Champions now without their signature/defining ability(s)

So, first off, I love what DOG has done with the revamp. I think, for the most part, it's just what we need in order to "shake things up" and make everything runnable again. Buttttt (and you knew that was coming)....

My concern is that there are some champions that now appear to be without their signature and defining ability(s). In addition, others seem to have completely random abilities that don't support the rune or overall theme.

As an example:

1) Tide Master without a real water-gen capability (sorry, tidal wave doesn't count). I mean really, if anybody would have high tide it should be him!

2.) So tidemaster doesn't have water gen but razor fin slider has trail water? An aquatic champ with their own water gen? Really? In addition, it now has death nova acid/poison. None of this fits.

3.) Yeti avalancher now without escalation? That's his defining ability and in direct regard to how an avalanche works in real life (i.e. it grows in strength with time). How threatening is escalation on him? He's attack physical with range 1. Consider the other champs that now have it with attack electricity, psychic, fire, and magical and with ranges greater than 1.

I'm sure there are many others. Please list others that just don't fit. This isn't an attempt to get buffs on champs you play and nerfs on those you don't like. In addition to making all runes balanced, I think it's also important to make them believable whether based upon the theme, their name, or graphic representation.

Overall, love what's going on with Pox and our best times are ahead of us!

 

Up you go.

 

Wretched Witch lost Wicked Aura (Original champion with it)
Soulrender lost Soulsift (Original champion with it)

 

mosharn lost decapitating blow (original champ with it) and hold the line is an upgrade (his special equip is designed around hold the line)

jangar architect lost overload (only champ with it, and what builder doesn't know how to blow up a building aka relic) (as an aside it may be overpowered to put on a champ with its current design but still flavorful)

 

I wasn't a fan of this either but then I realized that the devs have been away so long that they haven't a clue which champ had what ability first. Can't really hold it against them. They are disconnected, sure, but I can't see how that trumps balance and I'm not sure how to fix it other than list them all out and their corresponding abilities - which is not a bad exercise.

 

Gekaal has no nora miner, so his equip is now broken.

 

As I've mentioned in another thread , a lot of the legendary champions such as the ambassadors and the wizards (Demobologist, etc.) lost their signature skills.

The Vashal Vicar lost Nora Vitality which I thought was an actual clever way of having synergy with Nora Shield.

I think if these units need adjusted for balance purposes so be it but again I'll stress that signature/unique/build-around abilities are a great way to distinguish rarity, work in and with new players and to keep from having rarity = power as a starting point.

 

that kinda blows yeah

 

A very good initiative to make this list. Here we go:

1. Wizard of the way: portal nexus
2. Garu Den Mother: aid defences (plus the replacement - guarded: garu - does not work), plus miss hibernate on the mother
3. Tanglefoot withou flurry (may I suggest to pu it back at 2 ap per attack
4. Angel of restoration (not so restoring any longer): divine favor gone
5. Garu Kodiak: no assault + warcry + [0 ap at attack] (dont know ability name) any longer (take away any other abilities)
6. Occuli Slag: where is mine nora 1
7. Draksar berserker: reinforcement 2 + initiative 2
8. Aspect of Violence: where is counterattack: melee

 

Way to miss the point by a bloody mile

 

fine i was only reading the subject line... anyway mostofmy examples still fit the point, but maybe not all. at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, other two remove from list, fine.

 

None but maybe 1 and 4 fit. And 1 is a very, very good thing, because portal nexus was the most ******** ability ever.

 

Jakei Snowhisper lost Mark, his art even suggests the skill.

 

This list is just a handful of champs who lost the abilities they introduced to the game:

Chaos Brave - Quest: Kill Enemy
Shallaxy - Deploy Rock Trap, Gravity Well
Vashal Vicar - Nora Vitality
Locust - Invasion (now called "Locust Swarm")
Bok Mistress - Nora Barrier (not that anyone took it after it was moved to upgrades)

And more on topic:
Lightning Elemental - Mobility
With a range of 3-5 and the loss of Mobility, Bolt is no longer Bolt; it's something else, and something much worse. The whole unit is a hot, unrunnable mess that requires an Ol' Sok to be remotely useful.

 

- Signature abilities shouldn't be confused with just originally base. There is a subtle difference. Flavor and concept like ambassadors etc but not necessarily Nora barrier on bok mistress imo fits the bill. She just happened to have it and its cool but I wouldn't say it was some critical signature core.

 

So about flurry. Normally, block is more powerfull than attack. All champs can attack once or twice per turn, but block usually you can do once per two turns or once per turn sometimes.

So NoKanDo is exactly a Flurry just blocking instead of attacking - hence more powerfull.If we can have 2 AP autoblock, cant we have 2 AP Flurry too? Not even to talk about those stupid conterattack that the NpKanDo have. Its like Flurry and pummel combined. On each attack with Flurry, you get an extra free attack as well.

 

I mentioned that it was off-but-related-to-topic ("And more on topic:"). Mistress doesn't need Barrier... nobody ever took it as an upgrade when it was available.

Chaos Brave without Quest, however, or Shallaxy without anything that made her what she was...

And... Lightning Elemental. Lightning Elemental needs mobility or melee range (e.g. 1-3). With neither, it is an empty shell. Instead, DOG increased minimum range from 2 to 3, making the lack of Mobility even more of a joke. You pay 3 AP to disengage one space away, then two more spaces to target the foe. That's 5 AP lost every round because of 3-5 range and Bolt -- but he only generates 7 AP per round. It's insanely bad. He needs 2-5 range and Mobility to be runnable again -- or he needs 1-3/1-4 range.

 

I agree with Tide Master, but I like Razorfin right now, and I know it doesn't make much sense, but can he still keep Trail: Water. :3

 

Isn't trail a bit of a sandbag since he's 1x1?

 

Nah, not since he gets stats from it and Semi only needs to be within 3 squares. And he's so freaking fast he can make up for not being a fatty.

On the subject of Wicked Aura, it Wretched Witches are pretty meh now without it, and it was a big loss, but they deleted the ability outright. That takes some of the sting out of it. It's not like they moved Wicked Aura to, like, Nefari Griefsinger or something. I guess they just don't like the idea of AP lock even though it was never a problem ever.