How to Nerf Dragonblade

General Discussion
1

I think Dragon Blade needs a nerf, but not to damage. Genji should not get ability resets for popping his ult. He already gets Swift Strike resets on cooldown and on eliminations, why should he get one for popping his ult? This combined with the speed boost to an already faster than normal character gives him way too much mobility early on. He gets 2 swift strikes in about 1 seconds this way and can get 3 in 2 seconds with just one kill.

With 2 Swift Strikes Genji can close over 30 meters in one second. That’s Soldier 76’s entire effective range before his damage fall off begins.

This would just force Genji to be more careful about cooldowns and positioning before ulting.

50 Likes
2

genji is balanced. ffs people need to stop asking for random nerfs.

48 Likes
3

To this day I still consider this the nerf Genji needs. Like the OP said, it doesn’t make sense why an ability as powerful as Swift Strike gets a free reset on an ultimate that, with or without it, proves to be the most powerful ultimate in the game. It allows even poor Genjis to align themselves into ideal positions that will be hard to fight against, allowing Genji to gain momentum with an ultimate that is balanced around the difficulty of getting that momentum.

As I’ve done so every time I mention this nerf, I’d like to point to Bastion and Configuration: Tank, an ultimate that is effectively the same as Dragonblade in what it does, except it’s worse in every possible way. Where as Genji can move while popping his ult, gets a free dash reset, pierces barriers, can be combined with two abilities that greatly compliment the ult, gets enhanced move speed, cleaves, and is still allowed to move while the ult deactivates, Bastion gets penalized. Bastion is not allowed to move neither before or after the ultimate despite having a longer cast time and no mobility, Bastion gets a difficult-to-handle projectile weapon that requires direct hits to get value, the ultimate is easily blocked by barriers or simply breaking LOS, Bastion can self-harm with it, and other than that, only gets the same damage reduction they’d get for being in turret mode.

And I think we can all agree that, even outside of their ultimates, Genji is objectively the better hero all around. So even despite being a better, more usable hero in every other regard, Genji also just gets a superior ultimate that’s full of forgiveness. Meanwhile, Bastion still has to deal with the no-fire bug on their first ultimate shot.

This, among other reasons, is why Genji doesn’t need a dash reset. He already has fantastic tools for getting into position to use his ultimate, it’s easily one of the best ultimates in the game, and it’s an ultimate that’s very easy to enhance with team abilities like Nano Boost, Zarya bubbles, Lucio’s speed boost, or even just a standard Mercy damage boost. I don’t see any reason why Genji needs extra special treatment and gets a free dash reset, it would be a slap-on-the-wrist nerf considering it would still be just as deadly in the right hands, it would just mean that Genji doesn’t get a bird’s eye view of the battle for free to allow him to pick a target to ensure a kill on.

24 Likes
4

Yeah all those top tier players constantly getting shrekt by him just need to git gud :man_shrugging:

20 Likes
5

The whole dash/swift strike resetting mechanic in general needs some SERIOUS looking at. For an ability that is a massive mobility, damage and combo tool at the same time, it is WAY too spammy.

6 Likes
6

Either nerf Genji or buff the other DPS, he’s clearly one of the best ones out there.

2 Likes
7

Are you going to give reasons why you claim dragon blade is balance or are you using the appeal to tradition fallacy?

Cause the suggestion made in the OP is very reasonable and it makes absolute sense. No other DPS hero gets free cooldown resets for pressing Q, and having the knowledge that genji wont be able to blow all his cooldowns and not get punished for it. This change would only effect bad genjis.

5 Likes
8

genjis ult is probably the most powerful in the game in the right hands, but it makes up for his lower than average poke damage.

pickrate, winrate, elimination, and damage wise, genji as a whole is totally fine. i dont see where the cry for nerfs comes from.

9 Likes
9

Maybe the dash reset in general should only be for confirmed kills rather than assists - would make it so he doesn’t get the dash reset “randomly” for whoever he is attacking. For example, he can poke one enemy, swift strike, attack another enemy who knows it’s now on CD… but then someone else finishes off the first target and thus he gets the reset way earlier than the second enemy could anticipate.

3 Likes
10

Soldier 76, Mercy, and Brigitte also have transformation ults. Soldier does get a free ammo reload when he uses it, but he doesn’t get a helix rocket reset. Mercy no longer gets a resurrect reset. Brigitte doesn’t get any resets.

4 Likes
11

Winston gets a jump pack reset before and after his ult.

12

Man, could you imagine junkrat getting a concussion mine reset for every assist?

Reins shield recharges everytime he tags someone and his team kills them.

Mercys valkyrie resetting her res? (Hmm what happened there)

Soldier76 getting a helix rocket for assists?

If you want to say it’s because its genjis only escape option, then why doesn’t sombras teleport reset on her q?

Reaper can use his wraith form to float in and ult but that doesn’t reset.

Dva could use her mobility to do damage but that doesn’t reset either.

What’s so special about genji that he needs this handicap.

4 Likes
13

Because he has to use his blade with the 20 foot range, so he’s a “melee” hero!!
/s

4 Likes
14

?
Genjis schurikens have no fall off dmg, he can pop a hog with 3 sets of AAs from across the map if he lands head shots. I know this is highly unlikely but its not due to Genjis lack of dmg.

His dash+mele+MB2 combo deals 165 dmg if he doesnt land a single head shot.
his one shot (3 shurikens) deals 84 dmg without head shots.

And thats not counting in his deflect that has a ton of posibilities.

Genji has some of the highest mobility in the game, one the most powerful ults in the game, the most powerful execute capability, dive ability, chokes usually mean easy ult charge from deflect+dash and has an ability that can completely counter half the ults in the game, can pump out a lot of dmg and has no fall off.

3 Likes
15

Top tier players dying to a DPS ult? The horror D:

2 Likes
16

He doesn’t need his ult to make up for poke damage though. He has awesome mobility, a large burst capability with flexible combos, and deflect which is great as both offense and defense. His ult being the best offensive ult in the game isn’t compensation, it’s over the top.

3 Likes
17

it’s impossible to land all 3 shurikens at long range
even rmb you need to be 4 meters away that’s less than rein and brigitte.
Genji as the lowest damage output from all the dpses and without the reset he would be unplayable + Right now he sucks because he can’t kill tanks and Brigitte stuns then kills him everytime you dive to kill a Healer but he needs more nerfs :slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes
18

He might be one of the best dps if you play him well yeah. But like 50% of the heroes counter him lol

19

Higher pick rate and win rate in GM than Brig, top 8 pick rates and win rates across ranks, in diamond and masters shoots up to top 4 and top 6 picks over all heroes, highest pick rate than any dps in GM, but somehow sucks right now?

No, its just improbable. As in, it probably wont happen, but you can easily dink a scoped widow, ana or ashe.
his overall dmg done is not due to his base line lack of dmg.

2 Likes
20

Genji is actually pretty middle-of-the-road on most damage statistics, and he’s definitely not the worst by a long shot. He’s third highest in per-game Elims, after Bastion and Reaper.

His sustained DPS is poor, but that’s because he has good burst DPS.

He’s the most chosen DPS in the meta with a solidly above average winrate. He doesn’t “suck” in this meta. He’s the most chosen DPS from Gold up, second most in Bronze and Silver, and in the top 10 picks at every rank.

There’s not really a great argument for Genji “sucking” right now. He could likely take a small nerf to Dragonblade and still be perfectly fine, especially in a more-flanker friendly meta

3 Likes