User blog:SlingingDart612/Why Intermediate Is Actually Good

Oh boy. This gamemode has a lot to uncover, and equally a lot to talk about.

Enemies

Let's start with the enemies.

While this gamemode starts with Normals, Speedies, and Slows, they all have boosted statistics. Normals have 5 health, Speedies have 6, and Slows have 18. Slows are also slightly faster. However, the real challenge comes at Wave 7, where a Ghoul spawns. These have 180 health, and the ability to heal 2% current health every second. While these can pose a big problem, they are usually easy to deal with. Then come Hiddens. They have 15 health, but are average enemies that can mostly be ignored.

Slimes. While they don't seem like much, they can transform into the strongest "boss enemy" on screen. For example, if there is a Ghoul, Slimes can transform into that. While Slimes only have 100 health, they are relatively fast and can pose a threat in the later waves. Shortly after this, Enrageds and Armoreds spawn. Enrageds are basically Bolts but somehow weaker (?) and Armoreds are Moltens but weaker (again?). Then come Breaker2s, which turn into Breakers upon death. Nothing too serious. Yet.

While Necromancers appear next, they aren't usually a problem, unless there's 40 of them brought to you by the Slimes. Reavers have 70 health, but only take one damage per shot. Sounds like Templar Pre-Overhaul. Followed by that are Living Experiments. They are essentially Slow Bosses but with 1,800 health. They aren't too much of a problem, unless you somehow thought Slow Bosses were hard. It also has 30% defense. Hazmats appear next, with 150 health, but they aren't a problem, either.

Hidden Bosses appear next, with 600 health, but aren't much of a problem, again. However, Failed Experiments appear on this wave. They have 2,000 health, with an above average speed, and spawn a Slime upon death. They are essentially Speedy Bosses, but with extra health. Seven waves later, Breaker4s appear, which split into three Breaker3s, which turn into one Breaker2 each, and one Breaker for each Breaker2. These create giant hordes, but are usually manageable.

Followed by that is the boss. Patient Zero has 100,000 health and has five abilities. Note that these names are all conjecture. Gymnastically Pounding is essentially a glorified stomp, Binary Fission summons Slimes, Ghouls, and Reavers, Porton Down Warfare causes blue healing pool potions to be thrown, Mustard Gas is essentially Frost Spirit's firerate debuff ability, and Index Case is rage mode. Index Case causes Patient Zero to temporarily heal mass amounts of health and become faster.

Effects

Note: In this gamemode, a lot of enemies will gain these effects variably, meaning they do not gain them on their debut.

Health Regen

Any enemy with this heals 2% current health every second. These are not rounded down on the boss health bar, resulting in bizzare health numbers such as "167.000000000000000001."

Bloated

This doubles an enemy's health.

Nimble

This doubles an enemy's speed.

Slime

An enemy with this, except Slimes, will spawn a Slime upon death.

Tank

This reduces all damage dealt to it to 1.

My Thoughts

Intermediate Mode is in between Fallen and Molten. It serves as the necessary step once filled by Golden Mode between the two. Intermediate uses several unique enemies, along with unique effects and resistances. Additionally, this gamemode has music, and it also has lore. In this lore, Patient Zero is performing horrendous experiments to find a compound that gives him unlimited power. All these factors combined lead me to believe that Intermediate isn't as bad as people think.

However, there are two major issues. Firstly, between Wave 20 and 27, there are no new enemies introduced. Secondly, the gamemode gets too easy during these waves, and in late-game in general. As such, I propose the adding of the Mechanical Gravedigger. It will appear on Wave 25, while its minions will appear on the preceding waves. The Mechanical Gravedigger would have 40,000 health. It can Stomp, Summon Minions, and Summon Tombstones. Upon killing these Tombstones, they will spawn a random enemy from Intermediate. A second would appear on Wave 30, but Patient Zero will spawn behind it and only have 80,000 health. This makes Intermediate harder, but still manageable. However, this also means Fallen would have to be changed to have more than one boss, otherwise it just doesn't make that much sense. The easier gamemode has two bosses?

All in all, Intermediate was a great addition that could use minor improvement, but is otherwise perfect.