Bishop's Disadvantage
Mirage_Turtle
Member Posts: 1,868 ★★★★
Is there any other champ in the game that has a bigger class disadvantage than Bishop vs. tech champs?
I quite like the trend of special relationships between classes outside of just attack stat increases and decreases. For example, if Domino has a class advantage, the enemy is always unlucky. If she's at a disadvantage, the enemy is never unlucky. Or Sentinel: he gains double analysis charges with an advantage but only half analysis charges with a disadvantage. I like the extra layer of strategy this provides.
Now look at Bishop. Under normal circumstances he gains triple prowess when he parries an energy attack and with an advantage, he gains double prowess on these well-timed blocks. However, at a disadvantage, he gains no prowess whatsoever; not against normal attacks or energy attacks. Bishop is a champion who's main source of damage output comes from his specials. Without prowess, he has no way to boost this damage beyond the base level. He also has a meager regen ability using prowess that also falls away against Tech. AND his attack is already lowered due to the disadvantage. It seems like a very big disadvantage.
In the cases of Domino and Sentinel, they still have some utility when disadvantaged. Domino can' t make them unlucky, but she can still be lucky herself. Sentinel may not gain analysis charges as quickly, but he can still build them. I think the trend should follow with Bishop. Something along the lines of only gaining a single prowess charge on well-timed blocks when facing the tech class. At least this won't leave him completely neutered.
I know Bishop isn't the most popular champion, but I still want to hear what people think about his abilities during tech fight. Do you think they are fine as-is or did they go a little too far when they designed his specific class disadvantage? What do you think?
I quite like the trend of special relationships between classes outside of just attack stat increases and decreases. For example, if Domino has a class advantage, the enemy is always unlucky. If she's at a disadvantage, the enemy is never unlucky. Or Sentinel: he gains double analysis charges with an advantage but only half analysis charges with a disadvantage. I like the extra layer of strategy this provides.
Now look at Bishop. Under normal circumstances he gains triple prowess when he parries an energy attack and with an advantage, he gains double prowess on these well-timed blocks. However, at a disadvantage, he gains no prowess whatsoever; not against normal attacks or energy attacks. Bishop is a champion who's main source of damage output comes from his specials. Without prowess, he has no way to boost this damage beyond the base level. He also has a meager regen ability using prowess that also falls away against Tech. AND his attack is already lowered due to the disadvantage. It seems like a very big disadvantage.
In the cases of Domino and Sentinel, they still have some utility when disadvantaged. Domino can' t make them unlucky, but she can still be lucky herself. Sentinel may not gain analysis charges as quickly, but he can still build them. I think the trend should follow with Bishop. Something along the lines of only gaining a single prowess charge on well-timed blocks when facing the tech class. At least this won't leave him completely neutered.
I know Bishop isn't the most popular champion, but I still want to hear what people think about his abilities during tech fight. Do you think they are fine as-is or did they go a little too far when they designed his specific class disadvantage? What do you think?
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I also think Bishop is a great champion. I have a 6* and used him quite a bit during Variant difficulty. He's got some really great mechanics. Even as a 6*, the regen is pretty underwhelming and his synergy with Psylocke only seems to benefit Psylocke (if someone knows why this synergy is good specifically for Bishop, please explain it to me), but I can overlook both of those issues because of everything else he brings to the table. However, his class disadvantage abilities seem way more drastic that any other champ in the game and I wanted to know if anyone else felt the same way.
But the fact that he gains double prowess against skill his HUGE for him. You gain 10% damage on specials for each prowess. That means every time I parry a skill champ, my specials just gained +60% damage. I'm routinely at around 30 prowess by the time I get to an L2 against a skill champ. That means my L2 is hitting for 4x the normal damage.
I frequently take Bishop into Dungeon 7 during skill days and he DEVASTATES enemies very quickly. The fact that most skill champs don't use energy attacks isn't really a big issue.
This is a big part of the issue. It would be one thing if he didn't gain prowess from parrying tech champs but could still build prowess from their energy attacks, but they decided to rob him of his ability to absorb energy against tech champions (which doesn't much fit the character's backstory in-game or in the comics). It's a little much.
Tech champs with energy-based specials:
Civil Warrior
Darkhawk
Green Goblin
Hulkbuster
Iron Man
IMIW
Iron Patriot
Nebula
Punisher 2099
Red Skull
Sentinel
Star Lord
Ultron
Ultron (AoU)
Vision
Vision (AoU)
That is a lot of potential sources of prowess that Bishop is unable to utilize.
100% agree. Parrying is essential to Bishop's play style. Or as Kabam puts it in his Champion Spotlight:
Blocking – especially the well-timed variety – are core to Bishop’s kit
My issue is that his "kit" is completely and utterly decimated if he goes against any tech champion. The disadvantage in Bishop's case is too extreme and it would be nice to have it reviewed and maybe toned down.
The kicker is that tech champions aren't even listed under "Weaknesses" for Bishop on the Champion Spotlight. Instead, they list "Bulky physical damage-dealing opponents like Hulk", which is absurd as Hulk doesn't have much in terms of energy resistance and feeds Bishop's prowess, which means Bishop DESTROYS Hulk in most situations.
I'm encouraged to see that people who use Bishop seem to be in agreement. I think I'll make a post in the "Suggestions" area and link to this post.
Thanks for the input, all!
I'm cross-posting the suggestion thread. If you feel this is a change that should be made, please go there and post that you agree. Thanks.
When Bishop holds block while he has prowess, he can consume prowess one at a time for a small amount of regen. Also, if he's bleeding, he will purify a bleed this way as well.