Beast Buff Idea
Beast was my second 6* back in the day, so I'm kind of fond of him despite him being maybe the worst mutant in the game. I tried to buff him up a bit by expanding on his two stances (now three) and combo'ing. While I tend to dislike champions who rely too much on an unbroken combo meter, I felt that it should be a part of Beast's abilities since his signature ability is literally called "combo chain".
As a compromise, I added a safety net of sorts. If struck, Beast can keep his combo up by purifying a debuff that he has placed on the opponent. Moreover, he is not a crazy ramp-up champion like Aegon or Gulliotine 2099 - his last combo ability comes at 50 hits and it all caps out at 150 hits. I felt like this was an acceptable middle-ground that both allows him to ramp up throughout the fight while still (hopefully) remaining fun to play right from the start.
One thing I wanted to add was an ability that actually made him viable against constantly purifying skill champions. In the end, I went with the ability to keep his debuffs purify-immune as long as he keeps hitting into his opponent.
I also added a few synergies with Apocalypse and Mister Sinister since I remember Dark Beast from back when I was a kid.
Signature Ability - Chain Combo
* Successfully completing a Freestyle combo increases Beast’s Critical Rating by 310 for the next combo.
* Successfully completing an Acrobatic combo causes the opponent to gain 50% less Power from getting hit and attacking for 5 seconds.
* Successfully completing a Brilliance combo refreshes any Debuffs that expire within 3 seconds. Debuffs are refreshed with -50% duration.
* When unsuccessfully performing a combo, there will be a 5-second delay before you can start a new combo.
* While in Freestyle, performing a Medium attack followed by a Light, Light, Light, and Medium attack inflicts 770 Direct Damage per blow.
* While in Acrobatic, Blocking an attack followed by a Medium, Light, Light Medium combo will Regenerate all Block damage plus 605 health per blow.
* While in Brilliance, performing an intercept with a Medium, Light, Medium combo will pause any Debuffs on the opponent for the duration of the combo. If punishing a Special Attack, the potency of all Debuffs is increased by 15% per blow while paused.
Combo Meter - Up to 150 hits
* Gain 1% increased Critical Rating and Debuff Duration per hit in the combo Meter.
* Gain 1% Critical Damage Rating and Debuff Potency per 5 hits in the combo Meter.
* For every 10 hits in the combo meter, Debuff effects linger for 1 second after switching Combat Form.
* Once a combo of 20 has been reached, opponents cannot Purify Beast’s Debuffs as long as he hits them.
* Once a combo of 50 has been reached, gain 0,5% additional Bleed and Coldsnap Resistance per additional hit in the combo meter.
* Every time Beast is hit by a basic attack, Purify one Debuff on the opponent to keep his combo meter.
Passive
Beast’s thick hide makes him resistant to Bleed and Coldsnap effects, decreasing their Potency and duration by 65%.
When an opponent’s Frostbite charges expire naturally on Beast, they turn into a 6-second 15% Prowess passive on Beast instead of dealing damage. Prowess Buffs increase the damage of Beast’s Special Attacks.
Sharp claws strike out whenever Beast refreshes a damaging Debuff, instantly dealing 300 Direct Damage to the opponent. If the opponent is Armor Broken, this bypasses any Armor Rating and Resistances.
Pre-Fight Ability - Combat Form
Beast has three Combat Forms that he can employ in fights and can make use of two Forms at any one time. One is chosen before each fight as a passive Form, while the other two are active Forms that he can switch between during the fight by landing a Heavy Attack.
Unless it is chosen as the passive Combat Form, Beast starts the fight in Freestyle; otherwise, he starts in Acrobatic.
Freestyle:
Critical Hits grant Beast an indefinite Precision Buff and have a 75% chance to inflict Bleed, dealing 1400 damage over 6 seconds. When pushing the opponent over a bar of Power, inflict a passive Bleed that has the chance to be Critical. Max 5 Precision Buffs.
Acrobatic:
Beast has an 85% chance to reduce the Critical Damage of the opponent’s Critical Hits by 85%. Additionally, opponents gain 55% less Power when hit by Beast. Whenever one of Beast’s basic hits pushes them over a bar of Power, he gains an indefinite Fury Buff. Max 5 Fury Buffs.
Brilliance:
Medium combo-finishers grant Beast 15% extra Power, while Light combo-finishers inflict the opponent with an Armor Break over 6 seconds. While suffering from an Armor Break, the opponent is unable to gain any further Armor Up Buffs. Each time Beast places another Armor Break, he gains an indefinite Cruelty Buff. Max 5 Cruelty Buffs.
Heavy Attacks
Switches between the two remaining Active Combat Forms. When ending one Form, Beast turns every Buff into a passive Prowess Buff increasing the damage of his next Special Attack. Additionally, he gains a bonus based on the Combat Forms he exits.
When exiting Freestyle: Place a Bleed per Precision Buff converted.
When exiting Acrobatic: Burn 3% of the opponent’s Power per Fury Buff converted.
When exiting Brilliance: Gain a Power Reserve Buff for 10 seconds. While active, Special Attacks cost 5% less Power per Cruelty Buff converted.
Special Attack 1
* 70% chance to stun the opponent for 1,5 seconds. 100% if at a combo of 20 hits or more.
* Place one Armor Break on the opponent with the first hit and one Bleed with the second.
Special Attack 2
* 100% to stun the opponent for 2 seconds. 3 seconds if at a combo of 20 hits or more.
* Purify one Debuff on the opponent with each kick. Each Purified Debuff heals Beast for 3% of his Missing Health.
* On the last hit, refresh the duration of all remaining Debuffs on the opponent.
Special Attack 3
Beast is knowledgeable about many things, including medicine. When the need arises, he can step in to help his teammates at the expense of his offensive abilities.
The first time Beast launches his Special 3 in a fight, he enters Field Medic mode for 30 seconds. While in this mode, he deals no damage save for what is dealt through basic attacks. Any additional damage that would have come from Bleed effects, Critical Hits, hits into Armor Breaks, or augmented by his Buffs, are instead spread evenly as healing to all X-Men members still alive on his team.
This does not include himself or any of Apocalypse’s Horsemen.
Synergies
Apocalypse - Dark Beast
Serving under Apocalypse in an alternate reality, Beast turned mad and began to experiment on others as well as himself.
Bleed Debuffs are now passive Degeneration Debuffs, and while active on the opponent they Heal Block both champions. Each time a healing effect fails on Beast, he gains a passive Prowess Buff that increases his Special Attack damage by 5%. If a stack of 5 or more Prowess is gained, Special Attacks also become Unblockable.
If he does not launch a Special Attack within 7 seconds of his last Prowess gained, the stacks slowly begin to deteriorate into Degeneration Debuffs each dealing 0,3% of his remaining health as damage over 3 seconds.
Additionally, each Armor Break Debuff on the opponent decreases their Special Attack damage by 7%.
Lastly, his Field Medic mode is replaced with Hippocratic Wrath. For 15 seconds after activating his Special 3, all of his hits are Critical if the opponent is suffering from an Armor Break Debuff. During this mode, any Degeneration damage that Beast himself would have suffered is instead transferred to the opponent as long as they have a Degeneration Debuff active.
Mister Sinister - Mad Geneticist
Experimenting on Mutants under Mister Sinister's watchful eye, Beast gradually learns how to create the perfect Mutant and applies those lessons to himself.
For every Mutant Beast defeats in a Quest, his Class Disadvantage versus Tech champions is reduced by 33% and he gains 15% Defensive Ability Reduction.
This does not affect any Robot champions, except for Sentinel.
