The eldritch storyteller, works out in a library, overguard overload - Dante!
Release date: 2024-03-27
Passive: Enemies slain by Noctua’s primary fire, alt-fire, and page fragments are scanned into the Codex upon death, with each enemy death recording 1 scan entry. Enemy types with completed Codex research become permanently debuffed with Chronicler’s Mark, which grants Dante’s equipped weapons, including the Noctua itself, and Final Verse’s Wordwarden Noctua copies an extra 50% Status Chance versus these foes.
Noctua - Open Noctua, Dante’s Exalted Tome, and unleash a tale of woe upon his enemies.
Light Verse - Dante’s vitalizing composition grants him and his allies Overguard and increases their Max Health.
Dark Verse - Dante’s composition draws blood from nearby enemies, inflicting Slash Damage upon them.
Final Verse - Dante must compose two other Verses before his Final Verse.
Acquisition: Main and component can be obtained from Rotation C of Disruption Armatus on Deimos.
I loved him at release and then kinda just stopped playing him and forgot about him. I never really managed to make a noctua build that works well, it feels kinda like hildryn’s balefire in that by the time I switch to it, I could have just used my weapons to kill stuff (and at least hildryn can use a powerful version of it during aegis storm nowadays thanks to that augment). The rest of his abilities feel kinda bland - the overguard is amazing but I didn’t really vibe with the dark verses spam for damage and the other 2 abilities are just self buffs that you maintain.
I think I’m also a bit disappointed with the verse mechanic, it’s 3 buttons for ultimately only 4 outcomes. They might as well have avoided the gimmick and made it the standard single press / button hold. Press #3 for light verse, hold #3 for Triumph. Press #4 for dark verse, hold #4 for Tragedy. Press #2 for Wordwarden, hold #2 for Pageflight. Same outcome, less button mashing 🤷♂️