Its common knowledge that SP's problems are 1) healing and that it'll be balanced soon (Mika, Sustainer), 2) prevalent stats-stacking mechanisms of voils etc, 3) and dreamcrusher's double jab. However, I feel that there are some design issues in some of the champs that are not pointed out from these 3 points. As a disclosure, I've used many of these, and some have been replaced by better champs in my BG, but overall I've tried using it so the argument comes up as I've actually tried using it in the game. Would really be nice if we can have a constructive discussion about these said champs: 1. Hyaenid Houngan Spoiler First, we all know that his design is for healing (Twisted Essence) as the mechanics was just introduced when he came out. And also for Defile mechanism. Feels like he's a clump of both an experiment for how the mechanics work. Now his issue is: A) I see Defiling Aura as semi-problematic with the fact that this guy is a mid-range, semi-healing champ. Potential changes is to give him Cast: Cauterize which gives Defiled and allows your Houngan to run back rather than just staying close range to a champion and stay until it gets hammered. And plus, opponent can just run back outside of the Defiling Aura. If he's a sticky tank like Darkmarsh Enforcer then that's fine. But he's not. Cackle arguments is relatively not as strong given that there are tons of alt-damage and non-ATK-based abilities. B) The fact that his Twisted Essence only gives out 4 heal per attack is pretty subpar on every standard. You're imposing your all your hyaenids to be positioned badly if they wanted to get the heal. When you have a low-HP champ and you need that heal, instead of running back and get the heals/turn, you have to do the opposite: go in and attack to get a 4HP heal. I suggest just giving him a straight-up small heal in the form of Sustain. At some point, you just have too much debuff and would rely on Death Sentence to finish things off. The original theme was Dogpile anyway. Not debuffs+death sentence. You don't need to have every hyaenid to have a certain debuff if there's only 1 unit that can utilize it. Changes: C) His upgrades are just a bunch of abilities that doesn't really have any synergy. Soul Vitality? No death bene, and if this procs off enemy kills, its a win-more situation. No real usage. Cripple? I suggest giving him a clear design. Base - Attack: Magical, Cast: Cauterize U1 - Race Charged, Frightful Blows, Rotting Blows U2 - Charged Blast, Sustain, Pawn (-4 Nora) Remove Twisted Essence from base (-3 Nora) Remove Cripple from U1 (-4 Nora) Remove Soul Vitality from U2 (-4 Nora) Remove Defiling Aura from U2 Old nora cost range: 67 - 76 Nora (+8 Nora) Add Cast: Cauterize to base (+2 Nora) Add Race Charged to U1 (+3 Nora) Add Sustain to U1 (+6 Nora) Add Charged Blast to U2 New nora cost range: 70 Nora - 76 Nora 2. Metallic Slag Spoiler This one is pretty simple. One of the best mechanics imo Distichious. Sticks nicely with SP's bonus that you just gotta deploy, deploy and deploy. When you split it with IS (givent hat Distichious is at base) the only option is to go for Constructs. So really....what's with the Trail: Ooze? And as for its Fascinate, it sometimes really screws him up given that he can't disengage if the opponent is fascinated adjacent to him. It's really a weird mechanic. Give him Cyclopean Machine (flavorful), useful (gets mobility), and it makes sense. Base - Attack: Magical, Distichious: IS/SP, Cyclopean Machine U1 - Fascinate, Forge Hammer, Restraining Aura U2 - Hallucinogenic, Turtle, Magic Blast (-2 Nora) Remove Trail: Ooze from base Old nora cost range: 69 - 77 Nora (+6 Nora) Add Cyclopean Machine to base New nora cost range: 73 Nora - 81 Nora 3. Albino Fesh Spoiler There's nothing much to say here. He's 90 nora of broken mechanics. Basically he's been ignored. Now let me help you by suggesting: REMOVE Mind Control from the game. Give some design for SP/FW worm fesh champs. Keep in mind, SP/FW worms doesn't have as much a death-bene CD reduction to abuse Bile Zombie. Not sure what to put in base, but I think an Inspire and Escalation mechanics on a champ that does not have an attack and starts with 0 ATK might be a fun thing for a late-game potency champ. Boost makes sense as it negates the loss of not having access to a banner in splits. Other U2 should be something that can be used in other BGs: Sustain and Nora Miner 2. Base - Inspire, Escalation U1 - Worm Lord, Race Charged, Nora Miner 2 U2 - Boost, Charged Portal, Sustain (-40 Nora) Remove Mind Control from base (-2, 4, 6 Nora) Remove Psychic Aura 1,2,3 from U1 (-5 Nora) Remove Commander from U2 (-5 Nora) Remove Defender from U2 Old nora cost range: 89 - 93 Nora (+2 Nora) Add Inspire to base (+12 Nora) Add Escalation to base (+6 Nora) Add Worm Lord to U1 (+2 Nora) Add Race Charged to U1 (+16 Nora) Add Nora Miner 2 to U1 (+2 Nora) Add Charged Portal to U2 (+3 Nora) Add Sustain to U2 New nora cost range: 58 Nora - 73 Nora 4. Armored Fesh Spoiler He's perfect, but again, there is no SP/FW worm synergy despite his mechanics in being a tank and swap in the split. I just think he deserves Necrosis to actually be worth the slot. Its very awkward playing an SP/FW worm split where most of the worms you'll be using is FW ones cause of Necrosis. The only thing to split with SP is implant despite all the worms work perfectly in battle. (Armored as tank, Speckled as portaler) Base - Attack: Physical, Regeneration 2, U1 - Calcify, Train: Defense, Enhance Armor U2 - Necrosis, Trample, Crushing Charge 3 (-5 Nora) Remove Regeneration 2 from U2 Old nora cost range: 69 - 77 Nora (+4 Nora) Add Necrosis to U2 (+5 Nora) Add Regeneration 2 to base New nora cost range: 73 Nora - 81 Nora 6. Speckled Fesh Spoiler Pretty much the same argument as the two other Feshes. Works REALLY great in SP/FW worms in that it has Portal and allows for long-term value. Really nothing much except adding Necrosis to base. I don't get why he has Devourable. I find it disturbing to eat your long-term investment other than if the situation calls it, which I have never find a situation where I'd eat it. Basically exchange Devourable with Nora Miner from U2, add Necrosis in U2. Done. Base - Attack: Psychic, Nora Miner 1, Impenetrable, Vitality: Nora U1 - Portal, Punish, Drudgery U2 - Necrosis, Nora Link (-0 Nora) Remove Devourable from base (-4 Nora) Remove Nora Miner 1 from U2 Old nora cost range: 51 - 57 Nora (+4 Nora) Add Necrosis to U2 (+4 Nora) Add Nora Miner 1 to base New nora cost range: 55 Nora - 57 Nora 7. Hyaenid Executioner Spoiler I have no beef with this champion. Its good, it serves its purpose, its all-around powerful. But really...I've found the design to be really subpar. Like, really, really bad. Its like they just slap whatever debuff they can find on its U1 and U2. Its like they wanted two Hyaenids in one body. What's with "Punish", "Execute", "Punishing Aura"? It won't serve its purpose. A) If you want to splash SL with SP for a Punish BG, you'd be burdened by its still-expensive cost due to it having Death Sentence and Dogpile at base. B) If you want to play a FF Hyaenid, you don't really need Punishing Aura nor Punish. In most situations you'd just go ahead and use all of your AP to "Death Sentence" someone. C) Execute is a good ability, that much I agree. But really, it's not that useful for this guy. Say you have 10AP, there's just so much that you can do in a turn. Its really a mishmash of a design load in one champ. I'd say let him be able to be built differently: (A) For SL splits with Terminus and Punish, (B) a bruiser with Protective and Execute, (C) a debuff build with Death Sentence. So basically reform his base and upgrade choices into as stated below and you actually get a clear design focus for this champion rather than a mishmash of abilities: Base: - Attack: Physical, Feint U1 - Execute, Punish, Punishing Aura U2 - Protective, Terminus, Death Sentence (-4 Nora) Remove Execute from base (-6 Nora) Remove Dogpile from base (-6 Nora) Remove Death Sentence from base (-8 Nora) Remove Rend 3 from U1 (-3 Nora) Remove Feint from U2 (-10 Nora) Remove Crushing Blow from U2 (-4 Nora) Remove Cackle from U2 Old nora cost range: 83 - 96 Nora (+3 Nora) Add Feint to base (+4 Nora) Add Execute to U1 (+6 Nora) Add Protective to U2 (+6 Nora) Add Terminus to U2 (+6 Nora) Add Death Sentence to U2 New nora cost range: 74 Nora - 82 Nora 8. Cyclopean Warcart Spoiler The design and flavor is good in that its a rushy construct that has a really high damage potential. No one uses it tho. I don't know, maybe because...constructs don't rush? Even with Symbiot out, you'd still want to play relatively slowly to buildup the tough. Same goes for this unit. Manic is counter-intuitive despite its the opposite of IS' Remote Control. (Feels like FF SP Strux is designed to be the faster Strux BG compared to IS with a given Tough via Cyc Machine, and Manic base on Warcart) I feel like this champ has the potential but is just too yolo for any actual usage. His whole kit is for rushing and the fact its 2x2, its Manic can be easily played around by its opponent. And why is that Domain: Rock there? Cyclops Stonecaller doesn't have Rock Front anymore... The weird thing is, he only has 1 ability on base: Cyclopean Machine. Then you have Mountain Lion, also an Uncommon that is burdened by multiple abilities on base. Base - Attack: Physical, Cyclopean Machine, Empowered: Defense U1 - Regeneration 2, Manic, Heavy Charger U2 - Immunity: Fire, Trample, Charge 3 (-2 Nora) Remove Domain: Rock from U1 Old nora cost range: 70 - 80 Nora (+4 Nora) Add Empowered Defense to base (+5 Nora) Add Regeneration 2 to U1 New nora cost range: 76 Nora - 84 Nora 9. Peaks Dew Spoiler I don't understand the design with this champion. Is he supposed to be an unfinished champion for Aquatics split in SP/FS? I mean, there really isn't any reason for him to have Dive and water-based abilities in Nids/Djinns. Just make him a versatile Djinn, nothing too fancy, but at least re-design him in a way that it actually makes sense. My suggestion: a semi-healer with Sustain and Drain 2, a support with Tidal Wave and Bubble, or an offensive long range champ with Surge: Hyaenid and Evasive 2. Base - Attack: Physical, Vuln: Poison, Flight, Gift: Dew U1: Sustain, Evasive 2, Tidal Wave U2: Drain 2, Surge: Hyaenid, Bubble (-4 Nora) Remove Dive 2 from U1 (-7 Nora) Remove Dive 3 from U1 (-5 Nora) Remove Splash from U2 (-5 Nora) Remove Trail:Water from U2 Old nora cost range: 74 - 80 Nora (+3 Nora) Add Sustain to U1 (+6 Nora) Add Evasive 2 to U1 (+4 Nora) Add Drain 2 to U2 (+10 Nora) Add Bubble to U2 New nora cost range: 72 Nora - 85 Nora 10. Mountain Lion Spoiler This champion used to be good, designed well, and pretty concise and clear of what he is supposed to do. Now his base abilities are clumped up with a mishmash of abilities designed for multiple champs. He wants to be a Pounce+Opportunistic Assault for anti range (can't disengage, and easy to engage via Pounce). Good design. On the other hand, he wants to be a melee/range variant with Surge and Howling Attack. Versatile in both melee and range with alt damage. Good design. When both are mixed now you have a 75 nora champ that can't really do everything that its designed for. Why not let the player choose how to build him? Separate its different functions via upgrades: Base - Attack: Physical, Surge: Beast, Pathfinding U1 - Pounce 3, Howling Attack, Dispel U2 - Opportunistic Assault, Melee Specialist 2, Reinforcement 2 If pincushion gets to be so concised in its design, why can't Mountain Lion? (-8 Nora) Remove Opportunistic Assault from base (-8 Nora) Remove Howling Attack from base (-2 Nora) Remove Pounce 1 from U1 (-4 Nora) Remove Pounce 2 from U1 (-4 Nora) Remove Mountaineer from U2 (-5 Nora) Remove Surge: Beast from U2 Old nora cost range: 68 - 75 Nora (+5 Nora) Add Surge: Beast to base (+4 Nora) Add Pathfinding to base (+8 Nora) Add Howling Attack to U1 (+4 Nora) Add Dispel to U1 (+8 Nora) Add Opportunistic Assault to U2 (+8 Nora) Add Reinforcement 2 to U2 New nora cost range: 52 Nora - 71 Nora
Any specific champion? Some are just slightly changed like Metallic Slag (Trail:Ooze), Executioner (shifting base abilities to upgrades), and Mountain Lion (shifting base abilities to upgrades). Just streamlining its design and throwing sandbags out of its cost. Whereas all the fesh suggestions aside of Albino Fesh just adds Necrosis to its respective upgrade line. Houngan and Dew's suggestion might sound a bit over the top although some detailed input would be nice.
Hyaenid Houngan: He's not meant to be a big-time healer, Hyaenid are all about giving the enemy debuffs, mainly by attacking them. He does this well and does it in a new and useful way. The upgrades he has are very typical of Hyaenid shamans. I think he's fine. Metallic Slag: Cyclopean Machine? What? He's only a Construct because he's metal, he's not actually a Construct made by anyone. But he could definitely stand to lose Fascinate for something else. I'd keep Trail: Ooze on their, it's a necessary sandbag and is kinda what makes him a Slag. Albino Fesh: I can get on board with pretty much all of those changes. Except, Fesh aren't Worms. I mean, they ARE, but they aren't the same as the worms in FW. They're Fesh. There's little to no lore reason that they would be related. Much less the Fesh having Necrosis. Fesh are parasites, FW Worms are worms that scavenge necrotic stuff. You'd have to really convince me otherwise to get me to agree with adding Necrosis to him and the other Fesh. Armored Fesh: I wasn't aware he was bad, so I dunno. Speckled Fesh: Devourable is a sandbag. Sok will be getting rid of most sandbags, so not to worry, all of our champs will be less efficient! Hyaenid Executioner: Put Dogpile in place of Protective and you're good (Protective on him really doesn't make sense lore wise). Also, as he is an Executioner, leave Execute on base and put Feint into its upgrade spot. Cyclopean Warcart: My feelings exactly. Peaks Dew: Almost anything is better than what it is now, so yeah. Mountain Lion: Pathfinding and Surge Beast on base? Maybe not both, I'd replace Pathfinding with Mountaineer, he's a cat so he's not really gonna be helping other animals find out how to get to his favorite spot to nap. Otherwise, basically perfect.
