Ability discussion: The warp trinity

WARP

Warp is an ability for Scientist which is an interesting but really cool ability. This ability allows Scientist to teleport around, which makes traversing maps quite easily with decent distance per use of Warp. These Warps stack up to 2 in the GW games, and 3 in BFN. This ability does not directly add to the support power of the Scientist, but it can allow him to get out of difficult fights or to get to allies much easier for healing. If you are healing an ally and you use a Warp, you will actually continue to heal that ally if they are still within range when the Warp ends. While this ability does not directly assist the supportive nature of Scientist, I love this ability. Being able to Warp around where needed for extra mobility can really be useful in specific situations, I feel that in the GW series, the delay before the Warp comes out is quite high and if it was reduced slightly, that would be cool, although in BFN, this is completely different, being able to warp instantly. I would not mind if they added a small delay. This ability can be useful in so many situations and having stacks of them with not too long of a cooldown allows you to make use of them more easily.

GW Alternate Abilities

Energy Warp: This ability changes the way that Warp works, instead of teleporting, you become invincible for a short time, similar to Arcane Enigma or Electric Slide's Outta Fight ability in BFN. This ability only stacks to up to a single use at any given time, so this should be used wisely. This ability can actually be used to set off traps without risk of being vanquished and to avoid incoming damage. I have really enjoyed using this alternate ability before, it can make specific objectives much easier (such as Wall-Nut Hills) and gives Scientist a chance to become invulnerable to damage if needed, which is not normally something Scientist can do.

Cheesy Warp: This ability is only available in GW. It works in a very similar way to the regular Warp, although when you come out of the Warp, it creates an explosion that deals 30 damage to surrounding enemies, which can be used to get closer to weaken enemies before you fight them, however this ability only stacks up to a single use at once. It has a slightly reduced cooldown though. Now, I have not ever tried out this ability as it was only available in the first GW game, although this actually sounds like a really interesting ability. You can use this to somewhat safely engage enemies, deal some additional damage to them, and then finish them with your weapons. Cool synergy.

BFN Alternate Upgrades

Wormhole (2 upgrade points): Your Warps travel much further, which makes your Warps much more effective for getting around, including if you need to retreat from a battle, need to get up to enemies, or get to allies to heal them. I genuinely think this upgrade is actually incredible, because it doubles your distance traveled per Warp or something like that, and because Warps are instant and stack up to 3 in this game, it just makes this upgrade even better. Not only that, but the upgrade is cheap. This upgrade should cost more because of how good it is, really good upgrade.

Materalize (2 upgrade points): Whenever you use a Warp, you gain half of your maximum ammo clip, which is adapted on which primary weapon you have (Goo or Steam Blaster). This can be helpful, you can use your Warps to keep your ammo supply up during a battle and to avoid having to reload. If you run out of ammo, you can simply use a Warp and you gain half your ammo back instantly. This Warp or Warps can also be used to confuse your enemy by changing your location, possibly giving you free attacks before your enemy can react. This upgrade seems to be useful from my standards, as well as cheap, but this is especially prevelant if you like to go offensive with Scientist, do consider that it will be less useful if you prefer to heal your allies more. This becomes even better because you have 3 quick use warps.

Conclusion

The Warp is an interesting ability, but without a doubt a really useful one that can be used in many situations. While it cannot deal damage by default, it is really useful for other reasons including getting up to and confusing enemies, catching up to allies or retreating in bad situations. It is in an interesting state right now, with it potentially being able to benefit with buffs in the GW series and it sort of needing nerfs in BFN, there you go. I find this ability to be awesome, simply because it is an ability that I get a lot of use out of for many reasons.