Ability Consolidation and Renovation Thread

The purpose of this thread is to simplify, differentiate, clarify and consolidate the numerous abilities in this game into a more cohesive and easily digestible form.

In the interest of further renovating the game in the path that DOG has seemingly wanted to take, I decided to create a massive thread with my suggestions... Or rather, a handful of them. I was going to list out all of them, but found that there are simply too many abilities in the game for this to be possible for me to do alone. The info I have in this thread took a lot of time and work, but I had fun doing it - and even if none of this gets implemented, I gave it a shot.

I know the hot topics right now are about upgrade paths and stuff like that, but I feel like the first step NEEDS to be simplifying the ability pool.

We all want this game to improve, and I think most can agree that this means making it more accessible. Less memorization, higher scan-and-go readability. Keeping that in mind, I created the following rubric that I tried to stick to when making recommendations with these abilities...



1. Reduce complexity without sacrificing flavor.

This was the hardest to stick to - basically just meaning that we should remove the extraneous while maintaining the "fun."



2. The name of the ability should tell you what it does.

In an effort to increase scan-and-go readability, the names should become much less vague. This resulted in a heavy emphasis on "keywords" (e.g. Command: X, Domain: X, Logistics: X, etc.) and a removal of stuff like "Disciple's Rapture" that demand further reading to understand. Furthermore, I've realized while reading through these abilities that there are a LOT of abilities whose "flavor" is entirely contained in the name of the ability, and not the actual function. I think this serves only to confuse and complicate, so I kept this in mind while going through.



3. More common abilities, fewer unique abilities

When I was cycling through the ability list on Poxbase, I found a ghastly number of "unique" abilities - that is, abilities that are found only on one champion. I'd venture to say roughly HALF of the abilities in the game exist only on one champion, which is undoubtedly something that contributes to the overwhelming volume. It complicates interactions, which complicates coding, which creates bugs, which makes the game difficult to learn or even play, which makes it less accessible, which is the #1 reason why this game has been on a downwards spiral the past couple years.

Finding a good balance between 3 and 1 proved to be difficult, and in some places I'm still not sure what to recommend. But I gave it a good shake.



Now, since this is such a stupidly massive thread, I have separated it into two digestible versions with three different sections in each version.

The first version is a TL;DR version that's simply bulleted patch notes. Easy, quick, usually self-explanatory.

The second version is a fully detailed analysis that explains each change notes in the TL;DR version if you are curious about the reasoning behind it. Ctrl + F the ability name and you should find the desired entry.

The three sections within each version are: Consolidated abilities and Renamed abilities, named for the proposed solutions, and Potential changes for abilities I'm not sure what to do with.

Consolidated abilities are repetitive abilities that are merged into more common abilities (in line with item #3) to lessen the overall volume.
Renamed abilities are the same abilities that are renamed so that you know what they do just by their title (in line with item #2).

Thanks for reading - what follows are the recommendations.

DISCLAIMER: A lot of this is just my opinion, and you may disagree with it. Please reply with objections, that we may discuss. And remember that I only did A-E, because eff this noise. Thanks!

TL;DR VERSION

Consolidated abilities

• "Air Drop" changed to "Grappling Hook"
• "Ancient Corruption" changed to "Corruption"
• "Animate" removed; Sentinel of Ailur re-designed
• "Anthomancy" changed to "Gift of Scrying"
• "Arcane Dance" changed to "Weaken Spells"
• "Attack: Arrow, Boulder, etc." changed to "Attack: Physical"
• "Attendant" changed to "Grant: Charge" or "Invigorate 2"
• "Bequest" removed
• "Bestial Presence" changed to "Battle Harden"
• "Bind" changed to "Assault"
• "Black Tempest" changed to "Eternal Storm"
• "Blinding Roll" changed to "Flash Bomb"
• "Blood Dispersal" removed
• "Blood Fueled" changed to "Exertion 3" (base)
• "Blood Knowledge" changed to "Bloodseeker"
• "Bloodbind" changed to "Blood Magic"
• "Bone Mason" removed
• "Bounce" changed to "Confuse Attacker"
• "Brand of the Outlaw" removed
• "Breaker: Electricity" removed
• "Brubaker Bond" and "Brubaker Resistance" merged into "Brubaker Brothers"
• "Call of the Hunter" changed to "Relocate Ally"
• "Corrosive Grenade" changed to "Acid Bomb 3"
• "Corrupted Nora" changed to "Backlash"
• "Counterstrike" spread around to more champs; "Arrow Throw" and "Riposte" removed
• "Dampen" changed to "Grand Entrance" or "Majestic"
• "Death Pact" removed, Deathcaster re-designed
• "Death Sentence" changed to "Judgment"
• "Deathstrike" changed to "Death Touch"
• "Defender of Chaos" removed
• "Dehydrate" removed
• "Devastating Strike" changed to "Execute"
• "Devour Moga" changed to "Consume"
• "Devour Skeleton" changed to "Consume"
• "Devourable" removed, Crystalis re-designed
• "Draw Power" removed
• "Dreameater" changed to "Psychic Ping"
• "Duel" changed to "Antagonize"
• "Eatable" removed
• "Empower" changed to "Grant: Magical Aura"
• "Enhance Weapon" changed to "Inspire"
• "Ensnare" changed to "Constriction"
• "Enveloping Mist" changed to "Impair Vision"
• "Eruption" changed to "Annihilate"
• "Evil Aura" changed to "Lifedrain Aura"
• etc.... You get the idea for F-Z

Renamed abilities

• "Ascendance" renamed "Ascended: Divinity"
• "Aspiring Servant" renamed "Revere: Serkan/Xulos"
• "Barbarian Bound" renamed "Bound: Barbarian"
• "Barbarian Rider" renamed "Rider: Renegade"
• "Bear Kinship" renamed "Revere: Enraged Grizzly"
• "Beast Herder" renamed "Herder: Beast"
• "Blackguard Training" renamed "Quest: Blackguard Banner"
• "Bone Fracture" renamed "Propogate: Lesser Bonemauler"
• "Boundless Vitality" renamed "Ascended: Vitality"
• "Bravery" renamed "Bond: Surge Enemy"
• "Brutality" renamed "Bond: Multiattack 2"
• "Broodcaller" renamed "Recruit: Broodlings"
• "Cerulean Sigil" renamed "Sigil: Bold"
• "Change of Plans" renamed "Grant: Font Ignorance"
• "Chuck Moga" renamed "Chuck Moga Axeman"
• "Chuck Spider" renamed "Chuck Spiderling"
• "Dark Rider" renamed "Rider: Korsien"
• "Desert Walker" renamed "Sand Front"
• "Death Knell" renamed "Ascended: Death"
• "Desecrate Earth" renamed "Desecration"
• "Desert Herder" renamed "Desert Shepherd"
• "Dirge's Guard" renamed "Revere: Dirge"
• "Disciple of the Scale" renamed "Revere: Dragon God"
• "Disciple's Rapture" renamed "Logistics: Manic"
• "Divert" renamed "Grant: Deflect"
• "Drop Beacon" renamed "Deploy: Skywing Beacon"
• "Elf Bound" renamed "Bound: Elf"
• "Endless Devotion" renamed "Bond: Nora Gem"
• etc.... You get the idea for F-Z

Potential changes

• "Bash" - Exactly the same as "Stab". Only on one champ. What to do?
• "Battlefiend" - Trademark ability for Cyclops Battlefiend
• "Become: Bull, Become: Shaman" - Only iterations of "Become" keyword
• "Biogenesis" - Change to Propogate?
• "Blood Bond" - Change to Exertion 3
• "Blood Fueled" - Changed to Exertion 3 base; new upgrade path
• "Body Jumper" - Changed to Death Nova - Sonic 4
• "Born In Blood" - Would be great to be given a keyword instead
• "Cannon Barrage" - Changed to Stone Bomb 3? Something better than that would be good.
• "Cataclysm" - Problem ability, IMO. Not sure what to recommend
• "Chains of Amareth" - Changed to Binding Chains, Stationary removed from Chained Fae
• "Cursed Treasure" - I don't like this ability
• "Designate Flagbearer" - What about just Grant: Overseer Moga 3? I dunno.
• "Distichous: X" - I don't like these. You always have to open them up to see what they do.
• "Instigate" - Seems like there could be some way to rename this.
• etc.... You get the idea for the rest

FULL ANALYSIS VERSION

CONSOLIDATED ABILITIES

In a trend that I believe began when past devs were trying to make exotics/Legendary/Limited runes feel "special", there are loads of abilities in this game that are "unique" abilities - only on one champion.

The purpose of this section is to simply cut down on the sheer volume of abilities present in the game.



Air Drop (Champ: Salaman Commando)

It's a 10-space relocate into a font zone - could we just replace this with Grappling Hook? Looks like Commando has one in the art anyway, and it's a less extreme ability.



Ancient Corruption (Champ: Corrupted Guardian)

+5 DMG, +2 SPD, Life Siphon for 6 turns, but the duration decreases by 1 for each time the champion is attacked. The main question I have: Is this ability really that interesting? I feel like the ability Corruption has more flavor and is simpler - and it would go with the champ's flavor. Bottom line, I don't think that a +stat buff that's easily mitigated is really doing anything for this champion.



Animate (Champ: Sentinel of Ailur)

Removed Immobile, Passive and grants Attack - Physical for 3 turns at the cost of 10 Nora. So how many other champs are going to get this ability in the future? None? So let's remove both it and Immobile from this champ and re-design.



Anthomancy (Champ: Fae Oracle)

Reveals 6 non-champ runes on deploy. I don't see why we could just give her Gift of Scrying instead.



Arcane Dance (Champs: Circadian Songmaster, DE Fire Dancer, Mika, Mysian Lamia, Spirit Singer)

Friendly champs within 4 spaces have Spell Resistance for 4 turns. Why not just remove this ability in favor of Weaken Spells, which has a more transparent name and is a better ability in general (passive).



Attendant (Champ: Attendant Squire)

Sorry, this is just a weird ability. +3 AP and Charge 3 to a Paladin, but it costs 5 extra AP (7 total AP) if the champion has attacked this turn. I know it's all "Paladin synergy" and whatnot, but could it just be Grant: Charge instead? Or just Invigorate 2? Just some possibilities.



Bequest (Champ: Elemental Warstaff)

Reduces spell CD by 1 on deploy. Is this really worth taking up the space of one more ability?



Bestial Presence (Champs: Dugon, Rupture Alpha)

Gives +1/+2 DMG and +5 HP for 1-4 turns on deploy. Can't we just have Battle Harden instead? It was alright when it was just on the ST avatar, but now Dugon and Rupture Alpha have this. It's unnecessary.



Bind (Champs: Lots)

Does 10 damage when an opposing champ disengages. Just replace it with Assault across the board. It's a less expensive ability anyway (8 vs. 10 Nora)




Black Tempest (Champ: Voil King Ruubgaal)

Passively registers 6 electric damage within 8 spaces at the beginning of every round. Procs again every 5 champions in play. This is Ruubgaal's signature ability - I guess it's fine to keep around. But since it's not exactly great now, why not just give him Eternal Storm instead? It's still got that "epic storm of death" feel to it, and it's a better ability. He's already built to hold charges, too.



Blinding Roll (Champ: Salaman Ninja)

4-space relocate that Blinds within 2 spaces. Why can't he just have Flash Bomb instead? We need to make up a whole 'nother ability just to reverse the order of the effects and remove the stealth? Clear-cut solution, IMO.



Blood Dispersal (Champ: Hekatian Bloodguard)

Heals friendly champs within 6 spaces when attacking a Bloodied champ. I've never gotten much of a heal out of this, and I wouldn't cry myself to sleep if Bloodguard outright lost it. Her main flavor comes from Drive and Pet, anyway. She could use the 12 Nora cost reduction from losing it, too.




Blood Knowledge (Champ: Seeker of Blood)

For each Bloodied champ within 4 spaces, your opponent loses 2 nora and your champ gains +1 AP and +1 DMG for 1 tu.... Zzzzzzzzz. Oh sorry, I must have dozed off. Anyway, this guy sure likes blood! My fellow UD players might crucify me for this, but give the guy Bloodseeker. Come on, he's the Seeker of Blood! We're already spreading that ability around outside of Korona anyway, might as well.



Bloodbind (Champ: Bloodbinder Count)

All opposing units within 4 spaces on a DMZ lose 5 HP and are Paralyzed for 1 turn, and he heals 5 HP. Obvious solution here is to just give the guy Blood Magic instead - incredibly similar ability and it's already fairly common.



Bone Mason (Champ: Elsari Mason)

Deal damage, heal the shrine. Let's play a game real quick. Raise your hand if you've actually used Elsari Mason in the 5 years that he's been around in this game, and had this ability actually help you significantly. No hands? Great, then we can remove it. I don't have any suggestions for a replacement ability.



Bounce (Champs: Grintmaw Bouncer, Augur of the Deep)

Engage the champ, get bounced back 4 spaces. It's only on two champs now: Augur of the Deep and Grintmaw Bouncer. Can we just remove it and replace with Confuse Enemy? Very similar ability, and already has equity with Confuse Attacker.



Brand of the Outlaw (Champ: Darkmarsh Outlaw)

Damage a champ, give it Pariah, Liability and Cursed for 4 turns. Don't really care for this ability, since Outlaw's main draw is Phantom Dash, and this is a 10 (10!) Nora sandbag on him. I suggest outright removal.



Breaker: Electricity (Champ: Hyaenid Breaker)

Take electric damage, spread it at 50% to champs within 6 spaces. There are zero other "Breaker" abilities, and this one isn't particularly interesting in my opinion. I'd be cool with outright removal.



Brubaker Bond, Brubaker Resistance (Champ: Brubaker Brothers)

Grants Assault, Charge 3, Resistance - Physical 2 and Resistance - Magical 3, though the first two are through proximity and the second two are on deploy. Could be consolidated into one ability, simply called Brubaker Brothers. On the other hand, is Brubaker Bond really doing much for them? 10 Nora for an 8 Nora and 5 Nora ability. Could be outright removed. Sandbag city.



Call of the Hunter (Champ: Deep Elf Infiltrator)

Grants Relocate: Ally for 2 turns, but only when the champ is adjacent to an opposing one. So many questions I have: Why is this called "Call of the Hunter"? What's the flavor here? Is it that she sneaks up to an opposing champ and then howls for help? I just don't get it. I'd rather just give her Relocate: Ally straight up.



Contagion (Champ: Extispicer)

When an opposing unit within 6 spaces takes Psychic damage, it also gets Poisoned 3. It's interesting I guess, the idea of "spreading the poison", I just don't think this particular execution brings that much to the table. It strikes me as just one more thing to keep track of, which I'm writing this whole piece to help avoid. I'd just remove...



Corrosive Grenade (Champ: Silverclan Cavalier)

AoE2, range 5, 8 Acid damage + Sundered. I don't really get it, considering we already have several other AoE2, range 5 Acid attacks (Bomb/Breath). Come on, just give the guy Acid Bomb. Maybe he can even get Sunder.



Corrupted Nora (Champ: Cyclops Shaman)

Does shrine damage for nora generation. Personally, just give the dude Backlash. It would be a buff anyway.



Counterstrike (Champ: Nohkan Grandmaster)

When an enemy makes an unsuccessful attack, this champ gets a free attack off on them. Wondering if we can maybe ditch Arrow Throw and Riposte altogether in favor of this one ability? Yes, Counterstrike can do both range and melee - but if you have a champ with Block, they're going to be using Counterstrike on melee attacks anyway, so I don't see the problem. I've always thought "Arrow Throw" wasn't a very smooth ability name, anyway. Counterstrike is much better.



Dampen (Champ: Grintmaw Shaman)

Opposing champ with highest DMG within 6 spaces gets Awestruck. To be honest, never been a big fan of this ability. Can he just have Majestic or Grand Entrance or something instead? What exactly is "Dampen" doing for his flavor?




Death Pact (Champ: Deathcaster)

Takes 50% loss of life to give 50% loss of life within 5 spaces. Stitched First used to have this, too, but now just Deathcaster. Deathcaster's a champ I've always wanted to feel more fun than he does - he has Death Pact, Sacrifice (!), a Death Nova, and some negligible abilities like Disease Eater/Assimilate and the like. I think Death Pact doesn't really fit him, considering his upgrade paths. Would recommend a re-design personally, and potentially removing Death Pact from the game.



Death Sentence (Champ: Hyaenid Executioner)

Makes an attack against a champ at 50% damage, does 5 damage for every DoT on it. Couldn't we just give him Judgement instead? A similar ability that's both better than Death Sentence, fits with the "judge jury and executioner" flavor, and is already on more champions? Also, why is this ability 0 Nora?

More important question: Why does Hyaenid Executioner not have... Execute?



Death Touch/Deathstrike (Champs: Magnus the Fallen, Xulos, Greater Pitspawn, Sarinda)

Adjacent champ or champ within 2 spaces loses 50% HP. These two abilities do the same thing, except Deathstrike gives Eviscerated 3, is limited to adjacent, and costs more Nora for some reason. Just consolidate into Death Touch.




Defender of Chaos (Champ: Bok Gatekeeper)

Re-directs shrine damage to Gatekeeper. Man, just ditch this ability. Nobody likes it. Thanks.



Dehydrate (Champ: Quagmirrian)

Does 5 damage + Distract 6 within 4 spaces. Really weird ability. Would anyone be devastated if it was removed? This is one of those case-in-point instances of an ability's "flavor" being entirely contained in its name. "Dehydrate". Get it, he's Quagmirrian! He Hydrates, AND Dehydrates. Except there's nothing flavorful about the actual ability. Quag costs enough as it is, just remove this sandbag.




Devastating Strike (Champ: Vashal Emerite)

Deals 50% more damage on the next attack for 2 AP, 2 CD. Confused why we don't just use Execute. Let's just do that instead.



Devour Skeleton (Champ: Bone Elemental)

Kills a Skeleton, heals according to its HP. Let's talk about both this and Devour Moga, which is on a number of G'herns. There's the classic ability Consume, which has this exact same effect, but for some reason when these abilities were created, they were titled with "Devour" instead of "Consume".

Here's my suggestion: Just replace both of these abilities with Consume. I mean, what is your Bone Elemental going to be eating besides Skeletons anyway?



Devourable (Champ: Crystalis)

It can be Consumed, basically. Frankly, I think Crystalis is a really stupid champ that just needs to be re-designed, and this ability can go out with it.



Draw Power (Champ: Jakei Soulpainter)

Shrine takes 10 damage, you gain 5 Nora. It's an upgrade no one takes (I think?) and it doesn't fit the flavor of the champion at all. Removed.



Dreameater (Champ: Stitched Dremeater)

Does 4 Psychic damage within 5 spaces while Stealthed. Can't we just give him Psychic Ping instead?




Duel (Champ: Condor Fury, Northern Cross Templar)

Antagonizes and does some 50%/75% damage reduction thing, too. Could we just replace with Antagonize? I know it's not as effective, but further changes to the affected champs can be made to make up for it.



Eatable (Champ: Crowned Sauropod)

Champs can Consume it, basically. First of all, this is the same ability as Devourable, and I already wanted to remove that one. This one is just weird on Sauropod, anyway... Removed.



Empower (Champ: Minotaur Battlemage)

Gives self Regen 3, Scale Armor and Magical Aura 3. Great and all, but I think Grant: Magical Aura would be better.



Enhance Weapon (Champ: Collection of Souls)

Gives +1 DMG and gives self -1 DMG. Wait, when did Collection of Souls get this? I always thought it had Inspire. Just remove this ability and give Inspire instead.



Ensnare (Champs: Lots)

50% damage attack also Ensnares 2. Compare this to Constriction, which is a 50% damage attack that also Constricts 3. I feel like we could just replace Ensare with Constriction, which is a more effective ability and we're more familiar with it in general. Plus, better icon. Alright, I'll admit, some of these changes are pretty subjective. But these two abilities are pretty similar.



Enveloping Mist (Champ: Snaptooth Murkwater)

Reduces enemies' range to their minimum range, within 4 spaces. For 6 turns. Funny, this is only on two runes in the game now: Murkwater and Mist of the Dead, or whatever the heck that FW relic is with the elf in the green fog. Could we just replace with Impair Vision, or does that totally bone Snaptooth decks that were relying on this for power turns? I know it also bones Mist of the Dead, but we can worry about that later.



Eruption (Champ: Corrupted Overlord)

Does 12 Fire damage within 3 spaces, and +4 damage to those in water. Ooo, flavor! Come on, just give the guy Annihilate. It doesn't have the flavor-enhancing extra water damage, but it's a more pervasive ability that does sorta the same thing... except it's better.



Evil Aura (Champs: Lots)

Does 2 loss of life within 2 spaces and heals for the same amount. Exactly the same ability as Lifedrain Aura, except it activates on your opponent's turn instead of yours. Just change it to Lifedrain Aura on all champs and let's move on.

Remember with Evil Aura did nothing? The tooltip just said "This champ is evil" or something? Those were the days. Plus, drowned shrines lolzbbq

 

RENAMED ABILITIES

This section is all about following item #2 in the rubric mentioned at the beginning - making the ability names clear so you know what they do, mostly using keywords.




Ascendance (Champ: Aspect of Divinity)

Spend 20 charges, get +30 HP, Elite and other goodies. This is AoD's trademark ability, I think it's fine to keep. It is basically just a super-Intensify, though, so it's not really that unique. I'm not against removing in favor of Intensify, but I think it has a fun "Oh Bane Shift" factor to it that I wouldn't want to lose by removing from the game.

Would recommend renaming to Ascended: Divinity. See other "Aspect" abilities to see why.



Aspiring Servant (Champ: Lich Servitor)

Maybe it's just me, but couldn't this be made into a Revere: X ability? It would improve scan-and-go readability. Revere: Serkan? Oh I get it, he gets Lich-born when Serkan is out. Aspiring Servant? Wait, what does that do, let me read it... Oh right, this is that ability that gives him Lich-born when Serkan is out.

It's a small difference for vets, but I bet it's a big difference for new players trying to learn the game. Keywords are much easier to memorize than long ability names. I think this same change should happen to the rest of the Legendaries from Dire Covenant - I'll list them out later and direct back to this entry.



Attack: Arrow, Boulder, Cannon, etc.

Come on, just give them Attack: Physical. Does it really add that much flavor to say they're attacking with an arrow? Let the attack animation and sprite art give the flavor for that, not the ability name. This includes all Harbinger abilities (Forsaken Arrow, Forglar Arrow, etc.)



Barbarian Bound (Champ: Savage Wolf)

Gets Possessed if there are no Barbs in play on your side. I'm OK with this one, but I'd rather it say Bound: Barbarian. I'd like to try to build these ability names into keywords so the readability is improved.





Barbarian Rider (Champ: Plains Savage)

Again, I think it should be Rider: Renegade. Keywords good. Vague ability names bad.



Bear Kinship (Champ: Garu Primitive)

Grants Enrage 2 and +2 DMG if an Enraged Grizzly is in play, and if no friendly Garu are in play, it grants -1 SPD. Another pretty weird unique ability I'm not sure what to do with. Perhaps make it Revere: Enraged Grizzly and remove the -1 SPD? Just trying to keep consistent with the keywords.




Beast Herder (Champ: Azaren the Shepherd)

Gives friendly Beasts within 5 spaces anti-Lumbering/Lethargic, +3 AP and Crushing Charge. Would recommend changing to Herder: Beast, in keeping with the emphasis on keywords.



Blackguard Training (Champ: Skeezick Blackguard)

Deal 25 damage, gain a Blackguard Banner in an adjacent space. I would only recommend renaming it Quest: Blackguard Banner, in keeping with the "Quest" keyword. See Quest: Damage for details, it procs off 25 damage as well.




Bone Fracture (Champ: Bone Elemental)

Get attacked, spawn an adjacent Lesser Bonemauler. Bone Ele's trademark ability. Don't see a problem with it, but should be renamed to Propogate: Lesser Bonemauler, in keeping with other similar abilities.





Boundless Vitality (Champ: Aspect of Life)

20 or more charges means you can reset the CD of an ability to 0. Would only recommend renaming to Ascended: Vitality, in keeping with other "Aspect" abilities.



Bravery (Champs: Lots)

Gives Surge: Enemy and Iron Will when a racial champ is within 3 spaces. Rename Bond: Surge Enemy.



Brutality (Champs: Lots)

Gives Multiattack 2 when a racial champ is within 3 spaces. Rename Bond: Multiattack 2.



Broodcaller (Champ: Broodguardians)

Deploys level 3 Broodlings in deploy zones... on-deploy. If it must be kept, call it Recruit: Broodlings (like Lonx Recruiter's Recruit: Snowcat).



Cerulean Sigil (Champ: Cerulean Wing)

Gains Bold for six turns when a friendly champ is deployed, plus it can give Bold to other friendlies within 4 spaces if that champ has a Sigil, too. I would recommend changing to Sigil: Bold. Again, so we can scan the ability's name and figure out what it does.



Change of Plans (Champ: Privateer Captain)

Gives target champ within 5 spaces Font Ignorance. Perhaps renamed to Grant: Font Ignorance? Once again, another ability where all the flavor is solely contained in the name. I guess.



Chuck Moga/Spider/Freeze Bug (Champ: Chaos Brave, Imp Jester, Freeze Bug Keeper)

Self-explanatory abilities, though I'd like it if the names reflected the summoned champs. Chuck Moga Axeman, Chuck Spiderling respectively.



Dark Rider (Champ: General Korsien)

Korsien's Rider ability. In keeping with other Rider changes, would recommen renaming to Rider: Korsien or something.



Death Knell (Champ: Aspect of Death)

Spends 6 charges, the nearest opposing champ gains Short-Lived. If we were to remain consistent with other "Aspect" changes, this should be named Ascended: Death or something. I like the ability name as it is - but making it consistent with other "Aspect" abilities would be preferred.



Desecrate Earth (Champ: Obsidian Venger)

Opposite of Consecration. Shouldn't it be called... Desecration, then?




Desert Walker (Champs: Draksar Sandstalker, Sandstalker Lord, Myx Matriarch, Skeezick Herder, Skywing Imperator)

Creates Sand 4 spaces around the champ. Shouldn't it be called Sand Front to remain consistent with abilities like Ice Front?



Desert Herder (Champ: Skeezick Herder)

Refunds 15% of the Nora cost when a friendly SL Beast dies. I don't think "Herder" should be in the title, considering other abilities like Beast Herder that have AP gain effects. How about Desert Shepherd? Whenever I see this ability, I think for a second that it's an AP gain ability like the ones on Azaren and Fleshweaver. Just another case where a tiny change can help.




Dirge's Guard (Champ: Moga Lord's Guard)

When Dirge is out, he gets a +5 HP, +3 DMG, Bodyguard buff. Just change name to Revere: Dirge.



Disciple of the Scale (Champs: Draksar High Priest, Draksar Ravenspeaker)

Buffs champ when Vindrax/Valdac are out. Rename to Revere: Dragon God or something.



Disciple's Rapture (Champ: Sheoul Disciple)

After 6 turns, gains Manic and Intimidating. To be honest, this ability is a complete mess - it has never worked properly. If we can't get it to work properly, just remove it altogether. If we want to keep it, rename to Logistics: Manic or something and have it trigger off of Demon deploys, since apparently that coding seems to work on other champs.

Preferably though, it's something cooler than Manic or Intimidating.




Divert (Champs: A lot)

Grants a hidden Deflect. Why not call it Grant: Deflect...? It could still be hidden - the function is still the same, just the name change to clarify what it does.



Dreadwing Potion (Champ: Slick and Buzz)

Turns a champ within 3 spaces into a Dreadwing. I recommend renaming to Transform: Dreadwing, along with a name change to the ability Metamorphosis in the same vein.



Drop Beacon (Champ: Skywing Patrol)

Change the name to Deploy: Skywing Beacon, to line up with all the other "Deploy: X" abilities like Deploy: Archery Bale. Easy.



Duplicity (Champ: Aspect of Infinity)

Spend 8 charges, clone yourself. Call it Ascended: Infinity in keeping with other Aspect abilities.



Elf Bound (Champ: Forest Giant)

Gets Possessed if an Elf isn't in play. Rename to Bound: Elf just like the other Bound abilities.



Emerald Sigil (Champ: Emerald Wing)

Gives Teleport 1 and Damage Shield: Electricity 3 for doing Sigil-y things. Rename to Sigil: Teleport.



Endless Devotion (Champs: Lots)

Gives Nora Gem and Immortality when within 4 spaces of a Jakei. Rename to Bond: Nora Gem. Now we know what it does on sight.




POTENTIAL CHANGES

All the stuff I'm unsure about but feel like should be changed.




Bash (Champ: Grintmaw Slinger)



CD 2 Physical attack. Can't believe this is the only champ in the game with this ability now. It is the exact same ability as Stab, which is on many more champions. Dunno what to do with this one honestly, but it's an unnecessary unique ability. Another instance where all the "flavor" is in the name even though the effect is repetitive.




Battlefiend (Champ: Cyclops Battlefiend)

Grants +2 SPD, Fury, Multiattack 1, and Berserker 3 when the champ's DMG "modifier" is set higher than 5. Think of how much thinking you would have to do while reading this ability if you're a new player. Not sure what to suggest, since it is Cyclops Battlefiend's trademark ability... but it's pretty complex.



Become: Bull, Become: Shaman (Champ: Boghopper Pupil)

Turns into a Boghopper Bull or Boghopper Shaman. Why not just Bull Form and Shaman Form?



Biogenesis (Champ: K'thun the Ancient)

New Sapling every third turn and on deploy. What about just having Propogate: Sapling instead? I realize further adjustments will have to be made to K'thun and Treefolk, but come on, major changes are on the way for that archetype anyway.



Blessing of Stone (Champ: Royal Geomancer)

Gives all your champs Resistance - Physical 2 for 2 turns. Kinda boring, and not really Geomancer's signature move. Not sure what to replace it with, but I don't see a need for it since he centers around chasms.



Blinding (Champ: Voil Glarewing)

Blinds attacking champs for 2 turns. I get it, it's like Stunning on Rugolth's Revenge. Would too much flavor be lost if it got something like Blindfire instead?



Blood Bond (Champ: Vengeful Cyclops)

Gives +2/+4 AP when friendly Cyclops die. I would advocate replacing with Vengeful or Vindictive, but he's already got those. Man, Vengeful Cyclops is one bitter dude. I don't think we need a unique ability like Blood Bond to drive that point home. Give him Accrue or something to help with the AP gain. Exertion? Something like that.



Blood Fueled (Champ: Blood Fiend)

Lose 8 HP, gain 8 AP. Remember when Blood Fiends were the most OP champ in the game? That was a fun couple of days. Anyway, nobody is using Blood Fiend even though this is a cool ability. I vote Blood Fiend gains Exertion 3 base instead (it's currently an upgrade) and gets an alternate upgrade path for the first ability line.



Body Jumper (Champ: Elsari Siren)

When it dies, it Possesses closest opposing champ for 3 turns and renders them Immobile. This rune's been out for a long time, and I've never seen anyone actually use this to great effect. Might as well just remove it and give her some other witch-like ability. What ability? I dunno, I don't have brilliant recommends for everything. Some sort of on-death effect would be best, I think. Death Nova - Sonic? You got me.



Born in Blood (Champ: Gahlroonling)

When it dies, a Lv 3 Gahlroon spawns. Sounds an awful lot like a Rider ability, though that obviously doesn't make sense here.



Cannon Barrage (Champ: Tremir Craghide)

Spend 4 charges, deal random Cannon Ball damage up to range 5 in AoE2 for each friendly Tortun. (Whew!) I guess it's Tremir's "signature" ability or whatever, but it's not a great one. Random selection of spaces isn't great for the game (same with all "random" abilities) and if I didn't care about flavor I'd just say give him Stone Bomb 3. Not sure what else to do, thoughts?



Cataclysm (Champ: Deep Leviathan)

Spend 15 charges, do global 40 Fire damage. Outside of Deep Levi trick decks, this hasn't been very usable and just ends up adding one more global damage effect, something that's not great for the game as a whole. Plus, it's 20 Nora... I know it's Deep Levi's "thing", but why not just give him Death Nova - Lava 4 and some other "charge" ability and call it a day? Maybe I'm way off, maybe he should just keep it. I dunno. I just know I hate seeing him at 5 SPD and 8 DMG... so unintimidating.



Chains of Amareth (Champ: Chained Fae)

Deploy a Fairy, Wizard or Elemental (?!) and give it 5 max HP, Fae loses 5 max HP, and you gain 5 Nora. Really weird ability, to be honest. Then again, Chained Fae is really weird champ. Stationary, Careless, 37 base Nora... Think the rune needs to be re-thought personally. Remove Stationary, replace Chains with Binding Chains?



Charged Barricade (Champ: Jangar Architect)

Spend 2 charges, create 15 HP barricade with font aversion. I guess the primary use is to create a Knockback surface? I get it, he's an "architect" so he builds a "structure", still kind of an odd ability.



Charged Portal, Charged Summon Tortalleon (Champ: Tortun Portalmage)

Spend 1 charge, grant Portal. Spend 8 charges, summon Tortalleon Pygmy. Curious if this champion can instead be given more interesting abilities tied into relocation, a la Minotaur Portalwalker.



Cursed Treasure (Champ: Tortun Bokor)

When a champ picks up a nora globe, champs within 2 spaces get Cursed, or get 5 Disease damage if already Cursed. I mean, I get it - still think this whole FW Tortun thing is pretty forced.



Designate Flagbearer (Champ: G'hern General)

Gives Flag of Unification without the Passive ability, plus Overseer: Moga 3. I mean, great and all, but there's not much equity built around the "Designate" keyword - Couldn't this just be Grant: Overseer Moga 3? I know you lose out on the Flag buffs, but it's kind of weird anyway. Just a suggestion.



Distichous: X (Champs: Corrupted Overlord/Metallic Slag/Experimental Warspirit/Skybreak Dragon)

Gives one of two abilities when one of two faction's champions get deployed. Maybe it's just me, but I've always hated this ability. I always always always forget what abilities are contained within it for which factions. I would suggest outright removal in favor of a more common split-enhancing ability. Hell, just give each a pair of Logistics abilities and keep the same Distichous buffs in each. There, done - everything's clearer and easily scannable.



Instigate (Champ: Skeezick Warmage)

Gives all other Skeezicks Enrage 1. Not sure what to do with this, but feels like it could be renamed to make the effect clearer.



... AND THAT'S ALL I GOT.

I'm hoping that what I have here is enough to see what could happen. I'm also hoping I didn't write too much. Whatever, I had fun.

- Sep

 

Get rid of animate, give sentinel of ailur the ability that the dragon engine I think it was called "siege engine" maybe.

 

Read about half, liked what I saw

 

You dare to challenge my claim to longest thread?!

*begins furiously reading!*

 

tl;dr

 

While I enjoy the idea of consolidating similar abilities and making the game less of a hurdle to join I don't think getting rid of so many unique abilities is the way.

In other miniature and tcg games many figures/cards have unique abilities at higher rarities to set them apart from lower rarities. I think lowering the amount of unique abilities and the complexity on lower rarity runes that a player is exposed to more often would allow higher rarity runes to have unique abilities, that while maybe not powerful, would be nice to build around. Even looking at tactics games that Pox Nora is similar to they too have characters with unique abilities or an ability only one class has. Consolidation where possible is fine but enough diversity needs to be kept to make it more than a game of Chess. I understand your probably more versed in balance and what abilities are better/similar/etc. and I have no doubt of it.

I just mean to point out that when possible, saving a unique ability that can be built around or adds flavor would be nice to keep flavor in the game. I'd sooner suggest looking at the abilities and which units/factions have access to them. Creating more of a 'color chart' balance magic has or a 'my army can do this' balance that miniature games use. Making each faction have strengths and weaknesses would probably allow consolidation and possibly even removal of unique abilities to make champions fit more in line with flavor and balance.

Again though, my rambling and you probably know better than I.

 

tl;dr

sep is a god

hire sep

 

QFT.

Gotta admit, I really like the sound of a lot of these changes. Many of the listed abilities are either redundant (Devastating Blow, Ensnare) or simply unnecessary when a simpler alternative exists (Blinding Roll, Corrosive Grenade). Then you've got stuff like Draw Power, Defender of Chaos, and Bone Mason, which are almost completely useless. The one thing I will disagree on, however, is Death Pact. Deathcaster has been my favorite FW ranged unit for a long time, and I quite enjoy his flavorful combo of Death Pact + Sac/Nova. Realistically, the ability could be spread a little more to other champions in order to preserve its uniqueness, but Deathcaster himself has been in need of an overhaul since release (loving the fact that he got Soulsift btw). Personally, I feel like Deathstrike, and Death Touch could all be consolidated into one ability which would be the current Death Touch, but Death Pact should remain as-is.

 

Might as well add Rite of Power and Ritual of Power. They're the same thing with two different names on the same champ, just on different upgrade chains.

 

I like the ideas Just not about Bounce and Eatable. Everything else about the single abilities is great!

 

Yeah, I definitely understand the concern.

That's why I tried to point out only the unique abilities that weren't actually special. Like Air Drop, which is basically just Super Grappling Hook. Or Blinding Roll, which is just a slightly altered Flash Bomb. If there's going to be a unique ability, I'd like it to be something like Dark Summons Maxxarek or Aegis on Zeventrech - you remember what that stuff does, because it's so different.

I feel like a lot of "unique" abilities only add the flavor of the name. For example, Bloodbind on Bloodbinder Count. It's basically just Super Blood Magic, but because it's called "Bloodbind", and his name is "Bloodbinder Count", all of a sudden it counts (pun) as flavor. I think this is a dangerous trend, and contributes massively to the volume of abilities.

So to summarize, I agree with you - but I think that roughly 2/3 of the unique abilities can be done away with. Let the unique ones truly be unique.

I'm pretty sure I already held that record with my old UD guide - it was about 30 posts' worth of info. But I don't know what thread you're referring to.

Yeah, I was a little torn on that one, too. Deathcaster is one of my favorite FW units as well.

I just think he needs to be re-designed. He's always been a glass cannon type that blows up at the end, which I've never really liked. Maybe instead of Death Pact he gets "the new" Death Touch and some other adjustments.

Hmmm, why not Eatable? (Pet peeve: the ability name should be "Edible", COME ON DEVS) I just think for a "unique" ability it doesn't bring enough to the table (pun) to constitute a new entry.

 

I agree completely and i'm glad we're on the same page. Yes, I agree things like Flash Bomb and Blinding roll are basically the same, especially since the same units that use blinding roll would use Flash Bomb. Also, I think Bloodbind would be better suited as an ability similar to dead zone voodoo again or to return to Cast: Dead Zone Voodoo. I think the cast abilities were a great way to be unique but still have a great point of reference since players familiar with the spells would be familiar with the abilities. Possibly something such as, 'Target bloodied unit is dealt 6 disease damage and paralyzed for two turns' or even being a self-located dead zone voodoo, except the trigger being a bloodied unit moving within five spaces of him. Something like that seems like it would be more with a unique slot than as you said, super blood magic.

I do however think that certain abilities could stand to keep their names just because of flavor. Such as Dreadwing Potion. I feel it's nice to know he has potions because he is an alchemist. I think to warrant them being unique though that they shouldn't just be copy and pastes of other abilities. If it stays the same, I can see why Transform: Dreadwing is perfect for consistency. But I feel one of the biggest issues consistency wise is the flavor and direction they want to take runes. All these alchemists and witches with potions that would be remade into invigorates, cleanses, etc. I think making the potion actually different and worth the name would be better than doing away with them, because flavor wise granting potions is awesome. But for the effects it seems like a waste as you've pointed out with so many abilities.

 

i like the idea, i don't agree with all the proposed changes but i wasn't expecting to. i think longterm it'd be for the best if a lot of things like this went through, but

well. yeah.


mostly i'm commenting to say wow that was a lot of words and thank god i didn't read them in your voice #CANIGITAAMEN#HALLELUJAH#GODISGOOD

real though, good stuff

 

Actually, they aren't. One upgrade path sacrifices Real Champions and the other Sacrifices summoned units.

 

It also doesn't specify ones you own

 

One sacrifices real owned champions and other sacrifices summons, without differentiating ownership.
I would rather have them unified with "target enemy summoned champion, or target non-illusion champion that you own is sacrificed....." I don't get why they wanted to add more confusing abilities to the game

 

I recently put up my own Wall-o-Text so I was merely poking fun at how closely timed our "unveiling" was. I've read your UD guide and it is, indeed, longer ;P

 

Actually I believe the point was that the ritual was to be the same as raven tongue, as a means to counter opposing summoned units as well as an added benefit of interacting with your own summoned units. I don 'to find it confusing. It's honestly a good step at identifying SL as 'anti-magic' again, this time as undoing the magic that summons these units into being as well as manipulating their own summoned units.

 

Sep, per usual, delivering.