Snickerbobble
The Painter
The Spectre Hood
Introduced in 1.2, the Spectre Armor was easily the most powerful armor in the game. It gave increased damage stats along with a lifesteal mechanic, which effectively made mages immortal, as long as they had mana. Update after update, it has received nerfs along with a mask variant beside it which was more focused on damage, with the hood focused on self (and team) healing. However, a 40% damage decrease was slapped onto it. While it is definitely more balanced than originally introduced, I feel the hood along with its set bonus can be improved. Lifesteal has been a controversial subject, so here's my take on what the Spectre Hood could be:
Now, this is how I feel the Spectre Hood could be, remaining as team assisting armor and becoming more appealing to a new player:
Quite a lot to explain, but its set bonus description sums it up nicely: "Attacking enemies powers up your team."
With these changes, Spectre Hood's set would be a unique team supporting armor, without the controversy of lifesteal. With lifesteal, the spectre user basically becomes immortal, and is only most effected in the moon events where they don't get as far. With the powering up ability, the spectre user will need to rely on skill to survive and will provide helpful buffs to other players (or themself if alone).
That's how I would solve the Spectre issue of a magic armor crippling a magic stat. The main idea here is the power-up mechanic, so the other stats are up for change. What do you think?
Introduced in 1.2, the Spectre Armor was easily the most powerful armor in the game. It gave increased damage stats along with a lifesteal mechanic, which effectively made mages immortal, as long as they had mana. Update after update, it has received nerfs along with a mask variant beside it which was more focused on damage, with the hood focused on self (and team) healing. However, a 40% damage decrease was slapped onto it. While it is definitely more balanced than originally introduced, I feel the hood along with its set bonus can be improved. Lifesteal has been a controversial subject, so here's my take on what the Spectre Hood could be:
Current Spectre said:
Spectre Hood
40% decreased magic damage
6 defense
Set bonus: 20% of damage dealt is healed the nearest player with the least health, capping at 2 hearts a second, with 4 or less damage causing no heal
This is what the current stats and set bonus for the Spectre Hood are. Keep in mind that to a new player, pre-craft, the set bonus is unknown, so with a low 6 defense and 40% negative damage, a new player will likely not pick this at first when there is the significantly more tempting Spectre Mask to pick from.
Now, this is how I feel the Spectre Hood could be, remaining as team assisting armor and becoming more appealing to a new player:
Suggested change said:
Spectre Hood
Increases maximum mana by 40 and reduces mana usage by 18%
10% increased movement speed
12 defense
Set bonus: Attacking enemies powers up your team
Now the Hood appears about as appealing to craft compared to the Mask. What makes the hood most interesting is its new set bonus. Damage done to enemies will cause orbs to fly out to either you or a team mate which increase the effect of armor set bonuses. Each orb will power up your friends by 5%, with other hood users and yourself receiving a 2% movement speed increase. Powering up caps at 100%, or 40% for hood users and the user. Every second, 10% of power-up is lost, or 4% of movement speed, so to keep you and your friends charged up, you need to keep attacking. Here are examples of how your friends will be effected at 100% extra power:
Spectre Hood: 40% increased movement speed (as its set bonus can't be powered up really. Mages are squishy, so the movement speed helps with dodging)
Spectre Mask: Damage orbs are twice as powerful
Shroomite: Full cloaking takes half as much time and allows minor movement without losing cloaking
Turtle: Double damage returned, half damage taken
Beetle: Both buffs stack up to 6
Chlorophyte: Leaf crystal does double damage, slight homing and faster shots
Titanium: Invincibility lasts twice as long
Orichalcum: Double damage petals
Palladium: Double healing
Everything else: Pretty much just double the set bonus stats of the other armors
Mixed Sets: Mixed sets don't have set bonuses, so they will receive increases to movement speed like the Spectre Hood.
Ontop of all this, all buff potions the Spectre Hood user drinks are also given to team members.
Quite a lot to explain, but its set bonus description sums it up nicely: "Attacking enemies powers up your team."
With these changes, Spectre Hood's set would be a unique team supporting armor, without the controversy of lifesteal. With lifesteal, the spectre user basically becomes immortal, and is only most effected in the moon events where they don't get as far. With the powering up ability, the spectre user will need to rely on skill to survive and will provide helpful buffs to other players (or themself if alone).
That's how I would solve the Spectre issue of a magic armor crippling a magic stat. The main idea here is the power-up mechanic, so the other stats are up for change. What do you think?
