Indirect fire skills

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Alpha-2 Chain Lightning arcing around an environmental obstacle.[1]

Indirect fire skills are targeted skills where the projectiles may path around obstructions that are not in line-of-sight, so long as the maximum distance travelled for the skill is not exceeded.[2][1][3]

  • This is a prototype concept that is subject to testing and balancing.[3]
  • A limited number of these may exist throughout different class kits.[3]
Some abilities might have indirect fire. So, if you have let's say a Archer or Ranger who has the ability to select a Mage as their secondary class; and they might want to augment a Snipe ability in order to go around a corner like an Arcane Archer might have... Some abilities might not care about that line-of-sight. They might care the distance to the target around the corner, or the path that it's taking; and if it's outside that path is too long it might not be able to reach them of course.[2]Steven Sharif
Skill Icon Base skill
Chain Lightning Chain Lightning Icon clean.png Release a powerful streak of lightning that hits your primary target and then chains outward to all nearby enemies from that target, dealing lightning damage and applying 3 stacks of Electrified to each target hit.[4][5][6]
Headshot Headshot.png Deals 175% physical damage to target enemy.[7]

Hybrid combat

Ranger hybrid combat in Alpha-2.[8]

Our desire has always and continues to be how we can create a mixture of tab target abilities and skill-shot oriented positional, directional-based ability usage and make something cohesive in that design. And I think that what we're achieving with that regard may not fully feel like an action-oriented game, but we've always intended to be more hybrid-oriented, leaning towards tab target. So you're going to see a mixture of abilities that require the targets and that don't; and then you're going to have an option as the player's perspective to utilize an action camera mode, which utilizes a soft target lock feature and our reticle.[9]Steven Sharif

Hard-locked friendly player target.[10]

Hybrid combat refers to the choice between tab and action combat in Ashes of Creation.[9][11][12][13][14][15] A toggle button (default Z, but can be re-bound to another key) allows the player to switch between action and tab combat modes.[9][16][17][18][19]

  • The action mode camera is tied to the to the player's reticle (crosshair).[20][9][21][22]
    • There will likely be a hotkey that when held down will allow free camera movement in action mode.[22]
    • In future the user will have the ability to choose from different reticle appearances.[20][23]
  • Targeted skills require either a soft or hard locked target.[9][21]
    • Soft locking is when the reticle moves over a valid target while in action mode.[20] The targeting plate will appear slightly grayed out to indicate that this is a soft-lock target. If the reticle moves away from the target or the target moves away from the reticle, the target is lost.[21]
    • Hard locking is when the player uses right-mouse on a soft-locked target in action mode, or when the player selects a valid target in tab mode. The targeting plate will not be grayed-out to indicate that a hard-lock target is selected. Unlike soft locking, if the target moves out of the reticle, the target is not lost. Tab will still cycle between hard-locked targets in action mode based on proximity priority.[24][21]
Q: Is the development team moving away from action combat, or is action combat more prevalent with the melee classes, and the healing/range classes are more tab-target other than AoE spells?
A: We have not moved away from our hybrid approach to the development of Ashes of Creation's combat; and specifically to reiterate: that approach is incorporating elements of skill shots, fast and reactive gameplay that is situationally relevant, and incorporates the camera mode of both tab-targeting as well as action combat reticle. That's something that is still in progress. We haven't moved away from that however. To note, our approach of that hybridization is going to incorporate things like templated skill-shots, directionally relevant activated abilities, along with the ability to dodge to roll projectiles that can impact collision. Those are elements of action combat that are present.[28]Steven Sharif

Templated and targeted versions of skills will have different characteristics.[29][16][30][31][32]

Skill progressions, skill point allocation is determined by the player. The player will be able to choose either more tab-target oriented skills or more action-based skills and customize their playable experience to what accommodates their preference. From a balancing standpoint for us developers, we need to make sure that certain abilities house certain functions so that there's a balance between skill shots and tab-target abilities.[31]Steven Sharif
  • Targeted skills will be greyed out if the target is not within a valid range but templated skills will generally require the player to assess the correct range for the skill.[33]
info-orange.pngSome of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.
  • It may not be possible to be able to fully spec into just action or tab targeted skills. There might be a 75% cap on choosing skills from any one type.[31]
  • For the purposes of balance, certain skill types will be either tab or action oriented skills.[35]
    • Hard CCs may be housed in action oriented skills because they are skill shots that are more difficult to land.[35][31]
    • Softer CC's would be housed in tab-targeted abilities.[35]
As an example: Let's say you're playing a ranged class. You could have an action-oriented power shot in your skill tree or you could have a single target power shot that ramps up and does more damage.[32]Steven Sharif

See also

References