Killer idea - The Swarm

I had this great idea today. So functionally you're actually playing as the queen bee, but, represented as a Swarm. Bonus points if it was actually made and released on April Fool's, as a patch number #.4.1, and available to everyone for free for April 1st only, available to buy normal after. Because it's such a meme of course it would have to be an April Fool's joke XD

The Swarm was one of your regular aggressive bee hives, some wondered if they were actually wasps for how aggressive this colony was. It was long standing, with subsequent queens becoming more and more aggressive in defending their territory. One day, however, the hive found a dark, cool, cosy castle or mansion to colonise. It was perfect as they were not constantly being bothered by children, lost on their way home from school; or adults, drunkenly daring each other to poke the hive and disturb the colony. The hive flourished, filling every nook and cranny between the walls with hefty wax combs, building a massive army that seemingly came out of nowhere at any place in the building.

Thankfully, the building was all but abandoned, merely a hangout for some quirky teens that snuck in quietly to perform their occult rituals in giddy secret. The bees were initially outraged at the intrusion to their perfect home, but were quickly lulled by the incense and smokes used by the teens. The scents confused the bees and their pheromone tracking, quieting them down long enough for the teens to go unscathed as they etched symbols into the dirt around the enormous property.

As time went on, something started to stir amongst the bees, a dark whispering feeling that began to affect the Queen directly. The Queen almost never went out of the hive herself, leaving the hundreds of drones and soldiers to defend the colony. But the colony, being a hive mind easily controlled by pheromones, began to succumb to a will greater than their own. The Queen followed the scents, the pheromone tracks that led straight to the darkest corners of the basement. Here, the teens were completing a new ritual they had discovered in an ancient tome, thrown carelessly into the back of the home's library. The Queen knew at once that these intruders were harmful for her colony, and just as she signaled the Swarm to collect and descend upon the teens, the wall burst open with both the darkest shadows and brightest lights imaginable. The Swarm, controlled by the hive instinct, could do nothing to fight back as the shadows engulfed all in the room. An accident? Perhaps. But the power and rage of the Swarm was now under the control of the Entity, and the Entity would not say no to a willing, and so easily controlled, new toy.

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4.4m/s movement speed because they're f@#$ing bees. :)

M1 - a basic sting attack, short range, just some bees that essentially swoop at you.

M2 / special attack - the swarm lunges and latches on to you, much like the artist's ravens, range similar to Wesker dash. If the survivor smacks them off before the stinger bar fills, they aren't injured fully (think Trickster's knives progression), but will continue from that progress if hit again within a time limit. Smacking off a swarm successfully will cause the survivor to scream in pain. If the survivor doesn't smack them off before the bar fills, they get inflicted with deep wound and give killer instinct for 5 seconds.
Swatting the Swarm off is a lot like when a survivor is being carried to a hook - except the Swarm will have checks to hit that fill up the bar too. The survivor will have to fill their bar before the Swarm fills theirs in order to swat off the attack successfully. Subsequent attacks by the Swarm will have cumulative progress for the stinger bar. Essentially they're both fighting, very interactive. Survivors can run at a reduced speed but won't be able to interact with anything until they've fought off the Swarm or have been injured.

Killer power - Create hives on any structure (placement like Singularity cameras), can teleport to the hives. Basekit 5 hives max, silent for 3 seconds upon teleporting. 30 second cooldown. Hives have a buzzing sound so survivors can identify their presence, and the buzzing will intensify when the Swarm is teleporting to that hive. Survivors will be able to collect items from the environment (Sticks from trees, corn fields, junk piles, bamboo shoots, thrown stones for maps without sticks. Will have aim assist as part of the animation to guarantee usage), these items can be used to knock down a hive. When a hive is knocked down, the Swarm can choose to teleport to it right away (think Cenobite box activation) with 5% bonus movement speed and Killer Instinct on all survivors in the area of effect, for 4 seconds. Default area of effect is 16m. Teleporting takes 2.5 seconds (or whatever is about on par with demo, dredge, onryo). Hives cannot be completely silent.

Add-ons: (I had names for all the addons but lost half my progress and didn't bother renaming them)
Iri 1 - Productive Hives - reduce max hives to 3. Everything in the area of a hive is now sticky with honey, and the hive takes an extra hit to be knocked down. The area affected by honey means everything is slower - repairing an affected generator is 5% slower, vaulting windows is 5% slower. Any pallets in the area will be stuck up and unusable until the hive is removed and the honey has slipped away. Honey effect lingers for 5 seconds after knocking down a Productive Hive. Honey residue will make the environment object highlighted in red when within 12m. Slow effect adds to other sources of slow (purple 4 + iri 1, for example).
Iri 2 - Busy Bees - Placed hives now have independent swarms residing in them. When knocked down, a swarm of bees attacks the survivor. However, these swarms do a health state of damage, or put someone into deep wound instead of dying. Aura of survivors who have been hit by these swarms is visible for 3 seconds and the Swarm receives a noise notification as usual where the knocked hive is. The Swarm can no longer teleport to knocked down hives (like Cenobite box).

Purple 1 - Pheromone Honey - Reduce max hives to 4. Areas around Hives are covered in a honey but this honey doesn't slow anything. Instead, it applies a pheromone to any survivors in the area, revealing the aura of survivors any time the Swarm checks the hive network (Think demogorgon when he's charging his lunge and you can see survivors by the tunnels). Aura effect does not linger outside of the honey, but does linger 3 seconds after the hive is destroyed.
Purple 2 - Hunter Bees - Add 2 hives. This cannot override a max hive limit for any other add-on. Hives are 25% quieter, and have a 50% wider area of effect. Bees in these hives are great trackers, applying a pheromone to any survivors that run through the area. The longer a survivor is in the area, the greater the pheromone strength. If a survivor is in the area for more than 15 seconds, Killer Instinct will trigger for 3 seconds, and every 15 seconds after. Leaving the area for 5 seconds will clear a survivor of the pheromones.
Purple 3 - Silent Swarm - Add 2 hives. Reduce area of effect by 25%. When flying through the area of effect, the Swarm becomes undetectable for 15 seconds. This resets every time the Swarm flies through an area of effect, and when coming out of a hive.
Purple 4 - Sticky Worker Bees - The Swarm is great at making honey - too great. When flying through windows or interacting with the environment, the Swarm will leave a temporary honey residue on surfaces. The honey will last for 30 seconds, and will reduce speed of interaction by 5%. Repairs will be 5% slower, vaulting will be 5% slower, and upright pallets will be stuck unusable until the honey dissipates.

Green 1 - Sticky Mess - Instead of honey being everywhere around a hive, when knocked down the survivor who knocked down the hive will be sluggish and sticky. Reduced speed for repairs, healing, vaulting and opening the gates. Speed reduced by 5%
Green 2 - Active Swarm - Add 1 hive. Increase area of effect by 25%. Survivors in the area become oblivious, and the effect lingers for 5 seconds after leaving the area or destroying the hive.
Green 3 - Aggressive Bees - Add 1 hive. Decrease area of effect by 25%. When afflicted by the Swarm / being stung, if in the area of a hive, the Swarm stings harder. Swarm stinger bar will fill up 10% faster on successful checks.
Green 4 - Add 2 hives. This cannot override a max hive limit for any other add-on. Increase area of effect by 25%. When a hive is knocked down, increase killer instinct after teleport by 3 seconds.
Green 5 - Energizer Honey - Reduce hives by 2. The Swarm moves 1% faster for each hive that has been established longer than 15 seconds. Bonus per hive is lost when that hive is destroyed. Hives are 75% quieter.

Yellow 1 - Area of effect increased by 50%.
Yellow 2 - Adds 2 seconds more of Undetectable on teleport.
Yellow 3 - Hives are 50% quieter.
Yellow 4 - Hives take an additional hit to be knocked off.
Yellow 5 - Add 2 more hives. Cannot override a max hive count for other add-ons.

Brown 1 - Area of effect increased by 25%
Brown 2 - Adds 1 second more of Undetectable on teleport.
Brown 3 - Hives are 25% quieter.
Brown 4 - Add 1 more hive. Cannot override a max hive count for other add-ons.

Perks:

Perk 1 - Hex: The Hive Mind - Everything in the Trials is connected. The longer a survivor works on a continuous task, the more the entity takes notice. After 12/9/6 seconds of doing a continuous task (opening a chest, destroying a totem, repairing, healing, opening the exit gate or chests, placing a boon, etc), the survivor's aura is revealed for 1 second. Every 12/9/6 seconds after that of continuous work will reveal the survivor's aura again for 1 second. Stopping a task for 5 seconds will reset the continuity. (You cannot simply let go of a generator and reset it, you must be off the generator at least 5 seconds in order for the timer to reset).

Perk 2 - Scourge Hook: Sticky Hooks - After unhooking a survivor, the rescuing survivor is hindered for 10 seconds, and slowed until they are hooked. Slowed means their progress speed on any task is reduced by 3/4/5% (repairing, healing, vaulting, opening exit gates).

Perk 3 - NOT THE BEES! - The Obsession is your honey, and you are in this sticky mess together. If the obsession is the last survivor alive, they cannot open the exit gates, as they have been sealed shut by a sticky wax. The survivor can be mori'd, and they will also be able to see the aura of the hatch within 12/10/8m and be able to unlock it without a key.

Mori is obviously a swarm of bees on the survivor, stinging wildly, flying into their eyes and mouth indiscriminately, and for some reason honey starts pouring out of their orifices. Because why not.

This is definitely not just an excuse to get an exclusive nic cage line "NOT THE BEES!!" in game.

Thoughts? :)