Not too long ago, I rambled about my experiences with the game after picking it up again for the first time in ages.
Anyways, I’ve never been a fan of the Cronley section of the game. Upon my return, the experience felt no different.
Faction density
It’s already been stated in another thread that the faction has a very sparse presence in Act 2 despite supposedly being in control of the general area and being the main adversary of the entire Act. In fact, I feel like the Arkovians are better suited for the title of “Act 2 Main Enemy Faction” than Cronley’s thugs.
Beefing up the faction density and spawning more heroes before we even reach Four Hills would help a lot. There’s some other suggestions in that thread. I’m just linking it here since it’s relevant to the discussion.
Turn Shanks into a unique boss
I’ll start by saying that I absolutely love Rutnick and Vinn. Rutnick in particular is exactly the stylish gunslinger enemy that I’ve been wanting in Grim Dawn.
Even after you added these two and Pit Champion Aldric, I feel like the Cronley’s faction has room for one more unique boss. Which is why, I propose promoting Shanks into a unique boss monster.
From a lore perspective, he’s less interesting than Igor or Romanov - two heroes who spawn inside Cronley’s Hideout. But Shanks is the best candidate for a promotion because he’s responsible for leading the Cronley post right outside Devil’s Crossing. That puts him far away from the other Cronley bosses and prevents Four Hills or Arkovian Foothills from feeling crowded.
In addition to a promotion, he needs some mechanical and thematic overhaul. He needs to be turned into an Ascended. This js important because despite Cronley’s thugs being Aether-infused bandits, most of the unique bosses are just regular thugs.
TL;DR
We need another Cronley gang Ascended member to be a unique boss.
Darius needs another phase
This has always bothered me. Cronley is the closest thing we have to an Act boss in Act 2. He’s supposed to be the focus of Devil’s Crossing’s main quest after the Warden’s defeat. Yet he has a move-set that is lamer than Fabius, Vinn, and Rutnick. All of whom are his underlings. His only gimmick is the Maiven Sphere.
Even beyond the move-set, the boss only has a single phase. Compare that to the other Act bosses - The Warden and Karroz. They both have fantastic second phases. Warden becomes more deformed and Karroz has a Chthonian burst out of his body. Darius just kind of keels over and dies after his sphere drops. The only other Act boss with a single phase is Ekket’Zul and he gets a pass on account of sheer awesomeness.
So, what should Darius’s two phases do? Imo, a visual transformation isn’t needed. The two phases should have mechanical distinctions.
Darius Cronley (First Phase):
- Uses a ranged two-handed weapon that has occasional rapid-fire proc for burst damage.
- Throws an Aether variant of Grenado/Canister Bomb at us when we move away.
- Summons Aether-style Rune of Hagarrad.
Darius Cronley (Second Phase):
After the first phase is ‘defeated’, you swap in the current Cronley. Kind of like how the phase-swap for Krieg and Karroz happens. Phase 2 Darius can have the same move-set as what he has now but I’d like for him to get Blitz.
