So how are we feeling about two (maybe) Serpent-level Defenders being released in the same month?

With the new spotlight releases, we now have both a 4.5/5 defender Dark Phoenix and 5/5 defender Yelena Belova being released at the same time. I remember around March last year there was a big discussion about the constant flood of 5/5 Defenders and champions such as Serpent, Bullseye and Enchantress are still meta definining with many new champions having entire parts of their kit just designed to shut them down (Pursuit, Ensnare and other evade counters have been almost commonplace into new champs just to help counter Bullseye, and the same kind of design with science Falcon and Spider-Woman against Enchantress).

While I'm not 100% sure yet how bad either of them will be to fight, since they are rated on the same level as the other defenders I've mentioned I think it'll lead to the same trend of any new attackers just being given random abilities solely to make them good counters to them. I don't expect it'll take long for a new mystic champion to come out who is immune to nova flame, or a new mutant who can prevent Reversal.

I personally think having two extremely strong defenders in the same month is a bit much, but curious on other peoples thoughts on this and whether Kabam is leaning too far into the trend of releasing extremely difficult defenders with very particular ways to shut them down that most champs don't have, and then releasing new attackers with hard counters shortly after.

Comments

Abspain101

Guess I'm pretty r*tarded, but can u just use a power control champ and bait heavies, she is just a bg's collector, just try to bait heavies and control her power, why do I feel that doom would be amazing for her?

Going to break this to you she is immune to all power control methods

TotemCorruption

Guess I'm pretty r*tarded, but can u just use a power control champ and bait heavies, she is just a bg's collector, just try to bait heavies and control her power, why do I feel that doom would be amazing for her?
Going to break this to you she is immune to all power control methods

She's immune to power drain not power steal.
Anyway, what is Doom gonna do to her regardless?
He can't nullify her buffs, so it's going to be a long and painful experience.
Safeguard, embers, dot resistance, death immunity, unavoidable nova flame damage, etc.

ViperOfChampion

Guess I'm pretty r*tarded, but can u just use a power control champ and bait heavies, she is just a bg's collector, just try to bait heavies and control her power, why do I feel that doom would be amazing for her?
Did you read her kit?

****, I forgot about her power drain immunity, yes I did read her kit, well its fine, there is a reason why I have a human torch who is r5 asd

TotemCorruption

Guess I'm pretty r*tarded, but can u just use a power control champ and bait heavies, she is just a bg's collector, just try to bait heavies and control her power, why do I feel that doom would be amazing for her?
Did you read her kit?
****, I forgot about her power drain immunity, yes I did read her kit, well its fine, there is a reason why I have a human torch who is r5 asd

Doom power steals, he doesn't power drain.
What is Human Torch going to do?
She's immune to nova.

TotemCorruption

You need atrophy (Shathra, Kindred) or just Juggs it and hope for the best.

Abspain101

Ht would be worthless against her she is incenerate and nova flame immune i thought i saw she was power burn immune also but was wrong also poison works well against her as well

Lokx

Ht would be worthless against her she is incenerate and nova flame immune i thought i saw she was power burn immune also but was wrong also poison works well against her as well

Could use iceman. He is nova immune and a 7* now

DrZola

Are there assurances Dark Phoenix won’t be subjected to rebalancing?

Dr. Zola
She is considered a trophy champ those are not up for rebalance last time i heard anything
This is the traditional thinking, but…I cannot think of any of the trophy champs who came close to being meta defenders or attackers in competitive modes.

Maybe we have it all wrong, and she’s only mid. However, this feels quite different from past P2W trophies.

Dr. Zola
Weapon flex when he came out as 7*

Perhaps, but I remember WX having recognizable and available counters. Not sure there’s that many for DkPhoenix, but we will know for sure in a few days.

Dr. Zola

Buttehrs

Guess I'm pretty r*tarded, but can u just use a power control champ and bait heavies, she is just a bg's collector, just try to bait heavies and control her power, why do I feel that doom would be amazing for her?
Did you read her kit?
****, I forgot about her power drain immunity, yes I did read her kit, well its fine, there is a reason why I have a human torch who is r5 asd

Bro just failed a 2nd time lol. Might wanna re read her kit one mo again.

captain_rogers

Are there assurances Dark Phoenix won’t be subjected to rebalancing?

Dr. Zola
She is considered a trophy champ those are not up for rebalance last time i heard anything
This is the traditional thinking, but…I cannot think of any of the trophy champs who came close to being meta defenders or attackers in competitive modes.

Maybe we have it all wrong, and she’s only mid. However, this feels quite different from past P2W trophies.

Dr. Zola
Weapon flex when he came out as 7*
Perhaps, but I remember WX having recognizable and available counters. Not sure there’s that many for DkPhoenix, but we will know for sure in a few days.

Dr. Zola

If bgs would've been a thing when wpx was released, he is definitely 5/5. He was 5/5 in AW, one of the main boss options, as there is no way to deal with his regen and unblockable/unstoppable together with his fkin uncooperative ass ai at that time. Then nimrod came and made him a joke.

Bazooka_1

This is how they make money they release broken defenders then release perfect counters for them for $$$
Instead of improving anti cheat in BGs
I’ve been playing BGs since the start and I haven’t run into a cheater in my 100’s of matches in the last couple seasons

Must be in vt still.

Ourobøros

I see comments about Daunted countering her, but it only affects the attack rating cap, it does not help you counter her Reversal or avoid damage

WednesdayLength

Are there assurances Dark Phoenix won’t be subjected to rebalancing?

Dr. Zola
She is considered a trophy champ those are not up for rebalance last time i heard anything
This is the traditional thinking, but…I cannot think of any of the trophy champs who came close to being meta defenders or attackers in competitive modes.

Maybe we have it all wrong, and she’s only mid. However, this feels quite different from past P2W trophies.

Dr. Zola
Weapon flex when he came out as 7*
Perhaps, but I remember WX having recognizable and available counters. Not sure there’s that many for DkPhoenix, but we will know for sure in a few days.

Dr. Zola

Anyone with atrophy is a pretty solid counter

Gentsy12

What champs have atrophy? Is it just shathra and kindred? Seems like hood is going to be a good counter too and bwcv if they every release her as a 7*

MrSanguini

I see comments about Daunted countering her, but it only affects the attack rating cap, it does not help you counter her Reversal or avoid damage

Well yeah you’re not supposed to ‘counter’ the reversal, just avoid triggering it. And you can avoid her bleed damage with bleed resistance. Crits less so, but some champions help with that too

EdisonLaw

You need atrophy (Shathra, Kindred) or just Juggs it and hope for the best.

So she’s basically like Maestro then, so no Rintrah