Nerf Assailants/Strikers at the low levels

[Wavicle]

These ranged only mobs were added to the game at some point and they feel too powerful for their level. Maybe lower the recharge of their attacks or something?

[Akisan]

Not just those two mobs.  The Skulls were intended to be expanded in I24 (stopped by Sunset), like our crashless nukes and fast snipes.  While we do have all these nice things now, and enemy variety is nice, I don't think the new mobs were really given a thorough balance pass (like the snipes, those had to be adjusted a couple times).  For example: a +1 Death Doll (one of the new bosses, and not an uncommon encounter) can (and will) keep a hero permanently held - broken only when she misses (or more likely, you die). 

 

New, harder content is nice to have, but the new skulls are head and shoulders better than the other low-level mobs.  I'd even rate them as equivalent or tougher than Outcasts or Trolls at this point, with the additional damage and mezzes.  A balance pass on the group, or, at least, a warning on the (Praetoria-hard) Shauna Stockwell arc would be appreciated.

[TheZag]

I miss shadow maul on the skulls.  Maybe a few individual mobs are overtuned but since SOs were made available at level 2 its making it difficult for me to support most of the nerf low level mob requests.  I only have trouble when i get attuned enhancements really early since their values are so low or when i dont slot enhancements at all.

[Akisan]

SOs being available at 2 instead of 22 does help a lot.  I admit to not having run any Skulls missions since before that change, got too used to them being not worth the time/effort compared to the other enemy groups (similar story with the extremely high-damage Vahz zombies).  I mention the group being overtuned because they're *not* what you would expect a pack of level 6 enemies to be - decent to high S/L damage minions/lts., with hard CC and debuffs (and exotic damage) from the bosses.  I halve my solo difficulty settings when fighting Skulls and Vahz now, something I don't expect a new player to do.

 

The reverse is also true though - with SOs available, the other low-level enemy groups are *much* easier.  A balance pass to bring them up to speed would also be appreciated.

 

18 minutes ago, TheZag said:

I miss shadow maul on the skulls. 

 

It's still there - it's just that the Bone Daddies that have that power are much rarer now, as nearly all boss spawns are replaced by either Death Walkers or Death Dolls (the new, more-powerful bosses)

[TheZag]

Im certainly not against a balance pass but i would expect more buffs then nerfs for mobs to come from it.

 

And back in the day i think more skulls mobs had shadow maul.  Perhaps my go-to City of Heroes historian @Apparition may be willing to weigh in if im remembering wrong or did minions and Lts used to have shadow maul.