Note: I hate playing against and with Dredge. His tool is infuriating to go against with endless spam of the most annoying abilities in the game, while also making me feel like there was a lot of wasted opportunities into making interesting and unique kit thanks to his meta talents that turn otherwise thoughtful kit into braindead and spammy mess we currently have.
Here’s how to change Dredge, from hater’s perspective.
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Base kit
Cursed Howitzer (LMB):
- No longer bounces off the floor, causing projectile to instantly detonate
- Continues to bounce off walls
- AoE radius increased by 15%
Comment: The goal of these changes is to reduce frustration related to spammy playstyle, caused by attaining kills by getting hit by both floor bounce and air projectile at the same time. It is a double sided edge. It cuts down off Dredge’s zoning potential with left click significantly, albeit slightly recompensated by increased AoE. On the other hand, it also reduces the time it takes indirect hits to damage by cutting off the bouncing time (by exactly 0.75s), hopefully discouraging annoying spam while igniting more
accurate, prediction based playstyle.
Reload:
- Now gains Scuttle’s AoE damage at 15% reduced radius at base kit.
Comment: Dredge's reload mechanics didn't really suit his blaster’s design well without his Scuttle’s talent. Incorporating it at base with reduced AoE not only makes it less infuriating to fight against and strengthens his role as a blaster, it also frees up talent slot for more interesting options.
Broadside:
- No longer consumes ammo
- Now has 3 second cooldown
Comment: Dredge's Broadside ability often was met with extreme frustration related to the constant spam forcing endless repositioning and heavy vfx spam. These changes relieve a lot of pressure from enemies, while granting Dredge better ammo economy and hopefully keeping his fluidity intact.
Harpoon:
- Damage increased {800} → {925}
- Cooldown reduced {14} → {12}
Comment: Increased damage of harpoon would help Dredge with accommodating to these changes and help him finish distant enemies much more easily.
Shortcut:
- Can now be used by allies by pressing their reload key again while reloading or at full ammo
Comment: I’ve wanted to reintroduce Dredge's teamwide teleport capabilities for him to be much more appreciated addition to the team. This time an input to use is required, by pressing your reload at full ammo, at any given time if you don't have ammo, or by pressing reload second time while reloading.
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Talents
Scuttle:
- Removed.
Freebooter:
- Readded
- OLD EFFECT: Allies can now use Shortcut.
- NEW EFFECT: Your Shortcut becomes an aimed, slowly advancing projectiles that stops moving upon hitting any surface or after traveling 100ft. distance.
- Shortcuts have projectile speed of 75. (for comparision, Seris Orbs have 150 while Cassie’s crossbow has 600)
- Shortcuts can be used while they’re moving.
Comment: I’ve wanted to replace boring Scuttle to give Dredge an option to try a much more mobile playstyle that would synergize well with his new old team teleporter.
Abyssal Spike
- Fuse time reduced {2} → {1.5}s.
- Now spike persists after death.
Comment: These small but effective buffs would help this talent experience higher usage at all ranks.
Hurl
- Harpoons now also consume ammo.
- Cannot be used without ammo.
Comment: There are 2 goals of these changes: make the talent more balanced and remove another spammy talent in Dredge's arsenal. With addition of Harpoon damage buff, Hurl talent would become a very powerful tool. To offset it, I’ve decided to give it ammo consumption, keeping it in a more balanced state while also preventing this talent from being too spammy.
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Cards
Cursed Weaponry
- OLD EFFECT: Hitting with Harpoon generates {1|1} ammo.
- NEW EFFECT: Hitting with Harpoon grants {6|6}% movement speed for 4 seconds.
- Also procs out of Abyssal Spike AoE.
Comment: With new changes to Hurl, keeping ammo gain on harpoon card would be counterproductive to my suggestions. Movement speed card would giving additional fluidity to Dredge's kit while being synergistic with both of his Harpoon talents.
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