Kawarimi: porting Ninjutsu to Tankers and Brutes

[Replacement]

I would love to see Ninjutsu come to the tank-capable melee Archetypes, and I have a weird way to do it: put their taunt aura on a pet instead of the caster.

 

So a quick breakdown of what that would look like:

• Probably based more on the Scrapper version.
• Replace one of the powers.  Example paths:
  • Combine the heal/end restore
  • Shinobi-Iri (all defense+stealth+crit chance) cannot port as-is anyway, so you could remove it entirely.
  • Removing Blinding Powder could also work, but tool-usage is on-theme and I believe the set will want guaranteed access to a multi-target attack (more on this later).
• The new power:
  • Teleports you to very nearby location (probably something like a 25' max range - same as the Origin ranged attacks)
  • Leaves a clone of you behind that is destructible, but durable, and has a taunt aura.
  • If replacing Shinobi-Iri, could also include its minor defense (melee/ranged/aoe)+stealth for a short duration.
  • Must have a low cooldown, as this will be your bread-and-butter.

 

I cannot actually know if it would have enough aggro control to able to tank with, but my instinct is to say that it would work due to:

• Guaranteed Taunt (the power) access for both ATs.
• Gauntlet/Pokevoke combined with any amount of aoe
• Blinding Powder providing guaranteed in-set access to an aoe attack for triggering the taunt Inherents
• In exchange for a bit lower taunt reliability, Tankers and tanking Brutes would benefit from an increased effective aggro cap (because their pet could take on 17 more targets).

 

I suggested Kawarimi in the Thread title as the name for this, because that seems to be the common cultural word for it (it's not just the Naruto word for it).  But there are some other words that could work as well, or just use a westernized name like "Mislead."

 

Numbers: There is an issue, which is that the numbers on Scrapper Ninjutsu are actually crazy-high.  I have broken down the numbers and overwhelming advantages in the Spoiler below, but here is the TL;DR:

 

-- The +Defense toggles should drop down to the same level as Shield's version (15%).

-- Bo Ryaku (Auto Knock protection and Res(all)) is too good, and should be replaced with a more targeted version.  I suggest reducing it to only supply elemental resists (F/C/N/E) and allow the relative "hole" to Smashing/Lethal to exist with the expectation that your clone will tank a lot of that for you.

 

Spoiler

 

Apparently there has been concern that Ninjutsu's defense + survival numbers could be too high on a Tanker Chassis.  Simply scaling the Scrapper defense numbers would supply:

* 23% base defense to all 3 positions (for reference: Super Reflexes is 26%),

* A fast-recharging click Heal

* 30% Psi resist (mez click) and 20% toxic resist (from Heal click)

* an additional ~10% resist all from the Auto power (so that's 40 psi/30 toxic)

 

For reference, Tanker Shield Defense provides 18% positional defenses (more with nearby friends), 15% to all resists except psi, but does also provide a lot of offensive benefits.

 

So looking at the numbers, it's safe to say much of the Defense scale needs lessened.  I would also think changing out Bo Ryaku (knock protection and res(all)) entirely for something more targeted would make sense.  E.g. res(F/C/E/N) and expecting the clone to handle your relative Smashing/Lethal weakness.

 

 

Edited July 23, 2021 by Replacement