Lancer Concept #10 — Flashfire

Flora Flashfire, the Saboteur

Deceptive, tactical firepower with debilitating and destructive weapons.

Super Short Summary:   Flashfire is a skill-based firepower who rewards good prediction, duplicity and game sense.  Her primary is unique and powerful, but only 6 range, and her ult is a bigger, bad-ass-er version of it.  However, Flashfire can use a custom Scope as a free action (cooldown 2) to extend her range by 2, allowing for some neat plays if you position well.  She additionally has a dash that can fool enemies and a cool AoE utility move.  Edited on 2-14-18 based on feedback from the community!  Old EMP listed at the bottom with the special Jammed debuff (mini-Scramble) — I think it’s neat, but the rework tries to avoid introducing new buffs or mechanics.

Flora Flashfire, the Saboteur
Affiliation:  Hyperbotics (though could theoretically work as Omni, Helio Corps, or Hawk Aviation)
Role:  Firepower
Hit Points:  120

Lore:  A former engineer and hacker, Flashfire is now employed by Hyperbotics to sow chaos among their enemies.  She built her weapon herself (a part-rifle part-shotgun based on lasers and dubbed “the Flashcannon”) and has modded it with a series of custom scope enhancements for a variety of extra effects.  Being an engineer was fun, but putting things together is easy (for Flora!).  It’s taking them apart that’s hard…assuming, of course, that someone is trying very hard to stop you from doing so.  She loves destroying things for the challenge, and accordingly she loves mind games even more — true battles of wit and intellect.  Hyperbotics doesn’t necessarily support toying with your prey, but what they don’t know won’t hurt them, right?

Primary — Flashcannon — Blast Phase — No Cooldown
Shoot an electric blue laser and bright white conic blast in front of you.  (See “Targeter” below.)  The laser deals up to 34 direct damage to the first enemy it hits (does not pierce), and the cone deals up to 30 direct damage to all enemies hit by the cone.  An enemy can only be damaged by one or the other.  Gain 12 energy if you hit an enemy (no energy for additional targets hit).

Targeter:  Target a line (the laser) of variable length up to 6, and a 90-degree cone centered around the line with length of up to 3, inverse in length to the laser.  So, at max range you have a 6-range laser and no cone, and at minimum range you have a 3-length laser inside a 3-length cone.  Move cursor in and out to change range.  Damage for the laser starts at 34 (6-range) and decreases to 30; damage for the cone starts at 26 (0-range) and increases to 30.

Mods:
Sniper Cannon (2 points) (default) — the laser deals 3 additional damage to an enemy 6 or more units away.
Flashotgun (2 points) — increase the cone arc to 120 degrees, and the cone always deals 30 damage (regardless of length).
Sparkle (1 point) — gain an additional 2 energy PER enemy hit.
Translucent (3 points) — the laser pierces the enemy, dealing 16 damage to any additional enemies hit in the line.  (Enemies inside the cone will instead take cone damage, as this is higher.)
Blinding Flash (3 points) — hitting an adjacent enemy with the laser portion weakens the enemy next turn.

2 — Florascope (or “Scope”) — Prep Phase — Free Action — Cooldown 2
Your Flashcannon and Flash Flood range is increased by up to 2 this turn.  (This means the laser has a maximum length of 8, and the cone has a maximum length of 4.)  Gain 2 energy on use.

Mods:
Goggles (2 points) (default) — gain 10 shields this turn.
Persistent Scope (3 points) — Scope lasts an additional turn.
Penetrator (3 points) — Scoped shots have a 50% reduced cover penalty (laser and cone).
Got a Bead on Them (1 point) — any enemies hit while Scoped are Revealed until the end of the next Decision Phase.
Re-Aim (1 point) — if you do not hit an enemy on the turn you use Florascope, reduce the cooldown by 1.

3 — EMP Skyflare — Prep Phase — CD 4

In Prep Phase, strike all enemies in a target 3×3 area (within 7 range) with an EMP, weakening them until end of turn.  That 3×3 area is marked.  During Blast Phase, a “Skyflare” missile strikes the 3×3 dealing 20 damage to all enemies in it (ignores cover).  Gain 2 energy per enemy hit with the EMP and 8 energy per enemy hit with the Skyflare.

Mods:
The Sky Is Falling (2 points) (default) — the Skyflare deals an additional 10 damage to the center tile.
Advanced Targeting (2 points) — can be targeted through walls.
Tracking Device (1 point) — enemies hit by the EMP are Revealed until the end of the next Decision Phase.
Engine Tampering (2 points) — enemies hit by either the EMP or the Skyflare are slowed until end of turn.
Shield Generator (3 points) — gain 5 shields next turn per enemy hit with the EMP, and an additional 15 shields next turn if the Skyflare hits an enemy.

4 — Holoport — Dash Phase — Cooldown 5
Warp (teleport) up to 4 range.  Choose a second location within 4 range of your start position for a deceptive fake hologram of you to warp to simultaneously.  The hologram dissipates at the end of the next Decision Phase.  Gain 5 energy on use.

Notes:  The hologram looks like you in every respect (even seeming to possess buffs and a health bar); however, it cannot actually be hit so the enemy will know it is fake if they attempt to shoot it.  The hologram dissipates at the end of the next Decision Phase.  Additionally, if you are Revealed at the time you use this ability, the hologram will not be Revealed and the enemy will immediately know which is the real Flashfire.  Anyone autofollowing Flashfire when she uses this ability will move to the position she used the ability from (i.e. the autofollower does not know which is real and “cannot see” Flashfire) unless she was Revealed.  Additionally, the hologram functions like an Oz afterimage in the sense that no one can occupy its square at the end of the turn.

Additional Notes:  One suggestion from Drevoed was to have this create two 1-square smoke tiles, and warp to one of the two.  This would accomplish something similar and arguably slightly more elegantly.  However, popular demand was that the decoy hologram was really cool and fit the theme of the ability (mind games) quite well, so I have left it as is.  If the smoke version were used, Mistress of Deception, Abort! and Holographic would easily translate, but I would replace Stasis Field and Decoy Signal with the following mods:  Getaway (2 points) (default) — gain haste next turn; and Cloak ‘n’ Smoke (3 points) — create a 3×3 smoke cloud at your initial location (you still choose two 1-square smokes and warp to one of them — for extra mind games, warp somewhere inside the 3×3 cloud).

Mods:
Stasis Field (2 points) (default) — when the hologram dissipates at the end of the next Decision Phase, it slows adjacent enemies.
Decoy Signal (1 point) — if you are Revealed at the time you use this ability, your hologram also appears Revealed.
Mistress of Deception (3 points) — Choose a third location for a second hologram to warp to.  Warp range reduced to 3.
Abort! (2 points) — no longer create a hologram (basically turns this ability into a Shift).  Cooldown reduced by 1.
Holographic (1 point) — gain an additional 5 energy on use.

Ultimate — Flash Flood — Blast Phase — Requires 100 Energy

Fire a massive laser beam (thick line / rectangle up to 6 range) and light burst (cone up to 3 range) from the Flashcannon.  Flash Flood may be Scoped, and benefits from the effects of your Florascope mod.  Deal 40 damage to enemies hit by either the cone or the laser, and 50 damage to enemies hit by both.

Notes:  The targeter is a line and cone similar to the primary, but the cone is 150 degrees baseline and the line is more like the thickness of a Celeste ultimate (and it hits all targets in its path, rather than stopping at the first enemy hit).  The line has maximum length 6 and the cone has maximum length 3, same as the primary.

Mods:
Smashlight (2 points) (default) — enemies hit by the cone are slowed until end of turn.
Intensifier (2 points) — enemies 6 or more units away take an additional 10 damage.
Anchored (1 point) — gain Unstoppable this turn.
The Biggest Cannon Imaginable (3 points) — both the line and cone reach their full distance.
Sabotage (2 points) — adjacent enemies are Scrambled until the end of the next Decision Phase.

More feedback highly encouraged.  I’ll leave the sample builds up to you!

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Old EMP with Jammed:

3 — EMP — Blast Phase — Cooldown 4
Launches a 3×3 EMP centered at the target location within 6 range, dealing 20 direct damage to enemies hit (ignores cover) and Jamming enemies hit until the end of the next Decision Phase.  Jammed enemies cannot use their Prep Phase abilities that turn (like a partial Scramble).  Gain 8 energy per enemy hit.

Mods:
Nova Pulse (2 points) — deal an additional 10 damage to the center tile.
Engine Tampering (2 points) — enemies hit are slowed this turn.
Tracking Device (1 point) — enemies hit are revealed until end of the next Decision Phase.
Shield Generator (3 points) — gain 20 shields next turn if you hit an enemy.

Let’s throw in the old Ult too:

Ultimate — Skyflare — Prep Phase — Requires 100 Energy
Launch a hidden missile at a target 4×4 area within 7 range.  Next turn, during Blast Phase, the missile lands in the 4×4 area, dealing 50 damage to interior (center 2×2) targets and 40 damage to perimeter targets.

Notes:  Similar in nature to Zuki’s Big One, but the enemy cannot see where it is until the end of the next Decision Phase (when it’s too late to do anything about it).

Mods:
The Sky Is Falling (2 points) (default) — deal an additional 10 damage to central enemies.
Advanced Setup (2 points) — can be targeted through walls.
No Harm, No Fair (1 point) — gain 40 energy if you do not hit an enemy.
Smashlight (3 points) — enemies hit by the missile are slowed.  Central enemies are rooted.
Sabotage (2 points) — enemies hit are Jammed until the end of the following Decision Phase.