Patch Preview: Pounce/Swoop/Massive Leap consolidation

The next patch is pretty large... and not quite here yet, so I thought I'd start previewing some of the changes you will see here.

The idea with this is to give you a heads up on what is coming down the pipe, as well as provide a more in-depth explanation/discussion on why things are happening so it doesn't come as much of a shock. While the Crate is intended to do that, most people don't read the notes, and they often don't offer much explanation nor are they complete.

The first one I will talk about is the Pounce/Swoop/Massive Leap consolidation.

So first, the WHY.

Pounce and Massive Leap are the 2 main reasons why this is happening - Swoop is just here because it makes sense as you see later.

Pounce has been around a long time, and has gone thru a number of "minor" changes on the backend for various fixes, but for many players, the current version has always felt un-intuitive. The AE1 and DMG-based nature always "feels" like an attack, but it simply deals damage, and there are some bugs (which are hopefully also resolved with the update). It also has the odd ability to be used as a relocate instead of for DMG which was interesting, but also kind of weird. It has 3 ranks, the first 2 of which are rarely relevant.

Massive Leap is the other one here. It's kind of Clunky with the short range and as part of its effect... it triggers the effect of another activated ability? While it largely works, there are some bugs such as the effects being Uncleansable. It has 2 ranks, the first of which is rarely relevant.​

So what is happening to the abilities?

Pounce and Swoop are being consolidated into one ability modeled after Swoop, but will remain named Pounce. Swoop is going to be a melee attack after the relocate (instead of just dealing damage) and losing the +2 DMG. At the same time, it will also be going down 1 nora, -1 CD, and -1 AP. It will also gain the ability to target relics. Relative to current Swoop, this should be a lateral move.

For the current Pounce, this IS certainly a nerf, but it is also becoming slightly cheaper. One of the things about this exercise showed just how powerful Pounce really was relative to similar abilities (especially when it's provided via spot effects) - consider how much the current Pounce should cost relative to this ability (or even the current Swoop).

Description: This champion is relocated to the closest non-damaging space to target enemy unit within 5 spaces and makes an attack at +2 DMG against the target if able. (Nora: 6, AP: 4, CD: 2)

Massive Leap is being renamed Leap Slam, and is changing to just fixed DMG with KB. It will deal 10 DMG instead of the current 6, and will be AE2 instead of AE3, and will cause KB1 (including to Flying). It will no longer cause Lumbering and no longer damage relics. Also significant is the increased range. This is intended to be a lateral move in terms of power level, increasing the damage potential and reducing the CC potential, while also making it less clunky to use due to the increased range.

Description: This champion is relocated to target space within 4 spaces. Enemy champions within 2 spaces of the target takes 10 Physical damage (this damage ignores DEF), are knocked back 1 space and become <condition value=slowed>Slowed</condition> for 2 turns. (Nora: 6, AP: 4, CD: 3)
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What happens to the runes with these abilities?

While there are too many to list, in general, most champions with Swoop will simply get the new Pounce - this is pretty equivalent and I don't expect it to have a large balance impact on those champions.

Champions currently with Pounce is a bit more complicated. While they will typically get the new Pounce, many have Pounce 1/2/3 as the upgrade option and these champions will get different choices, typically other forms of relocate such as Leap or Leap Slam.

Champions with Massive Leap will typically receive Leap Slam, but some may also get other options in addition or instead.

Non-Champion runes that currently give Pounce will generally give the new Pounce and may get other adjustments as well.

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Ooooo, Seismic Leap is nice.

 

Falcon Jump Punch.

 

No, it's too much work for that. If you have any suggestions, feel free to put them here.

 

Maybe.

I agree with Markoth that Swoop vs Pounce is largely a wash on a CHAMPION, but I do think it is a SMALL nerf to non-champion sources like Wings of Glory since they do not get to take advantage of the CD and cost reductions, though the AP reduction will certainly help.

 

Resistances apply all the time based on DMG type, so that isn't changing. It's true that it may be subject to DEF since its an ATK, I haven't fully decided yet.

As always tho, some of these details are subject to change.

 

I am really not following how this dumbs the game down. The intent is to reduce unnecessary complexity and provide more intuitive design - which makes it more accessible, but does not necessarily dumb it down.

In this case, I think Seismic Leap is more mechanically interesting than Massive Leap was, mostly since it can be used in more scenarios now and is more fitting on more champions as well while being less buggy, while Pounce and Swoop bypassing all ATK counters actually dumbed them down, IMO, because they meant the abilities interact with them much less, and this restores some of that. Pounce is also basically point and click AE damage right now - hardly the posterchild of interesting complexity.

I also think there's been quite a number of changes/new abilities that are quite interesting mechanically and expand on the game's complexity in an accessible but interesting way, but you may or may not be aware of them.

 

Actually, it should still bypass One With Nora. It's like Manic, it's not a basic attack.