WARNING - This thread isn’t made for new players or those that seek guidance on how to use said class, please look for proper threads regarding it such as class overviews and build guides. Design Breakdown is a design discussion thread only and has no purpose to help players on practical aspects of the game.
Starting another Design Breakdown with one of the least played classes in archer tree, so is it that is bound to be updated in the near future and this is no other than Cannoneer. In case this is your first time on a Design Breakdown topic go to this link for some basic information.
Cannoneer - RANK 7 - ATTACK
The real identity of Cannoneers is barely seen in the class description, their whole business is about hitting crowds with powerful hits, and as a minor element we have the usage within of Cannon property as a Strike variant of Missile. An issue with this direction is how it clashes with Mergen which has better design overall, as such it’s better to take some detours as weapons aren’t enough to make diversity.
Cannoneer is a class that requires us to see the tool instead of the user as many other do but this time we must ignore some of the advancements of Cannons and employments, such as tanks and battleships, and get into older technology. Taking from basics Cannons are simple weapons used for artillery, their mechanism is rather primitive using gunpowder on a tube to shot a massive sphere usually made of iron which can be seen as an evolution of the trebuchet. The earliest cannons had to be loaded by its muzzle as they required thickness to resist the explosion and having a large opening on the pipe could compromise the efficiency, that made it fairly slow to reload but at least had the advantage easier setup, usage and transportation than other siege weapons and that also allowed it to be used on smaller scale combats. What cannot be forgotten is that cannons are heavy, slow, deadly and as any firearm had recoil proportional to their power, which means they weren’t the same time of weaponry that could be taken to a small fight and wouldn’t be easy to use as the game presents.
Cannon Shot and Shootdown (D) - Midground
Those skills are basically the same with the only difference that their bonus is towards ground and flying monster respectively, that’s also what gives Shootdown it’s name even tho the real effect that carries it is given as an attribute.
Having twin skills on a class seldom get to work specially when not only the execution is the same but also their numbers, as result they have no real element that makes one be taken over the other. To not say it’s pointless Shootdown is worse to be leveled as it can be used as a setup and enhance Cannon Shot damage, with the grounding attribute, but that’s as far as it goes. On the execution side it’s only a straightforward target based skill with a decent splash hitbox, it isn’t much of a deal for a relief type skill tho and the same applies to the quick execution.
It would make way more sense to have only Cannon Shot with overheat, as those exist, and give it the grounding attribute as a fast and easy fix, yet Shootdown may be more fitting name wise. Both skills cooldown is super low for a high rank class and can be chained easily and that doesn’t really match the identity and theme, even for relief that ensures the cannon will stay active the downtime is almost nonexistent. Another option is to change Shootdown into a new skill that uses the flying enemy hit to deal damage with more AAR based on its size, it can be something as a flat increment or even multiply the used AAR with the target size (2x medium, 3x large), but being a single target skill for ground enemies.
Siege Burst (B) - Lead
A skill that makes allusion to siege weaponry as fortifications required heavy machinery to be destroyed, since cannons are successors to catapults and trebuchet sit fits perfectly. The use of cannon here is the same as mortars as it’s placed down and held to stabilize the shot, it’s a great touch to make the fantasy land.
Siege Burst is the skill that capture artillery, from cast to execution it is as slow as it can be and in ends up knocking back enemies is in an explosion. It seems like the cast time increases with level but it should be kept at a fixed value as the execution (or even the landing) can take the slower part of the skill, the focus attribute seems to be mandatory and could be incorporated on the skill by default. One thing that feels odd is the extra damage to structures, those usually have hard defense and can receive only 1 damage per hit which doesn’t make Siege Burst look that impressive and, if that’s the case, could have 1 additional damage per level going up to 20. The magic circle break attribute is great and no other skill would be suitable for it.
Aside for the extra structure damage this skill could get some higher damage values for longer cooldown as the not so fast execution makes it possible to spam and that doesn’t fit the class identity much, it’s also concerning for the magic circle break and control power it has.
Cannon Blast (B) - Counter Lead
A straight explosion coming out of the cannon, from the animation it feels like it doesn’t shot a cannon ball but rather detonates gun powder only.
Cannon Blast goes for a simple short range front cone attack and it’s executed rather quickly and those are the main issues design wise. The skill cooldown doesn’t match the damage as well but that is a minor element to address.
This skill really needs some extra range as the hit box is rather small, it also would be interesting to have a knock back effect and allow the skill to be used as a defensive tool as well which is needed later on.
Few classes have tight skill rotations and Cannoneer is one of them right at the first circle, in fact the cooldowns are so low that it can dismiss lower rank skills as there might not be a window to include them. However by having twin skills the class doesn’t provide real options on point distribution and only drifts from the expected play style, not to say it doesn’t contribute to build up the identity.
Cannon Barrage (D) - Relief
From name and execution it seems like this skill takes inspiration from naval use as ships would employ cannons as they could open holes easily, to maximize their sinking power several cannons would be used and fired in sequence as a barrage. Cannon Barrage is nothing more than a multi hit version of Cannon Shot and Shootdown without mobility bonus, there’s nothing else to comment on aside that those skills can deal multi hit with later attributes on their bonuses.
Cannon Barrage can be way more than that an enhanced clone of twin skills, it is one of the few skills that can have a line horizontal hitbox, just as Pyromancer’s Fire Wall, and that is nowhere seen in Archer tree. The other route is as a large area random hit skill as old Elementalist’s Hail and current Mergen’s Arrow Sprinkle, the advantage here is that cannon balls are way larger than the other projectiles which reduces the frightening variance of random hits.
Smoke Grenade (B) -Complement
Here we get a modern equipment used to create openings on tactical operations and also to deal with riots, reducing visibility can be quite effective in combat especially when using long range weapons and this is translates into the skill as blind prevents targeting. Another interesting element is that it detects hidden enemies as smoke would do enveloping them while they move. A big issue with Smoke Grenade is that the particle effects don’t match the actual smoke zone and it makes the skill look minuscule and useless.
Having the bonus damage to Cannon is a nice but the value itself isn’t informed at all, it would be different if only the attribute did it but the skill tooltip also points that out. Going for extra duration per level was a wise choice as it doesn’t force itself to be taken and is still desirable as a marginal skill and as a damage amplifier. One thing that isn’t clear is how the AoE interacts within the skill, usually debuff zones have no targeting restriction so it would be odd to have one here. It would help it if the skill affected bosses on the damage amplification component and interesting to have an attribute to reduce ADR by 1 (respecting the floor) for c3.
Bazooka (C) - High Lead/Complement
This skill makes the user take the cannon and lay it over the shoulder as a bazooka, this is done for better aiming and to minimize the recoil. Interesting bazooka isn’t a cannon but a rocket launcher and can be classified into it artillery as it is used to take down heavy war machines, in fact it is one of the few artillery weapons that can be used by infantry.
Bazooka isn’t a new addition to the game but rather a specialization of Kneeling Shot that allows Cannoneer skills to be used and increase their damage, the issue tho is that it the bonus is significant enough to make it an almost mandatory skill to use. The latest income changes addressed a fair share of the issues as it prevented buffs and supportive skills to be used and also has a slow animation when entering and exiting the stance, it also gave it knockback and knockdown immunity with pavise. It would be nice to also have some weaponless offensive skills to the pool as well since it doesn’t break the skill fantasy unlike some of Cannoneer skills that do flows oddly when in the state. It isn’t clear if the range restriction will stay with it but it’s safe to assume so, this is where expanding Cannon Blast can be handy.
Since there are some good changes that address the biggest issues there’s few to comment on a what to do. It would be possible to preserve the leveling capability of it by changing the level factor into extra AAR and abide the extra damage given to cannon skills, that’s a more interesting way to present the stance without having the use to be oppressive. That would be even better with a ground based targeting for attacks and the ability to use some single target lower rank skills as if they were cannon skills such as Archer,s Heavy Shot and Ranger’s Critical Shot, but in AoE. Also as this skill can’t take attack speed, and shouldn’t, it would benefit from a reloading animation as those that have high DEX can get an annoying system message when trying to attack and it also comes with sound, just a small quality of life stuff.
By adding Bazooka players can finally use cannon without relying on skills, even tho that is a skill, but due the skill damage amplifier it turns into an obligation over an option, in a way it would fit more the first circle as the default cannon attack and get other skills to be more explosive in higher cooldowns which is an issue that a fair share of high rank class have. Another interesting trait of the skill is that it can be used to chain attacks between skill casts since it doesn’t take any attack speed, it’s a small feature that can be explored on single target combat. Smoke Grenade also does a good job to expand the class damage but, when combined with Bazooka, widens up the power gap considerably for a class that isn’t that friendly to drop in the first place.
Cannon Barrage feels pointless at all and being able to be the third single target skill with splash is its only merit, ironically it fits perfectly on the single target rotation in 8 consecutive casts with attacks in between. That may be the most effective way to play the class yet it dismisses all previously obtained skills and the own class identity, this may be a reason why the class struggle to stay relevant as players can pick other classes for this sort of playstyle and make use of all points taken within their build.
Sweeping Cannon (E) - Grand Lead
The only time that cannon is represented as used in real life, as it’s closer to portable mortars in game, yet it’s odd for it to be as quick, even being slow, and being at the last circle.
Design wise this skill is a complete waste, it’s nothing more than Cannon Blast reskinned with steroids on damage, range and AAR. There’s nothing more lackluster than a c3 skill that doesn’t add anything new to the class, not that this is exclusive to Cannoneer but other classes often expand a lower circle skill when doing it.
Among the possibilities it could be employed as a turret and have skills to be fired from it or have a two time activation as done with Sapper’s Claymore, instead we get the most basic execution of the class identity that was already represented at start. It just doesn’t feel like a c3 skill at all, it also looks super clunky when used on Bazooka stance.
The sole fact this circle has nothing special to offer skillswise is already a big detriment, it could way more beneficial to have attributes to increase Cannon Blast range and AAR (or a natural +1 per level) than a new skill that is a lazy clone with fancy animation. As for the other issue Bazooka scaling keeps it as a mandatory skill to use but it’s already settle that it will be lifted in the future.
There’s an interesting, and weird, set of attributes for Cannon Shot/Shootdown and Cannon Barrage that when taken makes them have the same damage values, when maxed, under the right circumstances which is something really unique in the whole game.
Conclusion
For a class that takes such a heavy weapon it feels quite light to play with it, few skills really have weight put on execution and that is quite odd as the other firearms are as quick. As said before Cannoneer isn’t the only high rank crowd killer class but taking Mergen in comparison, as already analysed, doesn’t deliver the identity it tries to take nor captures the feeling of playing with heavy artillery and that can be the reason why few stick to it. It’s also concerning that it only has two ground targeting skills and one doesn’t deal damage, it doesn’t seem to care to explore natures of ballistics (as in cannon balls) as much as having it to hit as a regular archer carrying explosives.
To deliver a heavy artillery fantasy skills have to be slow and powerful which is the opposite of what is done, skills have to land hard once and sweep the floor instead of some average damage that can be spammed. Power isn’t all about damage either and can be delivered through disruptions, armor break, mobility impairment and delayed activation, those are indeed used but it doesn’t go as hard as it can for what the projectile being fired is. If Cannoneer ever wish to be relevant it may have to be bold and bring the big guns up, it may not ever be a class for everybody but it will be for somebody.
| C 1 | C 2 | C 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity | C | D | B |
| Theme | C | B | C |
| Gameplay | C | D | D |
| Cohesion | D | D | C |
| Point Distribution | C | D | D |
| Dropout | C | C | B |
Before finishing up i’d like to say that i had only some few tests ran for this breakdown so it’s quite likely for me to have missed some details and special interactions the class has within itself so please add your knowledge in the comments, in fact it could be possible that the identity taken wasn’t the best approach on the analysis but knowing other classes and what can be done with Cannoneer it felt that it was the right one. As usual drop comments and thoughts on the class design or go for the lazy like if you don’t have much to add up, hopefully the next one will the one with Fencer and Matador but if that doesn’t happen we’ll go into the Equipable Card System.
