Anoited Militants Reference

Borderlands 3 Borderlands 3 General Discussion
#1

There has been a long discussion about how bad of a character they are in BL3. So let’s keep that out of this discussion. I challenge everyone to sit down and really think about how to change the mechanic to create a better version of that character.

Things to keep in mind,
It has to be exceptionally challenging because it’s anoited.

It has to be based on the Militant character.

Pretend you are sitting down with the developer to seriously consider your input.

No complaining.

I feel like everyone is frustrated with the current character and all of its issues are known. There are many long threads about them. I want to know how you would make them manageable and still be challenging in game. I believe this would help everyone organize their thoughts and make a meaningful contribution. Hopefully, maybe, we can come up with a conclusive character that everyone could agree on mechanics.

My input.

I believe it has too long of an immunity phase. I suggest dropping it’s immunity during it’s fire attack. The fire attack is hard enough to overcome and I feel we should be able to damage the anointed militant during this phase.

I also believe it should take more damage from “Damage Over Time” corrosive and incendiary attacks. This would off set the amount of time you spend evading it’s attacks and still be able to apply damage to keep the fight progressing while still be challenging.

I hope we can keep this thread civil and hopefully be used as a reference for Gearbox. I’d love to hear your opinions on how to make the anointed Militant better.
:thinking::blush:

3 Likes
What do people think of anointed enemies? ( No crying about militants here, yes they suck)
#2

I think this was the consensus from that other thread: increase the cooldown of the immunity (so it’s less frequent) and/or reduce the duration. I like the idea of making them vulnerable during the fire attack (like x amount of damage will snap them out of it, since they are immobile and a free shot). We need something that would then prevent them from immediately going into a different immune phase though (hence the longer cooldown).

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#3

When the shield is facing you I want a way to respond. Something like doing splash damage at their feet or throwing a singularity behind them should cause a reaction.

2 Likes
#4

Honestly, I don’t care what they do. There are an infinite number of ways to fix them. Just reduce the immunity would be the obvious and simple answer. Make headshots do more damage. I mean dealing with all their mechanics and hitting headshots should be rewarded I would think. Make them more weak to a particular element. These are all easily implemented.

On the other hand I like your suggestions fine…so I’m good with that as well.

#5

General suggestions for Anointed overall:
I find them overused in general mobbing and they completely ruin the flow of any map they are in because of it.

They should never spawn randomly just like any other COV mob. Maliwan doesn’t have a bunch of mini-bosses spawning randomly all the time why does COV. Why can one run in Anvil net like 15 boss fights.

They are mini-bosses in all considerations so treat them that way when you spawn them!

So this means, on a map like Anvil, they should only spawn at pre-determined checkpoints where a player can learn to expect it. Have them randomly decide which type of Anointed to spawn, maybe sometimes 2 instead of 1, but always at this or that checkpoint in the map.

This means in a map like Slaughter Shaft, they should spawn only at the end of a wave. Not having 2 spawning right in the beginning, or having them spawn randomly throughout like any other mob. They aren’t any other mob, they are mini-bosses. So spawn them at the end of each wave or round like a mini-boss would in any other game.

This already goes a very long way to making all of these enemies much less annoying and instead something to anticipate.

Militants:
Make it so you can do damage during fire phase. Limit how often the shield and the fire phases can be used. Make is so if I sneak damage past the shield by feet or splash or w/e they will change phases.

Zealots/Maniacs/Tinks:
Put a limit on how often they can teleport! Like I had one that just spammed it over and over repeatedly for several minutes in SS, not fun at all. Put a 10s CD on it or something. Even 5s would be a lot more bearable then the way they spam it.

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#6

IMO Anointed enemies feel like they were intended to be like actual mini bosses similar to those random spawning named enemies in Diablo 3. As such they’re supposed to be stronger than badasses. On that level they succeeded.

The only thing from a design prospective to me that feels off is full immunity during the fire attack. My outlook on it is that instead of full immunity during the fire attack it should heal from fire element damage during that phase but still take damage from other sources. As for the shield it’s entirely possible to get around it and I often wonder if the complaints about the shield are actually a result of playing multiplayer and issues with latency. The only other anointed thing I’d kind of like a change on is the one that creates the large homing energy ball. I’d like the ability to shoot the ball to make it explode prematurely.

2 Likes
#7
  • Immune ONLY when his shield is up and that immunity only affects the front of him.
  • Immunity has a minimum 30 second cooldown
  • Fire AOE attack has a minimum 30 second cooldown

It may not be obvious but the 1st bullet point addresses a lot of issues by restricting immunity such that he can only ever be immune while guarding with his shield.

+1

1 Like
#8

So far I agree with the changes mentioned.

If this is to far off topic, feel free to ignore but what about some type of anointed gear specifically for fighting the anointed? If I had some pistol that did +100% dig to anointed & -100% to all others I’d give it a try

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#9

AFAIK they are a named enemy so the +125% to badass/named/boss enemies anoint works.

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#10

Many of these are specific to the Militant, but some can apply to Anointed in general:

  1. Ensure players feel effective. The real, subconscious reason players aren’t finding them fun is they seem so disconnected from any choices we make or tactics we employ. We need feedback that restores a sense of agency in the fight.

That doesn’t always mean more damage. Too often, it feels as though the Anointed are entirely ignoring the player. Do a little damage? A lot? Doesn’t matter - they’re going to do what they were going to do anyway. They aren’t fighting against us, but are instead just fighting right over us – there’s no sense of engagement with the player.

So ensure that our actions demonstrate some real impact. Maybe slipping a hit past the shield causes the militant to falter so we can get a couple more licks in. Maybe shock damage shortens the fire attack phase. Maybe being slowed prevents teleporting, but only for half the usual duration.

Basically, make it feel as though the target responds to player actions, to restore a sense of agency.

  1. Consider the complete removal of immune phases during any period of time in which the enemy can do damage, with the exception of certain boss fights.

This flows from #1, in a way. It’s dirty pool to be able to reliably damage the player while being impervious to counterattack. It’s unnecessarily video-gamey, so it pulls the player out of the experience… and within the experience, it simply makes the character feel ineffectual (rather than “challenged”).

  1. Replace the fire-from-the-sky thing with something that feels more like part of the existing game.

Most of the Anointed powers either make some sense or mimic something Troy does. The sky laser, while on fire and immune? Neither reminiscent of Troy nor Militants. Maybe instead give it a scaled-down version of Troy’s rock tower move? That and the shield throw feel like “big muscley tank guy” moves.

  1. Mix it up with damage types.

Make each Anointed, on spawn, have a different set of resistances/weaknesses to elemental types. One time, they’re heavily resistant to fire. Another one pops up, and it’s corrosive that’s useless. Yet another, a shock gets a little bonus. Now the player has a reason to try different things - to engage, mentally, with the fight.

Each of the suggestions above centers around 1) removing events that ignore player input and 2) inserting events that invite player engagement. Do these things, and the enemies will feel less like they’re from a completely different game… and less like a cheap “damage-by-fiat” machine that ignores the player’s actions.

It’s that disconnect that makes them read as “not fun” to so many players, even if they’re not sure how to express it exactly. You don’t have to make the fight shorter, per se. You just need to make it a conversation of violence, with some give and take.

3 Likes
#11

Hmmm, interesting. The only anointed I would think this applies to is “Billy”, all the other ones I’ve seen are named the same as non-anointed (basic enemy type/class with anointed prefix). I’ll see if I can confirm this, pretty sure I have a few of those +125% weapons. As already mentioned the Anvil is a hotbed for anointed spawns.

Update: just saw “Murdock the anointed” during the guns of reliance rescue. So 2 named anointed??

#12

Of all the anointed, I find the tink and the pyscho to be the fairest, because counter play is more apparent for these enemy types.

Counter play

  • The tink gets interrupted when you shoot his critical spot. His shrinking is a nuisance, but I use weapons with splash damage.
  • The psycho has drawn out and exaggerated attacks, which leave him vulnerable and are easy to avoid.
  • The goliath’s shockwaves are dodgeable and the homing skulls can be destroyed or kited.

Little to none

  • The goon probably has the highest health pool of them all, which I find to be the most annoying aspect of the enemy.
  • The zealot’s biggest problem is the orb that he summons. It lasts too long and can’t be attacked, so it ends up following you even though you’re done fighting. Being able to shoot the orb is a good suggestion.
  • The militant’s shield and fire phase should be interruptible via melee or grenade. Adding a cooldown is another alternative. From a solo player’s perspective, this enemy type isn’t fun to deal with because he disrupts the flow of combat. Being able to flank the shield is nice when you have teammates or have the tools (Red Fang, Phasegrasp, Auto Bear, and Clone), but that’s not always the case, so why design something so specific? It’s anti-fun. There’s nothing challenging about the fire phase. You line of sight the enemy and hope he doesn’t chain into another one or his shield phase. Again, it’s anti-fun.
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#13

If I’m not mistaken anointed are classified as a badass enemy and is therefore subject to the anointment effect.

1 Like
#14

I submitted this thread to gearbox. If I hear anything I’ll let you guys know.

#15

a lot of good recommendations on this thread, i hope it has some results soon

#16

BA enemies actually drop loot unlike annointed. Smash them and get garbage.

#17

It’s RNG because I’ve gotten some good stuff out of smashing them in the past and even now sometime. The only issue is now it’s probably something I already have. :grin:

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#18

Please keep the complaining out of this thread. This is meant to be constructive.

#19

So as I’m playing through NVHM (for the umpteenth time) I’m noticing more actual “named” anointed (Billy, Murdock, Brayden in Rolands Rest). Sadly at my current (low) level I don’t have that +125% on any weapon to test.
——-
Regarding the Eridium “ball of death”, that slow moving one. I really want someway to deal with that. If I pump enough bullets into it, it should explode. It’s size / area of effect should/could be reduced so if you have a fast moving character perhaps you could out run it.

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#20

Just let me flank and do Any Damage! Amara with 25mindfull can’t flank! A snowdrift? Nope. Immunity is just vomit. :yum: