User blog:Willbachbakal/Co-Op Weapons: Tool Kit

And now, to finish my list of co-op weapons. Playing BioShock with someone else could bring a lot of fun, but also a fair deal of annoyance: if your friend dies, you'd end up having to wait until they respawn and come back to you before risking another fight. From this thought evolved the Tool Kit, a weapon designed entirely for co-op mode. This is fairly new territory for me, so whatever form of balance I propose may be drastically off the mark. Now that you've been warned, see what I have to suggest:

Description
Aesthetically the Tool Kit has no unified look: rather than being a single weapon, it's a motley collection of commonly found tools (a portable defibrillator, jumper cables, a metal sheet, etc), each with their own utility. The only ammo types with similarities would be the inventable ammo, which'd come in phials of colored liquid. I had this in mind while coming up with the upgrades: although this is still just brainstorming, by having each upgrade improve on one ammo form the Tool Kit would still be able to have cosmetic upgrades, though not for every ammo form at a time. Gameplay-wise, each ammo type is different to the others, and has no predecessor with which to compare, so you're going to have to read each of the subsections to find out which thing does what.
 * Clip Size: One round.
 * Ammo Carry Capacity: ∞/∞/3

Base Ammo

 * Defibrillator: A portable defibrillator, this'd allow you to revive your teammate (who then, as opposed to the singleplayer, wouldn't die instantly but spend some time in a "critical state" during which they could opt to die and would anyway if left alone for too long) at a portion of their health and EVE. In addition, using this on an enemy would shock them and throw them to the floor (with the exception of armored enemies, who'd simply stand still, and machines which would shut down). Instead of relying on ammo the Defibrillator could rely on a charge which'd progressively refill over time. Reviving your teammate would fully empty the Defibrillator's charge, while shocking an enemy would only partially deplete it. Quick-meleeing would shock whichever target you're pointing at.

Rare Ammo

 * Jumper Cables: Would work like a lasso of sorts. Throwing this at an enemy would cause the cables to wrap around them, rooting them to the ground and periodically shocking them, preventing them from attacking. On the other hand, you'd have to maintain the Jumper Cables on said enemy to keep them in place and after a certain amount of time they'd break free and evade all subsequent Jumper Cable attacks for a time. Quick-meleeing would lasso the enemy from up close, whether or not you just used the Jumper Cables on them just previously.
 * Barbed Wire: Firing at the target area would allow you to throw a cord of barbed wire which'd stick to the other end, forming a line. Any enemy passing through the line would receive a small portion of direct damage and would bleed over time. Could throw the cord onto the scenery, object, your teammate and other enemies (dealing no damage), and moving wouldn't break the line. Pressing the fire button again would retract the cord. Quick-meleeing would inflict the bleed effect on whichever enemy you'd be attacking.
 * Shield: Made out of a sheet of scrap metal, this'd block all bullets and physical projectiles while equipped, though only if they hit the Shield in the first place (meaning, as a side note, that by switching left- and right-handedness you'd be able to switch which side the Shield would protect you on). Pressing and holding the fire button would bring the Shield forward, blocking all shots from the front. Although you'd still take damage from melee attacks and Plasmids, if they hit your Shield their effectiveness would be reduced. Quick-meleeing would bash the enemy, interrupting their attacks and pushing them back slightly.

Inventable Ammo

 * Nitrous Oxide: Throwing this on the scenery would fill the area with laughing gas, causing enemies to occasionally stumble around (laughing) at the cost of their accuracy and forgo certain tactics such as flanking, taking cover, dodging, etc. Throwing this directly at your teammate would coat them in the stuff, causing all subsequent damage for the next few seconds to heal them for a portion of their health instead of damaging them. Throwing this at an enemy would also coat them in nitrous oxide, inflicting on them a concentrated version of the debilitating effect. Quick-meleeing would break the phial on whatever hard object you're aiming at, either releasing the gas or coating someone in it (same for every ammo type below). Colored red for ease of recognition.
 * Fear Toxin: Throwing this on the scenery would cuase the contents to fill the area, evacuating all non-machine enemies from it. While the gas is still present Splicers and armored enemies would be unable to enter the contaminated area out of fear. Coating your teammate with it would cause every enemy to stay away from them and fight defensively against them. Coating an organic or armored enemy in it would cause the victim to run away in fear, and would permanently decrease their rate of fire after they recover. Colored yellow.
 * Liquid Oxygen: Extinguishes all fires in the area, freezing anything within it instead, when thrown at the scenery. However, any shot or flame in the area after that would set the cloud of oxygen ablaze for the next few seconds, igniting anything within with an enhanced flame effect. Coating a teammate with this would extinguish any fires, render them temporarily immune to ice, and allow you to set them on fire. While on fire, your teammate would be immune to fire and would also be able to ignite anything flammable (especially enemies) upon contact or by shooting at the target. If thrown on an enemy, although you'd extinguish any flame effects you'd also freeze them for a long time, and lighting them up would drastically increase the fire's damage. Colored blue.

Upgrades

 * Adrenaline Shot: Allows you to revive your teammate with the Defibrillator at full health and EVE, granting them a momentary health regeneration factor as well as a speed and attack rate boost.
 * Superconductive Electrodes: Shocking an enemy with the Defibrillator throws them back at high speed, causing them to damage anything they hit and taking damage from every impact. Upon landing the enemy falls to the floor, as per normal. During the entire travel the enemy remains shocked. In the case of armored enemies, this simply pushes them back.
 * Improved Tools: Grants an extra ability to each rare ammo type:
 * Jumper Cables gain the Power Pulse effect. For every jolt of electricity the Jumper Cables inflict on the enemy, you regain a small portion of your EVE.
 * Barbed Wire gains the Laceration effect. Hitting a bleeding enemy with the Barbed Wire increases its potency. This can be repeated indefinitely, and constantly holding the Barbed Wire on an enemy increases the effect exponentially.
 * Shield gains the Reflection effect. Any shot or projectile, both physical and Plasmid-based, that hits your Shield is reflected in the firection of your aim, allowing you to reflect them back at another enemy. You still take damage from Plasmid attacks that pass through your Shield, though.
 * Side Tools: Allows you to equip the Jumper Cables, Barbed Wire or Shield in your Plasmid hand, thus allowing you to use them in conjunction with another weapon. Also allows you to dual-wield these ammo types (dual Shield-wielding could be interesting). If wielding two weapons at once, quick-meleeing would perform a quick-melee attack with both weapons in quick succession.
 * Adhesive Solutions: Throwing a phial of liquid (i,e, Nitrous Oxide, Fear Toxin or Liquid Oxygen) causes everyone within to be coated in the gas as if you threw it directly on them.
 * Aerosol Dispersal: Anyone, friend or foe, coated in your solutions release the gas they're affected with around them, making them a walking environmental hazard.

Alright! Thus concludes my co-op weapon section, and quite possibly all the weapon sections for my idea dump. i'd love to hear your thoughts on this one, especially since this is as new to me as it likely is to you. Also, I'd love to hear your requests for what I'll do next.

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