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Ninjas are incoming!

vauzwei

Member
Oct 15, 2022
23
5
a ninja merc like in shadow warier 2(maybe 3). a fast running and forward jumping melee and handgun using ninja which can make him self invisible (y)

but a what i realy prefer is a much deeeeeeeeeper gameplay. (different ways to design skill/dmg/defense and gameplay )
 
Well, once again, that's an idea that we pondered quite a few times before. Usually under the name of the canceled Martial Artist perk. I obviously wouldn't have envisioned a full parkour-like character... It would need to redesign most if not all the maps in the game to incorporate some verticality. And at that state of the game, I doubt a brand new perk, especially with new mechanics, would be added.

Still, my personal take on the perk would have been somewhat like a polar opposite to the Berserker :

-The Zerk is very tanky and usually serves as a distraction to the zeds (so its team can take care of them or, even better, priority targets). It's also quite good at CC, considering it can stumble zeds, but also EMP them and even stun them! It also deals pretty good damage, although it usually requires some accuracy (aim for the head!) and the good ol' parry-then-attack combo.

-The "Martial Artist" (or the "Ninja" if you prefer) would instead be a pure glass cannon. It would be very weak, with little to no passives or skills increasing his survivability. However, he would definitely be among the most nimble of perks (akin to the zerk and gunslinger? Maybe a tad above?). It could for example jump higher or further, maybe run faster when he sprints or have a "dash" ability. Obviously, you wouldn't want him to kite endlessly the way a medic or zerk does ! It makes for an easy and boring win. But it should be able to use its mobility to compensate his fragility.

However, I did mention he should be a "glass cannon" right? Well, unlike the zerk (which should have stayed a pure melee perk IMO), the Martial Artist would only have access to melee weapons. But he would have two peculiarities to make up for it :

-Critical Spots : let's throw in the good ol' backstab ! By sneaking behind zeds, he can inflict a powerful critical hit on them (dealing 300% damage? These numbers could be tweaked). This would both boost teamplay (the zeds need to be busy with your teammates so you can sneak up on them) and make good use of your mobility.

-Combo system : unlike the zerk which has access to some pretty heavy-duty (battleaxe, pulverizer, zweihander, bone crusher...), the Martial Artist could have access to lighter weapons that attack a little bit faster (and are of course, weaker and/or with shorter range !). In turns, if you manage to land three consecutive hits on a zed, it shall receive a critical hit (300% damage, as I mentioned above!) This would add to the high-risk, high-reward aspect of the perk, as you put yourself in danger to get those three hits... But your target might be severely crippled if you succeed.

-Bleeding? : maybe that would be overkill, but I could also see some bleeding mechanics applied to the perk... Obviously not as a rule of thumb though ! Maybe critical hits could also apply bleeding, to make sure the zed won't escape its doom? Maybe it could be a secondary attribute of a few, higher-tiered weapons? Maybe it could be a skill ! Either way, I believe it would add some flavor to the perk, and put even more emphasis on its glass cannon attribute.

We came up with a fully-fledged skill tree back in the day, but I must admit I don't really remember it. So instead I'll quickly talk about weapons :

T1 : I believe a short sword like a tantô could do the trick. It would attack faster than the crovel but can only hit 1-2 zeds at once and is weaker (unless you land a critical hit, that is!)
T2 : Of course the katana rightfully belongs to the Martial Artist... Sorry zerkers !
T3 : Tier 2 and Tier 3 are often exchangeable, and it's easy to skip one or the other. For that reason, I felt like giving a polar opposite to the Katana, which is fairly weak but pretty fast. So let's go for a "Kanabô", basically a Japanese mace (or metal baseball bat!). Its blunt force could stumble zeds and allow you to quickly apply a critical hit ! It would also make it easier to save your bacon. It turn, this weapon wouldn't be able to apply bleeding, as its pure blunt force.
T4 : Kusarigama/Hook ? I could see the perk having AT LEAST one way to hit zeds at a distance (just like the zerk, with the eviscerator). It's main drawback is obviously that it's range is not infinite AND that you can only target a single zed at once. To make up for it, you could still apply the "critical spot" system, and maybe the hook would be able to break through armor? It would make sense for such a precise melee perk to be able to find the weaknesses in a zed's armor !
T5 : A Nodachi, with its immense weight and length, could make for an interesting ultimate weapon. It would make the combo system far harder to exploit, but you could reach more zeds and crush them under your immense blade ! After all, a T5 needs to feel all-powerful... right?
Grenade : Shurikens? I thought it could be more of a tool than a proper weapon. You could have like 15 of them instead of five, they get thrown pretty fast and they stagger zeds... Allowing you to quickly go for a punch or instead retreat!
 
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i like ure ideas but i miss deepness options like

skill 1: if zeds are bleeding the poisen dmg is increased
skill 2: if zeds are stuned bleed dmg is increasde
skill 3: hiting zeds from behind increas the critical hit chance

for normal u need a T3 weapon to inflict bleed and another T3 weapon like metal baseballbat to stun
(2xT3 weapons reserv 70% of waight so u got ure dmg/crit bonus)

but a trick would be to use the skill bonus withe a T5 nodachi poisened weapon which would reserv allone 70% waight

so if u could inflict bleed withe the T1 tanto withe a special hit where the tanto get ramed into the zed
and stuck there while it inflict bleed until he died and u can pick it up (only 1 zed could bleed this way like big zeds/ boss)

and to stun u can choose between granades like "shurikens/maybe poisen?" "Foot Spikes/slow down and bleed" or "stunning smoke mines"

so u can build a trap like plant a smoke mine to stun, ram the tanto in to the biggest zed for bleed and hit hard withe nodachi + poisen (boss killer)
or throw footspikes in a big area to cause bleed and slow down zeds where u attack withe a nodachi or metal basballbat (wave controll)

i hope u can read it xD
 
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Sure, but keep in mind I specifically said that I lost most of the ideas about skills we had ! I'm sure our ideas can still be found somewhere among these forums, but I purposely left those out as I didn't really feel like developing it too much (call it laziness, it's really what it is!)

-I don't think we should add poison damage to the mix... Bleeding damage would be much better, as it makes the zed weaker but don't cause them to panic (which is often counterintuitive in teamplay). It would also make the perk able to inflict two DoT effects AT ONCE.

-I haven't spoken of stunning zeds, only stumbling or staggering them. And in both cases, the idea is mostly to either make it easier to land a critical hit/combo on them, or allow you to flee and heal yourself back up. I believe CC abilities should be kept as Zerk's attributes to further distance the two perks.

-Why would you need an extra skill to increase the critical hit chance? ;) My point was precisely to GUARANTEE a critical hit if you strike a zed from behind. This encourages you to take risks and count on your team to be a distraction (kinda like having a Heavy distracted by your teammates as you approach to backstab him in Team Fortress 2). I believe a 100% chance to have a critical hit is not OP considering you'd still have to be wary of the other zeds targeting YOU instead of your mates.

-Keep in mind my "bleeding" idea was only a suggestion, not a necessity. I was assuming that all sharp weapons (so everything but the kanabô really) could inflict some bleeding damage, but maybe only under certain conditions (If you land a combo? If you take a specific skill?). As I said, the kanabô would be quite the black sheep of the perk's arsenal, as it's heavier and inflicts blunt damage... Removing the ability to inflict bleeding damage and being slower, but inflicting more damage and being able to smash zeds to the ground !

-Having a special attack for the tantô sounds interesting, but there's absolutely NO weapon that simply gets removed from your inventory as you use them. If you ram your tantô into a zed in the first wave... How will you defend yourself? Maybe it could instead by a whole different weapon, used more like a "tool" similar to the Sentinel or C4. You would have a limited amount of serrated blades that you can jam into zeds so they'll slowly bleed out up until they die or you retrieve your weapon (possibly inflicting some extra damage in the process, at the cost of putting you into melee range...)

-I actually dig the idea of having multiple grenades ! I don't think they should be weapons though, as they're quite clearly tools. I believe they could instead be tied to skills... Or maybe you could have the option to change your grenades directly at the Trader Pod? I could see smoke bombs being used to give you a quick speed boost (3-5 seconds max) and confuse zeds for example. Caltrops could indeed be used to cover your tracks and slow down zeds to make it easier to escape... OR give your team a boost, as you block an entry with those pesky spikes ! Just like a firebug would block a path with a wall of fire, you would instead make it harder for zeds to reach you as they're brought to a sluggish pace by your caltrops.

-I am not fond of having the smoke bombs as "mines" however. I believe they shouldn't be akin to mines at all, and instead be used as a "get out of jail" card if you're in a pinch. I also believe the speed boost should only apply to YOU, while your team would benefit from the confused state of the zeds.
 
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i am sure u will find a way how it would be a round thing in the game if new perks would come.

i will just try to open the horrizont for another view and deepness in the game.

to play someday a shooter like killing floor withe melee options, a complex deepnes in skill and gear like in path of exile
running different maps in a inverioment like Marudeuer in waves or hack an slash for loot vs zeds, bosses for crafting stuff and cosmetic etc
would be nice (y)

shadow warrior 2 was some kind of nice that way. but a bit to simple witheout a chance to retry missions until u finish it and withe just 2 maps withe high lvl drops :/
 
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Can't miss the opportunity to mention about adding HF Murasama VT7 High-Frequency Blade from MGR, as the official description says:
"The Murasama's sheath contained a rifle mechanism with a magazine loaded and a trigger located below the sword's hilt. By triggering this mechanism, Sam could launch his sword from the sheath and use iaido techniques with increased momentum which he demonstrated when cutting off Raiden's arm with one strike."

Altho it's pretty similar to ION thruster, im surprised no one did MGR related meme template with it, like these vids:



 
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Meh... It would probably fit the perk (it also reminds me of the aeroblade from Xionic Madness... kind of an obscure reference!), but I also find it kinda unnecessary. Especially in regards to the combo/critical spot system I mentioned earlier. If you can do it not only at a distance but at fast speed? You'd melt anything in seconds ! With far less risks than with the rest of your arsenal. It kinda goes against what I envisioned for the perk (but since it has 0 chances to ever exist, I obviously can't say that your idea is bad or whatever !)

Following my point though, I know that I did mention a hook or kusarigama, which would have a similar issue (easily farming critical spot hits at a distance, greatly reducing the risk taken). But at least with such a weapon, you could only target a single zed at a time. The projectile could also have some travel time. And it would be much harder to land a proper combo as it would take forever to launch the hook/blade on the same zed again...
 
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