lucangell
New member
While I feel positive about the majority of the changes made in the recent balance patch, one that's really irked me is the change to Spirit Sap no longer upgrading into Silence Wave and instead upgrading and having its effects added to Focus Lens. To me, Spirit Sap upgrading to Silence Wave always felt off in terms of each item's mechanics and thematics, but now that dissonance feels even stronger with it upgrading to Focus Lens. It feels way too overloaded in terms of its functionality. A silence, delayed damage, spirit resist reduction, AND spirit power reduction is a lot of effects to apply onto a single target, even for a Tier 4 item. And while that's all still counterable with Debuff Remover, that still leaves the issue of the awkward thematic progression of a spirit-weakening liquid upgrading to a damage amplifying optic lens (which admittedly isn't that important of an issue, but I care about this kind of stuff).
So as a fix to these gripes I have, rather than altering Focus Lens or making Silence Wave the upgrade again, I propose the idea of Spirit Sap upgrading into a new item that's both a better fit mechanically and thematically. Shoutout to itzfred for their amazing Deadlock Graphic Designer that I used to make this mock-up!
Spirit Sludge is essentially just "Spirit Sap but more". Taking inspiration from Alchemical Fire while also making it a parallel to the item, when used, a barrel full of hazardous spirit waste (that the shopkeeper probably stole from Fairfax Industries) is tossed out in the direction you're aiming. On contact, it explodes and creates a thick oily puddle of waist-high sludge that spreads out in an area, applying Spirit Sap's effect of spirit resist and spirit power reduction to any enemies that step inside it. This brings back Spirit Sap's upgrade having the crowd control potential it used to have when upgraded into Silence Wave, but more toned down in its area of effect for the sake of balance. It also makes the item upgrade make more thematic sense, as you're going from throwing out a ball of a spiritual liquid to an entire barrel of the stuff.
As an additional effect to make escaping the sludge more difficult, its sticky properties also limit enemy movement by reducing their jump height while inside the puddle, forcing them to expend movement resources if they wish to vertically escape from it. I chose jump height instead of move speed and/or dash speed since doing so would not only directly step on the toes of Vortex Web but also overload the item with effects, which is the problem I have with the current version of Focus Lens.
Anyone else in a similar boat to how I feel about the Spirit Sap changes? Have any suggestions for how the concept of Spirit Sludge could be tweaked or your own ideas for an upgrade? Please let me know!
So as a fix to these gripes I have, rather than altering Focus Lens or making Silence Wave the upgrade again, I propose the idea of Spirit Sap upgrading into a new item that's both a better fit mechanically and thematically. Shoutout to itzfred for their amazing Deadlock Graphic Designer that I used to make this mock-up!
Spirit Sludge is essentially just "Spirit Sap but more". Taking inspiration from Alchemical Fire while also making it a parallel to the item, when used, a barrel full of hazardous spirit waste (that the shopkeeper probably stole from Fairfax Industries) is tossed out in the direction you're aiming. On contact, it explodes and creates a thick oily puddle of waist-high sludge that spreads out in an area, applying Spirit Sap's effect of spirit resist and spirit power reduction to any enemies that step inside it. This brings back Spirit Sap's upgrade having the crowd control potential it used to have when upgraded into Silence Wave, but more toned down in its area of effect for the sake of balance. It also makes the item upgrade make more thematic sense, as you're going from throwing out a ball of a spiritual liquid to an entire barrel of the stuff.
As an additional effect to make escaping the sludge more difficult, its sticky properties also limit enemy movement by reducing their jump height while inside the puddle, forcing them to expend movement resources if they wish to vertically escape from it. I chose jump height instead of move speed and/or dash speed since doing so would not only directly step on the toes of Vortex Web but also overload the item with effects, which is the problem I have with the current version of Focus Lens.
Anyone else in a similar boat to how I feel about the Spirit Sap changes? Have any suggestions for how the concept of Spirit Sludge could be tweaked or your own ideas for an upgrade? Please let me know!
