Repair box useless?

With the upcoming changes to repair bolt I don't see much use for the repair box now. The bolt will heal for more, has better range, similar cooldown, same number of slots used and it removes stuns and freeze. The only advantage repair box has is it can be thrown over walls, can occasionally crit and you can stockpile them a short while. Can any veteran fixers tell me if I'm missing something?

 

Boxes also do an immediate heal to your teammates or you. A heal over time can be deadly to you after taking a huge hit. The box adds versatility in terms of healing you and your team, and you can stack a few of them for urgent situations. For short range situations, it is awesome. And as you noted, you don't need line of site to use, avoiding unnecessary exposure.

We will all be testing item combos though, as soon as we get our hands on the items of course.

 

Box can selfheal & most long term players will have a much higher leveled box than bolt.

But yeah, I'm thinking more about Bolt setups now!

 

Damn my low level bolt and lack of decent duct tape....I thought, in life, duct tape was always supposed to be there for you in dire situations, the cure-all. But it is hard to find for me in this game.

 

I kinda feel like the new fixer meta will switch to two repair bolts and ether duct tape or repair box. Most of the duct tape talents are opposite the repair box ones so it will be one or the other. Now if they could just have more fixer items show up in the shop and boxes....

 

People like me will be putting their Pulse back on and using all 3, since Bolt is changing to a 1-pointer. Bolt may heal for more at base, but there's a pretty long list of Box's advantages*, and I can't rely on Pulse for self-healing. People using double-Pulse might switch their third item, based on how good they think their Box is. I'm pretty sure people will continue to not touch Duct Tape unless they nerf Box's self-heal. But I don't want to give Rovio ideas.

*Repair Box Advantages:
- Can critical for up to triple it's value near max level (assuming base crit is 200% and both +50% crit healing buffs are additive)
- Sticks around for a minute for people to pick up
- Doesn't rely on marksmanship (even with the giant projectile size and hitboxes, firing a Bolt from mid or long range can miss)
- Can self-heal for it's full value
- Can be thrown over barriers
- Mostly only saps Crew buffs from Duct Tape
- Lower cooldown

In comparison, Bolt's Advantages:
- Higher base healing amount
- Infinite range (even all of Box's range buffs can't beat infinity)
- Cleanses freezes and stuns near max level

Aaaaaaaand Duct Tape...:
- Highest per-usage healing in the game

Sniping heals is huge which is why I still use it, but let's get real. Repair Box is still the better choice. Duct Tape remains the best option for the Fixer's own survivability, especially if he gets the Crew buffs for it. However, it's a pretty selfish choice, since the gap between Tape and Box in terms of HpS isn't that big (though, if someone could run the numbers that would be cool).

 

Post update: What's a repair box?

 

Too late to type in the math -- But I'll share the conclusion:
- Numbers based on lvl 50 rare's.
- I have included the coming buffs.
- Not counting talents that boost all the items as this has zero impact on their relative hps (health pr second).
- The talents for Tape doesn't conflict with anything important (assuming you'd run Pulse+Pulse+1p item).
- Box & Bolt has two different values, 1 is theoretical max, other is a more likely choice if you want to combine the item with double pulse.
- Guessing that Box crits for 200% base and 300% with talents, no idea if this is correct.

Tape = 87 hps.
Box (realistic) = 57 hps. [This includes the first 50% higher crit talent, which I'm not sure I would pick over 5% hp].
Box (maxed out) = 66 hps.
Bolt (realistic) = 61 hps.
Bolt (maxed out) = 69 hps.

Might not be 100% accurate, but it should be fairly close.
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I guess this leaves us with 3 decently balanced choices - Tape selfheals for significantly more, not instant though but more reliable. Box is the lowest hps item, but it can heal both yourself and others + you can drop them before damage occur. Bolt has some added utility and can heal across a Napalm, but is completely wasted if you fail to hit and it can't selfheal.

 

Thanks for the attempt! Does that factor in cooldowns?

 

Yes!

 

Sooooo it seems the devs are really pushing duct tape, but the reason I wont use it is because the whole point of being a fixer for me is to heal my team mates...The pulse nerf sucked. I have to hide and heal myself with boxes while my team mates get pummeled now.

Not very often are team mates lucky enough to be in a location that has walls i can hid behind, but are rather in the open.

Also, many ships have a big distrust in fixers since so many run in too soon or try for highest dmg and die. (this is still a big problem!!, the nerf hasnt changed this at all, bad players will be bad players!!!) I play well (hopefully not too self promoting, i have it on good word of people i fleet with), by staying behind, occasionally rushing in to save a shooter that has a good chance of winning their 1v1 if i helped out, and spamming together so they understand i am here for the long run and for pulse to be effective (since mine does 55, while most at my infamy do like 35) i need them to be together haha.

Anywho, basically, wont be changing anything because i need the self healing repair box more than ever! Plus it can heal friends in clutch situations too as said good luck fixer friends!

 

Sneaky surprise! Put a mine inside a box, enemy walks over and BOOOOM!

 

Gnu

That used to be a good tactic but now it can cause teammates to avoid boxes in case it’s a trap from unfriends. Even had 1 game where the unfriends didn’t have a fixer but my teammates who were speeders were avoiding my boxes. Watched them swerve around them instead of driving over them.