Starry Maiden
Official Terrarian
So! Currently, Summoners stand as the weakest class in terms of damage out put and defense. While Whips were made to help them out, I don't personally think it helps enough, and if anything, the idea I had in mind may or may not add more depth to the class.
The whip mechanic in mind: Stack-able tags, with the tags decaying. This'll ensure that the Summoner is a more active role in fights. By allowing stacking tags, this also means that if you're familiar with the boss, you can stay up close to them, harassing with the short ranged whip in order to get high damage out of your summons. Essentially, to get the most benefit out of Summoners, you'd have to be well familiar with the game. No blind shooting, just dodging and attacking with the whip to keep your tags topped off.
So, let's look at the snapthorn for example. It has a tag boost of 6. With stack-able tags, and optimally whipping away at a boss, that could potentially be boosted up to 24, or even 30. Of course, it also depends on the boss as well as staying consistently on one target. If you were to dodge away, that 30 damage boost could probably quickly drop down to 12 or even back down to 6. On bosses like the Empress of Light for example, you'll likely not be able to get as high of a damage increase due to her warping away and her close ranged attacks meant to ward players away, same with Moon Lord with his laser.
But generally, it comes off as a risk and reward ratio. Do you risk getting up close to maximize your damage output, where if you get hit you're likely to take a large amount of damage due to having the weakest defense? Or do you keep safe, not getting as much of a damage buff.
Of course there's some whips that might be weird with this system: Firecracker, Cool Whip, and Dark Harvest. So, here's my proposal on them;
Firecracker: Potentially, this could stay the same, or it could be a built up charge up to a cap of 3 on a single enemy. This one I'm unsure of, so if you guys have better ideas, tell me.
Cool Whip: Creates more snow flakes, perhaps? But you lose the ability to refresh them.
Dark Harvest: This one could be like Firecracker in that you can apply the effect a limited number of times, with it releasing the barrage of projectiles equal to the amount of times it was hit.
The biggest take away is that ideally, this is to give Summoner's more of a mechanical depth. You're more rewarded for knowing how to fight what you're fighting, a true glass cannon. Stay safe with lower damage or get in close with the whips and try and reach for high damage at the cost of taking large amounts of damage if you're not cautious.
The whip mechanic in mind: Stack-able tags, with the tags decaying. This'll ensure that the Summoner is a more active role in fights. By allowing stacking tags, this also means that if you're familiar with the boss, you can stay up close to them, harassing with the short ranged whip in order to get high damage out of your summons. Essentially, to get the most benefit out of Summoners, you'd have to be well familiar with the game. No blind shooting, just dodging and attacking with the whip to keep your tags topped off.
So, let's look at the snapthorn for example. It has a tag boost of 6. With stack-able tags, and optimally whipping away at a boss, that could potentially be boosted up to 24, or even 30. Of course, it also depends on the boss as well as staying consistently on one target. If you were to dodge away, that 30 damage boost could probably quickly drop down to 12 or even back down to 6. On bosses like the Empress of Light for example, you'll likely not be able to get as high of a damage increase due to her warping away and her close ranged attacks meant to ward players away, same with Moon Lord with his laser.
But generally, it comes off as a risk and reward ratio. Do you risk getting up close to maximize your damage output, where if you get hit you're likely to take a large amount of damage due to having the weakest defense? Or do you keep safe, not getting as much of a damage buff.
Of course there's some whips that might be weird with this system: Firecracker, Cool Whip, and Dark Harvest. So, here's my proposal on them;
Firecracker: Potentially, this could stay the same, or it could be a built up charge up to a cap of 3 on a single enemy. This one I'm unsure of, so if you guys have better ideas, tell me.
Cool Whip: Creates more snow flakes, perhaps? But you lose the ability to refresh them.
Dark Harvest: This one could be like Firecracker in that you can apply the effect a limited number of times, with it releasing the barrage of projectiles equal to the amount of times it was hit.
The biggest take away is that ideally, this is to give Summoner's more of a mechanical depth. You're more rewarded for knowing how to fight what you're fighting, a true glass cannon. Stay safe with lower damage or get in close with the whips and try and reach for high damage at the cost of taking large amounts of damage if you're not cautious.
