Has it ever bothered you how, while weapons, ghosts, sparrows, ships, and armor and shaders, etc. all have nine inventory slots, subclasses just have three? Or how if you're a Hunter in PvE, for example, and you're fighting Vex, you have to use Nightstalker? And therefore have to play a support class? That got me thinking- why not have NINE subclasses per class, instead of three? Each element gets a DPS, CQC, and Support/ Defense subclass.
Here's my first idea, the Tombkeeper.
“Tombkeeper” - Void Support/Defense Warlock
“The Darkness has made its own grave- this will lay us both to rest”
Typical Playstyle/ Role: A support subclass that favors mid range combat behind the front lines of defense. Its strengths lie in the ability to chain several effective combos, though it is weak to fast classes such as the Bladedancer, who can simply evade most Tombkeeper ability attacks, and tanks such as the Defender, who can absorb lots of damage, leaving Tombkeepers with little ability energy. Perhaps is a ranged Poke-Mage of sorts. More on this (read the skill tree first!): Spoiler: [spoiler]
Mage- “Champion who typically 1[possesses great reach, ability-based AOE and crowd control,] all of which are used in tandem to trap and destroy enemies [from a distance.] Mages excel at 2[chaining their abilities together] in powerful combos, though their abilities also tend to be 3[difficult to land and can be avoided or mitigated if targets react in time]. Though Mages tend to focus on killing prime targets in combat, they can also fall back to their crowd control and utility to manipulate key opponents and in the right circumstances 4[can control multiple enemies at a time.] Mages tend to be fragile and 5[fall quickly to direct strikes]. They are also 6[easily shut down by assassins, who can often bypass their spell completely, and tanks, who can soak up their abilities.]
Poke Mage- Poke Mages possess greater range, though this usually means they are squishier at close range. They 7[excel at wearing opponents down before combat], though they also 8[tend to have inferior direct combat capabilities].”
Special Note: While Tombkeeper survivability is low at close range, it is potentially higher at mid range due to high recovery.
1: Tombkeeper/ Warlock standard melee has the most range of any class, and the TK special melee has range that can rival a practical throwing knife. Standard melee range is 6 meters for Warlocks, and Axion Bolt range is about 10 to 20 meters. NOTE that the Axion melee is lethal within 6 meters to minimally armored targets, but this lethality can be evaded by dodging the projectile. In terms of crowd control, TKs can have plenty of lingering AOE effects.
2: Picture 3 Axion projectiles coming at you at once. Or 5, with Crowd Control. Heck. Even 6 with Claws of Ahamkara, or 7 with Voidfang Vestments. A literal chain of explosives. If that isn’t considered chaining, what is?
3: Projectiles travel slowly and can be shot down.
4: Sort of like the picture of multiple Axions coming straight for you- but instead, it is multiple Axions heading for multiple different yous.
5: TKs tend to fall quickly to direct strikes because they lack armor and their melee favors range. In close quarters it is clumsy and easily blinked over. Enough speed could allow some foes (Bladedancers) to punish very effectively, closing the gap before you have time to get a second attack off and giving you a quick blast to the face.
6: As stated in (5), assassins can close the gap very quickly, making fights for Tombkeepers unfavorable. Interestingly however, it is worth noting that Axions automatically detect Cloaked targets- so at mid range, a Cloaked assassin will struggle. He NEEDS to close distance. Not mentioned in (5), TKs could struggle against high armor targets because abilities are a limited resource in the heat of battle. If your Axion projectile hits an Overshielded Defender, you just wasted that Axion to take out a mere first layer of health. Tanks can tank your abilities. It’s that simple.
7: Axions can turn corners to hit opponents before they round the corner, vortexes are often walked right through, dealing damage, and Hover can be used as a setup move for foes coming into view.
8: Grenades have low flat-out kill potential, and melee can be countered and punished in CQC, aka melee range.
NOTE: When Supercharged, Tombkeepers gain the ability to have high HP, so their only big weakness is how they can be countered. Fortunately, supers can’t be easily countered- so if you’re supported by a fireteam, your super, though it has no real kill potential itself, will completely patch up your subclass weaknesses (except for agility…)
[/spoiler]
Skill Tree:
Jumps:
[spoiler]
Balanced Glide (+ 1 Armor)
Hover (As seen on the Solar Support Titan, but applied to Glide instead of Lift.): Activating Glide freezes you in midair. Lasts up to five seconds. (+1 Armor, +1 Agility)
Blink
[/spoiler]
Grenades:
[spoiler]
Vortex Grenade
Generator: A small Void explosion that generates an Orb of Light [110 damage, 4 meter radius, Orb is for yourself]
Axion Bolt
[/spoiler]
Melee: “Axion”: A melee that creates an Axion Bolt from thin air. Increased (+1) recovery upon unlocking. [Axion Bolt does 90 damage in the same range as a normal Axion Bolt grenade. This melee also has the standard Warlock melee which deals 100 damage.
[spoiler]
+Fastball: Axion projectile tracks farther, for a longer period of time. Increased blast radius.
+Knuckleball: Axion causes targets to flinch; increased projectile durability.
+Change-Up: Axion triggers the vortex grenade effect upon detonation (lasts 3.5 seconds, 4 meter radius)
[/spoiler][spoiler]
Super: “Voidspell”: Call to the Void Light for assistance. Generate numerous Orbs for your allies and generate a powerful Overshield using the excess Light (durability = your HP; can last infinitely but does not regenerate). [Generates 5 Orbs upon use]
+Singularity: Also generate an Orb for yourself. Using Voidspell reduces grenade and melee cooldowns by 33%. [The Orb is spawned at your exact position, meaning if you have armor that regenerates health upon Orb pickup, there is your Apotheosis Veil]
+Lightcast: Generate an additional Orb for allies.
+Grave’s Bind: Channel all Voidspell energy into Orbs- give yourself to the Void by double-tapping LB+RB (Xbox) for Voidspell activation. [When used, this generates 3 more Orbs, for 8 total- at a cost. All your health and ability cooldowns are drained. It’s a badass way to suicide.]
[/spoiler]
[spoiler]
Arcane Wisdom/ Spirit/ Force
Ability Modifiers:
Vortex Mastery: Increases the range of Axion Bolt (includes melee) seekers and the duration of Vortex grenade and vortex effects.
Tomb Whispers: Your Axion melee projectile drops an Orb of Light for yourself (a weak one) if it is destroyed by enemy attacks.
Aggressive Recovery: +1 Recovery. Grenade and melee kills heal a portion of health (¼ your health).
Ancestral/ Chaos/ Divine Order
Annihilate: Increases the size of Vortex effects.
Consuming Tomb: Voidspell generates a large Vortex upon use (same size as the Nova Bomb vortex upgrade)
Gift of the Tomb: Carry an additional grenade.
[/spoiler]
If you [i]like this, like it[/i] and tell me what you want to see next. A Void CQC Hunter, Arc DPS/Ranged Warlock, or Solar CQC Titan?