An Honest Review of Magneto Buff - Kudos, Problems & Questions
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.
