A Nerf Variant Idea

[Smecklingdorf]

A recent idea i came up, i'll make sure ill fill in most details...

 

Boss Name: Tremor Nerf

Unlocks at... : Wave 5

Synopsis - Nerf is bad, either remove to cooldown so it actually do it's job or rework it. Anyways Nerf main objective is to hunt down runners (as someone pointed out, the cooldown is what holding it back) but after the runner problem is done then what else? what now? Bonus crate food for the humans and zombies i guess... 

So i introduce a zombie that was born and mutated during a magnitude 9 earthquake... The Tremor Nerf

The Tremor Nerf is what i seems an upgraded Nerf, it specifically designed to knockout a group of people in a single leap, albeit it works in a range where it could cripple the human offenses or be easy pickings for your zombie friends. It's attacks can knock a human aim out of sight which makes the Tremor Nerf hard to shoot at.

Downsides of this scary being that it is heavily vulnerable to bullets in which it tries to quickly escape after a hard leap of earth-shaking damage and will try to regain it's strength to prepare for another attack.

 

How does it works???

Tremor Nerf attacks its prey with its abilities, here's the mechanics

Left Mouse Click - Strike

• Strike does 7 damage in the leg, 11 damage in the torso, 15 damage in the head. Base Cade Damage is 20~
• Strike does an Aim-Punch on hit, Which throws off the aim of a human.
• Strike's Fire-rate is as same as it is.

Right Mouse Click - Leap

• Launches the Tremor Nerf high in the sky much like the classic Nerf
• Cooldown of the Leap is 7 seconds.

Hold Right Click - Climb

• Climbs Walls like a normal Fast Zombie

Upon Landing - Tremors

• Upon landing it will send a shock wave in the range depending of height traveled.
• If it exceeds the height of a blue shelf, range is 1.5 Arsenal crates.  If height exceeds 12 meters, range is 3 Arsenal crates. If height exceeds 25 meters, range is 4.5 Arsenal crates (Maximum Range). Nothing happens if height is below blue shelf.
• Humans within shock wave will be launched upward and turned to rag doll for 4 seconds.
• Loose Props also affected by shock wave heavily which it can use to deal collateral damage.
• Bypass Barricades, Props, and even Map walls
• Cooldown of 7 seconds (To prevent using the map to its advantage and repeated tremors)

 

HP: 2100

Role: Support, Ambush, Offense Crippler

Speed: 15% Faster than a normal Nightmare

Defensive Traits: 10% Explosive Damage Resistance, 45% Bullet Vulnerability

 

So this Nerf Variant job is to shut down both cade huggers and gun-cades that was surviving for 5 waves; it scares humans and cripple them to give time for zombie mates to reach into the cade before they died in a bullet storm. and since it's super vulnerable to bullets, an average Tremor Nerf could do 2 or 3 tremors before eating a ton of lead and dies, to balance it of course

The Model of this boss is same as Nerf but textured to look like it came from the earth, basically rocky in appearance.

 

So whatcha guys think? Neat little gimmicky boss or very powerful?

 

Edited January 13, 2019 by Smecklingdorf

[Eton145]

Bypass Map walls.  That would turn this boss into a map by map under or overpowered boss.  On smaller open maps where humans have a typical spot they camp from wave 1, this boss could easily and safely spam knockdown most of the human team.  For range in arsenal crates is that strictly in a wave around the boss or a sphere around the boss potentially hitting humans directly below it.

This boss seems like it would get 0 usage on maps like Infected_Square or that Underground jail map where either the humans are too high up for a jump or the map simply doesn't allow for Tremor Nerf to jump high at all.

On other maps whose names I can't remember, the current best example I can think of is, the map is already a small map, it has very few buildings, there is the farmhouse like building that humans will camp on top of but only for wave 1.  Next to the farmhouse like building is the building that almost always has the Supply Crate that humans will camp from Wave 1.  Tremor Nerf would have plenty of space to jump high enough to do full range, since this would bypass map walls then even without a spherical range most of the barricades defenders would be knocked down.  4 second knockdown time is plenty long enough for the rest of the boss zombies to peek in, let Tickles poke people who are getting up, and nightmares do irreversible damage to the cade.

When it comes to countering a Tremor Nerf who focuses on knocking down humans through a wall from safety, there will probably be no pushing it.  Knockdown + 4 second ragdoll vs 7 second cooldown.  Unless the human has one of the two God Modes or the Tremor Nerf is alone, trying to fight that would be certain death.  Depending on the cade, I am sure it would take a human 3ish seconds or longer to phase through it.  I have no clue if the Tremor Nerf would have knowledge of if or how many humans they knocked down each jump, but I am assuming it would be the same mindset of a Devourer hooking someone. "FREE KILLS"

I am willing to say that Tremor Nerf would be interesting as it comes at Wave 5, but having Tickle Nightmares hard poke people who were knocked down would make Tremor Nerf the new best support boss zombie.  Even if Tremor Nerf doesn't get any points for knocking down humans via his leap, I am sure there would still be someone who would go him just to support zombie team.  Tremor Nerf could be as useful to zombie team as a Shade against a team of noobs who don't know how to turn their flashlights on.

[Snowyamur]

@Smecklingdorf

To be honest, humans are usually weaker than the zombies, and most of the time, they already struggle enough trying to survive in their own barricades against varying zombie bosses of different abilities. Crowd-control is a mechanic that should be thought about carefully because after reading this idea, this zombie boss sounds absolutely broken.

Not to be rude, but a zombie boss that can ragdoll humans with an AoE ability, and this ability goes through any physical obstruction has to be one of the most unfair zombie bosses I've ever read. You can't take something like ragdolling, which is crowd-control, lightly like this; if I was a human player undergoing a ragdoll-effect induced by a zombie boss I can't fight back against, then that's not fair at all. I'd be annoyed as hell to have to deal with being disabled for 4 seconds, with this effect reoccurring every 7 seconds, and I know you set the cooldown to 7 seconds

Quote

To prevent using the map to its advantage and repeated tremors

but players using this boss are very likely going to spam their right mouse-click somewhere out of sight anyway, just to ragdoll as many players as they can. Even with the height limitation in-place, there are a fair amount of maps on our ZS server that this zombie boss would thrive in, and even if there weren't, the mechanics designed for the Tremor Nerf are horribly-overpowered nonetheless.

This is an interesting idea, not doubting that there. Having "Tremor" in the name is appealing to a zombie boss that can disrupt the humans, and I like it. However, I don't think these attributes for this zombie boss were well-thought out nor properly-designed because they ultimately combine to make this boss impossible to fight against.

 

There's a reason why the Devourer works well when it comes to crowd-control such as ragdolling. It can only ragdoll one player at a time, and to ragdoll them, it has to expose itself to gunfire and throw its hook at players. Whoever gets caught first gets ragdolled, and while its unfortunate for that one player, at least 10-12 players aren't being ragdolled at once; that's what the Tremor Nerf would be doing. Making a boss that can ragdoll in an area-of-effect, not to mention making it capable of ragdolling through map obstructions, is like asking for the Human team to suffer because there's no way in hell they're going to be capable of fighting this thing.

I have changes in-mind that I can suggest to you for a rework on this boss, but I won't mention them unless you ask for them. Great concept, interesting background, but horrific and terrible design and execution for the Tremor Nerf.

[Smecklingdorf]

I maybe focused too much of it's ragdoll aspect, as this is one of the Nerf's main abilities and removing it would make it a different boss. An AOE Nerf has potentiality in my eyes so here's my potential rework on its mechanics to fit your concerns @Snowyamur.

 

Boss is available only to Wave 5

Tremor Nerf

• Base HP is 2300
• Speed is 10% Faster than a normal Nightmare
• Bullet Vulnerability is 40% and Explosion Vulnerability is 10%
• Boss cannot be incinerated nor being slowed by zappers

Left Click - Strike

• Does 7 damage in the legs, 12 damage in the torso, 18 damage to the head, and 24 damage base to barricades (Just to strict this boss to be only support)
• Fire rate is 10% faster normal zombie attack rate

Right Click - Leap

• Launches yourself sky high
• Climbing Ability by holding right click
• Leap cooldown of 5 Seconds
• When against a wall, leap sends Aftershocks in which players screen will shake heavily for .50 seconds, will have dizzy aim for 2.5 seconds and unable to reload for 2 seconds. Range is 3.5 Arsenal Crates and can bypass barricades, props and even map walls, can be activated when leap is used against a wall and has a cool down of 5 seconds (So the boss has something to do when he's tremor is on a cooldown. Although if you still disagree with the AOE Ragdoll effect i could actually see the aftershock effect to be expanded and be the main focus of the Tremor Nerf)

Upon Landing - Tremors

• Upon Landing will send a shockwave that ragdolls players, range is dependent of height traveled, the ragdoll effect lasts 3.30 seconds
• Tremors activates when height exceeds 12 meters, starter range is 2.5 Arsenal crates. If height were to exceed 20 meters, range is 3 Arsenal crates. And if height exceeds 27 meters, range is 4.5 meters (maximum range)
• Cooldown of 30 seconds, however hitting a human reduces cooldown timer by 1.10 seconds (to make the boss choose to attack the cade huggers therefore exposing himself to gunfire)
• Add additional 3 seconds to cooldown when damaged by explosions (so grenade spammers could benefit)
• Nerf's Screen will shake for .20 seconds, indicating that the player can use Tremors.
• Cannot Strike for 2 seconds after activating tremors (To prevent faster cooldown when hitting crippled players or nearby players)
• Bypass barricades and props, but cannot bypass map walls (removed bypass map walls)
• 60% Slow Movement Speed for 1.40 seconds upon landing (again, to expose itself to gun fire)

 

There! I designed it so the Ragdoll AOE wont come so often and it will commonly easy to shoot the Tremor Nerf when exposed. as for me, any more concerns and i'll have to change a few things from here and beyond.