Preface
It's well known among our community that Jett is a severely under-performing class. My goal with this topic is to give a set of carefully thought out feedback on every skill within Jett's kit, and discuss what skills are / aren't working in their current state and why. This may, and often will be, talking about damage, but things like attack hitboxes, cast times, cooldowns, class identity, and playstyle will also come into play. That said, in most cases I'm going to avoid suggesting what specific numbers should get tweaked to, as I don't think it's a players place to be getting into such specifics. Another goal I've set for myself with this topic is to avoid as many mechanical changes as possible, opting to simply suggest the changing of numbers, in the hope that the class can be brought into a better place without having to be given as much attention as Kanna was during its revamp.
Many of my suggested changes reference a concept where Jett's current buffs create problems for its long term scaling. I routinely will suggest that problematic buffs be turned into Final Damage on account of the fact that Final Damage never creates scaling issues no matter how much of it you get. To give a short example of what I actually mean by all this, and show the importance of it, I'm going to show a bit of math here. If you do 100 damage then your first source of 100% bonus damage would make you do 200, increasing how much damage you did by a true 100%. If you get another 100% on top of that then you'd then do 300 damage, which was only a 50% overall boost. This process continues every time you get a new source of an additive stat. Now for a class like Jett that can be a major problem, as they have a ton of %damage buffs throughout their skillset, making many sources of future damage, like hyper stats or potentials, weaker. This is an even bigger problem in Reboot where you gain a ton %damage passively from leveling up, making Reboot Jett's inherently weaker than intended when compared with their regular servers counterparts.
Each job will be prefaced by a description of what it's done right / wrong, and what skills have become a part of Jett's core identity for GMS players. Following that, I will discuss was is assumed to be the intended playstyle for Jett at each job, followed by how players actually play / want to play. With all that said, I will actually jump into the my proposed changes for each of Jett's jobs now.
This is actually one of Jett's strong points right now. It showcases that Jett is a hybrid pirate that uses both its fists and a gun, and has extreme speed at its core. Space Walk in its current state is one of, if not the, most important aspects of Jett's class identity the entire time you play it.
The understood intended playstyle at this job is to mob with Starline One on large groups of mobs, or Blaster Barrage on more spread out ones / horizontal maps, and this matches the playstyle in practice.
Starline One - This skill doesn't really need touching. It's good for first job, and showcases the melee aspect of Jett's kit.
Blaster Barrage - Like Starline one, except it's showcasing Jett's mobility while attacking and the fact that it does use guns.
Space Walk - This is one of the core aspects of what makes Jett itself, and should avoid being changed.
Seasoned Hunter - This skill is acceptable as is, building into Jett's identity of high mobility. In the past, Jett actually had an even higher max movespeed, which was a hit to its identity as a class when it was removed.
Galactic Might - Having a "Booster" skill at first job is an interesting twist, and further solidifies its mobility / speed identity. No changes are needed.
Second Job
Coming into second job we begin to see some of the issues with Jett's kit arise, but we also see a skill which is absolutely core to the identity of the class. Starline 2 seems to be the intended mobbing skill, but it's hitbox is small enough that it's difficult to hit many types of mobs with it while using Space Walk. Stellar impact is currently unused by players, and doesn't have a clear cut answer for what its intended purpose is supposed to even be. Bounty Chaser is the first of many buffs on Jett which contribute to its lategame scaling problems on account of being a %damage buff. On the positive side, Vortex cross is first unlocked at this job, and has become a beloved part of Jett's core identity. Vortex Cross becomes the best option for mobbing by far if the player has enough damage to clear maps with it.
The understood intended playstyle at this job is to mob with Starline Two, but players mob with Vortex Cross in practice if they have enough damage, and they far prefer it when it's viable.
Starline 2 - Awkward to mob with due to small hit box. A larger vertical hitbox so that it hits mobs on the ground while using Space Walk feels necessary, and a larger horizontal hitbox could allow the skill to compete with Vortex Cross as the mobbing skill of choice.
Stellar Impact - In an extremely awkward place where the cast time, hitbox, and cooldown all combine to make it so that this skill is not even worth binding to a key in its current state as the skill just doesn't help players do anything better. It's mechanic of raising mobs in the air also has no purpose as that doesn't combo into anything else from Jett's kit, and has anti-synergy for dash attacks like Vortex Cross. If it's to be kept as a cooldown skill, then it needs to be given an identity as either a skill for clearing a large part of your map, or as one for increasing your damage on bosses.
Vortex Cross - Vortex Cross has become an extremely core part of what defines Jett as Jett for players in GMS. The mobility it offers while still being able to clear mobs is beloved, with the sole issue being just how little damage it actually does. With a boost to its damage from 100% more players will be able to actually mob using it at earlygame, and endgame players will have new maps become viable.
Bounty Chaser - This is the first of many skills that compound into a scaling issue for Jett, and hurt Reboot players in particular as they gain % damage from leveling up. It's bonus to crit chance is very welcome, but the 25% damage buff as well as passive STR & DEX boost would be better suited as Final Damage, as Final Damage creates zero long term problems for a class.
Gun Mastery - This skill is in an acceptable state, but lacks a secondary bonus that most other classes get with their mastery skills.
Cosmic Shield - This skill has been balanced well in its current state. The sheer amount of %HP it gives can create problems with the cap healing of Power Elixirs for some players, but that cap has recently been raised in KMS, so it can be considered a non-issue.
Third Job
In many ways third job is a repeat of second job. It compounds on the issues that began in second job, but once again gives Jett parts of its core identity. Starline Three stands out right away as what seems to be the new intended mobbing skill, and it's acceptable, but this job also gives access to an upgrade for Vortex Cross in the form of Spatial Shift. This upgrade to Vortex Cross actually enables a method of mobbing which has become a core part of Jett's identity in GMS, but currently requires a disproportionate amount of damage to take advantage of. Cosmic Upheaval is another skill that's become extremely important to Jett players, but it suffers from not knowing whether it wants to be an attack or a utility skill, and has had a long standing client crash tied to it when you attack mobs which are too far away. On the negative side of third job, Falling Stars is essentially a repeat of Stellar Impact from second job in that it has no apparent use for players. Turret Deployment is weak enough that most players gain little to no benefit from using it. Slipstream Suit creates inflation of Jett's main stat DEX, and by extension scaling issues for future sources of %DEX, while Blaster Overdrive creates them for % attack, and Clairvoyant build onto the already existing % damage scaling problem.
The understood intended playstyle at third job is to mob with a combination of Starline Three, Cosmic Upheaval, and Turret Deployment, while the playstyle in practice is to use just Starline Three / Cosmic Upheaval when weak, or Vortex Cross / Cosmic Upheaval when strong, with a vast preference for Vortex Cross.
Starline Three - Currently has problems stringing together with Vortex Cross smoothly, but otherwise functions well with no apparent changes needed.
Falling Stars - This skill mostly the from same issues as Stellar Impact. It has an awful hitbox and cast time, yet was given a cooldown, so it's not used for anything right now. A similar decision should be made here by giving it an identity as either a proper mobbing skill that will clear a large chunk of the map, or as a bossing skill you use for extra damage.
Turret Deployment - This skill is currently in a state where only the strongest of Jett players can even see minor benefit from taking the time to cast it. The damage is too low, the number of mobs it can hit is an abysmal 2, and its hitbox is too small. Beyond those issues, I would also advise changing the summoning mechanics to those of Kanna's Ghost Yaksha Boss, rather than having a 22 second cooldown on the skill.
Cosmic Upheaval - First and foremost requires a fix of the longstanding issue where using this skill on mobs which are too far away will cause the game client to crash. Other than that, this skill is already a key part of Jett's class identity. The only advisable changes to it would be to either solidify it as a mobbing skill by increasing its damage and keeping the cooldown, or solidifying it as a utility skill by removing the damage entirely but making it a 0 cooldown skill again.
Slipstreak Suit - The 45% DEX inflates Jett's stat total while making future sources of %DEX worse. This portion of the buff should be removed in favour of more final damage, as that stat never creates issues at any stage of the game.
Spatial Shift - See: Vortex Cross. There is a long standing issue with the downward variant of Spacial Shift where it prevents the use of some other skills for a long period of time after being used. Namely Vortex Cross itself and Starline Three, though it may affect even more skills than I realize.
Blaster Overdrive - The 25% attack passive should be swapped out for Final Damage, as once again this creates scaling problems for the class later on.
Clairvoyant - The Ignore Enemy Defense passive should be increased to the range of 40-50. 25% IED is not acceptable as the sole source of it from skills throughout an entire class. The 15% damage buff should also be converted to final damage to combat scaling issues.
Fourth Job
At fourth job we see the culmination of all of Jett's problems coming together once and for all. The issues here are numerous, but relatively easy to fix. Starting with the balance of Starforce Salvo, it's clear that the skill is meant to be the bossing skill for Jett, but it's been so weak that the class hasn't used it to boss for years at this point. Throughout balance patches the class has gone from using Starline One, to Starline Two, to now Planet Buster as its bossing skill in order to get the most DPS... That is not to say those skills are / were overpowered, but rather that Starforce Salvo has been shockingly weak for far too long. Beyond Starforce Salvo, Planet Buster has been made into an enjoyable skill, but it hits an abysmal maximum of 6 mobs per attack. Backup Beatdown has been made borderline pointless through the removal of access to mobility options when casting it, and the addition of a very lengthy 60 second cooldown. Starfall is in an awkward position at the moment where the hitbox and cooldown make it so the skill's not really worth using since it lacks any tailored bonuses like what other pirates get for casting Nautilus Strike. Strikeforce Showdown is designed in such a way that it causes extreme variance in Jett's DPS, as huge chunks of damage come out of a 10% proc chance on hit, and it lacks the ability to be boosted by nodestones. Invincibility once again adds to the scaling issues on Jett by being a source of 11% damage, which is worth noting is not actually a typo. On a positive note, Gravity Booster, Giga Blaster, and Jett Supreme Enhancement, have all been balanced acceptably to well.
The understood intended playstyle at fourth job is to mob with Planet Buster, Backup Beatdown, Turret Deployment, Starfall, and Cosmic Upheaval, while bossing with Starforce Salvo. In practice, both mobbing and bossing is done exclusively with Planet Buster unless players become strong enough to mob with Vortex Cross. Players desperately desire to actually be able to boss with the intended bossing skill of Starforce Salvo though.
Starforce Salvo - The number of lines this skill does can be increased dramatically even without considering it's base damage right now. It is exceptionally weak for what is supposed to be the skill the class bosses with. Special care needs to be taken with this skill to ensure both that a solo of Hard Lucid becomes possible for the Genesis Weapon questline, and that this skill does more DPS than any other skill from Jett's kit when bossing.
Backup Beatdown - Revert changes to the skill to enable it to be used with more mobility skills, and remove the CD. As an alternative, make the skill behave more like the skill Asura's Anger, from Dual Blade while maintaining it's 60 second cooldown.
Planet Buster - Increase the number of mobs hit from 6 to 8.
Hero's Will - Standard skill. No changes needed.
Starfall - Give the skill tailored benefits when on cooldown in a manner akin to Nautilus Strike of the other explorer pirates. Alternatively, make this a short duration summon which clears the map, akin to a skill like Spirit Incarnation from Shade, another pirate class.
Maple Warrior - Standard skill. No changes needed.
Gravity Booster - This buff is fine as is, but ideally would have the all-stat +25 removed in favour of 5-10% more crit rate, and be made into a party buff.
Strikeforce Showdown - The extreme variance this adds to Jett's DPS needs to be addressed in some manner. My personal suggestion is to make it a 100% chance to proc on hit when using Starforce Salvo, but give it either a 1 or 2 second cooldown. The skill is also long overdue for a boost node. I suggest making Starforce Salvo's boost node also work on this skill so that players aren't forced to redo their V-Matrix's.
Giga Blaster - The skill is acceptable as is, but converting the Crit Damage passive to Final Damage would again help solve lategame scaling issues that Jett suffers from.
Invincibility - The 11% damage of this skill should be removed due to conversion of other passives to final damage throughout the rest of this post, and the effects of the hyper skill Bionic Resilience should be merged into this one as passives.
Jett Supreme Enhancement - Increase the passive final damage boost, and remove the attack passive due to buffs throughout the rest of Jett's kit.
Hyper Skills
Jett's Hyper passives are mostly fine. Some of them don't make sense, or could be changed for the better. The active skills all need changes though. First of all, Planet Buster does not need an IED passive since it's the intended mobbing skill of the class, whereas Starforce Salvo does need an IED passive but doesn't have one. For actives, Singularity Shock currently has no real use, as it locks the player in place, doesn't help their DPS, and has a 100% crit rate passive which the class doesn't need. Rising cosmos should work with other explorers since Jett is an explorer, and Bionic Resilience should be removed entirely in favour of a new skill.
Jett's hyper skills do not change its playstyle at all.
"Planet Buster - Guardbreak" - This passive should be removed entirely in favour of a passive to increase the number of mobs hit by either 1 or 2. The mobbing skill does not need an IED passive.
"Starforce Salvo - Reinforce" - This passive should replace its 20% damage with 20% IED, and have the Reinforce in its name changed to Guardbreak. There's already another hyper passive to give this skill 20% boss damage.
Singularity Shock - This skill needs to be given a proper identity. I suggest changing it to make the player invincible when being cast, akin to other skills which cover a large portion of the screen and restrict movement.
Rising Cosmos - This skill should work with Explorers again, but is otherwise entirely standard and needs no changes.
Bionic Resilience - This skill should be removed entirely, and merged into the fourth job skill Invincibility. To replace it I suggest giving Jett a bind skill themed around gravity.
Fifth job
Jett's fifth job is notoriously lackluster. Gravity Crush is a nice mobbing skill to have up, but has bad uptime, does too little damage in bosses, and is almost impossible to coordinate the final explosion of when bossing. Allied Fury is once again a mobbing skill, not offering a DPS benefit in bosses. When it works the skill is a nice part of Jett's kit, but its targeting is poor, often missing targets right next to the player. Suborbital Strike is the best of Jett's V skills, helping in both mobbing and bossing, but suffers from targeting issues.
When bossing, Jett's fifth job doesn't really change its playstyle, but when mobbing improves quality of life considerable.
Gravity Crush - If the skill is to be focused on mobbing, then give it better uptime than 25%. If the skill is to actually be of use to Jett when bossing, then it needs to have its damage increased, and be given a secondary function that allows the player to move where it's placed since most bosses don't stand still.
Allied Fury - The targeting needs to be reworked to be more consistent, or alternatively just turned into one large hitbox that surrounds the player.
Suborbital Strike - Targeting needs to be improved to be more consistent, but is otherwise in good shape.
Conclusion
Jett suffers in many ways, but has more potential to be an extremely fun class than perhaps any other in the game. I hope that this post has highlighted just how simple it could actually be to make Jett a fully viable class in the eyes of the GMS community. Removing buffs which have actually hindered its potential in favour of Final Damage, embracing the skills which GMS has come to consider core to Jett's identity by buffing them, and making Starforce Salvo strong enough to boss with will truly go a huge distance. If you have feedback, please leave it, especially if you're a Jett player yourself, or someone that's been interested in Jett but turned away from it due to the many issues it has right now. I myself am a relatively new Jett player, so I'm no expert yet.
P.S. go easy on me for any typos here. This turned into a really long post, and I've tried to proofread it, but it's really late in my time zone. I'll address any issues that are brought up to me later on, or edit them out as I find them myself in the future.
