Torb is a weak hero overall but finds some usage with his niche on defense. With talk of a Torb rework on the horizon I want to discuss Why Torb isn’t good right now and what buffs/changes could make Trob better.
First, why isn’t Torb doing well?
Allow me to make a quick list of issues with Torb’s kit.
Let’s start with Torb himself. As I listed above Torb’s head hit box is simply too large. While Trob essentially has 275 HP, with 75 of that coming from his armor pack, he’s incredibly squishy. Any hero capable of head shots can tear down Torb in no time at all but head shot damage isn’t the only problem. Torb’s slow move speed makes him an easy target for any hero with mobility as well. While Torb is fine with his low mobility reducing his head hit box should be a must.
These issues aren’t necessarily too much to keep Torb from being viable. Other elements of his kit should compensate for these weaknesses but currently they don’t. Which brings up to our next subject, his gun.
Torb’s gun is very weak. His guns poor arc and travel speed make it useless on maps without a tight choke to spam. The alt fire has more potential but is still very inconsistent. While Torb’s gun is weak and ineffective it shouldn’t need buffs because his turret should function as his primary damage source. This leads us to the big issue with Torb, the turret.
Torb’s turret is… underwhelming to put it mildly. The turret struggles for a number of reasons. After being knocked down the turret is very difficult to setup again and on many maps the turret lacks any good setup locations.
What would make Torb better? Blizzard will probably look at reducing Trob’s head hit box and improving his weapon for his rework. I would prefer to look at maximizing his scrap collector passive and buffing the turret. After all the turret is supposed to be Torb’s main damage source and scrap offers him his utility. Why not combine both?
How to improve the passive? What if by consuming a number of scrap (50-100?) you could immediately setup a new level two turret? This makes the passive a little more versatile and provides Torb more options in a fight.
Buffing the turret may seem like a dangerous balance change but I’m not interested in touching its damage. I would add an ability to the turret. Something like a barrier or a missile barrage on CD that Torb himself can activate.
Do you think Torb needs a full rework to be more universally viable or should he simply be better in his niche? How would you improve the Swedish engineer?
2 Likes
He can place more then 1 turret in a few choice locations. Core now immediately makes each turret level 3 no hammer required.
I don’t know if this is a good idea. Being able to have two level three turrets would be very OP. Even a second level 1 turret would be too much.
2 Likes
Well i mean you would have to split the difference in damage between them…
Trob just needs his critbox lowered. He requires more skill than you might think.
His gun is great imo. His hitbox is too huge. Id like to be able to select targets for the turret and set it up a bit faster. Instant lvl 3 turret during ult would be op and make the ult easymode,you gotta think about when using it and thats a good thing.
I agree that he requires skill. I never said he didn’t
His gun is okay at best. The hit box definitely needs a reduction. Selecting turret target would be an interesting new mechanic! How would it work?
I don’t know where you get the insta level 3 turret during ult. With the scrap change he could technically drop a level 2 and ult if he had the scrap.
They need to link the strength/effectiveness of the turret to the skill of the player. The problem with Torb now is that his turret is set at a skill level that is OP for bronze and crap for masters. If the Torb player effected the power of the turret than the character/turret would scale better with ranks.
ex.
The turret targets the enemy that Torb marks.
Turret gains a secondary missile fire that launches on Torb’s command.
Turret can be repaired from a distance via armor pack.
Turret is built to only one level that does reliable sustainable damage.
The Ultimate would simply strap the turret to Torbs back. combining their health and armor and making the turret mobile but not increasing the rate of fire. They would die together or the Ult would end and drop the turret.
This would require Torb players to be good at targeting, managing the missiles, repairing, and relocating.
Shouldn’t his head hit box reflect the size of his massive head?
How would the marking system work? It was suggest earlier and I don’t know how it would work. The turret can’t always target what Torb is shooting at because it’s stationary.
These ideas around turret abilities is close to what I was thinking. I think if they implemented turret abilities like a missile barrage, activate short time barrier or initiate turret repair from distance the turret would make Torb far more viable.
I guess but Torb effectively has 275 HP with 75 or that being armor and still gets melted very easily.
Hey there, top 5% of all attack torbs: His gun works great when you know how to aim. He becomes hanzo except better.
Marking on the other hand is very easy, you just have the turret shoot at the last thing you hit
If the turret cant hit your marked target it simply ignores the order and shoots in normal mode. Just look at a target and press a button to mark it.
Small bubble shield while he’s building Turrets. Unlimited turrets but it costs scrap. Enhanced wrench damage for close combat.
Give torb wall run, that is all
I would like him to be more about his scrap collecting passive. Like using scrap to make level 2 turrets and stuff like that. I think he has a lot of potential because of that passive, he should be more about that. Like he has his abilities, but can spend scrap to make them better. Make enhance with scrap a button, so he has some control/management of it.
1 Like
Maybe something a little different. A torb that changes when he switches weapons
Shift with Gun equipped: Calls air missiles from the turret to hit a target location after 1 second
Shift with Wrench equipped: Places and builds turret takes 3 seconds
E While gun is equipped: Torb gains a temporary shield that absorbs up to 200 damage. slowly recharges
E While wrench is equipped: Turret gains the same 300 point shield.
Passive with gun equipped: Damage generates scrap
Passive with Wrench equipped: Can repair turret using scrap
Q Same as current ult but can do different things during the time that the ult is active.
Q with gun equipped: Can spend 50 scrap to send a free missile strike without a cooldown
Q with wrench equipped: Can deactivate the turret with shift to pick it up and move it quickly, no rebuild required.
These ideas seem a little too much. Torb already generates lots of scrap now and the shield E would be a little too good as it protects both Torb and the turret. I’m fine with a missile barrage but it should just be available from the turret on a simple CD.
If you want turret abilities not on CDs but at the cost of scrap then that works. He’d need faster scrap generation but it would work. I think these ideas are just too overly complex though.
OK that’s fair. What about a much less radical change then.
Turret has its own repair that will occur after not taking damage for 2 seconds.
Put E on a cooldown requiring no scrap
Change passive to Linked Morale: Decrease Torb’s cooldowns when the turret deals damage and increase turret repair speed and attack speed when Torb deals damage.
Then balance:
Allow shift to pick up and move the turret for faster relocation.
This would eliminate the need for his second weapon and the need for his scrap. It would also increase the strength of Torb for players that are better at managing turret location/relocation and managing armor pack cool-downs.
I like TROB (he’s like Torb) but he actually has level 5 Turret.
Torb