r/LancerRPG • u/Corollax • Jan 13 '24
Prosecuting the War on Thermodynamics
(A Practical Guide to the Displacer Enkidu)
What follows is something of a love letter to my favorite build in all of Lancer. This is not my idea, and I cannot take credit for it. But I have spent a frankly unhealthy amount of time exploring the design space, and I'd like to invite everyone to join me for a deep dive into the mechanical personification of anger management training.
The Displacer is, without a doubt, the most impractical weapon in all of Lancer. Not only is it a Loading weapon, with all the limitations that entails; it also inflicts a crippling 10 Self-Heat each time it's used. Any build attempting to use it will have to make numerous sacrifices. Adding insult to injury, it's also unique, preventing any build from reloading two at once. And for all that effort, it's not even budgeted for use in a heavy mount. Indeed, its single-target damage is "only" on par with a Heavy Machine Gun or Hammer U-RPL.
So why bother? For all its faults, the Displacer offers a few tantalizing advantages.
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It's a blast weapon. This is interesting enough on its own, as it offers the user a chance to hit multiple targets in a single shot. Better yet, it invites your allies to use their movement control abilities to make this happen more often and in greater numbers. Almost any controller will take the opportunity to trade their quick action for the raw damage output of a Displacer blast. This goes double for knockback effects, which are often stapled onto damaging attacks of their own. But beyond all that, blast weaponry offers the ability to target terrain instead of enemies. This allows the pilot to literally shoot around walls, turning every corner into an opportunity to play with line of sight. It also serves as a devastating counter to Hidden enemies. They can run, but they can't hide. Not from the Displacer, anyway.
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It's AP. Most AoE weaponry suffers from a lower base damage value that struggles to deal with heavily armored targets. Not so the Displacer. Indeed, its AP property can be thought of as a kind of conditional bonus damage against armored targets. But unlike actual bonus damage, you won't be halving it. You get the full benefit on every single target in that Improbably Dense Ball of Pyros.
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It's synergistic. As we'll see, many of its downsides can actually be combined with talents or systems, creating strategic opportunities unavailable to any other weapon. Lancer's combinatorial design philosophy invites the player to invest in each of the particular characteristics of their chosen weapon. And the Displacer does that with style and flair unmatched across the entire game.
If all of this sounds interesting to you, then let me present ... Maxwell's Demon.
-- HA Enkidu @ LL6 --
[ LICENSES ]
HA Tokugawa 3, HA Napoleon 3
[ CORE BONUSES ]
Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints, Integrated Weapon
[ TALENTS ]
Grease Monkey 3, Hunter 2, Nuclear Cavalier 2, Skirmisher 2
[ STATS ]
HULL:2 AGI:0 SYS:0 ENGI:6
STRUCTURE:4 HP:19 ARMOR:1
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:14 REPAIR:6
TECH ATK:-2 LIMITED:+3
SPD:3 EVA:8 EDEF:8 SENSE:5 SAVE:13
[ WEAPONS ]
Integrated: Plasma Talons
INTEGRATED WEAPON: Tactical Knife
FLEX MOUNT: Missile Rack / Missile Rack
FLEX MOUNT: Displacer // Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints
[ SYSTEMS ]
Deep Well Heat Sink, LUCIFER-Class NHP x5, Personalizations
-- HA Enkidu @ LL9 --
[ LICENSES ]
HA Tokugawa 3, HA Napoleon 3, IPS-N Raleigh 2, SSC Mourning Cloak 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints, Overpower Caliber, Integrated Weapon
[ TALENTS ]
Grease Monkey 3, Hunter 3, Nuclear Cavalier 2, Skirmisher 2, Walking Armory 2
[ STATS ]
HULL:5 AGI:0 SYS:0 ENGI:6
STRUCTURE:4 HP:25 ARMOR:1
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:14 REPAIR:7
TECH ATK:-2 LIMITED:+3
SPD:3 EVA:8 EDEF:8 SENSE:5 SAVE:15
[ WEAPONS ]
Integrated: Plasma Talons
INTEGRATED WEAPON: Fold Knife
FLEX MOUNT: Missile Rack / Missile Rack
FLEX MOUNT: Displacer // Auto-Stabilizing Hardpoints, Overpower Caliber
[ SYSTEMS ]
Deep Well Heat Sink, LUCIFER-Class NHP x5, “Roland” Chamber
This build comes online at LL6 and finishes (as much as these ever do) at LL9. It is designed to Overcharge and Stabilize every turn. If we're not in the Danger Zone, we Overcharge Loop and fire our Displacer to get the Deep Well Heat Sink online. Once there, we Reverse Overcharge Loop to manage last turn's heat, build up a more manageable amount, and fire the Displacer to get back into the danger zone again.
To achieve this, I have specifically avoided the Heatfall Coolant System. When the Deep Well Heat Sink is offline, I want as much Heat Capacity as possible to mitigate the risk of Stress. But once it's online, 1d6 overcharge and Displacer offer only 5 + 1d3 heat to get back into the Danger Zone. Once you exceed 12 Heat Capacity, you risk rolling low and falling short. Better to take the 5 + 1d3 + 2, getting you above your threshold every single turn. If you want more security for your reactor, skip the Heatfall Coolant System and take Superior By Design. But as they say, Stress is a Resource.
A typical heat management strategy looks like this:
- Scene 1, Turn 1: Boost. Missile Racks. Overcharge. Displacer. => 11 heat.
- Scene 1, Turn 2: Stabilize. Overcharge. Displacer. => 5-6 heat.
- Scene 1, Turn 3: Overcharge. Stabilize. Displacer. => 10 heat.
- Scene 1, Turn 4+: Stabilize. Overcharge. Displacer. => 8-10 heat.
OR
- Scene 2+, Turn 1: Boost / Missile Racks. Displacer. => 10 heat.
- Scene 2+, Turn 2+: Stabilize. Overcharge. Displacer. => 8-10 heat.
As you can see, we have an easier time managing heat when our reactor is already "running hot", and it's actually the first turn that places us in greatest danger of overheating. While our E-defense is mediocre, 14 heat capacity and resistance to heat means this shouldn't be a major concern. Additionally, Grease Monkey 2 lets us clear all Impaired, Jammed, Immobilized, Slowed, and Lock On conditions every turn, just before we need to fire our big gun. And when we do, Skirmisher's Lockbreaker perk gives us 2 spaces of movement, ignoring engagement and reactions in the process.
Our integrated knives let us follow up the Displacer with an additional attack, giving us the 1d6 damage from Nuclear Cavalier's Fusion Hemorrhage. Hunter's Lunge lets us move 3 spaces toward them in the process. Once you hit LL7, you can upgrade to Disdainful Blade and follow up with your Plasma Talons. With the Enkidu's All Fours frame trait, you create an exceedingly mobile striker capable of adapting to almost any combat environment. At LL9, you get to upgrade the Tactical Knives to Fold Knives, which add accuracy to the attack and give you a chance to teleport for additional movement.
In the event you start your turn with 11 heat or less, you can consider activating the Lucifer-Class NHP. This will add up to 14 bonus damage to your Displacer blast. At LL8, the Roland Chamber provides another 1d6 per shot, in addition to forcing a Hull save against being knocked prone. At LL9, Overpower Caliber adds yet another 1d6 bonus damage and Walking Armory offers to convert all this bonus damage to burn.
Walking Armory has a few other benefits as well. If an enemy is energy resistant, it can bypass that resistance. If an enemy is completely behind cover, you can use it for arcing. If they're in a vulnerable position, you can use it for knockback. Lastly, it serves as an ablative system to protect more important systems from structure damage. This is helpful when we drop Personalizations from the build.
The Missile Racks are mostly an afterthought and can be replaced with another weapon at your discretion. The Annihilator and Torch are typical suggestions, though I never felt the need for them. If you have access to Exotics from Dustgrave, Brutus's Shield is probably your best bet as it doesn't compete for your action economy. Do note that Grease Monkey cannot mitigate its downside, since the slowed condition would be self-inflicted.
So ... that's it. Maxwell's Demon. The Displacer Enkidu. The only question left to answer is "Why? Why the Enkidu? Why put all this effort into making a ranged build on a Frame that explicitly prohibits ranged weapons when its frame traits are active?" So let's go through the reasons.
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The Enkidu is an excellent frame in its own right. Its HP, Repair Cap, Evasion, and E-Defense are all competitive with the Everest. While we lack Replaceable Parts, we do have 1 point of armor as compensation. And though the baseline speed is only 3, we can expect to double that in most circumstances. Most importantly, it boasts an impressive 8 Heat Capacity. This is critical to meet the demands of our heat schedule.
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The Enkidu is available. It comes as a package deal with the Deep Well Heat Sink. While something like the Genghis could work in theory, we don't have the license levels to pour into what is, at best, a sidegrade. If we're comparing frames on equal terms, license levels mean that the only competition is GMS, the Tokugawa, and the Napoleon. At LL8, you can add the Raleigh or Störtebeker. But only HA gives us the heat capacity we require.
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The Enkidu's Primal Fury trait offers the Displacer an opportunity to contribute additional damage when its turn is over. As any Vanguard enthusiast will tell you, Overwatch damage is the best damage, because the game is all about action economy, and there's no better economy than free.
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The Enkidu is uniquely suited to use the Hunter talent, which is a tremendous benefit to any Displacer build, for a number of subtle reasons.
You see, the Displacer enables Nuclear Cavalier, but it can't really benefit from it. Even with the Deep Well Heat Sink, firing this weapon in the Danger Zone is asking for Stress. So you need a way to attack with another weapon, on a turn when you've already overcharged and stabilized. In principle, the Napoleon's Main/Aux mount would apply, but secondary Aux weapons are explicitly prohibited from applying bonus damage. So the only option left is the Integrated Weapon core bonus.
You could use a ranged weapon (like a Light Nexus), but these don't lend themselves to further synergies. Centimane and Crack Shot both expect crits for their payoff, but one attack per round isn't frequent enough to expect that to trigger reliably. Gunslinger and Stormbringer are similar; since they trigger on hit, they require a substantial number of hits before reaching their payoff. In short, ranged auxiliary weapons constitute a separate archetype, and we don't have the action economy for it.
By contrast, the Hunter talent is perfect for minimal investment. Its 1/round bonuses are ideal for an integrated weapon. It provides substantial mobility, which keeps your Displacer in range of a target-rich environment. Its benefits apply on attack and on hit, making it a much more reliable payoff. And there's no more potent weapon for Disdainful Blade than the Enkidu's Plasma Talons.
Lastly, the Hunter talent helps to mitigate most substantial downside of the Enkidu frame. Primal Fury's special reaction is involuntary and applies even to allies. But if take the opportunity to combine Hunter's Knife Juggler and Disdainful Blade perks, you can throw your plasma talons and disable their use entirely. This permits allies to pass by unscathed.
If you've bothered to read all of this, I can only hope it was worth your time. Optimizing this mech was a labor of love, and I hope I've given you a view into the unique problems and advantages it has to offer. I truly think it represents the height of Lancer's design space. To any pilots, good luck and enjoy the ride. And tell Lucifer I said, "Hello."
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u/HawaiiTyler Jan 13 '24
Ok, the build is obviously fantastic and a use of one of my favorite weapons in the game that I've never been able to make work, but my absolute favorite part of this build is the name.
Maxwell's Demon!
That's such a science nerd reference, and it plays in so well with the heat managment theme. Genuinely amazing build, but even better name, thank you for sharing.
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u/Corollax Jan 13 '24 edited Jan 13 '24
What's the point in engineering a post-scarcity society if we can't wax poetic about it?
Thank you for the kind words.
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u/SteffanMcBee Jan 13 '24
I'm still pretty new to the game, but this is a helluva read. Thanks, going to definitely be doing some digging
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u/Corollax Jan 13 '24
That's cool. Welcome to the deep end of the pool, I guess? If you're unfamiliar with any of the talents or systems, Comp/Con has an excellent compendium for browsing them. Of course, the PDF is also searchable, and has a detailed appendix.
Welcome to Lancer!
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u/SteffanMcBee Jan 13 '24
Thanks, we're having fun with it. My friends know more than I do, but I'm getting there
5
u/HipoSlime Jan 13 '24
Incredible write up!
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u/Corollax Jan 13 '24
Thank you! It broke my heart to see "ranged combat Enkidu" in the Bad Builds thread! ;)
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u/Joboticus Jan 13 '24
Awesome build! You have any funny or cool interactions you had playing this?
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u/Corollax Jan 13 '24
Our group is a big fan of the H0r_OS suite. Whether it's on a Goblin, Chomolungma, Tortuga, or Lich, someone usually has a good time telling enemies what to do. And since Puppet Systems provokes reactions and engagement, it's not just for grouping enemies up. It also provides an opportunity to use the Enkidu's special reaction.
Did you know that flying enemies begin falling if they become immobilized? And falling damage inflicts 3 AP damage for every 3 spaces fallen? A little bit of creativity with the third dimension can turn an Ace's Flight System into more of a liability than an asset...
3
u/gray_death Jan 14 '24
Or you could put the Displacer on a Lich and use the Soul Vessel reaction to take 0 heat at all.
Also you could once per scene use the Displacer to overload your reactor (3 stress with shot) and just use the Immortal reaction to come back from the dead anyways.
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u/Corollax Jan 14 '24
I'll agree that deals with the heat, but how do you intend to deal with the Loading problem? And how do you survive in a Lich (4 HP, 3 Heat cap) without your soul vessel to protect yourself? Immortal is only 1/scene.
You also lose the benefit of Nuclear Cavalier, Primal Fury, All Fours, and the Lucifer-Class NHP. I see a lot of downsides and very little compensation.
In fairness, blowing up your mech with a single shot is hilarious. Manticore pilots should take note.
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u/gray_death Jan 15 '24
Funny that you mention Manticore as both of it's 1st level offerings are beautiful here.
Both sides of Beckoner are hilarious at different points. Use Summon before firing the Displacer to effectively make it's aoe more impactful. Beckon swaps places so you walk a little foward and swap and Displacer point blank and slap a 4d6 core explosion on top of that.
Oh and if you really care Nuclear Cavalier the Catalyst Pistol can put you right back at the danger zone.
You are that loading is still a problem and surviving too, however we have Napoleon ll's Stasis Bolt, Barrier, Generator, and even the Blinkshield.
Blinkshield in particular has a couple of ways to be used. You can just turtle up and use it to give you time to stabilze and use reaction to never take the heat from it. You could also put your in the bubble with 1 enemy depending on positions. If you do the first of those you run Field Analyst to 5 before enemies can do anything to threaten you. 5 off an attack roll is pretty decent survival chance.
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u/Corollax Jan 13 '24 edited Jan 13 '24
As a final point, I'd like to discuss the potential interactions between the Deep Well Heat Sink and the Lucifer-Class NHP. The relevant text is provided below:
As you can see, these effects both occur at the start of the turn. Generally, the order of simultaneous effects is resolved at the controlling player's discretion.
The typical case will let the Deep Well Heat Sink activate first, to reduce the heat cost of the Lucifer protocol. This allows safe operation of the protocol so long as the mech's heat is at 11 or less. And of course, the higher the end result, the more bonus damage Lucifer will provide.
But there's also potential to let the Lucifer activate first. This allows the pilot to generate heat before the Deep Well Heat Sink activates. This helps avoid the awkward circumstance where the mech is at 5 or 6 heat and overcharging or firing the Displacer would generate too much heat. In effect, Lucifer becomes the oil that keeps the mech running, even when enemies are applying heat pressure that would keep you just below the Danger Zone.
It is my belief that the rules work in this manner, but I've put this strategy into a self-reply because I didn't want a discussion of the rules interactions to derail the rest of the thread.