Shattering the mold on Scorpion

General
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Hi there everyone,

Mike here again with mini dev blog / call to action!

Previously on Community Makes a Skill Tree™: Shatter Strike was given an awesome skill tree because you all brought forward some great suggestions. The Shatter Strike tree that you can find in-game is completely made up of nodes that were suggested by the community. Since we had well over 100 nodes suggested, nowhere near all of them could be included in the game - but I think we got a really fun skill tree out of it!

This is how I like to play Shatter Strike;


 
I want to give a shout-out to @JustLoveHnS for their suggestion to change the base skill functionality from a single 360 degree swipe slash into two 200 degree slashes that meet in the middle. I think this gives the skill a lot more personality and fun factor.

We’ve picked the next skill in the series to get the community treatment. Please leave your suggestions here as a comment and I’ll get to work on them next week!
 

Summon Scorpion

The Primal Scorpion has 400 base health and performs a melee attack which deals 28 physical damage and inflicts poison with double duration. It’s special ability is Poison Nova which inflicts poison with double duration and 25% increased effectiveness to all nearby enemies.

If you have so many ideas that you have an entire skill tree planned yourself, please pick out your favorite and most transformative nodes to present as suggestions and then link the whole tree after that. What I’m mostly looking for are nodes that change the way you play.

Since we’ve done an Acolyte skill, a Mage skill and now a Primalist skill, next up will be a Sentinel skill. Who knows what class we’ll do after that…

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Love reading the community suggestions. Keep them coming!

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Scorpion suggestion!

Noxious Catalyst [0/X]: Enemies poisoned or plagued by your Scorpion take X% increased Poison Damage.

followed up by…

Plague Stinger [0/1]: Your scorpion now inflicts plague when it attacks poisoned enemies. Plagues inflicted this way spread X% faster.

I like to consider Companions not only for “Zookeeper” builds, but also for that neat Beastmaster aspect where you have a single Companion that is your dear friend. Scorpions can be your close friend too! A node like this would make the Scorpion stand out as a singular companion for poison focused builds, helping you augment your damage while having a pet that deals decent ailment damage on its own.

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The numbers I have are what I would consider as the starting point and then go up from there.

Carapace 0/5: increases the scorpions armor by 100

(Linked with Carapace)Black Carapace: 0/3 your scorpions armor becomes as hard as steel increasing its chance to take a glancing blow by 10%.

Scorpions Swiftness: 0/5: increases Scorpion attk speed by 3%

Become as One: 0/3 when your Scorpion is Out increases your chance to poison by 100%, attk speed by 10%, and movement speed by 4%

Fang and Stinger:0/1each time you use Serpent Strike you Scorpion uses it poison nova ability.

Spreading Poison: 0/3 increases the area of your scorpions nova by 10%

Branch from Spreading Poison. Lingering cloud 0/3 your scorpions poison nova Lingers for 2-4-8 seconds.

Branch from Longering cloud. Pandemic 0/1 your scorpions poison nova is now a Plague nova. Enemies killed while effected by the nova have a chance to spread all their poison stack to a near by enemy.

Scorpion Brood: 0/5 each time you attack there is a 10% (maybe 20) chance for your Scorpions brood to hop off her back and explode on the nearest enemy releasing a cloud of poison.

Caustic Blood: 0/1 when an enemy is poisoned it’s blood becomes caustic and explodes on death dealing poison dmg to enemies around it.

Poison is Life: 0/5 each stack of poison applied heals you and the Scorpion for 2 health.

Dexterous: 0/5 each time you use Serpent Strike increase your Dex by 10 this can stack 1-5 times for 4 secs.

My Precious: 0/5due to your bond with the Scorpion if it is the only companion out you both gain +10elemental protection, +4 vitality, +10 health, and +5% attk speed

Poison claws: 0/5 increases your scorpions poison dmg by 5

Poison Knowledge: 0/5 through long use of its poison your Scorpions chance to poision is increased by 40%

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Edit: updated a bit.

Ok. Here a first chain of nodes.

Invasion:

You can summon up to 3 Scorpions at a time but they live 10 seconds. Scorpions have 25% less life and deal 25% less damage. 75% Less manacost. 0/1

Node1: Requires Invasion.

Scorpions have 25% increased Movement, Attack and Cast Speed per allocated point. 0/4

Node2:

When Scorpion dies or expires it creates Acid Lake on his place. Acid Lake is big area of poison that applies 3 poison stacks per second and lasts 5 sec.

Node3:

Scorpion deal 10% more poison damage per allocated point. Scorpion has 25% increased cooldown recovery speed per allocated point. 4/4

Node4:

Scorpions slow attack and cast speed of nearby enemies by 10% per allocated point. 4/4

Second chain of nodes, requires Invasion.

Node1: Scorpions have 50% Chance to Bleed per allocated point. Scorpions have 20% Increased Bleed Effect per allocated point. 4/4
Node2: 1% of Damage dealt by Scorpions is leeched to you as life. Scorpions have 10% Increased physical resistance per allocated point. 3/3
Node3:

Scorpions can retaliate with Cursed Blood Lake when hit. 8% Chance per allocated point. Cursed Blood Lake is area patch of blood applying bleed every second and making enemies to take 10% increased physical damage. 5/5

Node4:

When Scorpion dies or expires you gain 50 life per allocated point. +3 Base manacost per allocated point. 4/4

Node5:

Scorpions never miss and enrages after 5 seconds of life is left. +10 Base manacost. 1/1

New chain here. This gameplay will be around damaging your Scorpion instead of enemies to proc powerful spells.

Node1:

You can damage your Scorpion. Scorpion has 200% More Health. 50% Less damage taken from you. 1/1

Node2, requires Node1:

For every 50 damage taken from you Scorpion emits Poison Twister Nova. Scorpion deals 10% More Damage per allocated point. 5/5

Node3, requires Node2:

For every 100 damage taken from you Scorpion emits Boiling Blood around. 20% More Life per allocated point. 5/5

Node4, requires Node3:

If you damaged your Scorpion recently he can cast Poison Twister Nova and Boiling Blood on attack. 10% Chance to cast and Attack Speed per allocated point. 5/5

Node5, requires Node4:

If you kill your Scorpion you are healed for half of health and he bursts in big area casting Lake of Corruption. Lake of Corruption applies to enemies 10 stacks of Poison and Bleed per second per allocated point and lasts 5 seconds. 3/3

Node6, requires Node4:

For every 200 damage taken from you Scorpion emits Healing Wave that heals other summons for 200 life per allocated point. 5/5

Node7, requires Node6:

You have 5% Less Damage Taken per allocated point if you damaged Scorpion recently. Your Scorpion deals 30% More Damage per allocated point if he’s below 30% Life. 3/3

Node8, requires Node7 and Node5:

If you die there is 10% chance per allocated point you will be healed to full life and your Scorpion will die instead. 5/5

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Now this is exciting! Awesome ideas from people already.

I made a whole skill tree, but the ones I would like to see the most are the Sequenced Strikes, which are kinda like Rive for the Sentinel, transforming the way the Scorpion attacks. This could ofcourse be expanded upon, but I like the idea of it attacking with its different weapons, including the tail.
The other I really like is the Spiked Exoskeleton path, making you want the Scorpion to tank, take a lot of hits, thereby damaging the enemies that hit it.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1rS-X3qY2b_b-rLUd24-OkTVdQ6HrgyLdvioNrYML8oY/edit?usp=sharing

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Take inspiration from real world and how scorpions live.

For example, they are not producing eggs, they give birth to live larve(vivaparity), which will mold into scorpion. While in this state, they ride on mother itself.

So example for node could be, that some larvae will start appearing on scorpion and player can with command or trigger mold this larvae quickly into small scorpions, which will swarm all enemies around. There could be support nodes, which will increase rate of larva spawn, their numbers, their strength etc. It could replace poison nova or be just another ability.

Another interesting thing about scorpions is, they can glow in dark under specific light spectrum. So this could be some minor node, which would make scorpion glowing while in dark, increasing light radius (if there is any), maybe revealing hidden/stealth minions (if there are any) or something to fit this theme.

Also they moult themselves several times during life time. So maybe node, which will cause Scorpion moult after certain number of kills or something like that, making him progressively stronger as players play with his scorpion?

The more crazy ideas are replacing his claws and tails with some alternatives. So player could actually customize, what the scorpion is doing - like mutate left claw to some sort of drill, right claw to hammer and tail into some sort of magical gun shooting lasers :smiley: While maybe not perfectly fitting, i would enjoy this type of customization .

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Awesome ideas everyone, already have tons to work with. It’s so cool to see these ideas. I know that several things have already been suggested that we hadn’t considered at all yet. This is going to be a really good tree.

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Since I’m a fan of ignite builds:

Ignite the Fumes (0/1)
All poison effects now apply ignite instead.

Or:
The scorpion gains the Ignite the Fumes ability. Ignite the fumes is fired in a nova and converts all poison instances on enemies to ignites.

And a bonus one:

Symbiosis (0/3)
The scorpion attaches to your back and attacks enemies in melee range. 5/10/15% of damage taken redirected to the scorpion.

P.S. came up with another one to supplement Ignite the Fumes mechanics/fantasy wise:

Disease Vector (0/1)
Enemies hit by the scorpions melee attack become disease vectors for 2 seconds and leave a trail of gas that poisons enemies that pass through it. The gas can not apply more than one poison per second.

Edit 2: Just read about Aura of Decay so maybe my disease vector suggestion could work similarly to aura of decay from the scorpion instead of on hit.

Anyways, excited to see what comes out of it!

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“Name here” (0/1)
The scorpion gains Poison Spray ability (Void Eruption "Creates a cascade of void explosions at target area. ")
“Name here” (0/2)
The Poison Spray ability has 30% increased Cooldown Recovery Speed per allocated point.
“Name here” (0/3)
The Poison Spray has 30% increased Area of Effect

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Just a couple of ideas not related to the overall poison theme:

Iron Scorpion 1/1 - Scorpion gains armor equal to its maximum health. Scorpion can no longer poison, chance to poison is converted to stun chance.

Grasping Claws 4/4 - Claw attacks have a 25% chance per point to Slow (20%) on hit.
Prey Immobilization 3/3 - 50% Increased Slow effectiveness per point.

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“Become as One: 0/3 when your Scorpion is Out increases your chance to poison by 100%, attk speed by 10%, and movement speed by 4%”

I like this idea of pets providing different buff options via their trees. Could make a Beastermaster build end up with a crazy amount of options.

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Imperator Scorpion: 1/1 Increasing the Size, Damage, Armour and Protections and reduce Globalspeed and Health. Replace the Poision Abilities with Crushing Claws and Tailswipe.
Crushing Claws Maul the target for X Physical Damage and immobilize the Target for 2 sec.
Tailswipe unleashed 3 Projectiles in a small Cone that Piercing the Target.

Small Note

Rupture : the Scorpion has a chance to Inflict Bleeding on Attack.
Anemia : Increased Bleeding chance, Bleeding Damage and Duration.

Great Note

Bloodlust: 1/1 Attacking a Bleeding Target the Scorpion has a 20% chance lapses in a rush, increasing the Globalspeed for 5 sec and take Increased Damage for the Duration.

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I’d love to see a node that changes the single scorpion to a swarm of scorpions. For performance reasons, you could make it actually only one summon, but make it look like a writhing mass of scorpions. Maybe make it diminish in size as its health gets lower. or something. I’m not sure what combat related changes to go along with this, maybe remove the physical damage completely in favor of poison.

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I’ll give a big thumbs up to the brood of scorpions jumping off the mother’s back and inflicting additional stacks of poison. In a pet build, I see Scorpion competing with Entangling roots for a skill slot since it also provides pets increased Poison chance and provides a heal at the end. In that event, you’d either want Scorpion to have multiple sources of Poison and Plague (which is a heavy Poison) or you can give it benefits to the player that Entangling Roots / Summon Spriggan don’t already have.

Mating Dance (x/7): Produces 1 larva (up to x amount) every 5 seconds. Releases all larva when uses the Poison Nova.
Matronly Burden (x/4): Increases Scorpion’s attack and movement speed by 8% per point after releasing any number of larva.
Desperate Measures (x/5): When Scorpion reaches 20% health, destroys all larva, heals Scorpion for 5% for each larva.

Instead of having larva, Scorpion can also use the molting theme
Molt Skin (x/1) - Removes all damaging effects of Scorpion every 10 seconds
Frequent Shedder (x/5) - Reduces cooldown of Molt Skin by 1 second
Shedding Burdens (x/2) - Increases Scorpion’s movement and attack speed by 10% per point after Molt Skin.
Carapace Armor (x/5) - Player reduces damage by 3% per point for 5 seconds after Molt Skin. All Speed increases to the Scorpion are cancelled (so you can choose between a fast damaging Scorpion and a Scorpion that sheds a heavy armor skin to give you extra protections).

Iron Scorpion - I like Zithuan’s idea a lot, though the idea of having left pincer + right pincer + tail as different attacks makes it too similar to the Sabertooth, in my opinion.
Toxic Remedy (x/5) - Increases Poison protection by 100 per point.
Dash through the Clouds (x/3) - Increases Attack Speed and Dex of player by 5% per point when he is in a Poison Cloud (this includes the Scorpion’s Poison Nova, but can also work for any enemy poison attacks like the Void Spriggans)

And some regular attack nodes:
Several nodes should make Scorpion’s attacks Plague to distinguish it from regular pet poisons. Stormquake’s ideas are an example to follow.
Detachable Tail (x/5) - The scorpion’s barb sticks in the opponent’s skin, increasing the duration of Poison caused by the Scorpion’s attacks.

One idea I thought of was having the Scorpion dig underground as a way to avoid damage, especially when telegraphed AoE’s become a massive pain for your other pets.
Burrow Underground (x/1) - After Poison Nova, the scorpion burrows underground, become immune to all enemy attacks for 4 seconds before resurfacing. Scorpion’s attack speed is reduced by 25% because it’s attacking by sticking its tail to the surface.
Acid Spray (x/4) - While Scorpion is underground, creates an Acid pool at its location, causing Poison at a 2m radius for 2x seconds.
Follow my lead (x/6) - You and your minions dodge rating is increased by 50x points while Scorpion is underground.

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Poison Pool: The poison nova leaves a pool of poison on the ground which lasts X seconds and deals X% of Novas damage.
Healing Poison: The scorpion no longer attacks enemies. Every X seconds it stings you and applies a healing effect.
Invigorating Poison: Healing Poison also increases attack speed, Cast speed and movement speed.
Sting Blaster: Your scorpion shoots poison projectiles instead of attacking close ranged.

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RED SAND : Scorpion sting ignites
RED DEATH : Scorpion explodes when it dies, killing all minions in X Radius
RED DISCIPLES : The minion corpses near Scorpion, randomly evolves into fiery warriors.
RED SHELL : Scorpion and Hero (near X range) have Fire Protection
RED WAVE : Scorpion dives into the sand creating small explosions in X range.

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