Walter Skill tree concept

[Catuna_]

I'm a diehard Walter fan through and through, I made a skill tree concept for him in the hopes of expressing the ideas I have, as well as the route I hope gets taken with him. I'd love to see Klei flesh out his kit, making him swap between ammos and be a reliable ranged (but more costly) character.  And I wish for better improvements for Woby.

I've made this tree have 4 sections: Badges, Slingshot, Woby and Affinities. It goes as follows:

Badges

Backpacker badge: Learn to craft the ammo pouch, an attachable pouch to any backpack that adds a separate collapseable 6 slots that can only store darts, hounds teeth or slingshot ammo.
(REQUIREMENT: Prototype and completely fill up a Piggyback with separate items.)

Troop leading badge: Root for nearby allies, reducing sanity drain from mobs for players. Any follower will snap out of boss roar fears twice as fast and will follow Walter for longer. 
(REQUIREMENT: Tame 5 pigmen all at the same time.)

Storyteller badge: During his time in the constant, Walter has come up with new stories, improving his storytelling ability just a little bit. (10sanity/min -> 25sanity/min and new stories.)
(REQUIREMENT: Unlock 5 insight points.)

(PS. I'm thinking of more badge perks, it's just 5 am right now.)

Slingshot

Bouncy rounds: Learn to craft bouncy rounds, perfect for clumps of enemies. (Deals 34 damage, bounces between 3 enemies dropping by 4 damage for each subsequent target hit.)
(1 mosquito sack -> 10 Bouncy rounds)

Slimy rounds: Learn to craft slimy rounds. (No damage. Cover your target in snurtle slime for 5s, any enemy that is ignited on fire will instantly take 40 damage in an AoE and be extinguished should they live. Any burning object can be shot to induce the same effect.)
(1 snurtle slime -> 10 Slimy rounds)

Fire rounds: Learn to craft fire rounds. (No damage. Inflicts fire, similar to a fire staff, but lasts 1.5x as long.)
(1 red gem 1 moonrock -> 10 Fire rounds)

Prickly rounds: Learn to craft Prickly rounds (Deals 51 damage, sticks to traget deals continous damage over time, effect doesn't stack and doesn't reapply.)
(1 cactus 1 stinger -> 10 Prickly rounds)

Shock rounds: Learn to craft shock rounds (Deals identical damage to Morning star. Summon down lightning if it is raining and if on the surface to smite your targets, leaving them on fire. This can be diverted by lightning rods.)
(1 volt goat horn 2 gold -> 20 Shock rounds)

Quick draw 1:Increase your slingshot's firing speed by 25%.
Quick draw 2: Increase your slingshot's firing speed by 50%.
Efficient worker: Learn to efficiently craft slingshot ammo yielding 50% more ammo. Crafting slingshot ammo is now faster. 

Woby

Pep in her step 1: Big Woby's speed is slightly faster. (flat +1 speed)
Pep in her step 2: Big Woby's speed is a lot faster. Woby's speed degrades slightly slower. (flat +2 speed, -15% hunger drain)

Fluffy guardian 1: Small Woby will now revive players using a telltale heart if she has one in her inventory or one nearby when prompted by Walter (works even if ghost).
Fluffy guardian 2: Big Woby protects you from 25% of damage taken. Upon taking damage, if the damage taken is not enough to buck Walter off, Woby will speed up by 30% for 2 seconds.

Evasive and skittish: Big Woby will dodge 1 hit every 5 seconds.
(Does not proc Fluffy guardian)
(Indicator could be a quote, sound effect from Woby or visual effect.) 

Here, girl!: Right clicking on Woby will call her back to Walter regardless of any factor.
Go fetch!: Right clicking an item will now prompt her to pick up an item and bring it back.

Affinity

Shadow affinity: "The shadow queen rewards you with the ability to craft Horror and Nightmare rounds". 

Horror rounds: Deals 60 damage (30 damage/30 planar), 10% increased damage against Lunar-aligned mobs. Upon impact, attach up to 3 parasitic bombs to your target, detonating within 2s or whenever the enemy is attacked by a player (10/15/30 planar damage depending on how many bombs are attached).
(1 pure horror 1 dark tatter -> 20 Horror rounds)

Nightmare rounds: Deals 42.5 damage upon impact, summon a shadow sneak trap that will induce panic for enemies caught within its radius.
(2 nightmare fuel -> 10 Nightmare rounds)

Lunar affinity: The cryptic founder rewards you with the ability to craft Brightshade and Moonglass rounds.

Brightshade rounds: Deals 60 damage (30 damage/30 planar), 10% increased damage against Shadow-aligned mobs. Summon an unstable tunneling vine that grips onto the target, dealing 10 planar damage and holding them in place for 1s. attacking the target again will free them. 
(1 Brightshade husk 1 Pure brilliance -> 20 Brightshade rounds)

Moonglass rounds: Deals 42.5 damage (59.5 damage against Shadow-aligned mobs). Upon impact, these rounds will shatter and will leave glass behind, enemies stepping on these rounds will take damage overtime and be 20% slower.
(2 Moonglass -> 20 Moonglass rounds)
 

Balance is not something I kept in mind that much, compared to the ideas of the perks. Feel free to add suggestions or give out criticisms.
(Edited the post to buff Lightning rounds, nerf Rubber rounds and buff Pep in her step 2.)

[Theukon-dos]

Pretty modest as far as skill trees go in all honesty. I'd say that the Alignment perks should have effects other than just new ammo types. Shadow would probably be tied to his sanity perk, such as by letting him use magic items at a lower penelty. And Lunar would probably buff Woby in some way, shape, or form.

[EdithBagel]

Where's the skill to have a critter pet and Woby

[goatt]

A few suggestions:

1. one mosquito sack -> ten bouncy rounds -> 340 damage total, or 1020 damage if fully bounced, the math seems unjustified.

2. I think ammo crafting should have Sawhorse like structure that allows ammos to be crafted in bunch.

3. Switching ammo should skip pre-cast.

I think the 3rd point is important. Walter has some good de-buff ammos that would enable some strategic gameplay. But switching to debuff ammo significantly slows down the shooting speed due to pre-cast annimation, and makes Walter susceptible to getting hit. It makes the experience rough and undesirable, discouraging players from using those debuff ammos in the fly.

[QuillVest]

Bar the obvious number tweaks, there are some good things, especially the slingshot and woby skills. I do think woby needs a bunch of love in Walter's skill tree

[Gashzer]

Im also a hardcore Walter fan! Heres my feedback on your skilltree:

I don't like the backpacker badge as Walter is one of the few characters that excel without using a backpack due to wobys inventory and klei should be encouraging people to use body armour with his pinecone hat with walter to negate his downside.

So maybe replace that badge with a survivalist bushman badge, walter can craft a grass ghillie suit that has the same defence stats as grass suit but 3x durability and walter can hide with it like the bush hat at the cost of durability. Woby could instantly draw aggro away after walter hides causing mobs to chase after her but not attack her.

You could use the suit to stealth slingshot mobs then re-hide to lose aggro, penality for this is cost of ghillie suit durability. Should also work on bosses after 1.5 - 2 secs instead of instantly losing aggro hence requiring you to run abit away first before hiding.

 

Also a meat drying related badge that allows walter to craft a better drying rack to dry more meat faster.

Otherwise the rest of your skills sound awesome!

 

Here my very outdated skill tree ideas from way back i would change the woby perks to your fluffy guardian perks as your ideas for woby are much better than mine.

 

[Balter]

Also a big fan of Walter here. I like the idea with badges but how about we take a step back on the idea of more slingshot ammo types (cuz theres already like alot) and instead give Walter a craftable Bow & new arrow types as a mean of progression.

For scout it makes sense that Walter knows a thing or two about archery, this can be incorporated easily with his playstyle as he can craft arrows from the dozens of feathers from slain birds that become otherwise worthless.

Walter gets a skill which allows him to tame hounds and ride vargs because he is good with dogs.

I also want to see a custom storyteller skill but it also allows the Walter player to edit his stories. Imagine the creativity between every single scout and what they can come up with.

 

People like to see Walter as a naive foolish boy, but to me he is a heroic individual who is willing to help anyone or anything in danger regardless of how they seem. He is truly a selfless scout and deserves alot more respect than what many deem of him.

[ShadowDuelist]

I think the bouncy thing should be instead a capstone perk, expensive in points and an overall transversal upgrade to the slingshot that affects all rounds. As a compensation all slingshot rounds should not stunlock mobs, making positioning and moving around more important for walter.

If the crowd control shots bounce more than the damaging ones, it would turn his slingshot into a useful crowd control system, ranging from the early game to the late game.

The affinity rounds suggested seem a bit expensive for what they will be, since with the same materials you could repair to 100% your weapon or armor. Walter players will end up wasting huge amounts of expensive material when doing any stuff late game, even killing spiders. I think instead, depending on the affinity selected, you will have a new slingshot upgrade perk that enables you to craft a slingshot with durability that deals planar damage and has special effects (depends on the affinity). This will make so that you need to repair the “planar” damage dealing side of your slingshot less often (same as repairing a planar dealing melee weapon) and will affect all rounds you place in it, allowing you to combine effects of the other rounds with some planar damage.
 

Even if you respec points to craft both slingshots, if your character affinity is not right, walter should deal much less damage with it and he will say something about not feeling right.

The affinity should also affect big Woby, perhaps allowing you to not be knocked out of big Woby at all when hit by attacks of said affinity, that would otherwise knock you down.

I really like the idea OP gave of giving small woby items that she can use, it would be amazing. And Woby dodging some attacks would be amazing too, further reinforcing a playstyle of constant moving around and positioning, trying to avoid damage in general and not penalizing small mistakes. Specially now that beefalo fighting against knockback dealing entities will make you lose your beefalo really often.
 

2 hours ago, Gashzer said:

Also a meat drying related badge that allows walter to craft a better drying rack to dry more meat faster

A woby perk that allows you to dry meats you place individually in Woby’s inventory would probably work too. It could take slightly longer than a normal drying rack to not outclass them, but you could do it on the go adapting to situations, like a true boyscout.

[dois raios]

I entered here not expecting this, I am in fact surprised with the ideas (in the good way), I will leave a Big Ups.

[grm9]

1 hour ago, ShadowDuelist said:

It could take slightly longer than a normal drying rack to not outclass them

you can have more than 9 drying racks and you'd normally use woby's inventory slots for using other important stuff though, it'd be fine even if it'd be faster than normal drying racks if it's 1 meat per slot

[Clopsy627]

I played Walter a few times but gave up before summer each time due to his fire rate i will play him a lot more if he gets a fire rate increase

[Mr Giggio]

PERFECT

[Valase]

Really neat!

one small suggestion, what if the rift-affinities gave him a new lunar/shadow sligshot.

like:

• Void slingshot: shoots three projectiles in a cone shape, but each deal 70% of the damage.
• Bright slingshot:  the projectile will pierce enemies.

and both getting the headslot interaction (bonus stacking damage for the void cowl and the flat damage from the shade helmet).

[Catuna_]

12 hours ago, Gashzer said:

Im also a hardcore Walter fan! Heres my feedback on your skilltree:

I don't like the backpacker badge as Walter is one of the few characters that excel without using a backpack due to wobys inventory and klei should be encouraging people to use body armour with his pinecone hat with walter to negate his downside.

So maybe replace that badge with a survivalist bushman badge, walter can craft a grass ghillie suit that has the same defence stats as grass suit but 3x durability and walter can hide with it like the bush hat at the cost of durability. Woby could instantly draw aggro away after walter hides causing mobs to chase after her but not attack her.

You could use the suit to stealth slingshot mobs then re-hide to lose aggro, penality for this is cost of ghillie suit durability. Should also work on bosses after 1.5 - 2 secs instead of instantly losing aggro hence requiring you to run abit away first before hiding.

 

Also a meat drying related badge that allows walter to craft a better drying rack to dry more meat faster.

Otherwise the rest of your skills sound awesome!

 

Here my very outdated skill tree ideas from way back i would change the woby perks to your fluffy guardian perks as your ideas for woby are much better than mine.

 

I think the badge ideas that I whipped up suck. I need to rethink them. I really do love the idea of Walter having badge perks that he can earn by requirement, but the ones I came up with are too gimmicky. An idea I had was a bravery badge that lightened his downside but I really feel like he should stay a punishing character, and in turn he should be a lot more rewarding. I like that Walter unlike Wanda, Maxwell and Wormwood is punished for being hit significantly compared to the rest of the roster.

I don't really understand the option of giving Walter easier jerky, unless you take an extra page out of UM's book and make Monster jerky Woby's favorite food (which to be fair he says that it is). I suppose it would add an easier way of restoring his stats on the go but this is already accomplished by the portable tent which he is really efficient with.

11 hours ago, Balter said:

Also a big fan of Walter here. I like the idea with badges but how about we take a step back on the idea of more slingshot ammo types (cuz theres already like alot) and instead give Walter a craftable Bow & new arrow types as a mean of progression.

For scout it makes sense that Walter knows a thing or two about archery, this can be incorporated easily with his playstyle as he can craft arrows from the dozens of feathers from slain birds that become otherwise worthless.

Walter gets a skill which allows him to tame hounds and ride vargs because he is good with dogs.

I also want to see a custom storyteller skill but it also allows the Walter player to edit his stories. Imagine the creativity between every single scout and what they can come up with.

 

People like to see Walter as a naive foolish boy, but to me he is a heroic individual who is willing to help anyone or anything in danger regardless of how they seem. He is truly a selfless scout and deserves alot more respect than what many deem of him.

The issue with Walter's ammos is that they offer a big illusion of choice when they are almost all just straight damage upgrades. Pebbles and poop pellets are useless and too gimmicky respectively while gold is only good for killing birds. Ice rounds are identical to an ice staff most of the time, Slow-down rounds are awkwardly expensive and niche. This leaves marble which is obnoxious to farm and Cursed which is the most convenient ammo.
I went ham on new utility ammo types because I'm keeping in mind the existence of the Howlitzer and the increasingly available AoE options in this game and I feel that Walter is very much deserving of AoE potential seeing that he'd need to invest a big recurring cost to use it.
I don't like the idea of a new ranged weapon type because this is already accomplished by his Slingshot and there's really no reason to give him any other weapon unless it's a slingshot upgrade.
I also really dislike the idea of giving Walter Beefalo taming perks (and so Vargs as an extension) because the entire point of Walter and Woby is that they're a duo. She shouldn't be less appealing than a beefalo or a varg or whatever. He's also not a follower focused character. Klei have made Walter and Woby as a duo and I think that giving small Woby the ability to help Walter and Big Woby more unique interactions compared to Beefalo really help solidify that.

4 hours ago, Valase said:

Really neat!

one small suggestion, what if the rift-affinities gave him a new lunar/shadow sligshot.

like:

• Void slingshot: shoots three projectiles in a cone shape, but each deal 70% of the damage.
• Bright slingshot:  the projectile will pierce enemies.

and both getting the headslot interaction (bonus stacking damage for the void cowl and the flat damage from the shade helmet).

The reason I avoided new slingshots is that Walter talks about how other options aren't as good as his Trusty slingshot, and I felt like it was very easy to make it better than the Howlitzer without adding one by adding utility-based ammo types and two insanely strong damage-dealing rounds, making his ammo cheaper and adding powerful damage rounds with his affinities. I wouldn't be opposed to a new slingshot or two though, it's an effective idea.

 

[DragonerV]

I’m also a staunch fan of Walter. The suggestions you’ve provided are excellent, and I’d like to share my thoughts as well. In my opinion, Walter, as a long-range marksman skilled in remote attacks, currently has some obvious weaknesses in his abilities. His output capability is relatively weak, and there’s room for improvement in his aiming skills. I propose that his skill tree development could have two branches: one focused on increasing fire rate and the other on enhancing damage (such as headshots). The damage-focused route would be suitable for attacking individual enemies, although it would require longer aiming time.

Regarding bullet types, I hope Walter has better control-oriented ammunition (such as stun or immobilization rounds). Frequent movement to maintain distance from enemies can be exhausting, so I’d like to see ammunition that can entangle foes, created using ingredients like man-eating plant seeds and magical materials. The effects of amethyst ammunition are not significant. Additionally, explosive rounds made from gunpowder and flint (miniature cannonballs) would also be a way to increase damage. In summary, I recommend increasing the cost of ammunition production to enhance Walter’s damage output per unit of time.Despite being a young boy, his hands-on abilities seem quite formidable.

[Gashzer]

Gonna repost some ideas here to add to the brainstorm session:

The Lazy Slinger.

Recipe: 1x slingshot, 1x living log and 2x orange gem. Craftable at ancient science station.

Function: Using the power of the orange gems it instant reloads therefore has the same attack speed as melee weapons however to balance this it only has 600 durability (enough for 10 stacks of ammo) before breaking and no longer can hit stun mobs.

The Double Trouble:

Recipe: 1x slingshot, 1x thulecite and 2x green gem. Also craftable at ancient science station.

Function: Using power of the green gems it fires 2 rounds simultaneously for the price of one. Effectively double damage but same attack speed as regular slingshot. 600 durability but can still hit stun mobs. Stronger of the two slingshots but also more expensive needing the very useful green gems. Also triggers enlightened crown twice per shot

Walter having 2 slingshot skill branches and we get locked into one of them.

1. First branch to create a giant slingshot to attach to big woby which has powerful AoE or very high damage rounds.
2. Second branch is to add my 2 regular size slingshots, the lazy flinger and the double trouble. 
3. These could be the lunar/shadow affinities... shadows is lazy flinger/double trouble. Lunar is giant slingshot for big woby.

That way we can choose to be able to obtain buffed regular versions of the slingshot or we can choose to craft a bigger stronger slingshot but it requires big woby.

Other side skill ideas for walter:

• to boost hunting and tracking of animals. Skill to allow you to uncover dirt piles while mounted on big woby.
• An upgraded drying rack that can dry more meat faster- jerky is useful for walter.
• My ghillie suit idea would be fun. (https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/155564-walter-skill-idea-grass-ghillie-suit-for-stealth-slingshot-action/#comment-1709921)
• Planar rounds. 
• Skill to make small woby to run and collect items off the ground
• Skill to make small woby the ability to track resources like wheelers compass
• Skill to prevent big woby bucking walter when receiving damage
• Big woby speed buff and duration buff skills
• Pinecone hat skill to have 35% water resist and tier 2 summer/winter insulation- make it a jack of all trades insulation hat to give it more utility, right now walter players tend to choose head armor or better insulation head gear over the pinecone hat.
• Skill to enhance camper tent to allow you to sleep during day and cooldown during summer. (Maybe double sanity gain too)

[GamePlayer42]

On 4/9/2024 at 9:27 AM, Balter said:

Also a big fan of Walter here. I like the idea with badges but how about we take a step back on the idea of more slingshot ammo types (cuz theres already like alot) and instead give Walter a craftable Bow & new arrow types as a mean of progression.

For scout it makes sense that Walter knows a thing or two about archery, this can be incorporated easily with his playstyle as he can craft arrows from the dozens of feathers from slain birds that become otherwise worthless.

Walter gets a skill which allows him to tame hounds and ride vargs because he is good with dogs.

I also want to see a custom storyteller skill but it also allows the Walter player to edit his stories. Imagine the creativity between every single scout and what they can come up with.

 

People like to see Walter as a naive foolish boy, but to me he is a heroic individual who is willing to help anyone or anything in danger regardless of how they seem. He is truly a selfless scout and deserves alot more respect than what many deem of him.

bow and arrow is so off compared to everything else he has and i feel like itd just make the character too convoluted

[GRlMHlLD]

I think so far this is a solid skill tree! Again, poor lad needs a good one because as is he's a hard character to really get into besides maybe a quick move of the Shadow Pieces / Celestial Pieces but that's it. Here's hoping that a skilltree can breath some very much needed life into the character like what happened with Willow!

 

I can't really add in what was already discussed here in more detail but I love the idea of badges being part of the skill tree it's a cute and  true to the spirit of Walter addition. ^^

[Balter]

On 5/11/2024 at 4:36 PM, GamePlayer42 said:

bow and arrow is so off compared to everything else he has and i feel like itd just make the character too convoluted

How exactly will this be convoluted? Its still a ranged weapon perfect for what scouts use.

On 5/11/2024 at 6:04 PM, SSneaky said:

Not to mention that spriting team has to Sprite everything.

So you are saying a simple pull back and release animation is too much for a sprite team? Oh brother what about Wigfrid's introduction to a shieldblocks, speardash, and heck willow's over the top fireblast?!? If your idea of me suggesting Walter getting a bow for his rework is too much consider the past skill perks please.

 

Guys, all I'm hearing is it shouldn't be done not because its a bad idea but because it's a new way of looking at a character more than just for their face value. Yall are trying to deny me because "thats the way its always been" but look at the major changes of all the previous characters, people have already imbraced wolfgangs new muscle perks or woodie's new wereforms which I may add probably also enhanced their gameplay experience. This will be no different.