028 Rapscallion [200] v1.0.3

[Blackmage]

It has been used a lot recently, as a number of us want all our races maxed, and we hit Raps for one reason or another, at about the same time.

As for sound Vs. graphic, for me, I find the graphic to be more liable to get people killed. I know it's how I killed them most often. The graphic also prevents it from being able to get out of tight spots. The sound tells you they are in the area, but just look at how hard it is for MANY people to find a vaga when someone says "they are right next to my chat symbol, right off the ground". MANY people who play here can't fathom how to find something they can't actually see, no matter how explicit of directions they are given. The graphic, however, tells you exactly where to shoot.

For Pred Vs. Raps, that's say Rush Vs. Ambush. Sure you can use both races for the other, but they take different play styles. You don't rush with this race. You stay out of the way and wait until someone comes by and pop out for the kill. Or wait around a corner and stab people who turn it.

But, overall, my only complaint about the race is that it's slower than vaga. Granted I have that same complaint about all 3 knife races, but still. The graphic is only visible from so far, so as long as you have cleared the enemy out, you're safe. This race isn't made for taking on the horde.

[ShadedFlash]

Adding my 2 cents to this after playing the rapscallion to 31.

By far, it is probably considered the HARDEST race to level. Its gruelling, especially compared to the ease of the flame pred (low level req, easy starter level bonuses, less levels to max, etc)

Problems:
The ultimate graphic showing through walls, as read, is intentional, ok..
The sound, very loud, very obvious.
The flashlight shadow, been found over +50ft away and nearly instantly every time.
Becomes stuck when around laced enemies.
Easily found without equipping necklace.
The leveling..only good at max, horridly painful to level. (Having a cooldown on ult until level23 and having to invest full 8 pts to make it 0cooldown, vs vagabond's 1pt teleporting 0cooldown ultimate)

Separately, one can tolerate these issues going against the rapscallion but it just feels all together, it really makes the class undesirable unless maxed and large enough server pop to be less noticed amongst fights..

Suggestions:
If the graphic see-thru-walls is going to remain, can the sound atleast be removed?
Or perhaps give it silent running?
Somehow fix the flashlight issue? (although it is needed for vagabond..)
It needs SOME stealthiness outside of pure chaos (which kind of defeats the point of stealthiness).
Allow it some kind of escape from laced enemies (perhaps a teleport back to spawn once per round +ability?), perhaps allow it to run invis for a short period before freezing, akin to the vagabond's ultimate, without the crazy teleport?
At the very least, perhaps tone down the leveling curve where it is only useful at max where was flame pred is easily useable with 1 pt in each skill while having a significant lvl req difference.

While many consider the flame pred more "offensive" than the "defensive" rapscallion, I think outside of the ultimate itself, flame pred has more survival skills than the rapscallion...
Flame Pred:
More HP -- flame preds can take an incredible beating especially when combined with health item, giving more time to kill its victim and survive being caught, stray ultimates and other damage.
Disarm -- obvious defensive ability
Burn -- slows, blinds and causes sound to alert others, making for an easy kill.
Invis -- hard to see, especially with its speed.

Rapscallion:
Blinking -- easily spotted unless combined with cloak, which is hard to afford when trying to level it (going back to the maxed vs lvling issue)
Invis Ultimate -- useless with laced enemies, can be seen through walls, heard all over, flashlighted, etc.

Both have speed and levitate, so leaving those out..

And finally, with the invis, to make a quick comparison between Rapscallion and Vagabond for their invis...
The reason the rapscallion's invis is vastly inferior to vagabonds is simply due to the teleporting and running while invis bonus the vagabond gains (at ult rank 1 with no cooldown, mind you) where it makes the vagabond nearly impossible to track their end location (without flashlight or bleeding, etc). If the vagabond gets noticed, it can easily teleport away while being completely invis. The rapscallion....kinda just sits there and hopes they're not seen due to lack of escape mechanism that the vagabond has.

The only saving grace of the rapscallion is the blades proc, which...quite frankly, can be completely unnecessary with well placed backstabs, leaving the entire success of the rapscallion up to the luck of its proc vs anything else.

[StarsMine]

?
I am at lv 30 with it and I have no problem getting a positiv KDR, and with no need to buy weapons its easy as hell to get money to by tomes or laces

[Blackmage]

I agree that it become tedious by the end, and I do think it has too many ranks. Also, seeing as I find Flickering shadow to be a useless, or worse than useless skill on ANY race, the only reason my race is maxed is because I wanted to max everything. I've always found it to make them MORE visible and obvious, rather than less.

Raps is more easily found due to the ultimate than I'd like, but if you are willing to learn how to use it, you can mask the noise, and avoid being seen. Being found due to your hiding place isn't so much the problem with the race as it is a problem with predictability. We've all played against campers, most of us check obvious camping spots. So you need to be more creative with races such as this. If they still find you, switch to a different race for a bit. Learn to use their laces against them. If you don't have one, they are telling you they are near. It also makes sure you don't pop out where you'll be seen quite easily as often.

As an aside, why are you having problems affording the items you need? If it's because you need too many items, forgo them for a round or two and buy them all at once. If it's because you buy tomes, just realize, they aren't nearly as useful after you've got your ult. If it's necklace, buy that for only the races you NEED to stop, such as Blood Mage, Athena and Night Elf. The rest of the races can be nice, but they can also give people a "he's next to me" warning. But, given you only need a kill or two in order to get as much XP as a tome, often buying a necklace is a better investment. You stay alive longer, you get more kills, you get more money, ect. ect.

Comparing FP to Raps:

More HP, FP is running in, will be shot at more, Raps should have the element of surprise.
Disarming, FP will only get OHK if he gets a back hit on most enemies, some won't even die then. Getting rid of their gun is good. Making someone drop the bomb is funny, but I digress.
Burn... I won't comment on this, because I've always found this to be a silly gimmick rather than anything useful
Cloak: Works best at long range, making you harder to see, so you CAN get close and kill. Does give some ambush capabilities, but suffers worse problems than Raps in this case.

Raps is the assassin. They try to get into position to back knife, or if that fails, hope for the crit. The health is moot as they don't want to be seen, and if they are seen, they are usually dead. They don't need to proc a weapon drop or burn as they are trying to proc a kill. Yeah, he gets the short end of the straw on the cloak, but as he can buy the cloak item, that's less of a problem than it needs be.

Both of the vagas' ultis are used for mobility and escape. This also means that they need their ulti maxed ASAP. Raps uses it for stealth. They don't need to use it as much, as once you break stealth, it often takes some time to get hidden, so having only a point or two in it isn't awful. These aren't the same skills, they just seem to be.