Chromie rework on the PTR

General Discussion
1

So now that I can finally post again, I figured I’d go ahead and post about the Chromie overhaul on the PTR.

I’ve been following Chromie’s balance state for a little while now, and while I doubt my knowledge is as in depth as real Annoying Sand Imp mains like, say, Narha, I do have some insights and opinions I’d like to share.
Overall, I like most of the changes, but there are a few I either strongly dislike or am baffled by.

Good things first:
Bye Bye is gone. Those of you who’ve seen my posts probably know how much I hated this talent, as it basically made the 90% of the heroes who were supposed to counter her effectively impotent against her.

Bronze Talons now requires both a talent and Q hits, further reducing her ability to hard-counter her own counters with little to no skill required.

Temporal Loop’s range has been decreased. This should help grant the target a little bit of a chance to pressure Chromie away on their own.

Time Trap is now a manually triggered AoE and Timely Surprise is gone. This both gives Chromie herself more options and reduces the annoying mine-field aspect of playing against her. I think this is an excellent change.

Bad and/or confusing next:
Dragon’s Breath is no longer visible and now hits 3 times for less damage each. I feel like we’re both slipping backwards and sideways at the same time. Chromie’s issue was honestly never having too much burst, it was how unpredictable and/or unavoidable it was. I’m not going to jump the gun and said it’s a terrible change, but it certainly is a head-scratcher, which makes sense because having sand dumped in your hair can be irritating.

Sand Blast can now be blocked by minions and summons (at least until level 18). I don’t mind her being able to hit non-heroes, but having half my attacks blocked by said non-heroes is not something I want to see ported over from Li Ming to Chromie.

Blessing of the Bronze is gonna be utterly broken. If it were just an AoE effect with a range of 12.5 (vision range) I would have no problem with that 30% CDR and 10% movement speed. But on a global effect!? Yeah, no, that’s how you break the game.

Bonus complaint:
What, no Pocket Sand? You could easily tack that onto Bronze Talons! Hank Hill would be disappointed in you.

2

Hmmmmm
Not sure what to make of this…

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Well you know it is like I said in the other thread. It is like the devs used you as a benchmark and systematically dismantled whatever play of the game you were capable of with the existing tools and nerfed them enough to prevent them from happening! Meaning, what dev did you stomp in a QM match badly enough to get revenge?

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:heart_eyes:

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That Chromie is an Annoying Sand Imp and you main her.

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Probably all of them!

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Well you only have yourself to blame! Although you now have a new challenge, make this new Chromie so annoying that people will regret the changes done!

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Last time they keep nerf chromie range (At least 2 time) and now sand blast can be block by minion and other unit plus W cooldown is quite long, they should revert back chromie original range. Now chromie no bye bye and the time trap not as useful as last time to save herself from charger. Range back to original so that she can aim from right angle that not block by unit. If not, hammer that hide behind some unit will be very hard to hit by chromie as now she is same range as siege hammer.

Then Here and there should be 10 sec cooldown and the range should at least same as her Q range.

I really hope they can give 1 more tier for people that like to use time trap. This new one not much upgrade choice for time trap path.

Q build is almost the only choice compare to W build.

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i hope the next one is keltuzad, one shot combo can’t exist in hots, its not league of legends, when everyone can os everything.

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Cleanse can remove chains and root. Divine shield can negate Shadow Fissure completely, as can Medivh’s Force of Will, or Sanctification. It’s a team game and he requires multiple skillshots to pull off his combos correctly.

If he is constantly oneshotting people, they are out of position and going alone & would die to another ranged assassin like Fenix regardless, just slower.

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I predict some horror for the enemy team. Specifically pointing at the self stasis and catching stasis on demand (note it no longer grabs 1 target, but all targets in the designated area), and the time loop 500% cool down to recharge your abilities instantly being able to time stasis to prevent enemy escape. She actually might be annoying to fight.
Also the self clutch gives allied teammate enough time to arrive help, and dodges most if not all abilities.

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I’m very conflicted about parts of her rework. I’m a dirty sand imp, so this massive redesign is going to take some time to get used to. Swapped over to mostly a sustain mage. I’m not too concerned about her Q hitting anything now, although I am sad to see that unique part of her spell go. Some great new talents. Some iffy decisions on others (RIP Here and There). :woman_shrugging:

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I feel the Q quest actually needs to be looked at in terms of values… While I understand they always wanted the talent to be a late game unlock the issue is with Q now being blocked by minions and structures it is considerably more difficult to reach those 40 stacks as compared to before. I get that the clone now (although it is a far cry from the current version of mounting sands) contributes baseline but that is useful in team fights but by and large you complete your quest during lane phases where you’re able to poke.

I feel W will be the go to build among other things because playing the Q build more it takes too long to be operational thanks to hew new changes. Whereas W grants reward upon incremental progress, and is honestly considerably easier to stack and complete.

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I was going to say I wasn’t sure about her W, because it feels difficult to aim and maneuver, but fiddling with the quickcast settings have made it feel a bit better. There’s no way to tell how it feels in a real match because I can’t get a full PvP QM on PTR, but setting the new W to on-release feels nice.

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Her W build is definitely easier to pull off, but I haven’t had issues finishing my new Q quest before I get my heroic. My issue with it is the extra clone doesn’t feel like a substantial damage increase until you hit 18 and can get Piercing Sands.

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The only thing I think I can truly say I hate thus far is Blessing of the Bronze…this should not be a thing at all. Not even if it wasn’t global. This will be utterly broken. First they made Lucio able to turn his entire team into Overwatch heroes, now they are making Chromie able to turn her entire team into murder machines.

Even if this was balanced…which it isn’t at all as far as I can tell, why is this on an assassin and not a support?

Chromie will become first pick/first ban in draft modes for this talent alone perhaps. QM is going to become a nightmare for teams facing a Chromie team…which will lead to even MORE Chromie hate than before.

Honestly, why is the balance team pulling weird shenanigans like this? Do not let this go live. This blessing will quickly become a curse.

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Q pierce way WAY better chromie lvl 20 talent

why would you pick 30% basic attack damge talent when u can pick 25% all damage increased talent

u didnt even point most important things about chromie rework
my rate 4/10 topic

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It’s like people don’t want to fix the glaring hole they shoved in her kit. It’s such a strong talent now. Who cares about giving your team 23% reduction on their cooldowns when you can melt the enemy team before BotB gets any value? Not this dirty sand imp. Especially when Temporal Loop gives you 500% CD recharge and your Q, the thing you’re firing 3 of for 200% damage every cast, literally doesn’t have a cooldown for that window.

It’s like if medivh finished his q quest but there were two of him, and the range was doubled.

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Imagine this talent with a completed 3rd echo. Trapt the enemy with Chromie’s basic trait the could at least stasis bundle an group of 4 or less. Droping a Slowing Sands for the LuL’s, and one shot almost half their team.
It’s up there for being pretty strong since the echoes pierce targets too, and not to mention minions and camps could be cleared right away.
*auto correction derp edits.

1 Like
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my complaint is that you can no longer snipe people with Q because it’d just hit the wall/turrets/gates/minions instead ):
also her W feels wonky.