[Class Idea]Sentry - The Tanking Archer

#1

Sentry, the Bow and Banner

After years of guarding nexus and its inhabitants, some sentries decided that it’s about time they joined the fight against the Mad God.

Unlocked by: Level 20 Knight and Huntress

Sprite V4

I edited the sprite, because V1 actually missed a couple pixels to complete the head, hence making it look like a sharkhead. I wanted for the Sentry to have a roman helm fin of sorts, but it coudn’t fit in the sprite area. Which one do you like?

Completed the animations, as well as updating them for V4. It is… the ultimate version!
Primary color is dark blue, secondary is light blue.

I love support and archers, and the sentry is supposed to represent a world of tanking archers. This heavy armor bearing bow user is supposed to use that 3-shot up close, hence the heavy armor. Reduced attack when compared to huntress and archer is neccessary for this playstyle to be highlighted.

Stat Starting Gain/level Average Maxed
HP 130 20-30 605 700
MP 100 2-8 195 252
ATT 12 1-2 40.5 70
DEX 12 0-2 31 55
DEF 0 0 0 25
SPD 12 1-2 31 50
VIT 12 1-2 30.5 45
WIS 12 1-2 30.5 50

props to @IBurnYou and @SorataK, I buffed the attack and dex from 55/55 to 70/55 so its DPS doesn’t look pathetic when compared to archer’s or huntress’.The white one is the Sentry’s. Removed the older graph,because I forgot to factor the armor in.
Graph 2: to compare DPS of classes (pure weapon)

Sentry-DPS graph2.png1023x769 143 KB

I nerfed the wis and vit… because pets make them irrelevant anyways.

Ability - Banner, the Barrier

Consuming X amount of MP when the ability key is pressed (not per second), until broken, ability key released, or Y seconds have elapsed, the sentry has a barrier taking damage for the sentry at 2X8 pixels wide in front of the sentry, according to where the cursor is (If you rotate your cursor around your character, the barrier rotates with you). It returns the blocked damage as a bullet with a range of 15 tiles, hereby called as the “shot”.

This ability serves a couple of purposes:

  1. The support aspect, you can take non-piercing damage for your allies, prompting classes who would love some cover to gather behind you as you advance as far as you can to the enemy.
  2. The positioning aspect, to shotgun your 3-shot arrows, you need to go closer to your targets. This ability compensates this class’ lack of extra defense stat besides the heavy armor to reassure you hit all 3 shots.
  3. The power aspect. Huntresses suck quite badly vs. enemies with high defenses, and archers are slightly remedied by its quiver ability. The only remedy for the Bow Classes is the Doom Bow, and this ability gives you an option to shoot one high damaging bullet, as well as giving you more reasons to block bullets.

The Barrier

…now in action!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVntcnMeNuw

Upon release of ability key, or Y seconds have elapsed, a bullet at the size of the player will travel to your cursor.
The shot will deal the same amount of damage as the damage that has been taken by the barrier.
The shot does no damage if no bullets have been blocked.
The shot is released only upon ability key release, or when the duration runs out.
The shot has 15 tiles of range, and passes through obstacles.
If the barrier is broken, no shots will be released.
The Barrier’s defense is equal to 0 at all times.
The Barrier is considered broken when its health has been reduced to -1 or less.
The Barrier cannot be healed.
The Barrier cannot be affected by status effect.
You cannot switch banners when your barrier is active.
When barrier is active, your rate of fire is halved.

props to @IBurnYou, cooldown for this ability is 2 second after Barrier is broken, or shot is released.
props to @Dappertron, Barrier defense is reduced to 0 from character defense.

Here are the Ability Sprites, and the shots they release:

T0 is the white banner, T1 is the following and so forth.
The left sprite is the banner, the right sprite is the shot.

Tier MP Cost (X) Max Duration (Y) Barrier HP (Z) Stat Bonus
T0 50 3 seconds 50
T1 60 3.1 seconds 100
T2 70 3.3 seconds 200
T3 80 3.5 seconds 300
T4 90 3.7 seconds 400
T5 100 4 seconds 500
T6 100 4 seconds 500 +2 att, +2 spd

Untiered Abilities

UT - Lionheart Banner

Banner; Barrier Sprite

Crafted of etherial Solidsilk from an elder Hero spirit, this Banner urges its bearer to protect allies and slay dragons.
dropped by: Septavius the Ghost God

Tier MP Cost (X) Max Duration (Y) Barrier HP (Z) Stat Bonus
UT 115 4 seconds 800 +2 def, no shots, 150% barrier width.
This untiered item does not have any return shots, with its sole purpose to tank. Obviously, it's also a reference to Reinhardt from Overwatch :smiley:.

UT - Mark of Legion

Banner; Shot Sprite

We are legion, for we are many. Where our mark is borne, we shall rise and conquer.
dropped by: Archdemon Malphas

Tier MP Cost (X) Max Duration (Y) Barrier HP (Z) Stat Bonus
UT 95 3 seconds 350 +3 att, pierces through enemies

This untiered item Pierces through enemies, and is a more offensive oriented Banner.
That bullet is supposed to resemble a screaming skull. Oh, well.
Tips: look at the shot upside-down. That’s what your enemies will see when shot :grin:.

New UT ideas, inspired by @SorataK and @Dappertron

UT - Shedsnake’s Sigil

Banner; Barrier Sprite ; BarrierShots

An eerie sigil of a pit snake’s shedded snakekin. Sometimes, you could swear seeing it still slithering.
dropped by: Stheno the Snake Queen.

Tier MP Cost (X) Max Duration (Y) Barrier HP (Z) Stat Bonus
UT 100 2.7 seconds 250 +2 spd, split damage to 5 shots, Surrounding Barrier. Speedy when active
Inspired by @SorataK, This untiered item has a spread of 5 shots, dealing up to 50 damage each with an arc gap of 10, similar to the pixie sword. SorataK suggested that the barrier was similar to a buff instead, so I compromised and made this UT! Added spd and spread shots to make it even more unique. Being immune to any non-direct contact bullet status effects and speedy, made to rush dungeons!

UT - Siegestone Insignia

Banner

The sign that started acropolis-toppling sieges. Its sturdy structure and stern appearance inspires one to stand your ground.
dropped by: Stone Guardians

Tier MP Cost (X) Max Duration (Y) Barrier HP (Z) Stat Bonus
UT 130 5 seconds 500 Halve walking speed, no return shots, normal rate of fire

Inspired by @Dappertron
A UT that doesn’t affect your rate of fire! Of course, it needed to have a trade off, and I feel that halved speed should be fine. You can slowly (not really after maxed) creep to your target whilst raining those bullets!

**Special thanks to @Jango for coining the name and equipment! This was greatly inspired by his statement in the Battlemage Thread. Apologies if this idea has been stated somewhere else. Without further ado, please sink your teeth into the balancing for this class! What do you think? Is it fine? No? Give me some suggestions! **

Update Log

Edit1: Added cooldown of 1 sec, and nerfed Lionheart from 2000 hp to 1000
Edit2: Added the cooldown to a total of 2 sec. Piercing enemy bullets still gives me headaches.
Edit3: Stats Correction Buff & Nerf (Mostly Buff). Piercing enemy bullets, still a problem.
Edit4: Ability description update (added range and more descriptions), Lionheart Banner nerf to 800 HP, widened barrier to 2X12 pixels. Banner defence reduced to 0. Piercing bullets are weaknesses besides bum-rushing foes. Acceptable weakness.
Edit5: Added visuals and a video, fixed Barrier size Added Poll of Bullets. Added the Ability Switching clause.
Edit6: Updated Sprite. Looked like it was missing its head. Haven’t updates the video representation.
Edit7: Another sprite update, and some new UTs, inspired by you guys!
*note: the number of edits do not match up because I edit multiple times every time I edit. Misspelling, technical difficulty, etc.
Edit 8: Misspelling
Edit 9: Another sprite update. Saw some videos, and @Xaklor was right. What was he doing? :laughing:

  • Piercing enemy bullets pierce through the Barrier and Sentry, damaging both
  • Piercing enemy bullets pierce through the Barrier and Sentry, damaging the Barrier only
  • Piercing enemy bullets gets deleted upon contact with the Barrier, damaging the barrier only

0 voters

Show results
The Outrider - Support Bow Class
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Tomb Knight Set
Sentry class
#2

Interesting. I think the lionheart banner HP should be nerfed somewhat though, I can already imagine people using this to repeatedly tank O2-level shotguns using their overpowered pets. It also needs a cooldown because of this.

#3

I agree on both of your points. Why didn’t I think about that!
I designed the Lionheart Banner around tanking shotguns, but if it can tank something that huge, then I really need to nerf it.
Cooldown is 1 second after broken or key released. How 'bout that?

Edit: the 2000 hp was supposed to be a reference to Rein’s shield as well, but balance over reference!

#4

Now that you have mentioned it, this class is pretty pointless support-wise if the enemy bullets pierce… Should it neutralize even piercing shots (destroy the shots) or should it not do that… considering that Knight’s stuns don’t work on some bosses, I think It may be fair for it to not neutralize it. However, there are more piercing shots than shot immune-bosses…

Hmm… decisions, decisions.

One option is just to act as if the bullet has hit the Sentry when it has hit the barrier, meaning that the Sentry will not take any damage, but it won’t delete the bullets.

Inputs, anyone?

#5

I’d say maybe make the cooldown 2-3 seconds, so that in functionality it becomes similar to a scaled-down version of the oreo (which has a 5 second cooldown and 1.8 seconds of full invulnerability).

Hmm, seems like a solution, but then it’s not really all that directional anymore, then it’s more like a significant health buff with an added shot at the end of the duration.

#6

True… But if the enemy shots pierce through the barrier, this barrier is quite pointless… Invulnerability from 1 direction from non piercing shots as long as it’s not an enemy sitting on you is awesome, but now that I think about it, there’s a lot of high-level piercing shots… I’ll add it into 2 seconds for now, I think

Edit: I went and did a little research. This class is a total joke versus the Tomb Bosses. Besides that, the current configuration should be fine… I’m going to take this idea to bed for now, I suppose…

#7

Under powered class, ability is good idea

#8

Which stat do you think should be buffed/nerfed?
Personally, I think a higher dex would complement the playstyle, but I’m not quite sure either

#9

Well, I think he needs something unique, cus all his stat hp/mp is less then other class, he’s a tanking archer yet has 25 defense and 700 hp, all that makes sense is his banner, I only like overpowered things like a warrior so I well let you decide, people with pets does not want vit and wis, bet anyone well play this class

#10

You actually level up 19 times, so you got the average numbers wrong:

avg HP: 150+22.519 = 577.5
avg MP: 100+195 = 195
avg ATT: 15+1.519 = 43.5
avg DEX: 15+1.519 = 43.5
avg DEF: 0+019 = 0
avg SPD: 15+119 = 34
avg VIT: 15+1.519 = 43.5
avg WIS: 15+1.519 = 43.5

Also, none of the other classes have the chance to get 3 of a single stat with one level-up (excluding hp&mp ofc), so I suggest heightening the minimal value instead.

To get the same average 1.5 increase 0-3 gives you, you can just enter a 1-2 instead for the same average.

Another thing, all the other classes have a 20-30 hp gain range per level, so I’d suggest copying the hp stats of an archer/huntress: 130 as starting hp and 605 as average. (maybe do the same for MP; 2-8 gain, 252 max)

Maybe nerf wis a little

#11

I’d love to see a class that can put to good use that shotgun aspect of the tiered bows and I do think heavy armor is necessary in this case. Reduced attack is understandable, but without more dexterity it doesn’t make that much of a difference, I think. But I just don’t see how the ability you came up with complements this playstyle, nor can I come up with one that does. So yeah.
#12

Looks really good! I’ve been waiting to see if anyone would release a good class idea (since I’m not creative enough to come up with one on my own), and I think this is it!

#13

Too much for me too handle right now, but I like the idea and the sprite! A :candy: for your awesome effort in this!

#14

Cool Idea, nice sprites. 8/10

#15

Awesome, I actually LOVE this class idea! Another bow class would be amazing, you should really send this to deca! @BaraBlazer 11/10

#16

Really nice class idea! I can imagine support classes standing in the front and tanking 300 damage shots with t0 ability. Nice class!

#17

I can really appreciate the level of detail that’s been put forth here, though I would hate to leave it at that.

A potential problem with the class is that the idea feels tailored to a single Sentry player, when the actual game would have many more than that at any time. Would multiple Sentries stacked over one another trivialize certain encounters? The Sentry feels vulnerable to enemies who could bum-rush the player, as well as player-piercing bullets, so at least it has weaknesses, but I have trouble thinking of ways to balance it so that it’s usable for a single player, but not abusable when it’s stacked.

Otherwise, it’s a very strong concept that’s easily conveyed. The mechanics of the class leave a lot of potential for untiered Banners, like extra-wide banners that catch way more shots but is more frail as a result, or a Banner that does not reduce the rate of fire but does not launch a projectile.

It actually shares a little in common with my own Banneret class, and I was surprised for a moment that I saw “Lionheart Banner” somewhere else. Admittedly, I sort of like this one more just for how elegant the actual mechanics are.

#18

Oh god, imagine making a PPE with this class. U will farm to get Dbow, the UDL Ability and the Abyss Ability, ouch.

#19

TL:DR
Barrier is OP when there’s an army of Sentries (5 to 10+). Nerf Options:

  1. Reduce ATT or DEX to reduce Sentry players.
  2. Reduce Barrier HP or DEF
    I took route 2, no def for barriers.
    Updated the list with totally revamped stats, detailed description of ability.

Some calculations for worst case scenarios (for balance):

If against AVA(Event gods don’t usually have piercing):
Shot damage: 120 to 200
Max def = 25(stat) + 24(armor) +9 (UB def) = 58 def
Barrier damage taken: 62 to 152
Barrier HP = 500.
Worst case: 20 Sentries (wut?) on 1 AVA
Barrier HP total: 500*20=6,000
Not to mention, we can take turns and there’s Divine Pets, which means Barriers are always up.
500/(60 to 150) = 9 to 4 shots
20 sentries = 180-80 shots tanked by barrier alone, by unorganized barrier.

Even with 5 sentries, this is ridiculous.
Barrier HP total: 2,500 HP, taking turns (organized). Around 1000 active at all times.

If barrier is nerfed into 0 def,

If against AVA:
Shot damage: 120 to 200
Barrier HP = 500.
Worst case: 20 Sentries(have we ever had 20 knights on 1 AVA?) on 1 AVA
Barrier HP total: 500*20=6,000
Not to mention, we can take turns and there’s Divine Pets, which means Barriers are always up.
500/(120 to 200) = 5 to 3 shots
20 sentries = 100-60 shots tanked by barrier alone, by unorganized barrier.

Even with 5 sentries, this is still ridiculous.
Barrier HP total: 2,500, each hit by shots of 120 dmg to 200 ish (The ava dishes a lot of bullets to 1 side per second). If each barrier lasts for about 5 hits, then it should last about 2-3 seconds to pop.

Another way to look at this is that priests aren’t popular due to their small dps potency, thus you rarely see groups of 5-20 priests in 1 event. If I nerf the Sentry’s offensive stat to be slightly higher than a priest’s, this may solve the stacking problem… Not to mention, sentry’s rate of fire is halved when barrier is up anyways.

We can also make it so that our defense doesn’t affect barrier defense (Barrier defense is always 0).

To be fair, some of AVA’s phases cannot be passed by Sentries alone, like the eyeball stage (Even then, just add a paladin and warrior, and Problem solved.)

Big problem: everyone just decided to be Sentry, and 50 unmaxed of them rushed the AVA with T5/6 ability XD.
50 * 500 = 25,000
They aren’t dying any time soon. Not to mention, Lionheart Banner (which I will have to nerf even further after this).

Question: should I nerf both the attack stat as well as the ability HP?

Addendum; (to show that 20 same class in 1 realm is ridiculous anyways) 20 warriors with 1 paladin rushing ava with Acclaims and Paladin Damaging:
20 * 2500 base dps * 2 berserk * 1.5 damaging = 150.000
AVA has 500,000 HP.
LotLL has 70,000 HP.
The Forgotten King has 150,000 HP.
It takes 3 seconds and a little more to pop 1 Ava (With no phases) XD.
It takes 1.5 seconds to take out a LoTL.
It takes 1 second to take out the King.

I think Barrier having 0 def is for the best. You can tank up to 4-5 shots from AVA with 2 seconds cooldown, and AVA shoots really quickly too.

#20

Ahh, I never thought of the number of Sentries in 1 realm before… that’s true. I did design it around just one or maybe two sentries in a dungeon.

Thank you for the thoughts! Those UT ideas could certainly be easily implemented if they can code the barrier + shot in :grin:.

Also, I just saw your class ideas. Awesome work on your sprites! The reason I named my Banner Lionheart Banner is because that’s the closest I can think of that is synonymous with chivalry as well as sounding like Reinhardt.

I can name it Rainhard, but that doesn’t sound too chivalrious :smile:.