Scalemail: Opinions and Discussion

[Evelo]

I keep looking at this item and wishing it was better. Given the steep cost of a Scale from Dragonfly for its 10% lower than Logsuit protection but triple Logsuit health but fairly mediocre other attributes (though 3.3 sanity/min is nothing to sneeze at), I am curious if people actually use it. Given the number of items we have at our disposal that are repairable I am wondering if maybe Scalemail could be repaired to keep it useful potentially. Maybe Charcoal, Ashes, or logs to repair it a little bit? Let me know your opinions and if or how Scalemail could be changed.

[Mike23Ua]

Doesn’t it have 100% fireproofness?

I know that right now that seems completely useless and entirely situational but I beg you to go play a game called “The Survivalists” It is similar to DST and even have boat rafts that like DST, except in that game their area island biomes with its own temperature.

So something like Scalemail with 100% fireproof protection, would probably be a required item to explore a Volcano Island.

This is just a buff to its “fireproof” useage, but honestly if there were enough cases to use it.. (same as Wigfrids fireproof scroll) then it would fit a niche role within the game.

[benfroyobro9381]

I think 70% damage reduction is a clever way to make traditional armor like football helmet useful, but it's current perks don't make the scalemail a very potent item. The simplest way would be to make it 80% but that's unoriginal. If I had to spitball......

• Like op said, make it repairable.
• Maybe some overload or repost mechanic? Like you can absorb damage and your next hit does more? Or when you reach a certain damage threshold, you can do an explosive aoe attack but if you don't do it in under a certain time, you take the damage. 
• Immunity to freezing or greater resistance? I think it could be a supplemental buff and it's only useful against..... two-three bosses? And if you already have scalemail, hounds shouldn't be an issue.

Also, Klei should investigate the Larvae egg. Genuinely one of the most awkward items in the game..... It's good on paper but no one uses it. 

[Jakepeng99]

31 minutes ago, benfroyobro9381 said:

think 70% damage reduction is a clever way to make traditional armor like football helmet useful, but it's current perks don't make the scalemail a very potent item. The simplest way would be to make it 80% but that's unoriginal. If I had to spitball......

Nooooo that would be a nerf it would lose durability faster.

[abrocator]

It’s useful on a beefalo versus a spider queen which is on fire.

It should have some Willow-specific bonus since she’s already fireproof.

[somethin]

How about make it so that it makes your character temp never go down below 0 degrees, basically winter immunity at the cost of no backpack. I dunno just spitballing here.

[grm9]

2 minutes ago, somethin said:

How about make it so that it makes your character temp never go down below 0 degrees, basically winter immunity at the cost of no backpack. I dunno just spitballing here

that'd make winter body slot clothes even less useful

[Ohan]

When playing Wickerbottom I always wear it on a beefalo while fighting klaus so i can ignore the fire spell. But thats it.

i think its main issue is that there arent more fire based threats so theres no opportunity for its main perk to shine.

[arubaro]

I wish it gets the malbatross peak treatment 

Also i think that DF dropping just 1 or 2 scales is kinda underwhelming the same way toad dropping 3 to 5 mushskin if we also consider that both bosses drops can be dupped with a gem that got more ways to be obtained lately

[Frosty_Mentos]

There's a distinct lack of elemental threats around the game. Caves could have more fiery threats and environments happening imo.

[Y0sH]

Wait, wait, wait if it's 100% fireproof does that mean it's immune to the Possessed Varg's Cold Flame attack?!?

[Frosty_Mentos]

5 minutes ago, Y0sH said:

Wait, wait, wait if it's 100% fireproof does that mean it's immune to the Possessed Varg's Cold Flame attack?!?

no

[ADM]

A list of improvements I could think of (more like pick 1-2, not all at once) :

• Has winter insulation
• Repairs itself when a burning mob is killed
• Applies controlled fire on the attackers to not burn loot
• Approaching fires gives movement speed for a few seconds
• Extra-Adorable Lavaes are buffed and fight with you when worn
• Some wetness resistance and speeds up drying rate when fully protected
• Glows in the dark for swaggers

[gaymime]

maybe i am not the right person to share this opinion but as someone who is forever in need of more storage room(and cannot get to the end-game content solo) i have never ever, ever been able to justify scalemail even once because i am forever in need of more scales for chests. the conversation isnt even "what would make it better" it is "what could possibly be more useful than a large chest???" it is the backpack debate only on top of the backpack it is ALSO storage at base that is lost by using it

[Wormboi]

Just do what UNCOMP did to it, were it summons larva to fight with you

[Jakepeng99]

52 minutes ago, Wormboi said:

Just do what UNCOMP did to it, were it summons larva to fight with you

I dont like that idea.

[gaymime]

53 minutes ago, Wormboi said:

Just do what UNCOMP did to it, were it summons larva to fight with you

sorry, that would just be a good reason to not to have it under any circumstance

[Maxil20]

Gonna be honest scalemail has been dead to me and will continue to be dead as long as the setting mobs on fire when hit perk exists. You get a very minor damage reflection at the cost of an extreme liability risk to everything flammable around you and the drops the mob has itself. It is not worthwhile at all IMO.

[cybers2001]

Its use is to wear while collecting brightshade husks around the lava pools imo

[Well-met]

durability is awful

resistance is awful

burning loot and everything around the mob is awful

 

 

[Ridley]

The problem with scalemail was that it lost it's best use case to the panflute. Sleeping DS Dragonfly didn't stop it from being in an enraged state so the scalemail acted as a reward that made your eventual rematch easier. You had more incentive to bump off Dragonfly each year too because it'd always hang around you while burning everything.

I think Klei may have tried salvage scalemail by making DST Dragonfly drop scales when stunned and by adding Larvae who can set the player on fire. You can beat the scales out of DF a few times with a squad to get everyone suited up before taking the boss on for the full fight. Except why would you do that when you can just sleep DF and wall/kill the Larvae?

While they could buff the scalemail or rework it, they could also add more use cases for it. Like a post rift Dragonfly rematch/harsher weather conditions/new mob type. Personally, I'd rather they focus on new stuff than changing the scalemail to work with current stuff. It still kind of works as a more bulky logsuit for fighting Dragonfly with.

[Copyafriend]

I think ridley has a very good point with

3 hours ago, Ridley said:

Except why would you do that when you can just sleep DF and wall/kill the Larvae?

Its original use-case was to make a hard fight easier the second go around. this isn't really the case in together, while it is theoretically usable for this purpose, you would need way more scales for the armor than what would be reasonable.

also:

14 hours ago, Frosty_Mentos said:

There's a distinct lack of elemental threats around the game.

there also just isn't any serious fire threats outside of dragonfly herself, and she would require several scale armors for each fight unless you dodge very well, while that's a good option, the resources involved (scales for scale chests) don't really justify the slight improvement to fighting her, especially compared to one-off investments like walls.

 

maybe scale mail could in theory have improved effectiveness against fire enemies, boosting its protection to 90% against larvae and dragonfly, while also giving it improved durability and maybe even planar armor (for future planar fire entities)? sort of like a pseudo-aligment based buff. this would also allow klei to kinda have it as a dedicated "anti-fire armor". I think making it repairable would be nice as well, considering it costs an entire scale, which makes it prohibitively expensive if it's purely consumable.

More fire based entities would be very good for the health of this item aswell.

 

if I had to choose an ability for the scale mail, I would actually reverse the current ability, instead of lighting enemies on fire, It would be nice if it PUT OUT fires in an area around the player constantly.

 

on a separate note, it shouldn't set enemies on fire, it causes much more trouble than its worth. the only fight I could see it being useful is bee queen as a pseudo crowd control, but I still think its much more likely to cause problems than solve them. I couldn't imagine bringing something capable of destroying the loot that I am TRYING to fight for.

 

[CrimsonStrider]

I love scalemail against BQ.

I use it phase 2. It panics the grumbles and is an alternative to using panflutes. I wouldn't use it for phase 1 or 3 so there's no risk of loot burning. It's also less useful because you can kite phase 1 and 2, o

It's also useful if you're playing with Willow and they are setting things on fire (mainly BQ).

There is also a very niche use against DF. You can use it to protect against enraged DF's tick damage if you don't have access to panflutes. 

 

[cropo]

Hear me out here.

 

The scale armor is fine.

Not because it's actually good, but because I think boss items should be viewed more on the material used to make it rather than the item itself; that is to ask: "What can the Dragon Scale make?". 

The answer is it can make the best pre-rift storage in the game, it can make a permanent heat station, and it can make flooring which makes fire spread more difficult. 

With all of this in mind, I feel that the scale mail is to Dragonfly what the Luxury Fan is to Moose/Goose. It's a luxury item. You make it when you are rich, it is a wealth item with some small use-cases.

Although don't get me wrong, I would never say no to buffing it.  For starters I would like if Willow could be considered "near fire" in regards to her sanity gain. Yes it would be specific to Willow, but it should be, she's the fire character!

[Jakepeng99]

17 minutes ago, cropo said:

With all of this in mind, I feel that the scale mail is to Dragonfly what the Luxury Fan is to Moose/Goose. It's a luxury item. You make it when you are rich, it is a wealth item with some small use-cases.

Luxury fan is actually useful though.