Ideas for Loba and Crypto buffs

[gipehtonhceT]

I think we all can agree that Crypto and Loba could use buffs, here is my list of ideas that I think could work, I'm not saying everything here has to be added in a way I say or at all, its just a pile of ideas.

Main issues:

Loba - Underwhelming in general, every single part of her kit is off-combat, the hitbox is kinda broken.

Crypto - Useless without the drone.

My solutions for Loba:

- General - FIx her hitbox.

- Passive - Rework it into "Thief's Intuition", on top of the current ability to see leggy and epic loot through walls, whenever you or a teammate requests an item, Loba will get to choose whether she will help in finding that item, just like Wraith can choose to warn teammates, if Loba decides to help she will start seeing the requested item type through walls regardless of its rarity, the effect will last for like 60s or until the teammate picks up the needed item, Loba can help to find only 1 item type at the time, this means if another teammate requests something and Loba decides to help, she will stop seeing the previous item type. The range and duration numbers are up to debate. Perhaps letting her see medkits and shield batteries through walls at all times would work too since ya know, she is a support.

- Tactical - The way to buff this ability depends on what devs want, if they want it to be an off-combat mobility tool, right now what it needs the most is a speed increase of legit anything, the initial cast, projectile, post-teleport delay, Loba's own movement when the bracelet is flying through the air, all of this could be sped up. Increasing its range would be a huge plus too, the arc at which it travels is very weird, you can't get into spots you'd think Loba would have no problem getting into. I'd say make the arc more straight so it's better both horizontally and vertically if aimed upwards.

However, if you ask me, I think completely removing any action restriction from Loba after throwing the bracelet is a way to go, considering its long cast, post-tp delay, high volume and visibility using it mid-combat would still require lots of thinking, Pathfinder can use weapons as soon as he finishes the grapple and is still flying in the air, so why not let Loba run and shoot when using the bracelet? To make it even more fun, let Loba delay the teleport for up to like 3s after the bracelet lands if she wants to, that way you can bamboozle enemies more efficiently.

If Loba decides to revive a teammate or do a finisher after throwing the bracelet, the teleport would be automatically delayed until it's finished even if the bracelet touches the ground before.

Also, fix its bugs as it still sometimes refuses to work on World's Edge.

- Ultimate - Perhaps the most underwhelming part of her kit, it has lots of space for buffs, popular ideas are to increase its range and let it grab banners, also pinging something in the market should ping the item in its current location. Those are for sure great changes, on top of that I suggest an additional item pickup slot specifically for consumables and ammo, perhaps increasing its charge rate and reducing the visual and sound effects when its deployed are worth considering too.

My suggestions for Crypto:

Make his current passive a part of the drone ability, then give him a new one that allows him to use interactable objects 50% faster, since ya know he is a hacker, this includes things like respawn beacons, charge towers, vault doors, etc. Another way to do it is let him plug in some sort of hacky device onto those objects to make them trigger themselves, kinda like lifeline can revive teammates with her drone without leaving her in any downtime animation, Crypto could do the same for intractable objects, just click a respawn beacon and it will go off by itself after the same delay it usually takes to use it. This combined with his ability to pick up banners with the drone makes an excellent combo. The new passive does not require a drone to use, this will for sure give Crypto some good utility he needs that makes perfects sense when considering the character's lore and capabilities.

So what do you think about my ideas? I know I suggested a lot more for Loba, but I think the change I suggested is more than enough to make Crypto viable. Also, I'm a Loba main so I can tell more about her for sure.

[UnwarierSquid16]

@gipehtonhceT I really like your ideas for both of them. I play a lot of crypto in ranked mainly so always have new ideas for him but happy to see these improvements to loba too (played her a lot recently and she could use the buff)

For loba:
I think the passive idea is cool and I've never heard it as a change before, but it would especially help just playing her solo too because you could ping what you need (including like I need shields) and then any in her loot-visibilty area would be obvious (highlighted more than purple and gold loot is to make it really easy to find) and obviously it would help teammates way more too to have someone on the team who can find it that easily.

I'd say her tactical definitely needs a height/distance buff anyway to keep her as good as other movement legends like path and octane. In terms of speeding it up (you're right theres so many stages of the throw which are slow) the landing should have a very quick animation and use a gun almost straight away. She could still have a long animation when throwing it and it still takes time to drop because the throwing part should be the risk not the landing. Also maybe make the arc less obvious to enemies - they could see the start of it but no more so they know shes doing it but cant tell where she finsihes.

Picking up banners with her ultimate is a no brainer to me, and pinging things with her ult and having them appear where they actually are would be a really cool addition (especially when you've taken 2 things and still need the thing she pings)

Overall you've got great ideas for her

Crypto:
Great idea for passive especially respawn beacons but not sure it really helps at other times (charge towers and vaults dont really take long to use so not doing them yourself isnt a huge bonus) but the respawn combined with the mobile beacon in the middle of a fight would be a game changer

Other passive buffs for him could be hacking the breakable types of doors - he can lock up to 3 at a time, obviously enemies can still break them with melee but its like having someone in front of it, doesnt require drone to do. Or servey beacons makes way more sense for crypto, and give pathfinder a different passive that makes more sense with his other movement abilities.

Great to see some buff requests for legends other than octane and Bangalore haha, theres so many legends that could do with a little help but people dont play them enough to see it

[UnwarierSquid16]

@UnwarierSquid16 Another quick idea to change his ult around a bit:

His drone either has slightly less health or is easier to hit, so enemies can destroy it easier. Obviously his drone has a 40 second cooldown which is difficult when you're about to push a fight and it gets destroyed. So whenever his drone isnt deployed or is in cooldown, he has an option for an emp ult still, but he throws it like a grenade (similar to gibbi and Bangalore ults) and the emp radius is smaller. It means hes not useless without the drone and you can still push a guarded building with the ult (wattsons pylon would stop the incoming emp grenade so that's a good balance between them)
I feel like this could help his team usefulness without the drone but obviously still has the option for the good big emp sometimes too.

[MonevDark]

@gipehtonhceT would be nice to move crypto his drone , while he is down. to still help his teammastes

[gipehtonhceT]

@UnwarierSquid16 I was not aware that Crypto can not use his ult if the drone gets destroyed, no other legend can have their ult blocked like that, it should be one of the main things that get changed.
I realize that my idea for a passive is not very flashy but that's because I assumed devs wanted Crypto's passive not to be super impactful for... some reason.
I heard that all recon legends will be able to use servey beacons at some point, not sure if it was a speculation or a rumor, if that was the case allowing Crypto to the plugin that device and make it go off by itself would be useful too.
I do like the door hack idea, but maybe combining it with my idea would not be ridiculous, again it's only really impactful for respawn beacons, auto triggering charge towers, vaults, and that giant sonar in King's Canyon is just there for the sake of it.
To be fair Mirage should cloak when using those things too, not just respawn beacons.

As for Loba, since she is a support I thought that kind of passive would actually make her more support-like, and yes it would work great for solos too.
For her tactical, I think devs meant it to work as an escape tool, so the initial throw should be fast and the landing a bit riskier, that way there is a lot more space for the skill involved, just like now you should aim to land behind cover or on high ground, not next to enemies, the reason why wraith has her downtime after leaving phase is that devs don't want legends to be able to suddenly pop into existence and start shooting you out of nowhere, it was explained in one of the interviews, that's why both Loba and Wraith have that downtime which I think is completely fine as it forces players to think, not just swoop around shooting stuff with no way for others to counter it.

[UnwarierSquid16]

@gipehtonhceT Yeah the crypto ult is so annoying as no other legends have that problem, and it's why people want new abilities that dont rely on the drone, but obviously that change would be able to use the drone or not the drone for the ult.

The hacking doors isnt that great an idea, theres loads of other ideas for passives but they include the drone, so your suggestion is good as a new thing. I really like the idea of him being able to just click it and it does itself, especially respawn beacons, and it really fits with his lore of hacking the arena. I just worry theres not enough things on the map to make it useful (it's like if mirage was only invisible for beacons instead of reviving, it's such a minor part of the game) but maybe the season 6 map changes with the new blast walls will need to be used like other control panels and itll be good for that too!
You're totally right, mirage should clock while using anything like vaults and charge towers too!

I didnt really think about the reason for loba then, thanks for letting me know they specifically said that in an interview. I guess that's the opposite of my change and instead she should have a much quicker bracelet throw with a shorter animation to start it, and the same thing at the end as they have now (although I cant tell you how easy it is to down a loba who just landed next to me aha)

Sounds like the best final changes to these 2 characters I've seen in a while and would love if it happened!

[UnwarierSquid16]

@MonevDark Its a cool idea but it's another ability which needs his drone, and what if the drone wasnt deployed/was on cooldown when he was knocked? It doesnt work as a passive in all situations really, even tho it would be cool for the player to be in drone after knocked

[gipehtonhceT]

@UnwarierSquid16 I do agree that my idea for Crypto's passive would only be useful in select few situations, but look at pathfinder, he basically has 2 tacticals and not a actually passive passive ability, I find it weird that a metal robot uses syringes to heal, I wonder if there is something that can be done to make it more realistic, then again revenant uses syringes too...

[MonevDark]

@UnwarierSquid16 yes i attack allot when my drone is out. but i cant do anything after.

[GuardianReaper0]

I agree that both of them need some work to make them fully effective, and your ideas are cool, but I wanted to pass along my thoughts as well. My ideas on Crypto I think would make the biggest impact.

Loba: her bracelet should not have a trail behind it when she throws it. It tells everyone, including enemies, where she is going. Also reduce the sound she makes when using it. She is supposed to be a thief after all. I saw someone already beat me to the punch and made a comment about finding attachments. I think in addition to wishlist items for other players, attachments for her weapons should show up with a green outline, but only if it’s better than what she currently has.

(I’d like to note I play on Xbox, so I’m going off our control scheme)

Crypto: 2 changes. First, if the drone is not deployed, clicking down on the d-pad (same button to recall it) it will be deployed at slightly over head level, facing the direction you were facing when it was deployed. Doing so will not take you into it’s interface, and let you keep running. 

Secondly, and here is the biggest one: when not deployed it hangs out in a sort of follow mode above your left shoulder. In this mode it can still mark targets, but only for crypto. This works very well with the first suggestion, as you could set it there in the middle of a gunfight and your team would benefit too, without the tedious action of going in and out of the interface.