Scrakes - 50% less HP 50% more DPS

Yeah, something definetely needs to be done to make scrake better.
Most of the time freakin crawlers cause way more danger than scrakes.

The main problem with the Scrake is that he has to stop to play out his attack animation. This means that any player not boxed in can just back up constantly and never be touched by him, even if the Scrake is charging.
Now, this wouldn't be so bad if the Scrake had the numbers of his little brother Gorefast. But he doesn't, so the specimen in question is about as intimidating as a shark in a parking lot. And, since he's the big bad guy with the chainsaw, he quickly becomes a priority target and dies just as quickly.

There's definitely some way to get the Scrake to be a threat, but just giving him X more damage or Y more/less HP is a band-aid while making him able to attack on the move might make the game even more difficult than it already is - and with the fact that beating the game on Normal, let alone Hard or Suicidal, is a bit of a feat in itself, I'm not so sure we want that.

I had a thought that maybe Mr. Sawyer should be able to attack on the move, but only with a clumsy swing that does a relatively low amount of damage. Let's say about Gorefast-grade damage. The catch is that if you stay too close to him for too long, the Scrake'll get wise to you and bring his chainsaw forward while walking, causing constant damage if you stay on it. This is much like his current "stab and throttle" attack, but does a little less damage.

Agreed, the Skrake's problem is his attack animation. He can charge all he wants but it doesn't mean squat when he stops for at least a full second before he swings. His AI bug where he will just stand there doing nothing is just icing on the fail cake (no offense intended TWI).

I suppose he is the way he is to distinguish him from the Flesh Pound, because if he charged and attacked as players would expect, the two would essentially be the same except for the circumstances under which they charge. (Being shot vs. distance to player.)

He can still hurt you....but the majority of players know how to take him down with little problems.

Nenjin said:

I suppose he is the way he is to distinguish him from the Flesh Pound, because if he charged and attacked as players would expect, the two would essentially be the same except for the circumstances under which they charge. (Being shot vs. distance to player.)

He can still hurt you....but the majority of players know how to take him down with little problems.

Click to expand...

Not really correct there. The Fleshpound charges after a certain damage threshold is exceeded in 5 seconds. The Skrake charges not because of distance, but after it has lost a certain portion of it's HP (When it's down to around 25% health, give or take. They also rage faster on higher difficulties, sometimes at 50% health or more!). The Fleshpound's rage wears off after a time or after it hits someone a few times, but the Skrakes' rage NEVER wears off until it dies, so they're pretty different.

Generally, the only way they can hurt you is via ambush or via being cornered, same as Gorefasts. That makes them easy to avoid. But IF they could attack on the move, they'd simply be too powerful. As stated above, their rage NEVER wears off, so they'd be like a constantly-raged fleshpound after they've taken enough damage...

I could easily see a single 'Attack on the move' Skrake at half health tearing through an entire team on Hard/Suicidal. Since they appear VERY frequently on those difficulties, that's just not practical to have...

But something has to be done. I expect Tripwire is working on it, or at the very least, working on getting his glitchy behavior down. I can understand one being stunned with constant melee hits (Chainsaw or repeated axe/mechete blows), but after the hits stop, the Skrake should be able to move again...