Speculations on Next Hunter

[hushed spire]

Just wanted to connect some dots, sorry if this has been done elsewhere.

The next hunter (the third of those teased at released), was briefly shown in the Tetra trailer. Her codename in files has been 'alchemist', and we can see here she's set to be a witchy magician with potions attached by pseudo-magnets to holsters, likely to lob. We also see her wielding what looks to be a large staff or device, notably with a throttle on a perpindicular handle.

Now, combine that with another notion - a dev comment led many players to believe an upcoming hunter would have an ability derived from one of the powers of open beta, and a commonly speculated notion was that this would be the ability mortar, an overhead shot with a potentially strong range.

Given the nature of Alchemist's 'staff', it seems credible that staff is either a mortar/artillery weapon or could double as one, and have a power derived from the Mortar power in some way.

We'll find out the truth in a week and a half, but wanted to pose the possibility because it seems fun.

[pure hatch]

If her magic staff is also a gun, then I'd want to make a connection to the magic that Ghost has, since his magic is also gun. But I'm not sure if that's a connection we're supposed to be making between the two since he's clearly a military guy and she seems more the adventure captialist sort.

[cold ridge]

hopeffully a tank lol but i bet not cus tetra was suppose to be the tank but they changed her to a controller

[hushed spire]

Given her style and theme i'd bank a protector before a tank

[tranquil smelt]

Probably another broken hunter

with some unfair mechanics that makes you wanna uninstall the game

just like Wukong, Tetra

[hushed spire]

Is our issue Tetra has a dunk?

[oak goblet]

I'm pretty sure her name is Mercury. Here's my speculation. She'll have potions kind of like Deckard in HoTS. Healing & poison variants perhaps. She will be fast and elusive (quicksilver) and perhaps have some stealth mechanic. I'm guessing she can debuff too

Maybe her potions can rotate like Beebo rotates his Zeep Zeep giving her access to a variety of tools. That would be cool

[strong current]

How did the mortar work again in beta? I roughly remember using it but it was a long period between when I played the first beta and when I got into 1.0

[oak goblet]

When you held the key down, you hunter would remain stationary and the view would zoom out and an aiming circle would appear. Initially the aiming circle would be positioned directly on your position, but would gain distance the longer you held the key. Releasing the key fired the mortar. You could freely aim 360 degrees around you but the distance was determined by the length of the keypress.

[hushed spire]

So think she was the name dropped in the armory?

[shell smelt]

It took me until reading this thread to realize mortsr was removed for 1.0...

;-;

[strong current]

I think its a weirdly thin, magical rocket launcher

1. it has a huge handle and trigger with an elongated back part that can act as shoulder mount for stability

2. the trigger itself is really close to the rounded part of the weapon, which I think is actually its warhead that it dispenses

now whether it actually shoots that rounded part, or acts as a "muzzle" for a lack of better words for whatever it dispenses, its shape language is very similar to a rocket launcher

also one other thing I want to mention is that her potions are probably what it shoots as they have pointed tips at the bottom, probably to help with improving aerodynamics while in transit

the bladed parts of the rounded part are irking me though, they look like fins to a rocket

maybe its more of a grenade launcher than rocket launcher?

[hushed spire]

I think the fact she likely inherited mortar means she's meant to have arcing artillery shots, rather than direct linear rockets ala bishop

[unborn crown]

GYATT

[fickle stump]

I know it's very likely that she'll be a support
But a battle mage would be so damn cool

[tired meteor]

she's gon be all pink and glitters and also wigglybuff.

[hushed spire]

I mean, can someone with support not be a battle mage?

[fickle stump]

I guess she could do both
They did say in the devlog that she can use her potions on both enemies and teammates or somehting like that

[shell smelt]

Renata archetype maybe? Buff teammates and debuff enemies on the same spells so you have to pick which the situation calls for?

Though Renata is probably a weak example of that archetype