None of acrid's alt abilities seem that good

[analog charm]

The bubble is weird and almost counterintuitive to use. dissolving ambush seems extremely limited compared to the sludge. And the Corrosive wounds Doesn't seem that much better? It stacks but I dont think stacking has any benefits to it at all.

The bubble can't stack DOT damage on top of the sludge he spreads and you just can't melee when it's on the field as it is super easy to knock underground or out the way of the enemies. The exlposion is tiny and takes ages to detonate, an ability to manually detonate it would be cool but it just feels cumbersome when an enemy can just walk through it with ease

[analog charm]

Like. as soon as you hit something with either your primary or your utility, the DoT's higher number nulifies the bubble.

I feel like a faster bubble detonation, or some way to manaully detonate it, would make it far more functional

It feels like you should caustic sludge, throw a bubble at them and contagion and get big results. But you need to babysit the enemy around the bubble to gain the benefit of it.

Give it some synergy

[crisp plinth]

im like 80% sure corrosive wounds stacks 10% bonus damage per hit so i think that one's really good

dunno for sure though it definitely stacks

[hasty plover]

the others need buffs tho

[karmic holly]

bubble gets pretty useful with jump items and backup mags, moreso than a damage ability its just a traversal ability that does damage, like huntress blink dart (you would never use it for damage but it does damage)

alternate primary is very strong if you have a way to safely stack the debuff

the blink is a way better mobility tool with piss poor damage

all in all acrid is one of the few characters i actually feel all abilities are useful, you just gotta change up the way you play him a bit for the alts to work

[crisp plinth]

bubble gets outclassed by jump items tbh

would be better if the ability was just good on its own instead of needing to be reliant on items imo

[hasty plover]

yeah i think bubble and ambush need more mobility

at least

[fervent haven]

You should be able to hop into the bubble and control it like artificer's localized sun

honestly

[ionic quest]

ambush does a ton of damage though

[ionic quest]

but there are few of those and one of them makes it better, the gravity one

[crisp plinth]

its just not good enough

even if i get the jump items that make bubble better, at that point even bothering to cast the bubble is pointless because i can get pretty much anywhere i want with just the item and jumping normally

also that ability shouldnt rely on items to make it baseline useful when most other movement based abilities are just good by default and get even better with items

[ionic quest]

it help when ytou dont have them, the item pool is big, its hard to guarantee anything, there are no printers eithers, i agree its not the most useful but there is still usability in that

[crisp plinth]

even if i get the jump items that make bubble better, at that point even bothering to cast the bubble is pointless because i can get pretty much anywhere i want with just the item and jumping normally
also that ability shouldnt rely on items to make it baseline useful when most other movement based abilities are just good by default and get even better with items

[ionic quest]

you literally just repeted yourself, its useful for when you need a slighlty bigger jump, almost a hoppo feather bit below

thats what i said

[crisp plinth]

bubble gets outclassed by jump items tbh
would be better if the ability was just good on its own instead of needing to be reliant on items imo

[simple nova]

bubble still better than neurotoxin anyway

you are really only gonna be using shift and r as acrid anyway so bubble is just a bit of extra damage you can actually use compared to default

[umbral mortar]

default stuns, which is real nice for survival

[simple nova]

i have never used neurotoxin more than like 3 times in my entire life

im not stopping and turning around to stun enemies for 1 second and take 500 gorillion damage in return

[chilly hatch]

I came to make a similar post. 100% agree except for the primary (which I just unlocked).

The alternate skills not only fall to the original skills, they just don't mesh nor invent or a playstyle, which I think is the biggest issue. I'm ok if the skills are a slight downgrade, but it has to provide something to the gameplay. With acrid, it just feels troublesome and weak.

[hasty plover]

Yeah the bubble just feels almost useless to me

And the ambush feels like marble with a slightly shorter cooldown

[fervent haven]

marble's pretty fun to use though

but admittedly it doesn't exactly "mesh" as stated

[tender steeple]

His alt m1 is pretty good
That's pretty much it

His bubble might be better for the sole reason of lmao you never used spit anyway

I never fucking did

[hasty plover]

I like the pierce and knockback of spit

[ionic quest]

yoh ambush does nutty damage

[stray pebble]

bubble is pretty good for its ability to passively multihit, and works incredibly well with wicked ring/alien head and even backup mags, synergies acrid doesn't always have without it. I'll agree it doesn't feel very good to use, as often the big burst damage pop can miss, but it does have a proc and aoe niche over the stun niche of default X

[ionic quest]

i never complayed about the damage, i just think the bubble jump could be a bit better

[stray pebble]

i think the best option is probably to make the bubble bounce off the ground instead of clip into it?

that runs the risk of like.. removing its ability to go through walls, i guess?

but i definitely think itll make its damage way more consistent

[torpid veldt]

Yeah but the crowd control from his util is just way too good

Like you remove one of his main sources of actual dps

You’d have to rely on epidemic for pretty much all of your damage

Because anything that ambush doesnt kill is now right next to you about to completely obliterate you

[ionic quest]

any one that gets in the pudlde is poisoned and slowed for MORE compared to the sludge, i guess you poson less people but the nuddy damage 100% is worth, its not flat out better than the other option, but its pretty powerful for bosses for example

i think the option is good

i would argue neither is flat out better than the other

[torpid veldt]

Well the pure damage isnt the whole point, its just the consistency

[ionic quest]

and i rarely ever had not killed the something i throwed the puddle, also you have to remember the ambush stuns, however i do play mainly on drizzle and rainstorm

[ionic quest]

its a trade off, also if you cant set up the ambush thats your skill issue

[ionic quest]

also whats even you're point there, hes a melee character he would be face to face REGARDLESS

[torpid veldt]

U dont really use his melee that much late game

Because if you get hit you just die instantly lol

[ionic quest]

late game doesnt fucking amtter its a whole different game

thats is the same for every melee character

thats no point at all

[torpid veldt]

U usually just goo a bunch of space and then epidemic then repeat

[torpid veldt]

Not really

Merc and drifter have rhe abilities to maintain melee range

[ionic quest]

every melee character will have to find other ways hit things

[torpid veldt]

Drifter has insane hitstun, free items, scrap cube, an execute, etc, and merc has insane movement and tons of invincibility options

Acrid just doesnt have the movement to maintain melee range even midgame, he just doesnt have the kit for that

At least on monsoon

[ionic quest]

acrid has hitstun in his basic attack too, and yes the execute on drifter is good, but im not sure what you mean by invencibility options there

[torpid veldt]

Eviscerate makes him invincible, parry when timed correctly, default util

And yeah just because he has some hitstun in his basic attack doesnt mean anything, an overloading elite still shreds him if he gets too close

Like its fine for proccing poison on bosses

But for swarms going in is a death sentence

[ionic quest]

Oh thought you were talking about drifter there, of course that's like the whole appel or merc

[torpid veldt]

Ambush also requires you to tp after placing puddle, you cant replace it with free movement like with default util

[ionic quest]

Also them you're just shitting on his kit as a whole this discussion has no point them

[torpid veldt]

I mean i like ambush, dont get me wrong, but i dont see the reason to use it over default tbh

[torpid veldt]

Im shitting on his kit when its used for going in to melee

He’s not built for that

He has a more hit and run playstyle that excels at dealing consistent damage to hordes

[ionic quest]

What do you mean by this?? The cooldown between them is similar, you just have to throw and run them

Still good damage

[torpid veldt]

Doesnt give you as much flexibility, like i cant change my mind on the fly with ambush, once i throw it out i am committed to rhe puddle until i tp

[ionic quest]

Throw, use it and the rest of the abilities and run

[torpid veldt]

If theres other enemies but theres still ones on my main puddle, i have to risk dying to one or the other

[ionic quest]

Them you mistltimed it!

They are stunned much more frequent in the puddle compared to sludge just be smart

[torpid veldt]

I would not like my survival to be up to placing a precise stun to hit all of the enemies on one puddle so i dont die instantly when i can literallt just not use that and just place sludge behind me and run with the movement speed

Honestly i like the idea of a high damage puddle on a projectile but i honestly think rhe ambush idea just doesnt do anything for it

If it did more damage, was slightly bigger and didnt have the ambush thing im locked into i would like it a lot more

[ionic quest]

You can't even use the movement speed unless you're backtracking either way?

Neither option is flat out better

[chilly hatch]

Agreed, this is a big issue for me

[stray pebble]

this is the intended downside for the massive mobility increase

[fervent haven]

yeah but the fact that you already had to have been near / at the area kind of sucks, i feel people want either more "I can get up to that ledge for safety against the horde" or "I can run over there to escape the hord for a moment's reprise"

it is good for escape but again, you can't back out of it or change it's location after use / doesn't provide great in battle mobility

[ionic quest]

i would argue that in mobility terms they its just a bit better but the damage is definely the highlight, and stun of course

sure you can damage a group better with the default utility but the damage you can do to a small/close group is more than enough for the ability to be viable, and for me worth using most of the time

[past oracle]

I'd like bubble more if it could pass through walls but not floors, or if there were a degree of letting us shoot it shorter or further depending on the length of the button press (at least far enough that I can't accidentally hit it immediately with a melee attack after deploying it)

Ambush is fine, it has high burst movement utility and damage when we port to it, I do wish we had a way to cancel it without teleporting though, mainly because it can sometimes take unexpected trajectories

[cunning path]

yeah theres no reason for it to be in floors, i like it because its more total damage and very good in crowds, the stalling it lets you do outclasses items since its technically like 20 little doublejumps