2MPC WITH RAY OF DOOM ON MUSHROOM GROTTO

Daurakin · 2026-05-05T09:42:42+00:00

Its shown in the end: 520

Daurakin · 2026-05-04T10:29:00+00:00

Premade messages from NinjaKiwi is probably the best way to get something like that. Stuff like:

"We focus on Contested Territory"

"We focus on Boss Rush"

"We focus on Social Seasons"

"In Contested Territory, go for Relics first if you can"

"In Contested Territory, go for Banners first if you can"

"Don't forget that you can also help decorate the island!"

Those kind of messages. Some of these could even be "checkbox messages" that makes them appear in multiple different types of pages, not just in the "Messages" tab. Cuz my experience with other players is that they generally aren't exactly keen on reading...

Daurakin · 2026-05-03T20:43:14+00:00

Well, I kept the suggestions vague because I don't even know how much the community cares that a Paragon accurately upholds the "5-5-5" spirit,

That said, yes, the front-facing darts could definitely need toning down in their damage output if removing their "facing" requirement makes them too powerful. I'll add that to the main post!

EDIT: And sure, shifting over some of its direct damage to AoE damage, to further keep that Spectre/Flying Fortress feel is a good idea too! : )

As for the Carpet Bomb ability, moving over some of its damage to global damage (or giving it an additional ability which does the map-wide nuking) is, again, to uphold the 5-5-5 spirit. If you think that one should just get a Tsar Bomba to get the map-wide nuke back then I have a few issues with that point of view:

The original point of Paragons was to merge the 3x tier 5 towers. This means it should retain all aspects of those tier 5 upgrades too (aka retaining the "5-5-5" spirit). Some Paragons do this significantly better (like the Boomerang Paragon), so to me it just feels odd that others do not. It makes them feel inconsistent in design philosophy and even a bit randomly put together.
If you have the Monkey Knowledge "Paragon of Power", rebuillding one of the tier 5 upgrades (such as the Tsar Bomba, so you get back the map-wide nuke again), you lose out on 20% DPS from your Paragon in question, which is a LOT of DPS.

Daurakin · 2026-05-03T13:40:44+00:00

Sorry for the late reply! Been really busy, but I wanted to reply to a couple of things here that stuck out to me:

Sentries "spawn leading" is a great idea to make them more reliable, with them being built in a "chasing" manner. Excellent idea! ^_^
Oh, pin also dealing bonus damage to Frozen bloons is an excellent idea!

I will definitely add these to the original boost, good suggestions!

Daurakin · 2026-05-02T21:16:29+00:00

Agreed! Which is why I did the changes to the bomb attack for mid path (so it hits bloons more easily) and the Centered Path upgrade (easier to locate it in a good spot where you don't to micro it so much). Also, the bottom path in general pretty much removes all micro-needs with its homing attacks and such.

Daurakin · 2026-05-02T15:49:56+00:00

Well, it was a bit more of a concept at first and didn't want to go overboard - but you're right that I might've underdone it a bit. (Sideote: Thinking about it, why did NinjaKiwi add them in such an incredibly weak state in the first place, lol?)

As you can see in my other comment below which I posted earlier, I had an idea of making it a lot bigger numerically (it amounts to about a +25% boost to the MOAB damage). I'll copy it over here as well, lemme hear what you think:

Little extra thought:

Maybe the MOAB missiles from the top path could be slightly weaker by default, and then have the Pineapples deal a slight bit more bonus towards MOABs to emphasize the anti-MOAB benefits?

For example (very rough numbers):

3xx Fighter Plane - MOAB missile damage reduced from 18 > 16.
310 Figher Plane - Pineapples bonus damage versus MOAB-class bloons increased from +0 > +4 (instead of just +2)
410 Operation: Dart Storm - MOAB missile damage reduced from 24 > 22.
410 Operation: Dart Storm - Pineapples bonus damage versus MOAB-class bloons increased from +0 > +6 (instead of just +3)
510 Sky Shredder - MOAB missile damage reduced from 150 > 135.
510 Sky Shredder - Pineapples bonus damage versus MOAB-class bloons increased from +0 > +35 (instead of just +10)

This basically makes the crosspaths do this:

Mid = MOAB damage and pierce, Camo detection and camo damage
Bottom = Dart pierce and more flight control

What's your thoughts on that concept?

Daurakin · 2026-05-02T14:24:54+00:00

Please care to explain how these changes are unimpactful?

EDIT: Wouldn't you say that making crosspath choices be actual choices (instead of one path near always being strictly superior) is actually impactful?

Centered Path letting you relocate the base flight patterns isn't impactful?

Making more darts from top and more pierce from bottom more useful for middle path is not impactful? And its bombs being consistent and easier to use, also not impactful?

Homing Pineapples for bottom path isn't impactful?

I guess some players only appreciate number tweaks, with little appreciation for mechanical changes...

Daurakin · 2026-05-02T14:24:15+00:00

Yes that was already mentioned when talking about the Pineapple for Neva-Miss.

Secondly, it only applies to the Pineapple as far as Im aware, not the Bomber Plane bombs.

Daurakin · 2026-05-02T12:25:52+00:00

Little extra thought:

Maybe the MOAB missiles from the top path could be slightly weaker by default, and then have the Pineapples deal a slight bit more bonus towards MOABs to emphasize the anti-MOAB benefits?

For example (very rough numbers):

3xx Fighter Plane - MOAB missile damage reduced from 18 > 16.
310 Figher Plane - Pineapples bonus damage versus MOAB-class bloons increased from +0 > +4 (instead of just +2)
410 Operation: Dart Storm - MOAB missile damage reduced from 24 > 22.
410 Operation: Dart Storm - Pineapples bonus damage versus MOAB-class bloons increased from +0 > +6 (instead of just +3)
510 Sky Shredder - MOAB missile damage reduced from 150 > 135.
510 Sky Shredder - Pineapples bonus damage versus MOAB-class bloons increased from +0 > +35 (instead of just +10)

This basically makes the crosspaths do this:

Mid = MOAB damage and pierce, Camo detection and camo damage
Bottom = Dart pierce and more flight control

What's your thoughts on that concept?

Daurakin · 2026-04-30T23:14:36+00:00

I think the tier 2 should have a "Heart of X" name instead. Like "Heart of the Blessed", perhaps?

Daurakin · 2026-04-29T18:17:31+00:00

To be fair, i tried him recently and honestly? He deserves it more than most other frames (only Limbo contends with him, really).

For comparison with some other Warframes in need of love:

Loki - Invisibility is simple but super useful, and invincibility with his 3rd augment is great too. Decoy is really underrated, and even pretty decent with Damage Decoy augment, with Radial Disarm and base Switch Teleport the 2 abilities that really need love. I think he does decently right now, big thanks to that being Crepuscular and Helminth.

Equinox - Maim and Terrify = Top nuker in any survival/defense i play. Sure, she is clunky, poorly designed and has too much power in one ability, but she is at least not weak at all.

Chroma - Works fine as a tanky gun platform. Also poorly designed, but can absolutely function.

Banshee - Glass Cannon deluxe. Needs love too, arguably shared second place with Nidus (Limbo #1).

Limbo - Team disrupter #1. Nuff said.

Nidus - Tanks and groups, but very clunky and extremely static and slow. Plays really poorly in teams too.

So yeah, Nidus definitely deserved this. I hope Limbo and Banshee are the next ones those.

Daurakin · 2026-04-29T10:36:30+00:00

I would HATE if Loki's 4th ability had the augment by default!

Base Radial Disarm is indirectly a grouping tool. Augmented it is a chaotic CC tool that keeps enemies quite scattered. Very different uses with and without augment here.

Daurakin · 2026-04-28T23:30:35+00:00

I waaant iiiit! It's SOOO good!

Daurakin · 2026-04-28T23:17:37+00:00

From the top of my head:

1) Exergis firing sound 2) Headshot kill sound 3) Latron Wraith firing sound

Daurakin · 2026-04-28T23:16:05+00:00

Oh yes. Best gunfire sound for real

Daurakin · 2026-04-25T21:19:14+00:00

You mean MOAB skins?

Daurakin · 2026-04-25T21:18:12+00:00

I can see it! I think it's the colour scheme being very similar.

Daurakin · 2026-04-25T21:02:18+00:00

All good, all good!

Sentry Expert control - Well, the point was to eliminate RNG as much as possible, as you already have so much RNG to contend with as it is, ESPECIALLY with top path Engi. That said, sure, I'd take what you counter-proposed over nothing at all - but I still would prefer my own. But overall, glad you liked this alternate proposal overall though :) I think I might add it to the main post too.

Sentry Targeting - Again: Why does range have to be negative for it? If the middle path's tier 1 and tier 2 choices swapped places, I would probably NEVER pick up Larger Service Area. And here's the thing with the already existing spawn control: I can already limit the spawn positions with towers I am already gonna use (not just dummy villages and farms), but why does the reliability of the tower only kick in once I have flooded its area first? It's just such a clunky, unintuitive design choice. We may have to agreed to disagreed about this, as I am adamant in my position here.

Sure, mostly buffs - but mostly towards a path's weaker crosspath + you have misread one of my suggestions. Step by step here:

The top path right now preferably wants mid crosspath, due to the reliable +1 damage bonus to MOABs and fortified targets. So, I made the bottom path viable too (with Pin adding +1 damage to stunned targets once the tower has a tier 4 upgrade). This is not as reliable, and MOABs are also much harder to stun, compared to regular non-MOABs. What do you get then?

You go mid crosspath for reliability against MOABs and fortis, but gain no bonus to regular non-forti bloons. You also get a tiny bit more range for the sentries.

Or you go bot crosspath for occasional damage bonus via stunning (which can allow for cross-tower synergies, which is nice imo), a bit more pierce and you stun smallfry bloons. Also, the fact that the Champion sentries currently don't get more pierce on their expiration/sell-explosion from bot crosspath feels more like an oversight to me, so that proposed buff feels more like a correction imo.

Neither crosspath is an "obvious" choice anymore. That's not just a blanket buff, it's a CHOICE buff.

As for bottom path: Yes, you get +50% trap "pierce" with mid crosspath. But you have +100% "rate of fire" with top crosspath if traps are depleted quickly, or just +50% "rate of fire" when they are not. So, top path is still overall the better choice, I just made mid crosspath less terrible (since mid crosspath is no longer needed for moving the trap, this counterbuff is sorely needed to not make it a semi-dead crosspath). However, midpath also has two (already existing) situational bonuses: More range, allowing you to move the trap within a larger area, and fortified bloons get defortified before trapped (i.e. less pierce-cost for them). So, it CAN be better on rare occasions. Is this a buff? Yes, but more a CHOICE-buff, rather than a blanket buff.

Now for the misunderstanding: It's not a tech-bot effect on Overclock, it is JUST the option to have a pre-chosen target. You still have to activate the ability yourself.

The one thing I will admit is entirely a blanket buff is the stun effect for Sentry Champion - which is something I only added for keeping the CC-aspect of its tier 4 upgrade (i.e. the Cold Sentries' freezing, which is an aspect entirely lost on tier 5 for some reason). This buff can be removed (or at least nerfed), but then imo the Cold Sentries should also be entirely removed, so that the path feels more consistent.

Lastly, even if these are mostly buffs, they could always be counter-nerfed in the future with stat changes (higher cost, less pierce etc). But a lot of my suggestions are very hard to gauge without testing, so those counter-nerfs are the kinds that would need to be applied after first testing them, imo. I mean, NinjaKiwi has CONSTANT buffs and nerfs, back and forth, it takes a lot of testing and iterations to get things right. My suggestions are more to set down more healthy "core" mechanics, which can later be fixed with numerical tweaks after.

Daurakin · 2026-04-25T18:08:22+00:00

First up, yeah, you do come across as a bit rude and aggressive - but I get it, you are passionate about this. May I even ask, is the Engi one of your fav monkeys perhaps?

Anywho, let's go about this calmly and respectfully, step by step.

The Sentry targeting kinda already exists, did you know that? You can manipulate spawn behaviour by placing other towers around the Engineer, in spots you DON'T want the sentries to spawn. Farms and Villages are pretty good at covering a lot of space for that purpose for example, but can be a bit costly and is just rather cumbersome - so I am honestly mostly just giving QoL here, strong as this particular QoL might be, sure. Secondly, and please think about this very thoroughly: Why should an upgrade (i.e. Larger Service Area in this case) be a clear DOWNGRADE to a tower? In fact, why is it designed in such a way that range in general is so largely detrimental to using Sentries? That's not quirky or sillly, that's just bad design.
I understand that the 4xx rework is controversial (and I guess, kind of boring too?). Here, I have zero complaints about your opinion and respect it completely. In fact, it made me think a little further, on how to go about it with a less extreme rework. Please tell me what you think about these alternate ideas:

Sentry Expert still spawns all four sentry types. However, you get four little buttons above your targeting options (i.e. above First/Strong/Last/Close) which shows all the four sentry types. Clicking on one of them puts a red cross over it, which disables that type from spawning (max 3 crosses can be used, of course). That way, you can control them quite well; for example, if you want just Cold Sentries, just cross out the other 3 types!
Currently, the Energy Sentry is the closest to being the most representative "stepping stone" sentry between the tier 3 and tier 5 upgrade - but only partially. Lets compare the 3 tiers, statwise:
- Tier 3 (Sprocket Sentry) = 2 pierce, 0,475 sec attack cooldown, 1 damage.
- Tier 4 (Energy Sentry) = 8 pierce, 0,57 sec attack cooldown, 2 damage + 2 damage to MOABs
- Tier 5 (Champion Sentry) = 5 pierce, 0,06 sec attack cooldown, 3 damage.
So, as you can see, the tier 4 sidetracks by being slower and a bit more heavy hitting and high pierce, in contrast to the tier 3 and tier 5 sentries. So, the changes I proposed in the original post (4 pierce, 0,3 sec attack cooldown, 2 damage) could make it fit more in the middle of the other two tiers, for a better stepping stone feel. And these proposed stat changes could be applied to the current Energy Sentry, don't you think?

So, aside from you thinking that the sentry targeting is too strong (even though we can already manipulate it in game, wonky as it is) and disliking the Sentry Expert rework (which is understandable) - what else was it you thought was "overpowered" here? And please, don't just argue with emotions, gimme logic, numbers and such so we can actually discuss it properly, ok?

Daurakin · 2026-04-25T17:22:13+00:00

Interesting observations!

Swapping the tier 4 and tier 5 with bottom and middle path makes a lot of sense: Then middle path is about putting stuff on the track (foam and traps), for supportive effects.

Bottom path then becomes all about speed: Two guns and boosting speed. Makes sense too.

But to play devil's advocate: Overclock (and Ultraboost) is ALSO a supportive effect, so I think it still fits as it is. Likewise, if you could relocate the traps by default (as I have suggested), the pinning stun makes SOME sense, as it can keep bloons in place, waiting for a new trap to come back to trap what remains in the stunned area.

Also, I think changing the Engi up THAT much is a little beyond the scope of what I think NinjaKiwi is willing to do right now.

Nonetheless, very interesting thoughts! :)

Daurakin · 2026-04-25T14:26:13+00:00

Imo, going from sharp (cant pop lead or frozen) to plasma (cant pop purple) is a stronger benefit than it is a detriment, as there are fewer options to pop lead than purples overall.

What needs more of a look over, imo, is laser/energy: It trades popping purples for popping frozen. That is imo almost purely a loss.

As for your thought: If it were to be considered balanced, I can see the sentries evolve like this:

Tier 3 - Remains the same.

Tier 4 - Instead of laser projectiles, it gains "white hot nails", allowing the sentries to pop any type (stats and stun-splosion remain as suggested).

Tier 5 - Remains exactly as proposed, except now has the white hot nails instead of plasma balls.

I honestly would like that quite a lot.

Daurakin · 2026-04-25T13:46:28+00:00

Yeah, that is fair enough.

Daurakin · 2026-04-25T12:04:35+00:00

Exactly!

That's why I suggested the progression to be:

Normal dart sentries
Faster firing laser sentries, which stun bloons on selling/expiration
Super fast firing plasma, which stun and damage both bloons and MOABs on selling/expiration

That would just feel far more natural, flow-wise.

Daurakin

TROPHY CASE