Crowd Control and Status Effects in SoH
Crowd control is inherently helpful to teams, but characters with strong mez abilities can be difficult to learn to play well.
Several polls on our website have confirmed that crowd control, and characters who have CC abilities, are the most desired expansion area of the current four archetypes that Ship of Heroes will have.
Listed below is our internal perspective on the types of crowd control effects. We are currently planning to add the first five effects to the game at or shortly after the Beta launch. The remaining three are under consideration as possible later additions.
Special Crowd Control Powers
| Power Type | Alternate Name(s) | Characteristics | Other Factors | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Slow | Slows run speed (typically to 30%) and also has status effects of reducing health and energy recovery by the same amount. Turns off flight for duration of effect. | ST, targeted area AOE, or location AOE. Has threat. | |
| 2 | Immobilize | Root | Reduces run and flight speed (also teleport) to zero for duration. No effect on attacks or other powers. Health and energy recovery are unaffected, except if damage is included as part of the power. | ST, targeted area AOE. Has threat. |
| 3 | Hold | Fear Stun Stasis |
Reduces run and flight speed (also teleport) to zero for duration. All attacks are turned off for duration. Health and energy recovery are unaffected, except if damage is included as part of the power. | ST, targeted area AOE. Has threat. |
| 4 | Sleep | Blind | Enemy is put to sleep and cannot detect characters or threat for the duration unless damaged. At end of effect, enemy is unaware of having slept. | ST, targeted area AOE. Creates no threat to the player. |
| 5 | Confuse | Charm Mind Control |
Enemy is confused in that he perceives enemies as allies and the reverse. Attacks his own allies immediately if in a group. Continues to fight after effect wears off because of ongoing threat from counterattacks. | ST only. Character is threatened by his allies, not the player. |
| 6 | Intangible | Enemies are made intangible for a short time and can neither receive not deliver damage or debuffs while intangible. Enemies do heal and recover while intangible. | ST, targeted area AOE. Has threat. | |
| 7 | Terrify | Fear | Enemies are overcome by fear and run away for a short time, then recover and return to attack. Cannot be terrified a second time within 2 minutes. | ST, targeted area AOE. Has threat. |
| 8 | Interrupt | Stops an enemy from firing whatever attack they are currently trying to launch. May have duration time before any power can be launched (of a second or two) | ST. |
| Pale Blue color indicates that these will not be included at launch |
|---|
Status Effects
(Classical Debuff) are a set of effects which temporarily change the stats of an enemy or group of enemies in an attempt to weaken them and make them easier to defeat, or alternatively to strengthen or buff an ally. The following stats can be debuffed in SoH:
Debuff List
| Enemy Stat | Comment | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hit Points (health) | This is Damage |
| 2 | Health Regeneration | |
| 3 | Total Health | Temp reduction of hit points |
| 4 | Energy | This is an Energy Drain |
| 5 | Energy Recovery | |
| 6 | Damage | This is Damage Debuff |
| 7 | Aggro | This is Placate |
| 8 | Accuracy | Temporary reduction in Accuracy |
| 9 | Resistance | Temporary reduction in Resistance |
| 10 | Defense | Temporary reduction in Defense |
| 11 | Status Effect Resistance | Temporary reduction in Status Effect Resistance |
| 12 | Running Speed | Slows running speed |
| 13 | Flying Speed | Slows or ends flying (could be falling) |
| 14 | Powers Use | This is Silence. No powers work for a time. |
| 15 | Casting Speed | Reduces rates of all power and increases casting time for attacks. |
Buff List
| Enemy Stat | Comment | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hit Points (health) | This is Healing |
| 2 | Health Regeneration | |
| 3 | Total Health | Temp increase in maximum hit points |
| 4 | Energy | This is an Energy Increase |
| 5 | Energy Recovery | |
| 6 | Damage | This is Damage Buff |
| 7 | Aggro | This is Threat being increased |
| 8 | Accuracy | Temporary increase in Accuracy |
| 9 | Resistance | Temporary increase in Resistance |
| 10 | Defense | Temporary increase in Defense |
| 11 | Status Effect Resistance | Temporary increase in Status Effect Resistance |
| 12 | Running Speed | Temporary Increase in running speed |
| 13 | Flying Speed | Temporary increases in flying speed |
| 14 | Powers Use | Undoes silence. All powers work again. |
| 15 | Casting Speed | Increases speed of powers and decreases casting time. |
In general, anything that can be buffed can be debuffed and vice versa.
Infusions in Melee Combat – Dev Video
This internal dev video shows a Martial Arts Brawler in melee combat against several Yekus Mercenaries with and without infusions. In the first fight, no infusions are used, and the hero is defeated, though he does kill a few enemies first. In the second run, the same hero consumes five random infusions to improve his combat stats, then he fights and defeats all of the Yekus. The location is the Ship of Heroes arena map.
The Mission Event and Utility Powers
Signups for our upcoming mission Beta event will begin on July 31st! The event itself is scheduled for August 7th. More on that soon, but today, we want to update you on some aspects of powers in SoH that are important, and easy to overlook.
Internal Video Six – How Fast is Too fast?
In the recent SoH community event, we got some feedback that our combat is now too fast. So we went through the various powersets looking for the fastest one.