Characters - Hayley

Class - Indie Engineer

Creates mobile devices to attack and heal

Tags -

Hayley relies very heavily on her summons, Assault Drone and Defense Drone. Her Jupiter weapon is weak, dealing 1 damage per hit at 15 hits per second, and it hits at an awkward angle, especially against flying monsters, but gains 7 Extreme per hit. Her Assault Drone deals 15 damage every 2 seconds, firing a shot in the direction it is facing and gaining Hayley 11 Extreme per hit, while her Defense Drone heals Hayley for 3 HP every 2 seconds, but only if Hayley is adjacent to it.

Hayley's Liberation Extreme can become available quite quickly, due to the high Extreme gain from both her Jupiter and her Assault Drone's attacks, as well as her Liberation Extreme's ability to end the cooldowns on both of her Drones. Liberation will triple damage and add Knockback for her Assault Drone's shots, while her Defense Drone will have triple healing and Stun nearby enemies (but only at the range it would heal Hayley). Hayley's Drones will only be under the effect of Liberation if Hayley is in play and not swapped out.

Hayley's Drones will also follow her, but cannot jump, so will fall off pits if they attempt to follow Hayley across it, something to keep in mind given the 30 second cooldown for summoning Drones. Hayley's Drones, despite floating off the ground, are still affected by low hitting and ducking attacks. Both Assault Drones and Defense Drones have 50 HP.

Hayley's Defense Drone will heal her 3 HP every 2 seconds, which is considerably solid for healing, and is even better when under the effects of Liberation (9 HP every 2 seconds). However, the Defense Drone will time its heal every 2 seconds, and if Hayley is not adjacent to the Drone when the heal would be triggered, she will need to wait for the next 2 second interval to be healed.

This does allow Hayley to step out in front of her Drone to block/Perfect Block and protect her Drones, allowing the Assault Drone to carry more of the offensive burden. Done effectively, Hayley should be able to keep her Drones alive long enough to make it to the end of their 30 second re-summoning cooldown or the next triggering of Liberation.

Due to the frequency Hayley can trigger Liberation, her Assault Drones will frequently have the ability to inflict Knockback.

Due to the frequency Hayley can trigger Liberation, her Defense Drones will frequently have the ability to inflict Stun, but only if the enemy is close enough to her Defense Drones.

Developer's Take:

Like Ashley, her other indie engineer compatriot, Hayley has an awkward style of fighting as a summoner. Unlike Ashley, who excels at hitting aerial enemies but has a difficult time against ducking ones, Hayley's low-hitting Jupiter makes it easy to hit grounded enemies but hard to hit flying or aerial ones. She also differs from Ashley in that she relies on her summons to deal damage as opposed to Ashley doing the lion's share of damage and using his own summons for support.

Like Ashley (and all summoners in general), Hayley works best using a turtling strategy. Unlike the other summoners, who tend to work better using their summons as shields to protect themselves, Hayley is better off acting as a shield for her own summons, as her Defense Drone will keep her healed while her Liberation-powered Assault Drone deals high hitscan damage and knockback.

Hayley does poorly in just about any location with pits - which typically includes most of Endless Dungeon - as her Drones, despite hovering, are not smart and will fall off pits trying to follow Hayley. Fortunately, despite the typical long cooldowns for summoning, Hayley's Liberation Extreme resets her Drone cooldown and Hayley requires only one second of Jupiter rapid-fire to fully fill her Extreme.