Nightmares & Visions - Early Balance Look - Dev Blog Pt. 3
Hey Everyone,
Welcome back to part THREE of our Early Balance Look for our upcoming release, Nightmares & Visions (coming out March 25, 2025).
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In case you missed our previous parts or you want to go back and check:
- Part 1 (Ogryn Talent Tree Rework)
- Part 2 (Ogryn Weaponry Balancing)
- Part 3 (Additional Weapon Changes and Tweaks)
Let's dive into the rest of the changes.
Other Weapon Changes and Tweaks
[h2] Catachan "Devil's Claw" Swords [/h2]
We performed some tweaks on the Devil’s Claw swords to improve their overall gameplay experience and enhance their niche as safe, reliable weapons.
We aligned the Block duration (the period of time in which the player is still considered blocking) for the Push action and the Riposte attack, but also the Stamina profile between the three marks.
For the Mk I, we lowered the windup timing for the Heavy 1 attack and added a chain opportunity from the Riposte attack to the Special Parry.
For the Mk VII, we lowered the windup timing for the Heavy 1 attack and slightly increased the speed of the Light 2 attack, improving its base horde clear combo.
[h3] Detailed Changes - Catachan "Devil's Claw" Swords [/h3]
All Marks
- Aligned Stamina profiles
- Block cost (inner) from (1.5,0.5) to (1.0,0.5).
- Sprint cost per second from (1.5,0.5) to (1.25,0.75).
- Heavy 1 windup from 0.75 to 0.65.
- Block duration for the Riposte attack from 0.2 to 0.5.
- Added chain from Riposte attack to Special Parry (0.45 timing).
Mk IV
- Block duration for Push action from 0.2 to 0.5.
- Heavy 1 windup from 0.75 to 0.65.
- Added time scale 1.1 to Light 2 (sped up).
- Block duration for the Riposte attack from 0.2 to 0.5.
[h3] Ius Mk IV Shredder Autopistol [/h3]
After the power of the Pinning Fire blessing was decreased, the Autopistol lost most of its attractiveness, being often outgunned by alternatives and feeling overall very underwhelming.
To reinforce the weapon’s niche as an assault, “spray n pray” SMG, we tweaked the movement speed curve when shooting in Hipfire mode: the move speed will be slightly slower when starting to fire, but will be significantly faster on prolonged shooting compared to before.
Additionally, we increased the damage and the Finesse multiplier in both Hipfire and Braced fire modes to bring up the baseline performance of the weapon.
[h3] Detailed Changes - Ius Mk IV Shredder Autopistol [/h3]
Hipfire Mode
- Adjusted the movement speed curve to be slightly slower when starting to shoot, but significantly faster on prolonged shooting.
- Attack power distribution from (40,80) to (50,95).
- Finesse multiplier from (0.3,0.9) to (0.5,1.5).
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[h2] Force Staves Quell Canceling [/h2]
When using Psyker Force Staves, the Quell action could be immediately ended by tapping and releasing its input.
However, this meant that the Quell action could be used to bypass the default chain times of other actions, and particularly allowed to chain the Primary fire action into another Primary fire action at a speed that was not intended.
We added a short minimum hold time period for the Quell action, meaning that the action will be performed for the specified amount of time even if the input is released earlier. This change will also guarantee that the first “tick” of Peril quelling will be reached by the Quell action, even when the action is interrupted at the earliest possible timing.
Alongside this, we slightly raised the chain time from Primary fire to the Quell action.
These two changes together will mean that it won’t be possible anymore to fire Primary shots faster than the intended chain timing.
[h3] Detailed Changes - Force Staves Quell Canceling [/h3]
Equinox Mk III Voidblast / Equinox Mk IV Voidstrike / Nomanus Mk VI Electrokinetic
- Added minimum hold time 0.26 to the Quell action.
- Chain time from Primary fire to Quell from 0.2 to 0.29.
- Added minimum hold time 0.3 to the Quell action.
- Chain time Primary fire to Quell from 0.3 to 0.4.
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[h2]Special Activations Reset By Stun[/h2]
Several weapons which have a Special action activation could have their activation state reset after being stunned (including when hit by a melee attack).
While the behavior was originally intended to balance the always-available nature of these powerful Special actions, player feedback indicated that this mechanic was not perceived as engaging, leading often to frustrating moments.
Given also the increased intensity of fights and enemy spawns in harder difficulties, we decided to allow for the affected weapons to keep the Special active after being stunned, as being hit is usually enough punishment by itself.
Dev Note:The change will not affect situations where the player fully stops wielding the weapon, such as stuns and dislocations from explosions or specific Monstrosity attacks.
[h3]Detailed Changes - Special Activations Reset by Stun[/h3]
Special Action
- Allowed the following weapons to remain active after a stun:
- Scandar Mk III Power Sword
- Achlys Mk VI Power Sword
- Crucis Mk II Thunder Hammer
- Ironhelm Mk IV Thunder Hammer
- Indignatus Mk IVe Crusher
- Achlys Mk I Power Maul
- Covenant Mk VI Blaze Force Greatsword
- Covenant Mk VIII Blaze Force Greatsword.
- Tigrus Mk III Heavy Eviscerator.
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[h2] Special Activations Reset by Vaulting [/h2]
All weapons which have a Special action activation will no longer have their activation state reset after vaulting over tall terrain or railings.
[h3] Detailed Changes - Special Activations Reset by Vaulting [/h3]
Special Action
- Allowed the following weapons to remain active after vaulting:
- Scandar Mk III Power Sword
- Achlys Mk VI Power Sword
- Crucis Mk II Thunder Hammer
- Ironhelm Mk IV Thunder Hammer
- Cadia Mk IV Assault Chainsword
- Cadia Mk XIIIg Assault Chainsword
- Orestes Mk IV Assault Chainaxe
- Orestes Mk XII Assault Chainaxe
- Tigrus Mk III Heavy Eviscerator
- Tigrus Mk XV Heavy Eviscerator
- Indignatus Mk IVe Crusher
- Obscurus Mk II Blaze Force Sword
- Deimos Mk IV Blaze Force Sword
- Illisi Mk V Blaze Force Sword
- Achlys Mk I Power Maul.
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[h2] Attack Speed Buffs for Melee Attacks on Secondary Weapons[/h2]
Attack speed and melee attack speed buffs were not applied to most melee attacks performed with Secondary weapons (e.g. bash Special attacks), making their use often very niche.
To incentivize experimenting with them, we changed so that attack speed buffs will now affect these Special melee attacks.
Specifically for the MK IIIa and MK V Helbore Lasguns, we slightly increased the chain timings for the Special bayonet Light stab, as the attack was already very fast to repeat.
[h3] Detailed Changes - Attack Speed Buffs for Melee Attacks on Secondary Weapons [/h3]
All Secondary Weapons
- Allowed for Attack Speed buffs to affect melee attacks.
- Minimum windup time from Start Special attack to Special Light Stab from 0 to 0.1.
- Chain time from Special Light Stab to Start Special attack from 0.575 to 0.635.
Almost forty pages later….and we’ve gotten through the upcoming Ogryn Talent Tree rework and some upcoming balancing changes for our next patch, Nightmares and Visions. It’s a lot!
Give this a read and let us know your thoughts in the comments below! We’ll be reading the comments and feedback to our plans.
See you on the Mourningstar.
– The Darktide Team
