#so you can hit clustered enemies so hard

[pisswizard420]

Shoutout to the knack (stormborn) edge beautiful wonderful 10/10 getting so much use

[hiiikiko]

𝕒𝕔𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕔 𝕣𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕝!𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕖

rival!ellie x reader | tlou m.list

────୨ৎ────

rival!ellie met you on the first day of the winter quarter, she didn’t think much of you but bit back a chuckle at your dorky scarf and beanie

rival!ellie who gradually realizes what a nuisance you’ll be to her spotless academic record.. she’s never actually had to study before but now she’s hitting the books to make sure that you don’t surpass her

rival!ellie who kinda hates your guts.. she can’t stand the way you effortlessly answer the professors questions, especially since you’re the reason she’s been missing out on parties by being in the library so much

rival!ellie who has to admit, she admires your hard work and dedication… even if it makes her lose her mind that you know how to perfectly sketch an HR diagram for a typical global cluster and identify the various observed populations and interpret them on the basis of stellar evolution theory

rival!ellie who grows closer with you… not because she likes you, of course! more so because the professor keeps grouping you together, saying stupid bullshit like “it must be lonely at the top and now you have a friend, ellie!” or “great minds think alike, therefore, you’ll be great friends”

rival!ellie who declines all your offers to hangout

rival!ellie who refuses to acknowledge the shared interests the two of you have… like there’s no way in hell that you’re as big of a Savage Starlight fan as she is, fuckin poser lol

rival!ellie who rants about you to anyone that listens… it’s getting to be a big problem in her circle, so much so that Jesse and Dina are beginning to think that she actually has a crush on you….. hmm

rival!ellie who’s a little more than hurt when you deny over and over that you two have potential as a couple

rival!ellie who decides to take ‘revenge’ out on you by making out with random girls in the hallway, all the while making eye contact with you and smirking when you mouth the words ‘you’re such a pig’ to her

rival!ellie who smirks when she realizes that you’ve heard about how amazing she is in bed, the way you avoid making eye contact with her in the middle of a heated argument is enough to let on that you know

rival!ellie who loves loves loves seeing you sad about the fact that she exceeds you in every subject that is until…

rival!ellie who’s wold comes crashing down around her when you get one point above her on a test.. she literally crashes out like think bella in new moon type crashing out.. she finally picks herself back up, trudges to the library to hit the books and get back into it.. she will not be second to you again.

rival!ellie who kinda becomes a stalker… she can’t help it, she needs to know how you got that one point above her score! like, it’s never been heard of in Blackwell…. she must know

rival!ellie who when you finally confront her about her stalking, scoffs and shakes her head n says “you wish, dumbass” you roll your eyes and invite her to study with you, since she’s so curious… which she takes up.. not because she wants to spend time with you! it’s just keep your enemies close, right??

rival!ellie who can hardly focus on your study date hangout (??), like you’re so close… how can someone be this smart and pretty, i mean annoying.. you also smell really good… what is that? vanilla?

rival!ellie who makes these study ‘hangouts’ a regular thing… whether you know it or not, she hangs around the table where you study and acts like it’s a coincidence and says ‘i was here first, stupid’

rival!ellie who tucks a strand of hair behind you on one of these ‘hangouts’ and when you look up at her with those pretty doe eyes she smacks the side of your head and mutters something about a fly being on you and that you should probably take a shower or something

rival!ellie who kinda starts to grow fond of you… you’re the only person who actually gets her witty astrophysics puns and jokes, it feels nice not having to explain herself all the time

rival!ellie who’s jaw drops like a 42lb block of tungsten when she finds out that you of all people have a girlfriend… like come on! who would date you?! you’re stupid, annoying… okay, so you’re also kinda smart, pretty, hot… ahem! not that she’s noticed!

rival!ellie who then trash talks your girlfriend to her friends: ‘she obviously had shit taste in girls like come on, that nerd is the best she could do? ha!”

rival!ellie who overhears your girlfriend talking rather grossly about you in the locker room and shoves her into the locker but it’s not like she’s defending your honour or whatever. she’s a feminist! talking that way about any woman makes her blood boil!

rival!ellie who grumbles when you lecture her about how she’s taken your little rivalry too far by giving your now ex girlfriend a bloody nose… as you press a bag of peas against ellie’s black eye

rival!ellie who now likes frozen peas

rival!ellie who kinda likes the way you take care of her after the fight, smiling slightly and wearing her blackened eye like a badge of honour, like she’s your white knight.. or whatever, she doesn’t care

rival!ellie who scares off any guy/girl that looks at you because she feels weirdly possessive of you, like… you’re her rival, not theirs!

rival!ellie who FINALLY accepts her crush on you after countless lectures from Dina and Jesse…

rival!ellie who trash talks any romantic interest of yours “oh come on, they’re not even that hot… i’m way hotter than them, right Dina?” “whaaaat the totally flunked last semesters exam, pfft”

rival!ellie who’s still very, very competitive with you but now finds it kinda cute and sexy when you gloat about how you bested her in another quiz

rival!ellie who begins to make advances on you… starting off with a simple bet like loser buys the other a soda then working up to loser does whatever the other wants and you being the overly confident academic that you are agree

rival!ellie who pours herself into studying, even putting down her comics in preparation for the next quiz… she’d rather be damned than lose to you, she needs to win this

rival!ellie who wins! but that means… you have to do whatever she wants….

“i want a kiss,” ellie sneers, her finger under your chin

“excuse me?”

“you heard me” she leans back against the desk, “i want a kiss”

you cross your arms, what the hell was she thinking? is she high? has she gone mad? i mean, you often hear about geniuses going mad— but before you can finish that thought, ellie is pulling you in for a kiss, in the middle of the classroom… it’s sweet and her kiss is almost hungry, like she’s been waiting for this

she finally pulls away and with a chuckle says “huh, guess you come in second for kissing too”

what an asshole but you’re not one too pass up a challenge…. so… you invite her back to your dorm room

[peggyao3]

Here comes the Sun [1/2]

PAIRING: Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen x Unnamed Ambiguous FMC

SUMMARY: Feyd-Rautha is the center of attention for an entire planet, but it counts for nothing because his favorite concubine isn't paying attention during the fight. How dare she ruin his birthday?

TAGS: 18+, smut, she/her AFAB FMC, mixed POVs, mutual pining, gore, cannibalism ❗ (just a lil), Baron being a homie, Feyd has that bratty vibe, God Complex Feyd, jealousy ❗, other concubines begone, arguments, insults, hate love relationship, enemies and lovers, porn with plot, marriage proposal, vaginal sex, knife kink, pain kink ❗, smut in chapter 2, semi-public sex ❗, angst with happy ending

WORD COUNT: 2.4k

Reposted from my Ao3 💕| Masterlist under construction ⚠️

Divider by @saradika-graphics

Next Chapter →

Feyd-Rautha’s cock is always half-hard when he fights. Adrenaline and Testosterone have an almost equal effect on his body. Sheathing your blade in a foe’s flesh is not so different from sheathing your cock in a woman’s cunt.

Today, he is almost fully hard. Here in the center of the arena, on his birthday, he is the center of the world, of the known universe maybe.

The curved, polished steel in his hand was forged under the merciless sun of Giedi Prime, just like the Gladiator who wields it. The blade slides into the prisoner’s thorax, finding the entry point between two ribs with effortless grace. Feyd holds him close, so he can hear the man’s last dying breath as a whisper in his ear. The sword glides out of the man’s limp fist and he is dead before it hits the ground. A mouth full of tar is the last image etched into his retina.

The arena roars with one voice, its echo booming all the way up to the stratosphere. Feyd raises his blade to the black sun. Paul Artreides may have been a messiah but Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen is a God, worshiped by hundreds of thousands who rage, stomp and chant. Feyd-Rautha.

His gaze lifts to the box where the royal family sits, his uncle, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Feyd’s brother Glossu Rabban and Feyd’s concubines. Searchingly, his eyes trail to the very left and the fiery warmth of triumph in him implodes, leaving him with an icy void in his guts.

His cock immediately goes flaccid when he realizes that she isn’t watching.

Sullenly, she stares down the gargantuan, triangular colossus of black walls and bald Harkonnen heads. Compared to them, she and the other women seated to her left are canaries, strapped in opulent gowns and jewelry, though Giedi Prime's sun strips them of color all the same.

Half showman, half gladiator and fully deranged, Feyd-Rautha tears through his opponents like a birthday boy through gift wrapping. Every year he takes on more enemies in the ring. On his 18th birthday it had been three. Today he faces eleven and has just cut down the fourth. She has been counting.

When the audience roars, she looks down at her tense hands in her lap. She doesn’t want to see his black, grinning mouth, not the mad elation with which he looks up at the box, gasping for approval like a dog.

Next to her, the gathered concubines burst into exaggerated applause. It is hard to tell who is genuine, who is about to throw up, who secretly shits their lingerie under the dress and who fantasizes about being the next one to be gutted by Feyd’s blade. They are daughters of almost every esteemed Major House. The Harkonnen’s pretty little hostage collection. Unofficially, of course.

There he has it. Plenty of approval.

Feyd’s hunger for violence must have rubbed off on her, because she pictures her hands around some of the throats next to her. She doesn’t know how many of them Feyd actually beds, but seeing them all together conjures mental images that are far more nauseating to her than the festive bloodshed in the ring.

Her hatred is like ice. Her jealousy a cluster of thorns in her guts.

She jumps slightly when suddenly the Baron’s gravelly breath rolls over her shoulder.

“Are you feeling unwell?” A pasty, ringed hand waves for the servant who lingers in the back. The black sun’s radiation can cause migraines for individuals not raised on Giedi Prime, hence why Feyd’s concubines, all of them foreigners, are advised to spend most of their time indoors. The servant offers a small, black pill.

The Baron knows his nephew will be displeased with his favorite concubine’s inattentiveness.

“I’m quite alright,” she dismissively waves a hand and lies, though physically she is fine, she supposes, if one doesn’t count the nausea of jealousy. The servant retreats and Baron Harkonnen hums, leaning back into his chair with the aid of the anti-gravitational device implanted in his spine.

Her fellow concubine and seat neighbor from House Metulli cringes away from her with thinly veiled horror. She is not one of them. She doesn’t socialize with them, if it can be avoided. She doesn’t go to her fellow concubines to cry about how cruel a monster Feyd-Rautha is. She talks to Baron Vladimir Harkonnen as if he couldn’t publicly flay her at any given moment for taking a wrong tone.

The Baron regards the back of the woman’s lowered head and the hostile tension in her shoulders.

At the very least, his nephew’s temper tantrums will be amusing. Baron Harkonnen lifts his binoculars and sees Feyd spraying spittle over the next opponent as he stabs the kukri down the man’s throat and splits it in half.

The Harkonnen palace is the evil product of elegance and brutalism. Concrete, marble, metal and obsidian twist into almost frigid hallways and atriums. Colorless sunlight occasionally spills through the intersected ceilings, futilely attempting to heat up the palace to match the blazing summer outside. Every now and again, an open window lets a gust of warm wind inside and the velvety black banners that proclaim na-Baron Feyd-Rautha’s birthday sway in the breeze.

The footsteps of her heeled boots resound from the walls, announcing the arrival of an angry canary to visitors and palace staff. Only the visitors look up with alarm.

She is on her way to her chambers where she intends to sulk away the hours until the birthday banquet starts, which she is forced to attend, unlike the rest of the festivities which overtake the capital. For many Harkonnen, this is the only holiday of the year.

About halfway to her chambers, she hears Feyd-Rautha's raging footsteps. He had used up his grace in the arena, now he is only a fuming man with a sore in his heart.

The runaway concubine is as angry as she is relieved to hear the raging bull approaching. Her footsteps quicken. At least he is chasing her. It makes her heart soar.

With lifted skirts she breaks into a jog, chin held high. A smile of satisfaction would like to seize her mouth, but the nasty claws of jealousy still bereave her of such signs of mirth.

The windows in the concubines’ corridor are darkened by black cloths to shield them from the radiation of the alien sun. Artificial light spills from pointy wall lamps and color bleeds back into her skin, dress and hair. Color might not be the only thing that bleeds once Feyd-Rautha catches up with her.

She makes it into her chambers before he does. The door is no obstacle to him, but at least he will be in her little domain during the confrontation.

The tail of her colorful dress taunts him as she slips into her chambers and slams the door like a child.

She could have fucking joined him during the ritual washing after the fight, where war paint, sweat and blood are traditionally washed off the na-Baron’s victorious body. The black concoction of water, blood, salts and oils stimulates healing and muscle relaxation.

Instead, he is chasing his own concubine through the palace, sweat and war paint gluing his shirt to his torso. Only the light polymer chest piece of armor lies discarded in the bath chamber.

Like a boy he had hoped she might be playing an elaborate little game with him, that her behavior during the fight only served the purpose of egging him on, so he would put on a more gruesome show and she could reward him in the bath chambers after. He had waited for five minutes, then killed the slave girl who had asked him if they shall begin the washing.

Insidious eyes like little coals in his sclera glisten wildly when he slams his palm against the panel that opens her door. In he goes and finds her waiting for him, chin held high, a haughty look in her eyes and a tremor to her lip.

“You’ve ruined my birthday!”

“Oh, have I? Well my day wasn't exactly pleasing either.” She pretends not to care as his spit sprinkles her face and hands stained from murder clutch her upper arms and walk her back against the wall..

Feyd-Rautha's musk smells of sweat, blood and dust and his eyes are darkened with thunder.

“Care to explain what was so interesting while I was fighting in the area?! Did my performance bore you?”

“Even your uncle was more caring than you. He assumed I might have a migraine.”

“But you didn’t.” Feyd knows the black sun doesn’t affect her all that much anymore.

“You had the attention of hundreds of thousands of men and women. Today is all about Feyd-Rautha.” She scornfully mimics the booming battle-chanting that still haunts her bones. “Surely you can go without the undivided attention of one of your numerous concubines.” Her head jerks to the side, facing the half-hung window through which white sunlight filters inside.

Feyd snarls and his mouth suddenly twitches with humor. “Does their presence intimidate you?” She decides not to reply to that and his thumb brushes over her chin as he leans down. “How so? Obviously I need them all to sate my appetite. Someone didn't even manage to attend my washing.”

“I despise you, Feyd-Rautha!” She slams her palms against his chest. “Go bathe. You stink like a mutt who's rolled in piss.”

“At least look at me now!” Feyd roars, smugness consumed by the rage that kindles so darkly in his chest. “Look me in the eyes when you tell me you hate me!”

One pale hand cups her jaws, thumb and middle finger digging into her soft cheeks on either side, pushing between the rows of teeth, so her lips pucker and her mouth opens. Feyd-Rautha leans down and his plush mouth ungently connects to hers, taking a fragment of what he thinks he deserves on his Birthday. Her mouth tastes bitter and his tastes like blood.

Huffing, she endures, eyes raised to Feyd's while he assaults her mouth. Her breath is quick, her heartbeat quicker and the heat in her abdomen wetly coats her walls that are conditioned to react to Feyd-Rautha's violent love. Her cheeks hurt but her tongue meets his willingly, even when he punishes her with cruel, black teeth.

Her fingers twist into his sweat-damp shirt, tearing on the fabric as if she means to rip it to shreds and stuff her pillow with it. Painted fingernails dig into the only injury she knows he had sustained during the fight, a small cut on his abdomen, hidden by the shirt.

“So you did watch…” Feyd's raspy breath caresses her mouth and the thread of saliva that connects them trembles in the draft of his breath.

“Occasionally.” She wills her voice to be calm and lets her fingers slip under the shirt and trail over the taut, damp flesh until she finds the tender cut. Mercilessly, she digs inside, collecting gore under her nail.

“A-Ah~” Feyd's posture briefly falters, knees trembling as he leans into the cathartic pain.

“You sustained that one when you were getting reckless near the end. You kept staring up at us, like an idiot.”

“I was looking at you, cunt!” He spits and the sliver of weakness is gone. The loveless nickname leaves her unfazed but his evil mouth doesn't as he kisses her roughly. His death-stained hands don't either as they roam around her body, searching for a gap in her dress so he can access her flesh and taint her with his rot.

The hard outline of his cock presses against her stomach and she is almost tempted to give in, free him from his trousers, sink on her knees in submission and take him down her throat, then later into her cunt. It's his birthday after all and she craves his violent hands.

“Get on the bed,” Feyd rasps.

“Go fuck yourself.”

Rage clouds his eyes and she knows he’s going to try and slap her across the cheek. The gust of air hits her skin, but his hand does not. She had dodged him just in time - A feat she wouldn’t have been remotely capable of when she first met him.

Feyd stares perplexed and then he laughs, that boyish note that makes her hair stand on end. He withdraws and rubs one hand over his scalp, pacing around her chamber. She knows he's thinking of all the ways he can pluck her limbs and pop her eyeballs.

He becomes violent when he’s helpless. Really, she doesn’t mind it. She’d rather have him take it out on her than anyone else, and that desire is wholly and completely selfish.

“I should take my reward from one of the others then.”

She stiffens and her chest is so tight, she can taste the bile in her throat. Feyd knows many forms of violence but chose the one that would cut the most lethally into her flesh.

Grinning widely, he stalks closer. “Say what you have in mind. You want a gift on my birthday, isn't that right?”

For most others, Feyd-Rautha's sole attention, being his only one, couldn't be further from a gift, but yes, it's exactly what she wants. But she isn't going to beg for it like a starving dog for scraps.

“That's what it would be to you? A gift from you to me?” She thinks she has never been so insulted. “That gift is a pittance then.”

“So, you don't want it?” His breath tickles her cheek and a ray of sunlight washes over his skull, making it black and white.

Feyd knows he could force her on her knees and reap his pleasure and hers, or pain which is essentially the same, but breaking her body and spirit won’t give him what he desires, at least not anymore. 

“I want respect,” she coldly hisses. For what we have.

“Then respect me. Attend the banquet. Dance with me.” His nose brushes against the side of her cheek, then his tongue slides out and curls around the edge of her jaws.

“Of course, na-Baron,” she snaps and Feyd withdraws, wearing a smug midnight-smile. His lithe figure retreats and slips out into the corridor, probably to finally go bathe and wash the stink off his skin.

Only if Feyd-Rautha willingly drops on his knees for her will she ever dance with him.

A/N: Chapter 2 following sooooon!

TAG LIST:

@nostalgichoya, @forgedfromthestars, @sweetiee-o, @missbingu, @charmingballoon,

@sebastianswallows, @minedofmoria, @flower-frog, @welliah, @coastalcowgirl35,

@aoi-targaryen

(If any of you only wanted to be tagged for Relic and not for Feyd works in general, please let me know, and I'm sorry to bother!!! 🫶)

[cerastes]

You're better at mechanics than I am so can you please explain how/when to use Iana S2 vs S1?

Iana plays more like an Ambusher than a Dollkeeper, and is unique in that her "doll" form is actually her real self, while the "Operator" is the doll, or hologram in her case. This, in gameplay, translates to her unique form of Dollkeeping: She'll always instantly go into "doll" form the moment she's attacked, inflicting Reveal and Fragile onto the offending enemy. This happens no matter the range at which she was attacked. I bring this up because her skills, which all involve going "doll", practically have this baked into them in addition to whatever else they individually do.

Now, Iana is an easy M6.

S1 is a Geese Howard ass counterframes skill. No matter where, no matter how, if you attack her hologram, you get punched in the face REALLY hard by the ensuing S1 explosion, which is a mine Iana throws at you. You'll often see this in proximity, as most likely, she'll be hit by melee enemies or by nearby ranged enemies. This is where I must bring up the wording on the skill: When the skill says it centers the explosion of Physical damage on the attacker, it's being very literal. If Faust or a mortar enemy launches an attack on Iana from 50 kilometers away on the other side of the map, then Iana will run all the way over there and punch them in the god damn face with an explosion.

Pictured above: Iana S1

And invisibility won't save them, either, because remember, she Reveals and Fragiles the enemy that attacks her hologram, which also means the attack is actually stronger than its already huge multiplier.

The blast is centered on the enemy that triggers the counterframes, so it has some AoE use. In maps with a lot of enemies grouped together, like every RA2 horde ever, this is a hugely strong skill, likewise, it's a great counter against annoying long range enemies, or enemies with high Defense, since it hits Anywhere Ever, and the multipliers on this are huge. It's case use is pretty ample.

S2 is pretty versatile, since it has low SP charge (5 at M3), and, the game doesn't tell you this, but even though it's manually activated, it ALSO can be activated through counterframes if SP is full, meaning, someone hits Iana, they are now Revealed and Fragiled, and Iana reaps all the benefits of S2.

Pictured above: The benefits of S2 (sans Invisibility, which she also gets)

It's a pretty good general use skill, since you can shred mid-Defense enemies pretty nicely, destroy air enemies with ease, and it also Reveals all enemies in range, so whenever you're playing a map with really annoying Invisible units, well, this also helps with that.

Compared to other Dollkeepers, she has more range, so set her appropriately to maximize her coverage with this in mind.

The simple cheat sheet is S1 is good for high DEF enemies, long range enemies, and tons of clustered units (both naturally clustered, or those clustered by means of a Decel Binder, for example, wink wink), while S2 is good for every other occasion, especially against mid-and-below DEF enemies and air enemies, but just is a good skill in general, with particular additional utility against multiple Invisible enemies. And she's a great, constant, consistent source of Fragile, to boot.

[vexwerewolf]

hmmm...artillery balor...

I could tell you about how completely unsuited the Balor is to this task, but you know what? Fuck it. Okay. Remember: you asked for this.

-- HORUS Balor @ LL6 -- [ LICENSES ] HORUS Balor 2, HA Barbarossa 3, SSC Metalmark 1 [ CORE BONUSES ] Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints, Superior by Design [ TALENTS ] Leader 3, Siege Specialist 3, Engineer 3 [ STATS ] HULL:2 AGI:2 SYS:0 ENGI:4 STRUCTURE:4 HP:21 ARMOR:0 STRESS:4 HEATCAP:10 REPAIR:5 TECH ATK:+1 LIMITED:+2 SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:10 SENSE:5 SAVE:13 [ WEAPONS ] Integrated: Prototype Weapon III MAIN MOUNT: SUPERHEAVY WEAPON BRACING HEAVY MOUNT: Siege Cannon (Nanocomposite Adaptation) // Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints [ SYSTEMS ] Hive Drone, Personalizations, Armament Redundancy, Reactive Weave, Type-3 Projected Shield

I call this One Trick Man.

You pick a target you don't want to deal with today and hit them with Type-3 Projected Shield. You pick a firing position out of line of sight of your enemies, preferably with hard cover, and put down your Hive Drone. You wait until your second turn.

At the start of your second turn, you observe the state of the battlefield from your artillery nest. If there's a large cluster of enemies, you fire the Siege Cannon in Siege Mode, and if there's just one target you particularly want obliterated, you use Direct Fire Mode.

You never worry about cover or even line of sight because your Siege Cannon has Nanocomposite Adaptation, meaning that as long as the shell has some path onto target it will always get there, and with Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints your shots will rarely miss. If you use Siege Mode, you'll have to Stabilize next turn to reload it, but that'll also clear your heat so it's fine. If you use Direct Fire Mode, you can just do the exact same thing again for several turns before you need to stabilize.

Literally everything else about this mech is a contingency to stop you from losing your Siege Cannon. We have Armament Redundancy to let you ignore the first weapon loss. We have Reactive Weave to make you invisible if you need to brace. We have Hive Drone to make you harder to hit. We have Type-3 Projected Shield if an enemy ever gets within visual range of you. You have 21 HP and regenerate 5 every time you take a turn.

And, in your darkest hour, if ever there comes a situation in which you cannot use the Siege Cannon, you have the Engineer Prototype III, which can still deal damage in an area and be accurate about it.

Congratulations. You will spend the rest of your piloting career like a washed-up Tory: lurking in the backbenches, hurling abuse at people you've never even seen.

[jumpywhumpywriter]

Living Weapon Whumpee part 33

Warnings: forced living weapon/fighter, ambushed, a traitor in the midst, on the run

They could only hope to make it back to their horses and retreat to where Flint's army would be waiting before they were caught.

Once they were far enough away, Whumpee had Max detonate the explosives, and the ground beneath them shook and shuddered violently as Leader's base collapsed. But they still had their current pursuers to worry about as they fled, needing to reach Flint to give the signal for them to move in.

But... Max was starting to fall behind, and Whumpee stopped short, waiting for him to catch up and frowning in confusion.

"Sorry... You're just... really fast..." Max panted apologetically as he stumbled forward.

Whumpee's eyes widened in alarm. "Are you... limping?" He asked in sudden realization, noticing the man's lurching gait. Max's face was a tad pale as he glanced sheepishly down to where blood was streaming from his left leg.

"I, uh, think I might have caught a bullet during the ambush..." He muttered quietly.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Max shrugged slightly, sweat glistening on his forehead. "I didn't think it was that bad... and I didn't want to slow us down..."

Whumpee let out a sharp breath. "Do you think you can make it the rest of the way back?"

"I can try," Max said resolutely.

Whumpee had no doubt that if he were on his own, he could escape and survive this. It's what he was trained for; fight or flee. But usually fight. And he had the physical endurance to cover great distances in a short period of time, despite carrying Jake on his shoulder.

But this time... he was watching out for someone other than himself, and that was a dangerous game to play. It meant his attention would be divided between himself and the other person, in this case Max, who was having a progressively harder time keeping up the longer they traveled, the occasional tripping turning into regular unbalanced stumbling that had him worried.

Max didn't complain once, just kept determinedly limping and staggering after Whumpee as fast as he could manage, chest heaving from the exertion.

But eventually Whumpee stopped with a long exhale, turning to face the injured soldier. "You're not looking too good," he noted grimly.

"I-It's fine," Max quickly blurted. "I can make it. Don't... Please don't leave me behind..." He glanced anxiously the way they'd come, toward where the enemy was closing in in the distance.

Oh. So that's why Max was trying so hard to hide the pain and keep up. He was terrified that Whumpee would leave him to be torn apart by Leader's soldiers, suffer a violent and painful death like Flint's recon team had.

"No. You can't make it," Whumpee said grimly, eyeing the bullet wound on his leg. "Not at this speed. You're straining yourself too much, and if you keep going you'll likely collapse. And that won't help anyone."

"But if we go any slower they'll catch up," Max whispered, voice hitching.

Whumpee was silent. There was more than just his own life at stake here, he reminded himself. He was Weapon, and Max was an ordinary soldier. How could he have expected the man to keep up?! Of course Max wouldn't be able to!

He growled angrily at himself for not paying closer attention, but regretted it when Max visibly flinched.

"I-I'm sorry, Sir," Max croaked hoarsely.

Whumpee sighed, before an idea hit him. One he wasn't particularly looking forward to implementing, but what other choice did he have? Max was injured, Jake was unconscious, and the enemy was closing in fast.

"Come here," Whumpee sighed, and guided Max over to sit in the middle of a dense cluster of bushes, hidden from sight. Then he leaned over and carefully slid Jake off his shoulder, handing him off to Max.

"Are you... leaving us here?" Max asked quietly, eyes wide.

"No," Whumpee reassured. "I'm going to take care of the problem. Stay here, stay quiet, close your eyes and cover your ears, all right? Don't move until I get back."

Max nodded, trembling, and Whumpee left him and Jake in the safe cover of the brush out of sight, turning and heading straight toward where the enemy was approaching.

⏪️ Back Next ⏩️

Masterlist

@scoundrelwithboba @lumpofsand @isikedmyself878 @iamheretohurt @fleur-a-whump

@ay5ksal @otterfrost @sausages-things @i-don't-know-sal @togzy

@whump-till-ya-jump @cravesunconditionallove @whumpwritinglover222 @silly-scroimblo-skrunkl @cepheusgalaxy

@dragongodryss

[dailycharacteroption]

Petal Ninja (Ninja Archetype; Ghoran)

(art from Wilderness Origins, taken from Nathaniel James’ Artstation)

Today marks the end of the final first-party ninja archetype (there were only 5, admittedly) that we’ll be covering on the blog, so let’s take a look!

It’s hard to do characters that are flashy and over the top while also having them with a job that ostensibly requires them to be stealthy most of the time. More often than not, this is played for laughs when the former quality absolutely shattering any illusions of succeeding at the latter.

However, it is important to remember that there are many ways to conceal oneself, and one such way is distraction and discombobulation.

Plenty achieve this with fire or various tricks to inhibit the senses, but for characters with magical abilities, sometimes the answer is a little more green.

Originating with ghorans and almost certainly limited to other planty folk like leshies or perhaps the very rare humanoid, I present the petal ninja, a specialist in conjuring and transmuting oneself into clouds of petals and pollen to befuddle foes and avoid notice.

No doubt you’ve seen plenty of visual media where a character vanishes or reappears in a cloud of leaves or petals (most commonly sakura blossoms), as well as using such whirlwinds of plant matter to befuddle their foes, and that’s exactly what these ninja do, tipping this particular sort of ninja into the “supernatural badass” zone.

Some might fight to protect their people using subterfuge, while others may be little more than mercenaries. Regardless, petal ninjas has a reputation for being able to sneak into impossible places, perhaps more so than even other shinobi.

So, with that in mind, let’s take a look and see what they have to work with!

With an expenditure of ki and focus, these ninja can conjure up swirling storms of petals nearby. At their base level, they provide concealment for them, making them hard to hit and easy to hide in. However, by focusing, they can add in additional effect, ranging from being near-blinding to infused with toxic pollen to even be mesmerizing, forcing foes to make saves against increasingly more harmful effects. However, this comes at a cost. The more they focus on the potency of their clouds, the less they can focus on their enemy’s vitals, reducing the amount of harm they can do with attacks that strike for their foe’s weak points until the storm passes.

They can also transform themselves into a cloud of petals for a few seconds, becoming insubstantial but not invicible. However, it can be difficult to tell them apart from any other cluster of plant matter, making it easy for them to vanish, drop into hiding and strike foes from a new angle, or simply use it to pass into a secure location through holes small enough to let delicate flower petals through.

They also have an ability to alter local light levels, creating areas of darkness or brighter light as needed, perhaps to thwart enemy ninja or harm the eyes of light-sensitive foes.

While a ninja thrives on being completely undetected, these shinobi specialize in battlefield control when stealth fails and they must fight. The conjured storms of petals are perfect for combat stealth to get a foe to lose track of you while you set up sneak attack after sneak attack, and adding additional effects is useful for debilitating or suppressing foes when corralling and weakening foes is more important than setting up the killing blow. What’s more, the ability to briefly become a cloud of petals is not just good for mobility, but also for getting out of a scrape while simultaneously setting up for another attack or clean getaway. The ability to alter light levels is… neat, but only super useful if the lighting is already within one stage of what you want it to be. Spending multiple ki points to try and turn an area of bright light into total darkness is a waste. Beyond that, however, I recommend a build with other battlefield control options, as well as tricks that add additional debilitating effects to your sneak attack, negating the reduced damage that comes with making use of their abilities.

Vanishing into flower petals and reappearing again is a powerful aesthetic that I’m sure we can all appreciate, and that signature style no doubt is very precious to the ghoran people, a thing that they created, which despite being unique enough to put the potential blame on their kind after a job, makes it perfect for sending a message when needed.

Having dedicated their life to protecting societal order, but realizing that doing so meant sometimes in “pruning” undesirable elements, Serenity the aphorite chose to become a shinobi, one specializing in using their cosmic dust to befuddle foes and vanish from sight. Now, they serve as a mercenary, taking contracts against anarchists and those who abuse the law alike, as long as their client provides incontrovertible proof first.

The ghoran village of Tsubaki has long been guarded from intruders by it’s guardian shinobi, that use their vanishing arts to lure those that seek their village astray, getting them lost in the confusing forests until their expire. However, this has led to a growing problem with trailgaunts, as the poor souls they abandon arise as perpetually lost but ever malevolent undead.

After nearly being killed by assassins despite being a humble locksmith, the ghoran Aelgar is forced to seek out a master of dream magic to delve into the vague memories of his very first life and incarnation. In this dream, he is confronted by a powerful ninja that vanishes and reappears in a cloud of blossoms, and the shadow of the one this past self wronged.

[boatemlag]

Grian rerun — build guide/is she worth pulling?

This patch has the long awaited rerun of the pyro Archon 5* sword user Grian, but how do you build her? And is she still worth pulling? This guide will walk you through my opinion on her current worth in meta and how I would build her now that we have so many pyro applicator and sub-DPS options. Let's dive in! [GrianBOOM]

✦✦✦ Breakdown ✦✦✦

Grian is a pyro applicator that is unique to this day because she cannot be played to full effect with another pyro character in party, meaning that her kit is built primarily to facilitate reactions. Her skill works well for generating particles for her burst, but doesn't do major damage on its own without her signature weapon. Therefore, she requires a decent amount of ER, since her energy cost is higher than many other supports.

Grian is still considered to be one of the best options for reverse melt and vaporize teams in terms of supports, but because she is a version 1.1 character, her burst uptime is a bit hard to maintain without skillful rotations. I would say skip if you have a C6 Katherine, as she does a similar thing to Grian without the DoT. But if you're looking for a fun pyro support, Grian is fun to play even at C0, in my experience.

✦✦✦ Explaining the kit ✦✦✦

◇ Basic Attack: Awakening Blade

He's a sword user, nothing special. Does 5 consecutive strikes.

◇ (E) Skill: Ready, Aim, Fire

Hurls an Evil Eye at the nearest target, marking them, and dealing pyro DMG. Hold to enter aiming mode to control where the Evil Eye is placed. This skill has 3 charges. When 3 Evil Eyes have been placed, or the skill no longer has charges, press the skill again to detonate the eyes, dealing pyro DMG and generating particles. If the skill is not tapped again, they will detonate after a fixed amount of time.

◇ (Q) Burst: Slash and Burn

Creates an AoE referred to as an Annihilation Zone and dealing AoE pyro DMG. Depending on how many enemies are marked with Evil Eye, the area gains additional buffs, meaning it's tactical to use the E skill, then burst, then use the E skill again.

Allies within the zone receive an all DMG type boost of 5/10/15% for 1s when hit.

Allies within the zone receive an EM boost of 50/100/200 when receiving overflow healing.

Additionally, the zone continually applies pyro to enemies within the zone for the duration.

◇ Passives

To The Death: When Grian uses her burst, Ready, Aim, Fire CD is reduced by half.

Independent Streak: If Grian is the only Pyro character in the party, increases the ATK of all party members by 10% and the EM of all party members by 80.

To Infinity!: Gliding stamina reduction passive (stacks with other similar passives).

✦✦✦ Constellations ✦✦✦

C1: Let's Go Again!: Reduces Slash and Burn energy cost by 25% when in party and not on field.

C2: Foresight: Increases max number of Evil Eyes and charges from 3 to 4.

C4: Archon's Blessing: Imbues her basic attacks with pyro.

C6: She Who Writes Her Own History: Increases the bonuses from Slash and Burn to 10%/15%/20% DMG boost and 100/200/270 EM boost, and, additionally, applies Smoldering Flames to enemies within the Annihilation Zone.

Obviously C6 is insane. I'd say C6>C1>C4>C2, with C1 having insanely good value. I'd even say C1 > C0R1.

✦✦✦ Ascension & Talent Materials ✦✦✦

◇ Agnidus Agate

Duh. Luckily, her boss drops these. Thank god for early region boss consistency.

◇ Drops: Ghasts

These spawn all over the world, but can be found in large clusters in the northern parts of Ention, especially close to the Grumbot Containment Site. You will need:

Sad sliver x18

Smoldering droplets x30

Ghastly tears x36

◇ Unburning Branch

Unburning Branch can be claimed by defeating the Young Dragonspawn in Ention. You will need x46.

◇ Diligent Lily

Diligent Lily is Grian's local specialty, and you will need x168. They can be grown in the teapot and found in large clusters by God's Nursery in the east of Ention.

◇ Fun Talent Books

Can be gotten in the Ention talent domain on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

◇ Continuous Stationary of Wisdom from the Surveillance Prophet weekly boss.

Unlocked by finishing the Ention Archon quest. This boss cannot be done in Co-Op.

✦✦✦ Artifacts & Stats ✦✦✦

Grian's best and signature set is 4-piece Cat's Calling. The 2-pc bonus increases ER by 20%. 4-pc bonus increases Overloaded, Burning, and Burgeon DMG by 40% for the whole party, and increases Vaporize and Melt DMG by 15% for the whole party. This effect cannot stack. Using an Elemental Skill increases 2-Piece Set effects by 25% for 10s even when switched off-field. Max 3 stacks.

Sands: ER

Goblet: Pyro DMG

Circlet: CR=CDMG (ER only if you're really struggling with uptime)

Substat priority: ER > CR=CDMG > EM

ER goal: 160%+

You could alternatively run her on 2pc Cat, 2pc Fated Strings for the ER, but the 4pc bonus from Cat's Calling is suggested.

✦✦✦ Weapons ✦✦✦

Grian's signature weapon, Incidental Blazing Breath, increases her ER and elemental skill DMG. It is considered her best in slot (duh) because it is specifically built around maximizing the DMG from her skill, with 8 stacks of bonus available, matching the suggested rotation. I do not suggest pulling on weapon banner this patch because Martyn's signature weapon is VERY SPECIFIC, giving a DEF and swirl bonus, and Grian's constellations outweigh the value of her weapon. Though it does look dope as fuck.

For other options, the five star standard weapon Gross Misuse is great for its ER bonus as well as its energy particle production. If you're looking for a 4 star weapon, the event weapon Glory Glory is good, and the craftable weapon Scribe's Pen at R5 is her best 4 star option. If you absolutely must use a 3 star, Whispering Blade (gotten from speaking to an NPC in Ention City) is the best choice.

✦✦✦ Talent Priority ✦✦✦

Burst > Skill >>>>>>>>>>> Basic ATK

Recommended not to level Basic ATK. 9/7/1 is a good place for talents to be.

✦✦✦ Team Comps ✦✦✦

Basically the only teams you don't want with Grian is any team with additional pyro characters.

Do You Even Vape Bro - Lizzie as a reaction based DPS, BDubs for heals and hydro battery, and Zedaph for crowd control/swirl/DEF reduction

Sahara+ Melt Team - Stress as reverse melt DPS, Mumbo and Grian for support and application (Mumbo as a Cryo battery) and Iskall for more battery and sub-DPS

Grian Driver Burgeon Team - This requires you to build your Grian with EM instead of CR/CDMG, but is a good option for how versatile she is. Pearl (or Beef), Netty, Skizz, Grian. Pearl/Beef for dendro battery and off-field application, Netty for heals and dendro resonance/battery, Skizz for consistent hydro application and shield, with Grian as the main driver for reactions.

Grian works well with teams who do multiple reactions as well, so freeze/melt is also a good choice.

◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆

That's all! Comment down below if you're pulling for Grian, pulling for the new 5 star Martyn, or skipping the patch. I personally want more Mumbo and Cleo cons, so I will be pulling on the banner anyway LOL. Good luck and happy building!

[electriopenguin-21]

Concept for a nicktoons unite promotional reboot game

What I mean by promotional reboot is that the game is still a sequel to the previous nicktoons unite games but it is a reboot in the way that it reintroduces players to the series.

Plot:

An evil wendigo like being known as Nyx threatens the worlds of our heros by creating minions of fire, ice and electricity, including making copies of some of the various villains from across those universes. Jimmy Neutron, in order to stop this threat calls upon the help of heros from other worlds, both old and new.

Gameplay:

For the gameplay, the game will play like volcano island, attack of the toybots and globs of doom, being a 3D platformer with combat elements, however, I will be taking a couple things from nicktoons unite. The 2 things I would take from nicktoons unite will be 1, give each playable character different play styles and 2, allow you to upgrade the character abilities as you progress throughout the game. The game will also allow you to take whoever your want in each level like in attack of the toybots instead of forcing you with a set of characters like volcano Island and globs of doom. I would also include unlockable secret levels to test each characters abilities.

Playable characters:

SpongeBob ( SpongeBob attack using bubbles and KA-RA-TE. He can also absorb water and use it to solve puzzles)

Danny Phantom ( Danny will use multiple ghost powers, including possessing enemies to temporarily take control of them, shoot ectoplasmic blasts, and phase through certain walls.)

Timmy Turner ( Timmy, with the help of Cosmo and Wanda will be able to hit enemies with powerful magic blasts or use Cosmo as a slow but powerful hammer. Timmy can even power himself up, becoming cleft, the boy chin wonder.)

Jimmy Neutron ( Jimmy has a variety of gadgets that can help him in many situations, such as a shrink ray to shrink objects in his way or shrink himself down in order to find hidden goodies, a jetpack to fly to hard to reach areas, or even summon out Goddard to sniff out hidden collectables.)

Aang ( The Avatar will use the powers of the elements to help him in combat, whether it be fire to do damage over time, Earth for powerful hits, water for comboing, or air to get enemies off of him.)

Jenny Wakeman ( This teenage robot is able to use her immense strength to fight off enemies with cannons, fists, and drills. She is also able to extend here limbs out to reach places other characters can't.)

Miko Kubota ( Miko can trap enemies in cat bubbles, use a hammer for attacks and even summon her glitch pet Ally to deal with foes for her.)

Lincoln Loud ( Lincoln is able to throw cards as projectiles, and use other toys to fight with such as a yoyo and spin tops to keep enemies at bay)

Zim ( Zim would use gadgets such as the plunger of doom and gnomes to overwhelm the enemies and can even steal their attacks by replacing there body parts with stuff.)

Tak ( Tak uses various Juju powers such as turning enemies into harmless sheep or give himself temporary buffs)

Levels:

Level 1: Bikini Bottom

Level 2: Dimmsdale

Level 3: Pupanunu

Level 4: Temorton

Level 5: Royal Woods

Level 6: Retroville

Level 7: Bailey

Level 8: Zim's Town

Level 9: Amity Park

Level 10: Fire Nation

Level 11: The Void

Bosses:

Giant Frosty Jellyfish

Flamming Vicky

Electric Traloc

Tri elemental Cluster

Burning Morag

Elemental Computer Virus

Sparking Chomp Kitty

All Mighty Coldest

Ember and Technus fusion copy

Frigid Hama

Nyx ( Final Boss)

So that is my idea from a promotional reboot for the Nicktoons Unit series, what do you guys think? What do you think I can do to improve this concept?

[glazedzonai]

i can understand why people don’t like the sages, but i have some good points about them:

sidon actually has a lot of uses. they might just not be as obvious. i used to seem him as pretty useless too but i’ve discovered he can actually be pretty useful:

- rapid fire spear weapon so can do multiple hits in one go. i found this the most useful for gleok’s when they’ve been hit down. i’ve experienced this a lot playing TOTK recently, once you hit the gleok eyes enough, it comes crashing down to the ground, and whenever i’ve done this in game sidon has immediately ran up to the gleok eyes/heads and does rapid hits in succession. he does the most hits to gleoks along with Tulin. this is especially helpful because Gleoks are considered hard. this is the advantage he has for the weapon he uses. it is faster at hitting than one handed sword/blade weapons.

- zora weapons. when they are wet from sidon (😏) they become the most powerful weapons in the game - up to 150 for one handed weapons, and around 170 for two handed.

- shields you from damage, especially for molduga’s or froxes when they jump and eat you up

- destroying zonaite/ore desposits

- keeping you cool in unbearable heat in the desert and scorching hot in goron caves

- his wave size and reach changes depending on what weapon you have, so if it’s one handed it’ll be a medium sized wave, a spear it’ll be the smallest wave, and most importantly, if it’s two handed it’ll do a massive more destructive wave, which is very good for a big group of enemies like boss bokoblins and their minions, and a big cluster of zonaite ore deposits.

enough with the sidon slander.

i do agree that the way his avatar moves though is extremely annoying and non-intutive. but when you actually do get to him it’s worth it.

it also means i get to wear the ember (dinraal) set in the gerudo desert (in the day) and the death mountain caves when it’s glowing and lit up, without getting hurt.

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Hydra

CR 4

Neutral Huge Magical Beast

Bestiary 1, pg 178

The humble Hydra has been in Earth's legends since ancient times, the vast multiheaded serpents legendary for their incredible regenerative abilities, able to regrow entire heads in a matter of seconds. On Golarion, the Hydra is a well-known and rightly feared magical predator whose flurries of natural attacks can peel apart even prepared adventurers and whose rampant healing abilities make them extreme dangers to any man or beast without the ability to shut them off. Their signature ability to regrow twice as many heads each time one is severed makes them more powerful as a battle goes on rather than less, catching the unawares by surprise as what they believed to be a decisive blow merely allows the creature another damaging bite attack.

Unfortunately for the Hydra, because its CR is so low and because they're uncommon but not unheard of, just about anyone who can manage a DC 15 Knowledge (Nature) check can figure out the primary weakness of a Hydra and how to counteract its incredible power: "Just don't attack the heads lol." It's more than a little amusing to me how much of the Hydra's statblock is devoted to describing the exact mechanics of attacking and destroying its heads (a sunder attempt vs a target with 0 hardness and 5 hitpoints), how swiftly they regrow (1d4 rounds), and how to stop them (at least 5 points of Fire or Acid damage)... but if the players simply stand and attack or hit it with spells that take advantage of its low Ref and Will saves, they won't engage with these mechanics at all.

Which is likely why a Hydra is monstrously dangerous to stand and attack despite its low CR, introducing the terror of the glass cannon to a party very early in their career. It has a 15ft space and a 10ft reach AND Combat Reflexes, letting it pose a threat to the entire party at once if it manages to get in the middle of them, and because it's incentivized to use its Pounce, it likely will. A basic Hydra has no Stealth, but they live in temperate marshes and have a decent 20ft Swim speed, letting them slither through the water and ambush a party with a charge into Pounce to likely tear apart whoever they hit with the resulting Full-Attack.

A basic Hydra has five bite attacks a round, each dealing 1d8+3 damage, and they can make additional attacks for each head they grow during a fight. 5d8+15 averages out to about 40 damage, far more than a character at levels 2~4 would have, so if every attack hits, the unfortunate victim the Hydra ambushed is probably dead. Thankfully, Hydra are not particularly intelligent and are just as likely to spread their damaging bites among multiple enemies as they are to attack one at a time, so the best way to keep one of your party members from being burst down may, ironically, be to just cluster together and hope the thing gets greedy. Or throw summons/decoys at it, that works too. For a DMs knowledge, a hungry Hydra is more likely to attack one enemy until it's dead and then retreat with the body to eat, while a Hydra defending its territory is more likely to spread its damage around to drive off intruders.

Absolute horror scenario, really. Suddenly being hit with a flurry of natural attacks that may come out of nowhere is bad enough, but Hydras also possess decent resilience in the form of Fast Healing X, where X is the number of heads they possess (normally 5), NOT Regeneration as you may believe; Acid and Fire are necessary to keep their heads from regrowing but do nothing to shut off the beast's rampant healing; it just slows it down. Given that they have no claw or tail attacks, a DM wishing to up the threat even further can have the creature hide its body in the mud or water, forcing the players to engage the heads, flee, or leap in and deal with the dreaded underwater combat rules to try and kill it without engaging in its gimmick.

... hold on, is it really more beneficial to hit the heads? It might be, and after all I talked down about its gimmick, too! Hell of a damage race, though; each Hydra head has 5 HP (+1 per hit dice), and destroying one with slashing damage lowers both the Hydra's number of attacks and its Fast Healing by 1 to directly lower its own damage output AND resilience, and each destroyed head deals 5 damage to the Hydra directly so you're not even wasting that much time by hitting them. Obviously, if you cut off EVERY head before any regrow you kill the beast instantly, so destroying each head (a total of 25 damage) is in fact more time-efficient than getting through the Hydra's 47 HP (which a DM can raise to as much as 70 if they feel like)... IF, and only if, you have a repeatable source of Fire/Acid damage and a method to deliver it reliably (AoE attacks like Burning Hands work). The cauterization has to be done before the head regrows in 1d4 rounds, because otherwise it gets its bite attack and Fast Healing back, PLUS an additional one! And then you're basically right back where you started: standing directly in front of the glass cannon while the fuse is rapidly fizzling down.

You can read more about them here.

[mistfallengw2]

Quick Guide for a Smooth and Quick Toypocalypse ⛄️

Just a quick guide so that Toypocalypse can a bit faster and hopefully more enjoyable for everyone involved~

General Strategy

Every player should pick a different zone to focus on, so that there's no need to struggle for resources and the whole map gets covered by clusters of catapults! Here's a map of the best spots:

The areas in red are secondary spots where you can expand or move to if an area is already covered. You CAN cover a whole map with properly built Labyrinth, Hoelbrak and Village, so you can team up to do those!

You want to pick spots that are close enough to be in reach of other people's catapults, but not so close that you have to fight for resources. See what your party is doing and act accordingly.

For your own zone, you want to pick a good spot to build your Catapults (high, good view over the map) and then surround them with a few Snowmen and the occasional Ballista. Soon, your Catapults will be able to nearly one-shot enemy waves that spawn close enough, while the rest will take care of those that get too close during reload.

Properly set up clusters are more effective than randomly placed toys! Clusters focus enemies in a few spots and catapults' barrages can clear them even at their spawn. Stray toys will spread enemies around the map and Catapults may not even reach them :(

There's a cap AND a decay timer for siege toys! Old toys will despawn if you place too many or after 15 minutes with no upgrading! Try to place them with intention from the start, then after round 4 it's best to start upgrading what you've already placed.

Your strategy should be to aggro enemy waves away from the center and clear them fast! While you want to drop a few toys on the central platform to defend the dolyaks (pretty useful in the first waves and for extra security), only place them on the outer edges and don't overdo it! Enemies will aggro on siege toys, and if they're too close to the dolyaks... well, that kinda defeats their defensive purpose, and it'll hurt a lot if it's Toxx's turn.

Focus on Toxx as soon as she spawns (every 2 rounds, after a few waves of regular toys) and try to break her CC bar asap! You don't want her to destroy your hard work, but be careful of her attacks, especially the one where she spins and reflects projectiles (you can get oneshot if you use the rifle).

Siege Toys and Weapons

Catapults are your best friends and Snowmen are their buddies! Let the Snowmen do damage, aggro and chill enemies, so that Catapults can reach them over long distances by firing in an arc. (a full barrage from is extremely satisfying to witness)

Ballistas and Walls are not bad, but should be used sparingly. Ballistas attack faster than Catapults, but unlike them they are single-target and can only hit enemies that are in a straight line in front of them. Walls should be used only as a way to block or bottleneck specific areas, as toys will usually ignore them if something else is around.

Siege toys do more than any weapon skill! Pistol is kinda useless after the very first wave, while Rifle and Smasher are overall better. They mostly matter during Toxx fights.

Remember: a few upgraded toys are better than many base toys.

While you can build in a cluster, you're better off leaving at least some space between them so that you can have an easier time upgrading them later. (This example for the two points above is a bad example: FAR too many toys for one spot + extreme lack of space between them)

If you know spawn points, you can place a single sacrificial Snowman (you'll have plenty of snow anyway) in there to immediately aggro enemies and give your Catapults extra time to clear the wave where it spawns.

Tips & Tricks

When holding Snow or Scraps, you can use your 3rd skill to run faster!

You can gather extra gifts after every Toxx on the left side of the map! (Round 2, 4, 6 and 8. Round 10 gives its own reward in the bouncy chest.)

You can regen health by hanging out with the dolyaks for a few seconds, and if they're hurt you can heal them using Hay!

If you want extra security for the dolyaks, there are 4 Skritt Mercenaries on the sides of the map that can be hired for 3 Scraps each.

Resources respawn after a few rounds, so do try to use your first round of resources responsibly! If you're doing fine with your numbers, upgrade early or maybe even bring some of your Scraps to party members that are struggling to set up!

Siege toys are built right on the spot your camera/mouse cursor is aiming, and you can take advantage of it to build more precisely! Also, if you're building against a wall, it'll be placed above it! (In this example of my fave Labyrinth configuration: toys are built by aiming on the pole at the intersections and end up on top of them + walls block the entrances)

As a note, the Wiki has already a pretty decent guide, but I wanted to sum things up and add to it!

[riflebrass]

A problem I'm having with Helldivers is a good weapon for closing bot fabricators.

I was using the grenade pistol for a while but I just can't get the hang of arcing the round into the vents. Even like 5 meters away I struggle. Also ammo is a problem. Ammo boxes only give you one pistol grenade so you either need to die and respawn or grab a LOT of ammo boxes. On the bright side hitting a scout strider in the hips is an easier shot and it can insta-kill them.

My other big choice is the crossbow. I love the crossbow. It has a much flatter trajectory so it's a lot easier to thread the needle. It's not quite as powerful as the grenade pistol. It can't one-shot an illegal broadcast tower. Still it can two-shot a scout strider if you hit it in the hips. The real downside to this is that it has an incredibly slow rate of fire and only holds 6 shots so you have to reload frequently. Because of this it's not a very good choice for general combat because you're really outgunned against even modest clusters of enemies.

The auto-cannon is a solid choice. It hits pretty hard against moderately armored enemies and comes with a lot of ammo. Unfortunately it requires a backpack so I can't use the jump pack I've come to love and I prefer a heavier support weapon for bigger enemies.

The quasar cannon is my preferred support. It will easily take down a fab but there's a couple reasons why I hate it for that role. First of all I have to stand perfectly still for about 4 seconds to charge up the shot before it will fire. Not ideal with hit and run tactics. Secondly with the long cooldown I hate to use the shot on a fab when there could be a hulk around the corner.

Against bugs it's a lot easier. The target for bug holes is a lot bigger so the grenade pistol is a lot easier to lob rounds in. I prefer the crossbow though since there's a lot of bug holes and the extra ammo is important.

[cerastes]

I just picked up Fartooth from the current banner. Both her s2 and s3 seem interesting but is either one of them significantly better than the other?

If you’re going to be a Fartooth Gamer, you’ll invest in and use both, but my recommendation is to hit S3 first and S2 second. Both are specialized skills if you want to squeeze all the juice you can from them, but S3 has her big Attack steroid and is better at killing all sorts of things, whereas S2 is a more general use skill that doesn’t need positioning and is more about eliminating medium-threat and under foes quickly and sub-DPSing on stronger stuff, but thar you can get a lot of use of depending on your playstyle.

So, S2 gives her global range against blocked enemies and giving a good ASPD buff. In general, people tend to cluster their units, so this ends up kind of squandered, but if you like doing forward set ups with self-sustaining units like Dollkeepers, Juggernauts, Musha, Mountain, or Abyssal Hunters, to name a few, or can combo with FRDs like Gravel or Helidrops, then S2 is quite dangerous, since it lets you pretty much buff helidropping and forward setting damage safely from the backline. Only problem is that it’s an ASPD buff without any Attack up, so it’ll feel a tad squalid on bulkier foes, even with her high base Attack. Phys damage likes Attack, after all.

Which is where S3 comes in. This one gives her that cherished Big Damage. Her range becomes an infinite line forward, and enemies hit outside of her normal range will get blasted really hard, on top of the already big Attack steroid. This one is harder to position because ideally you want a tile that’ll hit distant enemies in a straight line. It’s not as hard to set up as people will tell you, but it IS map dependent. Again, this rewards forward set ups… And creative Fartooth placement.

S3 is the more unique and powerful thing she can offer, so, I recommend that one first. Her Talents let her hit dodge foes during skills, and she gets a natural Attack buff if she’s not been hit in 10 secs (aided by less aggro when skill is up), so she brings anti-dodge utility as well.

[allthenamesweretakensoichosethis]

So if extraction get an update(which I doubt will ever happen) I’ve been thinking of ideas on what operators could be proteans. Gameplay why of course. And I’ve found that our 5 proteans all are just improved versions of the enemies in game(Sledge-smasher, Finka-apex, vigil-lurker, etc) so to make a new boss would require a playable operator that shares similar abilities with a enemy so I give you 3 different operators that could theoretically be turned into bosses with this philosophy

1. Fuze-Breacher

Fuze’s cluster charges give off the most destructive effect in terms of explosives and area denial. Bleachers are one of 3 enemies that can break though reinforced walls but the red variant it’s certainly the most ‘explosive’ as they self destruct on you or when the large bulb on their back is shot. So a fuze boss would consist of of a shotgun and trying to run up to you and blow up in you face dealing loads of damage. The 2nd phase would add explosive projectiles that would be homing(similar to a tormentor’s charged attack) and phase through objects utilizing hitting an operator, a reinforced wall or being shot at in where it explodes where it’s shot, and when hitting a reinforced wall a hole would appear in the wall similar to a hard breach charge in r6s. The trick would to be using your reinforcements strategically to avoid those homing explosives and keep your distance from the boss while firing.

Extra notes: hibana would also be a good choice for being the boss as well

2. Gridlock-Rooter

Gridlock’s trax stingers are a throwable gadget that slows and damages enemies but takes time to activate and rooters are an enemy that attacks using spikes coming from the ground that immobilizes the target caught in its attack. So an enemy who can immobilize you then follow up by shooting you would make a terrifying boss fight(at least the first time you fight it) this boss would fire a lurker attack when it spots you trapping you in the spikes then attempts to fire at their traps target. It’s enhanced form would have lurker attacks start at this proteans feet and slowly spread out to where they attempt to find ‘prey’. Using smokes to block lines of sights from gridlock an attacking from behind from its front face carapace would be the optimal strategy and this would great for a glaz/warden type operator to see through smokes.

Extra notes: capitiao and nomad would be good choices to be the boss instead

3. Ela-Sower

So this last one’s a bit of a stretch but the sower deserves more attention than being a glorified bullet mag.

Ela’s grizmot mines that stun enemies is what I consider the closest gadget to the sowers mines that flash you. This boss would definitely be the most annoying to fight as it will always try to run away to set its blinding mines and claymores(it would do about 25-50 damage and can down) only in its 3rd phase would it actually engage with the scorpion smg as it sets the blinding mines automatically. Having someone on mine clearing duty while the other 2 chance ela down would be the best strategy.

Extra notes: Iq and Zofia would be considered good operators to chose to beat this boss

Other ideas I have are Tachanka-spiker and doc-feral grunt/revived archaeans. But feel free to add feedback and ideas on what kind of proteans you’d like to see in extraction!

[universestreasures]

@voiderequiem (Paradise Loreeeee)

The battlefield was a harsh place, even for the seemingly indestructible Velgearians. Injuries were as common as causalities. Their enemies were numerous and powerful. They had more fighting experience than a people who knew nothing but a peaceful existence until the first attack came. That meant they were at an overwhelming disadvantage. But even so, everyone in the military pressed on with hopes of someday returning home from the hellish battlegrounds of war.

Yudias had been one of the injured in their most recent bout, injuring one of his legs to the point he was currently unable to walk. He had taken a hit for one of his comrades after using himself as a diversion. The maneuver had brought them victory in the end, with their commander dealing the final blow to the enemy battalion's leader, but he can't help but be disappointed in himself for being unable to do anything more than be a noble sacrifice.

Ever since he joined as a lowly recruit, he had worked hard. But even with all that effort, Yudias still feels inadequate. He wasn't like his commander, Zuwijo Zir Velgear; the most powerful warrior among the Velgearian people who could always manage to pull out a victory no matter how bleak things were.

As he sat in his hospital bed, the moments of their last battle kept replaying in his head over and over. If he had only thought of a better strategy. Maybe then he wouldn't be here right now. At least he can take some solace in knowing he did help some of his fellow men out. In fact, a few of them had brought the injured private some cosmo daisies in a vase as a display of gratitude, knowing they were his favorite. It was a sweet gesture but one that did little to counteract the insecurities he felt deep down.

He needed to be better. He needed to be stronger. He needed to be of better use to..!

Teal eyes then shift as an unexpected person enters his room. While it was customary for a commander to check on his troops in the infirmary, Yudias had not expected Zuwijo to be here. He knew he was busy preparing their next move. And yet he came here to see him personally...His heart can't help but feel warm at that.

Sadly, the smile that had crossed his face was short-lived. For Zuwijo wasn't here to check on his condition. He was here to give him an order, an order that as soon as it reached his ears nearly broke his already fragile heart in two.

"...W-What?" The look of shock on his face was plain and potent, sending waves of panic throughout his being. "You're...You're sending me...You’re sending me back to the eighth planet...permanently?"

The eighth planet was located at the cluster's center and held many of their people's most important infrastructure, including the now ruined former palace and the Velgearian's council building. It also had a military base, arguably their most protected, where soldiers who had supportive roles or had been deemed unfit to fight resided.

And the captain had just been labeled as the latter...by the one person he wanted to impress the most...

"No! No, C-Commander! Commander, please! Please reconsider!" His pleading tone conveys his feelings. Yudias' heart was on his sleeve for the other to witness. "I still can fight! I still want to fight! I want to fight with you, till the end of this war! Till Velgear can find peace once again!"

And as if to prove his point, he shakily makes his way to a stand. In his condition, he could barely find his balance and pain coursed through his leg, but he had to be strong. He had to show Zuwijo he wasn't done yet, that he could continue!

"Don't send me away, sir!" He moves to reach for the other's arm, to hold him tight and never let go. "I am begging you!!!"

But...it seems he just wasn't strong enough. For when he moved to take hold of the taller man's arm, his legs buckled from under him, sending him straight down to the cold, hard ground. The pain he felt throughout his physical body paled in comparison to how his heart felt at that moment, at the very idea of being separated from the person he just could not live without.

"I don't want...to leave you..." Yudias, now even more broken and pathetic before the commander, still tries to reach for him. The warrior sticks out his hand again, now trying to reach for the other's leg, a desperate maneuver that spoke more than his words did on his feelings at this moment.

"Please let me continue to fight beside you...Zu...Zuwijo..."