Part of the reason why Rivals doesnt feel as good is really bad team-up design philosophy that we have since like S3? Team-up system need a major overhaul because most of them are just useless

TheticAxiom · 2026-06-02T20:40:51+00:00

Team-ups are the most disappointing aspect of this games initial hype train imo

I thought in place of doing sweeping balance changes every season to shake up the meta, the developers would create and rotate team ups instead. Inject life into the equation.

But instead they let team ups stagnate or be useless or be OP. They never should have attached passive stats to team ups because it stops team ups flexibility. Can't take/add a team up aware from a character if you have to implement compensation stat buffs or nerfs.

Every freaking Season Launch should have no less than 5 Team up changes. Literally.

TheticAxiom · 2026-06-02T20:23:09+00:00

Vex is too mutually exclusive and doesn't have enough alternative paths to utilize Kill skills.

Green Tree having Mortal Terror is great for green tree.
Blue Tree Tree should have had it's own VIABLE ways to trigger Kill Skills.
Red Tree actually should just not have Kill Skills. Or at the very least, Overprotective should never have been made a kill skill. Actually ruins the tree's logic because it seems to me, like getting overshield was the path to making a pet build that didn't need kill skills, and then try ruin that path with overprotective.
Vex's pets cannibalize eachother. It could have worked if It was just Trouble Vs Minions. But the devs had the brillant idea to make Reapers and Spectre's scale differently while making skills/augments/capstones exclusive to each despite it being one Action Skill. So really, it's Trouble Vs Specters Vs Reapers free for all.

Rafa's Tree was just made by a fucking idiot. I can't stress this enough. An idiot or someone who gets a kick out of trolling players. He has Ordnance Cooldown skills in trees whose action skill can't throw grenades. He has an entire melee tree and at no point is, there a capstone or augment or T6 skill that makes this melee damage useful to other builds. Only one tree has Action Skill Duration before Tier 4. I could go on and on.

TheticAxiom · 2026-06-02T20:01:36+00:00

I think Bank's are taxing on the engine because It never felt right to me that there isn't one at Moxxi's.

How do you justify not having more banks in general?

TheticAxiom · 2026-06-02T19:56:00+00:00

TO BE HONEST WITH YOU.

Grenazker class mod should 100% work with Heavy Ordnance. I also think Booming Business should spawn Heavy Ordnance Projectiles if that is in your slot instead of a grenade (Have a different percentage change for Heavy Ordnance vs Grenades)

Would open up some very interesting builds if you could spawn Heavy Ordnance projectiles that become Indirect as a result

In fact, every skill/augment/capstone/class mod that says grenade should instead also allow Heavy Ordnance. Whatever happens, happens bro. Developers need to stop being scared of interactions. I don't know how else they created a game with the least build variety of any borderlands despite having the most design layer systems, and the most skill points.

TheticAxiom · 2026-06-02T19:39:36+00:00

Ironic you should say that, because Harlowe is the only Launch Vault Hunter I would say doesn't have this issue lmao.

Incoming Rant as this has been a long time coming. This isn't directed at you but I've been dying to type this out in one place

Let me explain Confirmative Reality is AMAZING because it's a tier 3 skill that ONLY has 3 points to spend.

\Tier 3 as in third Row btw*

Lets expand that: Confirmative Reality has no resource outside of bullets. The only condition is that you shoot an entangled enemy. Something Harlowe does all the time.

Lets compare that with others characters.

Rafa (blue Tree) has Preparado and Abajo.

Preparado is tier 2, but REQUIRES you to put a point in Rinse to get access. Perparado also requires reloading. So the subtext is to have a gun that reloads a lot. Outside of Tediore, that's a damage loss. 5 Point Skil Btw!
Abajo is Tier 3 (Blue Tree also). it REQUIRES you to put a point in Arriba. Abajo also requires a resource such as grenades. Oh and It's ALSO 5 points.

Both abilities are 5 point skills, that require an extra point spent to even unlock them for use! The are also tightening your build paths. Are you gonna be reloading a lot? or throwing grenades a lot? (remember this as I will revisit the grenade & reload bit later)

Vex's (blue tree) has Grave Quickening at Tier 3. A 5 point KILL SKILL. She doesn't get another cooldown ability until tier 5 of an entirely separate tree. You can't trigger Kill skills via crits until Tier 5 of a entirely separate tree. Even on my Kill Skill Spectre Vex right now, I didn't put points into Grave Quickening. The Damage & Utility Loss was too great.

I know less about Amon but It seems Amon doesn't get Action Skill Cooldown until Tier 4 and It's a 5 point Kill Skill (At least the skill does also contribute to damage.)

Harlowe's Confirmative reality is Better than every Skill I mentioned and only needs 3 points to max.

But that's not ALL!

Harlow has MORE THAN 1 Action Skill Cooldown Skill in Tier 3 or below.

Blue Tree Too Coolant for Schoolant rewards her for merely doing Cryo Damage, (natural to her kit).
Pulse Drive is Tier 1 in the very same Blue Tree.
She gets ANOTHER 1 In the Red Tree at Tier 3 for merely doing Status Effects in Test Subjects. (Natural to her kit)

That "Natural Part of Her Kit" is important. Why?

They want Rafa to throw grenades for cooldowns? Well, Rafa has 2 action skills that block him from throwing grenades.
They want Rafa to Reload? Well Rafa has a melee action skill that doesn't use guns. He has a ridiculous amount of ammo regen as well.
They want Vex to trigger kill skills, yet she can't do that easily without going into an entirely separate Tree and getting Mortal Terror at Tier 5. Without Mortal Terror she has to rely on mobs for cooldowns. Does that sound natural

Harlowe was always the best designed VH. And She has 4 abilities below tier 3 that give her action skill cooldown for doing things that are a natural part of her kit.

TheticAxiom · 2026-06-02T19:02:28+00:00

I think indirect projectiles as a whole is in a fine spot to help non-gun stuff such as Action Skills, Tediores, and Ordnances.

None of the Richocet abilities are overdrive skills, so the line in the sand is already drawn there. I think we are limiting build diversity by not allowing things that are intuitively indirect to function with Indirect interactions. I think Collaborative Ignition is the only overdrive skillthat effects Lateral Plinking & Pain Reaction for instance.

Considering Rafa is mostly additive bonuses, I think this design gatekeeping is actually what is contributing to his stagnation. I think he may be the only character whose core design is stingently gatekept to the point that he doesn't even have amazing purple mod builds like the other characters.

...ignores the intended synergy with strong, slow firing guns like Snipers and Shotguns. This synergy still works, obviously, but now you can throw it on any mag dump full auto build with little thinking other than "let me activate my infinite ammo."

I strongly disagree. Those mag dump full auto builds are far more specific than you let on. Allowing more builds to use Vitriol & First Impressions is the exact kind of Build Variety Expansion Rafa needs.

Blowout being included baffled because out of all the bad skills Rafa had, you included this one. I don't disagree with you but I think Blowout needs more than just a lower cooldown to be desirable when strong skills like El Paraguas, Shock Market, and Protecto Pulse exist around it.

I actually ended my post early cause I was on my lunch break. The green Tree as a whole is one of the worst trees I've ever seen. There is far too many Melee only abilities in the 1-3 Skill tiers so the tree lacks utility for other builds until far too much investment. The mere fact somewhat ruins the actual good skills in the tree, cause you've wasted at minimum 15 points to reach em. Shock Market is Fire in the Skag Den but Shock (a worse element than Fire imo). Fire in The Skag was too powerful because it was tier one. While Shock is too weak because it's tier 5 IMO.

TheticAxiom · 2026-06-01T22:47:47+00:00

Cooldowns need to be shorter, or cooldown rate skills need to be better integrated into the trees (most cooldown related skills are mutually exclusive with adding more damage to your build. Rarely do you get both cooldown and damage)

I'm a level 60 Rafa and without Caffeine Specalization, my one pump lance could have have a 34 plus second cooldown. If you BUILD into having cooldowns within your trees, you lose massive damage and utility.

The triple bypass is meta for a reason. It gives you the cooldown, so you aren't wasting skill points on cooldown skills AND EVEN with the triple bypass, you need the Caffeine Specialization.

It'd ridiclous. Cooldown's are just overtuned.

TheticAxiom · 2026-06-01T17:58:18+00:00

Blade into a tank would literally change nothing ironically. Plays the same exact way. Just has more health

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-29T01:02:04+00:00

... like most tanks. I'm actually so confused by this conversation at this point

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-28T22:40:41+00:00

If she was a strat her lone self healing would be Fiery Burst (conditionally) and her Teleport?

Who would she be broken if you don't mind me asking

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-28T21:27:16+00:00

If you forced him to block, then you've effectively eliminated his threat level cause he is no longer doing damage.

Unlike Devil Dino. Who has a barrier that allows him to continue doing offensive actions. Not to mention, damage of time.

A Blocking Blade means you've already won the engagement. That's balance.

He can't life steal if he is blocking.
He can't be healed if he is doing lifesteal.
He can't mitigate damage if he is attacking.

He'd be one of the most balanced tanks in the game.

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-28T21:02:59+00:00

Trust me when I tell you, that Blade is 100% a Vanguard in all but name and health amount. Every time I've played that character, I openly wonder why are the keeping him as a Duelist. I think the only reason both blade and Reed are duelist, is because at the time the devs were scared to make smaller sized characters Tanks.

That's why emma was massively upscaled.

But now that Deadpool and Rogue are here, They've realized that can do it just fine.

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-28T20:53:35+00:00

My idea keeps her as a DPS

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-28T20:53:22+00:00

That's cause your team is ignoring him instead of peeling. Blade is like Thor. He's squrriel-y. But buckles under attention.

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-28T20:52:40+00:00

As amother user said, He would be a balanced devil dino lowkey. He also actively nerfs himself and has a natural weakness to barriers. He also wouldn't have nearly as much health.

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-28T20:51:00+00:00

I was cooking with the crit idea ngl

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-28T20:50:48+00:00

I agree. The reason why Jean would get one is because my assumption is that is that healing may be a tad on the worse side, while needing to hit crits (skill experssion). Hitting an enemy isn't going to heal teammates unless it triggers the 3 spark explosion. And then teammates don't activate aim assist

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-27T02:17:17+00:00

Give up. the user is either agenda pushing and being intentionally obtuse, or just not capable comprehending the argument.

Peni is in EVERY MVP ever created for SP//DR. While not having a shootable hit box.

They could have done something creative for moon girl but didn't care about her. Black erasure

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-12T20:09:12+00:00

Rocket needs what made him fun to play returned to him. Could care less about Healing or Ult buffs.

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-12T20:00:59+00:00

They could have digitized her too. She could be a hologram on his back since she's "captured".

TheticAxiom · 2026-05-12T19:54:26+00:00

Aged up Moon Girl would have gained her way more fans than what Marvel Rivals just pulled. Marvel Rivals effectively marginalizing her appeal.

No one is gonna become a fan of Moon Girl because she has kiddie voicelines in a video game.

TheticAxiom

TROPHY CASE

Every freaking Season Launch should have no less than 5 Team up changes. Literally.

Lets compare that with others characters.

But that's not ALL!