Three Tiny Buffs To Ash

[Stefanovich]

Smokescreen - Let us cast this ability while moving. Throwing a bomb at our feet doesn't require us to stand still, I don't see why it's necessary. You lose all of your momentum and it feels really awkward going from a full sprint to a dead stop, and then back up to a sprint all because you threw a smoke bomb at your feet. This would help with the overall momentum of Ash as he is usually oriented as a melee-centric frame, and melee requires running from target to target.

 

Teleport - Upon teleporting to a target, add one hit to our hit counter. Teleport is made for closing the gap for melee, and since Melee 2.0 introduced a stacking bonus for consecutive melee hits, it should fit perfectly with Teleport, right? Except by the time you kill one enemy, find another, aim at them, spam 3 a few times until it finally works, then finish the fancy pants flip animation, you already lost your combo before you can hit the enemy. It's impossible to chain a hit combo if you get stuck in a finisher animation also, as it takes another 1-2 seconds to actually hit them. By adding 1 hit to our counter upon teleporting, it will almost guarantee enough time for the player to hit the enemy in time to keep the combo going, and would further improve his melee style.

 

Bladestorm  - All hits by your clones add to your hit combo counter. As of now, upon casting Bladestorm, Ash will send out 3 other clones of himself to speed up the killing process. The problem with this is that only the hits the physical Ash does add to the counter, resulting in a loss of ~75% of your total actual hits. This change will, again, improve his melee play style as the more hits he lands, the bigger the combo, and the bigger the multiplier.

 

With these 3 buffs, Ash will be able to run from target to target, vanishing while on the move, teleporting to and fro to stay mobile and keep his counter going, and when he builds up a sufficient combo, unleash Bladestorm to accumulate even more hits to his combo while greatly benefiting from the damage multipliers.

 

Ash is often labeled as the "solo melee frame", so how about we start treating him like a melee-centric frame?

 

Let us know if this is just what Ash needs or if it's too much.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Stefanovich

[APBladeX]

Smokescreen shouldn't be a bomb, instead use the smoke that comes out of Ash's arm.

Bladestorm clones should accurately look like the caster, not poor-looking holograms (also applies to Decoy).

[Stefanovich]

Smokescreen shouldn't be a bomb, instead use the smoke that comes out of Ash's arm.

Bladestorm clones should accurately look like the caster, not poor-looking holograms (also applies to Decoy).

 

I was really sad when they changed the identical clones to pink holograms. :(

[Llyssa]

1. I think it's kind of a balance issue with what it does--would be awkward for you to be sliding through an army and proccing them all while also going invis.(Moving bomb==maybe not?)

 

2. Makes total sense, particularly as it has an adverse affect on the enemy you teleport to. I believe you can actually affect the group, so, in theory, it should even grant a bonus for each one affected, although that could theoretically lead to abuse.(Combo count on teleport==ALL THE YES!)

 

3. Er, it did? If it stopped, it's bugged. Hadn't noticed that it stopped working, so it's good to know.(Bladestorm had this issue before, and it was fixed back around 13.4. I haven't been paying enough attention to notice when it broke again.)

 

4. I despise such labels. He's a great team asset, as his readily delivered stun procs make it much easier to kill everything.("solo melee"? BAH!)

 

EDIT: Clarifying.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Llyssa

[[DE]Grzegorz]

To make Ash useful for a team, Smokebomb could be AOE invisibility for entire team. That would be a nice twist imho.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Mofixil

[-InV-Skitz0]

To make Ash useful for a team, Smokebomb could be AOE invisibility for entire team. That would be a nice twist imho.

Id rather it have a wider aoe stun and a the melee buff applied to all of the team. the invisible could be removed completely for all I care.

[dragonboss]

Smokescreen

Yes, I agree. Moving and casting smokescreen should be similar to moult in that initial momentum is preserved.

 

Teleport

 

Also add a fuzzy aim to the teleport or increase the area to the semi-circle under the dot at least, it is at times difficult to aim the teleports and make it flow with whatever you’re doing.

There should be an instant finisher animation if you melee immediately after teleporting. I have often been facing an odd direction after teleporting to an enemy.

 

 

Bladestorm

Add an option to end the bladestorm at the enemy furthest away by holding forward during the animation.

Yes clones should be identical to the player.

[dragonboss]

To make Ash useful for a team, Smokebomb could be AOE invisibility for entire team. That would be a nice twist imho.

 

Id rather it have a wider aoe stun and a the melee buff applied to all of the team. the invisible could be removed completely for all I care.

 

Imho, Ash is useful in a team, he kills stuff :P

 

Seriously though, since smokebomb's invisiblity doesnt last that long, the stun could be wider and mark those enemies for team melee buff and retain the same invisibility for Ash himself.

[Xenrail]

definitely agree with casting smoke screen while moving. I mean the purpose of a smoke screen is mainly an escape tool by reducing visibility and disorienting enemies. 

[Ayamiss]

I noticed that BS clones actually add to your counter every time, but you can only see the counter go up if you are hosting, if you are a client damage applied is higher than you see currently. What I would like to see is BS map tile limitation being removed :)

[Tsoe]

Smokescreen shouldn't be a bomb, instead use the smoke that comes out of Ash's arm.

Bladestorm clones should accurately look like the caster, not poor-looking holograms (also applies to Decoy).

 

agree make no sense , why use a bomb when yu got powers?

 

Also Blade storm clone should be made of Smoke

[Azawarau]

I like this

[DeadlyBard676]

i agree with everything but the mobile smokescreen. you get a smokebomb and toss it down while moving it will only affect those you pass by while throwing it down, not those you are moving towards.also watch any movie, show, or game with ninja's in it if they use a smokebomb they are usually standing still and vanish when the smoke clears.

Edited September 8, 2014 by KiryuKusakabe

[(PSN)Strifedecer]

1. Either the invisibility mechanic should apply to the whole team, or make the smoke come out of Ash's arm, implying that its not exactly smoke, but the word smokescreen is a name given to that kind of cloak mechanism. Its current state is quite unrealistic.

2. The pink holographic clones. Why, DE, just......why?

[Llyssa]

Are they pink? The last I saw them, they appeared to be my energy color.

[shut]

Wait, I thought 3) was already how it worked? That's how it was back when the clones were implemented, anyways. I didn't really pay attention to my gameplay today, but if the clones are indeed not adding to the hit counter, then this sounds more like a glitch to me.

 

OT:

I like these ideas, but the one thing that I feel that melee-based Ash players truly need is:

 

4) Add a universal option to allow Finishers to be activated by Contextual Use (X) instead of Melee (E). We don't always want to spend two seconds on a single Crewman every time we teleport, you know.

[Oranji]

Like the idea of smokescreen AOE affecting team mates or just an increase in stun/blind duration.

[Deios-Ken]

I agree with Smokescreen and Teleport.
Imho Bladestorm is perfect.

[Llyssa]

Wait, I thought 3) was already how it worked? That's how it was back when the clones were implemented, anyways. I didn't really pay attention to my gameplay today, but if the clones are indeed not adding to the hit counter, then this sounds more like a glitch to me.

 

OT:

I like these ideas, but the one thing that I feel that melee-based Ash players truly need is:

 

4) Add a universal option to allow Finishers to be activated by Contextual Use (X) instead of Melee (E). We don't always want to spend two seconds on a single Crewman every time we teleport, you know.

YES. This!