Wortox Skilltree: Perk review and addressing certain issues

[asdsaax]

 

Color Legend:
Green - Perfect Perk
Purple - Has specific purpose but still good
Orange - Has minor problems
Red - Has serious problems
White - Minor perks for managing point budget

Problems with Lunar Swindler :
  It's the Lunar counterpart of Shadow Harvester
except it feels less unique because it recycles an item and accomplishes similiar thing but in less demanding way.

but to understand what solution we need, we should compare both perks:

Shadow Harvester :
-Unique effect that complements Wortox's abilities and encourages using them, creating sense of synergy
-Rewards with high damage for perfecting attack patterns
-Has additional AoE effect that can help with farming bees without Naughty AoE perks
-Is melee oriented combat option

and Lunar Swindler on the other hand:
-Recycles already existing item (Bone Armor), which contributes to perk's feeling less special
-Makes combat safer but it doesn't offer anything better that Shadow Harvester couldn't accomplish
-No additional bonus that complements Wortox's tree
-Is also melee oriented combat option

Personal solutions:
So the problem is... the perk is semi-same but arguably less.
I believe the best solution would be to rework the perk in a way that offers different playstyle to make it more special!
Affinity stats don't have enough impact to justify keeping it conceptually as similiar ability but with different versions so...

Personally I think Howlitzer with Lunar Swindler could accomplish similar thing:
-Being the safe combat option, while delivering different experience
that needs (less strict via affinity) maintentance so the safety feels earned, but effective.
Details for another post if requested, to keep it short.

--

Problems with Cloudy Carmen :
The perk has potential to be more annoying than helpful, due to how monsters behave!
especially stuff like Dragonfly, Deerclops and Hounds that start running around which results in prolonged fight and unpredictable behaviour.

but credit where credit is due... it's good against toadstool

Personal solutions:
1. Allow extra hits before waking up and extend sleep duration so it serves well against previously mentioned mobs and toadstool. I think this arrangment keeps perk's identity while making it reliable.

Alternatively we could give it a different effect.

--

Problems with Covetous Collector :
That perk offers us 2 things:
-A weapon that caps at Dark Sword's damage and costs 2 silk + 4 souls and 3 inventory slots via soul jars
-Small damage up for soul abilities

But the problem is it's RNG dependent and asks for a lot in exchange for similiar performance of a hambat
that is inventory friendly and in the worst case scenario we could end up without enough red gems or jars at the time we need it
so it can hinder us when progressing the game when it comes to accessibility, time and inventory managment

and on top of it, it's an expensive capstone, which can alter our build at cost of other abilities that are more reliable like Pleasant Pastorale or others!
Admittably it is nice basic mob whacker, but at what cost?

another problem is that the soul damage doesn't make a significant difference to justify the investment

Personal solutions:
I think the perk on it's own needs a buff since it asks for so much in so many areas and yet it offers base game experience.
I see 2 ways to go about the perk:
1. Nerf the damage to 50, lesser soul cap and join it with the Soul Jar perk so we are left with basic mob whacker for soul farming in the early game and space for something new
2. Sacrifice soul scaling, to give more power budget for knabsack and possibly return pure horror/brilliance upgrades
to solve the problem of average performance for extra steps

--

Problems with Knabsack :
Is item sweeper for bee stingers, since Wortox is notorious for generating trash loot
but without a hotkey, using it feels very uncomfortable and can't be even utilized in dense sapling farms

Personal Solutions:
-Give it a keyboard bind

--

Problems with Soul Bastion II :
That perks is catering to multiplayer Wortox supports which is fine, but as expensive cap stone I think it could use an extra:
Insight into player's health, be it 150/150 info when hovering or at all times, though it could be a base game thing in general

[asdsaax]

Forgot to mention:
Soul Pierce and Pleasant Pastorale have tendency to harrass Beefalos with a bell
and we don't want that for obvious reasons

I think giving them Gloomer's/Chester's attack priority would solve a lot of present and potential future problems

[asdsaax]

I updated the post so message is palatable and shorter (Especially about Covetous Collector)

[Echsrick]

i am still feel mixed about the left and right panflute skills, they feel like a what ever

[Soul7k]

On 1/25/2025 at 8:17 AM, asdsaax said:

Forgot to mention:
Soul Pierce and Pleasant Pastorale have tendency to harrass Beefalos with a bell
and we don't want that for obvious reasons

I think giving them Gloomer's/Chester's attack priority would solve a lot of present and potential future problems

this seems like an oversight that should get fixed asap