A few different forms of combat in games have some kind of “rush” attack, where whoever uses it passes by their target(s) once, or multiple times. And in AO, I haven’t seen anything like that. So, a variant of Crash, which mostly doesn’t stop you if you collide with something/someone.
Mechanics
As mentioned, “Passage” (better name pending) is basically Crash, with some differences.
For one, the AoE of “Passage” is significantly smaller. For another, the AoE is active the entire time that you are using it. And, of course, you can go through enemies with it, without needing to miss them. It should probably deal slightly less damage than most techniques, due to the movement potential. It could, maybe, have an option where you can use it again within a short timeframe of the first dash ending? It should probably share some of its’ cooldown with Crash.
My Ramblings regarding 'Count' for this technique
There are multiple options regarding a “Count” option for this. The first, and least likely to be accepted, is not having a count option. With this option, you can, theoretically, chain “Passage” infinitely. To counteract this, after about 3 uses, maybe, the distance you can move with this technique starts drastically degrading.
The second option, is having a “soft” count. You can use the technique again mid-dash to change directions, or within about a second of a dash ending, to get another, until you reach the count you set in the modification options. Then, you are locked into moving in straight lines until a dash ends, and have to reactivate it quickly to get another, with the distance you can move decreasing by about 15% (multiplicatively, probably) with every additional dash. Higher counts set with this option would reduce the damage the technique deals, and the distance you can move with it.
The third option, is a “hard” count limit. It’s like the second option, but without the possibility of continuing to use it after you’ve reached the count you’ve set.
Reasons for adding this
- It’s a common kind of attack in media that currently does not exist in AO
- Most existing multihit attacks have an equivalent for mages (shot - blast/beam, smash - explosion, rushdown - snare), this would set magic and strength further apart
- It could look really cool (This is probably not all that important, but I felt the need to add it)
Reasons against adding this
- It could be difficult to add
- It could be difficult to balance
I hope neither the name, nor the idea itself, are too bad. If you have better ideas for the name, please, do tell me about them, I don’t think the one I ended up picking to get this into a post is the best this technique could have.
Some notes
I used the word “dash” a few times, but I didn’t make that the name of this technique, mostly because I feel like it doesn’t quite fit for an offensively oriented move? Also, there are already to many techniques using “sh” somewhere in their name.
I was considering giving this technique iframes, but I reconsidered quickly. Not giving this damage reduction, either, at least for the options that can change directions mid-dash.