Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-32013442-20180305191444

Hello again!

I am going to be bringing to you 3 different suggestions today, all of which will considerably improve the balrogs in-game if they are implemented. Let us begin!

1.  New whip mechanics.

I do not know how many of you have ever used a whip or seen one used in real life before, but most functional whips are not used at a close range unless they are a cat-o-nine tails, which is really a mini-whip. Whips require a significant amount of space to be used effectively, and if they are of a longer variety, can have incredibly reach. They can also be used as a snare for your opponents feet/arms, entangling your enemy in chords of rope. These are the two features I suggest we implement into the whips of the mod.

1st: Whips must be treated as longspears or halberds, doing a decent amount of damage(7), but having a longer cooldown and reach. Not as lengthy a cooldown as a longspear/halberd, but certainly prolonged further than their current selves.

2nd: A new ensnare ability for balrog whips. In simple terms, the whip will be charged as it normally does before it creates a line of fire, except when released it will fire a projectile akin to the buoy from a fishing rod, having a line of “fire,” like a fishing line, linking the player to the projectile. The weapon model will also change like a fishing rod does, having the “whip” (the retextured fishing line), connect the buoy to the hilt of the balrog whip. On contact with an entity such as a player or mob, the buoy will connect itself to said object in the same fashion as a fishing rod for 5 seconds, doing 7-10 damage depending on the whip’s modifiers. The player/entity will be set alight and receive slowness as long as the balrog whip’s projectile is in contact with them. If the player/balrog right clicks again before the projectile has expired, the whip will launch the entity it has ensnared towards the wielder of the whip. This is where things get interesting. How does the launching work in practice? Elementary my friends. First of all, the player/entity will be given a jump boost for 2 seconds, the strength of which will vary, depending on who is doing the launching. Next, the player/entity will be compelled to jump, like the auto jump in newer versions of mc. In conclusion the player/entity will be hit by a knock back which will work in reverse, “launching” the player towards the wielder of the whip. Simple to code? I hope so. Balrogs will do a launch of 15 blocks, (I do not know what this is in terms of the knock back enchantment/modifier), while players and hired units will launch an entity 3 blocks, and will apply a significantly smaller jump boost. The cooldown of this ability will be 3 seconds. Balrogs will have a 35% chance of using the launching ability of their whips every second they hold onto an entity should they ensnare anything.

2.  A simple change to the balrogs themselves.

1st. All balrogs will now have 2 weapons: A whip, and some other utumno weapon. They will act more like elves, and will use the newly updated whip mechanics I have just described as their version of a ranged weapon. Balrogs will have a line of sight of 30 blocks, at which point they will use the whip’s ensnare function as their ranged weapon, and will switch to their own sword/axe/war hammer in close quarters. A simple change to enact, but ultimately useless unless the whips are altered along the lines I have already specified. Balrogs will all have a chance of dropping a whip and melee weapons.

2nd. Although this has been suggested before, balrogs should have their own tier of weapons. It is a bit ridiculous that a player kills a balrog and their enormous steel sword inexplicably shrinks to a more manageable size. The whips make sense ‘cause they are magical, so why not go the distance and give them their own special weapons? Swords and axes would do 9 points of damage, and war hammers would do 12. Balrogs will all have a chance of dropping their melee weapon and whip.

3rd. This has been suggested SO many times, but here we go again: Make balrogs immune to arrows, darts, and crossbow bolts. I suggest that balrogs be given a special armor set that is always fully modified to eolean level, but which will have a protection value of zero. At least when this is first added for the sake of testing how well this works in practice. (The balrog’s special armor will never be dropped when a balrog is killed by the way, as it is just a representation of how thick/durable a balrog’s hide is. Not to mention the inferno with which they surround themselves 24/7.)

3.  This is a very simple suggestion, and I hope it is the easiest to enact of the 3.

Chills of Daedelous, when added to any weapon, are to be the long awaited “Demon’s Bane” for the balrogs of Morgoth. Balrogs will no longer be able to receive damage by any weapon unless it has been modified with a chill of daedelous, which will deal an extra 4 points of damage like all other bane modifers. This will also apply to ranged weapons such as bows, and will be the only way to harm them at range as balrogs will be “immune” to arrows/etc. Back  to that topic, if my earlier suggestion for making a balrog “immune” to arrows is added, unless you are using a legendary mithril crossbow that has been modified with a chill of daedelous, ranged weapons will do practically no damage, as arrows and bolts won’t even tickle the beasts with their insane health regen. Since balrogs are demons of shadow and flame, wouldn’t the best weapon to fell such creatures be forged from the coldest of steel?

There you have it! A few simple adjustments to whips, balrogs, and chills which will all in all make for a much more challenging experience in utumno. Please critique, comment, and kudos as you see fit. Let me know what you guys think. Any suggestions to improve this will be greatly appreciated. 