Use your favourite features in-game with our Desktop AppSeason 1 is looking to be the biggest update The Bazaar has seen. Mak is coming, but alongside him is a ton of brand new content in the form of new Hero Expansions.
Each item from the new Dooley Expansion has been revealed, so let's take a closer look and give our initial impressions.
Credit to Retromation for the full Expansion reveal, along with the item images presented below.
Half of the items from this Expansion include these robotic insects which all have some inherent synergy together.
In fact, the positioning in the image below actually showcases how they interact with each other on board.
Each one has a six second Cooldown, plus has the ability to Charge whenever the applicable (effect type) adjacent item is used.
There's always potential when it comes to speedy Charge mechanics, and with the right supporting skills and/or enchants it could be quite strong.
We'll be reviewing all of them individually, mainly focusing on their applications outside of their predetermined synergy package.
BLK-SP1D3R seems like a decent Slow-spamming item that doesn't require the use of a Core like 
Cool LEDs. Dooley does have a lot of good Burn items to pair this with, including the likes of 
Soldering Gun which also benefits from its Friend tag.
The Poison aspect is a little trickier to enable without enchants, as Dooley's Poison items tend to be on the slower side overall, and far fewer to come by. Though of course, it does have its other insect Friends it can rely on.
BLU-B33TL3 might become one of Dooley's strongest Freeze items. The first thing of note is that there's no size restriction, allowing it to interfere with any non-Radiant items.
Secondly, the fact that it Charges next to Poison items means speedy Toxic items (ex 
Power Drill) could trigger this like crazy. I wouldn't be surprised to see Drill nerfs come alongside the new patch.
Where it gets tricky is for the same reasons as BLK-SP1D3R, in that Poison is less common for Dooley, and the few that exist have long Cooldowns. Plus, a 0.5 second Freeze is far less impactful, so I imagine it'll take some upgrades to bring it up to a respectable level (if it scales).
Overall, any fast Freeze items are always worth noting. While the floor seems incredibly low, the ceiling in contrast seems remarkably high.
Dooltron is reminiscent of 
Slumbering Primordial, which came from Vanessa's previous expansion. However, while its self-Charge extends to include Haste and Slow, it happens one second instead of two.
I think this is a pretty fair tradeoff given how spammy Haste and Slow effects can be. 
Metronome is an obvious example, and so it may actually go off faster than expected.
While it doesn't have the ability to scale its Damage, 1000 base Damage is very nice. It also has a 
Duct Tape-like effect that triggers off every Friend, giving it a built-in defense mechanism.
I think there's actually potential here if you can piece it together, but regardless of how good it is, Dooltron is absolutely 10/10 on the cool scale.
Dooltron Mainframe is the perfect supporting item for Dooltron, turning into a Core and allowing your Friends to greatly accelerate it. With enough fast Friends Dooltron will be activating pretty fast, especially when it's permanently Hasted.
This is really cool to see as it adds another "Core" to the game, further eliminating the need for specific starting Cores. Just like the recently reworked 
DJ Rob0t, it gives even more incentive to play a Friend strategy outside of 
Companion Core.
GRN-W4SP might just be Dooley's fastest Poison item, especially given how easy it is to spam Slows. This makes it a perfect host for Poison skills, potentially justifying more Poison Dooley builds in the future.
Charging on Freeze won't likely be too common, but it's certainly possible with the right setup. Though even without, GRN-W4SP could become the reincarnation of the OG 
Chemsnail.
RED-F1R3FLY has the greatest Charge potential among all of the robotic insects, as it Charges from both Slow and Haste; the two spammiest of all.
Fast Burn items are already very strong with the abundance of powerful Burn skills, making RED-F1R3FLY a perfect fit.
With the right setup this makes 
Micro Dave look laughable, because it would only require a few pieces on board to make this go crazy.
Sat-Comm is an awesome new item to the pool. A 
Fishing Rod for Friends could enable a bunch of new strategies, allowing a reasonable chance of acquiring two or more of the same Friend.
As with most of these items, it's not one that will really exist on the board. However, Hasting a Friend on a five second Cooldown really isn't that bad if you need to fill a slot or need an early Haste enabler. Far better than the nine second Cooldown of Fishing Rod.
YLW-M4NT1S gives Dooley yet another strong Haste item, provided you can pair it with a fast Burn item. Again, Soldering Gun works great here.
I think the only real downside, if you could even call it one, is that there are a good number of alternatives to choose from. Unlike the other insects which may fulfill a more unique role, YLW-M4NT1S is pretty ordinary.
Though there's nothing wrong with having another strong replacement-level effect for when you can't find things like Metronome.
Zhield looks like a solid support item so long as you've included a Large item on board. While its Cooldown is long, its Multicast Shield + Freeze is decently impactful.
Its 
Thrusters-like Cooldown reduction is what likely justifies its inclusion more than anything. I think what it'll really come down to is whether or not you can afford the space, as having this plus a Large item already eats up half your board, leaving little room for other items.
Zword is pretty similar to Zhield, except that it offers more offense instead of defense and utility. An eight second Cooldown with 12 Burn and Multicast 2 is nothing to scoff at early on, making this pretty appealing as an early game pickup at Silver.
I imagine later on Zhield is a better alternative comparatively (where Freeze utility is extra valuable), but that's under the assumption either are worth including at all. We'll have to see where they ultimately land, but design-wise these are both very cool.
