Powerset suggestion: Gravity Blast

[Shin Magmus]

   Hi there, I'm the Mr. Shin who likes good powersets and fun things.  This is my pitch for Gravity Blast, which would be a thematic pairing for Time Manipulation on Defenders/Corrs, but honestly I just want all the ranged ATs to have access to Propel.

   The idea for this set is quite simple: there are people who really like Propel from Gravity Control, and who have always wished for a Gravity Blast set.  Many aspects of Gravity Control are extremely appealing, but Gravity Blast needs a niche to set it apart from its peers in the crowded ranged damage space.  I suggest the same thing that Gravity Control, and later Battle Axe, brought to the table.  First, all Gravity Blast attacks will apply a powerful debuff to Running, Jumping, and Flight speeds as well as a debuff to Jump Height, but not affect Recharge Time at all.  A good approximation would be for a Gravity Blast power to slow movement and reduce jump height twice as much as an equivalent Ice Blast power.  Naturally this means that all Gravity Blast powers accept slow sets, and can be globally enhanced by a choice such as Intuition Radial Alpha.  Higher tier attacks slow for longer durations.  Two specific powers will also inflict -Fly, allowing you to ground those pesky fliers.  Second, Gravity Blast will have one of its AoE attacks be an AoE inverse-Repel power, named "Trawl" by the Homecoming Dev Team.  This will be roughly analogous to a ranged version of Axe Cyclone, allowing players who like that kind of enemy-condensing support to have this tool available on ranged ATs as well as melee ATs.

 

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T1 - Gravity Bolt
(Tier 1 Blast, Single Target)
Ranged, Minor Smashing Dmg, -Spd:  80 ft range, 6 sec -Spd duration, 4 sec CD

 

   Pretty generic early attacks, this is your fast-but-weak option.

 

T2 - Gravity Blast
(Tier 2 Blast, Single Target)
Ranged, Moderate Smashing Dmg, -Spd:  80 ft range, 10 sec -Spd duration, 8 sec CD

 

   Pretty generic early attacks, this is your slow-but-strong option.

 

T3 - Propel
(Tier 3 Blast, Single Target Damage and Knockdown, AoE Knockdown-only)
Ranged, High Smashing Dmg, -Spd, 100% Knockdown, 80% Knockdown AoE:  10 ft radius, 80 ft range, 12 sec -Spd duration, 10 sec CD

 

   Finally, Blasters can use Propel!  This is just Propel with more damage but with the Knock effects reduced.  It will damage and guarantee Knockdown on the primary target, but have only a 80% chance to Knockdown up to 4 secondary targets in the area (affecting 5 targets total), although it won't deal any damage to them.  Naturally this power will still summon random crap, and continue to stack up different objects around the area if used repeatedly in a fight.  This is the only power in the set with KB magnitudes lower than 1.0, meaning this is traditional "Knockdown".

 

T4 - Graviton Burst
(Primary AoE Attack)
Ranged AoE, Moderate Smashing Dmg, -Spd:  15 ft radius, 80 ft range, 12 sec -Spd duration, 16 sec CD

 

   This is analogous to Fireball: it's just a good AoE attack with a fast animation and good DPA: no gimmicks.  The ability to take multiple AoEs with strong movement slow effects is important to the feel of the set.  With a 12 sec duration on the slow, this is an effect you can refresh to maintain permanently on up to 16 targets.

 

T5 - G-Force
(Self Buff)
Self +ToHit, +Dmg (All): 10s duration, 90 sec CD

 

   G-Force is just Aim.  Uses standard values for Aim across all normal Blast powersets, effects vary slightly by AT based on their scales.  Alternatively it could also enhance all Slow Movement powers from the user for 10s, similarly to Charge Up in Elec Blast.  Obviously it will still grant +Range only on Sentinels.

 

T6 - Gravity Slam
(Tier 4 Blast, Single Target, Knock Up -> Vectored Knock Down)
Ranged, Superior Delayed Smashing Dmg, -Spd, Knock Up -> Vectored Knock Down, -Fly:  80 ft range, 12 sec -Spd duration, 12 sec CD

 

   Imagine Lift or Levitate, but angrier!  The Homecoming Devs have created a new system to apply vectors to Knock and Repel effects, but so far none of the existing powersets seem to have a true "Slam" power, and I'd like to see one.  Gravity Slam executes vectored Knock Up, then vectored Knock Down (the inverse of the previous vector) 0.8 seconds later, then deals damage 0.5 seconds after that.  With sufficient coding and bug-testing, it should be possible to fine-tune the timing so that this power almost always deals damage when the target hits the ground, consistently.  Gravity Blast does not have a Hold or Stun attack, but it has 2 attacks with the soft control of knocking the target off their feet instead.

 

T7 - Event Horizon
(Secondary AoE Attack, trades damage for utility)
Ranged AoE, Light Smashing Dmg, -Spd, Trawl Inward: 15 ft radius, 80 ft range, 15 sec -Spd duration, 18 sec CD

 

   This power has lower damage and a longer animation than Graviton Burst, but it will suck nearby enemies inward toward the primary target.  Additionally, it applies a stronger Slow for a longer duration than Graviton Burst.  Combined, these two powers will output a satisfying and powerful 1-2 combination of damage and enemy-condensing effects that are sure to please a crowd.  Furthermore, the primary target of Event Horizon is instantly affected by an unenhanceable, unresistable Immobilize/Resistance to all Knock effects for a short duration, roughly 1-2 seconds.  This hidden aspect of the power will prevent the primary target from moving (or being moved) during the Trawl effect.  This is important to prevent fringe cases where the power could pull enemies towards an actively moving target, resulting in unanticipated chaos.

 

T8 - Graviton Beam
(Narrow Cone, Damage Over Time, -Resistance)
Ranged Cone, High Smashing Dmg Over Time, -Spd, -Res(All): 5 degree arc, 80 ft range, 15 sec -Spd/-Res duration, 14 sec CD

 

   I like the idea of a concentrated gravity beam that makes the target so heavy that their own weight is crushing them.  This power is analogous to Piercing Beam and Piercing Rounds.  It is a cone, but one so narrow that it is not meant to reliably hit multiple targets: even if it does, it only has a 3 target cap.  The main use of this power is to be a single target attack that also debuffs the target's resistance, softening them up for further attacks.  These powers accept Ranged AoE sets and can therefore slot the Annihilation -Res proc to boost their total debuff effectiveness.

 

T9 - Terminal Velocity
(Nuke, Massive AoE Knock Up -> Vectored Knock Down)
Ranged AoE, Extreme Delayed Smashing Dmg, Knock Up -> Vectored Knock Down, -Spd, -Fly: 25 ft radius, 80 ft range, 20 sec -Spd duration, 145 sec CD

 

   A.K.A. Mass Gravity Slam, Gravity Blast's Nuke will be a very angry version of a similar power such as Geyser or Mass Levitate.  Terminal Velocity will use the same mechanics and timings as Gravity Slam, but deal significantly more damage and affect up to 16 targets in the standard 25 ft radius used by Nukes.  However, since this power inflicts delayed damage it will open you up to counter-attacks in situations where the targets are immune to the initial Knock Up.  In all other situations, this power should be safe to use as an "opener" and instantly defeat weaker targets before they can get back up and attack you.  Note that the delay should only exist to sync up damage with the slamming effects, not lasting longer than ~2 seconds, which is still a full 3 seconds faster than Meteor.

 

 

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   That's it, please feel free to let me know what you think.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 09:51 PM by Shin Magmus
Typos, Slow stuff

[FupDup]

The first thing that pops out at me is that I think G-Force should buff your slow effects for a short time similar to the Charge Up power in Elec Blast, to follow the trend of sets getting slightly different Aim/Build Up powers. 

 

Otherwise, I'll just leave this here to set the mood: 

[Shin Magmus]

3 hours ago, FupDup said:

The first thing that pops out at me is that I think G-Force should buff your slow effects for a short time similar to the Charge Up power in Elec Blast, to follow the trend of sets getting slightly different Aim/Build Up powers. 

   I feel like there's certainly the possibility to add stuff to G-Force: +strength to Slow effects shouldn't be that hard to add.  It looks like Charge Up grants 4/5ths of the Dmg buff and ToHit buff effects in exchange for the secondary effect.  Could copy that stat template and have G-Force grant +25% to all Slows for 10s, there might even be some super combo bullshit possible with strong slows in Time Manipulation or Blaster secondary powersets.

[Starhammer]

I'd love to see it released alongside a Gravity Armor set with a Trawl aura taunt toggle.

[dukedukes]

Grav is thematically awesome so it would be cool to see more related power sets.

Trawl effects on dps/tanks is a mistake IMO, axe cyclone being the existing problem child. It's fun but i think it performs a role outside of their AT. It's utility at its core and support/control/hybrid should own it, recall trawl only belonged to a T9 control power til axe cyclone got it, Singularity is better but it feels strange to propagate this to dps/tanks. So I'm against blaster/sentinel getting trawl effects but since there's precedent in axe cyclone I can understand the suggestion. A 15ft trawl wouldn't benefit your attacks anyway (except your cone) if all your aoe's are 15ft+, you would use it for your team or for your support power set.

My personal gripe with trawl aside here's some ideas to throw in the mix:

• Include a TP foe component (like an ST wormhole) into something like your T6 downward slam ST target attack. There's some utility in doubling some damage with possibly moving your target to a more suitable location, good for dealing with runners/stragglers or moving a targeted toggle aoe debuff from a support set to a better position, creative opportunities like that. a location target macro should function properly here in case you have no desire to make use of the TP and be less clunky to use it.
• Take the concept of propel further and summon multiple projectiles (sharp ones?) instead of a random prop for a different, probably stronger, attack. Think Gilgamesh in fate/stay night using Gate of Babylon (anime reference). Maybe this particular example could be a power set idea on its own but gravity at least plays into this concept.

[TheMoneyMaker]

Also needs to use some of the Gravity Blast powers and add some melee attacks to make a Gravity Assault secondary for dominators since they don't have a Time set to pair with Gravity Control.

[Shin Magmus]

4 hours ago, TheMoneyMaker said:

Also needs to use some of the Gravity Blast powers and add some melee attacks to make a Gravity Assault secondary for dominators since they don't have a Time set to pair with Gravity Control.

   I feel like it's more likely for the devs to re-use Blaster assets and just give Doms a set with Aging Touch, Future Pain, and End of Time.  I guess we can dream though, for Grav/Grav Doms instead of having to settle for Grav/Energy.

[twozerofoxtrot]

I've read nothing of the OP but I imagine the idea is something like the direct inverse of Energy Blast where stuff is sucked in for more damage to be done so I'm all for it.