Fighters. How do they really work? How does funcom balances them? Let's discuss

[Lerael]

So, after the recent nerf on volcano thralls, i’ve decided to test some of them to learn more about their functionality.

So my test was very, very simple, as I will explain below:

1. Picked up an Obsidian Spear
2. Gave the spear to generic T4 Bearer, Daicas, Spinas and the Captain
3. Teleported to the obelisk near the witch queen dungeon
4. Hit a monkey 1 time bare-handed with 48 strength
5. Waited for my thrall to do a first hit thrust damage (the first heavy attack of the spear)

My main objective was to check if there was any difference in total damage between t4’s, and I got surprised by the results:

So I want to discuss this result a little bit.

As far as I know, the volcano is supposed to be the endgame, with the strongest thralls and bosses, yet, because of the last patch, volcano t4 fighters are extremely easy to find and they are a lot weaker than before, with less damage and HP.

A simple t4 bearer found in several places of the game are doing more damage than volcano fighters, and guess what, they have 9900 HP.

My suggestion to fix this issue is:

1. Nerf Sepermeru Thralls to make it equal to the Volcano Thralls we find right now.
2. Buff Volcano thralls and make it as strong as the Captain, having the same HP and damage.
3. Reduce the spawn chance of t4 fighters at the Volcano.
4. Do not allow Bearers to use heavy attacks

What do you guys think? Are my tests wrong or Funcom is really doing something nonsense?

[Nihilatr]

I enjoy that you put in the time and work to figure this out, pretty interesting

[Caco]

@Lerael

Do not allow Bearers to use heavy attacks

Why not just tone down their dmg ? Limiting them to not use Heavy attacks is too much.

[Exto]

I have an army of T4 Bearers and I use them more than any other thralls. Thing is though, before they only did one attack. That’s it. No combo whatsoever. So I never used them against bosses. After the last patch they became much more formidable, comboing the living night out of Unnamed City bosses. But I thought maybe their defense would be much worse than “Fighter” thralls, but noticed that Bearers can tank better too, due to their sheer high HP. I think maybe we need indepth analysis on this on offline mode but from what I can see, they are OP.

[Lerael]

Limiting heavy attack would be a HUGE damage nerf, while not making them useless. Bearers would still have damage, specially with a predatory blade, and would help you a lot with farming and killing weak npcs, like they are supposed to.

A flat damage nerf would also work, but I think giving specific moveset is interesting because it adds another factor to balancing thralls, not just damage and HP anymore.