walter Please don't move on from Walter's ammos yet there's still things that need tuned

[Mysterious box]

So I know you want to move on from the slingshot but the balance between ammo types is still off.

First up is shockscrap rounds they only deal 74 damage against a wet target which seems too low for such a specific scenario and even more so compared to dreadstone rounds which deal 68 damage by default and 78 damage with a void grip and hood.

However the main event is the lunar path vs the shadow path which currently isn't a competition. The shadow path gives you the icker rounds which is the best available slow for Walter and it also gives you the pure horror rounds which with the upgrade from the void gear deals 43 damage on the initial hit and 9 ticks of 10 damage over time for a additonal 90 damage which stacks up to about 3 to 4 times and can be fired from the thulecite frame to inflict the dot on a horde. Compare this to the lunar side husk rounds deal 68 damage and have a chance to spawn a tentacle at a lower rate than cursed rounds that deals 85 damage. Pure brilliance rounds simply inflict a debuff that makes mobs take 5 more planar damage for around 8 seconds boosting husk rounds damage up to 73 for the normal shot and 90 for the vine attack. the brilliance rounds also have a aoe effect for it's debuff but since the aoe planar attack is on the shadow path it's effectively meaningless. Also since cursed rounds spawn their secondary attack more often it means the damage output of cursed rounds and husk rounds are nearly equal. I just don't understand what the purpose of the lunar path is.

Also as an aside I feel like the design of fetch further pushes Walter into going for a beefalo since big Woby can't fetch the only way you'll be able to make use of the skill is to not use big Woby.

[Gashzer]

Shockscrap damage is OK, it's the saffron feather thats the problem. Changing the recipe to use a volt goat horn, and instead of crafting 20 rounds you craft 40 (60 with projectile pro 1&2) would be better me thinks.

Agree completely with lunar affinity rounds!

 

[Tarnishedmax]

2 hours ago, Gashzer said:

Shockscrap damage is OK, it's the saffron feather thats the problem. Changing the recipe to use a volt goat horn, and instead of crafting 20 rounds you craft 40 (60 with projectile pro 1&2) would be better me thinks.

Agree completely with lunar affinity rounds!

 

are you being serious or are you joking, a voltgoat horn for a mediocre projectile that can only be used specifically when something is wet and still does less damage than just using cursed rounds is genuinely insane, saffron feathers are not even hard to acquire as Walter, you just need to grow a pumpkin and do a scarecrow and you got all the saffron feathers you could ever need and since you are Walter you could just shoot the birds, rounds costing saffron feathers are not the issue, the issue is that the rounds are genuinely worthless, no matter the cost. they need to be entirely reworked or do some absurd damage to wet targets otherwise these are just pointless, i personally think they should bounce off enemies, kinda like a spicier brightshade staff while retaining the wet modifier, additionally, having a way to consistently wet enemies would make this round genuinely useful, like a water balloon round.

6 hours ago, Mysterious box said:

I just don't understand what the purpose of the lunar path is.

It genuinely makes me so sad how useless it is, pure brilliance projectiles adding 5 planar damage to attacks but just lasting 8 seconds is genuinely ridiculous, i cannot imagine a single scenario where i would be using this, the buff should last for like a minute and add like 15 planar damage, but only craft 15 per brilliance, basically a counterpart to the icker rounds, icker are utility and slowdown, pure brilliance are damage buffing and incites aggression. Brightshade rounds should probably spawn vines on a % like cursed rounds do, currrently you can only get ONE vine hit every so often.

[OMEGASCRUFF]

I agree with you. They are not fully polished yet, though it's gotten a lot better and, other than Lunar rounds, they feel pretty good to use. I have enjoyed using Sticky, Moonglass, and Gunpowder rounds. Horror and Icky are also great. I don't think I would change any of them. It might be a bit uncommon to like the Gunpowder rounds, but I think they're a pretty good option for general day-to-day combat. I'm sure they'll compete with Cursed rounds a bit though, because I kinda ended up with more fragments than I could ask for during a full Ruins clear. They might become obsolete, but I, uhh, made a LOT of them, so I'll get back to you once I eventually run out.

The rest could really use a re-evaluation in my opinion. Not sure about Dreadstone yet either and need more experience with them, especially with their kinda mediocre availability during playthroughs without duplication.

I'm still working on a playthrough and further testing and just getting used to Walter gaming in general, so I don't feel like I'm prepared to provide specific suggestions on changes to the numbers. But the sentiments in the OP seem aligned with my experience and testing on a debug world.

[Mysterious box]

6 hours ago, Gashzer said:

Shockscrap damage is OK, it's the saffron feather thats the problem. Changing the recipe to use a volt goat horn, and instead of crafting 20 rounds you craft 40 (60 with projectile pro 1&2) would be better me thinks.

Agree completely with lunar affinity rounds!

 

The recipe isn't the problem it's that the round is weaker than dreadstone and cursed at it's peak which is against wet targets so why would you ever make it? Let alone spend a skill point on it? It only offers damage and it's weaker than options it's literally put alongside on the skill tree while being the most conditional ammo type. It's like if using volt goat jelly made you do less damage than a dark sword would you still use it in that scenario?

[Radicaljoe]

I still like the idea of making shock scrap an effect round. Making whatever is hit with the bullet "charged" and will pull towards other charged enemies. This makes the aoe of other bullets more consistent. Because the group will be stuck together.

[Tarnishedmax]

1 hour ago, Radicaljoe said:

I still like the idea of making shock scrap an effect round. Making whatever is hit with the bullet "charged" and will pull towards other charged enemies. This makes the aoe of other bullets more consistent. Because the group will be stuck together.

Ive been thinking of having this round work like a taser that spreads electricity to like 5 enemies, not huge damage but keeping an enemy in place for a couple seconds would be extremely useful and also cool

[V2C]

We are still going to be looking at ammo changes when we continue working on other parts of Walter's skilltree.