With all the new changes, Iron Bear can finally shine in Mayhem 3, and still pull his weight in 4. However, as much fun as running around melting things with the dual explosive mini guns or the dual rocket pods is, it has started to feel somewhat monotonous to be locked into only 1 or 2 viable weapons. This post isn’t about how to buff IB’s other options though.
Let’s pretend for a moment that all of his different weapons have their niche and are on equal footing. So say we equip dual bear claws with the rapid fire augment. In our perfectly balanced world we should shred everything within 2 feet of IB, especially shields. However a lot of areas feature difficult terrain that makes getting within 2 feet of each enemy a slog, burning precious fuel. Since we are now stuck with bear claws for the rest of IB’s duration, our effectiveness is limited compared to a more generalist set up, like rockets or miniguns.
Same goes for the corrosive acid spewer. If balanced correctly it should be a very strong tool for stripping armor, but since very few areas are full of purely armored enemies I think it will always be passed up for the more generally useful options.
So as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, my proposed solution is weapon swapping for Iron Bear! Imagine how much fun it would be to eviscerate a Tink Tank with the claws, then whip around and blow an obnoxious guardian out of the sky with dual railguns. Or torch an army of varkids with the flamethrowers, than immediately switch to homing missiles as they take to the sky. I think this change would breath new life and depth into the IB experience. Because as powerful as IB is right now, he is somewhat one dimensional. Vampyr makes him invincible even in the middle of slaughter shaft M4, so all that’s left to do is point the rocket pods at enemies and keep firing. No weapon switching, no picking the right element for the job, or even picking the right weapon for the right range.
The problem with this solution is of course how to implement it. Moze has an insane number of options once augments are accounted for, so most systems I can think of would feel cumbersome for the user, especially console players. As much of a pain as implementation might be, I can’t imagine a better way to play Iron Bear than one that allows weapon switching. It would make the mech feel like a deadly multi-tool!