The juice ain't worth the squeeze...

Just wanted to open a discussion that I thought could be interesting: Which champions have potentially great damage which you just can't be bothered to access?

I was thinking of this whilst using Quicksilver in War the other day: great champion, great utility, okay damage; and I'm very happy to have taken him to 5/65.

But it occurred to me that: if you really work at your timing, get him in Maximum Momentum, throw the SP2 for Trauma, then MLM and SP1 to get the burst damage, he's got the potential for a lot of burst damage that personally, I don't think I've ever bothered using; because it's too much hassle.

Scorpion is a bit the same: again, he's a great champion; who can do insane burst damage, for which you want to place lots of debuffs, then charge Heavy and cancel into an SP2. Preferably with AV/Venom on the team. But again, I generally don't bother because it's risky: you might miss the intercept; your SP2 might be blocked... It's much safer just to throw two SP1s for more debuffs and keep them Taunted. Or just the SP2 without the Heavy-cancel, if you want the Petrify.

So I thought it might be interesting to open a thread to see if you folks have any other examples of champions like this: champions where you do use the champion; but you're not using their full potential because the rotations are tight/unsafe/excessively complicated? And why?

Comments

Average_Desi

Sauron. Abysmal

Terra

Karnak.

I know I know, I'm one of the few in the universe that actually have a ranked one, more or less actually using him too.
Counting in the heavy punish on specials, enemy heavy attacks, keeping up Fragility, and also not loosing your focus charges.
But he really hits hard with his crits, even if he almost never gets a opportunity to fully ramp up in non-everest content.

I stand proudly with my 6* R5 Karnak. Throws some people off in BGs, and does some work with his utility when needed. He's more useful than people think

captain_rogers

Hela literally have infinite damage potential lol.

Lokx

Cassie lang.

Build up taunt -> go to sp2.

Sometimes building the power sting can feel long. And with current ai, getting defender to use their specials can feel like moving a mountain so they either expire or i have to use sp1 to put taunt on them but that means i need to rebuild up to sp2 while relying on the fact they may or may not use specials.

Forgot to mention that in order to build the power sting you need the ai to hit into your miss while charging a heavy, they typically just stay away and hold block themselves and i end up running up close to finishing the heavy charge timer which i then have to wait for to replenish.

Alternatively i could get the miss taunts by holding heavy during their specials but the issue with that relies on the fact i need to time it right or i could run out of charge holding the heavy and get inflicted with a passive stun and hit to death.

Also if you do manage to time it right and build some taunt through baiting their specials into your miss, i need to now hit them to get them to build to sp1 which takes a few seconds but on top of trying to build to my sp1 and a.i playing passive, the stings run out of time and i’m back to square one.

This is only a real issue if you’re trying to get the full potential out of her. If your fine with getting a few power stings on the opponent then it’s probably more manageable but still sucks compared to other power sting champs like ham or scrop.

This is not to say Cassie is a bad champ, she would be great if the ai improved. Just not as it stands.

JLordVileJ

Legit super skrull

WednesdayLength

Karnak.

I know I know, I'm one of the few in the universe that actually have a ranked one, more or less actually using him too.
Counting in the heavy punish on specials, enemy heavy attacks, keeping up Fragility, and also not loosing your focus charges.
But he really hits hard with his crits, even if he almost never gets a opportunity to fully ramp up in non-everest content.

I stand proudly with my 6* R5 Karnak. Throws some people off in BGs, and does some work with his utility when needed. He's more useful than people think

Yeah he hits so hard but it's so dependent on being able to consistently heavy counter that it's really match dependent, but man when you can get him going he's nuts

WednesdayLength

Legit super skrull

As the owner of a r4 max sig super skrull, I don't think his damage is that hard to access, but I get that it can be a little awkward if you're not used to it

CHuck_fINA

I've never bothered to attempt that rotation for Scorpion because it's not really necessary. And he's a champion that I use in just about every bit of content I do. He finishes fights fast enough without it. And does it safely too.
During the last saga, I used the Scorp/Venom team for most of my wars. He regularly finished fights in under 40 secs with full our almost full health. Usually with just sp1s. Or an sp2 if I made a mistake.

smdam38

Karnak and Super Skrull are great additions.
Would never even think of them.
But they can definitely put in work.

FrostGiantLord

Gamora. She basically has no utility, but if the AI cooperates and allows you to keep stacking and refreshing those Furies and Cruelties, she can easily do hundreds of thousands of damage per hit

Nightheart

Proxima Midnight

smdam38

I have seen Gamora used a lot.
But Proxima is a really good one.

Wicket329

Civil Warrior has incredible damage potential, but unfortunately it comes at the cost of most of his utility and his playstyle is like eating glass. Which is too bad because his design is so cool and I love his ability to block sp3s. There’s so much to like about the champ, but that constant need to dash back and hold block is awful.

Wolf911

Gamora. She basically has no utility, but if the AI cooperates and allows you to keep stacking and refreshing those Furies and Cruelties, she can easily do hundreds of thousands of damage per hit

Gamora has NO utility?

what are you saying

miss counter
evade & armor counter
access to bleed
access to armor break
guaranteed crits on specials
consistent damage throughout the fight

just need to do heavy to refresh the buffs

she does so much with so little

she shouldn't be mentioned here LoL

smdam38

Nice.
Civil Warrior is another great one.

The_beast123

I don't know if this would qualify to this thread but, while playing Terrax, you might want to use the 4th light to refresh the armor breaks but the recovery is SO DAMN SLOW. Enough for the AI to retaliate and attack most often.

With 10 armor breaks and the guaranteed heavy the damage gets nice and the fact that you can kind of cycle the sp2 due to the power gain, the damage surely is nice. But if at all we slip one single time when refreshing the armor breaks you're almost dead.

smdam38

I hate the missing once mechanic, but think Terrax is still a good one.

Magrailothos

Cassie Lang is an interesting one.

Proxima I'd generally agree with, too; although I finally found a good place for her in the Crucible recently (also pretty good against Onslaught in SoS).

I used her as a 6* 3/45 against Yondu in the Crucible; and got the solo: Boy, it was satisfying seeing her damage rocket once you got past 100 combo with four missions.
- She's bugged in that particular match-up, mind you, as Yondu pilfers her Prowess through block...😢

captain_rogers

Cassie Lang is an interesting one.

Proxima I'd generally agree with, too; although I finally found a good place for her in the Crucible recently (also pretty good against Onslaught in SoS).

I used her as a 6* 3/45 against Yondu in the Crucible; and got the solo: Boy, it was satisfying seeing her damage rocket once you got past 100 combo with four missions.
- She's bugged in that particular match-up, mind you, as Yondu pilfers her Prowess through block...😢

Yondu always pilfers through block ig.

Magrailothos

Cassie Lang is an interesting one.

Proxima I'd generally agree with, too; although I finally found a good place for her in the Crucible recently (also pretty good against Onslaught in SoS).

I used her as a 6* 3/45 against Yondu in the Crucible; and got the solo: Boy, it was satisfying seeing her damage rocket once you got past 100 combo with four missions.
- She's bugged in that particular match-up, mind you, as Yondu pilfers her Prowess through block...😢

Yondu always pilfers through block ig.

Yes, but Proxima reduces the opponents Offensive Ability Accuracy by 200% when she's blocking. So he shouldn't be able to 🤷‍♂️.

captain_rogers

Cassie Lang is an interesting one.

Proxima I'd generally agree with, too; although I finally found a good place for her in the Crucible recently (also pretty good against Onslaught in SoS).

I used her as a 6* 3/45 against Yondu in the Crucible; and got the solo: Boy, it was satisfying seeing her damage rocket once you got past 100 combo with four missions.
- She's bugged in that particular match-up, mind you, as Yondu pilfers her Prowess through block...😢

Yondu always pilfers through block ig.
Yes, but Proxima reduces the opponents Offensive Ability Accuracy by 200% when she's blocking. So he shouldn't be able to 🤷‍♂️.

Yondu also have increased AA on sp1. But I think it's only 100%, maybe I'm wrong, but if it's 100% then prox shoul still be able to reduce his AAR, in that case it should be a bug.

But for me I was able to stun him (ignoring the stun reflect node) using sersi and glance buff.

smdam38

Yondu sp2 is a giant fury depending on how many sp the opponent has launched.

Another good one for sure.

Chuck_Finley

Misty Knight…

After getting her and duping her after the crucible, I decided to watch the damage videos and try her out. Sp2 to sp1 while trying stack whatever you are supposed to stack … and then time the expiration with the SP1 for huge burst is a super annoying. Almost like a less forgiving Beta Ray Bill.

It’s bad enough on ROL WS timing it up, but trusting that amount of compliant AI in battlegrounds? No chance.

smdam38

Yeah, but burst damage is still a cool thing.
Timing aside, still awesome.

Fit_Fun9329

Taskmaster?

Lokx

Cassie lang.

Build up taunt -> go to sp2.

Sometimes building the power sting can feel long. And with current ai, getting defender to use their specials can feel like moving a mountain so they either expire or i have to use sp1 to put taunt on them but that means i need to rebuild up to sp2 while relying on the fact they may or may not use specials.

Forgot to mention that in order to build the power sting you need the ai to hit into your miss while charging a heavy, they typically just stay away and hold block themselves and i end up running up close to finishing the heavy charge timer which i then have to wait for to replenish.

Alternatively i could get the miss taunts by holding heavy during their specials but the issue with that relies on the fact i need to time it right or i could run out of charge holding the heavy and get inflicted with a passive stun and hit to death.

Also if you do manage to time it right and build some taunt through baiting their specials into your miss, i need to now hit them to get them to build to sp1 which takes a few seconds but on top of trying to build to my sp1 and a.i playing passive, the stings run out of time and i’m back to square one.

This is only a real issue if you’re trying to get the full potential out of her. If your fine with getting a few power stings on the opponent then it’s probably more manageable but still sucks compared to other power sting champs like ham or scrop.

This is not to say Cassie is a bad champ, she would be great if the ai improved. Just not as it stands.

Just realised i was saying taunt instead of power sting 💀.

Ercarret

Corvus.

He can feel so nice to play when he's fully ramped up (especially if you've synergized him up), but getting there is such a slog. Furthermore, it's so rare that you can actually find the opportunities to ramp him up fully. Since most of what I play is either BG or endgame content (neither of which allows him to ramp up in most cases), I basically never use him.

smdam38

Taskmaster?

That’s a really good one.
Want to learn how to play him.
Any tips?

Ortoun

Invisible woman. If you can stay invis and stack enough fragility debuffs she can do really good damage. The problem is that even one accidental parry instead of a dex and you lose it all. Dragon man synergy can help, but it honestly just isn't worth the effort.

ESF

My man, I am writing about him AGAIN soon:

I say this because it’s the truth: Annihilus is a top-10 kit in this game with a damage rotation that is too tight for anyone to actually play.

Can do absolutely catastrophic damage but no one is gonna play it to find out because you can’t get at it consistently