HP Sacrifice Sets (Also known as old blaster Defiance!)

[MidnighterClubPatron]

Something I love from other games are HP sacrifice builds. Or in other words, builds that grant bonuses for having lower hp. 

Blasters used to operate this way where they would get a scaled damage percentage the lower their health were. But that was changed in 2007 to what we currently have now. ( https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Defiance )

So why not bring back some element of old defiance back and even extend it to melee? Below is just a rough template what that might look like.

 

Quote

Blood Armor:

(Inherent): Wound Lock [Toggle]: Prevents outside sources from healing you. Get a x% damage bonus that scales with the lower you health percentage is.
 

Vampiric Strikes[Toggle]: Reserves 10% of your hp and your strikes return X% of damage back to health to you

Deadened Senses[Toggle]: Reserves 10% of your hp and get X% resistance Smashing/Lethal damage

Blood Rush [Toggle]: Drains x% of your health per second and do 20% more damage. Must have Wound Lock on.

Gorge[Click]: Return to x% life with y% resistance to all damage. Your damage returned from your strikes increases by z% for i seconds. (Unique for a set to have a sef-res this early)
...
(T9) Living on the Edge[Click]: Reserve 10% of your health and your regeneration and health returned from damage is increased by (some large amount)%

 

As written, this set is an armor set for Scrappers, Brutes, and (maybe) Tanks. But the Wound Lock concept can easily be applied to a blaster secondary of some sort.

Foreseeable Problems:
HP sacrifice builds require that the benefits that you gain at low health outweigh the risks. So often times, hp sacrifice abilities are made stronger to compensate for that risk. However what usually happens if that risk of low health is solved. By solved I mean, you are no longer making an active decisions to balance the risks and the benefits because there is no risk. Whether that is due to super high regeneration or the damage is so high that mobs die before they can do damage to you, and so its a tricky balance concern.

So as an example, the Blood Rush ability should be balanced in such a way that you cannot just leave it on and not be concerned about the health risks, even with IOs.


In conclusion, the exact percentage of how much health reserves and how much damage you might get from the health bonuses from Wound Lock and other abilities would need to be carefully balanced, but I think this brings a unique play style that was originally in coh and gives it a modern spin. Thank you.
 

Edited September 1, 2021 by MidnightClubPatron

[arcane]

47 minutes ago, MidnightClubPatron said:

Something I love from other games are HP sacrifice builds. Or in other words, builds that grant bonuses for having lower hp. 

So an SR tanker 🙂

[MidnighterClubPatron]

35 minutes ago, arcane said:

So an SR tanker 🙂

Hah, I did make an SR tanker to have some minor semblance of this kind of danger. Doesn't quite scratch that itch.

[Outrider_01]

Regen with no defense 

[Vanden]

Low-HP risk sets don’t work in a setting where you have so little control over your health. Teammates can heal you, and enemy attacks land by random chance rather than any actions you take as a player.

[arcane]

14 minutes ago, Vanden said:

Low-HP risk sets don’t work in a setting where you have so little control over your health. Teammates can heal you, and enemy attacks land by random chance rather than any actions you take as a player.

SR tanks are basically invincible once fully slotted and forced down to 20% HP. >45% defense, 90% resistance, 95% DDR, plus whatever regen/HP bonuses you can string together... leaves very little to chance.

[MidnighterClubPatron]

21 minutes ago, Vanden said:

Low-HP risk sets don’t work in a setting where you have so little control over your health. Teammates can heal you, and enemy attacks land by random chance rather than any actions you take as a player.

 

Which is why I had this as the very first ability in the set:

 

Quote

Blood Armor:

(Inherent): Wound Lock [Toggle]: Prevents outside sources from healing you. Get a x% damage bonus that scales with the lower you health percentage is

 

As for the random chance, the set would be based in resistance rather than defense so you wouldn't be as concerned about whether they hit you or not. As long as you're pumping out the damage, you can out heal whatever you get hit with. 

So the regen without def is not a too far off comparison. But with this you are intentionally losing health to increase damage to increase regen.

Edited September 1, 2021 by MidnightClubPatron

[arcane]

3 hours ago, MidnightClubPatron said:

 

Which is why I had this as the very first ability in the set:

 

 

As for the random chance, the set would be based in resistance rather than defense so you wouldn't be as concerned about whether they hit you or not. As long as you're pumping out the damage, you can out heal whatever you get hit with. 

So the regen without def is not a too far off comparison. But with this you are intentionally losing health to increase damage to increase regen.

I get it. Reminds me of a power from ESO (“Dark Equilibrium” i think?) thay converted health to magicka. Definitely would be a cool niche to have around. Not gonna commit to blood armor but I support your proposal in general terms 🙂