Power Set Suggestion: Insect Blast

[MagicalAct]

Hey all, I've been thinking of a blast set for the last few days mainly inspired by Ant-Man, Red Bee (Who has actually started showing up again) and others and just something to pair Poison one of my favorite sets thematically. I've tried to recycle animations as much as possible to make it quick and easy. The set would be on the lower end for single target damage, but make up for it in secondary effects and it's damage type being toxic which is rarely resisted. Similar to Seismic, as you use your abilities you gain a stack of "Gathering Swarm". The more you attack, the more insect allies rally to your side over time. As you gain stacks of Gathering Swarm, you get a small pbaoe aura, enemies in the affected area are subjected to afraid, a minor slow, and a minor DoT. Each stack increases the slow, and DoT effect. Gathering Swarm could use a mix of aftershock combined with the roach path aura.

 

Tier 1: Bug Bite, Single Target, Low damage, Fast recharge -res, using a black and yellow version of the weaken animation. You send forth several ants that proceed to bite your target. Their corrosive bite weakens a targets armor for a short period of time. 

 

Tier 2: Hornet Sting, Single target, Moderate damage, Moderate recharge, low magnitude fear, minor dot, using the Corrosive Enzymes. You command one of your wasps allies to sting your target. It's sting is painful, and weaker enemies may be terrified by the sight of a hornet coming at them.

 

Tier 3: Ant-Agonize, Single Target, Moderate damage, moderate toxic dot, minor aoe component, slower recharge, a slower, heavier version of bug bite. You send forth a bunch of insects to attack your enemy, so many will swarm the target that some insects may land on enemies nearby instead. (Think the minor AoE on blind range), uses Call Swarm animation.

 

Tier 4: Bug Spray, Moderate damage, Moderate Recharge, -res Cone using the neurotoxic breath animation, Bugs aren't just your allies, in some ways they're your teachers. You've concocted this caustic spray based on their formic acid and spray it a cone in front of you coating enemies and weakening their armor.

 

Tier 5: Swarm! To hit + +damage, + Each attack grants an additional stack of Gathering Swarm. This set's version of aim/build up. You summon a wave of your allies to you. Your next few attacks will do more damage, have a better chance of hitting and you'll gain an additional stack of gathering swarm with every attack.

 

Tier 6: Bee-Ware, Cone, light damage, minor dot, low magnitude fear, -to hit. You call forth a wave of bees to sting the enemies in front of you. The cloud of bees terrifies weaker enemies, in addition the cloud of bees is so thick it makes harder for enemies to attack you or your allies. Uses a mix of the Call Ravens animation and the particle effect on Call Swarm.

 

Tier 7: Cocoon, Single Target Hold, light toxic damage, slow. You summon several spiders that cocoon your target. Even after the target escapes from the cocoon they willed be slowed by the sticky web still attached to them for a short while. Uses the summon spiderlings animation+the hold from mace mastery

 

Tier 8: Infestation, location AoE, toxic dot, slows, afraid, -to hit., chance for knockdown You call forth an infestation of bugs to pop out of the ground at target location. Bug continuously pour out of the crack created, swarming nearby enemies causing them to try and run from the infestation. There are so many bugs though it's hard for enemies to escape, fight back, and some may trip or slip while trying to escape. Animation would be a combination of earthquake and the roach animation. With tidal pool existing now I think something like this could be pulled off and look cool in game.

 

Tier 9: The Hive. So for the tier 9 I had an idea to summon multiple copies of The Swarm from devouring Earth for 30 seconds or so, but I have no idea how many need to be summoned or how the numbers would have to be changed to make up for the lack of a nuke. You summon an absolute maelstrom of insects. They continuously sting your enemies, slowing them down, making it hard to escape. Repeated sting in a short time can even paralyze some foes. Uses The Swarm mob and summon swarm animation.

 

I'm not versed enough to know what the damage numbers need to be on the individual attacks but I really would like an insect themed set to pair with things like nature or poison and the chance to use things like the swarm pet would be awesome. Please let me know what you think.

[Triumphant]

It's a fun idea.  I approve.  😄👍

[Techwright]

I don't really consider insects a blast.  Arachnids even less so.  

 

Scourge, plague, insanity-provoking nuisances: these might be better terms.

 

 

 

(Joking aside, if you're going to use spiders in the set, you might want to use some other term other than "insect" in the set title.  Otherwise we'll never hear the end of folks pointing out that arachnids aren't insects.  "Bug", perhaps?  Admittedly a bug refers to a beetle, but has become broader slang for any creepy-crawley, which is another term that might be used.)

 

Silkworms might be an alternative to spiders for Cocoon.  They're an insect.

 

[MagicalAct]

18 hours ago, Techwright said:

I don't really consider insects a blast.  Arachnids even less so.  

 

Scourge, plague, insanity-provoking nuisances: these might be better terms.

 

 

 

(Joking aside, if you're going to use spiders in the set, you might want to use some other term other than "insect" in the set title.  Otherwise we'll never hear the end of folks pointing out that arachnids aren't insects.  "Bug", perhaps?  Admittedly a bug refers to a beetle, but has become broader slang for any creepy-crawley, which is another term that might be used.)

 

Silkworms might be an alternative to spiders for Cocoon.  They're an insect.

 

The spiders animation for Cocoon was mainly for asset recycling. The running idea is the more animations they can reuse to put together a powerset the easier it would be to make it/hopefully have it turn into one. I'd have no problem with it turning into something more thematic.

[Bionic_Flea]

I approve all bug-related power sets!

 

Since you called "The Hive" a "maelstrom of insects", what if you animated DE swarms (5-10 depending on size wanted) circling around one of the Tornado animations.  It's like Blizzard, in that it does a lot of damage, but it's a bunch of DOTs over an area instead of one big boom. 

 

To make it even more unique, make it a targeted AoE/Cone/persisting location!  By that I mean that it needs a target, when fired it starts at you and goes forward from you in a cone towards the target, sucking anything in between into the vortex, and continuing for a few seconds on the target and surrounding area.  So it does toxic DOT, +slow, -fly, minor KU and a suction like Singularity, Fold Space, or Axe Cyclone.

 

I think I would also switch names and call this Swarm and call the Build up, Hive-mind!

[Triumphant]

Quote

I approve all bug-related power sets!

Well, I don't know, Flea.  For some reason, I feel you might be biased here... 😄

[MagicalAct]

23 hours ago, Bionic_Flea said:

I approve all bug-related power sets!

 

Since you called "The Hive" a "maelstrom of insects", what if you animated DE swarms (5-10 depending on size wanted) circling around one of the Tornado animations.  It's like Blizzard, in that it does a lot of damage, but it's a bunch of DOTs over an area instead of one big boom. 

 

To make it even more unique, make it a targeted AoE/Cone/persisting location!  By that I mean that it needs a target, when fired it starts at you and goes forward from you in a cone towards the target, sucking anything in between into the vortex, and continuing for a few seconds on the target and surrounding area.  So it does toxic DOT, +slow, -fly, minor KU and a suction like Singularity, Fold Space, or Axe Cyclone.

 

I think I would also switch names and call this Swarm and call the Build up, Hive-mind!

I do like this idea a lot. It keeps the original spirit of the power while making it look more tier 9 worthy and gives it more utility. 

[ChetManly]

This is brilliant, well thought, and I love these power names. So puntatstic. Also a big Poison fan here so this would be great. 

Well done.

 

Chet

[TheMoneyMaker]

I would much rather see a creepy crawlies control set