Hey guys, as Season 3 of Ranked winds down, I’m going to post all of my buffs from August + September (and more September) in one place, plus some new ones. I’m not listing any nerfs here, but the lancers I would most want to nerf are Quark, PuP, Orion and Helio. I’m also ignoring the whole “is double support too strong” question — maybe dock all supports some hit points (that’s the change I’d make on Orion anyway).
As always, not all of the below need be done at once. A good example is the Elle changes — either one alone might be sufficient to strengthen her. Nevertheless, these all seem like cool changes (and good for the balance of the game). Feedback appreciated, as always. Hi Pju.
Aurora:
Healing Flare: If used on an ally, Aurora heals herself for 50% of the amount (i.e. 15).
Brynn:
Aegis now grants 5 shields on the turn used in addition to its other effects.
Impale now grants 10 energy for the first target hit, and 8 for each additional target.
Elle:
Combat Reflexes: Action Roll no longer reduces charges.
Overcharge: Now a free action, but only increases damage by 5 and has a 3-turn cooldown. If this is your only ability, increases damage by 10 and has no cooldown (so, works as usual). (Killing Spree on ultimate now reads: your next Overcharge increases damage by 10 and has no cooldown, even if used with another ability.)
Garrison:
Piston Punch: Now deals 22 damage to secondary enemies.
Heavy Metal: Quake Slam no longer increases cooldown.
Kaigin:
Twisting Blades: Feed on Fear now heals 5 health for EACH void-marked target hit.
Razor Tempest: Honed Edge is now a 2-point mod.
New mod on Razor Tempest: Storm of Blades. Razor Tempest no longer has a cooldown, but each Shuriken deals only 10 base damage (additional Shurikens on the same target still add +5). (3 points.)
Shadowstalker: Now has base cooldown of 5.
Shadowstalker: Cover of Night is now a 2-point mod, and reduces the cooldown of Shadowstalker by 2 if no other abilities are used that turn.
Spectre of Death: Eclipse now resets the cooldown of Shadowstalker AND activates it that turn. (Shadowstalker then goes on cooldown.)
Khita:
Warped Arrow: Now has Leaf in the Wind effect baseline. (Leaf in the Wind mod removed; Stocked Quiver becomes default mod.)
New mod on Warped Arrow: Emblazoned Arrows. Hitting an enemy with Warped Arrow causes your bow to become Emblazoned for two turns. Hitting an enemy with Warped Arrow while Emblazoned will reduce the cooldown of Take Aim! by 1 (and your bow will no longer be Emblazoned). (3 points.)
Nev:3:
New mod on Catarang: Duplicat. Whenever you use Catarang, throw a phantom disc in the exact opposite direction from the one you threw. The phantom disc deals no damage on its way out, but will become corporeal at the end of the turn. It will then return to you the following turn (along with your Catarang disc), dealing return damage. (3 points.)
Embiggify: Cat and Mouse now reduces cooldown by 2 if no enemies are hit.
Mouse Trap now deals indirect damage.
Acrocat: Big Cat is now a 1-point mod.
New mod on Cataclysm: Catermauling. Using Embiggify after Cataclysm will cause all 3 discs to be Embiggified. (3 points.)
Oz:
New mod on Zap Trap: Light the Way. Gain unstoppable this turn. (2 points.)
Tol-Ren:
Twin Slashes: Damage of each slash is now 28. Honed Blade causes each slash to deal 32. (Overlap damage is still 34. Cross Slash overlap damage is still 38.)
New mod on primary: Long Sword. Your straight slash has 1 additional range. (2 points.)
New mod on Spirit Rend: Wind Keeper. Cooldown reduced by 3, but damage reduced by 15. (3 points.)
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Brief reasoning for each change:
Aurora — is in a decent spot but struggles to self-heal. Many supports heal themselves when they heal others.
Brynn — also in a decent spot but doesn’t see much play. (Obviously I don’t have statistics on play rate or win rate or anything.) Her ultimate seems slightly underwhelming compared to most frontlines. Rather than buff it, just increasing her energy gain slightly so she can have it a little more easily. Also many teams play around Aegis by taking vertical damage (Gremo, etc.) so gives her a small amount of shields on use as well. Nothing excessive.
Elle — want a viable alternative mod to Dance of Death. Overcharge change is interesting; adds some decision-making without really losing anything.
Garrison — plays the role of a high-damage frontline, as he has missiles instead of a proper defensive free action, but he’s a bit on the weaker side. This change keeps his role — increases his multi-target damage capability in line with other frontlines (especially given the poor area of his punch), and Quake Slam is already a 3-point mod — no need to increase cooldown, and annoying as it desyncs from his missiles.
Kaigin — Shadowstalker much needed buff. Cover of Night actually leads to interesting playstyle with this change. Storm of Blades gives a ranged Kaigin some possibility, but you have to commit to that playstyle with 3 points and a damage nerf — still not as good as a typical ranged firepower, but that’s on purpose. Eclipse functionality tweak. Feed on Fear still not great but maybe a bit viable. Ditto Honed Edge.
Khita — Could use a small buff probably, Leaf in the Wind is very fun and relatively high skillcap; making it baseline opens up possibilities for other mods on her primary which is a slight buff. New mod is meant to get Take Aim! up slightly more often without being overpowered.
Nev:3 — the new mods are neat! Minor buffs to a couple of existing mods that don’t see much play. And Mouse Trap should do indirect damage.
Oz — the mod gives some added utility to Zap Trap in a way that Oz really needs. I don’t think it’s mandatory at 2 points, but it’s nice if you can spare it.
Tol-Ren — He doesn’t see a lot of competitive play, for good reason — he’s mostly a damage machine without much utility, and can be hard to protect against coordinated fire. But he should probably do a bit more damage to be in line with PuP and Kaigin — this doesn’t increase his maximum damage, but does buff his base and Honed Blade damage (to make Honed Blade less needed, but still useful). Considered making Honed Blade 31 but decided it should be good since it’s a 3-point mod. Long Sword adds some slight range to his attack which can facilitate certain playstyles. And the new mod on Spirit Rend is meant to radically change the ability and with it Tol-Ren’s playstyle — Spirit Rend deals only 10 damage but still slows, and has only a 1-turn cooldown. So you can play a bit more ranged — slow people to catch up to them, get some energy, etc. — but you won’t do crazy damage.
Combat Reflexes: Action Roll no longer reduces charges.
+ Increase the CD by 1.
Yeah, maybe. I thought about this. But it’s already a 4-turn cd with only 2 charges…do we really want a 5-turn cd with 2 charges? You’ll use the charges quickly and it ends up being almost as much of a downside as not having the charges. I mean — it’s close — but I think the numbers shake out such that 4-turn cd with 2 charges isn’t too OP. See below.
Hypothetically, let’s say Turn 1 is the first turn I use Action Roll, and that I use Action Roll basically every time it comes up.
Accordingly, with 4 turn cd, 2 charges:
1 – Action Roll (cooldown happens over 2,3,4,5)
3 – Action Roll (ability is already cooling down)
6 – Action Roll (soonest I could use it, no charges remaining, ability recovers a charge over turns 6,7,8,9)
10 – Action Roll
14 – Action Roll
18 – Action Roll
22 – Action Roll
26 – Action Roll
= 8 rolls over 26 turns.
4 turn cd, 1 charge (current)
1 – Action Roll (ability cools over 2,3,4,5)
6 – Action Roll (cooldown over 7,8,9,10)
11 – Action Roll (12,13,14,15)
16 – Action Roll
21 – Action Roll
26 – Action Roll
= 6 rolls over 26 turns
5 turn cd, 2 charges
1 – Action Roll (ability charges over 2,3,4,5,6)
3 – Action Roll (ability still cooling)
7 – Action Roll (charges over 7,8,9,10,11)
12 – Action Roll
17 – Action Roll
22 – Action Roll
27 – Action Roll
= 7 rolls over 27 turns
For comparison, here’s Dance of Death (3 charges):
1 — Roll (ability cools over 2,3,4,5)
3 — Roll (ability still cooling)
4 — Roll (ability still cooling)
6 — Roll (ability cools over 6,7,8,9)
10 — Roll
14 — Roll
18 — Roll
22 — Roll
26 — Roll
9 rolls over 26 turns. But wait, Tig, that’s only 1 extra roll per 26 turns! I thought Dance of Death was really good?
Well — two things. One, DoD is only a 2-point mod whereas Action Roll is a 3-point mod. And second, if you don’t roll for a few turns, you can stack up to 3, which is significant. This model doesn’t build that in.