[0.915] Champion Traits Assessment: The Warrior
Elemental Forums
This post is a continuation of the Assessment found here: https://forums.elementalgame.com/425698
The current Champion setup is a great on in concept. We have five strong archetypes that we get to use to craft our heroes as we see fit; the strong Warrior, the skilled Assassin, the noble Defender, the wise Governor, and the powerful Mage. The issue I see is not with the framing of the system, but the implementation of the skills. Too many of them are in strange places or across specializations, which cause the identities of the archetypes to be watered down, and actually serves to make most of them less appealing in general. I feel it is a problem of cleaning up identities more than anything, and my overall assessment is being done with that in mind.
The Warrior.
Warriors are the physical embodiment of combat. They are the most skilled, the bravest, and the strongest fighters in a group. To some degree, FE captures that spirit, but only in framing Warriors as Berserkers (via available traits). Surely, there are brash berserkers, but there are also skilled and cool headed champions who defeat their opponents through savvy as well as swordsmanship. This ought to be represented in the Warrior builds as well.
| Trait | MinLevel | Trait Bonus | Gross Bonus | |
| Path of the Warrior | 4 | +3 Attack, +20 Weight | +3 Attack, +20 Weight | |
| Tactician 1 | 5 | +1 Army Initiative | +1 Army Initiative | |
| Tactician 2 | 6 | +1 Army Initiative | +2 Army Initiative | |
| Tactician 3 | 7 | +1 Army Initiative | +3 Army Initiative | |
| Leadership 1 | 5 | +5 Army Accuracy | +5 Army Accuracy | |
| Leadership 2 | 6 | +10 Army Accuracy | +15 Army Accuracy | |
| Leadership 3 | 7 | +15 Army Accuracy | +30 Army Accuracy | |
| Bruiser 1 | 5 | +15% Blunt Damage | +15% Blunt Damage | |
| Bruiser 2 | 6 | +20% Blunt Damage | +35% Blunt Damage | |
| Bruiser 3 | 7 | +25% Blunt Damage | +50% Blunt Damage | |
| Lethal 1 | 5 | +2 Attack | +5 Attack | |
| Lethal 2 | 6 | +3 Attack | +8 Attack | |
| Lethal 3 | 7 | +4 Attack | +12 Attack | |
| Lethal 4 | 8 | +5 Attack | +17 Attack | |
| Lethal 5 | 9 | +6 Attack | +23 Attack | |
| Rage | 5 | +8 Attack below 25% hps | ||
| Discipline | 5 | +1 Accuracy and Spell Resist/lv | ||
| Bloodthirsty | 5 | +25% to Weapon Attack | ||
The Good Stuff:
- Lethal: The Lethal like of skills is beautiful. Pure, simple, damage. Every hit, you do more. Lots of it, too, if you want to invest.
- Rage: This is a great berserker-type ability. It is a little weak considering that once your warrior is geared up, anything that can get you TO 25% stands a good chance of killing you with another hit. It could stand a little bit of attention, but it is at home and in the right place in the Warrior tree.
- Bloodthirsty: Similarly, Bloodthirsty is a phenomenal trait. It should probably be nested behind Rage. Partially for flavor, and partially because it overshadows the Lethal line in terms of a choice-to-effect bonus. Also, because it scales with your weapon choice.
- Discipline: This is the only real appearance of the “Skilled Warrior” in the tree at present. Essentially adding 33% to your accuracy and spell resist, and scaling with level. This is a solid skill choice.
Ill Fit Abilities:
- Tactician: This line of abilities belongs more with the General-esqe Defender. I can see how a brave warrior at the fore of the enemy lines would inspire your army to fight harder, but for the sake of Path identity, it really steps over into the conceptual territory owned by the Defender.
- Leadership: This line suffers the same problem as Tactician. It muddies the water. Save the Unit bonuses for the Defender.
- Bruiser: Is there any reason this line of abilities is limited to Warriors other than to fill their tree up? Why clubs and not Sharps? The General line of Traits gets Swordsman, which by most accounts is a better fit for most warriors. All Weapon Focus traits should be General Traits, with the possible exception of the 3rd tier, which I could see requiring either Warrior or Assassin Path to achieve.
Recommendations:
Warriors are missing some key components to really flesh out their identities.
- Charge: This ability, which is currently Assassin only would be a beautiful fit with Warriors. They have all the skills to get up-ins and deal some damage. Why not help them get up ins?
- Sweep: Again, here is a great ability for the Berserk fighter. They run in, they beat things up, and lots of them. I want to see this here where it fits.
- There should be some “Preferred Enemy” traits that give + Attack (~15% per level?) to things like Drakes, Elementals, Beasts, and other such to help illustrate the creature-hunter archetype that classic knights have.
- Warriors need access to Endurance, at least though Tier 2. Why do they get exactly the same HP Progression as Governors and Mages?
- Reserve Tier 3 of all the Weapon specialties (Swordsman, Bruiser, Marksman) for Warriors.
Finally, I think starting at level 15 each and every Path needs to start getting access to some pretty over-the-top abilities. The sky is the limit here, and I’m not going to take the time to really illustrate all of them, but if you can get a champion to Level 15, you deserve some crazy stuff for your effort.
