Stone Armor. Again.

[Aracknight]

Has anyone considered this minor thematic twist on "adjusting" Stone Armor? 

 

Generally I mean, like the myth of Antaeus, where if the giant was on the ground, he was invincible?

 

Specifically I mean:

 

Make Earth;s Embrace only able to be used when on the ground.

 

Make Mud Pots only work when on the ground. (I always thought earthquake would be cooler, but whatever.)

 

Remove the speed and travel power restrictions from Rooted and...make it only work when on the ground.

 

This at least gives an opportunity to Stoneys to be a little more flexible and not be as slllloooowwww as they are now.

 

 

.02 inf.  Have a nice day.

 

 

[Galaxy Brain]

I dig it. It still gives a mobility restriction without feeling awful.

[Lost Ninja]

Do it. And give Granite an inherent (server tray style) short range teleport. (Plus a min FX version...)

[Haijinx]

I tripped over a curb on my way into this thread.

 

But hey i like these ideas!  

[MunkiLord]

While we're at it, Scrappers need Stone Armor too!

[Bopper]

I must be in the minority on the forums, but I think Stone Armor shouldn't change. It is truly a unique set that is incredibly powerful (durable) with little investment. I also think a lot of the detriments of Stone Armor are easily mitigated with teleport or simply turning the powers off and on. In this case, rooted can be turned off, you're allowed free movement, then turn it back on. With a 4 second base recharge, there's not much to be worried about with reapplying it as soon as you want.

 

As for Granite Armor, if there was one QoL change I wouldn't mind seeing is the SA toggles that were active when GA was activated are automatically reenabled when leaving GA. But that change might make SA too broken of a set if you can essentially swap builds that easily.

[Haijinx]

1 hour ago, MunkiLord said:

While we're at it, Scrappers need Stone Armor too!

Not till they fix the curb thing.  Its just too embarising for a scrapper to be unable to hop a curb

[Demon Shell]

16 minutes ago, Bopper said:

I also think a lot of the detriments of Stone Armor are easily mitigated with teleport or simply turning the powers off and on. In this case, rooted can be turned off, you're allowed free movement, then turn it back on. With a 4 second base recharge, there's not much to be worried about with reapplying it as soon as you want.

If you are afflicted with a mez before or during the time while Rooted/Granite is off, then you're mezed and you have to Break Free. The closest analog to that is Electric Armor, and if they're immobilized or KB when they jump, their mez protection will automatically turn back on when they land (to free them, or stop them from being KB juggled).

 

Nothing Stone has or is capable of, least of all Granite, makes getting stunlocked worth trying to jump a curb. That's why they teleport (or these days, turn on Rune of Protection).

[Bopper]

27 minutes ago, Demon Shell said:

If you are afflicted with a mez before or during the time while Rooted/Granite is off, then you're mezed and you have to Break Free. The closest analog to that is Electric Armor, and if they're immobilized or KB when they jump, their mez protection will automatically turn back on when they land (to free them, or stop them from being KB juggled).

 

Nothing Stone has or is capable of, least of all Granite, makes getting stunlocked worth trying to jump a curb. That's why they teleport (or these days, turn on Rune of Protection).

Great point, RoP is also a good mitigation for not only handling the temporary time between transitioning, but also handling the potential for mezzes.

[Razor Cure]

8 hours ago, Haijinx said:

I tripped over a curb on my way into this thread.

 

But hey i like these ideas!  

Ha!

The inherent tp is a good idea. The set needs something. Maybe your connection to teh earth blah blah lets you meld with it and zoom forward (anyone who has seen Hydroid's wave attack in Warframe could see this would be awesome).

Also ditch that good awful penalty on Granite (the dam/rech)..if anything hitting people with a huge stone fist should do more damage.

Perhaps tone down the values on granite (for one power, it does a lot, balanced by teh shitty penalties..see above)...make it less awesome but useable with the other armours. Why cant you have a big lump of granite with some pretty crystals growing over it for psi def?

[Bopper]

1 hour ago, Razor Cure said:

Perhaps tone down the values on granite (for one power, it does a lot, balanced by teh shitty penalties..see above)...make it less awesome but useable with the other armours

Those are certainly the options. As it is now, you can have a defense capped, resistance capped, HP capped, and status protected tank by using only two Stone Armor powers: Granite Armor and Earth's Embrace. Sure, it takes some set bonuses to achieve, but that's still mighty powerful. Personally, I think every suggestion I've seen in regards to removing the penalties from Granite Armor just lends itself to making Stone Armor OP. Everyone and their grandmothers would be making a stone tank if that was the case as it offers up the only permanent god-mode T9 out there.

 

One idea I haven't necessarily seen but I'm sure has been floated is to move the status protection from Rooted to Earth's Embrace (as a 120 second duration effect). It would allow for the transition out of Rooted and Granite Armor for temporary movement without having to worry about leaving a Mez hole while doing so. You'd still be vulnerable to attacks while toggling on all the Stone Armors, but at least you won't be at risk of becoming incapacitated.

[Replacement]

I'd still break the cottage rule with Stone Armor.  That would be best.  Basically, they need Earth Glide (Teleport that only works when targeting the ground).

 

Barring cottage things, like combining some of their armors and totally reworking Granite, I'd settle for adding Earth Glide as a rider power to Rooted.  They definitely should not get it through Granite.

 

 

[Yomo Kimyata]

On 11/12/2019 at 8:48 PM, Haijinx said:

Not till they fix the curb thing.  Its just too embarising for a scrapper to be unable to hop a curb

Paragon City needs more ramps.  And none of this 40 degree incline bs going into the subways.

[Bopper]

1 hour ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

Paragon City needs more ramps.  And none of this 40 degree incline bs going into the subways.

Ironically those inclines have helped my hero develop calves of granite.

[Kyksie]

Just remove the movement restrictions. Simple and easy.

[SeraphimKensai]

There's more to it than just the movement debuffs. Granite also has a -65% recharge debuff and a -30% damage debuff. I addressed these to a degree my post (Granite in 2019 and Beyond) on the subject last month.

 

As Stone Armor currently is, it's not conducive to actually using vs just an IO'd Invuln, DA, or Ice Tank.

 

 

[Kyksie]

True but Granite also makes you more invulnerable than anything else, hands down. It's a worthwhile trade.

 

Maybe give a bit of a buff to the armors that can't be used with granite.

[Galaxy Brain]

19 minutes ago, Kyksie said:

True but Granite also makes you more invulnerable than anything else, hands down. It's a worthwhile trade.

 

Maybe give a bit of a buff to the armors that can't be used with granite.

That just isnt true anymore. In an IO world, even minor set bonuses will push other sets to be as tough as granite or just about as tough with no downsides.

[Bopper]

11 minutes ago, Galaxy Brain said:

That just isnt true anymore. In an IO world, even minor set bonuses will push other sets to be as tough as granite or just about as tough with no downsides.

You can also build a fairly sturdy non-granite build with IOs. Likely strong enough to tank without the need of granite, but can go god mode whenever it needs. Downside, you still have to be Rooted for status protection which stinks, which is why I'd like to see the status protection moved from Rooted to Earth's Embrace

[Haijinx]

22 minutes ago, Galaxy Brain said:

That just isnt true anymore. In an IO world, even minor set bonuses will push other sets to be as tough as granite or just about as tough with no downsides.

And the builds are actually easier than trying to fix Stones damage / recharge hole.

[Haijinx]

45 minutes ago, Kyksie said:

True but Granite also makes you more invulnerable than anything else, hands down. It's a worthwhile trade.

 

Maybe give a bit of a buff to the armors that can't be used with granite.

How tough do you need to be? 

 

If you never die on your invul you still never die.