[NEW MERCENARIES] Please note that all new forum users have to be approved before posting. This process can take up to 24 hours, and we appreciate your patience.
-
I'm a long time (bow) Kai player and I've always felt that his gameplay was lackluster. I assumed that because he was ranged that it was doomed to be so. Now that I've returned to
… (more)Vindictus to play Eira (Dual Mana Pistols) I see that it's very possible for a ranged character to have combos. We can also see this in games like Black Desert and Genshin Impact.
Trashmobing currently is a mixture of strafing, retreating, Ricochet and Arrow storm. His mobility is nonexistent as he's the only merc that actually has to dodge with the default spacebar dodge. Other's can tap space to counter, blink, or tank attacks. Dodge Grapple is cool but you often end up using to make up for the time it takes to plant it.
I feel that Kai would be much more fun with just one bow mode (longbow obviously) and 1,2,3,4 + Smash attacks like everyone else. Other games have proven that an archer can attack acrobatically and remain completely mobile, weaving around enemies instead of backpedaling from them. Abilities like arrow storm and rapid fire could easily be made into right click smash attacks. Instead of standing still and shooting in a line, he could jump, flip and shoot arrows in wide cones like he does in his holding skill animation.
Just picture Eira's "Inverse Shot" on Kai. Or a 4 normals + smash to fire a rain of arrows into the air. Things like that would make him more viable and fun to play at all levels.
I love how creative and unique the Kai's kit is. I think it's so cool that he integrates chains, bombs and other contraptions into his bow fighting. But gameplay wise it could use a complete overhaul. That's just my opinion though. What do you guys think? (less)
-
Prior to the Bow and Blade update I made a similar thread with new skills I devised for Kai to improve his game play. This is the same thing for the current Kai.
TL;DR
- New skill, dodge
… (more)after active skills to cancel animation and leap a small distance. (Picture Deadly Arrow animation)
-New skill, Hunter's Eye, Headshots and Criticals stack Evasive buff. Each stack let's you leap a short distance when shooting Fixed Shot or normals.
- Update Strafe Shot; Press a direction while attacking to leap in that direction. Successful attacks refresh buff. (Picture Hagie 3rd smash)
-Rapid Fire > Volley; hold to charge a Volley, release to fire Volley and flip/evade in a direction.
-Updated Chain Link, Entangles bosses in heavy chain/net. Stronger bosses break free faster.
- Eagle Eye Assault, quicker targetting or less SP/SP regain.
-QoL (Quality of Life) Changes
For those who wanna read something even longer than that tl;dr...
All of the Vindictus mercenaries are supposed to excel in their area of expertise. Yet Kai plays like an plain old archer who has a couple of heavy hits, feet on the ground and running for his life when enemies get close. It shouldn't be just the kind of shots he fires but how he fires those shots. I use Prey Drive and Deadly Arrow as examples because they embody what a masterful and vengeful archer would do. Rushing in to point blank range to deliver a deadly blow is not something of your typical marksman. Nor is the acrobatic flourish of Deadly Arrow. Vaulting off of his opponent while launching volleys from mid air, upside down and behind his back are all things that Kai would do to show his mastery of his bow and determination to win.
Two major problems when playing Kai are soloing mobile enemies and fighting powerful crowds. It becomes tedious to spam arrows one enemy at a time waiting for your Arrow Storm and Ricochet shot to be ready.
CROWD FIGHTING:
NEW Strafe Shot: Press Left, Right or Back to jump in that direction while firing your arrows. Strafe shot will still stack the Deft buff but it will function a bit differently.
NEW Deft: Strafe shot will add stacks of deft. Level's 1-2 provide additional attack speed and level 3 allows you to fire three arrows instead of one, similar to PVP. The goal here is to be able to maneuver through crowds while striking multiple foes instead of the usual back peddling until everyone's dead. To add a bit of depth, the buff would refresh when all 3 arrows hit a target.
NEW Rapid Fire
SOLO FIGHTING:
Vindictus is a game of challenges, which is what makes it such a treat to play. However, can we really argue that boss design is balanced when 3/4 of it's mercenaries have some way to be a mile away or negate damage completely? Yes, I'm looking at two Vella and Fiona.
NEW Matador: Press dodge directly after an active skill to cancel the animation and leap out of the way. (Picture the back step after you shoot Deadly Arrow)
Dodge Grapple is a great skill when executed under the right circumstances. However, when it leaves you inside an attack, or stuck in the way of a multi hit (not to mention trapped in a corner) it's not exactly your friend. So here I propose the Evasion skill.
NEW Evasion: Hitting Head Shots, Hunter's Eye and critical hits will grant stacks of the Evasive buff. Each stack allows the next normal or Fixed Shot to be an evasive one. The stacks will continue to grow up to a max of 10. Evasive attacks are the same as Matador attacks in that that shorten the firing animation to prevent standing still for too long. They also add quality of life as the player has incentive to aim for high priority targets other than for extra damage.
Chain Link Instead of putting the boss on a leash, Chain Link should fire a projectile at a boss and momentarily distract them. ( Picture a net stuck to their face). That way it could still have some use on higher level bosses as well as making it safe for team mates. When the boss can't move but can still attack I've seen it throw off melee mercs as the attacks don't land where they are anticipated to. The stronger bosses would need less time to break free eg: Crimson Rage is entangled for six seconds, Lugh Lamfada is only entangled for two.
Eagle Eye Assault: While the skill is fantastic for laying into smaller bosses like Iset or Succubus, the risk simply doesn't meet the reward. A player has to stand still, drag their cursor and align seven cross hairs before dealing their maximum possible damage. On top of this the skill is can be interrupted and costs the same whether you shoot 1 shot or 7. There is no SP gained on successful hits and at a price of 500 SP it makes more sense aim a magnum at the head or use an arrow storm to regain the SP spent. I suggest either decreasing the cost of the skill entirely, or making its cost scale with the number of shots fired. eg: 71.4 SP per shot, max 500 SP for all 7 shots.
My second suggestion for EEA is somehow make it easier to lock on. Like maybe two shots at a time instead of one to save time.
QUALITY OF LIFE:
Lastly here are a few changes proposed just to clean up Kai a bit as a character.
Arrow Storm seems kind of lackluster as the player pulls a random cage full of arrows and makes it explode. Thematically it has no value. I suggest a new animation where Kai leaps upward and makes death rain from above. The quick activation of this skill would cost half the SP, do less damage and execute more quickly. eg: Player doesn't jump as high, skill appears less powerful.
Hunter's Eye attacks showing yellow damage values OR some sort of animation on successful hits so the player knows for sure when they hit a mark and when it fades away.
A target indicator that isn't the same as with secondary weapons just to make it feel more unique. Maybe a color like yellow blue?
Bow Mode switching between targeted and AoE attacks instead of transforming the whole bow. In other words tapping tab would toggle between the red target indicator of long bow and the auto aim of short bow. That would mean players could fight mobs or bosses while always holding a longbow. This is not a very important change but I have heard a few people express distaste at the many short bow forms in the game.
With that, this thread concludes. To anyone who read through to the end feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on my suggestions.
Last but not least Cross Gun needs to be buried in the deepest pits of hell and replaced with dual pistols. 
(less)
-
I've been wondering for a while if anyone's explored the idea of Kai getting yellow damage text for Headshots and Hunter's Eye marks. I say this for two reasons.
1. The flash on a
… (more)successful headshot is already very similar to an ordinary critical hit.
2. Hunter's Eye has no animation for a successful hit. Sometimes you don't know if you hit the mark or if it dissipated on its own.
It's not exactly the most needed change in the game however, sometimes the screen flashes can be very disorienting. In a fight where you do well, your screen may flash white maybe 10+ times every few seconds. Kai doesn't exactly come with an epilepsy warning either (though I hope that Vindictus does.) The yellow text would also be fitting as other mercs use this text to display their enhanced attacks. Over all it'd be a good idea for the uniformity of the game. (less)
