So here I am, with my first (HUGE) post. I held back posting this, but now that I see that some ideas could mechanically work (due to some new Crusaders), I'm eager to post my ideas.

Warning, HUGE wall of text incoming!

--- General suggestions ---

* The "accuracy" buffs (Accuracy, Perception, Insight and Eureka) now also provides 2/3/4/5 clicks per second, to ease with clicking.

* Enchantment points (EP) now also grants 0,1% DPS to all Crusaders per point. This gives EP a use even for support-characters!

* Experience points (XP) are now no longer linked to individual characters, but is now a partywide bonus (still received every 5 hours). This allows for more experimenting and adaptability on longer runs. After all, supportive Crusaders are not limitted by time used, but DPSers are, which is dull, imo.

* Thalia's Storm Rider (and thus also Frosty's Blizzard) is no longer an active ability, but rather a team-passive that Thalia/Frosty learns. It is now linked to the new teamwide XP-buff: It causes each XP point to also grant 10% DPS for all Crusaders, and STILL doesn't require Thalia/Frosty to be in the formation to take effect! Due to it being tied to XP points, it works more retroactively too, so there is not a huge stress on getting the passive as early as possible.
As for what could replace the current active abilityslot, that is talked more about later, but as a hint: My suggestion is an active learnt from Sal the Merman and Wendy the Witch!

* All actively learnt abilities now also come with a passive (Note: This passive requires the Crusader in question to be in the formation to be of use, of course)! The reason for this is because some Crusader items are REALLY underwhelming (example: The gloves on Princess, reducing Firestorm cooldown. Not that useful), and with a passive added onto all active abilities, those Crusader items will now also help out with that passive! Detailed ideas further down in the Crusader changes!

* All learnt abilities can now be deactivated (Example how: Shift+click = Toggle on/off). This is especially important for some Crusaders (like Frosty with his Chilling Power), but it also allows you to calculate things etc. It's both a handy tool and a tool for experimentation.
Note: Turning off an active ability does NOT disable its active use, it will ONLY disable its newly added passive part.
Note 2: If an ability has multiple passive bonuses, ALL those bonuses are turned off if you disable it.

--- Crusader suggestions ---

Foreword:
I think that a Crusader should never be 100% obsolete in comparison to its same-slotted Crusader counterpart (for example: Sasha vs Groklok). Sure, they can be better at one another at a certain role, but they should have upsides and downsides to each other. I'll explain this better in each Crusader section.
Additionally, I feel that a lot of the supportive Crusaders needs updates to their abilities, as many of them have a whole bunch of abilities that only increase their own DPS, which is rather useless. One of those abilities is fine, but some have up to THREE...

Extra note: A lot of the suggested ideas are actually inspired by the abilities' names and their descriptions. So yeah, I've tried REALLY HARD to make sure that the suggestions fit in with names/descriptions! :)

--- The Bush Whacker (TBW) + RoboRabbit (RR)
* Click-o-rama's / Click-o-rabbit's added passive: When Bushwhacker/RoboRabbit is in the formation, you also get a passive 1 click per second.
* Both TBW/RR could probably have a look at in regards to how EP's work on them, but I have no suggestions here.
* I think it would be neat if TBW/RR could be used even in passive formations. How? That comes into play with the useage of OTHER Crusaders...

--- Sasha the Fierce Warrior
Sasha is right now an OK starter character, but is incredibly underwhelming when compared to Groklok the Orc, both at her main job, as a buffer, but also at her lesser use, as a DPSer. So I thought she could fit a new niche: A female tank! Here are the ideas:
* Bad Guy Butt Kicking: Changed completely - When Sasha loses 10% of her total health (this is cumulative), she will kick all enemies that are currently attacking her. This kick deals 150% of your DPS done instantly to all of them, and pushes them back (similar to Alan's resurrection ability). Has a 10 second cooldown.
* Power of the Warrior: Changed completely - Increases Sasha's health by 50%.
* Soul of the Warrior: Changed completely - Heals herself by 10% of her max health every second
* Joan's Jiu-Jitsu: Changed completely - Sasha's kick (from Bad Guy Butt Kicking) now also causes all kicked enemies to get hit with 5 clicks each!
* Sasha's shield items: Changed completely - Instead of granting her DPS, it now causes her to take 5/10/25/50% less damage (similar to Thalia)

With this, she would be a new tank: She is the first female tank, she can regenerate health a bit on her own, she uses the new pushback mechanic, and also causes clicks to be used tank-passively!
Compared to Groklok, who can be either a buffer, tank or DPS, but can only excel at one role at a time, Sasha is both a buffer AND a tank at once, but doesn't excel at those roles as much as Groklok can. Strengths and weaknesses...

--- Kyle the Partybro
Compared to Hermit, Kyle is not that great as a DPSer, but he can be a decent buffer. So, to give him a better niche useage, I've improved both roles so he can ALMOST be as good as Hermit for DPS (less itemdependant than him, but not as good in scaling either), while also being a good buffer.
* Mosh Pit: Buffed to 60% per smashed Crusader
* Party Animal: Buffed to 150% DPS bonus
* Lady's Man: Buffed to 150% DPS bonus
* Get Lucky: Buffed to 200% DPS bonus
* Kyle's keg items: Now also boosts the Get Smashed ability by 10/25/50/100% (increases the boost to 27,5/31,25/37,5/50%). This makes him a better buffer considering that this item does less for his total DPS than his T-shirt items do.

--- Detective Kaine + Larry the Leprechaun + Mister the Monkey
This section is just to display the passive addition to the Magnify ability, and the bonus boosts from one of their items:
* Magnify's added passive: Increases all gold found by 10%
* Kaine's magnifying glass items, Larry the Leprechaun's hat items and Mister the Monkey's hat items: Not only do they reduce Magnify's cooldown, they now also boost the passive bonus by 10/25/50/100% (which means the goldgain is increased to 11/12,5/15/20%).

--- Detective Kaine
With Larry the Leprechaun existing, Kaine is only used when Larry is not better for the formation (as Larry is otherwise always better). But Kaine is by no means a bad Crusader, he just has some bad focus on his abilities, lots of them increasing his DPS, which is rather useless on him. Thus, I've given him a new niche...
* Abductive Reasoning: Changed completely - Increases critical click chance by 3%
* Detective Kaine: A P.I: Changed completely - This is now his level 200 ability (swapped position with Loose Cannon)
* Loose Cannon: Changed completely - When you get a critical click, 10% of the click damage is done to ALL enemies on the screen! (Note: Numbers could need balancing)
* Monster Magazine: Changed completely - Increases the DPS of all Crusaders by 15%

With these changes, Kaine is a very powerful (critical) clickbooster. While that is a very niche role, how would he otherwise fair now in comparison to Larry? Well, Larry can boost goldgain OR DPS, either of them by a significant amount, but never both at once. Kaine, however, can give nice amounts of gold AND nice amounts of DPS at once! Stengths and weaknesses, once again.

--- Mister the Monkey
Mister is in the same predicament as Kaine, so I also gave him some different nichebonuses (not entirely happy with the niche yet, but it's a placeholder idea).
* Barrel Roll: Changed completely - ALL Crusaders take 10% less damage.
* Ee-ee-ee-oh-oh-ho: Changed completely - Increases the DPS of all Crusaders by 10%
* Monkey Business: Changed completely - Increases all gold found by 10%

With these small changes, Mister is similar in position to Kaine, but brings slighty more to the table in regards to the team's tankiness and goldgain, but less so for DPS (and MUCH less for clickboosts).
Note: The reason I gave him the tankiness bonus (which is a placeholder, but still) is because he is supposed to be placed in front of a wide row. Placing him more in front MIGHT mean that he is exposed to enemy attacks too. Eh, just a placeholder idea anyway *shrugs*

--- The Princess + Roboturkey
This section is just to display the passive addition to the Firestorm ability, and the bonus boosts from one of their items:
* Firestorm's added passive: Increases the DPS of all Crusaders by 10%
* The Princess' glove items and RoboTurkey's chip items: Not only do they reduce Firestorm's cooldown, they now also boost the passive bonus by 10/25/50/100% (which means the all-DPS bonus is increased to 11/12,5/15/20%).

--- Jason Master of Shadows
While technically a potential DPSer, his formation restriction (the Ambush one) heavily reduces this potency. So, these changes are an attempt to make sure he could become a viable DPSer
* Ambush: The requirement that your Crusaders have to be attacked still remains for this ability to trigger, however, Jason does not have to be in the same column as the attacked Crusaders, he can be anywhere!
* Subtle Deflection: In addition to its aggrodeflection, it now also reduces the damage taken of ALL Crusaders by 15%!

With these changes, I think he could be a viable, although still tank-enabled, DPSer.

--- Pete the Carney
Not really sure if he needs this boost, but this is just to emphasize that he remains as a potential DPSer.
* Bad Joke: Now also benefits Pete himself, at all times.

--- Artaxes the Lion + Drizzle the Dark Elf
This section is just to display the passive addition to the Savage Strikes ability
* Savage Strikes' added passive: Increases critical click chance by 3%

Note: I find this change a bit amusing. Why? Well, the PASSIVE addition helps with your ACTIVE powers (with clicking). Meanwhile, the item's bonus (the global DPS boost during Savage Strikes), helps the team's PASSIVE potency, by using an ACTIVE ability. I find that quite neat, really.

--- Artaxes the Lion
Considering that the Groklok+Drizzle combo beats out any combo with Artaxes (and/or Sasha), I thought that giving Artaxes some mild buffs could be in order.
* Jungle Speed: Changed completely (due to Savage Strikes already giving you a 3% critbonus) - For every 5 clicks you do, you automatically get 1 additional click on your current target. The counter is reset if no click is done within 5 seconds.
* Lion's Mane: Could potentially get a revamp as well (since it currently only boosts his own DPS), but since I have no idea for it (yet), I'll leave it as it is for now.

--- Khouri the Witch Doctor
While by no means a bad Crusader, he is really bad in comparison to Momma Kaine. Some small buffs could be in order methinks (especially considering he is a supportive Crusader with THREE selfdps abilities...)
* Shrunken Heads: Changed completely - When enemies enter the screen, they lose 2,5% of their maximum health.
* Playing With Dolls: Changed completely - Doubles the effect of Shrunken Heads (meaning, enemies lose 5% of their max health when they enter)
* MLG: Changed completely - Increases the DPS of all Crusaders by 15%

While these buffs are maybe not very massive (although, the MLG change is decent), it at least makes him have a high-level niche so he can actually, maybe, compete with Momma Kaine sometimes (Note: I find the Shrunken Heads ability to be sort of a placeholder ability idea, but also quite interesting at the same time)

--- Dark Gryphon
While Dark Gryphon is by no means a bad Crusader, he has a similar issue to Khouri: He possesses THREE selfDPS abilities, which does not help his supportive role at all. Considering that tanking (which he helps out a LOT with) and clicking often work well together, I thought that he could get some clickboosting skills instead of boosting his own DPS.
* Brave Bonk: Changed completely - Whenever you successfully click an enemy, all enemies are stunned for 0,5 seconds. Can only affect each enemy once.
* Chivalrous Cuff: Changed completely - Increases your critical click chance by 2%
* Courageous Chops: Changed completely - Increases your critical click damage multiplier by 1

--- Rocky the Rockstar
I don't know if Rocky is very viable as a DPSer (the level/cost-scaling is not my mathematical strength), but my gutfeeling says he could use some good buffs. I'm gonna suggest some mild buffs for now though.
* Rock 'n Roll, Amp Up and Sold Out Show: All buffed up to 125% DPS bonus
* Groupies: Buffed to get 50% DPS per female Crusader next to him (up from 25%)
* Acoustic Version: Buffed to 60% damage reduction

--- Gold Panda + RoboSanta
This section is just to display the passive addition to the Gold-o-rama ability, as well as a generic buff to the active component
* Gold-o-rama's added passive: You gain 5% of an enemy's gold as they enter the screen!
Note: This goldentrance thing happens BEFORE an enemy gets attacked!
* Gold-o-rama: The active component is buffed to also grant you 50% more gold from killed enemies while it is active (this would DEFINITELY make people use this active ability more "passively")

--- Gold Panda
Gold Panda is great, if not one of the absolutely most important Crusaders in the game. Nontheless, his cape item REALLY bothers me (it boosts Gold-o-rama, rather than his formation ability because... well he HAS no formation ability!). So, these ideas are just to enable a change to his item, really.
* Gold! Mine!: Buffed to 35% goldfind
* More Gold! Mine!: Buffed to 50% goldfine
* Order of the Holy Coin: Changed completely - You gain 10% of an enemy's gold as they enter the screen! (Yes, the same as the passive added to Gold-o-rama)
* Gold Panda's cape items: Changed completely - Instead of boosting Gold-o-rama, it now boosts the revamped Order of the Holy Coin, still by 10/25/50/100% (meaning, the ability grants 11/12,5/15/20% of an enemy's gold as they enter the screen).
Note: This goldentrance thing happens BEFORE an enemy gets attacked!

--- Sal the Merman + Wendy the Witch
As I mentioned in the start, Thalia's Storm Rider ability (and Frosty's Blizzard ofc) have been turned into a new passive. Thus, one ability-slot is free. This is my idea for a replacement:

Ability name: Crippling Wave
Description: Summons a (liquid) wave from the left of the screen, which sweeps over to the right side of the screen over 2 seconds. As it travels, it pushes enemies towards the right side of the screen. As the wave finishes, all enemies that were caught are also slowed down by 50% for a few seconds (3 to 5?). This wave could potentially also deal some damage (based on your total DPS, or on Sal/Wendy's, doesn't matter).

This ability is learnt for Sal the Merman on his "Shark Attack" ability. He still gains a 100% bonus to his own DPS, AS WELL as learning the "Crippling Wave" ability.
For Wendy the Witch, this ability is leant on the "Food Fight" ability. She still gains 100% bonus to her own DPS, AS WELL as learning the "Crippling Wave" ability.

Note: This wave could either have a colour which could work for both of them (such as being teal, which fits for both water and whatever brew she has in her cauldron), or it could differ in colour depending on who uses it (blue for Sal, green/purple/black for Wendy).

--- Fire Phoenix
Fire Phoenix always was incredibly niche. Now though, he is not only niche, he is not even RELIABLE in his niche. And with Alan in the picture, he is downright useless (unless you wanna rely on luck...). Add to the fact that he, as a supposed support Crusader, has FOUR selfDPS abilities (and still is not viable as a DPS!), well, I really think he needs a THOROUGH update.
* Vengeful Fury: Now has a 100% chance to trigger, but has a 60 second cooldown.
* Song of the Phoenix: Changed completely - Heals ALL Crusader by 5% of their maximum health every second
* Power of the Fiery Nest: Changed completely - Increases the DPS of all Crusaders by 20%
* Egg Laying: Changed completely - If Fire Phoenix herself is the one that triggers Vengeful Fury, she will also instantly be resurrected!
* Heart of the Phoenix: Changed completely - Increases the health of ALL Crusaders by 15%
* Evil Eye: Changed completely (Moved to be Fire Phoenix's 6th ability) - When Vengeful Fury is triggered, the effects of Power of the Fiery Nest and Heart of the Phoenix are boosted by 200% for 30 seconds(boosting PotFN to 60% all DPS and HotP to 45% all health). Could maybe also boost Song of the Phoenix? (Which would mean healing all Crusaders by 15% every second, which might be a bit much?)
Note: Evil Eye's total benefit would still remain in effect even if Phoenix herself dies!
* Fire Phoenix's feather items: Changed completely - I have two ideas for this item; Either it reduces the cooldown of Vengeful Fury (by 5/10/25/50%) or boosts the effect of Evil Eye by 10/25/50/100% (which means it would have a potency of 220/250/300/400%, which in turn means that PotFN would give you 64/70/80/100% all DPS and HotP would give 48/52,5/60/75% all health. If SotP is included, it would mean a heal of 16/17,5/20/25% health per second)

I think this would make Fire Phoenix MUCH more viable, both in its niche (deathbooster) and as a general support (healer, healthbuffer, DPSbuffer).

--- Alan the Archangel
I think Alan is a welldesigned Crusader, except for one thing: He is POTENTIALLY a luckreliant Crusader. Imo, that is bad design. So, just some small changes.
* Resurrection: Instead of being luckreliant at its base, it now has a 100% chance to trigger from the get-go, regardless of Alan's position in the formation).
* Faithful Connection: Changed completely - If Resurrection is triggered by a Crusader adjacent to Alan, that Crusader also takes 20% less damage for 30 seconds.

--- King Reginald IV + Queen Siri
This section is just to display the passive addition to the Royal Command ability, and the bonus boosts from one of their items:
* Royal Command's added passive: When enemies enter the screen, they are attacked by a click. This click deals 50% more damage than regular clicks.
Note: This clickentrance attack thing happens BEFORE your normal DPS takes effect (but after the gold-o-rama's passive)
* The King's crown items and Queen's pillow items: Not only do they reduce Royal Command's cooldown, they now also boost the passive bonus by 10/25/50/100% (which means the entrance-click deals 55/62,5/75/100% more damage).

This passive could really help out on those daily click-quests... It could also help out with the idea i had, that The Bush Whacker / RoboRabbit could be used even in passive formations!

--- King Reginald IV
Just given some boosts to help out in his supportive role.
* Hunting Trophies: Changed completely - Increases your gold found by 10%
* Unicorn Academy: Could potentially be changed completely (and moved to be the ability in between King's Command and Royal Grail) - All enemies that are frozen by Royal Command now all also suffer 1 click per second!

--- Queen Siri
A potential change to her, to be consistent with King Reginald
* Walk Softly: Could potentially be changed completely (and moved to be the ability in between Queen's Command and Carry a Big Stick) - All enemies that are frozen by Royal Command now all also suffer 1 click per second!

--- Thalia the Thunder King + Frosty the Snowman
As mentioned in the general changes section, Storm Rider + Blizzard are now a passive that boosts all Crusaders' DPS, relative to XP-points (which is now a teamwide buff thing, also mentioned in the start). It still takes effect even if Thalia/Frosty are not in the formation, so its essence still sort of remains, but no longer has any interaction with Magnify of cooldown-reducing Trinkets. Overall, I still think it is to be considered a buff though.

--- Thalia the Thunder King
While the idea of an Aggro-tank is neat, he is fairly bad at the whole tanking business. So, some buffs are certainly in order.
* Lightning Rod: In addition to drawing aggro, it also grants him 33% more health.
* Godly Healing: Nerfed to just grant 50% more healing. With the buff to Lightning Rod, it becomes even again, but at the buff of being able to handle spikedamage a bit better.
* Forked Lightning: Changed completely - All enemies that attack Thalia suffer 15% of total DPS
* Thalia's amulet items: Changed completely - This is now the items that causes him to suffer less damage taken (instead of his ring items doing so)
* Thalia's ring items: Changed completely - Increases the effect of Forked Lightning by 10/25/50/100% (which means all enemies attacking him suffer 16,5/18,75/22,5/30% of total DPS)
(Note: Why did I not just give the amulet the Forked Lightning boost? Well, the item descriptions fit WAY better as I have suggested them)

What these changes mean (mainly the change to Forked Lightning) is that, by himself, he is a better AoE-tanker than Jack/Groklok. But, with Merci the Wizard in the formation, Jack/Groklok scales FAR better than Thalia can.

--- Frosty the Snowman
He certainly could need some buffs, but since I'm not good at the whole level/cost-scaling math, I don't know what to suggest.

--- Merci the Wizard
Merci is a good tankenabled support, but he has THREE selfDPS abilities, which don't really help you out in the grand scheme of things.
* Alchemy's added passive: Increases the health of ALL Crusaders by 10%
* Merci's orb items: Not only do they amplify the effect of Alchemy's healing, they now also boost the passive bonus by 10/25/50/100% (which means the healthgain is increased to 11/12,5/15/20%).
* All Apologies: Changed completely - Deflect Evil has double the strength on enemies who are attacking your Crusaders (they are still subject to the 100% cap though)
* Lotus Land: I want to change this ability, but I have not had any ideas yet. Considering its name (Lotus LAND), I had the idea that it could do something in relation to your area progress (like more DPS or more goldgain the further you have traversed). Another idea was to somehow tie it with DPS and enemy adjacency due to the description: "Welcome to the land of the NEWLY WED (the adjacency inspiration) and the NEARLY DEAD (the DPS inspiration)". That I already did with All Apologies though (not to say that All Apologies could do something different as well)

--- Nate Dragon
Nate is a good DPS... for a few areas. I wanted to make him viable a bit longer, by giving him one simple change:
Why not dub him into being a KNIGHT, and thus become a ROYAL character (thus being subject to King Reginald's powerful Royal Grail buff)?
Just an idea *shrugs*

--- List of all the active abilities' new passives ---

Note: This is just a repeat list for sorting's sake, as they have already been mentioned in the Crusader list.

1) Click-o-rama: Passive 1 click per second
2) Magnify: +10% goldfind
3) Firestorm: +10% DPS to all Crusaders
4) Savage Strikes: +3% critical click chance
5) Gold-o-rama: Gain 5% of enemies' gold as they enter
6) Royal Command: Enemies are hit by a click as they enter
7) Crippling Wave (replacing Storm Rider): Grants 100% DPS only to the Crusader itself
8) Alchemy: +10% health to all Crusaders


Phew, so yeah, that was a LOOOOOOOOOONG write. Time for me to go off to bed.
Hope this could be of any inspiration to the developers and that it could spark some discussion (if anyone will even read this huge amount of text...)

:)

I agree with most of your suggestions. "Most", because I don't like the ones about EPs and XPs. I think the only way to make them useful for non-dps crusaders would be to have them boost a crusader's formation ability, the same way many items do. Of course, this will require a steeper scaling of monster health with higher areas to keep the balance, but I think it would be good idea (and easy to implement as well). Furthermore, it would make the "sharing is caring" talent actually useful (right now it's definitely too expensive to be viable, since most crusaders are buffers that don't benefit from EPs at all).

Oh, another thing: with roborabbit, there should be no automatic clicking, or one of his skills (clicking capacitor) would be completely useless. I don't know, I feel like roborabbits need a complete rework, right now it seems underwhelming (even used as a buffer with his golden epic, most buffing crusaders are better than him)

Well the role of some crusaders is confusing.
Sarah is one of the best designed one. Her upgrades are all focussed on DPS increase.
Sal has a swordplay upgrade that doesn't belong to him. He's a damage dealer, not a support unit.

Princess, Panda and Larry have the same level 200 upgrade as the other crusaders which is a waste. They are support units.
They could have an skill about more hp, more gold and more dps (all).
Maybe not at level 200 so it's still necessary to level them up.

I don't really care about EP and XP.
I like all your suggestions on the crusaders so if the devs use some of them I would be happy :)

@MisterSemptember

Sarah has a +3% clickcrit ability, so she has something holding her back too (although, lucky for her, clickcrit can boost DPS through talents, but not by all too much).

Sal is not the only DPSer that has a Swordplay boost, Jim, Pam, Hermit, and Emo has those as well (which reminds me, isn't that a little dull that so many of the main DPSers have Swordplay-boosts as their extra utility? I might tamper with this as well).

That said, I don't mind that all DPSers have a supportskill each (Similar to how all supports also often have one selfDPS skill, which is fine to me) because that means that, if they aren't your #1 DPSer, they can still have a use in certain formations.
Take Natalie and Jason for example, they still both help out with goldfind, they can both contribute with alldps (items for both, and also a skill for Natalie) and Jason can help with tank setups. I like that they have those secondary uses, otherwise they would be entirely useless if they aren't your #1 DPSer.

The level 200 upgrade, yeah I was thinking about that one too. I think if it did what it does currently (Levelscaling DPS boost for any Crusader) AND gave a one-time passive (meaning, an added upgrade which doesn't necessarily scale with levels), it would be a more attractive skill for all Crusaders.
An idea I had was that it also upgrades their main formationskill or something. Example being: Sasha's Bulwark now benefits Crusaders in the two rows behind her, rather than just the one immediately behind her. That way, she can buff AND tank a bit more easily. Stuff like that *shrugs*

-----

@Teschio

Well, like I said, if XP and/or EP benefitted their signature skill, it might be a very difficult task. Well, if it boosted health (like his statue item), I still think it has a potential to break a bit of balance (albeit, I have to admit that that's not a bad idea, I'll give you that). So I guess it could work for Crusaders with defined roles, but what about Groklok, who is a DPSer, tank AND a buffer? Would he get a bit of everything?
Believe, I tried to do something you suggested. But it is a daunting task that just gives headaches. Simply letting XP remain a DPSbooster, but for the entire team (since it is not a permanent upgrade anyway), and EPs giving selfDPS AND allDPS is an easy first attempt to make them useful to get on any Crusader.

I might reconsider your thought later ofc, but since I have a (lazy) solution for now, I'll leave it as it is until I come up with something better. After all, I'm not a developer anyway, and thinking too much about these things might just end up being a waste of time :P

RoboRabbit, well, I think he is cool, and (already) seems to be underrated *shrugs*
I dunno what else to add to the discussion here. Like I said before, giving him a weak Swordplay-ability could probably make him more generally useful + that would also make the autoclick-thing (when activated) more useful without completely ruining him and his Capacitor skill.
And like the developers said: His use is less so for consistent useage (in contrast to Bush Whacker), but more so for bursty encounters (like during bossfights). I'm cool with that thought, as it makes him different to Bushwhacker. But adding a weak Swordplay, yeah, that's probably a good idea.

Oh, and thanks to both of you for adding to the discussion :) Much appreciated to get feedback ^^