The state of Kubrows

[Evhel]

Hello everyone and merry christmas!

Now, could we spare a moment to talk about the current Kubrow state and compare them to other pets we have?

We currently have 5 types of Kubrows, Sunika, Chesa, Huras, Raksa and Huras, making Kubrows the pet with more variants. We have 2 (3, if you consider Venari, which is awesome) types of Kavats, Smeetha and Adarza. We now have also 3 types of Moas. Finally, we have the unique Helmint Charger.

Moas are really new so lets skip them. If i were to ask you what makes every type special, what would you say? For Kavats, Adarza is the solid crit providing cat, Smeetha is the wonder kitty, you can never know what he is going to give you, and almost everything it gives you is useful, and Helmint well, it's as said unique, with the new mod set being very interesting.

But what about Kubrows? Aside from maybe Huras, which can give you a frail invisibility, the other 4 types don't have an identity, nor do anything useful. Which tbh is a real shame.

Imho Kubrows need a rework, to give them said identity. And to make them as wonderful as Kavats. Would be awesome to have a wonder dog, opposed to Smeetha, and sort out something for the others. As of now, their precepts are really weak. Lets analyze them together.

Huras: the Huras has Stalk and Hunt precepts. Stalk gives the dog and the owner an invisibility, which lasts very long but is broken if you attack with a weapon. Hunt is a generic damage mod. The Huras is the only one that in my opinion has an identity, being the shadow dog. As a shadow dog the Hunt ability may not be totally in his identity, charging an enemy is something a fighter would do. He could maybe teleport behind an enemy and perform a finisher, something along those lines. But he could be kept the way he is, maybe adding a knock down to the targets it hits during the charge, for a little more cc.

Raksa: the precepts are Howl and Protect. Howl will fear enemies in the vicinity, while Protect will restore 300 shield of the owner. This one could become the Protecting doggo, if Protect is reworked and given the opportunity to grant Overshield to the owner. Howl is not a great mod, as fearing enemies will make them run away, and in a game where the point is killing, chasing down targets is not a good idea. Howl could be replaced with Mend, a heal, like the one Venari has, to stick with the identity of the guardian dog.

Sahasa has Dig and Ferocity. Dig is an okay mod, providing ammo and energy. Could be nice to have it have a chance to dig a resource from the planet you are in aswell (neurodes on earth etc.). Sahasa could become the wonder dog, the counterpart to Smeetha for Kavats. Taking away the Ferocity mod, which now makes the Sahasa perform a finisher attack on an enemy, and a giving it a Charm, with a chance to have a random buff like the ones from Smeetha would be cool. We could argue that this way Smeetha and Sahasa would be somewhat similar, but i think that it would be good to give dogs lover an opportunity to have a wonder dog if they prefere it.

Sunika has Savagery and Unleashed. This could become the Combat doggo.  Savagery makes the Sunika perform finishers on enemies. This could very well be kept, as it would sitck to the fighter identity. Unleashed, which knocks down a VIP target (not even clear who is a VIP for the game) could be taken away, in favor of something more aggressive, like a powerful roar which makes enemies bleed, or the Hunt precepts from the Huras Kubrow. 

Chesa: Neutralize and Retrieve. Neutralize makes the Kubrow disarm an enemy. So the new identity could be the CC doggo. Neutralize could get a buff, and disarm enemies in an aoe, or change it to a roar which stuns a large radius of enemies. Retrieve is now a totally useless mod, as we finally have Fetch. The Chesa is atm the only pet with a single precept. To stick to the identity of cc doggo with could have a better version of Unleashed: the Kubrow selects an heavy target (or an eximus for infested) and knock him down for several seconds, and when he gets back up it is disarmed. 

I tried to keep the suggestions as simple as possible, something using technology we already have for other pets (Charm, Venari's heal)! But looking at the new MOAs skills, i have no doubt you could come up with something way better and awesome 🙂 

Anyway, the poor state of Kubrows is something i really hope you will address, soon or late. There is also a question: why with some types of fur you can't select an armor? Real shame. Oh and, i think we also need a visual fix for this:

[Picture will be added later as i'm imprinting a Kubrow, but it's a bug with the Drahk and Underbrush Kubrows equipping the Little Helper hat]

And please, please please for the next armors don't always put something on the eyes how is the poor thing gonna see if it always has something covering his eyes xD

Thank you for your attention!

Edited December 25, 2018 by Evhel.nVbs

[Naneel]

Really good ideas. But I would avoid giving one Race more then 1 utility skill. Kavats have 1 Utility and 1 Defensive precept. I would go with a similar concept for Kubrow.

Huras : the stealth attack would be nice and fitting and stalk could use a bit QoL, to  function more reliable

Raksa : nice idea to add healing instead of terrify, I don't think overshields are necessary but would be nice, this would make a good bodyguard

Sahasa : Dig is nice, but also needs some QoL to function better, especially in Endless runs, a new 2nd precept would be nice, but I won't make it like Smeeta, because he would be inferior as he needs two MODs to acomplish what Smeeta has in one, add rare resorce drops to dig would be really nice, and as a second something defensiv would be good, then you would have a decision between Muni,Health,Mana,MODs and rare Resources (Sahasa) vs Buffs and rare Resources (Smeeta) so both would have their uses

Sunika : let Unleashed stay, but make more clear what ViPs are, and it should also work on Heavy enemies like Bombards etc.(if this would also work for scanning targets without killing them, would be very nice), as a second give him the little version of Rhinos Roar maybe, or a buff for attack speed/fire rate

Chesa : Neutralize is okay, but should priorize Heavy units, a roar for a stun sounds as a good 2nd one

In addition I would make Hunt (adding a Knockdown sounds nice) and Savagery/Ferocity usable by all Kubrow and maybe add a 3rd one (Multi Attacks maybe), like Kavats having Swipe, Pounce and Sharpening Claws

Aside from that, give all Beasts modable weapons and fix the fur of the Kubrow would be good. And maybe let us have more then one active pet or at least let us swap them in the arsenal.

Edit : here are also some nice ideas for Kubrow and pets in general

 

Edited December 25, 2018 by Naneel

[BenThePoofle]

6 hours ago, Evhel.nVbs said:

Dig is an okay mod,

Just an “okay mod”

excuse me, dig is one of the best compnion abilities in the game

[DorneliosV]

Yeah they need a rework or increase AI on the kubrows

[Evhel]

Spoiler

 

1 hour ago, Naneel said:

Really good ideas. But I would avoid giving one Race more then 1 utility skill. Kavats have 1 Utility and 1 Defensive precept. I would go with a similar concept for Kubrow.

Huras : the stealth attack would be nice and fitting and stalk could use a bit QoL, to  function more reliable

Raksa : nice idea to add healing instead of terrify, I don't think overshields are necessary but would be nice, this would make a good bodyguard

Sahasa : Dig is nice, but also needs some QoL to function better, especially in Endless runs, a new 2nd precept would be nice, but I won't make it like Smeeta, because he would be inferior as he needs two MODs to acomplish what Smeeta has in one, add rare resorce drops to dig would be really nice, and as a second something defensiv would be good, then you would have a decision between Muni,Health,Mana,MODs and rare Resources (Sahasa) vs Buffs and rare Resources (Smeeta) so both would have their uses

Sunika : let Unleashed stay, but make more clear what ViPs are, and it should also work on Heavy enemies like Bombards etc.(if this would also work for scanning targets without killing them, would be very nice), as a second give him the little version of Rhinos Roar maybe, or a buff for attack speed/fire rate

Chesa : Neutralize is okay, but should priorize Heavy units, a roar for a stun sounds as a good 2nd one

In addition I would make Hunt (adding a Knockdown sounds nice) and Savagery/Ferocity usable by all Kubrow and maybe add a 3rd one (Multi Attacks maybe), like Kavats having Swipe, Pounce and Sharpening Claws

Aside from that, give all Beasts modable weapons and fix the fur of the Kubrow would be good. And maybe let us have more then one active pet or at least let us swap them in the arsenal.

Edit : here are also some nice ideas for Kubrow and pets in general

 

 

 

I totally agree with your ideas. For Raksa i suggested the overshield because, according to the wiki, the mod is activated randomly, and not when you lose all your shields like the Guardian from sentinels, which makes it unrealible, as you could get replenished 100 shield and getting cooldown on the mod and the moment later when you need it you are done. Getting a flat amount of overshield would address the problem.

Totally agree on Sahasa and Huras.

For Sunika and Chesa being able to redirect their attention on a waypointed enemy would really make the trick. Ohhhh, a fire rate reaload speed roar would be awesome, you are right.

Yeah, the possibility to swap them in the arsenal would be an incredible QoL change.

Spoiler

1 hour ago, BenThePoofle said:

Just an “okay mod”

excuse me, dig is one of the best compnion abilities in the game

 

And i said is nice, but spending a unique precept for something i can use consumables for is a waste imho. There are pizzas for that.

[Evhel]

Btw this is the bug with Drahk and Underbrush Kubrows (sorry i don't know how to post the pic directly, https://imgur.com/RFJJ6t7[/img] doesn't seem to work)

https://imgur.com/RFJJ6t7