Don't Underestimate - Status Ailments - May 30, 2020

Status ailments can provide very large advantages in The Demon Rush: Legends Corrupt, as a majority of them are capable of preventing the enemy from fighting back or fighting as effectively.

Status ailments come in two flavours: status ailments that can be applied to both player and enemy, and status ailments that can be applied ONLY to the enemy.

Status ailments that apply to player and enemy

Stagger

Stagger is a status effect that prevents its target from acting for half a second (altered to one quarter second during the Mind Field Effect and one full second during the Body Field Effect).

While typically a weaker effect than Stun and Knockdown, unlike them, it has no lockout period, meaning enemies can be potentially Stagger-locked, especially during the Body Field Effect, where each Stagger lasts a full second.

Any player character can Stagger an enemy by blocking their melee basic attacks (which also allows them to deal 2x damage with basic attacks during the enemy Stagger) or by using Pushback. Enemies that can block can also inflict Stagger on your characters by blocking THEIR melee basic attacks.

Jimmy in particular has the largest number of Stagger options available -- besides Pushback (which can become large area Pushblast), his Twister, Dead Drop and Spiritcharge can gain passives to Stagger, as well. His Zipmore Dirks can apply large area Stagger to his Shurikens (projectiles which can hit a cooldown as low as 4 seconds).

Stun

Stun is a status effect that prevents its target from acting for two seconds at its base, and after Stun ends, there is a lockout period of 3 seconds where the target cannot be Stunned.

Alberto has access to the largest number of Stun options, not just in terms of afflicting of them, but in terms of making the Stun last beyond its base 2 seconds and using it to increase damage dealt. Cherry, Alberto and Jimmy all have weapons that apply Stun and/or increase Stun time for certain Body abilities (Fuddle Blade, Stun Claws and Stun Knives respectively).

Knockdown

Knockdown is a status effect that prevents its target from acting for two seconds at its base while suffering 50% more damage, and after Knockdown ends, there is a lockout period of 3 seconds where the target cannot be knocked down.

Claire has access to the most Knockdown options (some of which require passive abilities to add Knockdown), consisting of Pushback, Knockdown, Rainfall, Waterjet, Fallen Angel and Torrent -- plus having access to the Prone passive, which causes her attacks to deal 2x damage rather than the standard 50% boost. Pound and Cook also gain access to a number of Knockdown options, and Tara's max level Executioner Axe lets her Heart Attack, Kill Chop and Hatchetwirl abilities inflict Knockdown for longer than normal periods of time.

Knockback

Knockback is a status effect that launches its target away and if they collide with a wall or battle boundary, they suffer 10 base damage. Care should be taken when applying Knockback when enemies are afflicted with Stun or Knockdown, as Knockback overrides both of them. There is no lockout period for Knockback, so Knockback can be applied at any time to an enemy (assuming said enemy is not blocking, dodging or otherwise invincible).

Brooks has access to the most Knockback from his active/passive ability combinations, where active abilities include Crossguard, Home Run, Blastback, Eagle Cannon, Heavy Focus and Pandemonium -- Brooks can also learn passives to boost his base Knockback collision damage, and can apply a debuff through Pushback (Pushbreak) that causes enemies to receive more collision damage. Cherry can inflict Knockback through Pushback/Pushback Launch, Violent Gust and Tornado, while Alberto's Light Chi can deal high collision damage to Stunned enemies.

Status ailments that apply only to the enemy

Poison

Poison deals at its base 10 damage per second for 5 seconds. It ignores defense and Field Effect modifiers for damage purposes.

Claire has a few ways to inflict high damage, high duration Poison to enemies -- Toxic Gas direct to enemies, waterpools poisoned by Toxic Gas and Throwing Knife with Poison Knife equipped (and the Mind Field Effect active). Knight's Energy Flow inflicts Poison to all enemies, but a lower damage and duration than Claire can apply.

Blind

Blind causes an enemy to do nothing but face random directions and use their basic attacks for 2 seconds at its base. While it does not truly incapacitate them, they do not move from their position and they do not use abilities. While Blind cannot be re-applied while Blind is currently active on the enemy, it has no lockout period to re-apply, so with tight timing and low cooldowns on Blind abilities, enemies can be potentially Blind-locked.

Brooks' Flashbang can deal very lengthy Blind to an area from a distance, which works well with his generally long distance playstyle. With his Tactical Rifle weapon to reduce Flashbang's cooldown, Brooks can Blind-lock an enemy with just Flashbang with correct timing between Flashbangs. Knight can also gain a solid Blind Duration, and though it is not as high as Brooks' Blind duration, he has more options -- Moonlight and his Sightless weapon can all inflict Blind, with Sightless applying to all 5 of Knight's Body abilities.

Cooldown Add

Cooldown Add adds additional 3 seconds base time to any enemy's abilities on active cooldown, making it so it takes longer for enemies to get to re-use their abilities (but only if an ability is on cooldown for the enemy). With Cooldown Add applied at every opportunity, enemies can be restricted to just their normal attacks, which has a secondary benefit of preventing enemies from influencing the Field Effect.

Tara has the longest Cooldown Add, especially with her Restrict Axe equipped, where her Backhand, Skill Strike and Mindcloud can EACH add more than 10 seconds cooldown to an enemy's cooldowns. Knight's Energy Flow has a shorter overall Cooldown Add than Tara's, but also inflicts Poison.

Instant Death

Instant Death is exactly as it sounds -- the target, be it normal enemy or boss, dies instantly. However, it is not based off of random chance, but the enemy's current HP compared to their max HP. For example, if an Instant Death ability has a 25% threshold (active ability plus all relevant passives), then if the enemy's current HP is at 25% or less of their maximum HP, they will be killed by that Instant Death ability.

Tara has the widest range of Instant Death abilities, which include Decapitate, Chasm (needs passives) and Path to Hell. In particular, with the correct weapons, conditions and ability combinations, Tara's Chasm can reach a threshold as high as 80%, but it involves some preparation and teamwork to pull off effectively. Knight has an Instant Death ability with Death-Defying, which can reach as high as 25% during the Mind Field Effect.