the tank into the air dealing physical damage, then charge a strike of magical damage as an icicle will pierce them back down. Her first attack applies a magic vulnerability debuff, forcing the a tank swap before the cast of her icicle finishes.

Ward: Luma will cast a barrier around herself that must be broken.

Glimmer: An ice storm will sweep through the arena dealing magic damage. (aoe magic damage)

Guillotine: Luma swipes the tank into the air dealing physical damage and applying a magical vulnerability. The tank will fall to the floor. (tank buster physical)

Sheer Force: An icicle will pierce the tank holding aggro with magical damage. (tank buster magic)

Despair: A crosshair buff will appear next to a player’s name in the partylist to signify they are marked for an AoE attack. This player must move out of the party or risk the AoE fire damage hitting the party as well. (single target with aoe damage)

Ice Wave: A single player will be marked with an icicle above their head to signify they will be followed by a homing attack. Icicles will shoot up from the ground, dealing damage to anyone in their path, the targeted player must run away until it stops. (homing wave)

Phase Transition: Sentenced

“Get away from me! My innocence will not be ruined any further!”

This phase transition is marked by the battleground changing. A stone platform will emerge from the garden and bring the party into the air as darkness envelops the entire screen. Luma will engulf herself in a barrier and rise into the air as her scythe disperses into the surrounding darkness that has eyes staring from every inch of the inky backdrop. From the shadows will appear Fhorniuhr, wielding his scythe, becoming the target for this phase. 

Fhorniuhr: “What sort of monster takes advantage of such kindness..? Your transgression cannot go unpunished.”

Fhorniuhr attacks much the same as Luma, using his scythe for melee with an accompaniment of  black magic. The large voidsent will attack with cleaving half the arena, deal a tank buster, restricting the arena by placing void pitches on the floor (will explode should you touch them), deal AoE magic damage, and restrain a healer at a time. Periodically, the eyes peering out from the dark will cast a room wide paralysis, so be sure to look away. At 50% of Luma’s gauge Fhorniuhr will cast void call, a new mob of 6 voidsent will appear. Fhorniuhr will stop physical and auto attacks, but begin to cast Nether Song repeatedly until all voidsent are dead or he consumes them. The voidsent will be slowed as they try to get to Fhorniuhr, ready to sacrifice themselves at his command and should they reach him Fhorniuhr will gain a buff that increases his magic damage. Once the additional voidsent are slain or eaten, Fhorniuhr will place a bleed on the arena, the floor will be covered in darkness that tries to restrain the party, a DoT buff will appear beside everyone’s name. Fhorniuhr’s onslaught will continue until Luma’s gauge reaches 100%.

Banished Soul & Void Touched: Depending on where Fhorniuhr is facing, the entire arena on his left or right side respectively will be struck with his scythe, should a player be hit it will place a vulnerability stack as well as dealing damage. There is no orange zone warning. (Banished Soul is left, Void Touched is right)

Spell Breaker: Fhorniuhr will strike the tank with his scythe, dealing physical damage. 

Void Pitch: A purple arrow will appear briefly above a player’s head, after 4 seconds Fhorniuhr will drop a void pitch on them that will stay on the floor for 30 seconds. If it is touched it will explode. (magic damage)

Nether Song: A wave of void energy will wash over the arena. (magic aoe damage)

Restrain: Fhorniuhr will grasp a healer in his claw and hold them up in the air, his wrist will become targetable and be given a health bar that must be taken down to release the healer. 

Phase 2: Innocence Lost

“How foolish I was to think we were friends.. I give everyone the benefit of the doubt despite their warnings, and what do I get for it? Betrayal.” 

The darkness will disperse and the arena will flood with stars, the party now trapped on a stone platform surrounded by the moonless night sky. Luma’s barrier will disappear and she will retake her place on the arena floor, scythe in hand. Luma will gain the abilities from Fhorniuhr’s phase and hit harder than her initial phase. The arena cleaves will become faster and she will cast party wide damage always after a tank buster. Eyes will appear frequently to cast paralysis, if a party member is stunned then Luma will gain a stack that increases her attack. 

Luma will cast Ice Wave right after Despair, forcing the party member targeted with Despair to circle the arena at a safe enough distance from whoever is targeted with Ice Wave. Both players must move around the arena while the party stays center. During this phase if the player with Despair is hit by Ice Wave it will deal AoE damage and give a vulnerability stack to the party. 

There will be no void pitches during this phase, but shadows of Fhorniuhr will flicker across the arena floor to 4 corners. Luma will cast Null, at the end of the cast 4 party members must be standing in the shadows as they will be grappled by the demon and pulled into another area. 

The 4 players stolen by Fhorniuhr will appear on a platform to fight Fhorniuhr again. He will use his left and right cleaves, Spell Breaker, and Nether Song until he is killed and the players are returned to the rest of the party, hopefully alive. If a player is killed by Fhorniuhr, Luma will gain a buff. 

Phase 3: Void Call 

“Can you feel it? The call of the void? Allow me to make the decision easier.”

Once Luma’s health reaches 0 she will erect a barrier around herself as she casts Suppression. The arena floor will become a void portal and the party will slowly begin to sink into the darkness. Luma’s barrier will be stronger than usual and need to be broken before she becomes targetable. The party must defeat her before the cast finishes or it will cause a wipe. 

“How could you..? Haven’t you taken enough from me? And to think I trusted you..” 

Duty Completion Drop: Fhoniuhr’s Bone Piece (Exchange for voidal weapons) 

Coffer Drop: Orchestrion Scroll or a Jar of Eyes furniture item

Once the battle is over you experience a terrible headache, you wince and stumble to a familiar looking mirror on the ground as you find yourself back in the garden. The sound of Luma sobbing quietly echoes throughout the area, a sense of guilt washes over you before you fall to the ground unconscious. When you wake you’re in the familiar woods of the Shroud and it seems dawn is crawling across the forest now. You are far from Adreus Manor and without some belongings, but nonetheless whole and unscathed.. However Luma’s soft cries ring throughout your ears for the rest of the day.

[bellringermal]

Who do you think would win in an all-out fight to the death if Gehrman and Maria ever came to blows? Setting aside those pesky emotional bonds, and assuming they're both at the height of their powers. Maria has the obvious advantages of youth and combustible blood, but I feel there's something to be said for the value of experience, as well as the fact that having invented the Hunter fighting style and trained Maria himself, Gehrman probably knows her own moves and tactics better than she does.

Mmmmh.. let’s take a look at our challengers, shall we?

I think the most important thing to take into consideration is what sort of opponent they were trained to fight in the first place. I’ve always assumed that Maria was a member of the Royal Guards and thus was tasked to protect Annalise from her political opponents and hunt them down for their Blood Dregs. Before she joined the Hunters, Maria was trained to kill other humans and not beasts, since that duty was reserved to the Knights.

Let’s check some extra lore facts to support this theory :3

There’s no evidence in the item descriptions that points towards the Cainhurst Knights using blood blades like the Chikage, but we know for sure that they wielded the Reiterpallasch as shown in the promotional images and in the weapon’s own description.

Rapiers are also the weapon of choice for some of the servants we encounter in the castle.

We also know that the Knights were servants and not nobles, so all of this seems to rule out the possibility of Maria being one of them since we know that she’s a relative of Annalise and consequently, a noble herself. Long story short: Maria, not unlike Eileen, is a Hunter of Hunters even if she kills in the name of Annalise and not to put blood-addled Hunters to rest. This also explains why would she become an apprentice to Gehrman and why in the cut dialogues she refers to him as “Beast Hunter” instead of just Hunter since she comes from a society where the two types of hunters are clearly distinct.

This is also reflected in Maria’s set that is a combination of Knight, Royal Guard, and Hunter gear. Her clothes are that of a beast-slaying Cainhurst Knight (but more practical), her weapon is the signature blood-blade of the nobles while her boots, gloves, and hat are of classic Old Hunters fashion.

All of this to say that, if you ask me, Maria would be way more proficient in killing another human than someone who exclusively hunted down beasts.

But, at the same time, we have no solid proof that Gehrman only did that. First of all, because the line between men and beasts gets very blurry at times and second, because we know that Gehrman delivered “mercy kills” not only to those fully transformed into beasts but possibly even to his own students if they became blood-drunk. Just like Eileen does to Henryk, and possibly, the player.

Gehrman surely saw the hunt as a dirge of farewell, wishing only that his prey might rest in peace, never again to awaken to another harrowing nightmare.[BURIAL BLADE]

Facing a rational opponent is very different from going against a mindless beast. Even us, as players, can experience this by comparing how it feels to fight a beast boss and a humanoid one. Ludwig’s boss fight alone, showcases the different pace and strategy required to fight what is basically a wild animal and an honorable swordsman.

And even when fighting Gehrman and Maria, we can experience first hand their different approach to a 1V1 duel.

Maria’s moveset is precise and elegant, consisting of charged thrusts and wide swipes. The blades of the Rakuyo are reminiscent of the hands of a clock and even some of the animations performed in order to transform the weapon (when combining the two blades back into one, for example) seem to mirror the image of a clock dial. After propelling herself into the air in her jumping attack, Maria plunges down on her opponent and deals AOE damage on impact thanks to her blood arts.

Gehrman on the other hand, deals ranged damage by “pressuring” air itself onto the hunter. (Now, let’s take a moment to appreciate that Gehrman can kill you with fucking air and Maria can kill you with her own blood. If that’s not badass I don’t know what is). Gehrman’s combat style is less refined, but that’s a direct consequence of how large and presumably heavy his weapon of choice is. Even when untransformed, the curved blade is thicker than the Rakuyo and is clearly not a weapon that you can use to poke and stab. The Burial Blade is made to chop off limbs and heads, taking advantage of the long handle to hook and drag the opponent closer before tearing them apart.

Both Maria and Gehrman perform explosive AOE attacks after standing still for a few seconds. Gehrman always faces the moon in the Hunter’s dream during this animation while Maria usually faces the player character. They both perform this animation twice during the fight and each time it marks the beginning of a new phase. Both Maria’s AOE animations are potentially deadly to the player while Gehrman’s first one doesn’t deal any damage but signals his connection to the Moon Presence. Maria’s second AOE attack sees her levitate above the ground as the blood swirls around her. This can be taken as proof that Maria’s abilities transcend those of regular Vilebloods (as if the inflammable blood wasn’t enough!) and placing her in the same league as Queen Yharnam that can make the player character levitate while dealing damage. Yharnam also conjures blood blades by stabbing herself (through the hand, with her ritual knife) just like Maria does.

Gehrman’s “supernatural” abilities on the other hand, consist exclusively in attack and speed boosts offered to him by Moon Presence. Maria’s powers don’t look nearly as situational as Gehrman’s do.

On a mere physical level, I would assume Gehrman to be stronger because of sheer size and level of strength required to lift and use a heavier weapon. But as far as mobility is concerned, I think that Maria would move way faster and have overall a superior attack speed.

Experience surely would play a part in this death battle, but that is something that is harder to quantify in a lore-friendly manner. Some people think that Gehrman was a random dude (even a farmer, according to some) with no combat experience whatsoever that improvised himself a Hunter when the beasts became a real threat, presumably during his adulthood. In my headcanons, on the other hand, he was trained since childhood and had been a Beast Hunter for about 20 years when Maria joined the Old Hunters. In any case, the age gap surely gives Gehrman a huge advantage on Maria when it comes to mere combat and survival experience.

As you pointed out, another thing to consider is how familiar Gehrman would be with Maria’s techniques since he’s the one who taught her many of her tricks and moves. The jumping attack, in particular, feels very “Gehrman” to me :P but Maria never forgot her original Cainhurst combat techniques and after so much time spent training with Gehrman she would’ve learned a few things about his weaknesses as well.

I am confident in saying that anyone who faced Gehrman would affirm that his prosthetic leg doesn’t impair his movements in any way, but at the same time it’s hard to believe that this is 100% true.

In conclusion, I think that such a duel would be rather spectacular to witness and that the outcome wouldn’t be predictable until the very end, considering how fast and vicious both Gehrman and Maria can be. But to conclude, my money would be on Maria.

She has a wider set of skills due to her upbringing in Cainhurst, natural blood abilities inherited from her Pthumerian ancestry and Gehrman himself surely did his best to teach her how to overcome her flaws.

[moonstruck-ffxiv-blog]

FFXIV OC Trial Boss Asks (All of the questions for one of your muse)

The Corrupted Heart (Hard)

The Corrupted Heart - Ministrel’s ballad  (EX)

Difficulty: 7/10

How difficult for the dragoon to jump off stage?: It’s impossible.

In game-description:

As you confront Louis into the emerald labyrinth that is The Black Shroud, you try one last time to reason with him. However, it seemed you are already too late and the ritual is about to finish. There is only one more thing you can do: defeat the young Nightkin before his father is released on this world and feed on Hydalyn’s aether.

Location:

Ruins of Ivywood, West Shroud

The ruins of this little town nest in West Shroud, Ivywood is Louis’ birthplace. When Dalamud fell, all of its inhabits got turned to stone due to unexplained magics. A ghost town in all the sense of the term.

Mazes of the Mind (Phase 1 music)

Instrumental piece. It’s quiet, mysterious and eerie at the same time. It’s both calming and slightly disturbing. It’s supposed to represent his loneliness and madness. It def has an Amdapor leitmotif shove somewhere in there.

Moonstruck (Phase 2 music)

It’s a song with lyrics. Still retained some “disturbing” musical choices so it can be unnerving, but dip more into metal. That music is his anger, his last stand. Some lyrics are from a made-up language supposed to represent the Voidsent’s tongue.

Stage mechanics/description:

The stage is small and claustrophobic, it is impossible to be out of range of another player. It needs excellent coordination to not make markers overlap. There is a Void portal behind Louis, but it’s only decor. You can’t interact with it and it’s not part of the stage.

In phase 1, there are multiples stones statues all over. The players can use those to hide behind them to block certain attacks and the statues get destroyed. However, every time a statue get destroyed by the players, a stack of “enraged” count up on Louis, buffing his attack and defense. The stack doesn’t change if the players don't kill the statues.

Awakened statues have a spicy cleave and should be picked up by OT ASAP. They also have an enrage of 30 sec. Once it is reach, they will explode and put vulnerability debuffs on anyone who is in range.

In EX: Their HP is buffed, making them more difficult to DPS down before the enrage.

Phase 1  

In EX: All the mechanics can be executed at the same time. EX: Painsharer + It’s RNG and no pattern can be repeated or learned.

“G-Get away from me!”

Void Rot: Circular AoE for all in melee range + pushback. Removes around 50% health on DPS, 35% health on tanks.

In EX it’s not telegraphed, casting time is fast and it applies a poison debuff. You have two ticks to Esuna it or else it’s instant death.

“Do you know how it feels to hated all the time?!?”

Painsharer: Tankbuster. It is not affected by shields or defensive CDs. The only way for your tank to survive it is to share it the with the party OR to hide behind a statue.

In EX: You need all the 8 players to share it or else it’s a wipe. At the end of the cast, it puts a party-wide poison debuff.

Eyesore: Spicy frontal cleave. Do not stack with the party. This can be avoided by hiding behind a statue.

“I’ll make you stop!”

Blight: Target 2-5 players with circular marks. They must not overlap. Louis will shot arrows on the emplacement when he finishes his cast. A violet circle will appear on the ground where the arrows touched, making it a environment hazard: if you step inside, you get a poison debuff.

In EX: Any dropped markers on a statue will wake it. Because the placement of the statues is always RNG, you can’t predict a safe pathway and have to think on the go. If someone stepped in the puddle of goo, the poison debuff can’t be esuna.

“You’re hurting me… So I’m hurting you!”

Cursed Arrow: Target one player. Brings him/her to 1 HP. This can be avoided by hiding behind a statue. Visually, the skill looks like a cursed version of Refulgent Arrow.

In EX: is quickly followed by a couple of attacks on the same player. Healers have to react fast.

Ultimate: Alienation

Zaz comes on the stage. Louis stuns and consumes him, absorbing the atomos in his essence. He then transforms into a horrible abomination, half Voidsent, half hyur, tentacles, eyes and maws sprouting in places it should never. Eight appendices come from his body, each grabbing a different member of the party and he jumps in the Void portal behind him, dragging the party along.

Phase 2 - Full Voidboi

In EX: All the mechanics can be executed at the same time.

Mow: Tankbuster. The same as Taurus’.

Sunder: Crescent shape AoE. It can be either frontal or dorsal.

Ex: It’s not telegraphed, you have to pay attention to how the boss moves to get the cue.

“WE SHALL FEAST UPON YOUR SOULS”

Soulstealer: Very similar to Soulstealer from those Red Mage duties. Marks one player, put a bleed debuff. At the end of the cast, if the target is not full health, it is instant death.

“HA….HA HA…. HA HA HA!”

Shuffle: A classic FF white hand appears near your party list. It shuffled the order.

“FEED. ME.”

Anarchy: Shuffle the enmity table. Aggro someone random and consider him/her as the new main tank. (I hope you have Provoke ready.)

“THE HUNGER! THE HUNGER!”

Pluck: A tentacle pulls a random player out of the stage (that include the main tank. OT must be second in enmity table or else the party won’t like it). S/he can’t be targetted, healed, rescued or raised. A lot of adds will spawn and he/she will need to survive the rush. If he/she doesn’t, they die and can’t be raised unless a rezzer get also pull out of the stage in the same fashion.

“WE WILL DRAG YOU IN THE ABYSS!”

Darkness (EX only): The screen goes black for a few seconds. Players are unable to see anything. The fight is still going as usual, the sound effect can still be heard.

LOOT TABLE

Corrupted Whistle

It’s a giant Atomos mount. It can fly and has a “suction” attack, similar to like the Kojin’s Manta. It has an option that makes you shift between Phase 1 and Phase 2 music.

Drop rate: 2~4%

Amdapori MarbleCrafting material. It’s for a housing item that makes a marble statue or your character. (The furniture is dyeable.)

Drop rate: 8~10%

Morpho Colony

Indoor housing furniture. It’s a branch with morphos butterflies resting on it, the wings flutters once in a while. It glows in the dark and it’s dyeable.

Drop rate: 1%

Faded copy of Mazes of the Mind

Crafting material for the orchestrion roll. (Phase 1)

Drop rate: 15~18%

Faded copy of Moonstruck

Crafting material for the orchestrion roll. (Phase 2)

Drop rate: 15~18%

That was long af ... jesus fuck

Emanation - Name someone else’s OC you would like to see as a trial boss. Be sure to tag them

I’m tagging @captainkurosolaire @avwalya @the-first-caller @the-false-ser-toes

@caqi-cove @catte-bard and @dogs-of-silence

[rapifessor]

It’s that time again.

Time to talk about the most recent Special Program. This one was pretty short, so there’s not much to talk about, but regardless I think there’s some pretty cool stuff.

First of all, the new weekly boss, where Scaramouche gets in a giant robot and becomes a god. I’m a sucker for a good boss fight, and I don’t think this one will disappoint. It’s visually impressive and conceptually different from other fights, particularly in its second phase where the boss becomes completely immune to damage by normal means. Should be a lot of fun.

Nahida

I’ve already talked about Layla in great detail so instead the focus here will be on Nahida, who I’m also quite excited for. Her abilities are the most unique we’ve ever seen and she seems to have enormous potential.

Nahida’s Elemental Skill is the star of the show here. You can aim it as you would Charged Attacks with a bow character, and it has its own viewfinder that marks enemies within it and links them together. Doing this lets Nahida fire additional attacks when marked opponents are hit by Dendro Cores, but that’s not the part that’s interesting.

What really makes Nahida’s Elemental Skill stand out is its non-combat applications. Similar to how Zhongli and others’ Elemental Skills have additional utility, Nahida’s can collect harvestable items just by targeting them with the viewfinder and putting them directly into your inventory. It’s not exactly a game-changer, but it’s useful and incredibly unique.

The best part is that it doesn’t stop there. Apparently Nahida’s skill can do a variety of other things that were hinted at by the Special Program hosts. What they all are is a mystery at this time, but knowing that there might be all sorts of crazy shit you can do with it has me really excited.

As for her Elemental Burst, it’s not as ground-breaking as her skill by any means but it’s quite interesting in its own right. Its AoE is massive and it has a ton of different effects based on your party composition, which adds a lot of depth and variety to Nahida’s potential teams. You can choose to max out her burst’s duration or the damage/speed of her Elemental Skill’s marking effect, or mix and match different bonus effects.

Other Stuff

Honestly, there’s not much to really go over here. The new events are kinda whatever, although Layla will be making an appearance in the version’s main event so that’s nice. Can’t actually get her until the second half of the update though.

The one thing I did think was really cool was the new Serenitea Pot copying system. It lets you copy other peoples’ realm layouts, which is great if you just want something that looks nice and you don’t want to take the time to design it yourself. Not sure if I’ll make use of it, but it’s certainly a nice feature.

And that about wraps it up. The Special Program this time around was pretty standard fare, as HoYoverse decided to go back to their original formula with the panel of hosts. This has its benefits though, at least for an English-speaking audience. The VAs on the panel may be cringe at times but the information is easier to understand and digest in this format.

[sailmiral]

Ff14 tank buster sephirot

#Ff14 tank buster sephirot free#

Pretty fun fight, but it's going to be a pain teaching new players that maybe aren't so skilled. I don't know what this mechanic did, but we split our group in half and swapped colors every time it happened like on the first boss in WoD. tanks should soak these, otherwise they do room wide aoe vulnerability.Ī giant blue and orange orb appear on each half of the room. One Winged Angel Ink - Final Fantasy VII Sephiroth - Video Game Tank Top. Occasionally Sephirot will mark two players, they players should run to opposite sides of the arena so the others in the center don't get hit by it. We print the highest quality final fantasy xiv tank tops on the internet Page. Spread out when Sephirot's chest begins to charge, he will drop a bunch of unavoidable aoes on random people, don't get hit by someone elses. When he pushes everyone back, a wind add spawns at the back of the arena, kill it quickly before killing the two rock adds that also spawn.Īn arrow will appear in the center of the arena, pointing to the whirwind you make for killing the wind add. He will drop AoEs under people, simply run out of them. Fantasy Cloud Strife Cover Buster Sword Sephiroth Ff7 7 Seven Vii Moon Midgar.

#Ff14 tank buster sephirot free#

When he strikes, you will be pushed away from the blue circles, so don't stand between the edge and the circles. Quality final fantasy tank top with free worldwide shipping on AliExpress. In the big phase, blue circles will appear on the arena. Once they are killed Sephirot fall off the edge and gets big. there will be two large adds and two sets of four smaller ones. The first phase ends when Sephirot begins charging his powerful attack. For dungeons though, none of the tank busters in dungeons are life threatening. You know when they come up either through experience or reading guides. Sophia - watch the blue tethers on the sides of arena. The majority of tank busters in FFXIV are casted, not instant, and theyre also scripted to happen at the same time/interval every time. When you see a blue aoe on the ground stand inside to bait the ground aoes then move out to get knocked back. After that towers are a tank only mechanic. Orange debuff people get in a tower til debuffs fall. Get behind him when he does this.īlue markers will appear over heads, just spread out. Sephirot - green marked people go up front. He will also occasionally turn around and begin charging what looks like a landslide. Like void ark, a target will appear on someone and everyone should stack on the marked player to split the damage. In the first phase, he'll raise his fists and do a powerful cleave on the boss. Sephirot's attacks don't have names, you must look at the animations.

[tk-duveraun]

WoL as a Boss

The Prime Light Warden: Forgiven Murder Lian Feng

Phase 1:

Fratricide: 6 items marked "Supplies" will spawn in a circle. Fratricide is cast 6 times, approx every 6% health. The cast duration is 4s. ONE person must pick up the supplies, enabling the "carrying" debuff per cast of Fraticide. They will die when the cast ends and be unable to be rezed. The recommended order is: Offtank, dps, dps, heal, dps, dps. If no one picked up Supplies, it's a wipe.

Patricide: Reduces aggro target's health to 1.

Matricide: Distributed damage. This does decreased damage as party members are lost to Fratricide.

You want to end the phase with a tank and healer, but dps and healer will do in a pinch. You must healer LB 3 in the phase transition to move on.

Phase 2:

Sickness: Purple fire on the ground that applies a small DoT when standing in it.

Exile: Knockback. If you fall off the arena, you cannot be rezed.

Robbery: Full party reduced to 1 health.

Tank Lian in the center. Don't get thrown off, don't stand in the fire.  Phase 2 ends when you drain her health bar.

Phase 3:

MASH MASH MASH

Warrior of Light: Medium-sized circular AOE. Shadows warn for position before the circle appears.

Warrior of Darkness: Gaze -> confusion.

Savior of Ishgard: Large frostbite AOE

Hero of Ala Mhigo: After the cast bar, Lian will teleport around the arena, backstabbing three people at random before returning to the original position.

Champion of Eorzea: Unmarked, one of Raging Bull, Grace of the Elementals and Captain's Orders. Raging Bull: Frontal cone Grace of the Elementals: Gaze, applies debuff preventing heals from skills Captain's Orders: Second on the aggro table becomes first on the aggro table and is put to 1 health

For Champion and Hero, healers should make sure everyone is topped off.  It's harder than it sounds like because Warrior of Light is more frequent than you think it will be. Make sure the DPS focus on not getting hit by Warrior of Light more than on DPSing.

Music: Oldest Daughter Syndrome

[vampzmagee]

Dungeon affix in 8.3

(Reference: https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/47626-the-awakened-mythic-season-4-affix-in-visions-of-nzoth/)

Hello horde and alliance players! This is the second blog on what’s new in the World of Warcraft 8.3 patch. In my last blog I introduced the outdoor and some general information in the patch 8.3. Today I’m going to talk about the dungeon change in the new patch. Dungeon and raid are the PVE (player VS environment) game-play content in World of Warcraft since the game was developed. More than 80% of players spend time dungeons.

Original Affix: Since the Legion expansion, Blizzard introduced affix for use in mythic keystone dungeon. Affix is an extra element, which will affect players while they are fighting in dungeons. For example, tyrannical means that BOSS enemies will be specifically enhanced; explosive means that dungeons will spawn explosive balls when players are in combat with enemies. The only change on all original affix is to modify the damage of quaking affix. In earlier expansions quaking affix did a damage of 20% maximum health to everyone, but now in 8.3 it does 40% maximum health damage to every players other than you. In earlier expansion the quaking caused extra death because it could constantly hurt you even you are not in combat; and it could interrupt your eating action. But now everything has changed. Unless you stand in other’s quaking circle, you will not get hit. It’s a truly fix of this bad thing. Cheers!

Seasonal unique affix: Starting from 8.0 expansion every game season has a unique Affix. Cooperating with the awakening of N’Zoth, we have a cool name awakened for the affix. Under this affix, players will defeat 4 servants of N’Zoth which have been awakened from the void. Each servant has an obelisk on map, players need to interact with the obelisk to enter the realm of void. After defeat the servant, a ritual portal will spawn. Players can use this portal to cross back to the realm of lives again. Do you guys have any thought? Yes this is the ‘official’ shroud for us! In early expansions people relied on rogue’s shroud too much to skip pack of mobs they do not want to fight with, and that caused imbalance distribution on classes. Blizzard is trying to fix this imbalance by adding a new style of shroud. What a genius idea! (I love it. First time ever Blizzard do something good)

(Reference: https://www.mmo-champion.com/content/8852-Patch-8-3-PTR-Corrupted-Affix-Vulpera-Mount-DLC-703?page=2)

Voidweaver Mal'thir: This servant comes as a spider, just like its name weaver. Every servant of N’Zoth spawn with their unique minions, for voidweaver we will encounter small beetles. Those beetles will auto attack player who has the highest threat, normally the tank. So DPS players control your fingers after cross into the void realm! Those cute beetles will automatically explode after a period of time, for my own experience it’s every 8 to 10 seconds a beetle will explode, and cause massive damage to a obvious circle marked area around it plus a poisoned effect. Voidweaver itself is more like a mage. It will cast two spells: disease and curse. Both will cause damage for sure, but disease will slow down your movement by 70% and curse will slow down your casting speed by 50%.

(Credit to method dungeon tool in game addon)

Samh'rek, Beckoner of Chaos: I will rank this as the most annoying servant. The beckoner comes with 5 fleshfiend which will attack highest threat player. However, the fleshfiend will cast a non-interruptible bleeding effect on nearest player. That means no matter you have threat or not, DO NOT leave your tank. Tank players should pop your defensive to overcome the stacked bleeding damage and DPS players need to kill those fleshfiends as soon as possible. The beckoner itself also has an ability; it will cast a magic effect on random 3 players. After 2, 4 and 6 seconds those players and any other people standing in 5 yards will be feared for 2 seconds. Healers will have to decide here, dispel tank to avoid tank losing control or dispel yourselves to ensure healing others.

Tips: Personally, as a tank player I would recommend dispelling tanks. Tank will have to pop defensive to overcome the bleeding and keep facing to enemies to avoid hit on back. Damage from back of a tank player will create critical strike (double damage). Once a tank get feared healers may not be able to heal fast enough to save a tank’s life. But if fleshfiends are cleared and tank is in good condition, why not dispel DPS players to defeat the beckoner faster?

(Credit to method dungeon tool in game addon)

Blood of the Corruptor: This is literally like a jelly blob Lol. The blob spawns with 5 tentacles which will constantly cast mind flay on random players. DPS players need to kill tentacles fast to avoid taking too much damage from it. The core ability of this blob servant is defiled ground. After a period of time the blob will pollute a round area on the ground, walking on it will cause massive damage. So the correct way to defeat this blob is to kill tentacles fast before ground is fulling polluted. Of course tank players can pull the blob away to avoid the situation of no place to stand. But that is risky as well, healer has to stay with others to prevent death from damage of tentacles.

(Credit to method dungeon tool in game addon)

Urg'roth, Breaker of Heroes: Read its name you will know exactly what it does… This servant is a breaker of tanks! Urg’roth will rapidly cast spirit breaker (that hurts, trust me) with massive damage and give target a 100% more damage taken debuff on highest threat players. DPS players control your fingers! Sometimes tank player is not the first one who get into the void realm, so Urg’roth may hit players other than the tank if they keep doing damage with a pretty high level of threat. After cast the spirit breaker the servant will cast a massive ranged AOE (area of effect) damage. Jump out the circle and survive, don’t make trouble to your healer. Every servant comes with minions, breaker of heroes will summon malicious growth on ground. It looks like fungi, but way much larger. Those growth fungi will slow down nearby player by 70% and cause damage. Imagine Urg’roth is casting the AOE but you are stuck in between fungi; kill those fungi to clean a path for survival!

(Credit to method dungeon tool in game addon)

How to use the awakened obelisk: First step, design your route. An obelisk can enable a shortcut between two points and help you avoid enemies. Make sure to design a good route to use obelisks and skip those powerful enemies that you don’t want to fight. Next, get in the obelisk. Every obelisk has unique enemies, defeat them after team arrives at designated position. Final step, escape from the realm. A portal will appear on the cold dead body of servants to let you get out of the realm of void. Watch out for patrols when you get out. If the team wants to fight a pack of enemies right out of the portal, always let tank get out first.

  (Credit to method dungeon tool in game addon and route by Dratnos on raider.io weekly routes)

Do we have to defeat all obelisks? Yes for sure, even if you do not use an obelisk to skip enemies, enter it and defeat the servant. All the obelisks that you leave there will appear in the fight of final BOSS. That will increase the difficulty of the battle. Imagine you are fighting a tank killer BOSS and the Breaker of Heroes come out… Mommy I don’t want to play as a tank! However, in some dungeons you can leave the voidweaver servant because it will only do extra damage and that can be interrupted. Save DPS cooldown and pop it on servant in BOSS fight to nuke it down. Perfect!

In next blog I will talk about the new raid with you guys. Stay in touch!

About author:

I’ve been playing WoW for over 5 years as a paladin. I chose the paladin class because of the Seven Knightly Virtues in the real world, and because the Blizzard-made spells for this class follow the virtues. I like role playing like a “harbinger of justice”. World of Warcraft is a truly fantastic game — it's an exiting world that is so much more than just a game

[grabthelantern]

State of the Meta: Tank update hopes

By Helmight

After so many years, League’s venerable tank class is getting updated. While we don’t have many details yet, Riot has mentioned that they’d like to increase vanguard skill floors and give them more unique kits from each other. In addition, there’s likely to be changes made to tank itemization, making it so that tanks - and tanks alone - get the most benefit from armor and magic resistance.

Riot hasn’t even decided on which champions will receive large-scale reworks and which will receive smaller touches, but that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate. Today’s article goes through all eight vanguard champions - and a few others that might get work done - and talks about the kind of changes each one may see.

The Sad Mummy is pretty much the archetype of how vanguards are designed - go in with one of your abilities, apply AoE CC, then just kinda walking around damaging nearby champions. It’s not necessarily bad, especially given that Amumu has two very iconic abilities in Curse of the Sad Mummy and Bandage Toss, but it’s a playstyle that doesn’t contribute much to skill expression. I’d love to see Tantrum replaced with something that requires a little more skill, and maybe some tweaks to Despair as well.

The biggest problem with Malphite is that he shares almost the same niche as Rammus - an armor-stacking, anti-ADC tank. I think Rammus is the more thematically-appropriate champion to have occupy that space, so it’d be a lot more interesting to have Malphite branch out into fighting magic-users as well. Ground Slam and Brutal Strikes are the two abilities Riot should focus on for the Shard of the Monolith, as neither require much thought or skill. .

The Twisted Treant’s a weird champion in a few respects. For starters, he doesn’t even really feel like a vanguard - Maokai’s ultimate makes him appear to be more of a warden at first glance. He also doesn’t do anything in particular that’s unique. Watching a Maokai play in the LCS is pretty damn boring, given that he just can’t die and has a targeted gapcloser.

If anything, I feel as though Maokai should be reclassified as a warden and rebalanced as such. Giving him more ally-friendly abilities that help him peel and tuning down his ability to start fights will go a long way towards making Maokai feel unique.

Anchor Man is a pretty awesome champion to watch, unlike Maokai, but could use some help with differentiating himself from other hook champions. Riptide is too reliable a damage source - and slows on top of that - and I’d love to see Naut have to rely more on his Titan’s Wrath-empowered autoattacks.

Rammus is THE anti-ADC champion, and I don’t want that to change. However, his ultimate is pretty lackluster, and having a targeted taunt means that it’s tough for Rammus to fail once he’s successfully initiated. The Armordillo could certainly use a new targeting paradigm on Puncturing Taunt (maybe in a small AoE around him?), and may want to find a better ultimate as well - something that plays up his “stop hitting yourself” playstyle, instead of just doing generic magic damage to things.

Other tanks are slow and lumbering, but Sejuani feels much faster than others. She can initiate with Glacial Prison from a range before dashing in with Arctic Assault, or vice-versa, giving her a variety of ways to start fights. As such, I’d love to see Sejuani take the reins as a mobility-based vanguard, denying it from her opponents while dashing around in fights.

Shen’s a warden, but while tanks are being looked at I figure he could stand a little love. Shen’s rework earlier in the year didn’t really hit all of the marks Riot wanted it to, and his whole spirit blade mechanic just isn’t that interesting. I’d love to see Shen lose the ability and perhaps gain power back in the rest of his kit. And can we get some Shadow Dash buffs? That hitbox is way too narrow for how big of a guy Shen is.

The big zombie’s a pretty archetypal tank, but I don’t want a thing to change on him. Sion’s basically just a tidal wave of CC in teamfights, and most of his damage relies on skillful targeting and predictions, not just standing next to people. I fully expect Riot to pass Sion over when it comes time to announce the large-scale projects.

Long-range initiations and bouncing around are what you play Zac for, and I don’t want that to change. The blob’s Q and W, however, are a different matter - they just don’t seem to do much. Unstable Matter’s probably the best place to do some work on Zac, and hopefully gives him a better damage pattern than “walk next to enemies and spam W.”

Let me know your thoughts and predictions on the tank rework in the comments, and don’t forget to like and reblog this post if you enjoyed it!