Heimdall Testing - Long Post
So I posted a brief synopsis of Heimdall in his spotlight thread, but I thought I would create a thread to share some more detailed information, along with my opinion of the champion, and my opinions about what makes him great compared to other popular champions in the game currently.
NOTE: This is a post based mostly on opinion and my opinions on Heimdall and his abilities, synergies and overall utility. I will be posting some opinions about why I think he is better or worse than some champs. This is purely opinionated and not meant to be incendiary comments that attack other popular champs. My hope is that this can be a constructive conversation that will shed some light on this new champion that seems to be underwhelming according to popular opinion.
So let's start off with his strengths and what Heimdall does really well:
True Strike - So this is Heimdall's greatest asset. Permanent true strike. The way this works is anytime Heimdall activates a special, he gains a permanent true strike buff, that is only removed if Heimdall gets struck, not when his block is hit. If you are good at avoiding getting hit, this is an amazing asset to have. Heimdall gets additional abilities unique to him while true strike is activated. Opponents cannot use the dexterity mastery to evade (not important), Heimdall can parry projectiles (similar to Proxima), and Heimdall has a 25% chance to parry basic attacks (not terribly important, even on defense). The ability to parry projectiles is incredibly useful for those Yondus, IMIWs, and Dominos on war defense. A simple L1 special is all it takes to activate this, which is made much easier to achieve when he is awakened which I will mention later.
Permanent Buffs - Heimdall can convert a total of 5 buffs to be permanent each fight. These buffs include aptitude, precision, fury, and armor and this order determines which order Heimdall will try to convert first. Heimdall is much easier to setup than Hela, Proxima, or Angela, albeit with less damage output. Nonetheless, the setup is easy, and even though the buffs converted permanently expire at the end of battle, if he is awakened, these buffs convert into power for the next fight. To gain aptitude buffs, Heimdall must use an L3 special and for precision Heimdall must both be awakened, and not already have a true strike buff when he activates a special for it to trigger. For fury he gains 8 charges when attacking a block, or 16 when striking the opponent and he gains 8 armor charges when blocking an attack or 16 when being struck. 100 fury or armor charges triggers the respective buff for 10 seconds. Generally about 7 clean hits gets a fury buff. Once you trigger the desired buff, just use a heavy and it is permanently converted. In quicker fights I find that just trying to convert a few fury buffs is generally easier and most efficient. For longer fights, I recommend converting 3 fury buffs, his signature precision buff, and an aptitude buff gained from his L3 special. This will allow Heimdall to trigger much more crits without sacrificing too much in damage. As mentioned above, all remaining buffs will be converted into power in the next fight if Heimdall is awakened, which will be discussed later.
Synergies - This one can be argued as either a strength or a weakness, as Heimdall does not benefit from this himself. However, his synergies do provide powerful effects for his allies (fitting as he is a guardian):
Heimdall (himself) Guardian of the Rainbow Bridge - "Once per fight Heimdall will intercede on your behalf, the first time when you would be knocked out gain both an Indestructible and an Unstoppable Buff which last for 2 seconds." This synergy is great, because you do not need a specific champion to activate this synergy except Heimdall himself. This synergy allows you to be more aggressive if need be. This can synergize well with champs like OG Hulk and Punisher who gain power when their health is low, and can allow you to even potentially take an L3 special.
Heimdall (Thor, Thor Rag, Loki) Warriors of Asgard - "Once per fight Heimdall will intercede on your behalf, dash back and hold Block for 1.5 seconds to Regenerate 15% of missing Health instantly." This synergy can be very useful, especially when compared to the Guardian of the Rainbow Bridge synergy. However, keep in mind this is 15% of missing health not max health.
Heimdall (Angela, Hela) Lost Daughters of Asgard - "Once per fight Heimdall will intercede on your behalf, dash back and hold Block for 1.5 seconds to gain an infinite Duration Fury Buff increasing Attack by 15% of Base Attack." This synergy is self explanatory and a huge boon to anyone on your team, not just Angela or Hela. It helps that Angela and Hela are popular, great champs to use.
Heimdall (Magik, Guillotine) Enchanted Blades - "Once per fight Heimdall will intercede on your behalf, dash back and hold Block for 1.5 seconds to gain an infinite Duration Precision Buff increasing Critical Rate by 250." Not a bad synergy, especially since Magik and Guillotine are popular, great champs to use.
All Seeing (Signature Ability) - "Heimdall gains a 100% chance to trigger a Precision Buff increasing Critical Rating by *381.35* and lasting for 10 seconds, each time a True Strike Buff activates on him.
Heimdall converts all of the Buffs active on him at the end of the previous fight into Power. Start the fight with a Power Gain Buff granting *5.27%* of his Max Power per Buff converted at the beginning of the fight, over 5 seconds."
* *denotes this value is based on sig level. These values are based on a 5* Heimdall with sig level 64.
Let me start by saying I used my 5* generic awakening gem on him. Are there better champs suited for a generic gem? Of course. Do I regret my choice of using my generic gem on Heimdall? Not at all and here's why:
Heimdall has a very poor crit rate (9.2% at 4/55). I cannot imagine any champions' are lower. The precision buff Heimdall activates with a special is decent. It helps him with his incredibly poor base crit rate and with an aptitude buff, makes it even more potent. This allows Heimdall to strike with noticeably more crits than without the buff. The best part of Heimdall's signature ability though, is his power gain. He converts all buffs at the end of the fight into a power gain buff in the next fight. If my Heimdall had 5 buffs at the end of the fight, he would gain 26.35% power over 5 seconds in the next fight, which is pretty incredible. In most fights, even when you are not trying, you will have a minimum of 4 buffs, getting you more than halfway to an L1 within the first 5 seconds of the match. This is what I believe makes Heimdall such a great champion. At the start of your second fight and going forward, Heimdall basically has a special in the first 5 seconds, meaning he can basically trigger True Strike at the beginning of the match without any build up or setup. For champs like OG Spiderman, Miles Morales, or NC, this is a huge advantage to have to make your fights go very smoothly. Even against the likes of Medusa and IMIW, having True Strike up as soon as possible reduces the complications you will have in the fight and makes the fight so much easier. For this reason alone, I believe he was worth my generic awakening gem. I know others will feel differently and that is ok. For me (stun) immune spidey, Medusa, and IMIW are my nemeses. They can be very difficult for me, so I believe using a generic gem should be used for something that will add a lot of value, which will in turn reduce item usage. So for me, this was a no brainer.
Masochism/Immunity Nodes - Heimdall, like Angela, focuses mainly on buffs and not debuffs. This allows Heimdall to setup safely on these nodes and not worry about triggering regeneration. Also, Heimdall excels against certain fights like immunity Spiderman, which typically counters popular counters like Archangel, Elektra, and Iceman. Since True Strike is a buff, he can safely setup and counter Spiderman/NC on immunity nodes.
Flow and Animations - For a larger champion, Heimdall's movements and attack animations are very smooth. He feels very smooth and his animations flow very well. Also, I really enjoy his attack and special animations. He feels very powerful when using his specials. Also, it is worth mentioning Heimdall's heavy has longer range than most other champions, allowing him to counter heavy/special attacks easier.
