Ember rework feedback & scalability proposal (post version 22.12.0)

[Ulvra]

Alright, I'll preface this first by saying that yes, I know that others have already given feedback in regards to the Ember rework, but reading through a few threads none of them really fit the topic I wanted to discuss, so I decided to make a thread of my own.

 

Analysis

Ember has always been a bit of glass cannon, making the only really viable tactic (at least in my view) in higher levels be to rely on a mixture of range as well as the Firequake augment in order to get enough CC to keep things from riddling her with holes before she has a chance to deal with them. With the recent rework DE has stated a desire to move to a different philosophy as what was originally employed in order to tune her power down, simply by turning the damage knob, to instead working around mechanics.

I see the desire here to change away from the passive "hit 4 and wait" playstyle to forcing a more engaging playstyle for Ember, however by decreasing the range over time this significantly hinders her only real means of survivability, which with the changes in general certainly forces you into a more active role, however the main problem of Ember's kit is that she works purely off of hard numbers, e.g. she does X damage +Y if you toss in an occasional Accelerant. What this means is that Ember will effectively only be viable in lower levels where things don't hit as hard and her fire can actually deal with it, but once things start scaling, Ember's lack of scale leaves her in the sand.

 

Proposal

Now, I'll start off here with saying that I actually really like what DE has done to Ember, the shift to an emphasis on a mechanics solution and a focus on more active play is something that really appeals to me, however I miss the scaling. Some have proposed to remove the range decrease, others have proposed to make world on fire's damage into a percentage rather than a flat number, but I feel that both of those comes out lacking. The first brings us back to the old "large CC please" playstyle, just with a higher cost, which doesn't solve the passivity problem that DE seemed to want to fix with the rework, while the second proposal doesn't really fit with DE's usual fancy of "you get more if you know how to get it", since it's merely delivered at your door.

This leads me to my personal proposal for how to give Ember some proper scaling all the while keeping all the changes that has been made until now, and that is to give her 2nd, Accelerant, more purpose. Rather than simply splatter it over a group of enemies, proclaiming that they now take a bit more fire damage, let Ember draw a temporary power strength buff from those that it hits, based on their health and/or level and the amounts hit.

What this would effectively do is give her the ability to scale with the environment, all the while giving a more significant purpose to her 2nd, allowing it in turn to synergise and buff her other abilities and their damage (all her abilities), if only for a short duration, but enough to give her the scalability she needs to be viable at higher levels. Imagine bulletjumping into a crowd of enemies, throwing down an Accelerant shortly before landing before crashing on the ground in a Fire Blast and watching the World and all those in it be lit on Fire. You'd still be a glass cannon, but a true cannon all through out the game, relying on dodging, weaving and risk taking, but with a boon of strength if you can be the embodyment of that fiery meteor that ruin's your enemy's day.

[MortalMercenary]

This would be a cool addition to Ember's kit that isnt just giving her straight up DR like her old Overheat ability