Gamorrean Guard TouchUp:
GG is not supposed to be a good character, and I don't want to make him one, but like many old toons exactly how bad he is has gotten worse by comparison. When he was released, he wasn't any good, but he wasn't horrible and the main problems with him were first that he had no synergy with much of anyone, and second that his utility depended too much on the buff Retribution, which was always easy to dispel or prevent and has only gotten easier.
Since then there are more scoundrel-synergy leaders out there, but they also created BH contracts and payouts making it very difficult to justify putting him in a BH lineup. The smugglers aren't too bad, since Qi'ra is probably the best non-BH scoundrel leader and her leadership isn't limited to smugglers, but the prepared mechanic leaves out GG in much the same way as BH contracts/payouts.
So let's see what we can do to allow him to be used in TW/GAC squads (at the very least in cleanup squads) without making him more powerful relative to the meta than he was when he was released. In other words, if he was a 4/10 toon when he was released, but so many better characters have been released since then that he's now 2/10, we want to get him back up to a 4/10 ranking, not making him more desirable than when he was released.
First, the general stats: we'll leave these unchanged.
Second, Abiilities:
Hack & Slash (Basic): Unchanged.
Cowardly Bodyguard (Formerly "Muscle In") (Special, Cool Down: 4): Recover 20% protection. If protection is at 100% after protection recovery, dispel all debuffs on GG and gain +20% Protection UP and Taunt for 1 turn. Automatically lose taunt if protection reaches zero.
Level 2: +5% protection recovery, +10% heal.
Level 3: +5% protection recovery, +10% Protection UP.
Level 4: +5% protection recovery, +5% Protection UP, + 5% heal.
Level 5: +1 turn duration for Taunt and Protection UP.
Level 6: +5% protection recovery, +5% Protection UP, + 5% heal.
Level 7: +10% protection recovery, +10% Protection UP, + 5% heal.
Level 8/Omega: +1 turn duration for Taunt and ProtectionUP, also gain HealthStealUP for 2 turns when this Taunt expires.
Final ability wording at Level 8: Heal 25% health and recover 50% protection. If protection is at 100% after recovery, then dispel all debuffs on GG and gain +50% Protection UP and Taunt for 3 turns. This taunt automatically expires if protection reaches zero. When this Taunt expires, Gamorrean Guard gains HealthStealUP for 2 turns.
Punch Through (Special, Cool Down: 3): Unchanged.
New Ability: Corrupted Loyalty (Unique): Gamorrean Guard has +50% Defense Penetration while stealthed, a tenacity of 0% versus Fear, and gains SpeedDOWN for one turn whenever health falls below 100% (cannot be prevented, evaded or resisted). At the start of each encounter, GG gains certain Factions of its squad leader, including any and all racial, government, or organizational factions, plus Bounty Hunter and Smuggler factions, if present. These temporary factions last until the end of the encounter and are not interrupted by defeat or when revived.
Level 2: GG gains +15% Counter Chance, doubled if Taunting.
Level 3: GG gains +15% Critical Damage when dealing damage to any enemy with Expose or Damage Over Time.
Level 4: +10% Counter Chance
Level 5: +50% Defense Penetration.
Level 6: +15% Crit Damage
Level 7: +10% Counter Chance
Level 8: +20% Crit Damage, Gain Stealth for two turns whenever health falls below 100%.
Final ability wording at level 8: Gamorrean Guard has +35% CounterChance, doubled if taunting, +50% Critical Damage against any enemy with Expose or Damage Over Time, +100% Defense Penetration while stealthed, and 0% tenacity versus any attempt to inflict Fear on GG. When GG's health falls below 100%, GG gains Stealth for 2 turns and Speed DOWN for 1 turn (cannot be prevented, evaded or resisted). At the start of each encounter, GG gains certain Factions of its squad leader, including any and all racial, government, or organizational factions, plus Bounty Hunter and Smuggler factions, if present. These temporary factions last until the end of the encounter and are not interrupted by defeat or when revived.
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It is now harder to get GG to taunt since it is no longer automatic but depends on protection hitting 100% after recovery. (To get GG to taunt more than once in a battle, you'll probably have to pair him with a leader that provides protection recovery, which fits his cowardly nature.) GG also no longer receives Retribution (which would give a +100 Counter Chance). But there is still a counter chance (35% when not taunting, 70% when taunting) and crit damage is boosted against enemies with DoTs while all damage is effectively boosted while stealthed (because of Defense Penetration).
Because of his mercenary nature, GG has learned to take orders from and synergize with anyone who pays his salary. This is not intended to grant tags like "attacker", but is intended to grant tags like "Empire", "Galactic Republic", "Tusken", or anyone else who pays his fee. Note, however that this temporary faction tag lasts only until the end of the encounter. In multi-stage battles, it's possible for the leader to die while the squad continues into the next encounter. In such situations, the leadership ability always continues to function as it has in past encounters in the same battle, but if an encounter starts with no leader present, GG will not gain temporary factions and thus won't (necessarily) benefit from the leadership ability. This is just the fundamental (if low) risk you take when you hire someone as faithless as a Gamorrean Guard.
Finally, I really wanted to add an auto-taunt for 1 turn at the beginning of any battle where GG's leader is a Scoundrel, but I thought that auto-taunt would make him more desirable as a character now than he was when released, and the point of this touch-up is to make him just as good now as he was when released, no worse but also no better. Thus I could not justify the auto-taunt, even when restricted to Scoundrel-led squads.
As with all my proposed characters and proposed reworks, I try hard to fit personality into the stats. Gamorrean Guard is a bully: when he's at full health and all puffed up, he's willing to Taunt and aggressively counter-attack. When he starts getting hurt, he hides and losing that first bit of health actively causes him enough second thoughts that he slows down. Like most bullies, he is a coward at heart and thus has 0% tenacity vs. Fear.
Since then there are more scoundrel-synergy leaders out there, but they also created BH contracts and payouts making it very difficult to justify putting him in a BH lineup. The smugglers aren't too bad, since Qi'ra is probably the best non-BH scoundrel leader and her leadership isn't limited to smugglers, but the prepared mechanic leaves out GG in much the same way as BH contracts/payouts.
So let's see what we can do to allow him to be used in TW/GAC squads (at the very least in cleanup squads) without making him more powerful relative to the meta than he was when he was released. In other words, if he was a 4/10 toon when he was released, but so many better characters have been released since then that he's now 2/10, we want to get him back up to a 4/10 ranking, not making him more desirable than when he was released.
First, the general stats: we'll leave these unchanged.
Second, Abiilities:
Hack & Slash (Basic): Unchanged.
Cowardly Bodyguard (Formerly "Muscle In") (Special, Cool Down: 4): Recover 20% protection. If protection is at 100% after protection recovery, dispel all debuffs on GG and gain +20% Protection UP and Taunt for 1 turn. Automatically lose taunt if protection reaches zero.
Level 2: +5% protection recovery, +10% heal.
Level 3: +5% protection recovery, +10% Protection UP.
Level 4: +5% protection recovery, +5% Protection UP, + 5% heal.
Level 5: +1 turn duration for Taunt and Protection UP.
Level 6: +5% protection recovery, +5% Protection UP, + 5% heal.
Level 7: +10% protection recovery, +10% Protection UP, + 5% heal.
Level 8/Omega: +1 turn duration for Taunt and ProtectionUP, also gain HealthStealUP for 2 turns when this Taunt expires.
Final ability wording at Level 8: Heal 25% health and recover 50% protection. If protection is at 100% after recovery, then dispel all debuffs on GG and gain +50% Protection UP and Taunt for 3 turns. This taunt automatically expires if protection reaches zero. When this Taunt expires, Gamorrean Guard gains HealthStealUP for 2 turns.
Punch Through (Special, Cool Down: 3): Unchanged.
New Ability: Corrupted Loyalty (Unique): Gamorrean Guard has +50% Defense Penetration while stealthed, a tenacity of 0% versus Fear, and gains SpeedDOWN for one turn whenever health falls below 100% (cannot be prevented, evaded or resisted). At the start of each encounter, GG gains certain Factions of its squad leader, including any and all racial, government, or organizational factions, plus Bounty Hunter and Smuggler factions, if present. These temporary factions last until the end of the encounter and are not interrupted by defeat or when revived.
Level 2: GG gains +15% Counter Chance, doubled if Taunting.
Level 3: GG gains +15% Critical Damage when dealing damage to any enemy with Expose or Damage Over Time.
Level 4: +10% Counter Chance
Level 5: +50% Defense Penetration.
Level 6: +15% Crit Damage
Level 7: +10% Counter Chance
Level 8: +20% Crit Damage, Gain Stealth for two turns whenever health falls below 100%.
Final ability wording at level 8: Gamorrean Guard has +35% CounterChance, doubled if taunting, +50% Critical Damage against any enemy with Expose or Damage Over Time, +100% Defense Penetration while stealthed, and 0% tenacity versus any attempt to inflict Fear on GG. When GG's health falls below 100%, GG gains Stealth for 2 turns and Speed DOWN for 1 turn (cannot be prevented, evaded or resisted). At the start of each encounter, GG gains certain Factions of its squad leader, including any and all racial, government, or organizational factions, plus Bounty Hunter and Smuggler factions, if present. These temporary factions last until the end of the encounter and are not interrupted by defeat or when revived.
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It is now harder to get GG to taunt since it is no longer automatic but depends on protection hitting 100% after recovery. (To get GG to taunt more than once in a battle, you'll probably have to pair him with a leader that provides protection recovery, which fits his cowardly nature.) GG also no longer receives Retribution (which would give a +100 Counter Chance). But there is still a counter chance (35% when not taunting, 70% when taunting) and crit damage is boosted against enemies with DoTs while all damage is effectively boosted while stealthed (because of Defense Penetration).
Because of his mercenary nature, GG has learned to take orders from and synergize with anyone who pays his salary. This is not intended to grant tags like "attacker", but is intended to grant tags like "Empire", "Galactic Republic", "Tusken", or anyone else who pays his fee. Note, however that this temporary faction tag lasts only until the end of the encounter. In multi-stage battles, it's possible for the leader to die while the squad continues into the next encounter. In such situations, the leadership ability always continues to function as it has in past encounters in the same battle, but if an encounter starts with no leader present, GG will not gain temporary factions and thus won't (necessarily) benefit from the leadership ability. This is just the fundamental (if low) risk you take when you hire someone as faithless as a Gamorrean Guard.
Finally, I really wanted to add an auto-taunt for 1 turn at the beginning of any battle where GG's leader is a Scoundrel, but I thought that auto-taunt would make him more desirable as a character now than he was when released, and the point of this touch-up is to make him just as good now as he was when released, no worse but also no better. Thus I could not justify the auto-taunt, even when restricted to Scoundrel-led squads.
As with all my proposed characters and proposed reworks, I try hard to fit personality into the stats. Gamorrean Guard is a bully: when he's at full health and all puffed up, he's willing to Taunt and aggressively counter-attack. When he starts getting hurt, he hides and losing that first bit of health actively causes him enough second thoughts that he slows down. Like most bullies, he is a coward at heart and thus has 0% tenacity vs. Fear.
