I agree that it is a big temp hit to use 70+ nora for something that won't have an effect until 3 rounds later. He's great when he is in play but you do have to deploy him far from battle to be sure he won't get sniped before he becomes a champ. Deploying him far from battle just means it takes even longer for him to do anything...
I like the idea but do you have to pay again if the rune dies become a relic an reappears ? That would be unfortunate.
Hmm, good question. But I think with the way the wording would go is ONLY when he becomes the unit do you pay the 45 nora.. So if in fact he did become a champ again after going into relic form, you'd only be paying 45 nora instead of the 30 to deploy it. Which would seem fairly balanced in my opinion. Now does this suggestion have a ripple effect on sporgil, or are dragonbark/spordrop supposed to be two separate abilities, intentionally?
Having a lower initial investment and paying the rest when he is deployed would help a lot. If it does fail to materialize, you're not out a heap of nora. Plus you can combo Overgrowth more easily. I agree that if he dies and successfully respawns, it's worth paying half price to have him again. Maybe it should be 45 up front and 30 on tranformation? Just so he's not cheaper to deploy than his predecessor?
I have a question for you people. Dragonbark costs 15 nora, even though in practice his negative impact is lower than his positive impact. What about lowering the cost of dragonbark and add to the champion initiative 2 or reinforcement 2, maybe in that second upgrade path?
Right now i can't find any place for him if i were to run him it would be early deploy or never. Too risky in my opinion even the computers run straight for him in relic form. Played k'thir legendary protectorate and the centaur archer crossed the whole map only to kill the relic, if the computer is doing this can only imgine using it against people.
how about the cooldown of the relic deploying the champ is reduced by (x) amount of trees in play or some variation of that.
Thing is, it seems like he's not getting a discount for what is clearly more of a drawback than a benefit. Yeah, you can Overgrowth him and there's a slim chance of getting him back when he dies, but who wouldn't pass that up to just deploy him and start wailing? Is he really so much better in comparison to other good 70-74 nora units that he needs a 3 round penalty? Skeezick Torch and Minotaur Flamecrusher have Flamethrower and Tortun Inventor has Lightning Skewer--all at 7X nora. Perhaps they too need to be easily killed relics for 2 rounds and have no AP for an additional round to be balanced at their cost? Personally I think the half up front, half upon transformation is the best suggestion so far. It keeps the overall cost the same but being able to pay in installments makes a big difference.
If he is to stay the same, the Dragonbark ability should be recosted closer to the Sporegill ability's cost.
@Gedden @Sokolov thoughts on the matter? He's a generally well designed champion, fits thematically into tree's provides alternate damage types. But ultimately lack luster in comparison to most of my active deploys. I've stated he's a force on the battle field, assuming he makes it that far. At least 6/10 games I don't play him, at least 1/10 games he gets shot down to early and the other 3/10 games he's doing pretty well. Inconstancy shouldnt be his main role..
That ratio of usefulness follows mine. If I think I can safely deploy him, and won't be rushed, I might deploy him. Usually, I don't deploy him. When he is out, those few beneficial times, I like him. Also, no opponent has ever let him respawn, yet. As such, Dragonbark seems much more like a negative ability with an unlikely, but strong, benefit rather than a strong ability with a possible downside. Dragonbark (ability) is priced like the latter, however.
Have you tried using Reclaim centered on the respawned relic when it goes down? Might be worth it as both bait and a redeploy if there's only melee around.
Buff what needs buffing while nerfing what needs nerfing imo. Doing both at the same time demonstrates concern for the overall wellbeing of the theme and makes the negative changes more tolerable.
2x2 Champs Oakthumper,Launcher,K'thun,Patriarch,Dragonbark,Lifegiver,Defender No first turn champ: Launcher,K'thun,Dragonbark,Lifegiver,Defender Dragonbark Protector itself is cool: + magical damage + come again + defender Dragonbark rivals a spot with the other 2x2 runes although they fill different roles. Example: 2xOathumper, 2x Launcher or Patriarch, 2xDragonbark => 6 fatties in one bg ?! I dont think his size will be changed nor the size of the old runes so he has a fine spot in the "not good enough" category.
For reference: Sacrifice of Delim / Fuel prevent the relic from spawning. I figured this would be the case since it does the same with Transplant, but testing is the best way to know for sure.
I like him, but I wish it was like this Actual cost -35 nora Dragonbark awakening: this ability begins on cooldown and costs 35 nora to activate. This unit loses immobile, pacified, and faithless and gains (xxx stats that would make him an actual champ). This ability is removed once it is used. CD: 2-3
I just noticed that he has faithless. It doesnt say it does though. I guess its because relics have it base, which means that when he becomes a champ he only loses the description not the effect.
