So for the past few weeks I have been brainstorming what I would like to see in each of these Champion’s buffs, for the dual purpose of encouraging others to come together and think through a balanced but worthy champion, as well as volunteering these ideas to the Kabam rebalance team to give them a direction to help them ramp up to 2 champs a month faster. That being said, I’ve mentioned where a couple of new ability sets feel incomplete, and would love to hear your feedback on what to add to them (or any critiques on the others). Each champ comes with a new ability description and a “dev diary” for my intents and inspiration, since a lot of effort went into thinking through and coming up with a lot of these abilities, not to mention help from folks like Rockypantherx and SpideyFunko. Without further ado, here are my top 20 buff ideas!
Since there are 20 of them, with varying lengths of what should be done, I will throw spoilers around each one. Buckle up lol; it's a long one.
Ebony Maw
L1 Nullfies on each hit regardless of whether or not a buff was active on activation
L2 inflicts bleed and 3 consumable falter passives
Deterioration passives now increase the chance the defender’s mediums and unblockable specials will be a guaranteed crit by 5% each (removing the fury reduction ability)
Black tongue now inflicts AAR based on how many missions you had completed upon reaching 100 persuasion: 0 missions = 10%,
1 mission = 30%, 2 missions = 50%, and 3 missions =70% AAR.
For each time the opponent misses, increase base attack by 1% (or some other damage ramp up mechanic for each miss)
Dev Diary: I’ve posted this before, and enjoyed the process of tweaking what kabam has already done so much that I’ve done 19 more lol. Ebony Maw was by far the most powerful of the Black Order in the movie, so obviously it’s disappointing that he is by far the worst in game. He wasn’t the first to introduce miss as a mechanic, but I do think that it is the more player friendly version of evade and having a champ that can get to a point where intercepts are hardly an issue is very handy.
Moon Knight
Sig ability: Instead of either enhancing or reducing power gain, inflict a constant power siphon on the opponent that scales with sig level. Has no effect on mutants and is paused for 10 seconds when knocked down.
Old Moon Phases:
Full- Crits have a low stun chance
Waning- Chance to get a fury buff on all hits
Waxing- Chance to get a precision on all hits
New- Evade chance
Updated Moon Phases:
Full- The moon illuminates all of Marc's surroundings, granting a passive true strike and a passive fury.
Waning- the light of the moon is running out, and fast action is needed. Gain 1 unstoppable and indestructible charge per bar of power spent, with a maximum of 6 stacks. One of each charge is lost when struck. Additional stacks grant a tenacity charge [These work like CAIW's kinetic charges with respect to his skill teammate bonus] to a maximum of 3.
Waxing- As the moon gains power, so does the Moon Knight. Gain 100% ability accuracy and inflict a passive 40% concussion each time a bleed is triggered. Gain a precision buff with increased potency per bar of power spent. Maximum one stack.
New- In the darkness of the new moon, gain one falter charge per bar of power spent, with a maximum of 3 stacks. Each time an opponent misses with a basic attack, one charge is lost. Each time an opponent misses with a special attack, falter charges last for the duration of the attack, then are depleted.
Dev Diary: the real-time correlation to the moon is very very cool, and it’s a shame Moon Knight came out so early when champs were much less sophisticated. I really like how he gains a whole different usage every couple of days, so there is a necessity to be aware of the moon and when it changes to maximize what you want him to do.
Joe Fixit
Increased bleed damage on L1 gunshots.
Old Suit Bonuses
Hearts: Regen that takes 7min to go from 1hp to max hp
Spades: Inflicts weakness or fatigue on hits
Clubs: Higher crit rate with a higher combo
Diamonds: Higher attack with lower health.
New Suit Bonuses
Hearts: Stronger regen (about 1/3 of Hyperion's) with a 3% life steal on mediums
Spades: 30% Chance to inflict slow on all hits
Clubs: Functions the same as Domino's lucky, just without the evade. Grants L1 and L3 a chance to critical bleed
Diamonds: Functions like Mighty Charge 3 (Debuff immune, unstoppable and increased attack)
Sig ability now has a 90% chance to trigger and additional sig levels increase duration from 5secs to 15secs
Dev Diary: Like Moon Knight, just an unfortunate case of being added before kabam’s devs could do all the cool things they do now.
Miles Morales
Lightning animations on mediums
Don't evade while blocking unless the attack will break his block. When Miles would take lethal block damage, consume one charge of evasion to evade and stun the opponent for 2 seconds.
L1 Consume one evasion charge to inflict up to 3 ensnare debuffs, each reducing ability accuracy by 30% and preventing evasion.
L2 Consume one evasion charge to inflict an enhanced venom blast.
L3 triggers Miles' stealth ability, causing incoming attacks that are not received with a well-timed block to miss. Consume one evasion charge each time an opponent misses. Become visible when evasion charges are depleted.
Sig ability has increased probability across the board.
Venom Blast: Cosmic and Science: Paralyze for 3.5 seconds. Tech and Skill: Drain 20% max power. Mystic and Mutant: Inflict a fatigue and a shock debuff
Enhanced Venom Blast: Cosmic and Science: Power lock and stun for 4 seconds. Tech and Skill: Drain 60% max power. Mystic and Mutant: Shock and Fatigue are now passive with double duration.
Dev Diary: With the new PS5 Miles Morales game, it’s crazy how epic he is there compared to in game. A few relatively minor changes could fix that.
Iron Fist
Clean Slate, minus the base stats and stacking armor break on crates (now a standard ability; doesn't need a duplicate to unlock).
Redone animations with glowing fist attacks. Mediums are punches, lights are kicks, and heavy is a rising uppercut.
New combo options: Iron fist ends his combo after his 3rd medium or his 4th light attack. Heavy attack can chain after a light attack that does not end the combo. Using different attacks to begin, continue, and finish combos have different effects:
Starting with a light attack: gain true accuracy until a combo is finished.
Starting a medium attack: gain precision.
In order to trigger these bonuses, the opponent must not be stunned at the time of impact.
Striking with a light attack: gain +1 chi passive
Striking with a medium attack: grants no power
Finishing: A combo is finished when Iron Fist uses a 3rd medium, 4th light, heavy, dashes back, holds block, is struck, or after a special attack finishes.
Light Combo Finisher: Place an indefinite stagger debuff on the opponent
Medium Combo Finisher: Consume chi to gain a cruelty passive whose potency scales with the number of chi consumed
Heavy Combo Finisher: Channel your chi into the opponent, overloading their buffs and causing them to detonate, nullifying them and dealing direct damage. One buff is detonated per chi passive.
L1: Generate 3 chi passives
L2: Enervate opponent
L3: Danny summons the strength of the dragon he defeated to earn his mantle: Place an armor shatter and incinerate debuff
When Iron Fist gains 15 chi passives, his fist becomes indestructible to incoming damage triggered on hits [like OR or Gambit]
For each unique 5-6 hit combo, passively increase armor break potency
Signature Ability: When health is below 50%, idling for 1 second will consume one chi passive and heal Iron Fist x amount.
Dev Diary: I probably spent a week on this idea alone, but I’m super happy with how it came out! It’s kind of confusing, but it allows you to choose on the fly between damage and utility, while rewarding skilled play. This was a little inspired from Street Fighter with respects to chaining combos and such. To be honest it was hard coming up with abilities for people like IF where he’s IN GENERAL a very standard superhuman (he's still super cool though, don't get me wrong). Capitalizing on the training Danny had to endure to become the iron fist as his in game playstyle (high skill) is the direction I took, and am proud how it turned out.
Black Bolt
Non-special animations overhaul.
Persistent Charge- Master Blow: Black Bolt channels all of his energy into an all-powerful blow, inflicting massive damage, but leaving himself drained and vulnerable.
Black Bolt starts the quest with no persistent charges. Using Master Blow consumes one persistent charge. Up to 1 charge can be gained after the team bypasses two fights [That is, on the third fight you will be able to use this ability whether or not BB plays those matches]. After spending a charge, regain up to 1 charge by not participating in two fights. This ability cannot be prevented or avoided.
Charging a heavy attack for 0.7 seconds instantly brings Black Bolt to 2 bars of power and a Master Blow passive for 2 seconds. Once the Master Blow passive expires, all power is drained. Launching an L2 with a Master Blow passive gains x amount of increased special attack rating and ignores all resistances (x being as strong as a 40 Prowess Magneto L3 vs a bleed immune). After the attack, Black Bolt loses 20% of max health, suffers a 50% armor break, and cannot gain buffs for the rest of the fight. When Black Bolt would gain a buff, instead increase block proficiency by y amount. ["Developer's" note: Just like in the comics, this is meant to be a last-ditch effort to put Black Bolt's enemies in the ground. The damage loss occurs even if you KO the enemy with it. One benefit of being in a vulnerable state is the inability to gain buffs. That means you can start a tricky mystic or spite battle with a huge attack, then won't gain buffs to trigger those nodes.]
Buffs are permanent. Inhuman Royal Family synergy instead eliminates the armor break and reduces the damage penalty to 10% after triggering a Master Blow
Black Bolt has control over electrons and can shield himself from enemies. Dashing back and holding block for 2 seconds grants 2 force field charges. These grant increased block proficiency (but not enough for perfect parries) against basic attacks and perfect block against special attacks, after which one is consumed. When Black Bolt would be struck, autoblock and inflict paralyze on the opponent for 3 seconds.
Immune to psychic effects and reversed controls due to his semi-telepathic nature
Idling for 1 second gives Black Bolt enough time to gain his composure and whisper a sonic boom at his opponent, refreshing all armor break debuffs. (This is like sparky's taunt, but with armor breaks)
Mediums have a chance to apply a weak but long armor break.
L1 Grants a vigilance buff for 9 seconds
L2 without using master blow has a 70% chance to inflict a potent armor break on each hit. For each armor break deal additional instant energy damage.
L3 Obliterate the opponent, inflicting armor break and stifle. Stifle reduces enemy combat power rate by 80% for 20 seconds. Dashing back while stifle is active give Black Bolt an unstoppable buff for 1.1 seconds but does not consume the effect.
Dev Diary: lol I remember when people were so confused at why kabam made BB hurt himself on his L2. With all the "research" I did, I learned that it’s actually based on comics (his master blow) which is pretty cool, even if it wasn’t ever really powerful enough to justify health loss. This might be a little broken but I think it is restrictive enough to where it’s not the new meta but usable enough to really have use in the game. I’m pretty satisfied with how it came out. And if you don't want to use it, BB is still a great champ.
Nightcrawler
New dash animation: BAMF forward instead of dashing.
For the duration of NC dashing forward and back, inflict a passive falter debuff. This cannot be affected by AAR.
New L2 Animation: Lunges at opponent and teleports himself and the opponent forward before bowling the opponent over with his prehensile tail.
L2: Disorients the opponent and places a 50% weakness debuff.
Kurt's enhanced spatial awareness grants him a passive vigilance in neyaphem mode
In swashbuckling mode, each instant bleed inflicts one scar. When knocking down an opponent, each scar is reopened and converted into a passive bleed effect, with strength increasing for each scar passive.
After 5 cruelty passives are gained from actively evading attacks, entering the brimstone dimension by avoiding further attacks burns away one debuff.
Other buffs more potent
What else? Suggest what further abilities he could have in the comments!
Dev Diary: NC is probably my second favorite mutant behind Wolverine, and I wish he had more uses in Mcoc besides a low tier AW defender. I feel like my proposed buffs do make him much better, but I’m not quite satisfied yet...my struggle with NC has given me more respect for the champ designers. It’s more tricky than you would initially think.
Green Goblin
Increase L1 power drain chance
Cunning now increases base attack by a respectable amount per stack
Madness now regenerates up to 30% damage per stack
Cunning and madness effects are no longer dependent on having ≥ the amount of the other.
Heavy attack has a 80% chance to incinerate the opponent.
New pumpkin bombs: Concussive, incendiary, toxic.
Cycle through bombs by idling for 1 second.
Concussive pumpkin bombs stun the opponent for 2 seconds and disorient them, reducing AA by 70% and BP by 50% for 9 seconds
Incendiary pumpkin bombs incinerate the opponent
Toxic pumpkin bombs poison the opponent and cause them to lose power over time, draining 3.5% power per second
+25% Ability Accuracy and Attack rating against spider verse heroes
Dev Diary: GG was almost a really good champ, but there is too much RNG and besides the regen effect on defense, his cunning madness mechanic was just...pointless. I get they were going for abilities that reflected Norman’s mental struggle, but it honestly didn’t come out that great. Maybe as a part of this idea potency is increased for having an equal amount. I'm fairly satisfied with my proposed changes
Ultron (Classic)
Ultron’s mind control capabilities render him immune to reverse controls and other psychic effects
Evade mechanic remains the same except it will not trigger when blocking. Additionally, evading the opponent grants an armor up buff (the strong ones he gets from losing 15% health) for 8 seconds
Poison has a 30% chance to trigger for 8 seconds (from 19% for 6.5s)
Against robots, inflict degeneration instead of poison, reducing their healing rate by 30% and ability accuracy by 10% per degeneration.
Ultron’s absorption capabilities allow him to take 120% less damage from shock effects (this allows him to regen assuming there is no “Enhanced DoT damage” node in play)
When Ultron is passively stunned, a slow and armor break are inflicted on him for 3 seconds [Guess who this particularly benefits and why]
Special attacks: convert all poison/degeneration stacks into one passive, combining damage and extending the effect’s duration by 5 seconds. Passives cannot be converted.
Laser attacks: power drain the opponent by 10% per hit (this includes the L3: it will drain 100% power)
Ultron’s mind, derived from scientist supreme Hank Pym, punishes any attempts to escape his attacks, allowing him to ignore miss and glancing effects.
Fury buff that can be gained from landing an attack now has increased potency and can stack.
Dev Diary: Ultron is by far one of the strongest villains in all of marvel comics. His Ultron Prime counterpart did have his time in the meta during the original AW map, but the LoL version has never been anything more than “he has an invisible evade charge and chunky armor.” While many trophy champs like Thanos, Goldpool, Kang, and Punisher are mostly available through luck, Ultron is the only trophy champion available from completing content (besides the RoL trio). He should feel like an actual reward as opposed to a rare pfp. Bonus points to who knows the inspiration for the passive stun weakness. I had a lot of fun on this one.
Hawkeye
Similar to WS's buff, Hawkeye's arrows now do different stuff and can be cycled by dashing back and holding block or charging a heavy.
All arrows bleed, but each type does different things:
Shock Arrow- L1 inflicts power drain; L2 inflicts a potent shock. L3 inflicts both with 1.5x potency
Bomb Arrow- L1 inflicts a 50% concussion for 20 seconds. L2 inflicts a potent incinerate. L3 inflicts both at 1.8x potency
Tracker Arrow- L1 grants true accuracy. L2 grants vigilance. L3 grants both at 2x duration.
Dev Diary: This is definitely not super original since this idea has been proposed plenty of times, but the actual effects and different effects for different tiers of specials is of my own idea. Hopefully this will get Hawkeye out of the overrated underrated camp lol.
Captain America WWII
Perfect block % increase is less for permanent buffs
Additional Sig ability effect: When suffering from a debuff, regenerate 0.75% max health per second (built in willpower)
The super-soldier serum coupled with Steve’s army training allows him to shrug off DoT debuffs 85% faster and grants fatigue and exhaustion immunity
Countering any special with a well timed block grants an unyielding passive for the duration of the special. This can trigger even if the special is unblockable. Unyielding passives allow Cap to block unblockable special attacks and grant the opponent one indefinite patriotism buff. Champions with a patriotism buff suffer 50% more special damage. (Functionally the same as a prowess). These buffs can stack up to five and each count as a 5th of a buff for his signature ability. They are consumed at the end of the next special.
Activating a special attack triggers bonuses based on how many patriotism buffs the opponent has.
At least 1 patriotism buff: Paralyze
At least 2 patriotism buffs: Slow
At least 3 patriotism buffs: Unblockable
At least 4 patriotism buffs: Rupture
At least 5 patriotism buffs: Special autoblock passive (Lasts 15 seconds; works the same as Guardian’s special autoblock feature)
Captain America stands up against tyranny, granting +75% attack rating and doubling the patriotism buffs inflicted when fighting #Villains or #Thanos’s Army. Additionally, triggering a special now consumes 3 patriotism buffs instead of all of them.
Dev Diary: When Captain America throws his mighty shield, All those who choose to oppose his shield must yield! If he’s led to a fight and a duel is due, Then the red and the white and the blue’ll come through, When Captain America throws his mighty shield!
