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Cloak & Dagger, Crystal (Inhumans), Klaw, Wolverine & POSITION STATUS EFFECTS: Unique Game Mechanics
Bajan_Samurai
Member Posts: 109 ★
Ok, so I held this stuff for way too long. If ever Kabam could consider these types of character additions they probably would need a good deal more time in development and testing considering Cloak & Dagger opens soon, but what may as well still share with the community. Either way, I got to thinking that few characters have POSITION related abilities, and that there is a unique opportunity to treat Cloak like an add on item to Dagger and have them work as a fighting duo. It is also way past any Inhumans, but Crystal would make a great addition regardless of their series not being renewed. She is a very storied character in Marvel Comics history.
Imagine Dagger working like Vulture and Cloak acting like Vulture's wings (detaching periodically, only thing, via teleportation behind the opponent, but maintaining the directionality of the combat mechanic by being a proximity life draining object instead of hitting anyone). See the images to see how the position mechanic would be enacted. I paired them versus Dagger because they would both divide the battle stage into 4 equal quadrants to determine their status effects.
Likewise, or as a bonus, Klaw would use position mechanics to plant Echo Mines on the battle stage in front or behind the opponent depending on the special. These would repeat a percentage of damage of recent hits and can be used to restrict opponent movement (although Vibranium related champs would have some resistance or outright immunity to its push back and/or damage). In the image I paired Klaw against the original Wolverine, suggesting another position related status effect. When in a back corner, Wolverine should activate a Berserker effect (fury and cruelty) that can cancel out a stun.
More miscellaneous info on finer abilities around these champs, and some ideal synergistic effects will follow as well. An example of finer ability details are such as Wolverine cannot stack Berserk without clearing a certain distance out of the corner he backed into. Another would be that Cloak and Dagger's upgrade requirements would involve 1 Mystic catalyst although they would be Science Champs similar to how Karnak is a Skill Champ that requires a Cosmic catalyst.
Klaw (#Villain, #Metal, bleed & poison immune, Tech class)
Crystal (#Hero, #Inhuman, poison immune, Cosmic class)
Cloak & Dagger (#Mercenary, #Dark X-Men, effect removal, Science class)
Imagine Dagger working like Vulture and Cloak acting like Vulture's wings (detaching periodically, only thing, via teleportation behind the opponent, but maintaining the directionality of the combat mechanic by being a proximity life draining object instead of hitting anyone). See the images to see how the position mechanic would be enacted. I paired them versus Dagger because they would both divide the battle stage into 4 equal quadrants to determine their status effects.
Likewise, or as a bonus, Klaw would use position mechanics to plant Echo Mines on the battle stage in front or behind the opponent depending on the special. These would repeat a percentage of damage of recent hits and can be used to restrict opponent movement (although Vibranium related champs would have some resistance or outright immunity to its push back and/or damage). In the image I paired Klaw against the original Wolverine, suggesting another position related status effect. When in a back corner, Wolverine should activate a Berserker effect (fury and cruelty) that can cancel out a stun.
More miscellaneous info on finer abilities around these champs, and some ideal synergistic effects will follow as well. An example of finer ability details are such as Wolverine cannot stack Berserk without clearing a certain distance out of the corner he backed into. Another would be that Cloak and Dagger's upgrade requirements would involve 1 Mystic catalyst although they would be Science Champs similar to how Karnak is a Skill Champ that requires a Cosmic catalyst.
Klaw (#Villain, #Metal, bleed & poison immune, Tech class)
Crystal (#Hero, #Inhuman, poison immune, Cosmic class)
Cloak & Dagger (#Mercenary, #Dark X-Men, effect removal, Science class)
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Cloak - a hovering champ similar to Dr. Strange, Dr. Voodoo, etc. who's abilities will be stronger related to the dark protrusions on the battle stage (the hot spots on the forward third of quadrants). His Sp1 would cause Health Steal (like Rogue) but be more intense on the Shadow Zones where it would cause heavy degeneration on the opponent. During a Special 2, part of Dagger would emerge from Cloak's cloak of darkness and throw light knives. Otherwise she is not visible in melee combat. During Special 3 she would have a sequence similar to what I envision for the Duo version prior (the opponent is enveloped in the cloak of pitch black darkness, then blasted out by Dagger, temporarily shutting down health, power and buffs like Ghost Rider's damnation)
Dagger - would be a ground based champ with ballerina fighting mechanics more defined than Black Widow. Her key specialty would still be the ability to remove Negative Status Effects (Debuffs) from herself, activate her 'Radiance' which prevents additional negative debuffs from lasting on her before expiring. Her light daggers would be featured in Sp1 but in addition to those in Sp2 Cloak would be teleported in to hover behind the opponent for some number of seconds draining their health. Her Sp3 would be identical to Cloak's. Carrying on the theme of their partnership.
The preference and uniqueness would be to have them as a pair though, setting up the light and dark abilities to have an all around cumulative beneficial effect instead of any one ability being heavy damage or high healing. In this Duo version Cloak moves on a slight delay tracking with Dagger, which allows for quirky effects, like a dexterity-like effect if Dagger dashed back and a projectile passes through Cloak first, rendering it ineffective (simulating Cloak shunting it into another dimension). To extend this, if Dagger goes into a Block Stance, Cloak also follows suit, slowing down his drift behind her. If in line with her, their block (him partially shielding her results in higher Block Proficiency, if caught too far ahead of Cloak but needing to block, the same applies, with Cloak drifting up slower hence she has lower Block Proficiency.
As a duo, they gain boosts/benefits in situations that apply to female characters. Despite having a male and female in the slot, the norm is Male & Hero, so situational buffs are not described for them. The presence of a Female, Villain, Mercenary, Team Affiliation or Dimensional Being is considered a notable subgroup to base extra positive or negative consequences around.
Synergies would revolve around:
Additional details about Crystal would include her natural synergies with her Royal Family, although this would be called Royal Dynasty - w/Ronan, BB or Medusa
During Royal Dynasty the quartet cause the following
Additionally, Crystal would have another unique synergy with Storm or Quake called Elementals which would additionally benefit Iceman, Ronan, Star-Lord, and all versions of Thor who can be considered #Elemental (If Human Torch is ever added, it would also apply to him). With every 4th debuff they apply, they also apply the last different buff they were capable of (e.g. Storm can Shock, but a stun she applied earlier would auto-trigger, or vice versa). These secondary reapplied effects would have 25% reduced potency though, either in duration or intensity, depending on the type of debuff. In Crystal's case, this also helps with the possibility of chaining elemental effects outside their usual quadrants.
Lastly, Crystal would round out with standard Friends (She-Hulk, Beast and Ms. Marvel (Khan) adding Armor Rating) and Enemies synergies (Loki, Magneto and Emma Frost, adding Critical Rating).
Klaw:
Right conditions cornering an opponent can trap one behind a series of repeating echoes as he regains power from echoes making contact as if it was a basic hit. In proper balancing it should make Sp2, Sp1, Sp1 possible, but returns would be diminished since echoes of echoes would hit softer; however, landing a few hits between these, power rate increasing and unique synergies, and special node granted abilities could make increased damage (Resonate with Killmonger, for example) and an exra Sp1 fit in ith a Romance pair.
Crystal
Restoring defensive ability in the Earth quadrant can translate to faster recovery from armor breaks, fatigue and block erosion.
Dagger
Her Radiance would function like a Tenacity, except deliberately time activated, allowing her to play bleed, degen and/or poison nodes after taking initial damage while holding block long enough to activate it. While Radiance is active, her special attacks would cause opponents to glow. That glow would feed her healing even without Cloak leeching them directly as long as they pass over a dark spot.
Position related abilities would be such unique added mechanics to consider adding.
INTELLIGENCIA 2.0: w/ M.O.D.O.K., The Leader or Mr. Sinister (more on recommendations on the latter two later)
ARM'S RACE: w/ Winter Soldier, Cable & Misty Knight (More on Misty later)
PRECISION STRIKE: w/ Black Panther, Black Panther CW and Killmonger
Mr. Sinister (Science class):
His suggested characteristics employ [so far] unique game mechanics: +15% per teammate of the ability associated with his teammate's class as a Gene Spliced passive ability. This ability can be exhausted, but it can be reset with a heavy attack after a 20 sec cool down period. For example,
Awakened abilities allow Sinister to benefit from synergies around him. If any of his teammates have a 'general' synergy with an opponent, or opponents have synergies with their own roster, it is expressed up to 200% in Sinister (depending on signature level). E.g. In the presence of a Romance Synergy (such as Sinister vs Daredevil while Elektra is one of Sinister's roster mates) Sinister gains power faster; if fighting Yellow Jacket with Ant-Man on Sinister's team, Sinister has the potential to have +12% Attack rating due to YJ and AM's +6% attack synergy. In other cases with 'Unique Synergies', in a War or Arena situation against Ghost Rider while Blade is on a roster with him or his opponent's roster, Sinister would have an active Danger Sense. Such a unique synergy would not benefit 200% normally, but it can also be the enhanced version if Spidey (Stark Enhanced) is on either his or the opponent's roster. Likewise, it would also be active against any #Villain (e.g. the opponent is Green Goblin or Sentinel, and Blade and Ghost Rider are present), #Mystic (Dr. Strange or Dr. Voodoo while Blade and Mephisto or Dormammu are present) or #Dimensional Being (Magik or Dormammu while Blade and Gr, Meph or Dorm are present). This is not active if Blade is present on the roster while Sinister is facing a villain or mystic without Gr or Meph/Dorm present somehow; however, Blade's Danger Sense activates around Dimensional Beings without aid, so having Blade on Sinister's roster makes it active if Sinister faces a Dimensional Being.
When awakened, Sinister would also have a Persistent Charge that benefits Science or Mutant teammates. Every win gives Sinister +1 Clone Template (Max 4), allowing himself, science or mutant teammates to 'resurrect' similarly to how Phoenix does after a K.O.. This is considered imperfect clonage, granting the revived champ +15% health and +15% power per charge consumed.
Actual Synergies for Sinister would include:
PEDIGREE LINEAGE: w/ Cyclops (BT) or (NXS), Cable, Colossus, Phoenix, Magik or Unstoppable Colossus
CLONE CONTEST: w/ Spider-Man (Symbiote), X-23, Dr. Octopus
CO-CONSPIRATOR: w/ Beast or Apocalypse
Now I would instead limit the proposed "Royal Dynasty" synergy to Black Bolt and Ronan with Crystal.
Medusa would benefit from a tweak like Blade does with GR (extending effects to Villains) or Dormammu and Mephisto (extending effects to Mystics).
Medusa's ability to stop #Robots' abilities and power gain would be extended to other Tech champs with Armor Up ability when paired with Crystal on the team. When armor shattered, these Tech champs would lose ability accuracy that power locks and prevents effects. If Karnak is also present, Medusa's ability would be extended to non-tech champs who can also Armor Up (fitting because he's an Inhuman that isn't in the typical Cosmic class with advantage over Techs).
And now that Human Torch is confirmed, an Elementals synergy would extend to him as well. Since he's going to be such a powerhouse already, it really exists to spruce up the likes of Storm, Quake and the Thors though (Iceman & Namor too, I guess).
Jessica, Colleen and Shang will follow below, but Misty is separate as another example of a Position Related Ability champ (much like Omega Red has abilities related to proximity to his opponent)
BTW, anyone I put in brackets (e.g. [Klaw], or [Nova, Bullseye]) denotes they are a hopeful future addition, to show how they'd fit in the proposed synergies and does not imply they will be added:
MISTY KNIGHT
Class: Skill | #Female #Vibranium #Control: Denial #Heroes for Hire #Defenders #Mercenary | Size: SBleed, Power Burn
Misty's fight style should be reminiscent of a blend between Iron Fist and Domino's move set
Like Nick Fury Jr., Misty would have unique Synergies based on intel from detective work and hiring operatives
- Romantic Engagements: Iron Fist (both, source: comics), Falcon (source: comics)
- Arms Deals: [Klaw, Sister Grimm,] Cable & Winter Soldier based on having 1 unique arm replacement
- Defenders: [Jessica Jones, Misty Knight, Valkyrie,] Daredevil (both) & Elektra
- The Crew: War Machine, Black Panther (classic), Luke Cage, Storm
- Friends: [Namor,] Phoenix & Iron Man (classic)
- Enemies: Crossbones, Sabertooth
- For Hire: [Black Cat,] Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, Black Widow & Ghost Rider*
- External Synergies with her in others' synergy list: Luke Cage (Heroes for Hire), Falcon (Romance), Iron Fist (classic) (Romance), [Klaw (Arms Race), Colleen Wing (Daughters of the Dragon), Shang Chi (Mark of the Dragon)]
*Like She-Hulk, Misty would have responses to champion types she faces (Hero, Merc, Villain & Other instead of Classes), as long as 1 champ from the 'For Hire' synergy is added this unique effect activates for her entire team if she faces:- Mercenaries: Misty+teammates increase critical rate & defensive proficiency +25%
- Heroes: Misty+teammates gain prowess & reduce opponents power rate by 50% for 5 secs after specials
- Villains: Misty+teammates reduce the effects and duration of Damage over Time by 35%
- All Others: Misty+teammates become shielded once for 5 seconds after their first direct hit reducing the attack damage received by 90%
Note: because the For Hire 'synergy' has that many caveats it may be better to house in her Abilities description instead of her Synergy listABILITIES:
Misty's abilities would be rooted firmly in 1) detective work, 2) the second version of her Bionic Arm (in comics canon) which is made of Antarctic Vibranium (with anti-metal properties) and grants her limited technopathy (affecting technology and robotic opponents), and she is another Position Related Ability champ (her proximity to opponents is key to one of her abilities - a time delayed EMP effect)
ARM BASED ABILITIES
DETECTIVE WORK
EFFECTS, SPECIALS & NOTABLE MOVE SETS
As mentioned above, Misty's heavy charge sets up an E.M. pulse that kicks in 6 seconds after charging
To mitigate risk vs reward, she functions a bit like Quake and will auto-react if attacked in the middle of a charge, but instead of dodging she blocks with her bionic arm as long as at least .75 secs of charging have passed. This auto-block cannot trigger parry but her regular well-timed block would. Also different to Quake, Misty does not build a more potent offense from a longer charge. The auto-block does not trigger for energy based projectiles or specials only basic contact attacks.
This sets up a balance of needing to charge from far enough away to have that automatic protection or to have stunned opponents first, then needing to close distance and maintain proximity in order to affect the opponent when the pulse happens
Misty's specials and moves should display a mix of Kung-Fu dynamics influenced by her time with Iron Fist, and sidearm wielding abilities like Domino and Winter Soldier, so she will be a 'Gun-Fu' fighter. Her specials, at least one of them, should incorporate a hand gun shot and a follow up kick (or kick followed by a gun shot). In order to maximize her effectiveness in play style, Misty should attack in a pattern that puts her close to the opponent when her timer for the E.M. burst is about to go off. The pulse does not count as a projectile and therefore does not trigger opponents' auto-block or auto-dodge abilities; it is not directly damaging (except on #metal #robot) and is not blockable (similar to being in range of Omega Red's field despite being a single burst)
DESIGN & EQUIPMENT
Misty's design should be based on her red jumpsuit depiction with the brown/gold hued underarm holsters, belts and trimmings to compliment her gold colored bionic arm, and sporting a red or gold headband with a puffed Afro hairstyle (like this or this) or black/red jumpsuit variations also with arm holsters.
JESSICA JONES
Class: Science | #Female #Defensive: Tank #Defenders #Mercenary | Size: SResistance, Fury
Some of Jessica's abilities would be based on Investigative work as well, but her main design is to function as a defensive tank resisting damage. Similar to Luke, Jessica activates damage resistance when struck, but instead of 1 potent indestructible duration then a cool down, Jessica can stack up damage reducers. Using well-timed blocks and block charges, Jessica braces for impacts on her super strong body to cap multiple hits up to 99% reduced attack rating (up to 94.5% for 4* and below).
TOUGHNESS BUILDING ABILITY
In short, Jessica can use a mix of well-timed blocks and block charging to build 3 sets of 5 resistances to attacks. These can reduce a lot of damage, but can also be converted to increase her attacks.
- With a well-timed block Jessica braces herself to reduce 18% attack rating of the next direct physical attacks (5* or higher versions only | 4* and lower start with 9% reduction)
- If Jessica does not take a direct hit and gets a chance to hold block for more than 1 second, she starts to extend the number of hits she can resist up to 5
- As long as at least 1 second has passed, Jessica's counter continues to go up, locking in 1 hit resistance every 1/2 second (up to 5) before she must release then block charge again to make those 5 resistances increase potency (i.e. 5h*-18% can build to 5h*-27% then 5h*-36%, etc.)
- As long as Jessica has stacked at least 3 hits in her first set she can ready another resistance set of 5, if she has not she can only perform a normal well-timed block (parrying if that mastery is active)
- This allows Jessica to potentially reduce damage from 10 sequential hits instead of 5, but these stacks must also be built up, they do not get the -18% to -99% damage reduction properties of the previously built up stack
- Jessica can raise a maximum of 3 sets of 5 stacks for a combined resistance to 15 hits given enough time
- If Jessica charges for shorter or longer than she did on her previous round of block charges, some of her later builds of resistance in a stack from longer charges will be lower (e.g. -27, -27, -27, -18, -18)
- Building up resistance stacks always defaults to the first set on a short charge unless it is already maxed out, but it will even out (e.g. -27, -27, -18, -18, -18 will become -27, -27, -27, -18, -18 instead of -36, -27, -27, -18, -18)
- These stacks are passive and do not expire, but they are 67% less effective against critical hits and bleed attacks, 50% less effective against energy based direct attacks, and do not protect against true strike or environmental effects (such as Limbo, Flame Auras, Intimidating Presence, Death Fields, etc. under normal circumstances)
- When awakened, Jessica starts the fight with 5 stacks of 18% resistance (9% for 4* and lower versions) allowing her to resist some damage of the first full combo she could receive from most attackers who land 5 combo basic hits
- Having 5 stacks readied at the start, means Jessica can immediately increase the resistance rating to 5 hits by block charging without having to perform a well-timed block
ATTACK RATING CONVERSION SPECIAL ABILITIESJessica's specials consume some of her resistance charges to attack % boosts. Specials 2 and 3 conversion keeps some of the attack boost active for 10 and 12 seconds respectively so her basic attacks also hit harder.
- Jessica's Sp1 would be a flying downward double punch; if it is dodged there is still a chance to shake the opponent with the resultant short range ground wave and lead to 'Imbalance', an 'imbalanced' opponent has a % chance to develop concussions for X seconds from follow up hits
- Jessica's Sp2 would be a charge in upper punch, pull back then one flying double-fisted downward slam, designed to cross most of the screen
- Her Sp1 is augmented by the lowest set of resistance stacks; she converts the average resistance rating value of her last stack set to an attack rating boost value (e.g. -81%, -45% & -36% resistance sets would convert the 3rd to add +36% attack rating to the Sp1)
- Her Sp2 uses the 2nd and 3rd sets of stacks converting resistances to attack % boosts which persist for 10 seconds. This benefits her follow up basic attacks or specials that could be landed within 10 seconds (e.g. -81, -45 & -36 stacks would allow her up to 10 follow up hits within 10 seconds, the first 5 carry +45% attack and the next 5 carry +36% attack rating)
- Unlike Sp1 and Sp2, her Sp3 uses all 3 sets of stacks but only consumes the first two stacks, it is a 3 hit combo that allows attack boosts to 15 follow up basic attacks and any special if landed within 12 seconds
- Successful hits within the 12 second window after Sp3 can return stacks to the first 2, up to the level of the retained stack (e.g. -81, -45 & -36 stacks would allow the 3 hits to deal an extra 81%, 45% and 36% damage then end with 36% resistance to up to 5 hits**; 15 successful hits in 12 seconds would afford her a replenishment of the 10 resistance charges of the 2 stacks consumed by the Sp3 - if the last stack is -36 it limits how many resistance charges can be reclaimed 36/2=18, 18/9=2 - 2 stacks of 2 hits each adding 9% resistance each time).
- The max recovery is therefore [set 1] 8*9% plus [set 2] 7*9% as long as that lowest of 3 sets was -72% or higher when her Sp3 was launched
- If Jessica somehow only had 2 sets of stacks she will consume 1 of the 2 and can only reclaim 10 instead of 15
- Likewise, if Jessica only had 1 stack she can only reclaim 5 on successful hits and will not immediately have any counter hit resistance
PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONSJessica would have another ability based on exploiting info gleaned from her Private Investigations of the opponent. These are all based on Synergy types between her and anyone they face and do not require her to have a synergy with anyone on her team
- If any of Jessica's teammates would have a synergy with any of the opposing team she can exploit it for their benefit
- If the synergy is common and benign (such as Health or Armor boosts from Friendship, Teammates or Family synergy types) Jessica exploits that so they are less willing to hurt her or the team, so any opponent the team faces has reduced attack power of 5% and the opponents' buffs/debuffs trigger 10% less often
- If the synergy is common and antagonistic (such as Critical or Attack boosts from Enemies, Nemesis or Rivals synergy types) Jessica exploits that so her team gains a passive 5% attack boost and trigger their own beneficial effects 10% more often
- If the synergy is unique, the opponent gains 5% less power when struck by any member of Jessica's team and Jessica's team recovers from detrimental effects 10% faster
NOTEWORTHY SYNERGIESCOLLEEN WING
Class: Mystic | #Female #Metal #Offensive: Damage Over Time #Daughters of the Dragon #Defenders #Mercenary | Size: SBleed, Power Leak, Chi, Armor Break
Although Misty would be modeled after comic depictions, Colleen will have a version of the Iron Fist channeling through her sword as became the case in the Netflix depiction. As such, Colleen will have the dragon tattooed on her arm. Colleen's abilities will not be overly complex but maximizing them will take some skill:
SHANG CHI
Class: Skill | #Male #Control: Denial #Marvel Knights #Hero | Size: MFury, Power Reversal, Armor Break, Paralysis, Weakness, Heal Block
Shang Chi would be meant to emulate Bruce Lee's fighting styles, and will use Chi to either heal himself or boost his critical strikes. The basics to his abilities would be: