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 this time with the most voted class on the Musketeer poll, the most misspelled class that was really popular back then as the best farmer and even through time it doesn’t give up - Schwarzer Reiter. In case this is your first time on a Design Breakdown topic go to this link for some basic information.
Schwarzer Reiter - RANK 6 - MANEUVERING ATTACK
“Schwarzer Reiters maneuver quickly. They specialize in diverse shooting techniques using a pistol.”
It’s all about movement, or that’s what was suppose to be. Schwarzer Reiter is the first riding class from archer tree and is completely focus on mobility, as such its identity is of the gunner rider that evades enemies while shooting them down with a pistol.
Reiters were a cavalry unit that took firearms into mounted combat but unlike in game they could fight using swords, since were capable of penetrating armor they were quite useful at late medieval times. Even tho their main weaponry consisted in pistols and a sword they could also use longer guns such as carbines, a medium barrel gun shorter than a musket/rifle. That could be an interesting possibility for it to be taken along with Musketeers.
The only elements were kept from the source were the mounted combat and use of pistols, and the only way to truly adapt it into the game is by turning it into a swordsmen class, however as they could have more than one pistol it may slip as an archer. Even if most of it source material was dismissed, the way the class was designed was fairly respectable, Schwarzer Reiter may uses a Crossbow instead of a Sword but it still employ combat tactics that would fit the real life counterpart taking the technology and combat style in consideration.
Concentrated Fire (D) - Relief
As the first hand guns weren’t as accurate it would make sense for any user to fire as much as possible in the shortest amount of time,
This is a skill that is quite conflicting design, it’s well defined as a relief skill but it also doesn’t fit the class, usually this shouldn’t be an issue as relief skills serve as an alternative away from the identity but in this case the identity is mobile attack. Concentrated Fire breaks the class flow as it has ground targeting and cast time, it’s impractical for those that want the mobile aspect and unattractive for those that will take it and use its benefits. It would help if the skill took current target instead, that would remove some of the slowness the skill has.
Caracole (A) - Midground
The only skill that has direct connection to its source, the tactic consists in a half turn on mounted combat which i assume to used as a counter attack. As the skill moves the character to the opposite direction it has the minimum link to the move itself. It would be more appropriate to have it to turn the character 180º, shot and then dash, yet it may be a hard skill to adapt or use if taken like that.
One of the few fun skills that works since the game release, it’s a perfect escape skill that moves you a significant distance and deals a decent amount of damage. The odd thing about Caracole is the cast time that has no purpose at all, it’s a shame tho as it could be used to increase the push distance and that could be affected by level.
There are two interesting attributes that could be added to the skill to slightly improve it, one is to reverse the skill direction and the other one is to allow a double cast on it on a short time span, just like Steady Charge, but with the second cast being on the opposite direction. I know that having that would go against the thematic source but at this point it wouldn’t matter.
Limacon (D) - Lead
As a rider with a long range weapon it would be natural to try fire at enemies out of their attack range, even tho it would be way harder to pull this out in real life with a non-rifled single shot pistol.
To understand Limacon we first have to understand how Pistol basic attack works in game. Unlike Bows, Crossbows and Rifles this weapon doesn’t allow movement and seems to ignore attack speed, however as an unique feature it has a natural splash component that enables multiple enemies to be hit.
Whenever this buff is active those properties are overwritten for the default archer attack but with no movement penalty, this alone is good enough to make the skill solid on its own yet it has an increasing damage component.
The whole purpose of basic attacks is to provide a free and reliable damage source, be that as skills are own cooldown or due the build nature, and adding a constant SP cost on each attack kills that sole role it has in the game. Along with that if a basic attack enhancer is given too much power it may trivialize skills as they have multipliers and also carry the attack lines, this is even harder for skills with several overheats.
As it is right now the skill doesn’t worth the price without the splash attribute at c3 and its design doesn’t help players that don’t plan to go all in. Limacon would be way more useful if it had non scaling damage bonus but with a scaling % of splash damage and SP cost on activation, that would make it significantly weaker for single target but as exchange it will damage multiple targets from circle 1.
Retreat Shot (B) - Counter Lead
Usually it would be the kind of scenario i’d repeat the same thing i said at a previous skill but here we have an element that isn’t present at Limacon, shooting only backwards. The most natural way to employ the real Limacon as effectively enough to be known as a Reiter strategy is by having the ability to shoot backwards while the enemy is chasing you, then use Limacon when they stop chasing so they won’t be able to fight back.
Retreat shot is a really peculiar skill, it only works on movement and hits an unlimited number of enemies on a huge hitbox, the whole skill is controlled and executed through your own movement and the ability to keep in motion.
There are some odd things regarding Retreat shot, one of them is the fake movement that i assume it wasn’t supposed to trigger the skill as it doesn’t match the skill purpose, the other one is the ability to use Limacon along it as a double fire even on opposite directions. Along with those it also feels clunky that Crossbow attacks and skills slows down or even stops the skill, having them to be used with no disruption would drastically improve the gameplay flow.
On the possibilities the skill has it could have duration scaling with level instead of damage or be turned into a toggle with SP drain per second, in fact it could even have a reverse SP drain scale as it decreases when leveled, neither is needed thou as the skill does the job.
This circle is fairly decent being Limacon the only skill that underperforms, as this is the very start of Schwarzer Reiter it could have its skill usable without a mount except for Caracole, that could help the class popularity significantly and also open new build paths as the class itself is fairly restrictive, rank 5 isn’t as high to have heavy restrictions.
Some may argue that the class playstyle is boring as it relies too much on basic attack with a Retreat Shot here and there, yet at this circle both skills are just average and any further damage should come from other sources. I’d doubt anyone would take Concentrated Fire as it is so the class may not have real point distribution.
Wild Shot (F) - Relief
Just an enhanced version of Concentrated Fire, the skill placement is horrible and it does nothing new nor useful to the class. It would be a completely different story if the skill had an ongoing execution time like 3~5s and during the whole shooting you could move around, or even if it targets the enemy and fires at the location it is, instead it doesn’t do anything.
Nothing to talk about here, just a new completely skippable skill. There’s not even a single new attribute to this circle.
Evasive Action (C) - Complement
This is just a plain homage on the evasive nature of Reiters in combat. For a skill that high on the class having a % evasion buff it’s considerably lackluster, specially when it goes only up to 10% and the stat growth through DEX is fairly low.
Marching Fire (B) - Grand Lead
I really wish there were something to comment on Marching Fire regarding theme use, but there’s none.
This is just an enhanced version of Retreat Shot, this time it doesn’t allow other skills to be used and doesn’t have movement restrictions, as it shots forward it can’t be used to attack while running away from enemies. The hitbox ridiculous large and the only way to use the skill effectively is by standing still at a corner, as much as the skill pushes you to move while its active it isn’t really useful unless all enemies are dead within the area.
Identity wise this skill is at the edge of what a lead skill would be as the execution is questionable. It may be more effective if the skill locked the direction and change the movement to pan the character around, also allow other skills to be casted especialy Caracole that would have great synergy with it.
As Evasive Action is a static buff the class itself has few improvements, Limacon spread attribute adds a lot of power to the skill and combined with Retreat Shot and Marching Fire makes a super simple and devastating kit. The only noticeable skill left is Caracole that can be either used for utility or for burst damage yet it isn’t really necessary, as such the point distribution may avoid Concentrated Fire and Wild Shot as they break the flow, as result there’s few options to take when building it.
Conclusion
There’s a huge irony on Schwarzer Reiter design as only 3 skills provide enough for the mid to late ranks that it’s enough to stagnate any gameplay aside for big boss fights, yet the class identity is all about movement.
It’s understandable that players think the class is boring, the power allocation is too heavy on those skills that, aside for Marching Fire, shouldn’t be that strong as they carry a lot of utility value, not only that but they either work on a single button press or hold. As this it seems obvious that the class needs some power shift to have active skills have the deserved impact, taking both Limacon and Retreat Shot complementary damage instead of a main source.
Another thing to point out is the few skills the class has for the kind of playstyle it tries to promote, it has two buffs out of only seven skills and Evasive Action is a simple stat boost. To keep those the class not only need improvements on Concentrated Fire and Wild Shot but also needs a new active skill.
| C 1 | C 2 | C 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity | A | C | B |
| Theme | C | E | D |
| Gameplay | B | D | F |
| Cohesion | D | D | D |
| Point Distribution | E | E | D |
| Dropout | D | D | B |
As the last poll results second place was Linker it will be the next one covered, after that Falconer as it was requested. As usual drop comments and arguments on the class design, i’d love to know how each one sees the class and skills or in this case if anyone really uses Concentrated Fire and/or Wild Shot.
Also hit the like if you enjoyed the read and/or if it helped you to see the class with other eyes, it does help me to know how many are into this as musketeer’s had a fair amount of voter yet no one bothered to interact in any form.
