The usual candidates left out of the balance patch

General Discussion
21

Original Leoric was really strong, considered by many an S tier tank.

What happened however, is that Leoric got that nerf to his W, instantly saw a drop in popularity, but that didn’t kill Leo. What killed Leo … was Tracer.

In between Tracer’s release and Leoric’s release, there were 3 other high-mobility heroes, 4 if you include Tracer. By the time she was released, she was an unstoppable hurricane of killing that made Leoric one of the worst tanks in the game, and Leoric’s been playing pick-up ever since. He has a useful niche now, but he definitely won’t be as viable as his prime.

1 Like
22

Chen? He’s perfect tho. I mean not as perfect as he was when he came out, but definitely not even close to taking a whiff of being garbage tier.

23

As she should be. She’s a rogue!

24

Change too much at once in a balance patch, and a lot of things get lost in the massive changes. Heck, just releasing a new character can upend the meta depending on the circumstances… I prefer that the devs take a slower approach, yeah, characters/mechanics/maps that we’d like to see improvements on take longer to get here… but it’s a free game, I’m still enjoying the game as it is now, and I’d rather have a dev team constantly engaging with the subtleties of balance rather than just shotgunning changes from the hip.

25

Yeah, I loved playing him on release.
Anyhow, interesting post.

But my point was merely they randomly nerfed him due to artistic reasons when he was already underperforming.

26

Can people stop calling Gazlowe names its mean. :frowning:

But really he is a high win rate hero. 53.3% according to HotSlogs and while I’m not a big fan of the site or how accurate it can be. Its close enough to the truth usually to make at least decent judgement on hero balance.

I enjoy playing him, he is one of my favorite Heroes. Just because you perceive him as bad and think he should get rework because you don’t enjoy playing him does not mean he should be. Leave one of mine and probably many others favorite and unique Heroes alone.

27

Valeera - High winrate over the past month at high ranks. Almost top 10
Gazlowe, Butcher - Top winrate heroes past month, high ranks.
Nova - Persistently middle of the pack. Has almost always been middle of the pack.

Tassadar and Chen… Yea, they are pretty much at the bottom of the winrate. As you mentioned, reworks are on the way for both of them.

The issue with Butcher is that he is easily counter-picked. However, on last pick (Butcher players have a 50/50 chance to get last pick now, depending on which team picks first), if Butcher has no counters, he carries. Period.

Gazlords are Gazlords for a reason. You need to be pro.

Valeera is a solid melee if you pick defensive talents. 3 charges of block every 4-5 seconds, 75 spell armor AND unstoppable on a 18 second CD (Best in the game honestly), AND your choice of Blind, Silence, or Armor reduction on a 8 second CD? Valeera is strong in the right hands Hailfail.

Nova used to be considered a better Raynor before Raynor’s rework. Now, her problem is pretty much 1 thing - The ranged AA hero pool is significantly oversaturated. Her damage is solid for a ranged AA assassin, it’s just that every OTHER ranged AA has significantly better defensives - Every single one. Imo? Make the 25 armor on stealth a lvl 1 talent, replacing the crap 55% slow Pining Shot (Which is made baseline into Pining Shot)

1 Like
28

She is capable of it I agree. My post was perhaps a, bit non specific. What I mean is people complain she needs reworking because she can’t 100 0 any hero at any point. Or that her effectiveness is weak outside of her garrote window. As a rogue I would have thought that’s the point. She has a very dangerous ambush phase and as a result her consistent exposed phase is weaker. Not a sign she needs a rework imo.

Maybe I’ve been playing against poorer valeeras who dont have her burst down.

31

valeera only 100-0s squishies post level 7, and then only if you are in a position where you cannot retreat to safety. Play carefully in lane when you don’t know where she is, and rotate with caution. Additionally, stay as a team late game. (You should do this anyways, but w/e).

If you do this valeera will be very little threat to you (unless you are a dive hero who gets shut down by her such as genji or butcher)

32

Woah sorry that humongus nerf on her primary healing means broke her , she won’t be first banned now.
And those nerfs on hanzo best ranged DD at high levels …crazy.

33

I don’t really feel like Gazlowe needs buffs. He is just very niche and pretty reliant on his ulties, particularly grav-o-bomb.

In currently sitting around 60% winrate in QM with him this season, mainly solo queue.

Gazlowe can be a real badass playmaker. He can initiate with his ult combo or he can drop the bombs midfight and turn it around to his advantage.

Catching just one guy with his ult combo is pretty deadly too if backed up by your team.

Probius is in the same group as Gazlowe, just because they dont get played that much doesnt mean they are in need of buffs.

Edit: also in most games so am i consistently top damage, siege and hero, while taking mercs and soloing bosses.

2 Likes
34

Yep, still waiting on buffs to make them slightly less trash.

1 Like
35

Tracer’s good, as long as you put your whole team into supporting her. No balancing nightmare there right?

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36

If a hero is only good if their entire team drafts and plays exclusively around them, then the hero isn’t all that good, no matter how strong or annoying they are when they are supported.

See Hammer.

37

hanzo and ana need nerfs badly

38

Yes, that was the joke.

39

Oh, sorry. Whoosh, I guess.

lol

40

:unamused:

41

Yeah, I was thinking we wont see changes for these two until after their reworks.

In my opinion, Nova and Butcher are fine. They’re not too good or too weak and that’s a good place for most heroes. Not sure about Gazlowe though. I think he could get changes but I don’t think he’s too weak now.

42

So we agree garrosh needs buffs.

1 Like