Another 'Buff Karax' Thread

That is also a fine idea, thank you.

I agree; it’s definitely the better option if you’re doing an offensive build. I like repairiers and flaming colossi no doubt. I think both of those masteries in that tier can stay the same with some kind of buff to the building option to make it more desirable.

I disagree, but let’s see what the devs decide to do. Probably nothing, to be honest.

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My “middleground” would be his Nexus has a Recall ability. Similar to what’s used by Protoss in Versus/Ladder, but instead of a large AoE units being teleported back to that Nexus, a large AoE targets his “insta-buildings” (pylon may or may not be excluded). All affected buildings are removed, but you get the resources refunded back. (Or, the pylon stays there so you get the best of both worlds… it continues providing supply, while extra money).

You can adjust the cd so that it’s more or less spammable to suit balance.

His buildings being able to move (phase cannons) aren’t probably going to be able to see light, while teleporting them does feel too much like Zeratul’s projections. Salvaging individual buildings (requiring a probe or not) feels too much like Terrans being able to salvage their buildings).

Heh… we’ve been doing that for the better part of 2 years now :smiley:

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That was an example of a bad cannon Karax on DoN, due to his questionable build order and choosing Chrono Wave Energy Generation instead of Repair Beam Healing Rate. He had a brief whiff and an idea, but no plan.

Normally, when i play Karax on DoN, i finish somewhere around 30-40 apm, not only investing ressources into defense, but also spending on offense, as far as i can provide.

I don’t wanna say anything stupid but don’t Zagara benefit from the armor upgrades?

No, she does not. She has her own set of research that affects her life, life regen, and allow her to have multiple attacks.

I’m not sure if Karax really needs a buff.

His calldown game is the best in the business, his defenses are surpassed only by Zeratul cheese, and his units, while expensive, are powerful.

I think he’d be broken if he had all of that with more affordable units, though he wouldn’t be alone there. I like commanders having definite weaknesses - in his case army ramp-up speed.

With that said, I like the Building HP and Shield Defense Mastery being standardized and replaced with Research Cost and Time Reduction.

I think the latter is a good way to help him afford teching for an army, the SoA, and his defenses.

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*used to be. Then Mengsk got released.

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Well, true.

Mengsk gets to have his cake, eat it, and then take someone else’s cake as well.

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Or as winter put it he “has his cake, and eats it too, and has a picture of the cake, and also eats that, and then goes to Costco to buy a bunch more cakes” though here he was taking about something outside of co-op.

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Who is winter? The line fits.

Mengsk problems include not quite being able to spam free bunkers, reinforcements, and supply on cool-down if he’s using his Zerg calldown to clear every objective.

Mengsk, Zeratul and Abathur feel like the outliers at present. They are so strong that they can essentially brute force mutators that other commanders would have to approach with care.

Now - this doesn’t mean I want them nerfed. But I would like to see other commanders, especially the struggling ones (Stukov, Raynor, Vora, Karax etc.) given some love before another crazy strong commander is added.

We’ve just had a huge raise to the difficulty ceiling. There is no reason why the baseline power at the lower tier of commanders should not be raised.

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Meh, I don’t think Mutations should really be considered a rise in the difficulty setting.

They’re inherently not well balanced across commanders and strategies, and for many players they’re more annoying than challenging.

I personally don’t like dealing with them, being forced into using some janky strategies or annoyances like always having a Detector around.

We either need a real difficulty above Brutal without them, or a the nerf equivalent of Nuclear Annihilation to make Brutal challenging as-is.

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I wish karax’s Chrono Boost increase Solar Energy regeneration by 300 to 500% as well as cooldown.

Karax’s Mastery 2 Set 2 (solar energy gain during Boost) sucks replace it with something or improved it VASTLY

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His canons should do more damage to keep up with current waves strength and keep up with dps of other commanders.

I think with their greater range, it would be ok if they were cheaper

Swann has better defenses and in my opinion Stukov also does. His units are standard with extra upgrades, they are as powerful as a standard Protoss unit with extra cost, with extta research cost.[quote=“Galgus-1855, post:29, topic:6025”]
I think he’d be broken if he had all of that
[/quote]

I’m not saying he should have all of that, I think I pointed that out in the original post well enough.

I’m with you on that one, though you should always have a Detector around, unless you play on Normal or Casual.

Edit: Sent it by accident, more things to reply.

Maybe. I had to see but don’t see a reason why. Three out of four (counting in Pylons) only cost minerals and he is more Vespene hungry than anything, thanks to all the research.

Agreed. I think the splash on PC, the qol change on the KM and the weapon upgrades they would also get could make them powerful enough to account for the increase of strength on the AIs part.

Karax defenses are way more durable with shield batteries, though Swann can salvage his for more mobility.

I love using his Immortals and clicking the Shadow Cannon, but I think he needs a slower to build up army to compensate his top bar. He can easily pull his weight in a push with that alone.

I’d also say Karax beats Stukov in raw holding power without supply and loses in mobility.

I always keep a detector around, but needing one for literally every unit would be hell unless I was playing Vorazun Oracles / Corsairs.

Swann would be especially terrible there, since Hercules warp drops wouldn’t work without the slow SV’s catching up.

Defenses aren’t necessarily just turrets. Swann has access to the best Siege Tanks you can mass produce in co-op while Stukov has Infested Siege Tanks that also do good damage. You park 'em behind your barracks and they will never run out of munitions.

Karax’s defenses have some survivability between Shield Batteries and the Repair Beam, while Swann gets more powerful and free repair from SCVs and can hide his static behind supply depots (or Flaming Betties, since they are dirt cheap and easy to replace). Swann also has a lot of splash. Flaming Betties work wonders against light chaff, while Photon Cannons can be overwhelmed due to their single target damage. Blaster Billies do goid damage, are anti-armor and slow. No splash but packs a whole set of different pluses. And Spinning Dizzies are the best missile turrets in co-op, and they too have splash. Now add Siege Tanks behind this line and I believe Swann’s power dwarfs that of Karax.

Without supply, yes. Infested Bunkers are very survivable but are only half of Stukov’s effective defenses.

So you would make his already 30% more expensive units have a longer build time?