Robot's Deconstruction Hour: Taskmaster
Aug 3, 2016 0:59:34 GMT
Seya, Nocturne, and 2 more like this
Post by Robot on Aug 3, 2016 0:59:34 GMT
Overview: Taskmaster is the sixth of the Battling Style classes in PTU's 1.05 edition. The class focuses on a mechanic called 'hardened', where your trainer through a dogging regiment of training, makes their team hard. This is done by giving them injuries, and the whole class gives a sort of 'danger mario' feel to the game. Many strong passive bonuses at the cost of maximum health, and a few eye for an eye effects give the class it's overall feel. For some reason there is a large stigma attached to it, where people seem to think every taskmaster needs to be an edgy toolbox that wears nothing but black, cuts themselves, and listens to Numb on loop while saltily writing reviews on tabletop classes on the internet.
Pros
-Strong passive bonuses that scale the more injuries you have.
-Ability to fight more and more dangerously, the lower health value you are at.
-Does the fighting at negative hp values thing better then Enduring Soul does.
-Isn't bothered by the Heavily Injured status.
-Ultimate revengekill maneuver.
Cons
-Very risk/reward oriented gameplay. Going as far as you can, puts Pokemon very close to death because of how the injury system works. The trade off for it is incredible deeper into the class, not taking automatic damage from any sources, and resisting damage two steps with 10 DR at Master Intimidate. Taskmaster pairs very well with Ace Trainer, Enduring Soul, or Juggler as a result, getting Pokemon out of difficult spots or sparing them the final injury that would just end them.
-A lot of stigma associated with the class in the community, plenty of ways to theme the class, many people's views default to 'animal abuse'.
Base Feature: Sets up Taskmaster's basic mechanic. First two tiers of bonuses are on par with your standard Training features. Early in the class you are better off sticking to the 1-3 injuries bonuses. On hitting Expert Intimidate and getting Press On!, going past five injuries you are only losing 20% of your Maximum Hp instead of 50%. How much benefit you take from this feature scales on how willing you are to toe a very dangerous line, it can get really obscene. Taskmaster does battling style right. The entire class revolves around it's core mechanic.
Quick Healing: Remove up to three injuries, and heal two ticks of hp per injury removed this way. Injuries removed this way count towards the limit naturally removed for the day. Compared to the other injury removal features found class to class, Quick Healing actually has legitimate use in a lot of environs, where it actually restores hitpoints in addition to recovering injuries.
Savage Strike: For 2 TP Teach a Pokemon the Cruelty ability. Adds an injury to the target after you land an attack. You want to wait to activate Cruelty until the target has one injury before cruelty, which allows you to cause the target to lose a few extra hitpoints or more importantly, prevent your target from healing from any sources till they are switched out or take a breather.
Strike of the Whip: If you are willing to use Press, may as well take this feature to go with it. Allows more control over the number of injuries on your Pokemon, application of an Order while using press, or cure of a volatile status. With Volatile statii not being as destructive to action economy with the new playtest, that option isn't as great as the others.
Pain Resistance: Provides so much DR it may as well be a hit negation, depending on tick values and number of injuries. Assuming 5 injuries and a tick value of 8 average, it's 40 DR against one attack, for a single AP. Extremely strong, and a hilarious option when paired with Deadly Gambit.
Press On!: Lets your Hardened Pokemon remain conscious to -30% Hp at Expert, and doubles all of your hardened bonuses at 0 Hp. Very strong, and necessary with how injuries lower your maximum health. Should always be taken in any build heavy on Taskmaster.
Desperate Strike: Allows Cruelty to be used 3 times per scene with a single Pokemon, and uses your Pokemon's injury count instead of your opponent's. Gets more mileage out of Savage Strike, allows injury stacking on your enemies, and even more healing prevention. Devs hate healing, why not let a player actively deny it too?
Deadly Gambit: Allows you, when struck by a melee attack, to retaliate in kind. Both attacks become critical hits, and the Taskmaster should generally use this ability alongside Pain Resistance to make this a favorable trade. It can also be triggered receiving weaker moves to counter with whatever brute force melee attack you have stowed away.
Pros
-Strong passive bonuses that scale the more injuries you have.
-Ability to fight more and more dangerously, the lower health value you are at.
-Does the fighting at negative hp values thing better then Enduring Soul does.
-Isn't bothered by the Heavily Injured status.
-Ultimate revengekill maneuver.
Cons
-Very risk/reward oriented gameplay. Going as far as you can, puts Pokemon very close to death because of how the injury system works. The trade off for it is incredible deeper into the class, not taking automatic damage from any sources, and resisting damage two steps with 10 DR at Master Intimidate. Taskmaster pairs very well with Ace Trainer, Enduring Soul, or Juggler as a result, getting Pokemon out of difficult spots or sparing them the final injury that would just end them.
-A lot of stigma associated with the class in the community, plenty of ways to theme the class, many people's views default to 'animal abuse'.
Base Feature: Sets up Taskmaster's basic mechanic. First two tiers of bonuses are on par with your standard Training features. Early in the class you are better off sticking to the 1-3 injuries bonuses. On hitting Expert Intimidate and getting Press On!, going past five injuries you are only losing 20% of your Maximum Hp instead of 50%. How much benefit you take from this feature scales on how willing you are to toe a very dangerous line, it can get really obscene. Taskmaster does battling style right. The entire class revolves around it's core mechanic.
Quick Healing: Remove up to three injuries, and heal two ticks of hp per injury removed this way. Injuries removed this way count towards the limit naturally removed for the day. Compared to the other injury removal features found class to class, Quick Healing actually has legitimate use in a lot of environs, where it actually restores hitpoints in addition to recovering injuries.
Savage Strike: For 2 TP Teach a Pokemon the Cruelty ability. Adds an injury to the target after you land an attack. You want to wait to activate Cruelty until the target has one injury before cruelty, which allows you to cause the target to lose a few extra hitpoints or more importantly, prevent your target from healing from any sources till they are switched out or take a breather.
Strike of the Whip: If you are willing to use Press, may as well take this feature to go with it. Allows more control over the number of injuries on your Pokemon, application of an Order while using press, or cure of a volatile status. With Volatile statii not being as destructive to action economy with the new playtest, that option isn't as great as the others.
Pain Resistance: Provides so much DR it may as well be a hit negation, depending on tick values and number of injuries. Assuming 5 injuries and a tick value of 8 average, it's 40 DR against one attack, for a single AP. Extremely strong, and a hilarious option when paired with Deadly Gambit.
Press On!: Lets your Hardened Pokemon remain conscious to -30% Hp at Expert, and doubles all of your hardened bonuses at 0 Hp. Very strong, and necessary with how injuries lower your maximum health. Should always be taken in any build heavy on Taskmaster.
Desperate Strike: Allows Cruelty to be used 3 times per scene with a single Pokemon, and uses your Pokemon's injury count instead of your opponent's. Gets more mileage out of Savage Strike, allows injury stacking on your enemies, and even more healing prevention. Devs hate healing, why not let a player actively deny it too?
Deadly Gambit: Allows you, when struck by a melee attack, to retaliate in kind. Both attacks become critical hits, and the Taskmaster should generally use this ability alongside Pain Resistance to make this a favorable trade. It can also be triggered receiving weaker moves to counter with whatever brute force melee attack you have stowed away.