Test Discussion Episode 43: Ally - Death Metal Batman

Howdy Rockers! We've got a new rockin ally for y'all to give a look. He's still a work in progress but we'd love to hear your feedback on him.

New Ally -
Death Metal Batman

Active Ability
Death Metal Guitar Attack
AOE damage guitar playing that places all 3 debuffs for x seconds, then switches to cone attack with guitar-scythe that deals y damage.

Passive 1
Black Lantern Energy Steal
Every x seconds, when using a debuff, places a pool that gives bonus power regeneration
Every x seconds, upon killing an enemy you and 3 allies with the lowest health get healed for y% of health

Passive 2
TBD - This is still a work in progress so once its ready for test i'll update.

Please let me know what your thoughts are.

Initial feedback:

The cone range of the attack portion is very small. Since he goes to mid range (almost melee) he will be so close and will only attack in a small arc. The width of the attack doesn’t match the actual animation.

Range of attack should be changed to about a 65 degree angle and he should be moved back so that he doesn’t accidentally miss adds.

Debuff range should also be increased. The debuff is applied at close range. When DMB teleports to the correct range he will do the debuff but from that range only half the sparring targets (5 count) get the debuff). For mobile bosses this can cause debuff to miss. Additionally, if you stand close enough for his attack to hit he will no teleport closer and doing so puts him entirely out of range for the debuff.



Current damage values per rank:
R1: 84k (total damage. 2 enemies hit out of 5), did not record ST damage
R2: 125k (2/5 targets hit), 125k ST
R3: 162k (2/5 targets hit), 168k ST
R4: 200k (2/5 targets hit), 196k ST
R5: 238k (2/5 targets hit), 237k ST
R6: 285k (2/5 targets hit), 275k ST
R7: 329k (2/5 targets hit), 303k ST
R8: 348k (2/5 targets hit), 357k ST
R9: 390k (2/5 targets hit), 418k ST
R10: 433k (2/5 targets hit), 480k ST

Thoughts after testing:
Damage should be lowered by about 10-15%. On AoE it is doing as much damage as cyborg. On ST it does still do less than HoL and FPB. It however also puts up a debuff on enemies. Lowering it by 15% would make it so that it does outperform an ally who’s only aspect is damage while still being competitive with its other aspect. However lowering to much would make turn it to another ally people will ignore.

As said earlier, the cone angle should be increased since it currently has such a small angle that it will miss more often than hitting an enemy.

Range of debuff should also be increased. Similar to its cone range the range of the debuff can make it miss enemies entirely.

This ally does have aspects similar to cyborg. It’s debuff and attack can both miss which gives it risk in order to justify it doing a lot of damage. However it’s risk will more often than not be to much as in combat it may miss to frequently. Even thou cyborg can miss, it’s projectiles are pretty reliable. Increasing its ranges for both parts of its active while lowering its overall damage would make it so that it can still miss but more stable. And in return less base damage

FP Aquaman's passive doesn't seem to reduce the cooldown for DM Batman.

Also, the damage seems stupid high compared to typical staples like HOL Bot or Cyborg without near the drawback.

HoL and FB Batman both do more damage than DMB on st. You can’t test those allies on sparring target since they don’t show the true numbers. Those 2 allies have a double tick mechanic that affects bosses so the damage they do is higher.

But yes, for AoE the damage is to high. I suggested a damage decrease if 10-15% but would prefer 15%. On AoE it’s not as effective as cyborg because if the width of its cone attack. More likely you will only be hitting one target compared to cyborgs attack which a wide width

Since players will naturally compare this ally to other allies I wanted to make a comparison to them.

Cyborg vs Death Metal Batman:
Cyborg has a wider range and it’s attack is safe from interaction. He jumps into battle does his attack and then leaves. While his attack can miss mobile targets, the attack is rather safe and doesn’t normally have any problems connecting. When hitting enemies by a wall they have been known to have double ticks with grenades bouncing back.

DMB has a much smaller width to its attack. Because if the width the attack will not connect in actual combat on all targets. On top of that, in combat it can aim at the wrong target if you have tagged a different target and doing so can make it hit someone you do not want to prioritize. It’s debuff while great has such a short range that in combat it can miss all together. Batman will first teleport to be within range if a target then does the debuff. If enemies move slightly away from said targets they will get out of range and not receive any debuff at all. After the debuff DMB will do it’s AoE attack which will barely hit AoE. This attack pattern also leaves DMB open to interrupt when compared to cyborg or even other allies. While cyborg does his attack right away DMB does not. His late attack means his has plenty of time to be interrupted without getting any damage out at all.

Overall cyborg will do more damage at this state. That does not mean his attack should not be reduced. 15% damage decrease would put it from a 433 AoE range to 368k. Which does less than cyborg. But it’s width should also be increased.

When comparing to HoL bot and FP Batman, both of those allies have a mechanic where they do a double tick (not FPB grenade) while shooting. This makes it so that they are a clearly stronger than DMB. The damage decrease would also affect its ST which means that they would do even better on ST than this ally. But that is fine. This ally would also do a debuff to compensate. Range of debuff should however be increased since atm the debuff will rarely hit anything.

The attack pattern also leaves DMB open to issues that no other ally has. All allies start attacking as soon as they are summoned. This includes allies who attack over time like HoL bot and FPB. When they get interrupted they do reduced damage since their attacks get cut short. Cyborg can very rarely be affected since he attacks as soon as he arrives. DMB does not attack until a few seconds after he is summoned. Any form of cc can cause for him to deal 0 damage which gives it a risk other allies do not have.

I'm not getting the same results when comparing allies damage to each other as people above mentioned.

I did Harley, DMB, and Cyborg for AOE damage. Cyborg is still doing way more damage than DMB, which how it should be, since DMB puts a debuff on enemies.

Harley is actually below DMB, but she also deals separate damage to bosses, which I still would prefer.

DMB only damages 3 targets and applies the debuffs to up to 8 enemies.
Harley hits 5
Cyborg hits up 8, but he can miss if you are positioned weird.

I think he's pretty good as an active ally.

Haven’t tested yet so can’t say one way or the other but just make sure cyborg didn’t get a lucky bounce in. He can get very lucky sometimes and basically double his damage. If it’s as you say, then that all sounds like a pretty fair setup. Harley hits bosses like a runaway truck but there’s no real way to show that on a sparring target.

I did not know he could double his damage. I'll test him again in a different way.

Yeah, try to find a target that isn’t backed up to a wall/ standing in an angled corner of a room. Unless you’re on live and trying to do a ton of damage with him and then do do those exact things haha.

Feedback
Just one tick from Black Lantern Energy Steal healed me back for 102853 Power.

I'm guessing this hasn't been tuned yet.

After finding out about Cyborg can bounce, I'm adjusting this.

DMB only hits 3 targets. Applies debuffs to 8. 452,421
Harley hits 8. (That was my silly fault.) 323,718
Cyborg hits up to 8. 542,913

For non boss damage, Cyborg is still higher than DMB. Harley still loses to DMB, but it more than is made up for with Boss damage.

Feedback
I spent a few minutes testing Defense Debuff stacking just to see how that would work out. I used Fear Gas for my tests since it has no damage variance and it is very easy to instantly see the effects of a debuff.

Here are some quick results on a single sparring target 99130 Might:

Baseline Fear Gas (No Debuffs):
2285 per tick

Heartbreak Trinket Debuff:
2454 per tick

Toxic Encore Debuff:
2542 per tick

Death Metal Batman Debuff:
2536 per tick

Amulet of Rao Debuff:
2685 per tick

Death Metal Batman Debuff + Amulet of Rao Debuff:
3043 per tick

Death Metal Batman Debuff + Amulet of Rao Debuff + Heartbreak Trinket Debuff:
3366 per tick

Death Metal Batman Debuff + Amulet of Rao Debuff + Heartbreak Trinket Debuff + Toxic Encore Debuff:
3752 per tick

Getting all the debuffs to line up for that last test is a bit tricky.

EDIT:
An example of the last combination:

Are there vfx on the passive? It sounds good but I don’t want to be laying down Black Lantern effects. It’s a bit out of character for them.

I’m confused (so others might be too) but do you mean it’s weird for Batman to be a black lantern or it’s weird for a black lantern to make any sounds?

For the purpose of testing I will be 10 hits from each notable ally and list there averages out below.

Cyborg: Time to attack: 1.8 seconds
432,268 when hitting 13x
288,190 when hitting for 10x
427,821, when hitting for 11x

Harley: Time to attack: 4.5 seconds
327,299

FP Batman: Time to attack: 9.0 seconds
317,338

DM Batman: Time to attack: 6.8 seconds - 8.4 seconds
427,966 when hitting 3 targets
435,663 when hitting 2 targets

If decreased by 15% than the damage if DMB would go to about:
363,796 when hitting 3 targets
370,313 when hitting 2 targets

Decreasing it further would make it virtually unusable. The width of its attack should be increased to match the animation. Currently it hits for about half the width. Hitting more enemies won’t make it hit harder since it will follow the splitting rule. However it will make it more consistent. Decreasing it less would make it to strong as the debuff would add to its value making you deal more damage which bridges the gap between it and cyborg.

So a 15% decrease is, in my opinion, needed. Width of cone should also be increased. And range of debuff should be doubled.

Another factor to take into account is time to attack. That is the amount of time from when they are first summoned all the way up to the final tick of damage they do. The longer it takes for this to happen the more time they are vulnerable to interrupt.

Cyborg only has a second to get interrupted to stop its attack. Harley does have time but it’s short enough to be safe. FBP, HoL bot, and other “over time” allies have damage that they do while they are out. If they get interrupted than they still do damage but not the full damage. DM Batman has higher risk of getting interrupted by unlink other allies, it’s damage is a burst at the end so any form of CC will cause it to deal 0 damage.

I have to test tomorrow night, but from face value he sounds absolutely amazing depending on the percentages

I think 15% would be too extreme here. The fact the cone is narrow helps with the current damage numbers it has. But I wouldn't be running DMB for it's damage, but the debuffs or passives.

Yes, my bad. I edited that poorly and it looks like word salad. I mean, will my characters be generating black lantern vfx when they use the passive? They’re not black lanterns, so I don’t really want that. Anyway I’ve been informed the passive can’t even be tested yet, so it’s moot.

Passive 1 leaves a field of black music notes and sound waves.
Passive 2 will emit bats and envelop you in bats for the duration of the buffs (to be tested later).

We wanted something that fits the Black Lantern Death Metal Batman in one passive and just the Bat family in the 2nd passive (and vampires and whatever witchy/spooky themes like bats).

15% is not extreme. As it is right now it is overpowered. It has damage and a debuff. Yes it has risk of missing or getting CCed but the damage is just to high. Look at the numbers it does. I even did the math and showed how much damage it would do with a 15% decrease. 15% would still put it above Harley in AoE but below cyborg. To compel for the lower damage it also has the debuff.