I’ll start first - If the clone could use the same TYPE of weapon equipped by Zane, it would be nice. No, I’m not saying the same weapon.
Example: if I’m using a legendary Vladof weapon, the clone will have a standard Vladof weapon.
The problem is that the default weapon of the clone is slow and not very efficient, but following my idea, the clone will also be in synergy with the player’s COM and his relic.
Double Barrel will always be useful for the clone with its 20% weapon damage.
What do you think? Let me hear your opinions of how to make it more interesting.
DB can be useful without Boom as a glass cannon, which will help Zanes Dps, which he needs.
Allow Boom to consume up to 6 grenades as capstone.
Also, give clone a weapon slot that you can equip him with that he will deploy with.
It is tedious and takes away from flow of battle to constantly do the swap game with clone, which sadly you do bc he cant use certain guns effectively at all.
Simplest way is make him able to move. I’m tired of having to baby sitting the clone by running to a safe spot for him and swap place with him. Sometime I was chased by the enemies and create the clone for distraction but he just stand there take all the damage and die almost instantly. Gearbox can increase its damage and health as much as they want but in the end it just feel clunky to use compare to sentinel and barrier. They both have better interaction than the clone. You can carry the barrier with you and point the sentinel to attack while running. That make Zane a mobile character like his theme suppose to be.
But for the clone he’s a sitting duck that you always have to take care of him instead of focus on shooting the enemies. He need a new interaction hold action skill button (like targeting with the Almighty Ordnance augment for sentinel) to point the clone running to a target position and stay there instead of you go there and swap him to that location and put yourself in the spot you want him to get out in the first place. Also keep the interaction press action skill button to swap place like normal so you can quickly get out of danger immediately. That will make playing with him more tactical, creative and rewarding than his current stage. It also make his survivability higher with skillful tactics instead of adding more health to him.
When using Old-U augment you should also swap to the clone position instead of standing where you are. You will just going down again because the enemies still firing at you.
That basically making one thing bad so the other one could look better. People use SNTNL because it doesn’t have a health bar and giving buff (most people use SNTNL because Bad dose and movement speed/cryo damage from anointed weapons) better than the clone.
3 augment from the clone involve him taking damage while he doesn’t live long enough to make use of them. Binary system was made just to be existed, and Doppelbanger’s only usefulness is restore cooldown for the clone quicker so he can die again. By the time you done holding button for it to explode the enemies already moved away or he die before you do that. Even then the damage you can deal with weapons is far more than Doppelbanger.
Ironically playing with Digi-clone make you a sitting duck more than barrier (Under cover) because if you want him live long enough to make use of anointed weapons (add damage when swap place) you must keep him close. He’s like an anchor keeping your every move once you spawn him .You have to swap yourself into bad spot with him and drawn enemies aggo away if you want to keep him alive so you can get a few seconds benefit from anointed gears. That’s not the concept of a decoy. Its purpose should be keeping you alive, not the other way around.
Everytime I use the digi-clone I feel like he’s the real Zane and I’m the fake. Zane’s quotes never been so true (except the bullet sponge part)
With regards to Dopplebanger, I use it when I use Kill Skills and Seeing Red as a sort of Kill Switch to ensure 100% uptime of my Hit Man Kill skills.
With Bloody Harvest and Terror, I use it as a kill switch to ensure I can keep 100% uptime of Terror.
That said, I read another idea some time ago. What if we had the option to bring the clone with us instead of swapping places? While swapping places has it uses, if we could “pull” it with us, it might make linear progression and mobbing maps less tedious?
If you can control how he moves you could also bring him along through the map. Remove the swapping mechanic will make him a SNTNL with a health bar or Jack’s doppelbanger which is kind of “fire and forget” ability.
He need to be different from beastmaster’s pets or other summoning classes we have in other Borderlands games which is why I think they choose the swapping instead of having him run alongside you. He’s supposed to be the most tactical character of the 4. I think the swapping mechanic should be remained because it can really save you from dire situations or flanking enemies.
We’ve waited 7 years for this. I don’t want him to be a missed opportunity. I feel like his abilities just don’t have enough impact. Some of his skills are doing the same thing. Why use Like a ghost when you can just throw a barrier. Why put 5 points in Borrowed time when you can just use Good misfortune. Why use Quick breather when you already have a lot of ways to recharge shield already. Let him to be considered the weakest of 4 vault hunters despite being able to use 2 action skill. I know with the right build he can have some nice damages (mostly through gears and other aspect of the game rather than his skills) but compare to other vault hunters he just require a lot of gears and effort to be somewhere near the amount of DPS other vault hunters have.
For other vault hunters, character makes the guns good. For Zane, the gun makes him good. If a gun is good with Zane then it definitely better in the hands of others.
Double barrel does exactly that with 20%. I don’t see any mention how long it last and how many time it stack if any though
Zane’s main problem is a lot of his skills are doing the same thing or doing the same thing but worse and his skill mostly focus on utility that you don’t need. He also lacking severely in damage increase skills
He has a lot of skills that only trigger after a condition is met like shooting through barrier/barrier take damage/moving while shooting/ getting a kill first/ having action skill activated…Seeing red trigger all kill skill with a press of button? Well, other characters they have them as passive that work all the time while you have to invest to the final skill just to have a few seconds kill skill buff. Playing dirty give 5 shots after a kill to have a chance to fire additional projectile while Fl4k’s Two fangs give less percent but usable for any kind of guns instead of having to swap to high damage per shot weapon. Same thing with the first shot condition for Duct tape mod. It would have been acceptable atleast if they are guarantee 100% but no. I would rather have 5s to fire additional projectile and a grenade every 8s instead. By then he will just might come closer to other characters in term of dps.
At the moment, he has 6 skills involve restore health, 5 skills involve recharge shield, 4 skills involve action skill cooldown and duration (doesn’t count Almighty Ordnance and Doppelbanger for SNSTL and digi-clone specifically). Calm, Cool, Collected by itself can do all the things above which make the other skills usefulness questionable at best. A lot of skill with a lot of ways to recharge shield while with Amara only one skill Mindfulness you have greater movement speed and shield recharge and only have to take damage (which she always does), or just Shield reboot in Guardian rank
For the Digi-clone specifically, his AI and passive nature hinder his usefulness. He need to be able to move. It will open new play style and tactic for him instead of having to use some specific gears that will limit the build in order to survive.
Literally make him only use able with those specific items.
