Unofficial battlecuck Balance Thread
So, while doing some sparring in the dojo earlier in the morning, a few players were talking, and we compared some more skills that may need some TLC. I'm talking primarily about two of Nature's skills, Spores and Vines. Also, Hundred cuts and Fireball, because why not.
Spell: Spores
Issues: So, after chatting with the group and looking at Spores in action, I have to admit. The current form spores is in is pretty underwhelming. It's an extremely low damage High CD slow that has a wind-up/charge state. To top it all off, when I saw it in action, I did not really see the slow really do anything of note.
Analysis: Spore is a fairly weak skill that seems to do about 1.5pow damage per hit in a burst that hits around 10 times. Each hit inflicts a short-term slow, it has a fairly long cooldown and a charge animation. All in all, it's a short-term homing slow that does 15 pow of damage (If all spores hit) every 30 seconds. (If the Cooldown I was given is correct.
Suggested Resolution: Remove the Charge animation, it's not needed for spore, the skill has so little damage that no one needs a warning. Then, go ahead and lower the CD on the skill. I the slow is as negligible as what I think it is, even that may need a bit of an increase. The damage is low, but given Spore has never been a DPS skill, I feel like increasing damage on the skill should be the last option.
Edit: Spores shouldn't require the charge animation anymore, but the damage and CD is fine. However, its slow seemed to only really last while it was hitting me, and did not last past that.
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Spell: Vines
Issues: Vines are incredibly squishy when exposed to any player with any skillshots or AoE damage. It's severe enough that most melee players will unintentionally kill the vines during their first combination on the enemy player. If the player has any skillshots, the situation ends up in much the same way, with dead vines at an extremely quick pace.
Analysis: I'm going to be honest, all I've seen from vines was the few instances I saw it in the dojo. The damage of them seems fine, they are slow chip damage and should remain as such. Honestly, the skill doesn't seem bad, as long as the health issue gets touched up a bit, so vines don't die so quickly.
Suggested Resolution: If anything, I feel like them, as well as other similar summons, should probably get some raw Defense to prevent incidental AoE damage from absolutely demolishing them so early in a fight.
Edit: After having the time today to actually fight a nature magi, I can safely say, vines are in a very good place. They could potentially use something to make them last against AoEs, but they tend to last long enough that most of the summon's cooldown is refreshed by the time of their death.
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Spell: Hundred Cuts
Issues: This skill is just bad. The old Hundred Cuts is a better skill than the current one, and the old Hundred cuts was considered terrible due to how hard it was to hit. The current Hundred cuts does less damage than Sweeping Cleave, and doesn't give a slow. Double-slash is better damage, even with the absurdly minor bleed ticks figured for Hundred cuts. he only advantage the current Hundred Cuts has over its old state is that it only needs to hit the target, and not stay on them.
Analysis: Just, use the skill yourself. No one uses Hundred Cuts, because it is such a terrible skill that any other armed skill is a worthwhile alternative. Its pathetic damage output and lack of any substantial debuff just makes the skill completely and utterly bad.
Suggested Resolution: Up the damage of Hundred cuts by at least double its current standard. Alternatively, if the cooldown and mana cost of Hundred Cuts is lowered to fireball standards, I can also picture it being used by players.
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Spell: Fireball
Issue: I'm fairly certain this is the single best linear skillshot in the game, although I have not had a chance to witness Sand's Golden Bolt to compare it to.
Analysis: Fireball is an 8*pow linear skillshot that inflicts four ticks of 1*pow burn damage, it runs off a 3 second CD. As a result, it is officially a far better source of damage than any other skillshot I can currently think of. Comparitively, most beam-type skills cap off at about 15-20 pow of damage with a 15 second cooldown. Fireball is currently up to 40-60 pow of damage during that 15 seconds. If you hit all your fireballs.
Suggested Resolution: Fireball probably needs its cooldown raised a bit. It's stupid good for the very first purchase in a basic elemental tree. So much so, that I've actually been tempted to invest into Fire just for the spell itself.
Spell: Spores
Issues: So, after chatting with the group and looking at Spores in action, I have to admit. The current form spores is in is pretty underwhelming. It's an extremely low damage High CD slow that has a wind-up/charge state. To top it all off, when I saw it in action, I did not really see the slow really do anything of note.
Analysis: Spore is a fairly weak skill that seems to do about 1.5pow damage per hit in a burst that hits around 10 times. Each hit inflicts a short-term slow, it has a fairly long cooldown and a charge animation. All in all, it's a short-term homing slow that does 15 pow of damage (If all spores hit) every 30 seconds. (If the Cooldown I was given is correct.
Suggested Resolution: Remove the Charge animation, it's not needed for spore, the skill has so little damage that no one needs a warning. Then, go ahead and lower the CD on the skill. I the slow is as negligible as what I think it is, even that may need a bit of an increase. The damage is low, but given Spore has never been a DPS skill, I feel like increasing damage on the skill should be the last option.
Edit: Spores shouldn't require the charge animation anymore, but the damage and CD is fine. However, its slow seemed to only really last while it was hitting me, and did not last past that.
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Spell: Vines
Issues: Vines are incredibly squishy when exposed to any player with any skillshots or AoE damage. It's severe enough that most melee players will unintentionally kill the vines during their first combination on the enemy player. If the player has any skillshots, the situation ends up in much the same way, with dead vines at an extremely quick pace.
Analysis: I'm going to be honest, all I've seen from vines was the few instances I saw it in the dojo. The damage of them seems fine, they are slow chip damage and should remain as such. Honestly, the skill doesn't seem bad, as long as the health issue gets touched up a bit, so vines don't die so quickly.
Suggested Resolution: If anything, I feel like them, as well as other similar summons, should probably get some raw Defense to prevent incidental AoE damage from absolutely demolishing them so early in a fight.
Edit: After having the time today to actually fight a nature magi, I can safely say, vines are in a very good place. They could potentially use something to make them last against AoEs, but they tend to last long enough that most of the summon's cooldown is refreshed by the time of their death.
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Spell: Hundred Cuts
Issues: This skill is just bad. The old Hundred Cuts is a better skill than the current one, and the old Hundred cuts was considered terrible due to how hard it was to hit. The current Hundred cuts does less damage than Sweeping Cleave, and doesn't give a slow. Double-slash is better damage, even with the absurdly minor bleed ticks figured for Hundred cuts. he only advantage the current Hundred Cuts has over its old state is that it only needs to hit the target, and not stay on them.
Analysis: Just, use the skill yourself. No one uses Hundred Cuts, because it is such a terrible skill that any other armed skill is a worthwhile alternative. Its pathetic damage output and lack of any substantial debuff just makes the skill completely and utterly bad.
Suggested Resolution: Up the damage of Hundred cuts by at least double its current standard. Alternatively, if the cooldown and mana cost of Hundred Cuts is lowered to fireball standards, I can also picture it being used by players.
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Spell: Fireball
Issue: I'm fairly certain this is the single best linear skillshot in the game, although I have not had a chance to witness Sand's Golden Bolt to compare it to.
Analysis: Fireball is an 8*pow linear skillshot that inflicts four ticks of 1*pow burn damage, it runs off a 3 second CD. As a result, it is officially a far better source of damage than any other skillshot I can currently think of. Comparitively, most beam-type skills cap off at about 15-20 pow of damage with a 15 second cooldown. Fireball is currently up to 40-60 pow of damage during that 15 seconds. If you hit all your fireballs.
Suggested Resolution: Fireball probably needs its cooldown raised a bit. It's stupid good for the very first purchase in a basic elemental tree. So much so, that I've actually been tempted to invest into Fire just for the spell itself.