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suguwuus · 1 year ago

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★ study session

"but but but harry became an auro—" not up for arguments concerning hp lore, i left the fandom a long time ago and this is my fanfiction so i can do what i want.

wc: 2.1k words

contains: makeout session, scorbus cameo (yeah i was a fan), swearing

"Miss Y/N? Miss Y/N!" A voice called, cutting through the roaring wind. Your teammates, who you were practicing with, nodded at you. You gave a little salute as you steered your broom down.

"Yes, professor?" Your feet tingled at the feeling of being back on solid ground again. The next Quidditch match of the season was approaching fast, and your fellow H/H teammates had agreed to practice right after leaving potions class.

Professor Potter stood beside a pillar, waiting for you with a fuzzy sweater on and a book tucked under his arms. "I trust that your schedule isn't loaded with homework and deadlines. You understand our lessons, don't you?" He asked as you approached, marching on the dewy grass.

You wondered what his reason was to ask about this. "Uh...yes, sir, pretty much."

"Good. Then are you willing to tutor one of my students?"

"Oh. Sure, Professor. But can me and my team finish practice first?"

"Of course. He's still in detention, anyways. I'll show you where to find him, if you can spare a minute."

Before you could ask who "he" was, your Professor had turned around and gestured vaguely for you to follow. You bit back a complaint.

On the way, your Professor spotted Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter. His green eyes narrowed under his spectacles. "Don't you two have class?"

"We were dismissed early, sir."

"Then I suggest you remind your boyfriend to wash his hands if he hasn't already. Albus cleaned the blast-ended skrewts' cases earlier, and I got word from Hagrid that they have nasty appetites and nastier excretions."

Professor Potter gave them a knowing nod before making his way back into the castle. You jogged to keep up with him, shaking your head at the two notorious boys.

"Almost there, just up these stairs."

"L/N! L/N, is that a broom? Can I borrow it? Make it—what's the word—levitate, please!"

You looked up, confused at the sudden yelling. You stood at the foot of the stairs ascending the detention tower, and if you stepped back outside you'd see a very broken window several yards up off the ground, as if someone had blasted a hole through the stone by means of magic.

You squinted up at the source of the voice, shielding your eyes from the sun. Then you cursed under your breath. Connor Stoll was grinning devilishly, the hem of his robes flapping in the wind as he stood daringly close to the hole.

"L/N!? That's you, right? The broom!" He held out a hand.

"Why?" You asked blankly.

"Because," He emphasized, "I'm gonna fly out of the window and...oh." His eyes trailed over to Professor Potter, and he froze in shock and embarrassment. "Sorry, Professor!"

Professor Potter looked at you with a smile that said, good luck.

"Merlin's saggy left ballsack, stop asking me unrelated questions!"

An hour had almost passed, and you two had done nothing but argue. Connor would not stop fidgeting and asking questions that sent you out of focus, and your temper had been cut short within 10 minutes of being around the boy. Usually you weren't this snappy, but with Connor, it seemed like you were constantly on the edge of hexing him.

"You're really testing my fucking patience, aren't you, Stoll?" You asked with a sharp exhale as you turned a page of your book.

"You tested our friendship and—"

"Oh, I did the testing now? It's my fault? I started it?" This time, you had put on your most poisonous glare, your words seething with detest. He had crossed the line this time, and even though you didn't mention any names or specific incidents, you both knew exactly what you were talking about.

For a second, you thought you had rendered Connor speechless. But then he opened that stupid mouth of his with equal fury. "You didn't start it, but you ended it. No—could you even call that an ending? You left me hanging for—"

"For good reason! How could you say something like that—"

"How could you not say anything—"

"Just tell me you're sorry!"

You laughed without humor, almost tearing the page of your book off. "I'm the one who's supposed to apologize now? My goodness, you haven't changed since third year."

"You—"

"You are so loud," You cut him off and spoke through gritted teeth. "We're in a library."

"Why are you acting like I'm the only one who's been yelling?" Connor stomped his foot and stood up. "Stop leaving yourself out of the narrative! You're not always innocent! Just because I'm the troublemaker, the delinquent, the instigator—does not mean the other person is always the goddamn angel!"

"You're comparing the rumor to me cutting you off?" You scoffed. "Sit down."

He groaned and ran a hand over his face. "You're changing the subject. Of course you're changing the fucking subject. We're going back and forth like always, or how we used to, until you stopped talking to me!"

"Sit down," You repeated. He sat down, almost kicking the bench. You then forced yourself to flip through the book once more. "Let's get this over with, because I never want to see you again."

Saying that seemed to send a shock down your spine. You had always held some sort of grudge against Connor since...the rumor, but you had never said something like that. That hurt for sure. But you couldn't get yourself to apologize. Not yet.

It seemed unfair that he was asking for an apology from you when he was the one who started it with one small, cruel joke. Of course, you made mistakes, too, but no way he was acting like his side of the story was worse than yours. Ridiculous.

Too many things happened in third year. Scorpius Malfoy, on top of being called the "child of Voldemort" had lost his mother in the same year, and you had befriended him out of pure intentions. It was going fine until Connor had to involve himself.

He knew one of your relatives had a bad history with the Greengrass family, so he took it as an opportunity to humiliate you, saying you thing to do with Astoria Malfoy's death. The joke spread, and it continued to spread until people stopped taking it as a joke, prodding you with questions as if you really took part in whatever happened to her. You hated it. You barely even knew her name! It was a joke carelessly thrown around, though you couldn't find what was so funny about it. Often you'd find yourself wondering what kind of sick humor Connor had back then.

But you were thirteen, too. You felt helpless and betrayed, so you opted for the path where you'd deny anyone who brought it up and respond with anger. Whenever Connor tried to get close to you, you shut down and acted like he wasn't there. It shattered you more to stop talking to him, because you had your truths rooted; you knew the rumor wasn't true and that was enough. But you left behind a friendship, a great friendship, even, and the unresolved burden rotted on your shoulders and weighed you down.

You couldn't deny it hurt. How could it not? Too many things were left unfinished, abandoned after you had run from it all. Plans to visit each other over Christmas, pranks you had wanted to pull, reserved snacks for each other that grew moldy and stale. Thinking about it now, you felt an ache that you thought had been gone.

You drew in a breath, ready to get it over with like you always did. You braced yourself, forcing an apology out of your mouth.

"I'm sorry."

You looked up, but Connor was facing away with arms crossed. He beat you to it, leaving you to stare at the back of his head.

"I was a stupid kid. I don't think before speaking sometimes. Sorry. You don't deserve that and...and I...I'm sorry."

Your expression slowly softened as you thought of what to say. He still wouldn't face you.

"It's, um...I forgive you, Con." It had felt like forever since you had last said his nickname. "It's died down, anyway. People...people and I don't care about it as much as we used to." You sighed and propped your head up on your hand. "I'm sorry, too."

He turned to you, still avoiding eye contact. "It's been a long time, you know. Things have been different."

"I know." You slid your notes over to him, where you had summarized your lesson. You put it on top of the open book, which was turned to the most important page as well. "Are we good now?" You asked hesitantly. It felt like a relief to finally talk normally with a friend turned stranger, but it was also a bit jarring to fix things so quickly. Your heart pounded in your chest.

"I guess so. Yes, I mean," He confirmed, glancing over at you. You almost cracked a smile at that nervous puppy expression he had on, something that you had always found endearing about him.

"Hmm...thanks," He said, scanning your notes. Hunched over the papers, his voice was back to normal, and there was less tension between you two.

"You're welcome." As you watched him study, you took the opportunity to have a good look at him. Aside from the times you'd tear your eyes away from him in passing hallways, you had never seen him up close until now. He looked different from his younger self; of course he did. He looked more matured, his hair grew a bit thicker, his brows and jaw more defined, and he definitely got more athletic. You could spot scars here and there, too, most likely results of his recklessness. His robes seemed a little short on him. You made a note to tell him about it later.

He chuckled and mumbled your name, shaking his head. "What happened to your handwriting?"

"What?" You straightened your back and sat up, scooting over to him on the bench to see what he was pointing at. He wasn't pointing at anything, just a blank spot on the page. You cocked a brow and turned to him.

He was gazing at you with something you weren't sure you were interpreting right. Longing? Admiration? Was he flirting? The little smile on his lips gave it away. You felt guilty for the thoughts that started to drift into your mind. You shouldn't be acting so quickly, so rashly, giving into your desires right after resolving a year-long quarrel—

But then you found yourself on his lips, breath shaking as you hesitated to touch him. He gently took your wrist, putting his quill down and guiding your hand over to wherever you wanted it. When you settled on his arm, he slowly turned on the bench so he was straddling the seat, and facing you.

"I missed you," He mumbled breathlessly, almost whining against your lips. "I miss you, I miss you..." You hoped Madam Pince wouldn't have happened to be passing by, but with the way he was kissing you, that thought vanished almost immediately.

"Y-You're so...you're so..." You trailed off, unsure of how to describe him or whatever you were feeling. It didn't feel real, being there and holding him. A bit strange that that was what was happening after you two made up, but you couldn't deny he was spending your time in a way you wouldn't regret.

He chewed softly on your bottom lip, making you yelp and pull away. "Slow down, jackass."

"No," He giggled, before going back to kiss you. Hard. Your hands on his collar, his hands on the small of your back, sighing in both relief and , studying materials left abandoned.

Footsteps approached and you broke apart. Connor coughed loudly, avoiding the eyes of his older brother and the eyes of his friend.

Teddy Lupin, sporting bubblegum pink hair, wiggle his eyebrows at Connor. "Didn't know you were capable of making someone enjoy kissing you. Did you enjoy that?" He turned to you. You felt your face go hot.

You were about to stutter out an answer when Travis cut you off, rolling his eyes at the other two. "I thought you were being tutored. Anyway, someone's looking for you."

Connor stood up, smiling giddily. He tossed his things into his book back and shooed them away. Then he turned to you. "I'll come back to you later." You waved, speechless, and he walked away with kiss-bitten lips.

first post kinda nervous teehee >_< joke but lmk what u thought of this. if anyone sees this. anyway ill be working on fixing my ocs next mwah

#— suguwuu's posts #connor stoll #connor stoll x reader #pjo oneshots #pjo x reader #pjo

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ohthehypocrisy · 8 months ago

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Dusknoir for Pokemon Unite!

Season 1

Season 2

Prev: Cradily - Hatterene - Tropius - Cacturne - Ditto - Weavile - Ogerpon - Coalossal - Gogoat - Galarian Slowbro - Luxray - Breloom - Uxie, Mesprit, & Azelf - Wobbuffet - Obstagoon - Lanturn - Castform

The envoy of the dead, the ferryman of the underworld river, what many would call the Grim Reaper himself. Dusknoir has arrived on Aeos Island, but for what purpose? Has he come to reap the souls of the living, or are his motives far more sinister?

Whatever the reason may be, we must be prepared to shake hands with Death itself. It's time to look into what this begrudged boogeyman is capable of.

With massive stats in both defenses, Dusknoir seems like it was made for the role of a Defender. That would be true, but due to its Ghost typing, it suffers a bit from 'big boned' syndrome, where it isn't as fat as you would think. A low HP stat of 45 averages out those huge Defender numbers into what's essentially average bulk, but at least it has a decent Attack stat. In actuality, Ghost types like Dusknoir get most of their value from playing trick or treat with their enemies, using moves like Will-o-wisp, Confuse Ray, Curse, Pain Split, all of which can enfeeble opposing pokemon while empowering the user and their allies.

As such, for being well suited to the hybrid role of a Defender and a Supporter, I designate Dusknoir with the role of an...

All-Rounder

Basic Attack - Melee/Atttack

Becomes a boosted attack after 4 hits. Each hit marks an enemy with an eye icon. When the boosted attack is used, a shadow explosion deals damage to the enemy regardless of where they are, damaging any nearby enemies as well. The boosted attack ignores shields when damaging an enemy with a wide open eye mark.

Each hit of the basic attack marks the affected enemy with an eye shaped icon. The first hit marks them with a closed eye icon, which progressively opens as more hits land. The boosted basic attack has the pokemon attack all around itself with ghostly energy and affects all marked opposing pokemon.

When the pokemon uses its boosted basic attack, all pokemon marked by the basic attack will be attacked by a ghostly explosion that affects nearby pokemon in a small area.

The more the eye mark progressed, the more damage dealt. The first mark, the closed eye mark, deals 100% of the boosted basic attack damage. The second mark, the tired eye icon, deals 120% damage. The third mark, the open eye icon, deals 140% damage. The fourth mark, the wide open eye icon, deals 160% piercing damage.

With the big hands of Dusknoir and Dusclops, you can bet they know how to throw them. Duskull less so, but it's learning.

Those big hands also have a habit of cursing all who are touched, so when it hits something in Pokémon Unite, it marks them with a weird eye symbol. The more hits this basic attack deals, the wider the eye opens. And when the boosted basic attack comes out, all who are marked are seen by the user and attacked all at once with powerful curse energy.

Now, the basic attack will become boosted after 4 hits, but the eye mark isn't guaranteed to be opened all the way when this happens. In the heat of battle, you'll land one or two hits on an opposing pokemon, marking them with a weak eye icon. That's good enough, as the eye icon is the multiplier for the boosted basic attack. Now, it would be nice to hit an enemy all 4 times, but just once is good enough, as the boosted attack will deal damage regardless of where they are when it comes out.

It's also hard to actually land all 4 hits of the basic attack, as the basic attack doesn't ever reset. You could KO a wild pokemon while at 3 basic attacks, then throw your 4th attack at an opposing pokemon 30 seconds later, marking them one time before the boosted basic attack comes out. It'd be nice if there was a way to increase your basic attack speed outside of X Attack, that way it'd be possible to cycle through your basic attacks at least once.

As it just so happens, there is. It's Dusknoir's powerful aura called Pressure, and it's much more impressive than it seems.

Ability: Levitate/Pressure

Levitate (Duskull)

The pokemon’s Movement Speed increases relative to the Unite Move Meter.

Pressure (Dusclops/Dusknoir)

The pokemon’s Movement Speed and basic attack speed increase relative to the Unite Move Meter. Reduces the damage of all opposing Unite Moves.

Both Levitate and Pressure increase the user's Movement Speed relative to the user's Unite Move Charge Meter. For example, 50% Unite Move charge equates to 50% increased Movement Speed.

Both Levitate and Pressure are in effect even when the Unite Move is locked by the Level or by other effects.

In addition, the user's basic attack speed also increases relative to the Unite Move Charge Meter, following the same formula.

Pressure reduces the damage of opposing Unite Moves by 40%.

Did you know that when a round starts, your Unite Move Meter is locked? Obviously, yeah, you aren't at a high enough level to use it, but even so, it continues to charge while locked. This can come into play during certain Quick Battle modes where you level up so quickly, you can unlock your Unite Move before its finished charging. Now, this will never happen in a real match, but for the most part, Duskull's Levitate Ability gives it a slowly increasing Movement Speed boost when the game starts.

It helps that Duskull and Dusclops are bulky enough that they can defend an area, and then use that speed to retreat or rotate lanes when necessary. However, they don't quite have the attack power of a Defender to make use of their defenses just yet. This can make it difficult for Duskull in the beginning, but if you can evolve soon enough, Levitate will become Pressure, giving Dusclops some much needed firepower for the mid game.

Pressure not only increases your Movement Speed, it will also increase your basic attack speed, letting you hit fast enough to mark enemies with the watchful eyes of the underworld. Oh, and it improves your ability to defend by spreading basic attacks around much faster.

Speaking of defense, Pressure also reduces the damage received from opposing Unite Moves if you get hit by them. It may not help much if you're behind in EXP, especially when you're stuck as a Dusclops, but if you've evolved into a Dusknoir, it can give you some much needed bulk. Most opposing pokemon will pop their Unite Move to win a 1-v-1 or to make a power play, but Dusknoir's Pressure takes that option away from the enemy, especially when you're at equal Level.

It's a carnal type of fear when you're backed into a corner, and your Unite Move isn't guaranteed to work against the slowly approaching Ghost Type pokemon that's the personification of death itself. Spooky.

At the start of the game, Dusknoir will start out as Duskull. You can choose between Astonish and Leer as your first move. By Level 3, you will have learned both.

Move 1: Astonish (Melee)

The pokemon disappears into the shadows, becoming invisible to enemies. When the move is used again, the pokemon reappears and Stuns and damages any enemy nearby. 9s cooldown.

Astonish makes the user invisible for 5 seconds or until the attack is used. You cannot use any other attack or move until then.

Astonish damages all nearby enemies and Stuns them for 0.75 seconds.

Invisibility effects are annoying and difficult to scale to the player's skills, so there are loads of things to consider when giving such an effect to a pokemon. Is it fair when a Duskull uses it to help it launch a sneak attack? Maybe not, but it is in character for a mischievous little skull creature like itself.

The move Astonish is balanced out by two things. Firstly, it has a lengthy cooldown of 9 seconds and only runs for 5 seconds. This makes it difficult not only to lead an attack or an ambush with, but also deprives the user of an escape plan should the frontal attack backfire. Basically, if you open with Astonish, Stun and hit an enemy, what are you to do if this move fails to KO or deal significant damage to the enemy? Probably perish.

The second thing is that Astonish has short range and doesn't augment Duskull in any way beyond granting invisibility. Wherever you go with Astonish, you have to understand that you're committing to it. Remember, your Attack stat isn't all that impressive until you evolve into a Dusknoir, so make sure that this surprise attack counts.

The easiest way to do that? Play as a Supporter with Astonish and your other move.

Move 2: Leer (Debuff/Hindrance)

A bright flash of light is emitted from the pokemon’s eye, briefly blinding the enemy and reducing their defense. 7.5s cooldown.

Leer obscures the vision of enemies for 2 seconds and reduces their Defense by 30% for 4 seconds.

There are more pokemon out there with multiple heads than there are pokemon with single eyes, and that's one of the weirder things about pokemon in general. Being a Ghost type, Duskull doesn't have much need for physical senses, so it can afford to lose some depth perception. Of course, there is such a thing as equivalent exchange, so by losing one eye, it gained some special powers for using the remaining eye.

Leer flashes a debilitating light from its eye, blinding affected pokemon briefly and reducing their defenses afterwards. It helps Duskull soften up opposing pokemon to make up for its low attack power, but it also really helps out allies deal even more damage, especially if they can deal ranged physical damage like Raboot or Decidueye.

The blinding effect is also interesting. It only lasts for 2 seconds, but if Astonish is ready to go, you can follow up with that attack and go invisible, completely escaping the opposing team's vision! It's up to you on what happens next, as you can escape to safety or try and go for a KO on a weakened opponent. Remember, you're a hybrid Defender and Supporter, so whatever you do is supposed to benefit you and your teammate.

Coordination is the key here. You get a lot of EXP for KO'ing opposing pokemon, which is helpful for you as Duskull needs quite a bit of EXP to evolve. If you can manage that, you'll be one step closer to unleashing your full power.

At Level 6, Duskull will evolve into Dusclops. At the same time, Astonish will become either Shadow Punch or Night Shade.

Move 1a: Shadow Punch (Ranged)

The pokemon becomes cloaked in shadow, disappearing from the enemy’s sight. When the move is used again, a projectile fist is launched, dealing damage to any enemy struck. The fists can be used repeatedly until the move ends, but the fists will be visible to enemies. Each hit restores the user’s HP. 9s cooldown.

At Level 11, Shadow Punch becomes Shadow Punch+.

Increases damage dealt gradually while invisible.

Shadow Punch makes the user invisible for 7 seconds. During this time, using Shadow Punch again sends a shadowy fist out as a projectile. This move can be used repeatedly in this way with a 0.5 second delay in between punches. Shadow Punch goes on cooldown when the invisibility effect wears off.

The projectile fists are visible to opposing pokemon, revealing to enemies where you are hiding. Each hit of Shadow Punch restores your HP by 50% of the damage dealt.

The user will be forced to become visible if damaged by an opposing move. Shadow Punch+ has the projectile fists deal increasing damage the longer you manage to stay invisible, up to as much as 250%.

Similar to Astonish, Shadow Punch turns you invisible. However, Shadow Punch also turns your ghastly fists into straight slinging knuckle sandwiches made of phantom energy. I guess all you need to box like a pro is a good ol' pair of hands, and not necessarily a set of arms or elbows, or shoulders for that matter. Seriously, why does it just have hands?

Well, with a new evolution comes some improved stats, which makes it more feasible for Dusclops to go on the offensive with Shadow Punch. The invisibility effect hides you very well without any tell that you're nearby. Enemies will only know you're in the area if they see the ghost fists flying out of nowhere, but the invisibility will protect you from Sure-Hit moves like Glaceon's Icicle Spear.

But if something else hits you, Shadow Punch and the invisibility effect ends, forcing you to come out of hiding. This is different from Astonish, which kept you hidden even if you got tagged by a lucky shot. While Shadow Punch gives you range and invisibility, the move must be used carefully for the full effect.

As a reward for playing well with Shadow Punch, each hit restores some of your HP when they deal damage. This is useful for recovering from a fight or when a scuffle with the opposing team has worn you down a little too much. If you manage to safely use Shadow Punch to escape the opposing team, any potshots you take will serve to restore your HP and keep you in the fight for a little longer. The longer you manage to stay hidden, the more HP you can restore, putting you back in the fight.

Shadow Punch+ improves the damage these ranged punches can deal the longer the invisibility effect remains for, which helps you deal plenty of damage, especially as you'll have evolved into Dusknoir by now. It becomes easier to pick off weakened opposing pokemon with Shadow Punch while your own offensive presence is enough to ward off the enemy team.

Speaking of which, if you want to talk about offensive presence, consider Night Shade as an alternative.

Move 1b: Night Shade (Area)

The pokemon creates a shadow copy at the designated area while becoming invisible in turn. The shadow copy can be directed but cannot attack. When the move is used again, the copy explodes, dealing damage to all enemies in range and deals extra damage for each hit the copy took. 10s cooldown.

At Level 11, Night Shade becomes Night Shade+.

Resets the cooldown of this move when an opposing pokemon is KO'd.

Night Shade creates a clone of the user in the designated area while also turning you invisible. This effect lasts for 7.5 seconds, until Night Shade is activated.

The created clone shares your name and HP bar at the time of creation, but will not take damage or be affected by hindrances. It can still be targeted and attacked by opposing pokemon and moves.

The clone can be 'directed' by your own movement. You are essentially controlling two characters at the same time, but one is a decoy.

Night Shade can be used again to cause the clone to explode in a wave of ghost energy, dealing damage to all enemies nearby. Each hit of damage the clone received increases the damage dealt by this explosion by an additional 7.5%, maxing out to 150%.

Night Shade+ has its cooldown reset when an opposing pokemon is KO'd by this explosion.

Most, if not all, of the cloning moves in Pokémon Unite puts a computer in charge of the copy. The most you can do when using Double Team with either Greninja or Meowscarada is pick the best direction and hope for the best. But Dusclops has big hands and is surprisingly adept at pulling puppet strings in order to control Night Shade. As such, the ability to confuse and confound opposing pokemon depends on your own misdirection and sleight of hand.

The copy made by Night Shade shares your name and HP, which is good enough to convince nearby enemies that you're the real deal. The jig is up once the copy is attacked, as Night Shade prevents the clone from receiving damage or hindrances. It will also tell enemies that you are nearby, as Night Shade requires you, the puppet master, to be close by to control it.

If you are in danger of being revealed to the opposing team, you can trigger Night Shade to self destruct, dealing damage to all enemies near the copy. It will deal even more damage the more hits it received, returning the enemy's aggression back to them.

Of course, this only works on opponents that aren't paying attention. Smart players will back away from the copy when they see it isn't responding to damage or crowd control, as they know it will eventually explode. They'll start attacking blindly around the area itself, hoping to fish you out. You can do something sneaky and use Night Shade behind you, tricking the opposing team to overextend or waste their own Unite Move.

Keep in mind that this trickery is in service to the team. You're playing as a hybrid Defender slash Supporter, so your crafty Night Shade plays must be used to draw enemy fire safely away from teammates. You can afford to go on the offensive with Night Shade+, as not only can you reset the cooldown of the move with a successful KO, you'll also have evolved into the more powerful Dusknoir by then.

Speaking of which, Dusknoir requires quite a bit of EXP to reach its full potential, and for good reason.

At Level 9, Dusclops evolves into Dusknoir. At the same time, Leer becomes either Shadow Ball or Destiny Bond.

Move 2a: Shadow Ball (Debuff/Hindrance)

The pokemon launches a ball of darkness, sticking to all enemies in range, obscuring their sight, and increasing the damage they receive for a short while. The affected pokemon have their Unite Move charge rate decreased for a few seconds afterwards. 10s cooldown.

At Level 13, Shadow Ball becomes Shadow Ball+.

Further decreases the opposing pokemon's Unite Move charge rate.

Shadow Ball launches from Dusknoir's mouth and takes 0.75 seconds to come out, giving opposing pokemon a brief moment to escape from the move's range.

If Shadow Ball hits an opposing pokemon, it will 'attach' to them by covering up their heads, obscuring their vision for 3 seconds. When this effect wears off, the Shadow Ball will clear away, though the move's other effects are still active.

Shadow Ball will also increase the damage received from all pokemon by 35% for 6 seconds.

In addition, affected pokemon have their Unite Move Meter fill at a reduced rate for 10 seconds. Unite Move charge will be reduced by 50%, whether it be passively, from KO'ing pokemon, or from scoring goals. Shadow Ball+ reduces this even further by 65%.

Because of Dusknoir's reputation of 'stealing' souls and taking them to the other world, it is a pokemon that many would approach with caution. The truth is, it's not actually taking souls. Rather, it's taking away and inhibiting one's life force in order to weaken them, which seems much worse.

Shadow Ball affects not only the pokemon it hits but also their life force as well. In addition to obscuring their vision, it enfeebles them and makes them more susceptible to damage from you and your allies.

But that's not the worst of it. Shadow Ball will also inhibit the generation of opposing pokemon’s Unite Move Meter, extending the time it takes for opposing pokemon to receive their ace in the hole, so to speak. This gravely affects pokemon with slow Unite Move Meter generation, but it can also inhibit those with fast meter gain, like Blaziken or Dragapult, making their high powered moves less reliable.

Shadow Ball does have a bit of a windup to it, though, so if an enemy sees it coming, they'll either move out of the way or retreat. Their best option is the latter, as the blinding effect and the defense reduction make them vulnerable to follow up attacks from you and your allies. The upgraded version also reduces the charge time even more, though this will be difficult to take advantage of in the late game.

Instead of inhibiting the Unite Move Meter, Dusknoir may instead opt to steal it.

Move 2b: Destiny Bond (Debuff)

Casts a curse on all enemies in range. While active, the affected pokemon have their Unite Move charge rate transferred to yours. If an enemy is KOd while cursed, gain more Unite Move Charge. 15s cooldown.

At Level 13, Destiny Bond becomes Destiny Bond+.

Expands the area of effect.

Destiny Bond affects all pokemon within close range to Dusknoir. Affected pokemon have their Unite Move Meter transfer any charge amount to your own Unite Move Meter. This has no effect on wild pokemon.

If an affected opposing pokemon is KO'd while cursed by Destiny Bond, you gain an additional 10% Unite Move charge.

Destiny Bond+ expands the area of effect by 25%.

A fellow traveler is a stranger you'll know for a long time. Maybe they'll tell you their life story, or teach you a really good recipe for dinner. For Dusknoir, its travelling companions are often the dearly departed, so what it hears from these strangers are tales lost forever, known only to the pokemon itself.

Now, because of that, Dusknoir doesn't have a lot of experience handling company with the living, so when it uses Destiny Bond, it ends up taking the energy of their souls forcefully. You and me both, big guy.

Destiny Bond does only one thing, but it is powerful in its effect. By taking the Aeos Energy away from opposing pokemon, it prevents their Unite Move Meter from charging for 5 seconds. Any Meter that would be charged are transferred to Dusknoir instead, which is great, because its Unite Move is also pretty powerful, but more on that later.

By preventing opposing Unite Moves from being charged, you stall their generation for 5 seconds, meaning you have 5 extra seconds before the enemy can use their trump cards. Unfortunately, this doesn't have any effect on opposing pokemon that already have their Unite Mvoe fully charged, so Dusknoir will be in a bit of trouble if it tries to use Destiny Bond on such pokemon. Well, it would be, but its Pressure Ability reduces damage received from these Unite Moves, so it'll be fine for the most part.

The hard part is actually using Destiny Bond. For such a powerful effect, Destiny Bond suffers from a whopping 15 second cooldown, which can be argued to be way too much. If the opposing team knows you are running Destiny Bond, they'll be more wary of being near you, or they'll become a bit more trigger happy with their Unite Moves.

Crazy as it sounds, this is exactly what you want. You're an All-Rounder with the rare hybrid role of a Defender and a Supporter, so it's your job not only to distract the opposing team, but also to draw their fire. That's why its Pressure Ability works the way it does, and how Shadow Punch and Night Shade are designed to confound the opposing team. By influencing their decisions in when and where to use their Unite Moves, you've already done half of your job as an All-Rounder. Every second's worth of hesitation is extremely valuable to you and your team, you just gotta know how to spend it.

Because Destiny Bond transfers the Meter gain from opposing pokemon directly to you, you can expect to get your Unite Move often, especially if you make good use of the move in spite of its high cooldown. But just so you know, Dusknoir's devilish delights do not end with Destiny Bond, dare I say. Its devious diversions devour and distract the dull witted deviants of the day with its dynamic destabilization and dramatic draining.

Dang, I depleted my deck of D words. Dusknoir's Unite Move, everybody.

Unite Move: Soul Steal/Soul Banish

Soul Steal (Recovery)

Absorbs the target's life force, stealing some HP and Unite Move Meter and adding it to your own. 20s cooldown.

Soul Banish (Sure Hit)

Grabs an enemy and drags them into your mouth, forcefully returning them to their base. If the target is at a low enough HP percentage, instantly KO them instead.

Dusknoir has two Unite Moves it can use, depending on the amount of Unite Move Meter it has. If the Unite Move Meter is anything less than 100%, it will be able to use Soul Steal. Both Unite Moves are available as soon as Dusknoir evolves.

Soul Steal takes 15% of the opposing pokemon's HP, dealing piercing damage, and restores its own HP equal to the amount. It will also take 15% of the opposing pokemon's Unite Move Meter, or whatever is available, and adds it to your own Meter.

Soul Steal will go on cooldown for 20 seconds after it is used, though this doesn't affect the Unite Move Charge itself or stop you from using Soul Banish when it becomes available.

At 100% Unite Move Meter, Dusknoir's Unite Move becomes Soul Banish. It will grab an opposing pokemon and forcefully returns them to their base. If the opposing pokemon is at 15% HP or less, it will instantly KO them instead. You will see opposing pokemon who are at 15% HP or less highlighted on their HP bar when Soul Banish is available to you.

Soul Steal is unaffected by the use of Soul Banish and is also unaffected by cooldown reducing items and emblems.

Neither Soul Steal nor Soul Banish have any effects on Wild Pokemon.

Because of Dusknoir's ability to influence the Unite Move Meter of itself and opposing pokemon, it has to be balanced out by having a very late evolution, similar to Tyranitar and Metagross. It also gets its Unite Move at this Level, and it can use two different kinds depending on the meter available to you.

Starting off, by the time you manage to fully evolve into Dusknoir, your Unite Move will be fully charged, becoming Soul Banish. It is a Sure-Hit move that summons a large phantom arm from Dusknoir's belly, grabs an enemy, and sends them straight to the afterlife. OK, not really, it actually forces them to return back to base. It's like a reverse Hoopa Hyperspace Hole, where you point at an enemy and send them away for a short while.

The attack CAN instantly KO an enemy if you grab them while they're at 15% HP or less. In that case, yeah, they get dragged into the void, never to be seen again...or for a couple of seconds, depending on their respawn timer. You do have to be within attacking range to grab them, though, and most competent opponents will back off when their HP gets too low. Your best bet would be to coordinate some burst damage from your team to reduce their HP and then grab the victim before they have a chance to get away.

While the Unite Move itself is on cooldown, you'll have access to a separate move called Soul Steal. Where Shadow Ball and Destiny Bond operate by inhibiting Unite Move Meter gain, Soul Steal outright takes it from the enemy, along with some HP for good measure. This not only sets the opposing pokemon back in terms of burst damage potential, it can shut out their Unite Move if it gets taken while at 100%.

This is really debilitating for the hapless victim, as most players rely on their Unite Move to win difficult 1-v-1 fights or to make a big enough splash that they can turn the tables in a team fight or to retreat from an ambush. By taking away that ace from up their sleeves, you drastically reduce an enemy's potential impact on the flow of battle.

The 20 seconds of cooldown is quite frustrating to deal with, though. You can't even affect it with cooldown reducing items and emblems, since it's neither a move nor a Unite Move, more like a 'pseudo-Unite Move'. Also, the amount of Unite Move Meter you stole will most likely be restored, with interest, by the time Soul Steal comes off of cooldown. It depends on what Unite Move the enemy has and how long it lasts for. You also won't get a lot of meter from select targets like Blaziken or Dragapult, and you have no idea how much Unite Move Meter an opposing pokemon has.

The point isn't to hinder the enemy by removing all of their Meter, though. By using Soul Steal whenever you can, you'll quickly gain enough Unite Move Meter to use Soul Banish, which you can then use strategically against troublesome opponents during Objective fights. It also combos well with either Shadow Ball or Destiny Bond, as the longer you can delay the opposing pokemon's Unite Move, the less damage they can deal to you and your team.

You don't just take their souls, you take away their hopes and dreams and spirits and will to fight.

Achievements

Use Soul Steal a total of 10 times in one battle.

Sometimes an achievement isn't about difficulty. Sometimes it's about teaching the player how to optimally use the pokemon in the most indirect way possible. I know that that's how I've been constructing these achievements this whole time, but it's important to remember when it's something simple like 'use this effect a couple of times in a fight'.

Of course, there's always a catch to these sorts of achievements, or some nuance that makes them harder than they seem. For Dusknoir, it has to do with the fact that Soul Steal is only available to you when you are fully evolved and have access to your Unite Move. You will eventually gain enough EXP to evolve into Dusknoir, but if it happens late enough, you may not be able to use Soul Steal 10 times before time runs out.

There's also the fact that, when you do evolve, your Unite Move Meter will be full, meaning it will become Soul Banish instead. It's a great move, don't get it twisted, but if for some reason you really need to use Soul Steal, you'll have to use Soul Banish first. You cannot decrease your own Unite Move Meter to use Soul Steal unless you are up against an opposing Dusknoir.

Using Soul Steal many times eventually means you'll take enough Unite Move Meter to fully charge up Soul Banish, so if you want to go back to Soul Steal, you'll need to target a high-priority enemy like an over-leveled opposing All-Rounder if you want Soul Banish to be worth its usage. And then you'll have to do this repeatedly throughout the match.

And that's how they get ya. In optimizing your gameplay to get this achievement, you learn not only how the move works, but also the nuances around it. If you're going to be spamming Soul Steal and Soul Banish as often as possible in a match, you might as well figure out who to target with these moves in order to improve your odds of winning the battle.

When you ask a ghost to put a little soul into it, they do what they have to do to make do.

Holowear

Unlike most other pokemon, Dusknoir is perfectly suited for many kinds of holowear, even with that big mouth it has for a stomach. It's human-like shape gives us plenty of creativity in coming up with a fashionable set of expensive digital clothing.

Starting things off, Phantom Thief Style Holowear gives Dusknoir a fancy top hat with stylish brooches and clips and feathers, as well as a big stylish cape that flutters in the wind as it makes a grand escape. Ninja Style Holowear gives Dusknoir a shaggy hood and cowl and a headband on its forehead, as well as a vest loaded with ninja tools like kunai and smoke bombs. Although, with Magical Style Holowear, it becomes rather flashy with an oversized witch hat, a cloak tailored to expose its belly, and a satchel of books containing mysterious spells strapped to its side. Speaking of mystical, Guardian Style Holowear decorates Dusknoir with strangely shaped pieces of armor, giving it the appearance of a warrior from the days of old. And finally, it would behoove me to include the Spooky Style Holowear to Dusknoir's holo-wardrobe, giving it a black and orange scarf wrapped around its head, a top styled after a carved pumpkin, and bat wings and skulls plastered onto its arms and body.

Strategy

When Dusknoir has fully evolved and chosen both of its moves, their function can be separated into two different utilities; the first option changes how you become invisible, whereas the second option sabotages the opposing team's Unite Move Meter generation. This is very strange for what's supposed to be a bulky All-Rounder, until you realize that it's meant to be a hybrid Defender and Supporter, in the sense that it defends and supports the team by hindering the enemy and messing with their Unite Moves.

Of course, half of the battle is actually reaching that pinnacle of power, so you have to optimize the first 5 minutes of the game to Level Up as much as possible. You aren't strong or fast enough to reliably clear the Central Area, so leave it for an ally to take. Instead, you should be focused on supporting an ally on their way to the middle of Top or Bottom Lane. To that end, EXP. Share is actually a very solid item choice for squeezing some extra EXP out of wild pokemon while also increasing your passive Movement Speed, especially when combined with Levitate and Pressure.

Wild Pokemon aren't going to give you enough EXP to evolve, though, even with the EXP. Share working for you. Most of the extra EXP you'll be getting in the early game will be from coordinating KO's against the opposing team, and Duskull is perfectly suited to help an ally get that head start. With Astonish turning you invisible, Stunning enemies with the sneak attack, and Leer to blind and debuff the opposing team, you can KO any enemy you manage to ambush.

That's the idea, at least. If anything goes even slightly wrong, you'll find yourself suffering from an EXP deficiency while the opposing team is running away with points. It'll be tough, but if you manage to eke out some Levels, you'll evolve into the much more capable Dusclops, and use Levitate's evolved ability, Pressure, to your advantage. By this point, your Unite Move is fully charged, even while it's locked by the Level count, so your Movement Speed and basic attack speed are very high. Use these passive boosts to your advantage to put pressure, so to speak, on the opposing team.

But just having increased Movement Speed and basic attack speed won't be enough to turn the tables for you. You do need an ally to take advantage of the opening you provide, which is difficult enough for most Defenders and Supporters to deal with when playing alone. If you're by yourself, you'll have to make do with some dirty tricks, so don't be afraid to deceive the enemy with either Shadow Punch or Night Shade.

Between these two options, Shadow Punch is slightly safer, as it offers you a ranged attack that comes with invisibility and HP drain, but one hit will cancel the move, making it a poor choice against anti-stealth opposing pokemon like Shadow Sneak Decidueye or Fire Spin Delphox. Night Shade, on the other hand, requires some clever thinking to fully abuse, as it requires not just crafty plays like deceiving the enemy with obvious ploys, but also unpredictable gambits. By that I mean, you can use Night Shade to make a clone to your left or right, but expert players may know your game and suspect you are somewhere close by. You can trick these foolproof fools by placing Night Shade right next to you, confounding them by thinking 4 steps ahead. I can't guarantee this won't work against less intelligent players, but to each their own.

As long as you are playing well with a teammate, you'll get most of your EXP from securing the KO on the opposing pokemon. Do this enough times, and you'll evolve into Dusknoir. With the extra Attack power, you can play the Defender part of your All-Rounder role much more easily, and you can continue to hinder the enemy by depleting their Unite Move Meter with either Shadow Ball or Destiny Bond.

Shadow Ball is a direct upgrade to Leer in almost every way, with the downside of being able to affect only one pokemon at a time. It also has a windup to it, allowing opposing pokemon to move out of the way if they see the move being charged in Dusknoir's mouth. But if it does manage to hit, not only will it blind the enemy and increase the damage they receive for a short while, it will also hinder Unite Move Meter generation for 10 seconds. This can be debilitating for those with fast Unite Move charge times, as well as those with slow charge times. Quite frankly, it doesn't matter who it hits, unless the Unite Move is already fully charged, no opponent will want to get caught by Shadow Ball.

Destiny Bond is a riskier move compared to Shadow Ball, but it has a much higher reward. By bonding and cursing nearby enemies, it transfers all Unite Move Meter gain to Dusknoir, effectively siphoning it from affected enemies. This works in Dusknoir's favor, as its own Unite Move Meter generation is very slow, so it has to take it from opposing pokemon using Destiny Bond or Soul Steal, but more on that in a bit. It can affect multiple enemies at once, drastically increasing the charge rate of your Unite Move. If it hits an enemy at 99% Unite Move Meter, it basically prevents the meter from increasing any further until the curse wears off after 5 seconds, or if Dusknoir is KO'd first. 5 seconds isn't a lot of time, but it doesn't need a lot of time to shut out one of the most powerful options an enemy can use. If an enemy gets KO'd while cursed by Destiny Bond, Dusknoir will get extra Unite Move Meter, whether it directly KO'd the enemy or not.

At the same time you evolve into Dusknoir and upgrade Leer into either Shadow Ball or Destiny Bond, you'll have access to your Unite Move, Soul Steal and Soul Banish. It's unheard of for a pokemon to have two different Unite Moves, one of which functions independently from the meter, but it plays into your extremely slow Unite Move Meter generation.

Soul Steal takes HP and Unite Move Meter from a targeted enemy, giving Dusknoir not just reliable recovery but also reliable Unite Move Meter gain by taking it from an enemy. If you steal meter from an enemy that had their Unite Move ready to go, you'll effectively have stalled their Unite Move from being used for a little while. Now, the game is optimized enough to the point where most players run items and emblems to shorten the cooldown for their Unite Moves, but even without these effects, Soul Steal takes 20 seconds to come off of cooldown, which is more than enough time for the stolen Unite Move Meter to be regained. It's great if you take meter from an enemy that's nearly fully charged, but they'll get it all back later eventually.

Stealing Unite Move Meter helps out the team by delaying burst damage, but it's mostly for Dusknoir's own benefit that the meter gets taken. Like I said before, Dusknoir's true Unite Move, Soul Banish, requires a lot of time to fill all by itself, so it augments this wait time by taking the meter from the opposing pokemon instead with either Soul Steal or Destiny Bond. For all of its effort, Soul Banish will simply grab an enemy and forcefully return them back to their base. It's like Sableye's Phantom Ambush, but faster and you can only grab one enemy. If you grab a problematic opponent like a Decidueye or Cinderace hoping to snipe the kill off of Rayquaza, Soul Banish sends them back to where they came from and gives you a good 7 or 8 seconds before they can return.

If Soul Banish grabs a weakened enemy instead, it will instantly KO them. You will see nearby enemies susceptible to Soul Banish and the instant KO effect if the Unite Move is ready to go and their HP is low enough by their HP bar highlighted, similar to how other instant KO effects like Lapras's Perish Song show that these enemies will be KO'd by the attack if hit. If one of these susceptible pokemon is a frail Attacker or Speedster, you could use Soul Banish to get the KO, but it's not really worth spending the Unite Move Meter on such an easy target. If it was an opposing Defender or All-Rounder that have a habit of restoring their HP back full when in a pinch, like say Goodra and Buzzwole, then Soul Banish will be worth the attempt.

Ghosts are mysterious as they are fantastical, but the dangerous ones are those that wander between the realms of the living and the dead. When Dusknoir is on the field, you better make sure your soul isn't snatched by its big burly hands.

And this has been Dusknoir for Pokemon Unite. I have a habit of turning less popular pokemon into potential players for Pokemon Unite, and I won't apologize for that. But of the popular pokemon that I do like, Dusknoir is one of them, and I would love to see everyone's favorite fat phantom join the fray one day.

That'll be it from me for this week. See ya!

#Dusknoir #Dusclops #Duskull #Pokemon Unite

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purplekoop · 1 year ago

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Been a few days and yeah, I definitely gotta say I'm loving the Roadhog rework. I genuinely forgot how much I love the absolute menace of the character, he was my second most played character in OW1 (between Reinhardt and Ana) and I only stopped playing him because of the stigma of picking such a selfish tank in 5v5. I played him the night before the rework went live, and already started having a good time, I think even getting one last lucky right click one-shot. Then when the rework went live, I started having an even better time, because he just feels so much less like a one-dimensional gimmick.

I've always felt like Roadhog was fun because a lot of his "micro tech", where his game plan is simple in theory but has a lot to optimize if you want to get the most value you can out of him. Cancel the endlag of his reload animation with Breather to minimize your downtime, pre-fire a shot onto your target before the hook to increase the reliability of the finishing combo, and even just use turn hooks to increase how much you can disorient an enemy and put them into an even worse position. All that tech is retained (save for the silly ranged one-shot), but instead of just relying on the lethal combo gimmick, he's SO much more flexible. His reworked gun lets him lets him get off pot shots from a distance in a similar way to Queen, where the mid-range damage isn't crazy but can definitely confirm some sloppy kills with decent aim. The meter-based Breather lets you be so much more flexible in the damage you take, and van even act as a sort of meter-based Block ability, where you deliberately use it just to shrug off anticipated big hits, ranging from stuff like Echo sticky bombs to even Junkrat tires and D.va bombs at point-blank range, while still not wasting all of your healing resource. Plus, the way that it can't be totally shut down by sleeps and stuns makes the most brutal moments using it feel a lot less dreadful. There's even older changes I haven't played much with, like his gigabuffed ultimate (2 seconds increase in duration plus the ability to use other abilities during it) having so much more combo potential while being much harder to shut down, and his shorter hook cooldown in exchange for the target being slightly farther away after hooking them (which in some cases is an accidental buff, I've gotten some nasty environmental kills I don't think I would've with the old hook range.

All this increase in creativity and flexibility goes along perfectly with his new ability: the oft-misunderstood Pig Pen. I like to call it the taser burger though, because that's what it looks like. People were confused with this ability at first as a confusing new addition to his kit, and while it's not the most impactful ability, it's so fun being creative with how you use it. It's area denial. It's a combo tool. It's a way to make a 100 HP toll before enemies can walk into a tight doorway without feeling the wrath of the Taser Burger. You can set up lethal kill combos just as reliable as the classics, but at the cost of needing to commit two cooldowns instead of just one. And overall it just increases the amount of stuff Roadhog does at a time, where he can zone out one area with the burger while also applying pressure by just Being Roadhog.

He can heal more, he can hook more, he can deal meaningful damage more, he can control more space, and he can get more out of his ult. He just feels like so much more of a character overall, without just feeling like a blatant ball of oppressive stats. You gotta play and not get outplayed to get work out of the big pig man, and it feels super satisfying to do so. You can't autopilot on Roadhog, but you can't autopilot on any Tank in OW2, not even Orisa, but he requires a different flavor of brain juice to get use out of his skills.

I think a lot of people are disappointed that he didn't get more direct team utility, which is something newer greedy bully tanks like Queen and Mauga have even just an ounce of with their shouts. But like... he's Roadhog. He's always been the ultimate greedy bastard pick, with the most gracious thing he's done for his team is heal himself. I think Pig Pen actually alleviates both his competition with the other bully tanks by giving him a more "area pressure" focus rather than going on the offensive with raw beefy aggro, and also gives him a way to support his team indirectly via his new area denial. Being able to place a trap near a squishy immobile support backline like Ana or Zenyatta is a legit way to dissuade against flankers diving onto them, and in general playing Roadhog like a bouncer is a great way to play into aggressive matchups. Overall this rework really solidifies Roadhog's gameplay personality in a way that I don't think other potential changes like an AOE heal would've. Plus, the pun is great in addition to this clearly being Roadhog's early christmas gift from Junkrat. That just feels nice. What doesn't feel nice is getting hooked into a double trap that does an instant 160 damage and does more over time to be lethal even without followup damage from the two bastards that arranged this fate, both of which are burst damage specialists that can shred through tanks who'd normally be fine taking that damage, but that's such a funny combo and I've never been subject to it so it's fine when it happens to someone else.

I think my only problem with playing Hog now is that Anti-Nade is still such a stupid counter. I think now more than ever that the brand new tank and the newly reworked tank both rely on self-healing for sustain, and don't have ways to deny debuffs themselves, it's pretty clear that total heal blocking is just not fair against Tanks as it is now. It doesn't even feel fair to the tanks who don't self heal and can block the initial nade, since it just totally eliminates your ability to eat damage that your supports could potentially save you from. this was fine in OW1 and even made it a rational ability to give supports aggro power against tanks, since if you anti one tank then the other can peel for them, but we don't have that now so it's up to supports to peel with healing instead. Or Life Grip. Or Suzu. But like. That's two characters. Maybe Immortality Field too but that one still has weaknesses against Anti, like if the timing is unlucky then your death is still inevitable. And also all of those save abilities have cooldowns longer than bio nade, so it's kind of a hard trade to make value out of. I think most people agree that the anti heal effect needs a direct nerf, not just to uptime or duration, like cutting the effect to a 50% heal reduction or making it so you can end the effect early by being healed by a certain amount. I like the creativity of the latter but I think the simpler nerf might be better here. I don't know if this should also apply to Rampage, but considering that's an ultimate then I think it should either get a compensation buff or retain its total healing denial.

So yeah, I think Roadhog's a plenty fine character now, and I'm happy to welcome him back into my tank rotation along with the more conventional tanks like Rein, Orisa, and Ramattra. I don't think he'll be dominant but I think that's for the best, Roadhog's the most fun to play as and against if he has to put some elbow grease into getting stuff done, which I think is the balance that's been struck now. He still feels absolutely mean to stomp with, but there's still a lot that can deal with him if he plays recklessly. Even with his counters he can often scrounge out a win. Reaper wins a direct 1v1 where he can get in close early, but if you get a full ranged shot+hook into burger+point blank shot+melee combo, or just go ham (ha) in the honest close-range duel, then you still get a win out of the matchup. Roadhog feels like a character with a lot of skill expression, which has felt true to some extent for a while but has been exemplified now more than ever while also giving him well-rounded tools to feel solid in most matchups. Just. yeah nerf antiheal, just to give Roadhog, Queen, and Mauga (and the rest of the role honestly) an early christmas gift.

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #roadhog

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writebethany · 1 year ago

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20 questions for fic writers

Just because i saw it and wanted to 😂

How many works do you have on ao3?

138

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

2,336,801

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Started with Warehouse 13 and bering and wells, then wandered into OUAT and Swanqueen, then DWP and Mirandy, then a stint in Pitch Perfect 2 specifically for Becommissar because mmm Kommissar, a blip into Supergirl some for Supercat, more for General Danvers (tangentially also Supercorp but that's more for the fact that I run the chirstmas exchange than anything, love those kids, not my usual ship), and a crossover or two with Legends of Tomorrow with Supercanaary in there too in that same era, two seconds in ot3 shipping in The Greatest Showman because Jenny Lind mhm, one fic in Steven Universe because poly!diamonds, then into Harry Potter for anything to do with the Black Sisters and Hermione and occasionally Lucius which is still on going, but a bit backburnered because I've also fallen into writing fic for The Librarians this year centered around some pairing of Cassandra, Eve and Jenkins for the most part. Basically. It's a lot, and a lot of bouncing around between larger eras in specific fandoms lol.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Ask me No Questions (I'll Tell You No Lies) [HP Hermione/Narcissa/Anathema], Heaven When We're Home [HP Hermione/Narcissa], By All Accounts [Supergirl, Supercorp (apprciate you guys but I'm still confused by that😂)], Coffee Shops and Vigilantes [Supergirl/Legends of Tomorrow, Supercanary], Sincerely Yours [HP Hermione scores a hat trick]

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to as much as possible, especially in smaller fandoms. Sometimes I get a bit overwhelmed at it falls by the wayside, but I come back eventually.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Uhhhhhh there's usually one in every fandom I stay in for long enough where I just go full nuclear angst and no happy ending. Probably the worst of the worst Offenders is "I Hate to Kill You (I Hate to Die)" for obvious reasons if you've read it, but "of all the things I never told you" and "Halfway Through the Woods" are also up there and in probably last place but still *very* angsty is "Better This Way"

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hard to pick. Save for those fics I'm a happy ending hoe. Probably the most rewarding happy ending will be for "The Sun Must Set to Rise" but that isn't published yet. I'm actually procrastinating the wrap up that story right now by doing this 😂😅

8. Do you get hate on fic?

Out right "you suck" hate? Once or twice. But there has been whining in the past on my stories about how I never finish anything or that I update too slow and why am I like this. *Those comments get responded to with some lessons in manners*

9. Do you write smut?

*looks at the tab beside Sun Must Set to Rise* I have no idea what you're talking about. But yeah, some pwp but a lot of smut as the pay off in long fics to put that cherry on top of them.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Have before, though they aren't my main thing, and unclear if Supergirl/Legends counts since like. The shows actually did that themselves once a season 😂

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I think I ended up on a scraping website that people posted about on tumblr all of once. Not mad about not having to fight that lol.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've had people ask before, but they're on different databases than ao3 so I haven't really checked on how that went for them.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Several! Two of my closest fandom friends have cowritten with me and one IRL friend. Some of them got finished, others did not, but it was fun along the way.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

??????? I know there are people out there who have stuck in one fandom and only one fandom for longer than I've been writing and they definitely have the answer to this, but I have ADHD and doooooo not. If I had to pick at gunpoint, I'd probably say Harry Potter Hat Trick, but unless you point a gun at me I'm not answering.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

Probably "Sometimes it's Soft Hands and Mailing Envelopes" it was a big part of my life in 2015 and I obsessed over it and wrote it and its sequel at such a fast pace, especially for going into my senior year of college. But I've reread the prequel and it's cute and I started reading it over again and just went 'I know where I wanted this to go, I can see how I would get there, I don't want to do that though' because it's a very slice of life story about moving in with your girlfriend and both you and your girlfriend navigating a new job/grad school and I've lived both of those experiences now, and especially I do not want to relive grad school, but also I don't usually write long slice of life things anymore. Sci-fi/fantasy and plot heavy for lyfe lol. But I do wish I had finished it at the time.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think over arching plot, like I'm good at fitting the pieces together where they need to go to make a believable story, which is good when you tend towards writing more mystery-esque 'solve a problem' fic. Also dialogue as a secondary. There is no struggle here to make these bitches say words.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I have DEBILITATING wordy bitch disease. This could be managed if I edited stories before posting them, but I don't. I'm doing well to edit my original work, thanks. So it leads to a lot of fics that are probably 20-50k too long and drag on the point for a bit. I *have* gotten better at it though. The White Queen is probably 100k too long oh my god, I try to forget she exists, even if it's one of the most popular fics I've written.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I have before, mostly in Pitch Perfect since Kommissar is German. It was a good experience. I probably wouldn't do it again unless I either knew the language or it was made up. In text notes so the reader gets what was said are the most awkward thing to deal with in the history of ever.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Warehouse 13. I hadn't known about fic for that long before starting to write for it. I also hadn't realized that I was a big ole homo, which in the late 00s/early 10s fanfic was the only fucking way I was going to see two ladies kiss and by god I was going to leverage the award winning writing skills I had gained writing terrible, original, teenager ficition to do it.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I think for a long, long time it was Of Cats, Giraffes, and Mice. It's just so very soft and caring and for a long while I could just feel that care and sink right into it and it just felt like the best thing I'd ever written. Rereading it now, it's still a very good fic, but I'm starting to see the little holes here and there as I grow as a writer. It's still good! I love it to death, and to talk about favorites without it would be incomplete, but I think that it's important to mention that even your best work eventually loses a bit of shine, no less dear, a huge stepping stone in the right direction, just not the top one anymore.

I think now my favorite is Heaven When We're Home. It has all of those hallmarks that Of Cats, Giraffes, and Mice did, if shorter, and there's a lyrical note to the writing and word choice in it that I have NO idea how I did (not being sober when writing probably didn't hurt) and I'm still chasing that sort of writing even now 2 years later.

#i wrote this instead of writing my nano fic WHOOPS

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femmesandhoney · 9 months ago

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so genshin related question, but do you have any tips on how to read and learn the characters compatibility and skills just by looking at their desc. I feel utterly lost whenever I try to make sense of games where I got to learn a characters skills and utilize that properly when matching them up or giving them artifacts etc…

idk what desc means (description?) but yeah really all you need to read is their second and third talents to get the gist of the character. sometimes some stuff is hidden in cons you may have, but often nothing game-changing. most times a characters talents will tell you basic stuff that you should look for first: what they scale off of and what their kit is primed for (healing, dmg, support, etc). if it's not clearly stated, they probably scale off atk

Usually, a DPS "build" is their stat-of-choice sands, elemental goblet, and crit circlet. An example of this: Hu Tao is a DPS who scales off HP. This will often be found in the second talent/skill slot. So Hu Tao has her ATK increased based off her HP (stat of choice). It also states her atks when you activate her skill deals pyro dmg and a charged atk applies "blood blossom" which is a fancy way to describe off-field dmg she can inflict on enemies. The thing is with genshin, DPS chars are often the easiest to understand their kits right off the bat. Even though it has flowery language, most DPS kits are quite straight forward in that their E or Q hits big dmg and that's all you really gotta build towards. Some DPS talents will explain "stacking" that some chars have, such as Heizou or Raiden, which is sometimes harder to parse out in all the word fluff, so if you feel you're not quite understanding what the talents mean, watch a guide video and *see* it in action. That often helps me if something is just confusing, which especially for supports it is...

Now the actual bread and butter confusion I think comes from Hoyo making shit way more flowerly than it needs to be, especially for support characters. I think reading Furina's talents for the first time gave me an aneurysm I won't lie

Within this absolute mess of an explanation, you should always find where stuff is highlighted in color, that will often help you find the "important" sentences in the sea of words. Furina deals hydro dmg based off her HP. When she's on your team and you use her skill, your team members lose HP in order to deal more DMG.

Fanfare stacks are just another fancy stacking mechanic that you as the player have to meet the "reqs" for in order to get bigger dmg, that's all stacks mean at the end of the day. You don't need to really try to understand every single thing here, but that you found her stat-of-choice, how to trigger her stacks (fanfare stacks when chars heal or lose HP), and what it does (increase the DMG dealt by party members). This all points to Furina being an HP scaling support or sub-DPS, as she isn't necessarily DPSing anything herself. All her dmg comes from her elemental skill, which does a lot of dmg, but a majority of her kit also comes from her dmg-boosting burst.

Overall, that's really how I "quick read" talents to understand their skill and burst quick. Otherwise, a great way to understand them is just to play them in the trial, take your time reading and seeing how the character work. Most times characters have either their E or their Q be their main source of dmg, so you can scan talents to figure out which that might be as you check them out. Ei is a burst DPS and her major damage stacks will come from her burst, whereas someone like Heizou gets all his stacks in his skill and his burst is a just some minor crowd control, for example. So not every character is minor skill damage and massive burst damage, and sometimes that can be helpful depending on the playstyles you prefer.

In terms of team comp, oof. I would say that knowledge comes from two places: check out meta theory crafters who in-depth can explain a char's best teams for X, Y, Z reasons or test them out in your own teams if you have the character waiting. Second, elemental reactions is a huge part of this game. If you dislike playing certain reactions, this will limit the roster of characters you need to worry about since a lot of characters in genshin aren't really universal supports, but geared to support a specific char/reaction. You may have heard of teams like National/Rational, which utilizes a core team of Bennett, Xingqiu, and Xiangling. These three are considered like universal good supports in the game no matter the reactions you're playing, for the most part, and they're always safe bets to pair with your DPS or on-fielder. Some characters like Gorou for Itto, Sara for Raiden, or Yun Jin for Yoimiya are niche and made for those 5 stars, so throwing them into random comps won't often benefit you much. Otherwise, a team really can work as long as you understand the elemental reactions you're trying to get from the team. For example, my favorite reactions are vape (pyro and hydro), overload (pyro and electro), and i guess taser (hydro and electro). So when I saw Gaming, I decided I wanted to try him in a vape comp, and grabbed units that would create those reactions I wanted to try (Mona, Xingqiu, flex slot). That's often a good way to start testing out team builds: slot characters into elemental reaction comps and go from there. By playing with them, you can feel if the rotation flows well or not or if you just dislike a playstyle. Many characters are flexible enough that as long as you're aiming for certain reactions as your starting point, you should be good testing. But if you're still not sure, again, check out theory and build guides! I watch so many even now because meta can always change and sometimes I want to change my builds or teams and get stuck too.

Artifacts really depends on the teams you wanna run a character in and there are many builds that can slot as more universal, most characters have best in slot artifact sets and for the last two ish years genshin really curates an artifact set to a newly released character, making it more obvious "what" you should farm. ofc, there's lots of good artifact sets that can work on characters you wouldn't expect depending on how people are using that character. I recently put some golden troupe pieces on my fischl to make her more geared for dendro teams, and it's been fun, but i wouldn't have necessarily thought to do that unless i checked out some updated fish builds online and learned she was a good support in dendro comps. but really, if you stick to *their* artifact set you're likely gonna be just fine.

But also Genshin is quite forgiving in many ways and you should always try to play teams that feel fun and comfortable to you. One of my favorite teams since Furina's release is Raiden, Furina, Jean, and Kazu. It's not super meta, it's not anything insane, but it works well because I understand Jean supports Furina's kit, Kazu is my crowd control, Furina does her sub-dps stuff, and Ei funnels energy into everyone else to make sure Furina can reach her max stacks, and since everyone has so much ER, it benefits Raiden whose own stacks come from making sure the rest of the party bursts often. I've played with many of those characters long enough to figure this team out for myself based on information I learned from the community (Jean being a great support for Furina) and my own learning from having played with Raiden and Kazu for longer. So again, a lot of the time teams can be slapped together and work just fine as long as you're goals are being met, whatever they are, from that team.

And it's always more fun to play teams with characters you enjoy playing even if it's not "meta". Also idk how long you've been playing genshin, but eventually a lot of this becomes very intuitive so don't stress too hard. there's a learning curve, and then suddenly you'll be reading talents and understanding new kits with ease and forming teams better bc you've had just had the characters longer and have used them longer. easy peasy.

#i hope this was somewhat helpful #if you want actually advice on more specific chars or comps lmk

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