Video: Hover Staff - July 2, 2015

A larger than expected amount of progress for the decorations progress has been made... but I keep adding more to the list to do! Here's hoping I hit that August deadline for Gachduine. For now, I will present more information on a weapon new to the Skylight series, the Hover Staff (though hints at a technology with its purpose was mentioned in Skylight 2).

Hover Staves are weak melee weapons, dealing a base damage of Attack x 0.25 (which makes it weaker than the Shield). However, the Hover Staff alone implements a new set of mechanics to Skylight, in the form of hover/airborne battling.

When an enemy is hit by a Hover Staff, they end up being lifted into the air for 5 seconds and cannot move during this time. Every hit from a Hover Staff (does not have to be the original attacker) lifts the enemy higher in the air and adds an additional 5 seconds of hover time. Once the enemy reaches a certain height, Hover Staff users use their weapons to lift themselves up to hit the enemy even higher. Non-Hover Staff melee attackers cannot attack the hovering enemy and melee enemies cannot attack them (though ranged characters can attack if horizontal range checks out, hovering melee foes can only attack Hover Staff users that leap up to hit them).

The importance of lifting an enemy higher and higher into the air affects the Hover Staff's damage modifier. An enemy hovering a little off the ground may make the formula Attack x 0.25 (x 3) = Attack x 0.75, but an enemy lifted VERY high in the air (say for a damage mod of 15) could give the Hover Staff formula Attack x 0.25 x 15 = Attack x 3.75. A team of Hover Staff users can gain considerable damage boosts working together, but a team such as this would likely need to all specialize in Hover Staves and ensure that they aren't preventing their non-Hover Staff melee allies from entering the fray.

Hover Staff abilities include Unarmed Combo Modifier gains when airborne, extending hover time when the user attacks, an 80% damage reduction when airborne and two active abilities: one that has unlimited range and lifts an enemy 3x higher into the air than a standard Hover Staff attack (with an additional 10 seconds hover time) and an unlimited use "finisher" that slams the enemy to the ground, dealing exponential damage the higher the enemy is.

Hover Staff Weapon Type: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIYA2gx8YIU