Corsair

Welcome back to Class Design Diary! We're finally at the very last entry for our rework of the Explorer classes. Still, it has plenty of interesting new and reworked changes, so let's get started!

Scurvy Summons 2nd Job

Corsair's Specialized Skill, learnt in the 2nd Job advancement, is Scurvy Summons, which is their original 3rd Job summon skill re-organised down a level. One of three crewmates will be summoned at random and join you in your battles.

There has been a very clear intention of making Corsairs specialise in summons throughout the history of the class's updates, and we think this is a unique niche to base our rework on. Not only will the summons get progressively stronger, they will be involved in more intricate mechanics in the later job advancements that will increase the performance of the Corsair class.

Wings

We've also improved Wings, so that when gliding down (continuously holding down the skill key), you can now move side to side much faster.

Cross Cut Blast 3rd Job

We implemented Quality-of-Life buffs wherever we saw a possibility to do so. An example would be the Cross Cut Blast skill, learnt in the 3rd Job advancement. Previously it consumed a set amount of bullets for every activation of the skill, and we removed that consumption entirely.

All Aboard 3rd Job

Something new, or rather someone new, in 3rd Job is the chance to summon a new crewman from All Aboard, the 3rd Job upgrade to Scurvy Summons. Please welcome Cutter, the Nautilus' chief mechanic (and already a familiar face if you've played a certain class).

Cutter has a unique attack compared to the rest of the crewmen as well. It's definitely a welcome bonus if you're lucky enough to roll him out of the barrel!

Oh yeah, you also get to summon two crewmen instead of just one. There's also a neat little utility baked in: your summons have a chance to deflect and absorb an abnormal status for you. Talk about best mates for life! Unfortunately, they disappear upon taking the abnormal status bullet for you...

Rapid Fire 4th Job

4th Job is where the Corsair starts to resemble a glorious navy admiral. But let's start off with the notable QoLs to get them out of the way.

Rapid Fire can now be cast while moving, just like Hurricane for Bow Masters.

Ahoy Mateys 4th Job

Your upgraded Specialized Skill, Ahoy Mateys, gives a nice boost of passive stats based on which crewmen are summoned. All crew members have also become more battle-hardened from the rough seas, and probably heavy booze, as they now have a 15% chance to not disappear when they absorb a status effect for you.

Farewell, Brain Scrambler 4th Job

We also have to say goodbye to an old friend, Brain Scrambler, also known as the "Temu Snipe". Brain Scrambler was solid single-target boss damage, except that it was a pain to use due to its short and disruptive cooldown of 5 seconds, which, coupled with holding down Rapid Fire, created a lot of input delays from key spamming. Hence, we decided to remove it to make room for new skills that synergise with Corsair's class identity.

Broadside 4th Job

And now for the Grand Fleet reveal! We are bringing back the most divisive thing ever to happen in Corsair's class history, something you'll either love us for out of nostalgia, or hate us for even thinking of bringing back to life... Introducing, the Ship.

Nah, just kidding. This ship deserves to stay buried in the past as we move on to a more unique way of expressing Corsair's class identity. Introducing, Broadside:

Broadside is a new battleship that is actually another member of the Corsair's summons. Although it's a stationary summon, it has a very respectable attack range and fires constantly at enemies. It lasts 60 seconds and has a cooldown of 60 seconds as well. However, you can have up to 2 battleships summoned simultaneously, as seen in the clip.

Quickdraw 4th Job

But how? The math doesn't check out!

A new 4th Job passive skill called Quickdraw provides the solution. Quickdraw passively grants all of Corsair's summons (yes, including Broadside itself) a chance to reduce the cooldown of Broadside and of Corsair's Full Map Attack skill, Nautilus Strike. With enough Quickdraw procs, the durations of 2 Broadside bombers can overlap. This skill alone centres the Corsair's focus on making sure her summons (any summon counts, not just her crew-mateys) are always up and actively firing at something. In training situations, having active summons will also give you a shorter cooldown interval on your FMA skill, which is a decent boost to Corsair's levelling.

Firing Orders 4th Job

Last but not least, Broadside still has one hidden trick up its sleeve... or deck, maybe.

Firing Orders is the last new skill added to Corsair's reworked kit. Basically, if you have a target with the Parrotargetting debuff, as well as an active Broadside summon in range, the skill commands the Broadside battleship to launch a devastating bombardment. By devastating, I mean 860% damage, for 6 hits. Such a strong skill does have one downside: the Broadside summon is consumed upon activating Firing Orders. Moreover, if you forget to have an enemy with the Parrotargetting debuff, hitting Firing Orders will not make Broadside launch the attack, and will still consume the Broadside summon.

The class fantasy

This is the new reworked Corsair, a class that revolves around actively upkeeping her solid cast of crewmembers and a battleship, building up to heavy burst damage phases as a reward. Nothing screams navy captain more than that!

Summons were definitely not a popular mechanic in Beta, and we don't expect them to be everyone's cup of tea at launch either, since it's such a different mechanic from just mindlessly firing at things. But we can assure you that this is a class that will blast everyone off their feet if you're willing to master its summoning rhythm.

Here's the last class fantasy post:

A legendary Pirate-captain has two constants: unyielding crewmates, and a heavily-fitted warship of massive blasting capabilities. The Corsair is a maestro of orchestration, directing its crewmates with barrels of gunpowder, bringing the devastation of naval warfare onto enemies on land, or any terrain alike.

And there you have it, the entire cast of Explorer classes reworked! Do have fun trying out our reworked classes, and always let us know how you feel about them!