DDHK Tune-Up Poll

I am assuming most of you have seen the DDHK Overhaul thread by now, and the simple but effective tune up that has been proposed over there. Based on that, which of the following (in your opinion) best represents a win for this particular champion?

Comments

Severus35

I'd give him his own slot and pray he doesn't get the Gamora treatment

Diablord

He has already gotten buffed and is quite good, you guys just do not play him well enough. He does have issues, but He does not need his own buff slot, or a buff before other trash champs like cap og and iron man

Rookiie

I’m pretty confident I play him well enough 😅
And so do @FluffyPigMonster and @Chobbly
But thanks for the feedback!

Chobbly

DDHK could arguably be a simpler buff for that month, allowing him to be paired with a champion that required a lot more effort to buff.

This is going on the assumption that any buff to DDHK would be primarily number-based, but I don't think it's a particularly big leap of faith. Regen Rate increase and buff durations tweaks to support rotations better and we're good to go 😆

Ercarret

While I think the ideas you guys have floated around seem pretty solid and I'm not opposed to them being implemented in the future, I also think that he - at the end of the day - has already received a buff as part of the current program and shouldn't receive another one before Kabam has gone through the rest of the pack. If they start going back to champs they've already buffed once before going to ones who have yet to be buffed at all, it's going to take ages to get through all of those champs.

As small as the changes might seem on paper, they still have to go through rigorous testing. While Kabam gets some flack for "not testing their buffs/new champs enough", I think the truth is that they do but don't have time to fix everything ahead of time. I don't know anything about Kabam as a company but that has been my experience with other game devs in the past. As such, I would prefer if those spots went to the unbuffed champions first. After that, of course they can revisit him.

However, if it is really simple to "fix" him, then I don't really mind that happening. I just don't want them to get bogged down in fixing already-buffed champions. Between Maw getting several buffs to Hood and Guillotine getting rebuffs, that's already a bit of a problem.

magnus_xix

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but he ain't getting buffed

Rookiie

I think the case for Guillotine and Hood are a little different. Kabam wanted to re-balance them by taking away something really strong in their kits, and the community backlashed. And that made it really tricky for Kabam to figure out how to make the community happy after taking something away.

The case isn’t the same with DDHK. He didn’t have much, but they took something away anyway (base regen), eliminating him from so many areas in the contest (suicides users and debuff matchups) and giving him a complicated play style that doesn’t actually reward you. It doesn’t punish you, but it doesn’t reward you.

And the fixes are really simple! No new mechanics! No new ideas! Same ideas! Better numbers!

Rookiie

Also, I meant to choose the append option (3 buffed champs in a month), since it’s a simple fix and can be added any time John or Dorosh have some room to breathe.
My bad.

Terra

He's a champion who deserves it.
There has been plenty of ideas and feedback thrown around, and a large part of the community wants it. Perhaps a January thing is possible for him?

Rookiie

I think so too, and I really want this to happen.
Particularly as there has been a lot of hype around him and Charlie Cox in the MCU lately.

MegaSkater67

He’s my favourite skill champ and has been for a long time. His utility is excellent, his damage is fine where it is and he has some really solid healing and synergies. There’s not really anything wrong with him in his current state, he just isn’t suicide friendly

Terra

>Really solid healing

Uhhhhh.....

Ercarret

I wasn't comparing DDHK's buff to either of them, just saying that Kabam has a bit of a habit of both buffing champs several times (like Maw and Gamora) or fubbing up their first buffs and having to go back to the drawing board again (like Hood and Guillotine), which all results in the general buff frequency slowing down. If they start going back to even more previously-buffed champions, it's going to take even longer for the other champions to get their buffs.

If Kabam can add a small tune-up to DDHK on top of their regular schedule without it affecting the quality of that month's other buffs, then fine, that works for me. I'm certainly not opposed to him becoming better. I just don't want Kabam to keep going back to champions they've already given buffs to too often.

Rookiie

First of all I want to say thanks for writing that excellent guide on DDHK. Big fan.
My issue isn’t with his damage as much as it is with his rotation / damage window duration. His buffs expire too quickly and if you’re running like a hamster to get everything together, you will find that things are falling off faster than you can manage.

DrZola

He needs small adjustments. While I realize there are resource constraints for the buff program, I don’t think this one would strap the team. If it’s too much, then I’d suggest making him one of two and getting him right.

I realize this is the Netflix version, but I’m biased towards making the classic, OG Marvel champs useful in game—especially when so many of the most useful champs in game require even diehards like myself to root through my comics lore to find them.

Dr. Zola

MegaSkater67

You can keep his rage up permanently if you play him right, which with willpower gives you permanent healing. It’s fairly significant over the course of a fight.

Terra

He's not the only one that can sit on a debuff and do it all fight. He just gets alot less healing which makes it very subpar.
Other champs do it way better

Rookiie

IF you’re not running suicides or suffering from a debuff for most of the fight.

Edit: which is very significant.

Rookiie

Not solid if you’re running suicides.
Not solid if you’re in a debuff heavy matchup.
Otherwise, I would say it’s decent.

TheBair123

He needs it desperately. His kit has the potential to be great, he just has flaws. If some testing was done and he could just get some better numbers and see how he could fit into the meta, it would help him immensely

Rookiie

From @TheBair123

Rookiie

Yeah I understand and appreciate that, it’s just that I don’t agree with it. Solid to me would mean reliable, or something that holds its own in many areas of the game. I don’t think that’s the case with DDHK’s regen.
His regen hampers him, that’s why I’m saying it’s not solid. It’s not even average in my opinion. It’s less than average.
Most champs have immediate access to their regen through Willpower, with DDHK it needs combo management, and even then it’s shorter and not very potent.

Rookiie

Bypassing filter - I need to proofread properly ..

Yeah I understand and appreciate that, it’s just that I don’t agree with it. Solid to me would mean reliable, or something that holds its own in many areas of the game. I don’t think that’s the case with DDHK’s regen.
His regen hampers him, that’s why I’m saying it’s not solid. It’s not even average in my opinion. It’s less than average.
Most champs have immediate access to their regen through Willpower, with DDHK it needs combo management, and even then it’s shorter and not very potent.

MegaSkater67

I mean sure but a lot of champs aren’t good with suicides. That’s just the way the game is, some benefit greatly from suicides, others suffer because of them. It doesn’t necessarily mean any of those champs are bad.

I’m not following what you mean by a debuff heavy matchup being bad for him. If you’re referring to damage over time debuffs then sure, but he doesn’t have any immunities so I don’t understand why you would take him into a fight that needs that. If you’re referring to non damaging debuffs then that’s great for him. It can boost his combo meter very early in a fight, and after 16 hits he stops shrugging them. Instead gaining attack rating and further healing from willpower. Having a near permanent heal from his rage is really handy, most champs don’t have any form of healing, so even with the 40% regen rate, having that permanently is a really nice addition to his kit and can add a lot of sustainability.

Real_Madrid_76_2

Pre buff ddhk was better than post buff. Simple and convenient. Arm or breaks on stunned opponents while landing critical hits,nice stun lock, good miss counter we'd nice evade thingies

Rookiie

I’m not saying he has to be suicide friendly, I don’t run them and this isn’t my main point of contention with this champion. But I’m going to argue for it anyway.

Since he doesn’t have any immunities, and he doesn’t purify any damaging debuffs, then how does it make sense to you that his base regen should be set to 40%? Doesn’t it look like all of these factors work against his kit?

Let’s assume Willpower and Rage have the same potency. Though, I don’t think this is the case; I believe the former is more potent than the latter.

Rage mechanic: not near permanent, can be accessed when you’ve exited Murdock Boy and when you’ve fired off a Special 2 Attack.
Rage in Murdock Boy: At max signature, this is 17 seconds and can be purified if you re-enter Murdock Boy (by way of Heavy Attack).
Rage in Special 2 Attack: Ideally your Special 2 Attack will land your Combo Meter at 15 hits. What does this do? It purifies the Rage debuff and converts it into a Fury buff. Why does one do this? To try and stack Fury buffs.
So no, it’s not near permanent and the duration of it depends on what you’re trying to do with his rotation / combo meter.

Willpower mechanic: procs the moment you get hit with a damaging debuff, and works to mitigate it as the mechanic works through the duration of the damaging debuff.

So, as I use the Combo Meter PRIMARILY as a currency for damage, I ask you the following:

Which mechanic would you say reduces the mental load on the player?
Which would you say is more dependable for his kit?
Which would you keep at 100% potency, and which would you reduce to a lesser potency?
Wouldn’t you try and have his kit appeal to a wider audience of players, since he doesn’t purify damaging debuffs or have any immunities?

StevieManWonder

He really only needs a few small changes that wouldn't take up too much dev time
1. Reverting his base healing rate to either 70% or 100% (Diablo has 100% even when poisoned and that's fine)
2. Speed up the animation on his sp1 (I don't have three hours to watch it every time)
3. That's it imo

Artoria77

The sooner we get his "buff" the better.
I just want to use him without having to manage his combo meter putting in so much effort to get so little out. That's just demoralizing.

Rookiie

Uptime of buffs, uptime of buffs, uptime of buffs!

StevieManWonder

He has uptime of his cruelty buff in a synergy with Ghost Rider, NC, and OG Cap and uptime of precision with KP. 60% for both. That's good enough IMO.
I don't actually mind his buff duration as it is, the only thing that keeps him from being playable to me is his regen rate and the duration of his specials