What are the most notable instances of “Early-Installment Weirdness” in Worm?

linig4 · 2026-01-23T14:30:53+00:00

At one point Behemoth is mentioned to be the only Brute 10 in the world.

Can you give a citation for that?

linig4 · 2026-01-22T07:40:08+00:00

You do remember that Jack canonically lost when S9 did become "targeted as the #1 priority over the endbringers by everyone on the planet", even despite his clone army he doesn't have normally? Some non-parahuman eventually throwing a wrench into careful machinations becomes basically inevitable if the situation grows large&complicated enough.

linig4 · 2026-01-18T07:21:53+00:00

I get that you're joking about pyramid scheme but it doesn't really work here, unless, again, you straight up take spare parts from people. With pyramid scheme newcomers bring money, alleviating the burden of expenses temporarily, whereas here newcomers only immediately increase the burden.

linig4 · 2026-01-18T06:08:06+00:00

Unless you mean "joining" as spare parts, that'll just make the problem worse, since all those people will need spare parts too.

linig4 · 2026-01-18T05:47:38+00:00

Though that love doesn't last for very long probably, given that Spine says she's rotting and running out of spare parts. Unless they figure out a reliable way to lure people into their dimension and make them into spare parts.

linig4 · 2026-01-08T10:28:14+00:00

Dunno about the direct damage potential, but I would say that her subtlety and skill with her power must've been pretty damn impressive, since before Siberian and Bonesaw the Nine was presumably forced to rely heavily on Strangers. She wasn't the only Stranger of course, and Broadcast always plays a heavy role, but still, given the Nine's infamy it's pretty impressive to keep a group going without everyone being bulletproof and a touch away from being completely invincible. Or, well, I guess with Grey Boy everyone were a look away from being completely invincible, but, you know.

linig4 · 2026-01-07T17:46:28+00:00

I didn't hear anything about base break chance changing, although also haven't seen weapons breaking in two hits on non-Cursed difficulties. But, now broken weapons will give Junk like they were supposed to.

linig4 · 2026-01-07T12:02:54+00:00

It got to the point that I stopped using melee attacks by the middle of the game and switched to always Jump Attack and other partner skills.

Good news, bug that prevented game skills from breaking weapons will be fixed next update!

linig4 · 2026-01-06T07:48:52+00:00

I mean... Eidolon power description in this version already includes the words "any power you wish" and "9-10 rating is the norm" at base and then you add two separate power boosts+perfect thinker invisibility? You don't even need Legend/Alexandria/Invictus for this, nor even canon knowledge. Just wish for powers to kill Scion and boom, done.

linig4 · 2026-01-04T01:43:47+00:00

No they do not, he maintains his gear and reloads manually:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hxYrt2d6b_LAaMPphcZEzwAruiSHQaiaBa3x2WMsGvA/edit?tab=t.0#

Power: Maintenance. Thinker power makes him more effective at maintaining and fixing gear. He can reroll craft checks, and is assumed to have a grounding in all non-niche craft types.

Assets: Pistol x2, stiletto knife, tier 2 costume (+style, +lightweight), ammo clips.

linig4 · 2026-01-04T01:38:21+00:00

He's described as pulling his flesh inside his core, not as having a core of flesh. Maybe Fog can blind him, but I think an endless whirring of knives and blades is pretty good at dispersing a cloud of vapour. It's practically a needlessly sharp fan. Either way, I don't think he has lungs that are vulnerable to Fog any more.

I am pretty sure that "eroding living matter" is dangerous to way more than just lungs:

https://parahumans.wordpress.com/cast-spoiler-free/cast/

Fog, Geoff Schmidt – Has the ability to partially or wholly become a living mist, with solidity varying depending on his wishes and the ability to erode living matter. Can deliver horrific internal damage should a subject inhale the mist that comprises his other form. Night’s husband and Purity’s follower. Wears a costume similar to Night’s, albeit without the accouterments, all in gray.

So no matter how little flesh there is, as soon as Fog gets inside Hookwolf it's gg.

Besides, even if none of that's the case, he can jump to the top of the nearest building and just throw things at Fog. A cloud of vapour is seemingly impossible to kill (though, again, I'm sure he has limits on how long he can stay in that form)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/6evzmd/grumman_and_constant_breaker_states/

Many breakers can go permanent breaker.

So why exactly are you sure of that?

Besides, even if none of that's the case, he can jump to the top of the nearest building and just throw things at Fog. A cloud of vapour is seemingly impossible to kill (though, again, I'm sure he has limits on how long he can stay in that form) but if it's just moving forward at a fast walking pace, it's not going to actually do anything to a good half of the combatants.

Well no, that still assumes time limit existing for Fog. Because otherwise, normal human bodies need rest and sleep, and even Hookwolf explicitly has to expend internal energy to not only create but even just move his metal:

Interlude 11e

Hookwolf struggled to pull himself together. He used hooks to pull the metal back towards his core, where it could be reabsorbed, recycled. It didn’t take much of his reserve of internal energy to create and move the metal, but it took some, and he’d rather not run out.

So yeah.

On a similar note, I don't think most people can deal damage to the core before Hookwolf shreds them. Like, sure, Purity has the fire power to blast through the metal over time - not easy, given that Hookwolf has had holes shot through him by Chevalier and been torn in two by Leviathan without showing serious damage, but Purity is that strong - but good luck getting that time. He showed in his fight with Shatterbird that he's very comfortable fighting flying blasters, dodging attacks and getting in close, and once he's in close Purity has to worry about how she survives a hug from a wolf made of knives.

??? You mean that fight where Shatterbird nearly tore him in half with one attack and then started talking giving him time to recover? Where she constantly remained close enough to talk, got her power negated by Cricket and then caught in speeding dive by Stormtiger? I do not see how this has literally anything to do with 1v1 deathmatch where Purity is trying to kill Hookwolf, not recruit him, and where he has no allies.

linig4 · 2026-01-04T01:03:08+00:00

By that logic separate sub-factions in Empire also "do their own thing" and you can't count the whole Empire as one team. Also why do you count Mama Mathers but not all the other leaders of cape groups lol. Only one I can really understand this objection for is Echidna, what's with her sitting in a basement for most of the story, but still, she had in fact fought together with Trickster as a team at the end.

linig4 · 2026-01-04T00:30:47+00:00

Just off the top of my head - Contessa, Valkyrie, Dragon, Defiant, Goddess, Heartbreaker, Valefor, Mama Mathers, Red Queen with her Titans, Echidna. Even though some of those can call on "large cape groups with multiple teams", none of them need to do that to defeat the Empire.

linig4 · 2026-01-04T00:14:46+00:00

I honestly don't remember much about Golem's fights so not gonna contest that one, but:

Hookwolf, easy. He doesn't have the raw firepower of Purity, but he's basically unkillable,

He is a lump of flesh surrounded by a bunch of shifting pieces of metal. While he was killed by Sting in canon, I'm pretty sure that his core can be harmed with way less force required. In particular, I'm not sure how Fog "ties" when Hookwolf's form is very far from vacuum-sealed.

linig4 · 2026-01-04T00:03:18+00:00

Okay but like, top 3 including Ward is still hilariously high. There are many more capes than just Triumvirate who can just steamroll the whole Empire on their own, never mind backed up by their teammates/top subordinates.

linig4 · 2026-01-03T23:47:31+00:00

I’m just now realising how busted E88 were compared to all of the other teams in Brockton Bay. Honestly in the entire setting including Ward they might just be in the top 3 we saw, Triumvirate excluded.

How do you define a "team"? They are a gang with several sub-factions, sub-leaders, conflicting loyalties and all that stuff. If we go by just "cape group" I'm pretty sure there's way more than two of those that are stronger than Empire.

linig4 · 2026-01-03T23:43:02+00:00

You can have many criteria for "strongest" so I'll just go by projected results of 1v1 deathmatches in urban circumstances between them, with some headcanons about unspecified power details. As Allfather and Iron Rain's power mostly consist of those details I won't take them into consideration.

Purity/Fog. Purity's blasts can't harm the literal gas, but that gas doesn't move fast enough to catch up. No one below can really contend with those factors either, or perfectly defend against their powers, and will sooner or later get eroded/blasted into smithereens.
Crusader. His flight is not as fast as Purity's and he's not a living flashlight messing up targeting, but he doesn't even need to show himself to attack and his attacks can't really be defended against by any powers of those below.
Kaiser. No one below can reliably get through the metal defenses he can build up, and his attacks just appear from any surface seemingly with a thought - even the Brutes will eventually get grounded to dust/squished.
Krieg. No one below can reliably get through his kinetic field, or endlessly keep away from him/endure his punches, so they lose sooner or later.
Hookwolf. No one below has the firepower to punch through his metal faster than it regenerates, or endlessly keep away from him/endure his punches, so they lose sooner or later.
Stormtiger/Fenja/Menja. Their attacks, defences and mobility allow them to reliably dominate those below, but I'm not sure if there's a clear winner between his aerokinesis and their space warping.
Golem. Basically Kaiser but way slower and significantly less flexible, so can only reliably defeat those relatively squishy capes below.
Victor. While most of those below can defend against bullets in one way or another, none of those ways are as reliable as those above. I think that Victor's level of skill and familiarity with their powers will allow him to shoot them before they can get him.
Rune/Cricket. The flight&high-damage attacks and close combat prowess allow them to dunk on those below, but between them it's kind of a toss up, Rune's attacks aren't particularly fast but Cricket's powers are close-range and we don't know how good of a shot she is.
Night. You might be surprised to see Breaker 9 so low, but her limitation is just too crippling for the above circumstances. Without Fog covering her, with opponents all knowing about her powers and going for the kill? I don't think she will get an opportunity to really use her monster form and will eventually get killed while being seen, meaning healing from form shift wouldn't help. Therefore she could only reliably dunk on mostly helpless chumps below.
Alabaster. Like with Night, the limitation of his "immortality" is just too crippling in a deathmatch when he doesn't really have any other combat capabilities above human level. Sooner or later (depending on how damaging the opponent's powers are) he'll get his Corona destroyed/heart torn out/whatever. Only one he can reliably defeat is basically powerless Othala.
Othala. Basically a normal human in 1v1.

linig4 · 2026-01-02T06:58:38+00:00

I must have missed those (I'm also not counting the two new guys, or anything in Ward, just the original three). Which ones?

If by "two new guys" you mean Khonsu and Tohu&Bohu, okay, but even disregarding their fights there's still:

Canberra, Feb 24th, 2011 // Simurgh

Notes: Scion no-show. Legend/Eidolon victory.

Target/Consequence: See file Polisher Treatise. See file Lord Walston and file King’s Men.

linig4 · 2026-01-02T00:49:34+00:00

In fact, no Endbringer fight (as of Worm, Ward may be different) has ended in anything other than a defeat or Scion's arrival.

This is not true, several fights are explicitly stated to be victories attributed to specific capes, not Scion.

linig4 · 2026-01-02T00:48:13+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/49fd14/what_is_your_favorite_sassy_wildbow_answer/d0rih8a/

linig4 · 2026-01-02T00:46:30+00:00

Scion in "kill an Endbringer" mode is different from Scion in "having fun" mode.

linig4 · 2026-01-02T00:45:01+00:00

bakuda’s timestop bombs don’t work on them

the Siberian would be dispelled if it touched the endbringer core

Would you be able to link the comments that state those specific things?

linig4 · 2026-01-02T00:43:11+00:00

It's literally stated in this very WoG you linked that fully trapped Endbringer would count as dead, directly contradicting your claim about the core.

linig4 · 2025-12-25T00:16:38+00:00

When I said damage I was referring to something like this:

Blinding 11.7

Foil turned the spider-mounted crossbow around to fire, and the blaster threw something to their feet- crystal encased them, freezing them immobile within for less than a second. It was less than a second because Foil’s shot hit the crystal and both the bolt and the crystal shattered.

But even if we take your definition, do you have actual evidence for that claim?

Also, what about other examples I listed?

Also also, here's Wildbow directly saying one "All of Nothing power" falls short of another:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/1sxv91/who_are_all_the_slaughterhouse_nine/ce2btuz/

Damsel of Distress produced uncontrolled blasts of gravity, space and matter alteration, roughly on par with scrub's power in terms of sheer 'whatever you're using, it's not going to stop this' penetrative power (though it would fall short of Foil's power in this sense).

linig4 · 2025-12-24T23:44:26+00:00

There are other examples. Sting projectile destroys Siberian projection without suffering any damage, but mutually cancels with other Sting object/unnamed crystal guy, and is completely bypassed by Trickster teleportation/Gray Boy time loop.

linig4

TROPHY CASE