devtrackers.gg
Last year, we committed to making changes to the Wound mechanic. This was due to player feedback that it was hard to understand, occupied a niche role in Dauntless combat, and was generally underwhelming. I’m pleased to say we’re ready to roll out our changes to wounding and the war pike in 1.6.0, on April 8!
We set out to achieve the following goals when redesigning the wound mechanic:
Give wounding an ‘event’, with better visibility and more impact on gameplay Separate wounds from part breaks, so that wounding is its own mechanic, rather than an optional support for the other. Make the benefits from exploiting a wounded part easy to understand for all Slayers Increase the viability and use of the war pike
With 1.6.0, when you wound a Behemoth part, you’ll see a large plume of aether escaping. You’ll also find yourself moving faster, attacking faster, hitting harder, and regaining stamina more quickly. This is the Aether Rush, and it represents Slayers using the aether released from a wounded behemoth to empower their weapons. You are essentially harnessing the power of your opponent and using it against them.
Other players can attack the part you’ve wounded in order to enter aether rush themselves. They’ll have to act fast, as Behemoths heal quickly and a part only remains wounded for a short time!
A part can be wounded even if it’s broken, and breaking a wounded part won’t end its wounded state. No more worries about hitting the right part at the right time. Wound away, and aether rush to victory!
Here’s a sneak peak at the 1.6.0 Patch Notes for more clarity:
- Striking a wounded part no longer deals increased part damage.
- When a part is wounded, it will remain in that state for 15 seconds.
- Wounded parts have new VFX that show aether leaking from the wound.
- Parts can be wounded even if they have already been broken, and breaking a part while it is wounded will not end the wounded state.
- The player who wounds a part will enter an aether rush state, gaining +15% damage, attack speed, movement speed, and stamina regeneration for 20 seconds.
- Other players can enter aether rush by dealing 1,500 damage to wounded parts. This damage can be split over multiple wounded parts.
- If a player enters aether rush while it is already active, its duration will be refreshed.
War pike is the primary wounding weapon, so we took this opportunity to make some balance and quality of life changes to it.
The special meter no longer increases damage; instead, base attack damage has been greatly increased for most attacks. Your special meter is no longer diminished when hit. In addition, the stamina cost of all attacks has been reduced. Taken together, these changes make for a much smoother play experience, allowing war pike users to focus on landing their hits where they need to instead of managing their stamina and special meter.
Here’s another patch note summary in advance:
- Taking damage no longer reduces the special meter charge.
- Slowed the rate of decay on the special meter.
- Special meter charge level no longer increases damage dealt.
- Retuned damage for all basic attacks to increase overall damage output.
- Piercing Flurry no longer consumes stamina.
- Piercing attacks generate 2% of special meter per hit, harvesting attacks generate 7%.
- Ammo now only has four levels of quality (1/2/3/4) based on meter threshold when stored (10%/33%/66%/90%).
- Piercing attacks now deal 100% of base damage as part damage and 133% of base damage as wound damage.
- The Munitions Amplifier mod now provides an additional 25% quality to stored ammo.
- The Savage Wellspring special now has a fixed duration of 10 seconds.
- Ammo quality now affects the amount of critical chance for Savage Wellspring, up to 30%.
- Decreased the aim time of Concussive Payload by 15%.
- The lunge from Pike Charge can now interrupt.
- Pike Charge lunge base damage increased to 250 (from 210).
- Pike Charge lunge now triggers more consistently.
- The HUD meter now has threshold markings. Ammo icon art updated to better distinguish differences in ammo quality.
We’ve also taken a look at the war pike’s specials and mods, and made adjustments. We hope they will give Slayers meaningful options to tailor their kit for their preferred playstyle or the specific hunt they’re embarking on.
The war pike also has a brand new dodge animation! This acrobatic flip covers more distance than the old dodge roll, and can go vertically over ledges and obstacles. In addition, some other animations have been shortened or modified to improve the experience.
Full patch notes will drop tomorrow with lots more numbers, for mathematically minded slayers.
Thank you all for your continued feedback, and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments below!
External link →