Throwaway rework ideas from the Vyper channel that I'm tossing here.
The current screwjab dagger and lethal venom has some issues. While the dagger is a good poke option in lane, it has extremely poor scaling and is usually relegated to being QSR duties which I think is unhealthy. Imbuing dagger encourages the Vyper to basically never use dagger until absolutely necessary which means Vyper pretty much only has 2 abilities in her kit. Venom on the other hand has wayy too strong scaling which becomes pointless if it only does max damage on enemies under 25%. Building up venom through shots is imo the laziest way to blend her gun with her abilities especially since venom built through shots wont even get a chance to pop before the target dies from her gun. There's also very little room for spirit itemization since its always the same QSR, BSR, 1250 active spirit and a throwaway 3k. So here's what I propose:
Screwjab dagger
Becomes similar to something like Kled's beartrap on a rope from League. The dagger has a lower range similar to Holliday's lasso but will have a rope attached to its hilt. On the initial dagger hit, a tether between Vyper and the target is formed and after a few seconds if the rope hasn't snapped, the dagger is yanked out, pulling the target a short distance towards Vyper, dealing damage and applying the fading slow. The tether can be snapped if the target or Vyper runs out of range so Vyper has to be close to the target to get full value.
Lethal Venom
Reduced buildup duration by around half since 3 seconds was usually too long to get value, however the max damage threshold is also reduced to around 10% and the insane x3 scaling is locked behind a tier 3 upgrade. No more building venom through shots, however shots on a target afflicted with venom will delay the venom's pop. The delay on pop will help in applying multiple venom stacks. Venom also gets ability charges and multiple venoms can be used on the same target, which raises the max damage threshold by 5-7.5% but does not raise its damage.
Gun Vyper currently reigns supreme and while spirit builds are technically viable, it feels super clunky especially with practically only 2 abilities worth using. Some changes to address Vyper's lack of build variety would be super cool.
The current screwjab dagger and lethal venom has some issues. While the dagger is a good poke option in lane, it has extremely poor scaling and is usually relegated to being QSR duties which I think is unhealthy. Imbuing dagger encourages the Vyper to basically never use dagger until absolutely necessary which means Vyper pretty much only has 2 abilities in her kit. Venom on the other hand has wayy too strong scaling which becomes pointless if it only does max damage on enemies under 25%. Building up venom through shots is imo the laziest way to blend her gun with her abilities especially since venom built through shots wont even get a chance to pop before the target dies from her gun. There's also very little room for spirit itemization since its always the same QSR, BSR, 1250 active spirit and a throwaway 3k. So here's what I propose:
Screwjab dagger
Becomes similar to something like Kled's beartrap on a rope from League. The dagger has a lower range similar to Holliday's lasso but will have a rope attached to its hilt. On the initial dagger hit, a tether between Vyper and the target is formed and after a few seconds if the rope hasn't snapped, the dagger is yanked out, pulling the target a short distance towards Vyper, dealing damage and applying the fading slow. The tether can be snapped if the target or Vyper runs out of range so Vyper has to be close to the target to get full value.
- Tier 1: Reduced cooldown
- Tier 2: -60% heal reduction on succesful yank (moved from venom since it was kinda cheesy to apply it instantly)
- Tier 3: Removes 1 stamina and applies a lethal venom stack on successful yank
Lethal Venom
Reduced buildup duration by around half since 3 seconds was usually too long to get value, however the max damage threshold is also reduced to around 10% and the insane x3 scaling is locked behind a tier 3 upgrade. No more building venom through shots, however shots on a target afflicted with venom will delay the venom's pop. The delay on pop will help in applying multiple venom stacks. Venom also gets ability charges and multiple venoms can be used on the same target, which raises the max damage threshold by 5-7.5% but does not raise its damage.
- Tier 1: + 1 charge
- Tier 2: Improved percentage threshold increase on consecutive lethal venoms
- Tier 3: Improved venom damage scaling
Gun Vyper currently reigns supreme and while spirit builds are technically viable, it feels super clunky especially with practically only 2 abilities worth using. Some changes to address Vyper's lack of build variety would be super cool.