Spell Balance Suggestions

[Egomaniacal]

hey hey gamers

So y'know how sand is, right? It's that CC tree that is honestly pretty balanced, I personally think it's a bit above average but it has obvious counters.

What if I told you that it actually has a master that you've probably not seen used in the last month? Well, that's the thing, it's a bit gutted so I'm bringing up an old nerf changelog that was put into the game a day after someone with a Sand/Water build trashed all of Aphros' strongest at the time.

Binding Burial idle duration reduced from 12.5s to 9s (sand)

Desert Fury AP reduced from 15% AP to 10% AP; All other benefit remain the same. (sand)

Alright, now we can get into the aura.

Desert Fury isn't that bad, but I think it's other effects are a bit overrated because

1. Water Healing is not bad, actually it's super good but I think it's overrated because people hype it up to be like a completely game changing thing when it's comparable to 5-8% DR which can be reduced through Jammer or Curse. Sometimes fights are very fast and the healing can seem almost like it doesn't even matter, so in those situations it doesn't even heal enough to hit the quota needed to be 5% DR. That isn't to say that it can heal enough to exceed 5% DR, however, it can most certainly exceed it in some matchups.

2. Fire Tiles aren't that good, when I tested them I noticed it was either .5 - 1 SD give or take. It also only appears when you dash and even then it disappears as fast as it comes.

3. Sandstorm Active is inconsistent, the tornadoes are spawned in random places and are too slow for their duration so you've most likely never seen it used back at the start of Meranthe when there were a lot of Desert Fury users. It's very hit or miss and most of the time it's a miss despite the potential it has.

4. I remember being told there was a twister block, there isn't but I would honestly love that as it'd be a very good thing to combo with sand burial.

5. I remember being told it has 5% DR, unfortunately it doesn't though that could make it worth it imo.

When I isolate them and point them out like that, they can seem like very minor effects but one can make the argument that when combined together it's still worth it as an aura-- That's a fair argument, but when taking into account that the Active will almost never hit and the fire tiles are basically non existent, Water Healing is really the only thing that's keeping this aura from being the worst master aura... This makes it a very iffy choice and is pretty sad since it was the only sand hidden in the game, it may not be worth the master token.

There can also be the argument that Sand is already rather powerful in the right hands, but I'll say that it's probably more of a RPP sink and harder to use than you'd think. Here are some reasons why:

1. Sand Avalanche has a smaller hitbox than Tidal Wave which is a bit vexing when a Sand user is trying to line up a shot only to watch someone literally walk inside of it without getting damaged. It's also less damage and more CD than Tidal Wave, which is also an intermediate same as Sand Avalanche. This shit is 40 seconds in CD haha kill me.

(a reminder that I had to suffer this for aenal's entire lifetime)


2. Sand Burial is a small AoE, you might genuinely be surprised when you take a look at it and that means it's both a bit hard to hit without a slow or speed up and also forces you into close quarters. It's also hard to dash with for some reason, I can't quite explain how but you'll know what I mean when you try to dash -> Sand Burial. Now, we can also notice that it's a root which means people inside it can use a plethora of ways to get out without eating a combo such as: Shockwaves, invulns, cleanses, beaming the motherfucker, minefield, lightspeed, as well as phantom strikes and assault. Another funny thing about it is that it blocks the dude's sprite with sand, so you might get surprised when it turns out a neph was actually using true counter while their glow is hidden. It also has a CD of 30 seconds sharing Marble Grasp's CD despite how much easier it is to land Marble Grasp.

3. Sand Barrier is an immobile invuln that lasts 2-3 seconds when most invulns are usually 5 seconds and can move during it. It shoots shit, however, and that's pretty cool.

4. Nobody uses Sandstorm.

5. Quicksand is an AoE slow that lasts 5 seconds, this is a bit of an oof when compared to the other slows such as Overheat, Flurry, and Energy Constriction which are easier to hit (constriction is arguable) and often than not do more damage overtime than quicksand's initial 4 SD.

With that in mind, I think returning it to 15 AP may be a bit of an overbuff (maybe not), so I propose giving it back it's old 5% DR or maybe buffing it's 3 little additional effects specifically the fire trail and active-- Some buffs that would be cool are like:

1. Water Healing is okay, keeping it the same is good.

2. Fire Tiles could receive an increase in damage, people can hardly feel it as it is.

3. The Active could receive an increase in the amount of projectiles it spawns, as well as it's duration.

4. Twister on block, please do that because it sounds cool and I'd use it.

Former dirt magi and sand enthusiast here,
I support this suggestion.

Atleast give it a good active, come on. Those twisters are slower then my typing speed.