Inaros' Sandstorm Inconsistencies

[EldestOrion]

I've been playing a lot of Inaros lately and have really been enjoying just about every aspect of his kit, including - despite seemingly being an unpopular opinion - his Sandstorm and its augment. It's actually quite formidable if you build for it, and watching enemies whirl around you as theyre ripped to shreds with the slash and elemental procs is quite fun. However, there are a few weird quirks I've noticed about the skill that make it puzzling to spectate at best and frustrating to use at worst.

First is the hitbox. The hitbox of the sandstorm is weird. One might think it'd be a cylinder or a sphere presumably like other aoe abilities in the game are, but its more like... a disc. Its a disc that is at his feet or the center of his body and it doesnt extend very far up or down except for particular circumstances. It'll hit enemies on the same level as Inaros most of the time, but slight deviations in elevation or even a single ramp is enough to have enemies sometimes be immune to its grasp. I say sometimes because this itself also is inconsistent, but thats generally what I've noticed. Sometimes you'll hit any enemies above you that aren't on a cliff, or you'll hit enemies above you but only if they're further near the edges of the ability. Again, very strange and very inconsistent.

It could be said that this could just be a weakness of the ability, or else it would be too strong since it already does provide solid damage and mass cc and it goes through walls, but its just jarring to be spinning along and then get shot at by a cluster of enemies on a ledge no higher than Inaros himself, evidently safe from the raging storm. Other strange things to note is that enemies on a ledge directly above you are safe, but if they jump down they'll be caught while still in the air, but not at an elevation that I can definitely say is where the hitbox usually reaches. Maybe the action of an enemy jumping down actually immediately places their hitbox on the ground for the game's sake, but the model moving through the air is a purely visual thing? Or maybe its some weird hitbox stretch thing? I cant confidently say what it may be.

The second thing I've noticed today is that the Elemental Sandstorm augment isnt totally true to its text. Or, at the very least it seems misleading looking back. It says it has a 50% chance (base) of inflicting status effects based on the damage types and mods on your equipped melee weapon. This might lead someone to believe that, when that 50% chance procs, it'll do the damage type and the status proc of your weapon. In reality, the sandstorm always does the damage type of your weapon (randomly chosen from IPS and elemental proc chances) and then applies a status proc 50% of the time, also based on your weapon. Shouldn't it say "Sandstorm inflicts damage based on the damage types of equipped melee weapon and additionally applies a matching status proc 50% of the time"? Or something along those lines. I don't know how you'd convey that the status proc is also derived from the weapon without making it too wordy and also implying that the proc chance is tied to the damage proc itself.

I only bring this up because I thought initially that the 50% of the time the augment didn't proc, you'd be left with the default slash damage and slash proc. I put a Karyst on my Inaros and did some tests and was really confused why all my slash damage and procs had disappeared. I thought they'd become more useful one the corrosive procs had eaten through an enemy's armor and negated the corrosive damage bonus against ferrite armor, assuming they lived that long.

 

Anyways, that's my long-winded question about Inaros' Sandstorm. Any feedback or thoughts on the matter would be appreciated.