XxX_MLG Noob_XxX
Boar
Want the background? Read the first 2 paragraphs. Want only the description? SKIP the first two paragraphs. Want a TL;DR? Just read only the Conclusion. 
Background
So I'm only making this post because recently complaints were made about Pumpking's "lack of difficulty." The complaints were mainly from mage users. And their issue was that it's too easy to kill Pumpking. In many cases, they were able to burst him before all 3 swarms of bats could spawn. This is even more of a problem in multiplayer, where the boss can be killed almost instantaneously. Their solution to this was to buff Pumpking by giving him more health.
I objected (and still object) to this solution because to me, Pumpking is one of the hardest bosses melee users have to face in arcade (compared to the gear they have at the time). The continuously spawning jumpkins are already annoying. Generally, it's better to just focus Pumpking and let your swings do the jumpkin-killing for you. But all it takes is one (or one too many) jumpkin(s) coming at the wrong angle for you to take damage and potentially be pushed into a speed-flattening batswarm. And the batswarms are the worst! They do noticeable dps and move randomly in non-cardinal directions. Without blink, getting backed into the wrong corner is easy. And it can mean no health pot (or S rank) at best, and GG-no-re at worst. Even with blink, it's hard to tell when to use it. Run around too much and that jumpkin farm becomes quite problematic. Or maybe there happens to be nowhere for you to blink at the moment? And Pumpking can jump to you anyway. I can consistently S-rank (with no damage) Marino and Furious Giga Slime (and some mages consider the time cap on Furious Giga to be too strict). But I cannot do this with Pumpking, which makes him a really frustrating boss.
Idea/Suggestion
My suggestion is to rebalance Pumpking by removing the continuous spawning of jumpkins (keep the first 4) and increasing his HP. Simply nerfing him isn't an option because it makes Pumpking completely irrelevant for mage. But buffing him isn't an option because he's already a noticeably problematic boss for melee. The reason I think removing jumpkin spawning solves this problem is that it removes part of the annoying aspect of the boss fight, where a simple random occurrence screws you over. A basic example of this is what I kinda mentioned earlier: A jumpkin comes from the wrong angle after a swing, or you swing too early to hit the jumpkin before it lands in to bite. This is especially annoying if you're pushed into a batswarm. You can kiss your HP goodbye.
With jumpkins removed from the mix, melee users can focus solely on avoiding the batswarms and managing Pumpking. This means no random angles to screw you over due to a timing or positioning mishap. If Pumpking pushes you into a batswarm, it's your fault for not Pguarding. And if you get swarmed while Pguarding, it's your fault for not moving -- which is completely reasonable without 50 jumpkins on your tail. It makes the battle 100% manageable.
That together with an HP increase would make him less of a disappointment for mage users. Then they could actually try to cast magic between batswarms instead of casting magic before any batswarms can even appear. (And let's be honest: Mage users -- especially those with Chained Lightening -- never need to worry much about the jumpkins anyway.) I think it would make sense for Pumpking's survivability to lie somewhere between his current one and that of Terrorweed's (even up to as much survivability as Terrorweed himself).
This idea effectively makes Pumpking a harder Marino. I say harder because bats move in random, non-cardinal directions and the Pumpking attacks just slightly faster. AND, the bats spawn directly from Pumpking himself -- meaning that if melee wants to ensure 100% EVERY TIME that they will no-damage the boss, they have to move away from the Pumpking at least 3 times. (Note that balancing the boss by leaving the jumpkins but allowing the bats to spawn from the outside is not a solution either. Doing so would allow melee users to burst him, meaning both mage and melee would have balancing issues.)
Conclusion
I think this is a pretty good solution: Make Pumpking tankier but remove the continuous spawning of jumpkins. Whatever the case is, he desperately needs a rebalance. The gap between melee and mage is large enough for arcade in general. But if mages can kill him in seconds without having to worry about bats while melee users inevitably have to worry about all 3 swarms, the gap for that battle becomes much worse.
Background
So I'm only making this post because recently complaints were made about Pumpking's "lack of difficulty." The complaints were mainly from mage users. And their issue was that it's too easy to kill Pumpking. In many cases, they were able to burst him before all 3 swarms of bats could spawn. This is even more of a problem in multiplayer, where the boss can be killed almost instantaneously. Their solution to this was to buff Pumpking by giving him more health.
I objected (and still object) to this solution because to me, Pumpking is one of the hardest bosses melee users have to face in arcade (compared to the gear they have at the time). The continuously spawning jumpkins are already annoying. Generally, it's better to just focus Pumpking and let your swings do the jumpkin-killing for you. But all it takes is one (or one too many) jumpkin(s) coming at the wrong angle for you to take damage and potentially be pushed into a speed-flattening batswarm. And the batswarms are the worst! They do noticeable dps and move randomly in non-cardinal directions. Without blink, getting backed into the wrong corner is easy. And it can mean no health pot (or S rank) at best, and GG-no-re at worst. Even with blink, it's hard to tell when to use it. Run around too much and that jumpkin farm becomes quite problematic. Or maybe there happens to be nowhere for you to blink at the moment? And Pumpking can jump to you anyway. I can consistently S-rank (with no damage) Marino and Furious Giga Slime (and some mages consider the time cap on Furious Giga to be too strict). But I cannot do this with Pumpking, which makes him a really frustrating boss.
Idea/Suggestion
My suggestion is to rebalance Pumpking by removing the continuous spawning of jumpkins (keep the first 4) and increasing his HP. Simply nerfing him isn't an option because it makes Pumpking completely irrelevant for mage. But buffing him isn't an option because he's already a noticeably problematic boss for melee. The reason I think removing jumpkin spawning solves this problem is that it removes part of the annoying aspect of the boss fight, where a simple random occurrence screws you over. A basic example of this is what I kinda mentioned earlier: A jumpkin comes from the wrong angle after a swing, or you swing too early to hit the jumpkin before it lands in to bite. This is especially annoying if you're pushed into a batswarm. You can kiss your HP goodbye.
With jumpkins removed from the mix, melee users can focus solely on avoiding the batswarms and managing Pumpking. This means no random angles to screw you over due to a timing or positioning mishap. If Pumpking pushes you into a batswarm, it's your fault for not Pguarding. And if you get swarmed while Pguarding, it's your fault for not moving -- which is completely reasonable without 50 jumpkins on your tail. It makes the battle 100% manageable.
That together with an HP increase would make him less of a disappointment for mage users. Then they could actually try to cast magic between batswarms instead of casting magic before any batswarms can even appear. (And let's be honest: Mage users -- especially those with Chained Lightening -- never need to worry much about the jumpkins anyway.) I think it would make sense for Pumpking's survivability to lie somewhere between his current one and that of Terrorweed's (even up to as much survivability as Terrorweed himself).
This idea effectively makes Pumpking a harder Marino. I say harder because bats move in random, non-cardinal directions and the Pumpking attacks just slightly faster. AND, the bats spawn directly from Pumpking himself -- meaning that if melee wants to ensure 100% EVERY TIME that they will no-damage the boss, they have to move away from the Pumpking at least 3 times. (Note that balancing the boss by leaving the jumpkins but allowing the bats to spawn from the outside is not a solution either. Doing so would allow melee users to burst him, meaning both mage and melee would have balancing issues.)
Conclusion
I think this is a pretty good solution: Make Pumpking tankier but remove the continuous spawning of jumpkins. Whatever the case is, he desperately needs a rebalance. The gap between melee and mage is large enough for arcade in general. But if mages can kill him in seconds without having to worry about bats while melee users inevitably have to worry about all 3 swarms, the gap for that battle becomes much worse.
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