Hello and welcome to the bi-weekly Zantai extravaganza. Last time, I promised quite a treat. It is only natural that I not discuss this topic whatsoever. What did I promise? Wish I could remember. If only there was some sort of digital evidence to force my hand.
Before I delight you with the Nightblade mastery, allow me bring up another delightful topic to delight with: Hero Monsters. These player-hating creatures of the vilest nature want nothing but to smear the ground with your insides. I got to make one or sixty of these recently. These are not just rehashes of the same small skillset, mind you. These are unique creations of destructive power designed to make you question stepping a foot outside town.
With greater danger comes greater reward though, and I’m sure you will charge at them with anticipation of rare items and powerful components. Whether you survive isn’t my concern, I’m just here to make them really overpowered! In my next write up, we will reveal a few of these champions of evil.
Now as for the Nightblade, the master of sharp things and poor vision. This will be purely a mechanics preview, as the Nightblade’s art is not ready for prime time. Something about the artists being too busy making lab equipment and creepy creatures for me to pump up with unfair stats. So without further rambling:
Disclaimer: the following names, mechanics, concepts, suggestions, and ideas are work in progress and may not reflect the final product.
He slices, he dices, he even does your laundry (if laundry consists of monsters and loot)! He is the Nightblade! The goal with this mastery was to create an agile counterpart to the tougher Soldier mastery. The Nightblade excels at rapid movement, deception, and heavy damage.
Skill 1: Shadow Strike
“A cunning combination of flash powder and mental deflection allows the Nightblade to dart throughout the battlefield faster than the eye can see.”
Shadow Strike causes your character to phase out of existence and rapidly close in on your target, dealing damage on impact. This skill serves a dual purpose: direct single target damage and survivability. How does survivability come into play? Let’s bring up the modifier…
Modifier 1: Master of Shadow
“Become like the spectre of nightmares, appearing before your enemies in an instant and vanishing just as quickly.”
This skill modifier reduces the cooldown on Shadow Strike, allowing you to jump around more frequently. This serves both as a direct damage increase on Shadow Strike and as a way to ensure that you are always in a favorable position.
Skill 2: Blade Swarm
“Conjure a swirling cloud of blades that will tear at your enemies while its enchantment holds true.”
Blade Swarm summons a temporary pet at the target point. The Blade Swarm is an invincible whirlwind of jagged death that slowly moves around the battlefield and shreds everything that comes too close. Higher ranks also increase the maximum number of Blade Swarms that can exist at a given time, with +1 skill gear allowing you to virtually cover the battlefield with swirling death.
Modifier 2: Explosive End
“Causes the Blade Swarm to shatter when its power wanes, showering nearby enemies with its deadly parts.”
This skill modifier allows the Blade Swarm to cast Shower of Metal upon death. Shower of Metal unleashes a ring of sharp blades from the Blade Swarm which cause instant pierce damage as well as additional bleed damage over time.
Passive 3: Dual Blades
“Allows for the wielding of two one handed melee weapons simultaneously, making cutting apart multiple opponents a triviality.”
This one is fairly self-explanatory. The Nightblade is our dual wielding melee master. This skill does not enable the use of two one handed guns though, which will be in a separate mastery.
Do you want to see more? I sure hope so! But you will have to wait for the Alpha (insert evil laugh here). I’m afraid that this is all I have for today. Eager readers are encouraged to return on 09/02/12 for the next installment of the not always mis-adventurous Grim Misadventures!
