An Honest Review of Magneto Buff - Kudos, Problems & Questions
Colonaut123
Member Posts: 3,091 ★★★★★
We've all seen it already. Magneto is getting buffed. CCP are going bananas. I think Magneto can be a great champion, much better than before (which isn't really an accomplishment), but is he practical?
The way I've seen everyone playing, is charging the heavy 0.7 seconds to reach max amount of Prowess stacks. He has +50% perfect block chance against magnetized opponents, so that should help. Still, in a lot of match-ups, you're facing with stun immunity, limber or just a passive AI that won't get parried. If there are any nodes or champions that impedes him in any way (Matador, Pilfer, you name it), he will be pretty bad. Very annoying for a regular champion, but devastating to Magneto.
Let's compare it to Colossus. He gets most damage from his heavies as well. But when playing regularly, his damage is still pretty good. You still have the extra crit damage from his armor up buffs. Magneto relies so much on his Prowess buffs, that his performance plummets when playing regularly. Magneto relies a lot on his specials (SP3 mostly) and heavies for damage. In fact, he has nothing else. Regular MLLLM combo's? That's like pre-buff Magneto.
Alright, now the git gud fella's come in. With the right skill, you can play pretty much everything. Yeah, you can heavy intercept. This is not an easy way of playing. A champion should allow for sub-optimal gameplay. It shouldn't be all-or-nothing. It would be nice to have a way Magneto can hit hard without relying on Prowess buffs. Magneto lacks balance.
But there is more. I've seen plenty of CCP get hit when they tried to heavy-intercept, the only reason they didn't get a KO is because they were fighting LOL WS, which has a relatively low attack rating, and got Magneto to max sig so that reduced damage by a lot. They can claim you don't need his sig, but their gameplay suggests otherwise. There is a massive gap between the beta, with unlimited resources, and the actual game. My 5* Magneto is sig 20, he will only reduce damage by 31.78%. (They even nerfed him, as pre-buff Magneto can tank a SP3, while buffed Magneto cannot.) I would really like to see them in Act 6 or Abyss slip-up with only a sig 20 6* Magneto. Three hits they can take and they are out. Sig stones aren't cheap, is having a fail-safe worth it? I don't know.
What also surprised me, is how few would actually try to do a SP2 first, re-apply that pretty big armor break constantly, and then SP3. They all went straight to SP3. It did get the job done, but they could one hit KO if they had the armor break of the SP2 on top of it.
I am a bit disappointed that Kabam didn't add the reversed controls immunity to his ability list (and not one of the CCP cared to check if this easter egg is still in his kit), nor that they gave him a way to glance or miss projectile hits (in the comics, Magneto can easily stop bullets and arrows). But that's on a side note.
There are a lot of questions: how will the #Metal be reworked? How will Magneto interact with AAR immune champions like AA or Mysterio, who currently don't get magnetised? I've seen one CCP video of Acid Wash Mysterio getting magnetized, and I've seen his power drain or damage reflection fail many times against Magneto, although he should be AAR immune. Is this intentional, Kabam?
What this Acid Wash Mysterio vid also learns, is that you don't need to heavy charge in the beginning. It is actually better to knock the opponent down a few times, as this generates more potent permanent prowess buffs. The amount of prowess buffs determine how much temporary smaller potent prowess buffs you generate and the easier to build-up to larger amounts of prowess buffs. That's just a general tip.
Don't get me wrong, this is a great rework. I like it a lot. He has so much better damage and utility. But he isn't quite right yet. But I do hope he will by the end of this month.
Remember, be civil, this is just my humble opinion.
The way I've seen everyone playing, is charging the heavy 0.7 seconds to reach max amount of Prowess stacks. He has +50% perfect block chance against magnetized opponents, so that should help. Still, in a lot of match-ups, you're facing with stun immunity, limber or just a passive AI that won't get parried. If there are any nodes or champions that impedes him in any way (Matador, Pilfer, you name it), he will be pretty bad. Very annoying for a regular champion, but devastating to Magneto.
Let's compare it to Colossus. He gets most damage from his heavies as well. But when playing regularly, his damage is still pretty good. You still have the extra crit damage from his armor up buffs. Magneto relies so much on his Prowess buffs, that his performance plummets when playing regularly. Magneto relies a lot on his specials (SP3 mostly) and heavies for damage. In fact, he has nothing else. Regular MLLLM combo's? That's like pre-buff Magneto.
Alright, now the git gud fella's come in. With the right skill, you can play pretty much everything. Yeah, you can heavy intercept. This is not an easy way of playing. A champion should allow for sub-optimal gameplay. It shouldn't be all-or-nothing. It would be nice to have a way Magneto can hit hard without relying on Prowess buffs. Magneto lacks balance.
But there is more. I've seen plenty of CCP get hit when they tried to heavy-intercept, the only reason they didn't get a KO is because they were fighting LOL WS, which has a relatively low attack rating, and got Magneto to max sig so that reduced damage by a lot. They can claim you don't need his sig, but their gameplay suggests otherwise. There is a massive gap between the beta, with unlimited resources, and the actual game. My 5* Magneto is sig 20, he will only reduce damage by 31.78%. (They even nerfed him, as pre-buff Magneto can tank a SP3, while buffed Magneto cannot.) I would really like to see them in Act 6 or Abyss slip-up with only a sig 20 6* Magneto. Three hits they can take and they are out. Sig stones aren't cheap, is having a fail-safe worth it? I don't know.
What also surprised me, is how few would actually try to do a SP2 first, re-apply that pretty big armor break constantly, and then SP3. They all went straight to SP3. It did get the job done, but they could one hit KO if they had the armor break of the SP2 on top of it.
I am a bit disappointed that Kabam didn't add the reversed controls immunity to his ability list (and not one of the CCP cared to check if this easter egg is still in his kit), nor that they gave him a way to glance or miss projectile hits (in the comics, Magneto can easily stop bullets and arrows). But that's on a side note.
There are a lot of questions: how will the #Metal be reworked? How will Magneto interact with AAR immune champions like AA or Mysterio, who currently don't get magnetised? I've seen one CCP video of Acid Wash Mysterio getting magnetized, and I've seen his power drain or damage reflection fail many times against Magneto, although he should be AAR immune. Is this intentional, Kabam?
What this Acid Wash Mysterio vid also learns, is that you don't need to heavy charge in the beginning. It is actually better to knock the opponent down a few times, as this generates more potent permanent prowess buffs. The amount of prowess buffs determine how much temporary smaller potent prowess buffs you generate and the easier to build-up to larger amounts of prowess buffs. That's just a general tip.
Don't get me wrong, this is a great rework. I like it a lot. He has so much better damage and utility. But he isn't quite right yet. But I do hope he will by the end of this month.
Remember, be civil, this is just my humble opinion.
12
Comments
He is meant to be a monster ONLY against metal champs, still very good otherwise but only against them is he a God. That said, your concerns are unwarranted against metal champs, for example, you alluded to 50% perfect block against metal opponents which will make baiting heavies and heaving countering significantly easier and more practical to allow for managing prowess.
Also, you didn’t at all mention his unstoppable mechanic which is another way that assists in allowing you to use heavies at your convenience/desire. You want him to be less reliant on prowess but the fact is that if played correctly there’s very little reason to play him other than as intended.
You’re other concerns, in my opinion, are pretty negligible in the scope of things because they’re such a small percentage of the circumstances in which you can use him, no offense. The big things, damage, utility, and practicality particularly against #metal, are what matter and buffs maximize all three of those without breaking the game.
His normal attacks are not like a wet noodle you know, right? he was so strong in a straight up fight that Brian Grant had him autofight rol and he won with a lot of health
His Unstoppable buff will allow him to knock-down the opponent, but you still take a hit. Only when at max sig you can tank it. Unawakened or at low sig, you cannot afford that.
There are a lot of annoying champions or nodes who can demolish Magneto: Limber, tenacity, Spite, Burden of Might, Pilfer, any champion that can reduce debuff duration or remove debuffs, stun immunity, nullify or fate seal,... Some of those are unaffected by AAR. Empowered immunity will be awful, Magneto can stack so many bleeds any robot who survived his SP3 will demolish you.
He is a great champion, but he will struggle once you go into certain match-ups. You don't learn a champion's worth if you only fight him against LOL WS, or in the match-ups you know he will be perfect with. That's good to know, but can I use him for regular champions?
Let's compare him to Blade. I use him largely with his Danger Sense, but I also don't (such as Mr. Fantastic, at 2+ bars he purifies all debuffs he can apply). But he still can do the job, because his SP2 is so damaging and he can quickly get to another SP2 if you play aggressively. I'm not sure about Magneto, unlike Blade he has no external way to increase his power. You'll need to get power the old-fashioned way.
His normal attacks are not like a wet noodle you know, right? he was so strong in a straight up fight that Brian Grant had him autofight rol and he won with a lot of health
Agent Venom has tenacity and no metal tag. You don't have increased perfect block chance nor reduced ability reduction. Your parry stuns will fail 70% of the time and you will get smacked in the face. No problem with low attack rating and at high sig, big problem in Act 6 or unawakened.
Vision Aarkus has tenacity and no metal tag. Same thing with Agent Venom.
Taskmaster reduces debuff duration by 10% per debuff, regardless of the initial duration. After 10 parries, he is debuff immune. That means no parries, no bleeds, no armor breaks, nothing.
Kingpin will purify 50/50 of your parries. He is non-metal, so no increased parry-stun duration.
Spite and Burden of Might are independent of AAR reduction, so there is no work around there. Pilfer is the only thing that is ability accuracy based, and that you could work around in metal match-ups.
Limber will be less effective in metal match-ups, but due the amount of parries will mean he will still get lose anyway. Heavy-intercept is not impossible, but his heavy animation has a short reach.
Magneto is for a mutant champion pretty bad against skill champions, with only 6 of those having the metal tag. That's alright, because he performs better against tech anyway, with only 3 not having metal tag (Hulkbuster is bugged and I expect that will be fixed). Mysterio is AAR immune and doesn't get magnetized currently, so that might get fixed as well. Still, they are reworking the metal tag so we don't know which champions will get it and which don't.
He won in an auto-fight against LOL WS, who is like the best match-up (metal + class advantage). He also was sig 200, so he can reduce damage by a lot.
Imagine I pull him as my first 6*. I have no awakening gem nor the sig stones to get him high. He will have no fail-safe, just his metal utility. It is 50/50: if there are no restrictions and I am facing a metal target, he will be awesome. I have no doubt about it. But once things get tricky, he will fail. He isn't flexible or well-balanced. New champions might not get the metal tag like Kabam did with Blade.
I think it is fair to say that Magneto is comparable to Blade, in some aspects better but in other much worse.
Vision Aarkus has tenacity and no metal tag. Same thing with Agent Venom.
Taskmaster reduces debuff duration by 10% per debuff, regardless of the initial duration. After 10 parries, he is debuff immune. That means no parries, no bleeds, no armor breaks, nothing.
Kingpin will purify 50/50 of your parries. He is non-metal, so no increased parry-stun duration.
Spite and Burden of Might are independent of AAR reduction, so there is no work around there. Pilfer is the only thing that is ability accuracy based, and that you could work around in metal match-ups.
Limber will be less effective in metal match-ups, but due the amount of parries will mean he will still get lose anyway. Heavy-intercept is not impossible, but his heavy animation has a short reach.
Magneto is for a mutant champion pretty bad against skill champions, with only 6 of those having the metal tag. That's alright, because he performs better against tech anyway, with only 3 not having metal tag (Hulkbuster is bugged and I expect that will be fixed). Mysterio is AAR immune and doesn't get magnetized currently, so that might get fixed as well. Still, they are reworking the metal tag so we don't know which champions will get it and which don't.
He won in an auto-fight against LOL WS, who is like the best match-up (metal + class advantage). He also was sig 200, so he can reduce damage by a lot.
Imagine I pull him as my first 6*. I have no awakening gem nor the sig stones to get him high. He will have no fail-safe, just his metal utility. It is 50/50: if there are no restrictions and I am facing a metal target, he will be awesome. I have no doubt about it. But once things get tricky, he will fail. He isn't flexible or well-balanced. New champions might not get the metal tag like Kabam did with Blade.
I think it is fair to say that Magneto is comparable to Blade, in some aspects better but in other much worse.
again you are still under bad assumpions about playing him even in a suboptimal way. His unstoppable heavy will still work against non metal champs, just with a longer cooldown. There are ways to heavy in cases of limber and stun immunity..
There is nothing in his kit that helped him in the auto fight against WS other than the extra 846 attack, There were no perfect blocks that I remember, his 200 sig ability only allowed him to tank up to 10 hits, WS in rol only had about 1200 attack, so that does not even come into play. Mags was hitting for a little less than 7k crit damage without any buffs, and can still get +100% special damage for specials (4 20% prowesses) even if not magnatized nor able to heavy.
He is better than blade in every category. In rol he did killed juggs, non metallic, with less than 40 hits.
It seems to me you want a champion that unawakened is the best damage in the game even at sub optimal play still does more damage than anyone else in the game.
Again you are still under bad assumpions about playing him even in a suboptimal way. His unstoppable heavy will still work against non metal champs, just with a longer cooldown. There are ways to heavy in cases of limber and stun immunity..
There is nothing in his kit that helped him in the auto fight against WS other than the extra 846 attack, There were no perfect blocks that I remember, his 200 sig ability only allowed him to tank up to 10 hits, WS in rol only had about 1200 attack, so that does not even come into play. Mags was hitting for a little less than 7k crit damage without any buffs, and can still get +100% special damage for specials (4 20% prowesses) even if not magnetized nor able to heavy.
He is better than blade in every category. In rol he did killed juggs, non metallic, with less than 40 hits.
It seems to me you want a champion that unawakened is the best damage in the game even at sub optimal play still does more damage than anyone else in the game.
I do hope they at least make the 20% Prowess passive, as that fixes a lot of issues.
Not many people can heavy-intercept, especially with a champion with a short range heavy attack as Magneto. I pretty much disagree that this is only my problem... It is enough of a problem for enough people to make it detrimental to the champion.
I mention shrug off as you need to parry in order to charge and release the heavy attack. That will not work against many skill champions.
The combination of robots with empowered immunity is pretty much standard these days (look at Dragon Man), so any monthly quest with a robot as a boss will mean no SP3 or SP1. But indeed, there is a work-around with the SP2. His crit rating is average, so you might get lucky or you need an extra crit team.