Idk why I’ve seen this argument more than once when Blizzard literally put this on a hero who 1. is a Melee range hero, 2. who has to put themselves in a vulnerable position to use it, 3. it requires them to have their weak 600hp shield intact and 4. they cannot insta-kill with their CC combo.
Shield Bash is easily the most powerful CC ability in the game within 6m, outside of the 6m, it is easily the worst and most useless CC ability:
Sure Shield Bash has a 5s cooldown (half of Flashbang’s CD), but it is much shorter range, can only hit 1 person whereas Flashbang can easily hit more, puts Brigitte in a very vulnerable position where she can be shot at, requires that Brigitte have her 600 HP shield, which is easy to break and does not kill a 200 hp target, and does not result in a kill like Flashbang.
Sure it deals double the damage of Flashbang but McCree can deal 70-140 dps damage at mid range, whereas Brigitte only deals 58 dps at melee range. McCree can Flashbang you and then kill you, whereas the most Brigitte can do is Shieldbash, scare you and knock you away.
Sure it lasts longer than Flashbang, 1s stun compared to Flashbang’s stun, which is 0.7s, but it’s 0.3 seconds more for an ability that requires Melee range, has small AoE that makes Brigitte vulnerable to Open fire, requires her shield to be intact and she still can’t finish you off by herself.
Sure it has 6m range which seems longer than Flashbang’s 5m range but it is shorter than Flashbang’s range when you account for Flashbang’s AoE, which is 5m range + 2m of AoE. In game, both abilities are a little generous and Shield Bash can hit up to 7m away and Flashbang can hit even further upto 10m away! Flashbang can also hit multiple people with its AoE whereas Brigitte’s AoE is much smaller and is unlikely to hit more than 1 person. So Shield Bash range is shorter range than Flashbang, is single-target, it makes Brigitte vulnerable to Open fire, requires her shield to be intact and requires allies to help secure the kill. *Thanks for the correction Nibelung and Arandmoor.
Sure it comes out super fast with almost no warning, but so does Flashbang.
Sure it cannot be blocked or mitigated like every other CC in the game, but that’s because most other CC is either long range or lethal in short range, whereas Shield Bash is even shorter range, a melee range ability and the combo that follows it, is a non-lethal Combo.
Sure it has a Gigantic, poorly represented hitbox that’s nearly twice the total area of her shield. But it is necessary due to the situational use of the ability, and that fact that Brigitte cannot kill you afterwards like McCree can. *This seems to have been fixed or it was never the case. i tested this on bots and it does not a gigantic poorly represented hitbox.
Sure it sets up a 155dmg combo for Brigitte which is relatively simple to execute but other heroes can do way more damage at a much longer range, without having to combo, in a single click. Like I said McCree can Flashbang you and then kill you.
The only reason why people are attacking this ability at all is because she’s has a lot of CC for a Support hero, which is funny because Brigitte is more of an Off-Tank Hero like Roadhog or Mei, also called Peeler Tank, who tend to have lots of CC.
Brigitte is a Melee-ranged Off-Tank, melee-range Peeler Tank which makes her much weaker than Roadhog and Mei so she makes up for that with Supportive Abilities.
Now Supports can be meta-defining and oppressive but when you limit their range so much that they are Melee, and you bind their weak healing with a Brawling, CC type Off-Tank playstyle, then you have effectively limited how meta-changing and oppressive they can be.
Just look at Symmetra. She is essentially Brigitte with slightly less CC and heals but way more DPS. How many people think she is meta-defining and oppressive?
When you create a hero with powerful abilities but you make their power limited in nature, then you have created a balanced hero.
People like to pretend ow isn’t a team game when complaining about brig. Like somehow she just goes around and 1v1s their whole team. Her downfalls are so much greater than her 1 powerful ability.
Brigitte will be balanced in mid diamond and higher. Any sort of focus fire makes her look like a joke. She seems a lot stronger right now because she’s only in QP where everyone plays like idiots.
They could do that or they could also put her in Off-Tank.
However I think people are too Myopic about Supports and Roles in general. They don’t realize that roles flow into each other, that you can have a Defensive hero who is also kinda Supportive, being placed in a Support role. E.g. Symmetra and that doesn’t mean that Symmetra should be balanced as a purely Supportive hero. She should be balanced according to who she is a Melee Defense-Support.
Similarly Brigitte should be balanced according to who she is a Melee Tank-Support.
No. She’s a support / tank Hybrid, as stated by Jeff in her launch video. She isn’t defense, she isn’t tank, and she isn’t support. She’s a mix of two of those things, that’s all.
Well she cannot kill you instantly. Her damage is slow so it will take a while for her to Frag you during which your team or your abilities can intervene.
Compared to Flashbang+Shoot, McCree can insta-kill any 200 HP hero with this combo.
So when you look at it like that, it makes sense that Shield Bash is designed the way it is.
why you gotta get so defensive bro. Roles are arbitrary. Is a tank not just a defensive character? Isn’t supporting just a defensive mechanic? I guess sometimes offensive as well.
Its a stun on a low cooldown. there is nothing “situational” about it. CC can never be described as situational.
She can if your tracer. If you are a 200 hp hero. it will be damn easy for her team to finish you off. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but it should not be decided by a ridiculously huge hitbox.
The big hitbox is a mistake. we all know it. I’m not saying anything else needs to be touched but come on dude. Why even try to defend this?
I might also add, Any healer in the game can prevent you from dying to bridgette as she only does 30 dps, meaning a zenyatta orb will prevent you from dying to her.