Can we talk about hulk getting a rework? He is one of the strongest people in all of marvel! And the idea that his sp3 is called worldbreaker in reference to world breaker hulk.... but he doesn’t hit like world breaker... no regen decent physical resistance and ok dmg..... cmon already
Am I late to the party here or what? Not one but two reworks from @Bodhizen ... should've checked here first, then. First, some thoughts on Joe Fixit:
The Blackjack table is a very nice addition to Joe Fixit's kit. I like it! It's a rather clever way to get even more of Mr. Fixit's gambling background into the game in a mechanic-based way, which is awesome. I also like how this new ability empowers, but does not supersede the Suits mechanic that he currently has. I'm not too hot with any of the numbers, really, but extra Crit Rating, Attack, Regen, and a little bit of Concussion seems very nice to have, even if the random cycling of Suits may be occasionally tedious. (Can you imagine, for instance, needing to get Spades for whatever reason and finding yourself switching between Hearts and Clubs due to pure RNG?) For that, I would suggest some mechanic like "Once a Suit has been swapped out (via the Heavy Attack), it cannot be reactivated until all four Suits have been activated". IDK if my wording is clear enough there, but something like that would be nice. Special Attacks are nice, though I'd like to have seen a Blackjack bonus on more than one, I do also acknowledge it's probably not easy to get Blackjack. The Poison mechanic is also pretty neat - "he also gains a Cruelty buff as a retaliation to some fool’s attempt to poison him!" <--- That's hilarious, by the way. Nice job on properly representing, from my understanding, the Mafia version of the Hulk!
Now, onto Magneto (Marvel NOW!)...
Magneto now has a new "Magnetic Charge" mechanic, which I'll get to in a second. First, though, let's take a look at some of Magneto's passive abilities.
Magnetic Attacks (Passive): Magneto’s attacks deal Energy Damage instead of Physical Damage. Telepathic Resistance (Passive): Magneto has trained himself extensively for fighting telepaths, and is resistant to telepathic attack. This is augmented with the aid of his helmet. Magneto is immune to Reversed Controls. Furthermore, he gains a 5% chance to Evade Telepathic Attacks, such as Emma Frost’s Special Attacks, Psylocke’s Special Attacks, and any hits from Psylocke’s Psychic Knife.
The telepathic resistance and energy attack callouts are pretty nice, just to get those features in writing, so to speak, in Magneto's kit.
Metal Manipulation (Passive): Enemies reliant on metal (including those that wield metal swords or staves) suffer 60% reduced Ability Accuracy throughout the entire fight.
Developer's Note: Being the Master of Magnetism, it’s silly that Magneto cannot keep up his Ability Accuracy reduction throughout the entire fight, and that there’s no clear indication on how frequently Magneto’s Magnetism ability reactivates. Furthermore, there are several Champions that use metal weapons (but are not tagged Metal Champions) like Blade, Drax, or Psylocke; this Ability will target those Champions, regardless of whether they have the Metal tag or not.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think there might be some comic backstory/explanation for why Magneto (Marvel NOW!) can't keep up his ability accuracy reduction through the whole fight. I'll check.
Magneto, Cyclops, and Magik began liberating mutants who had been unjustly imprisoned by various authorities and offer them help with controlling their powers and joining their rebellion. While attempting to liberate Emma Frost, Magneto and Cyclops discovered they had both lost control of their powers. Emma revealed that she has been going through a similar situation, and told them that the Phoenix had altered their mutant powers.
That comes right after the AvX section in Magneto's bio, and I'm told that the Marvel NOW! event started after AvX, so the two would seem to coincide. I'm fairly certain now that Magneto's current inability to maintain his Magnetism throughout the entire fight is reflective of this state from the comics, which may warrant some correction.
Signature Ability - Master of Magnetism: Magneto's X-gene plays an important role in mediating tactile perception to any planet's electromagnetic field.
Magneto begins the fight with 3 Magnetic Charges. When taking hits, Magneto has a 49.5% chance to consume 1 Magnetic Charge to Auto-Block one attack, reducing all damage to 0%. This does not count as a Well-Timed Block and therefore cannot trigger Parry. The opponent’s Offensive Ability Accuracy on Auto-Blocked attacks is reduced by 100%. If Magneto has any Magnetic Charges, Magnetic Charges are automatically consumed to reduce the Aftershock Scale by 2 per Charge. The Aftershock Scale cannot be reduced below 0.
Culmination (Passive): While defending the final node in a Quest, Alliance Quest, or Alliance War, Magneto automatically generates 1 Magnetic Charge every 15.0 seconds. While he is at or above 10 Magnetic Charges, he gains +20% Attack Rating and +20% Power Gain Rate. This Ability cannot be affected by Ability Accuracy reduction. Geomagnetic Link (Passive): Magneto gains 1 Magnetic Charge each time he successfully lands a Heavy Attack. He also gains 3 Magnetic Charges every time he successfully lands a Special Attack.
Special Attacks: Magneto can Dash Back and hold Block for 1.2 seconds to consume one Magnetic Charge. Magnetic charges consumed in this way activate a secondary ability on the next Special Attack. Magneto cannot consume another Magnetic Charge in this fashion until he has activated a Special Attack.
Here we have the main crux of Magneto's kit - the Magnetic Charges. So Magnetic Charges are generated by landing Heavy Attacks and Special Attacks, and are used to empower Special Attacks. As far as using him for offense, Magneto seems like the kind of character that doesn't necessarily need his signature ability, but could definitely use it, since you can start the battle with three Magnetic Charges ready to go. I find it interesting (and perhaps a little unnecessary?) that Magneto so directly counters Quake. While understanding the canonical explanation for this, I nevertheless think that perhaps that ability over earthquakes might be better reflected in his kit - perhaps he can have a similar Aftershock scale, built up by use of Magnetic Charge through basic attacks, and there can be a specific callout that as his Aftershock scale rises, any similar scales on opponents (thus, both Quake and himself, for mirror matches) will decrease by the same amount? I'm not sure if that would fit the canon, though.
A few questions - are there any limits to how many Magnetic Charges can be stored? I assume it's similar to this month's champion, Sorcerer Supreme, where you can store infinite amounts of Runes but can only spend them at a certain rate. And the Culmination passive - is the additional attack and power gain contingent on defending the final node of a quest? I'd think it is, but it could use a little clarification, such as, "While defending the final node in a quest, etc., Magneto automatically generates 1 Magnetic Charge every 15 seconds, and gains +20% Attack Rating and Power Gain Rate while at or above Magnetic Charges." That way, it's very clearly a part of his Culmination ability.
A final thought on the signature ability - seems like a very useful contingency plan if you get hit on offense, but also seems like it might be a tad bit annoying on defense. The specification that the Auto Block won't trigger parry, though, keeps Magneto from being possibly one of the best AW Defenders. I assume that, when you say "taking hits", you mean direct and not blocked hits?
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Developer's Note: Special Attack animations have been changed to create a visual distinction between Magneto and Magneto (Marvel NOW!). Special 1 - Electromagnetic Rays – Magneto fires off three rapid pulses of electromagnetic energy at his opponent, blasting through their defenses!
100% chance per successful hit to inflict an Armor Break Debuff, each one removing 1 Armor Up Buff and reducing Armor Rating by 803.6 for 8.0 seconds.
This attack Power Drains 20% of the Opponent’s current Power, even if the attack doesn’t make contact with the Opponent. Against Robot Champions, this attack Power Burns instead, dealing damage proportionate to the amount lost.
When Magnetically Charged: This attack gains +574 Attack Rating and +492.1 Critical Rating.
Special 2 - Shrapnel Cyclone – Sharp fragments are pulled from the surrounding environment and formed into a vortex around Magneto’s opponent, shredding them.
95% chance to inflict Bleed, dealing 2410.8 Direct Damage over 10.0 seconds.
100% chance to inflict Heal Block, preventing the target from recovering Health for 10.0 seconds.
When Magnetically Charged: This attack is Unblockable.
Special 3 - Iron Manipulation – Tearing metal beams from the environment, Magneto pins his opponent to the opposing wall of the Arena. He then draws all of the iron out of their body and into the palm of his hand, shooting the iron ball he just formed back at his opponent like a bullet straight to the chest!
100% chance to inflict Heal Block, preventing the target from recovering Health for 12.0 seconds.
100% chance to inflict three Frailty Debuffs, each one reducing the opponent’s Block Proficiency, Physical Resistance, and Crit Resistance by 150 for 12.0 seconds.
When Magnetically Charged: 100% chance for each hit of this Special Attack to be a Critical Hit.
I like the changes to the Special Attack animations, to further distinguish Magneto (Marvel NOW!) from his classic counterpart. I'm not sure if these have any basis in the actual Marvel NOW! run, but it would be awesome if they did. Is it bad that I'm just imagining Terrax' rock field for the SP2? I definitely like the X2 reference in the SP3, though, that's awesome.
Mechanics wise, SP1 has Armor Break and Power Drain, upgraded to Power Burn against Robot Champions. I like the bonuses against Robots there, though I wish we could have seen perhaps more of it in his kit, since logically most (all?) robots are metal-based. +50% Attack is a nice Magnetic Charge bonus there. SP2 with Heal Block and Bleed - Why a 95% chance to Bleed? That's so close to 100% that you might as well make it 100%, imo, since there's only disappointment to gain when it fails to trigger using him offensively. The Unblockable bonus seems like a fun one, though. I'm a bit irked that the SP3's Heal Block is only 20% longer than the SP2's, for 50% more Power, but the Frailty debuffs seem like an interesting addition. I assume the fact that it's 3 debuffs at 150 each, not, say, 1 debuff at 450 total, is for Despair purposes? I think both debuffs are perhaps too short to be an efficient use of power, though, and I'm not sure of SP3's can crit. Honestly speaking, I'd rather see the Magnetic Charge bonus perhaps double, or at least extend,the duration of the inflicted debuffs.
Brotherhood Recruits: with Thor, or Namor: Magneto: Special Attack 1 and Special Attack 3 have a 55% chance to inflict Bleed, dealing 210% of Magneto’s Base Attack as Direct Damage over 10.0 seconds. Namor: While IMPERIUS REX is active, all Special Attacks Regenerate twice as much of his missing Health. Thor: Special Attacks inflict a Shock Debuff, dealing 15% of Thor’s Base Attack as Direct Damage over 4.0 seconds. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Decimation: with Sabretooth: Sabretooth, Scarlet Witch, Magneto: Starts the fight with a Fury Buff against Mutant Champions, granting +15% Attack Rating. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Enemies: with Storm: All Champions gain +155 Critical Rating.
Friends: with Colossus, or Deadpool (X-Force): All Champions gain +130 Armor Rating.
Masterminds: with Loki: All Champions gain +20% Energy Damage once a Combo of 15 or more hits is reached.
Mutant Agenda: with Warlock: Mutant’s landed strikes during Special Attacks gain +12% Attack Rating.
Mutant Dominion: with Mister Sinister: All Mutants: Gain +20% Passive Fury when fighting with Class Disadvantage. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Mutant Leadership: with Emma Frost: All Mutants: Heavy Attacks have a 10% chance to become Unblockable for 1.0 seconds. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Nemesis: with Black Bolt: All Champions gain +6% Attack.
Rivals: with Wolverine, or Wolverine (Weapon X): All Champions gain +115 Critical Damage Rating.
Teammates: with Cyclops (New Xavier School), Cyclops (Blue Team) or Magik: All Champions gain +5% Perfect Block Chance.
Here's the part I can't read while quoting! Interesting that he has so many synergies - I count 11. That might be a record! Most of them are fairly rote, though, which is perfectly alright. The Emma Frost synergy is fascinating - Are Heavy Attacks not, by nature, Unblockable? Perhaps Unstoppable would be a better substitution there. Also interesting that Scarlet Witch gains the Decimation bonus despite not being called out as a synergy member, but only a beneficiary. Adding back the bleed through synergy does allow you to basically switch on and off the Bleed as needed - perhaps you need constant bleed for a node like Do You Bleed?, or perhaps you want to avoid it for a Cornered path. That's a nice amount of choice avoided to the player, there.
Overall, as always, I had a few questions, a few clarifications that might be nice. I do think that some expansion on the Aftershock idea is perhaps merited, as maybe another dimension to the Magnetic Charge ability, but overall I think this rework does make Magneto (Marvel NOW!) a more interesting champion, what with the Heal Block and the Auto Block and such. I think I'd like to have seen more from the Magnetic Charge ability, though, and maybe that's the first time I've felt that your reworks are just a tad bit lacking, which is where the Aftershock comes in, for me at least. Strangely, my biggest issue is the Magnetism ability, and I'd certainly like to see full fidelity to the comics run from which this version of Mags draws his subtitle from, but it's still a pretty good rework, and far better than the Magneto we have in game now.
Am I late to the party here or what? Not one but two reworks from @Bodhizen ... should've checked here first, then. First, some thoughts on Joe Fixit:
The Blackjack table is a very nice addition to Joe Fixit's kit. I like it! It's a rather clever way to get even more of Mr. Fixit's gambling background into the game in a mechanic-based way, which is awesome. I also like how this new ability empowers, but does not supersede the Suits mechanic that he currently has. I'm not too hot with any of the numbers, really, but extra Crit Rating, Attack, Regen, and a little bit of Concussion seems very nice to have, even if the random cycling of Suits may be occasionally tedious. (Can you imagine, for instance, needing to get Spades for whatever reason and finding yourself switching between Hearts and Clubs due to pure RNG?) For that, I would suggest some mechanic like "Once a Suit has been swapped out (via the Heavy Attack), it cannot be reactivated until all four Suits have been activated". IDK if my wording is clear enough there, but something like that would be nice. Special Attacks are nice, though I'd like to have seen a Blackjack bonus on more than one, I do also acknowledge it's probably not easy to get Blackjack. The Poison mechanic is also pretty neat - "he also gains a Cruelty buff as a retaliation to some fool’s attempt to poison him!"
Thank you very much for the praise on the polished rework. There's a reason that I did not go with a Winter Soldier-like mechanic where you switch to the next Suit in an order... It's because at a card table, unless the dealer has stacked the deck, you don't get to control what you get dealt. It makes Joe Fixit harder to control, sure, but it's definitely in keeping with the gambling theme.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think there might be some comic backstory/explanation for why Magneto (Marvel NOW!) can't keep up his ability accuracy reduction through the whole fight. I'll check.
Magneto, Cyclops, and Magik began liberating mutants who had been unjustly imprisoned by various authorities and offer them help with controlling their powers and joining their rebellion. While attempting to liberate Emma Frost, Magneto and Cyclops discovered they had both lost control of their powers. Emma revealed that she has been going through a similar situation, and told them that the Phoenix had altered their mutant powers.
That comes right after the AvX section in Magneto's bio, and I'm told that the Marvel NOW! event started after AvX, so the two would seem to coincide. I'm fairly certain now that Magneto's current inability to maintain his Magnetism throughout the entire fight is reflective of this state from the comics, which may warrant some correction.
Magneto has been powered and depowered several times in the canonical Marvel universe (notably in the Genosha and Regaining Powers sections on the same page you referenced). Magneto's control over his powers has typically been consistent, except for rare circumstances where the exercise of his powers has left him temporarily drained.
Having said that, in their current builds, Magneto (Classic) has a passive that reduces a #Metal tagged opponent's Ability Accuracy by 40%, and Magneto (Marvel NOW!) reduces a #Metal tagged opponent's Ability Accuracy by 60% periodically throughout the fight. I purposefully set his Ability Accuracy reduction against #Metal tagged opponents as a consistent factor, not an on again/off again benefit.
Here we have the main crux of Magneto's kit - the Magnetic Charges. So Magnetic Charges are generated by landing Heavy Attacks and Special Attacks, and are used to empower Special Attacks. As far as using him for offense, Magneto seems like the kind of character that doesn't necessarily need his signature ability, but could definitely use it, since you can start the battle with three Magnetic Charges ready to go. I find it interesting (and perhaps a little unnecessary?) that Magneto so directly counters Quake. While understanding the canonical explanation for this, I nevertheless think that perhaps that ability over earthquakes might be better reflected in his kit - perhaps he can have a similar Aftershock scale, built up by use of Magnetic Charge through basic attacks, and there can be a specific callout that as his Aftershock scale rises, any similar scales on opponents (thus, both Quake and himself, for mirror matches) will decrease by the same amount? I'm not sure if that would fit the canon, though.
A few questions - are there any limits to how many Magnetic Charges can be stored? I assume it's similar to this month's champion, Sorcerer Supreme, where you can store infinite amounts of Runes but can only spend them at a certain rate. And the Culmination passive - is the additional attack and power gain contingent on defending the final node of a quest? I'd think it is, but it could use a little clarification, such as, "While defending the final node in a quest, etc., Magneto automatically generates 1 Magnetic Charge every 15 seconds, and gains +20% Attack Rating and Power Gain Rate while at or above Magnetic Charges." That way, it's very clearly a part of his Culmination ability.
A final thought on the signature ability - seems like a very useful contingency plan if you get hit on offense, but also seems like it might be a tad bit annoying on defense. The specification that the Auto Block won't trigger parry, though, keeps Magneto from being possibly one of the best AW Defenders. I assume that, when you say "taking hits", you mean direct and not blocked hits?
With the Magnetic Charges... Magneto and Quake counter each other. No one else can reduce her Aftershock rating, and she would have the ability to drain his Magnetic Charges by raising the Aftershock rating. She can still raise it more easily that he can lower it, but he gets to knock it down pretty quickly if he's got the charges built up. I felt it was a decent way to reflect that he does have canonical power to control earthquakes. He's not going to cause any with his Magnetic Charges, but he will blunt her ability to use them against him.
There is no limit to the amount of Magnetic Charges he can store, just like other Champions that have no limit when a limit is not explicitly stated.
The Culmination ability... Yes, the additional Attack Rating and Power Gain is contingent on defending the final node, which is why it's encapsulated within the Culmination Ability. It doesn't need to be double-explicit that it applies only when Culmination applies, otherwise, it would have been its own ability, or a part of another ability. If the additional Attack Rating and Power Gain were a part of the Magnetic Charges ability description, then it would apply at any point when Magnetic Charges equal or exceed 10 Charges. Being that they are a part of the Culmination ability description, it is pretty clear that they only apply when Culmination applies.
Lastly, I do not understand the confusion between "taking a hit" and "blocking a hit". If you're taking a hit, you're taking a hit. It is, by definition, not being blocked.
I like the changes to the Special Attack animations, to further distinguish Magneto (Marvel NOW!) from his classic counterpart. I'm not sure if these have any basis in the actual Marvel NOW! run, but it would be awesome if they did. Is it bad that I'm just imagining Terrax' rock field for the SP2? I definitely like the X2 reference in the SP3, though, that's awesome.
Mechanics wise, SP1 has Armor Break and Power Drain, upgraded to Power Burn against Robot Champions. I like the bonuses against Robots there, though I wish we could have seen perhaps more of it in his kit, since logically most (all?) robots are metal-based. +50% Attack is a nice Magnetic Charge bonus there. SP2 with Heal Block and Bleed - Why a 95% chance to Bleed? That's so close to 100% that you might as well make it 100%, imo, since there's only disappointment to gain when it fails to trigger using him offensively. The Unblockable bonus seems like a fun one, though. I'm a bit irked that the SP3's Heal Block is only 20% longer than the SP2's, for 50% more Power, but the Frailty debuffs seem like an interesting addition. I assume the fact that it's 3 debuffs at 150 each, not, say, 1 debuff at 450 total, is for Despair purposes? I think both debuffs are perhaps too short to be an efficient use of power, though, and I'm not sure of SP3's can crit. Honestly speaking, I'd rather see the Magnetic Charge bonus perhaps double, or at least extend,the duration of the inflicted debuffs.
All of the animations changes and powers have a basis in Magneto's [and Magneto (Marvel NOW!)'s] canonical powers. Since both current version of Magneto only have a 55% chance to inflict Bleed, I didn't' think that a 95% chance was going to be problematic. Not everything has to be guaranteed, unless you're looking to get around Domino...
As for the duration of Debuffs on Special 3, there's no explicit power-to-intensity or power-to-duration ratio in any Champion's power kit. Twelve seconds is a long time for a Debuff to apply. As for the critical hits on Special 3, I don't see why they can't be critical. Not only would it give Magneto (Marvel NOW!) an advantage against Terminal Velocity nodes, but The Champion can land critical hits with Special Attack 2, and Corvus Glaive deals additional damage on Special 3 when he has Glaive Charges (which guarantee Critical Hits) remain. It also potentially drops some of the efficacy of Magneto's Special 3 versus Scarlet Witch and Groot, who trigger abilities when Critically hit.
Here's the part I can't read while quoting! Interesting that he has so many synergies - I count 11. That might be a record! Most of them are fairly rote, though, which is perfectly alright. The Emma Frost synergy is fascinating - Are Heavy Attacks not, by nature, Unblockable? Perhaps Unstoppable would be a better substitution there. Also interesting that Scarlet Witch gains the Decimation bonus despite not being called out as a synergy member, but only a beneficiary. Adding back the bleed through synergy does allow you to basically switch on and off the Bleed as needed - perhaps you need constant bleed for a node like Do You Bleed?, or perhaps you want to avoid it for a Cornered path. That's a nice amount of choice avoided to the player, there.
Overall, as always, I had a few questions, a few clarifications that might be nice. I do think that some expansion on the Aftershock idea is perhaps merited, as maybe another dimension to the Magnetic Charge ability, but overall I think this rework does make Magneto (Marvel NOW!) a more interesting champion, what with the Heal Block and the Auto Block and such. I think I'd like to have seen more from the Magnetic Charge ability, though, and maybe that's the first time I've felt that your reworks are just a tad bit lacking, which is where the Aftershock comes in, for me at least. Strangely, my biggest issue is the Magnetism ability, and I'd certainly like to see full fidelity to the comics run from which this version of Mags draws his subtitle from, but it's still a pretty good rework, and far better than the Magneto we have in game now.
Best wishes, and stay safe, everyone!
Right now, Magneto (Marvel NOW!) has 9 Synergies (some of them incoming). I only added Brotherhood Recruits and Mutant Leadership.
Heavy Attacks are not, by their nature, Unblockable. They can be resisted if you have the Stand Your Ground mastery, or if you are Mole Man, you can resist block breaks (and potentially Unblockable attacks) if you have Monster Mass. The Mutant Leadership synergy helps a bit to get around the Stand Your Ground mastery if your opponent has it. Unstoppable... You can still be parry/stunned, so it's not quite as useful. The Brotherhood Recruits synergy was designed with the notion that sometimes you don't want to cause your opponent to Bleed, so thank you for noticing!
Overall, thank you for your questions! I hope that I've been clear on everything. I am interested to hear on what your added dimension to the Magnetic Charges ability (without making it too powerful) would be. I'd love to hear your ideas!
@Bodhizen , I'm going to be honest, I don't want to go back and quote everything above, ha. I see the points you're making, definitely. Joe Fixit note - the gambling explanation makes total sense. I see your point there.
As for Magneto (in no particular order) I understand the debuff explanation for the SP3, and I wasn't aware that SP3's could crit before... the numbers that pop up after a SP3 have never been yellow (critical) for me, but I could just be perpetuating a misconception here. Thanks for the Magnetic Charge/Domination clarification, by the way. As for the Mutant Leadership synergy, I would have thought since a Heavy Attack breaks through the opponent's block, it's therefore Unblockable, but perhaps I'm getting a little confused with the specific terminology there. My bad, if that's the case. Although even in the light of a Stand your Ground counter, the chance for Stand your Ground to trigger is fairly low, if I'm remembering this correctly. Somewhere in the single digits, I think. That, coupled with a small 10% chance to go Unblockable on the Heavy, means that the chance for the synergy to accurately counter the mastery it's meant to counter is pretty low. Then again, there are certainly synergies with less use in today's game, so it should be fine.
Aside from the obvious "adds Attack/Crit/Crit Damage Rating" route for Magnetic Charges, perhaps Magneto's Ability Accuracy reduction could be tied to the Magnetic Charges? For instance, he could start every battle reducing Metal-reliant opponents' AA by, say, 40%, increased by 4% for the first 5 Magnetic Charges, capping out at 60% AA reduction. Something like that.
@Bodhizen , I'm going to be honest, I don't want to go back and quote everything above, ha. I see the points you're making, definitely. Joe Fixit note - the gambling explanation makes total sense. I see your point there.
As for Magneto (in no particular order) I understand the debuff explanation for the SP3, and I wasn't aware that SP3's could crit before... the numbers that pop up after a SP3 have never been yellow (critical) for me, but I could just be perpetuating a misconception here. Thanks for the Magnetic Charge/Domination clarification, by the way. As for the Mutant Leadership synergy, I would have thought since a Heavy Attack breaks through the opponent's block, it's therefore Unblockable, but perhaps I'm getting a little confused with the specific terminology there. My bad, if that's the case. Although even in the light of a Stand your Ground counter, the chance for Stand your Ground to trigger is fairly low, if I'm remembering this correctly. Somewhere in the single digits, I think. That, coupled with a small 10% chance to go Unblockable on the Heavy, means that the chance for the synergy to accurately counter the mastery it's meant to counter is pretty low. Then again, there are certainly synergies with less use in today's game, so it should be fine.
Aside from the obvious "adds Attack/Crit/Crit Damage Rating" route for Magnetic Charges, perhaps Magneto's Ability Accuracy reduction could be tied to the Magnetic Charges? For instance, he could start every battle reducing Metal-reliant opponents' AA by, say, 40%, increased by 4% for the first 5 Magnetic Charges, capping out at 60% AA reduction. Something like that.
Thanks for the clarification!
I completely understand the desire to not quote and quote and quote. It can be a bit tedious.
The Stand Your Ground Mastery has a 17%-50% chance of activating while you're blocking a Heavy Attack, depending upon how many Mastery points that you invest in it. I didn't want to go overboard with the Synergy, but upon reflection, 10% may be too low. Being able to break an opponent's block (pretty much no matter what) 10% of the time was, I thought, pretty good. Maybe 20% or 25% would be better?
As for the Magnetic Charges and Ability Accuracy reduction... I don't think that's the direction that I want to go with them. It weakens the build pretty significantly, as that's the major appeal of playing Magneto/Magneto (Marvel NOW!) in their present builds. I was hoping for something really creative that we've not seen before... When I was asking you the question, I thought about a damage field like Terrax has, but first off, that's been done. Secondly, I think we can do better. Third, I really would like to turn him into a monster Alliance War or any Quest boss, so something defensive would be really nice, I think. I think that making him an enhanced end-boss would really play to Magneto's character (and I wish that I had thought of it in my Kang rebuild).
I really appreciate the feedback, good sir! Please feel free to keep the dialogue going!
@Bodhizen , I'm going to be honest, I don't want to go back and quote everything above, ha. I see the points you're making, definitely. Joe Fixit note - the gambling explanation makes total sense. I see your point there.
As for Magneto (in no particular order) I understand the debuff explanation for the SP3, and I wasn't aware that SP3's could crit before... the numbers that pop up after a SP3 have never been yellow (critical) for me, but I could just be perpetuating a misconception here. Thanks for the Magnetic Charge/Domination clarification, by the way. As for the Mutant Leadership synergy, I would have thought since a Heavy Attack breaks through the opponent's block, it's therefore Unblockable, but perhaps I'm getting a little confused with the specific terminology there. My bad, if that's the case. Although even in the light of a Stand your Ground counter, the chance for Stand your Ground to trigger is fairly low, if I'm remembering this correctly. Somewhere in the single digits, I think. That, coupled with a small 10% chance to go Unblockable on the Heavy, means that the chance for the synergy to accurately counter the mastery it's meant to counter is pretty low. Then again, there are certainly synergies with less use in today's game, so it should be fine.
Aside from the obvious "adds Attack/Crit/Crit Damage Rating" route for Magnetic Charges, perhaps Magneto's Ability Accuracy reduction could be tied to the Magnetic Charges? For instance, he could start every battle reducing Metal-reliant opponents' AA by, say, 40%, increased by 4% for the first 5 Magnetic Charges, capping out at 60% AA reduction. Something like that.
Thanks for the clarification!
I completely understand the desire to not quote and quote and quote. It can be a bit tedious.
The Stand Your Ground Mastery has a 17%-50% chance of activating while you're blocking a Heavy Attack, depending upon how many Mastery points that you invest in it. I didn't want to go overboard with the Synergy, but upon reflection, 10% may be too low. Being able to break an opponent's block (pretty much no matter what) 10% of the time was, I thought, pretty good. Maybe 20% or 25% would be better?
As for the Magnetic Charges and Ability Accuracy reduction... I don't think that's the direction that I want to go with them. It weakens the build pretty significantly, as that's the major appeal of playing Magneto/Magneto (Marvel NOW!) in their present builds. I was hoping for something really creative that we've not seen before... When I was asking you the question, I thought about a damage field like Terrax has, but first off, that's been done. Secondly, I think we can do better. Third, I really would like to turn him into a monster Alliance War or any Quest boss, so something defensive would be really nice, I think. I think that making him an enhanced end-boss would really play to Magneto's character (and I wish that I had thought of it in my Kang rebuild).
I really appreciate the feedback, good sir! Please feel free to keep the dialogue going!
I actually didn't know that about Stand Your Ground. Well, I learn something new every day, I suppose. (It just hit me - I've been thinking of the chance for the Perfect Block mastery, not Stand Your Ground! I'm stupid )
In that case, yes, I think perhaps 20% would be better, to make the synergy a pretty nice thing to have. 20 feels like the right balance between "not triggering enough to be useful" and "triggering too much", so that's my thought there.
I understand not wanting to go that route with the Magnetic Charges, and I'll see if I can come up with something on the spot. Admittedly, I haven't read very many comics and I'm familiar only with the very early iterations of Magneto, not the specific version from Marvel NOW! depicted here. If defense is the goal, as an end boss, I should think a good mechanic would be something that makes attacking him difficult and tedious, without being maddening. I agree that a damage field would not be the way to go, since that is very, very annoying sometimes. The tricky part with this, I think, is not just stalling out a theoretical 3 minute AW timer, nor dealing unavoidable damage to the opponent.
My first thought is that perhaps they could reduce damage that Magneto takes - something like ~5% less damage for every Magnetic Charge. But I think this would only make fighting him unnecessarily tedious, since all it would do would be lengthen battles without adding any element of strategy. Perhaps something like reducing the opponent's Block Proficiency passively for each Magnetic Charge could work instead - something fairly large that eventually, around 8 or 10 Magnetic Charges, any gain from blocking is completely lost. Thus, as the opponent's Block Proficiency decays, the opponent will have to be more reliant on intercepting, which does give the player an ability to avoid or negate this challenge. It's not completely unavoidable this way, which is good.
Of course, with mechanics like this, you might have to add in some way to remove Magneto's Magnetic Charges. The only ways that can be achieved right now is either through triggering Auto Block, and forcing him to dash back and charge up a bonus for his next Special (which is probably too long to be of any practical use). Continuing the intercept avenue as a potential source of strategy against Magneto, perhaps you could raise the chance for Auto Block to trigger on the final boss node (as an addition to Domination on the Sig), but also add in a reduction to that chance when successfully landing intercepts.
I do think, however, that intercepts are something a lot of players have mastered, so this would make Magneto a sufficient challenge for those mid-game players that are still learning how to intercept, players around or below Uncollected level, while not being, I think, the challenge you envision for endgame players. Perhaps damage can be dealt back to the attacker on Auto Blocks, like how Quake deals damage back to the attacker on blocked hits, and said damage can be contingent on how many Magnetic Charges are currently stored? But again, this a) needs additional routes to remove Magnetic Charges and b) is kind of unfair - if the damage dealt back is too low, it's almost negligible, but if the damage dealt back is too high, it's super tough to deal with.
Actually, that last idea, provided a cap of, say, 3 or 4% of the opponent's Max Health, reflected back to them upon an Auto Block, might not be so bad. I'm imagining a max sig Magneto (Marvel NOW!) would certainly Auto Block once every combo (given the almost 50% chance to Auto Block), so while the low percentage might not seem like a lot, it's going to be triggering quite a bit, and it'll add up before long. I'm certain there's better ideas, though, and those are just a few preliminary thoughts. I think there might just be something to one of these ideas, but I'll have to give it more thought. In any case, I look forward to what ends up being the solution for Magneto's Magnetic Charges and defensive capabilities. Thanks for the challenge, @Bodhizen !
So, Magneto looks interesting! Particularly the decision to make him a specific counter to Quake, with a view to him on defence in AW. I like some of @HeroBoltsy's suggestions on the Sig.
You aren't happy with the expiring Magnetism that MMN has currently - The reason it expires is simply for game balance - having a 60% AAR is huge if it's kept up for the whole fight. You obviously prefer permanant Magnetism, so I'd either suggest (1) reducing the AAR to a flat rate of 30-40% AAR; or (2) making the potency of the Magnetic AAR proportionate to his Magnetic Charge, of with about 5-10% per magnetic charge, Max 60%.
Also, I'm afraid you will need a different bonus for Magnetic Charges on an SP3. Special-3s can't be critical - it's one of their fundamental properties; just like they can't be blocked or evaded. Maybe a Prowess effect, or increased Frailty debuff potency/duration? I like the Frailty debuff, btw.
I also rather like the idea of Evading telepathic attacks; but would exclude Psylocke's Psychic Knife from this as it's a physically-directed attack; even if the damage caused is telepathic in nature. Her SP2 is fair game, though.
A thought for the SP1 - rather than a simple Armour Break (which won't work on Colossus, Thing, Dr Doom, Man-Thing or anyone with debuff immunity) is there an option for a slightly different alternative such as (1) if it makes contact, this attack removes all armour buffs on the opponent, and also inflicts an armour break debuff... Or (I quite like the idea of turning this on a champ like Dr Doom or Colossus) (2) Armour Burn: This attack inflicts True Damage; and if it makes contact it inflicts a burst of bonus Physical damage proportionate to the target's armour rating*. (*Convert flat armour to a percentage; X% armour means X% bonus damage).
Overall a fun rework, nice and imaginative. I hope the Devs glance at these occasionally!
With regard to the Ability Accuracy Reduction... It's one of the things that makes Blade as powerful as he is, and he can apply his Danger Sense to 6 Dimensional Beings (expanded to 24 playable Mystic Champions and counting, plus 10 unplayable Mystic Champions with a Synergy; expanded to 45 playable Villain Champions and counting with a different synergy) at 40% (increased to 95% with a different synergy). This rework of Magneto can do 60% (with no increase) Ability Accuracy Reduction to 51 playable #Metal-tagged Champions (and counting), plus a few that should be #Metal-tagged, such as Blade and Psylocke. 60% is admittedly a lot, but it affects fewer total Champions and to a lesser potential degree. Minus the overlap, Blade can affect up to 56 (and counting) Villains and Mystic Heroes (since all Diensional Beings are Mystics) at up to a 95% Ability Accuracy Reduction. I question whether Magneto affecting up to 51 (plus Champions that use metal weapons [that aren't Vibranium] in their Basic Attacks such as Blade, Drax, Elsa Bloodstone, Heimdall, Longshot, Moon Knight, Nick Fury, Night Thrasher, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Rocket Raccoon [metal flight pack], Ronan, Ronin, Star-Lord, Storm [Pyramid X], Taskmaster, Terrax, and Yondu - for a total of 69 Champions), at a 60% maximum Ability Accuracy Reduction is too powerful an ability. However, I'm not completely opposed to dialing it down a bit.
In any case, I'm about to post (in a few minutes) a revision of Magneto (Marvel NOW!) that incorporates some of these suggestions. Thank you!
Basic Abilities: Bleed, Heal Block, Magnetic Sense, Stun
ABILITIES:
Magneto's Helmet – Passive • Magneto’s Ability Accuracy cannot be decreased and is immune to Inverted Controls, however if inflicted with Armor Break Debuff, his helmet is cracked for 10 seconds, temporarily disabling these immunities.
Magnetic Sense – Passive • 239.2 increased Critical Hit Rating against opponents reliant on Metal • Magneto gains True Strike that ignores Armor, Resistances, Auto-Block and all Evade effects.
When Attacking: • Opponents reliant on Metal gain Magnetic Charges. • Hitting an opponent with a Light or Medium Attack places 1 Magnetic Charge on the opponent. • Landing a Heavy Attack gives 3 Magnetic Charges • Landing a Special Attack gives 5 Magnetic Charges • Once the Opponent has 20 charges, they are removed and replaced with one Magnetized Passive that lasts for 15 seconds.
Magnetized – Passive: • The Opponent is Power Locked. • The Opponent has -30% Ability Accuracy.
All Attacks: • Attacking an opponent that is Bleeding has a 20% chance to trigger an additional Bleed, dealing 600.6 Direct Damage over 2.5 seconds.
Special 1 – Shrapnel • Sharp metal fragments are pulled from the surrounding environment and propelled across the arena. • 75% chance to inflict Bleed, dealing 2293.2 Direct Damage over 10 seconds. • When the Bleed from this attack expires, it has a 65% chance to be converted into an Open Wound. An Open Wound counts as a stack of Bleed but is Passive and deals no damage. • This attack is Unblockable if the opponent is Magnetized
Special 2 – Fracturer • Magneto expands his magnetic grasp deep under the arena, impaling his opponent with metal from below. • 80% chance to inflict Bleed, dealing 2293.2 Direct Damage over 10 seconds. • 100% chance to inflict Heal Block, preventing the target from recovering Health for 10 seconds. • This attack is Unblockable if the opponent is Magnetized
Special 3 – Cold-Blooded Fusion • Encased in a metal prison, Magneto's target implodes. Peace was never an option. • 100% chance to Stun for 3 seconds • 100% chance to inflict Heal Block, preventing the target from recovering Health for 10 seconds. • If the opponent is Magnetized, Stun and Heal Block duration are increased by 2.5 and 10 seconds, respectively.
Signature Ability: Refraction • Magneto bends a dense electromagnetic field around his body to create a personal force field, preventing him from losing more than 10% Health from a single source.
Magneto, loki and iron man must be op maybe some others too, if a hero powerful in comics please make it powerful in game too otherwise it become so annoying and please what buffs or improvements you going to do, do it! People wait for some heroes for almost 3 years and you buff only one hero for what 6 months?
So, we all accept that the game has left the OG 2005 champions that have not yet gotten reworked far behind. While some can be enhanced decently by the right synergy, I believe both versions of Magneto could do with a simultaneous rework based on these ideas.
(Note, I agree that Terrax's introduction seems to make one of the suggestions below less novel, but I believe it is still worth doing because like many similar abilities, the way they work get little tweaks in order to make them interesting or unique. I've had this idea for years and I know others have as well, or even posted it, so sorry for only now getting to it in a post-Terrax era)
Magneto {both Classic (C) and Marvel Now (MN)} suggestions
Champion
MAGNETO (Classic)
MAGNETO (Marvel Now)
Similarity
Basic strikes always deal 40% energy and 60% physical contact damage; #Metal opponents suffer constant Ability Accuracy Reduction (AAR) of 40%
Basic strikes always deal 60% energy and 40% physical contact damage; #Metal opponents suffer periodic AAR when magnetism cycle is active
Add Benefits
Magneto (C) receives 40% less feedback damage from reflective defensive abilities (e.g. Electro, Morningstar, Quake's block, Thorns, Micro-Reflect, Ant-Man's glancing)
Magneto (MN) receives 60% less feedback damage from reflective defensive abilities while magnetism is in active cycle but not while in cool-down unless against a #Metal opponent
Difference
Pulling metal from opponents
Pushing metal into opponents
Inspiration
X2: X-Men United (2003) movie
Magnetic repulsion
Intension
Gathering metal resources to increase the number of metalic spheres orbiting Magneto
Increasing metal on opponent to enhance magnetic influence over opponent
Outcome
Being near Magneto can inflict damage when hit by orbiting spheres, it also increases damage dealt by specials increasing the chance and potency of bleed damage over time
Increases the magnetism in both non-metallic (from 0 to 40) and metallic (from 50 to 90) opponents causing up to 40% or 90% ability accuracy reduction respectively when magnetism cycles on
Polaris Synergy
Adding Polaris (Lorna Dane) expands Magneto's magnetic influence to other champions using metal weapons not currently affected (e.g. Punisher {guns/bullets}, Old Man Logan {skeleton, claws}, Archangel {feathers}, Elektra {sai, shuriken}, Ghostrider {chains}, others)
Instead of expanding the #Metal list, synergy with Polaris grants this version of Magneto +10 magnetic ability accuracy, a 25% longer active magnetism period, and a 25% shorter inactive magnetism cooldown. This results in higher upper limits to AAR 50% non-metal, 100% metal champs
Other Synergies
Adding Mystique adds potential for implying that she injected non-#Metal opponents with metalic compounds (ref: X2) in order to enhance how fast Magneto could generate metal spheres
Adding a synergy with existing Colossus and/or Unstoppable Colossus could provide means to start fights with 20% metal already on opponent causing AAR (ref: comics when Colossus was an Acolyte of Magneto)
Limitation
Magneto (classic) draws less metal from non-#Metal opponents so it takes 3 times longer to make each metal sphere unless there is a synergy assist
Despite being able to make non-#Metal opponents metalic, magnetism does not cycle on before they are so feedback damage is not reduced fully or early
Added Value
Magneto becomes an opponent players would need to hesitate to attack or risk proximity damage when the spheres are circling him, similar to Mephisto's flame- and Omega Red's death-auras (and now Terrax's rock field) making Magneto a better defensive option
Many opponents become less effective against Magneto (MN) because with each strike they become more and more metalic and periodically lose a little to a lot of their offensive and defensive ability accuracy. This makes him a better attacker
Mechanism
Magneto constantly draws metal out over time; slower from the environment, faster when fighting #Metal champs (and those 'Metal Infused' by Mystique) so Spheres are inevitable
Magneto pushes metal into opponents with each basic attack (light 1%, medium 2%, heavy 3%) until indefinitely adding +40% metal, thus AAR. Bleed from specials enhances 10% because he rips some back out
Animation Change
All basic and special motions remain the same. A timer is added that sets up when each sphere appears then 1 to 3 spheres would rotate around him to deal proximity damage
All basic motions remain the same, but Sp1 and 2 should show a wave of metal being drawn back out after his metal debris hits, implying the added Bleed potential
Bonuses
Opponent Special Attacks that strike Magneto are reduced by 20% of Magneto's attack rating per sphere present (at the cost of the spheres) adding to his Magnetism based dense protective forcefield
Magneto (MN) could push more metal into opponents (+6% per Special level) than he draws out during Specials (-5%) so Sp2 and 3 can close the gap to max AAR faster than basic attacks
Many of my suggestions are meant to only make champions more competitive, so these changes are not meant to turn either version of Magneto into monstrous champions. However via Synergies further value could be had:
With Polaris, ability accuracy can be further enhanced with each additional #Metal teammate
With Colossus, the value would be reflected in him as well, causing minor Limbo-like environmental burst energy damage whenever temporary Armor Up expires, and when any Armor is broken (electromagnetic pulse)
With each other: Mag (C) and Mag (MN) respectively pull and push metal 50% faster. This synergy is housed in Mag (C)'s Synergy List
In Mag (MN)'s List, Mag (C) gets -100% feedback damage during contact with light attacks and Mag (MN) gets -100% feedback damage during contact with medium attacks
The below suggested ability tweaks for both Magnetos would keep all of their prior Ability section descriptions with some of the abilities specifically more effective at higher Signature Ability Levels.
So, we all accept that the game has left the OG 2005 champions that have not yet gotten reworked far behind. While some can be enhanced decently by the right synergy, I believe both versions of Magneto could do with a simultaneous rework based on these ideas.
(Note, I agree that Terrax's introduction seems to make one of the suggestions below less novel, but I believe it is still worth doing because like many similar abilities, the way they work get little tweaks in order to make them interesting or unique. I've had this idea for years and I know others have as well, or even posted it, so sorry for only now getting to it in a post-Terrax era)
Magneto {both Classic (C) and Marvel Now (MN)} suggestions
Champ
MAGNETO (Classic)
MAGNETO (Marvel Now)
Similarity
Basic strikes always deal 40% energy and 60% physical contact damage; #Metal opponents suffer constant Ability Accuracy Reduction (AAR) of 40%
Basic strikes always deal 60% energy and 40% physical contact damage; #Metal opponents suffer periodic AAR when magnetism cycle is active
Add Benefit
Magneto (C) receives 40% less feedback damage from reflective defensive abilities (e.g. Electro, Morningstar, Quake's block, Thorns, Micro-Reflect, Ant-Man's glancing)
Magneto (MN) receives 60% less feedback damage from reflective defensive abilities while magnetism is in active cycle but not while in cool-down unless against a #Metal opponent
Difference
Pulling metal from opponents
Pushing metal into opponents
Inspiration
X2: X-Men United (2003) movie
Magnetic repulsion
Intention
Gathering metal resources to increase the number of metallic spheres orbiting Magneto
Increasing metal on opponent to enhance magnetic influence over opponent
Outcome
Being near Magneto can inflict damage when hit by orbiting spheres, it also increases damage dealt by specials increasing the chance and potency of bleed damage over time
Increases the magnetism in both non-metallic (from 0 to 40) and metallic (from 50 to 90) opponents causing up to 40% or 90% ability accuracy reduction respectively when magnetism cycles on
Polaris Synergy
Adding Polaris (Lorna Dane) expands Magneto's magnetic influence to other champions using metal weapons not currently affected (e.g. Punisher {guns/bullets}, Old Man Logan {skeleton, claws}, Archangel {feathers}, Elektra {sai, shuriken}, Ghostrider {chains}, others)
Instead of expanding the #Metal list, synergy with Polaris grants this version of Magneto +10 magnetic ability accuracy, a 25% longer active magnetism period, and a 25% shorter inactive magnetism cool-down. This results in higher upper limits to AAR 50% non-metal, 100% metal champs
Other Synergies
Adding Mystique adds potential for implying that she injected non-#Metal opponents with metallic compounds (ref: X2) in order to enhance how fast Magneto could generate metal spheres
Adding a synergy with existing Colossus and/or Unstoppable Colossus could provide means to start fights with 20% metal already on opponent causing AAR (ref: comics when Colossus was an Acolyte of Magneto)
Limitation
Magneto (classic) draws less metal from non-#Metal opponents so it takes 3 times longer to make each metal sphere unless there is a synergy assist
Despite being able to make non-#Metal opponents metallic, magnetism does not cycle on before they are so feedback damage is not reduced fully or early
Value
Magneto becomes an opponent players would need to hesitate to attack or risk proximity damage when the spheres are circling him, similar to Mephisto's flame- and Omega Red's death-auras (and now Terrax's rock field) making Magneto a better defensive option
Many opponents become less effective against Magneto (MN) because with each strike they become more and more metallic and periodically lose a little to a lot of their offensive and defensive ability accuracy. This makes him a better attacker
Mechanism
Magneto constantly draws metal out over time; slower from the environment, faster when fighting #Metal champs (and those 'Metal Infused' by Mystique) so Spheres are inevitable
Magneto pushes metal into opponents with each basic attack (light 1%, medium 2%, heavy 3%) until indefinitely adding +40% metal, thus AAR. Bleed from specials enhances 10% because he rips some back out
Animation
All basic and special motions remain the same. A timer is added that sets up when each sphere appears then 1 to 3 spheres would rotate around him to deal proximity damage
All basic motions remain the same, but Sp1 and 2 should show a wave of metal being drawn back out after his metal debris hits, implying the added Bleed potential
Bonus
Opponent Special Attacks that strike Magneto (C) are reduced by 20% of Magneto's attack rating per sphere present (at the cost of the spheres) adding to his Magnetism based dense protective force field
Magneto (MN) could push more metal into opponents (+6% per Special level) than he draws out during Specials (-5%) so Sp2 and 3 can close the gap to max AAR faster than basic attacks
Many of my suggestions are meant to only make champions more competitive, so these changes are not meant to turn either version of Magneto into monstrous champions. However via Synergies further value could be had:
With Polaris, ability accuracy can be further enhanced with each additional #Metal teammate
With Colossus, the value would be reflected in him as well, causing minor Limbo-like environmental burst energy damage whenever temporary Armor Up expires, and when any Armor is broken (electromagnetic pulse)
With each other: Mag (C) and Mag (MN) respectively pull and push metal 50% faster. This synergy is housed in Mag (C)'s Synergy List
In Mag (MN)'s List, Mag (C) gets -100% feedback damage during contact with light attacks and Mag (MN) gets -100% feedback damage during contact with medium attacks
Apologies, just noticed the double post when trying to edit my grammatical mistakes within 15 mins.
@Bajan_Samurai: That's happened to me on multiple occasions.
I'll try to give you my best critique on your Magneto concepts.
Row 2 - Similarity: Magneto (Marvel NOW!)'s Ability Accuracy Reduction fails to specify just how much it reduces the opponent's Ability Accuracy.
Row 3 - Add Benefit: Interesting. I'm curious as to what this is based in.
Row 7 - Outcome: Magneto (Classic)'s floating spheres don't specify how much damage or over how much time. Magneto (Marvel NOW!)'s Ability Accuracy Reduction now tells me how much, which is good. I can see Magneto (Marvel NOW!) layering metal over his opponent to slow them down, perhaps, but I'm having difficulty visualizing the Ability Accuracy Reduction in non-metal opponents.
Row 8 - Polaris Synergy: I'd like to see a Polaris build from you. If you're going to build in a Synergy for a Champion that doesn't exist yet, it would be nice to see said Champion.
Row 8 - Other Synergies: I'd like to see a Mystique build from you. If you're going to build in a Synergy for a Champion that doesn't exist yet, it would be nice to see said Champion. I'm not clear on the mechanic for adding metal to an opponent. How often is it added? What's the amount? Is there a counter that pops up to track it?
Row 9 - Limitation: This still doesn't tell us how long it takes to alter the metal in an opponent. Plus, does Magneto's "adding metal to an opponent" turn off when his power cycles off? It would be strange for it to be on while his Ability Accuracy Reduction when his magnetism cycle is inactive.
Row 10 - Value: I see where you're going with these. This is a clear goal, and I like the goals. I'd just like to see something more concrete in the implementation.
Row 11 - Mechanism: So, Ability Accuracy Reduction doesn't trigger until 40%? Also, if Magneto (Marvel NOW!) rips some metal out, would that lower his Ability Accuracy Reduction to gain the additional damage on Bleeds?
Row 13 - Bonus: Magneto's bonus ability here could reduce the damage from incoming special attacks below 0. It's also unclear; does Magneto lose all of his spheres to reduce damage, or does he lose a certain percentage of the spheres based upon the damage he would have taken? This is not written clearly. Neither is Magneto (Marvel NOW!)'s bonus ability. I don't quite grok how it functions.
@Kabam Zibiit@Kabam Vydious@Kabam Lyra@Kabam Porthos@Kabam Miike Can we please get some posts approved? I know that I've had a post in limbo since Monday. Also, any guidance on what triggers posts going to limbo for approval would be appreciated so that no one requires post approval in the future.
HAWKEYE and others REWORK This next suggestion isn't a singular ability tweak, rather it would affect multiple champions in the process. Some of it is a bit out there though, so bare with me:
First, introduce a permanent Variant Special Event Quest with 6 Chapters and two Difficulty levels (Classic and Epic/Variant). Alternatively, Kabam could introduce 2, 3 or 6 individual quests that divide up the rewards distribution and extend the reworks.
Rewards include 6 possible titles that work like Champion Boosts that lock in for up to 48 hours. After they expire, the title reverts to the previous title each Summoner had and goes into cool down for 96 hrs before it can be used again. Alternatively, we can use a new "Sub-Title" space for this.
The 6 titles awarded for Completion include (of course, these are demonstrative and do not have to be the names used):
Fifth Avenue Block Party - benefits Captain America (modern), Falcon, Iron Man (classic), Thor (classic), Vision (classic), Ant-Man, Hulk (classic)
Villain's Lair - benefits Abomination, Cyclops (NXS), Yellow Jacket, Diablo, Joe Fixit, Loki, King Groot, Magneto (Classic), Rhino, Ultron, Venompool, Vulture
Time & Space - benefits Cable, Kang, Bishop, Punisher 2099, Ronan, Groot, Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), Heimdall, Spider-Man (Symbiote), Silver Surfer, Superior Iron Man, Vision (AoU), Captain America (WWII)
Street Cred - benefits Daredevil (NetFlix), Iron Fist (both), Dr. Strange, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Black Panther (classic), Deadpool (X-Force), Moon Knight, Punisher, Wolverine (X-23), Karnak
How this works
Completing each chapter in Classic Difficulty awards a different title (other rewards too but they aren't pertinent right now)
Exploring more of the Classic map adds % potency, duration or count to the abilities bestowed by any title earned in Classic
Exploring 100% of the Classic map gives the full potential of the MID-LEVEL added abilities
Ditto for the Epic chapter Completion and Exploration for UPPER-LEVEL added abilities
Each title opens for replacement on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday
Each title is effective for up to 48 hrs, but can be switched at a specific time of the day
Each expired title goes into cool down for 96 hrs before it can be used again
If one title is loaded, all of the Champions listed under that title get 3 additional abilities that fall under Attack, Defense and Utility
These are meant to make multiple 'weak' champions stronger as Defenders in Alliance Wars, and more useful as Attackers in certain Story, Special, Event and Arena content for a 2 day period roughly every week
Sample Ability Additions
Using Hawkeye as an example, when a Summoner loads their earned title, 'Inter-Agency Ordinance,' he gains:
Attack enhancement: At full potency, after a combo of 10 all of his projectile attacks have True Aim (ignoring auto-evasion)
Utility enhancement: Hawkeye's arrows cycle through Bleed, Shock, Incineration, Poison then Armor Shatter. Depending on immunity(ies) opponents may have, any that fail are removed from the cycle.
Defensive enhancements: if Hawkeye's arrow is dexterously dodged or blocked, a Tear Gas debuff affects opponents causing immediate Weakness that would lead to Stun if they do not land 3 light, 2 medium or 1 heavy attack(s) within 5 seconds to shake it off
Ability Effectiveness
Exploration of 100% in Epic makes the combo requirement for True Aim 10, however, this is increased to 20 if only 1 completion of that map was done. The map would have 6 paths, so completing another path lowers the combo requirement to 18, then 16, then 14, then 12 until finally it only requires a 10 hit combo to activate.
Exploration in Classic has double the requirement (i.e. 40 down to 20)
Exploration also determines how strong his damage over time from Bleed is, and how potent the others in the cycle are.
Classic only allows Shock, Incineration and Poison to do from 45% up to 75% damage per second of Bleed, but Epic exploration enhances Bleed by 20% and allows Shock, Incineration and Poison to match Bleed's Damage Over Time rating (i.e.
Diversification
Notice, this is specific to Hawkeye despite Inter-Agency Ordinance benefiting multiple champions that are historically/canonically (in movies, animation and/or comics) significantly affiliated with SHIELD, AIM, HYDRA, The HAND, SWORD or HAMMER. This means that Black Widow (classic), as another example, would get different ability enhancement, although they would work with similar mechanisms. For her:
Attack enhancement: At full potency, after a combo of 10 all of her special attacks increase her Subtlety, Precision and/or Cruelty ability accuracy by +20%
Utility enhancement: Black Widow gains a Paralytic Widow Sting that activates whenever she has Precision (so this can activate after a Dexterous Dodge, not just after special 1). The Paralytic works by Stinging a blocking opponent if she hits them with a Medium attack, if Precision is still active, a second Medium Attack will cause Blocks to fail, in that way, landing two Mediums will cause the second to be Unblockable as long as both were landed during Precision (she would become unique in being able to avoid counterattacks from landing a second medium, or ending a 5 hit medium ending combo, against a blocking opponent).
Defensive enhancements: Whenever Black Widow crosses a Power Bar threshold, she immediately auto-dodges the next attacks over [up to] 3 seconds (manageable, but this does not count towards her regular dodge chances, so potentially annoying or delaying enough to be a good defensive boost).
Intentional Exclusions
As of today, a few champions who are considered weak, underwhelming or left behind (often referred to as the Meme Tier) are in consideration for reworks or actually currently in Beta, so you will notice that Ms. Marvel (Kamala Kahn) and Hulkbuster are not on this list, when normally they would be the first up, in my opinion. I also intend that if certain Synergies make the champion very good already, they could be excluded.
Of course, Synergies do not currently apply on AW Defense though, so I would consider revisiting this (to that I would recommend Kabam classify Synergies in 3 categories, and allow lower level ones to apply in Gold Tier, medium level ones to apply in Platinum Tier wars, and all, including higher level, unique ones, to apply in the 'championship matches' of the highest 4-8 Alliances).
Others that could be left out are the Avengers who got the Infinity Stone boosts (Cap, Thor, IM, BW, Hawkeye and Hulk) if the event is intended to be repeated. In such a case I would recommend those two reworks, or a version of them, be considered as permanently being added to their kit. Reason being, BW is not currently so overpowered with her Subtlety that she couldn't have a few other abilities, and Hawkeye is missing what he was known for in the comics: having a vast variety of trick arrows. Bleed and Power Drain, while useful, barely scratch the surface of what he was known for, and his animations already support Shock, Incineration and Armor Break with sparks and explosive bursts (and Poison needs no visual effect).
Note too, that variations of characters may fall under different sections. Examples include Cyclops (Blue Team) and Magneto (Marvel Now) being in Danger Room Drills, while Cyclops (New Xavier School) and Magneto (classic) are in the Villain's Lair grouping. This is intentional so even if both are owned, only one carries the benefit at the time if they gain similar or identical additional abilities when their Title is active.
The following Champion is on Seatin's Tier of the 10 Worst Champions in the game as of December, 2019, and I completely agree with this assessment. This Champion really is a one-trick pony, and his one trick only happens part of the time. As a Mystic Champion, there's not much that's mystical about him. He's large, he's not particularly in charge... Therefore, I present to you a much-needed reworking of the Juggernaut! (Based upon a Rank 5/50 4-Star Champion; Sig Level 99):
BASE STATISTICS: Hit Points: 16,876 Attack: 1171 Crit Rate: 326 Crit Damage: 500 Armor: 273 Block Proficiency: 2546 Energy Resistance: 0 Physical Resistance: 0 Crit Resistance: 0
Signature Ability - Cyttorak's Exemplar:Juggernaut's connection with the demon-god, Cyttorak, grows even stronger, granting him additional benefits.
Cosmic Champions gain 100% less power from being struck by or blocking Juggernaut's Special Attacks.
Juggernaut gains +25 Block Proficiency for each Persistent Charge he has, to a maximum of 150 Persistent Charges.
Every time that Juggernaut executes a Well-Timed Block, he has a 40% chance to Nullify one random Buff off of his Opponent, or one random Debuff off of himself. If Juggernaut has no Debuffs currently on him to Nullify, he immediately heals 1% of his Maximum Health.
ABILITIES: All Attacks:30% chance to inflict an Armor Break Debuff on Stunned Opponents for 3.5 seconds, removing an enemy Armor Up Buff and reducing Armor Rating by 526.95. Heavy Attacks: 100% chance to Stagger the Opponent for 8.0 seconds. The next time a Staggered Opponent triggers a Buff, that Buff and all other Buffs triggered at the same time will be immediately Nullified. Mind-Shield Helmet (Passive): Juggernaut's helmet protects him from undue mental influence. Therefore, Juggernaut is immune to Reversed Controls. Furthermore, Juggernaut reduces all incoming damage to 0 from telepathic attacks, such as Emma Frost's Special Attacks. Developer's Note: Canonically, Juggernaut's helmet, fashioned from an unknown mystical metal found in the Crimson Cosmos dimension of Cyttorak, provides him with complete protection from telepathic attack, even from telepaths on the order of Professor Xavier. It would stand to reason that attacks that are completely telepathic in nature have no effect upon him. Unstoppable (Passive): Every time that Juggernaut activates a Special Attack, he gets stronger, gaining 1 Persistent Charge. Every time that Juggernaut defeats an opponent, he gains 2 Persistent Charges. If Juggernaut finishes the fight above 90% Health, he gains an additional 1 Persistent Charge. There is no limit to the number of Persistent Charges that Juggernaut can gain.
Juggernaut gains +20 Attack Rating, Critical Rating, Critical Damage, and Armor Rating for each Persistent Charge he has, to a maximum of 100 Persistent Charges.
1+ Persistent Charges, whenever he activates a Special Attack, he becomes Unstoppable for 4.0 seconds, shrugging off enemy attacks.
5+ Persistent Charges, begins the fight Unstoppable and shrugs off all attacks for 3.5 seconds.
10+ Persistent Charges, his Special Attacks gain True Damage, ignoring all of the opponent's Armor.
20+ Persistent Charges, he gains a True Strike Buff for 1.0 seconds whenever he charges a Heavy Attack.
30+ Persistent Charges, Juggernaut's Special Attacks become Unblockable.
50+ Persistent Charges, Juggernaut takes 25% less damage from Basic Attacks.
75+ Persistent Charges, he shrugs off all non-damaging Debuffs, except for Slow Debuffs, after 1.2 seconds.
100+ Persistent Charges, his Special Attacks inflict a Heal Block Debuff that lasts for 8.0 seconds.
125+ Persistent Charges, whenever he knocks an opponent down, he instantly gains a burst of Power equal to 22.5% of a Bar of Power.
150+ Persistent Charges, he shrugs off all damaging Debuffs, except for Degeneration Debuffs, after 1.2 seconds.
Developer's Note: This ability is really the base of Juggernaut's power and utility. It should be a part of the base kit, not his Signature Ability. He now gets stronger and meaner as he charges forward, breaking through everything in his path! When Taking Hits: When Juggernaut is hit by the third light attack in a Combo, he gains an Unstoppable Buff for 1.0 seconds. While Unstoppable: Juggernaut is immune to Stun Debuffs and if the opponent attempts to Stun him, he will instead apply his Heavy Attack Stagger to them.
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Special 1 - Tremor – Juggernaut smashes the ground, sending the opponent flying.
100% chance to Stun the Opponent for 3.5 seconds.
Against X-Men or X-Force Champions, this Attack has a 100% chance to place two Stagger Debuffs upon the Opponent for 5.0 seconds. The next time a Staggered Opponent triggers a Buff, that Buff and all other Buffs triggered at the same time will be immediately Nullified.
Special 2 - Aftershock – Juggernaut's devastating headbutt ripples through his opponent, shattering the ground below them.
100% chance to gain a Passive True Strike Buff for the duration of this Special Attack, allowing Juggernaut to ignore Armor, Resistances, Auto-Block and all Evade effects.
Against X-Men or X-Force Champions, this Attack has a 100% chance to place two Stagger Debuffs upon the Opponent for 8.0 seconds. The next time a Staggered Opponent triggers a Buff, that Buff and all other Buffs triggered at the same time will be immediately Nullified.
Special 3 - Avatar of Cyttorak– Juggernaut uses the environment in more ways than one, with devastating results for opponents.
100% chance to gain an Indestructible Buff that lasts for 4.0 seconds, reducing all incoming damage to 0.
This Indestructible Buff lasts for an additional 0.04 seconds per Persistent Charge that Juggernaut has at the time of the Special Attack's activation.
SYNERGIES:
Accidental Summoning: with Deadpool, or Doctor Voodoo: Deadpool: Deadpool has a 60% chance to shrug off Heal Block Debuffs after 2.0 seconds; Doctor Voodoo: Doctor Voodoo gains a smokescreen, granting him a +5% chance to Auto-Block basic attacks; Juggernaut: Juggernaut gains +20% Block Proficiency versus Mutant Champions. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Enemies: with Colossus, Hulk, Magik, Nightcrawler, Thor, or Unstoppable Colossus: All Champions gain +155 Critical Rating.
Factor Three: with Human Torch: Human Torch: Bleed Debuffs have 10% reduced potency and duration; Juggernaut: Juggernaut shrugs off Stun Debuffs 25% faster. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Feel Cyttorak's Embrace: with Colossus, or Unstoppable Colossus: Colossus: Armor Up Buffs also grant +1% Attack Rating; Juggernaut: The first Unstoppable Buff each fight gains +2 seconds duration; Unstoppable Colossus: Gain +20% Fury and Armor Up Buff Proficiency. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Legion Accursed: with Diablo, or Mephisto: Diablo: Recover 1 Ironskin after winning 1 fight; Mephisto: Gain 40% of a Power bar when a Poison Debuff would be gained. Cooldown: 10 seconds; Juggernaut: +2000 Armor during Heavy Attacks. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Nemesis: with Doctor Strange: All Champions gain +5% Attack Rating.
Rivals: with Unstoppable Colossus: All Champions gain +115 Critical Damage Rating.
Thunderbolts: with Luke Cage: All Champions gain +10% Special Attack Defense. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Since the moderators are refusing to approve my previous post after being tagged and private messaged... I'm going to try to see if this one goes through.
So, this rebuild changes a lot for the Juggernaut. First off, I recognize that his Unstoppable ability gets stronger the more he defeats opponents and throws Special Attacks. This is on purpose. It's all about Special Attacks and beating his opponents, not maintaining a high combo meter. Juggernaut is intended to take hits and shrug them off no matter what, not just power through while he's winning. That means that he's going to progress slower than Champions like Ægon, but it also means that he has the potential to be more consistent.
I didn't feel that it was necessary to go any further than 150 Persistent Charges; you'd have to jump into some pretty heavy Quests like the Labyrinth of Legends or Abyss of Legends to even get up that high. Just defeating Champions without any health loss or throwing any specials, you have to defeat 75 of them. In an average 3 minute fight, maybe you're throwing 4 to 8 Special Attacks. So, it's probably going to take you at least 15 fights or so to max out your Persistent Charge potential outside of the Labyrinth or the Abyss. It's doable in a long quest, but you're probably not going to get there in an Alliance War, which tones Juggernaut down a bit as an attacker.
Not much new in the way of Synergies, either. Just a couple of new ones, though with the number of X-Men that the Juggernaut has battled, he could probably have an additional 3-4 Synergies just based upon that. Also, as per my own personal efforts each rebuild, I'm trying to make sure that the Signature Ability adds to Juggernaut's kit without having to be absolutely necessary. It doesn't add a ton to Juggernaut, but what it adds is fairly significant. Very light health recovery, but a big potential buff to Block Proficiency and a big middle finger to Cosmic Champions that I was originally going to add in on Special Attacks 1 & 2, but I decided that it might be better suited to the Signature Ability instead.
As always, I hope that you enjoy this rebuild, and that Kabam will eventually give these rebuilds a look in the hopes that they may spark some interest in revisiting other older Champions.
Lastly, this process isn't possible without additional eyes and thoughts from the community. Please feel free to review and suggest improvements! I am specifically inviting feedback from contributors like @Magrailothos, @Bajan_Samurai, @DrZola, @Whododo872, and @HeroBoltsy, though I welcome feedback from all.
Row 2 - Similarity: Magneto (Marvel NOW!)'s Ability Accuracy Reduction fails to specify just how much it reduces the opponent's Ability Accuracy.
This is intentional but I see where I missed showing a Tweak early. As stated near the end, Magneto (MN)'s regular ability description still applies, so he was originally intended to reduce Ability Accuracy by 60% in #Metal opponents. With my changes, this is reduced to 50% in #metal opponents, and of course starts at 0% in non-#metal ones. Then from there, on his own, he can add up to +40% AAR potential by hitting the opponent. AAR only applies while his Magnetism is active but now the upper limit for #Metal opponents could be 90% (and 40% for all others). I would add vulnerabilities to this ability to remove some added metal whenever his combo is broken OR if he is stunned (or both, removing 20% max whenever stunned or combo broken, not all 40%)
Row 3 - Add Benefit: Interesting. I'm curious as to what this is based in.
Hmm, I may not have been fully clear here but I always found it odd that the Master of Magnetism should remain fully vulnerable to Electrical attacks or feedback when he commands Electromagnetic Energies. I figured he should, at the very least, benefit from having a Physical and Energy based strike, and part of his Strike could be considered Non-Contact. The 40% or 60% values I assigned to Classic and MN respectively, would be their portion of the strike that does not make contact and is not subject to Reflective abilities like Electro's. Thus one only receives 40% feedback of 60% attack value and the other 40% feedback of 40% attack value. Expand that to not making full contact with Thorns, Glancing, etc. (Conversely, I felt this should also benefit Dr. Strange who also has a partial Physical-partial Mystic Energy basic strike)
Row 7 - Outcome: Magneto (Classic)'s floating spheres don't specify how much damage or over how much time. Magneto (Marvel NOW!)'s Ability Accuracy Reduction now tells me how much, which is good. I can see Magneto (Marvel NOW!) layering metal over his opponent to slow them down, perhaps, but I'm having difficulty visualizing the Ability Accuracy Reduction in non-metal opponents.
Magneto (Classic)'s orbital spheres are meant to inspire Kabam to assign appropriately balanced numbers, more so than me stating specific values; however, going by Terrax who deals roughly 50% of his base attack rating over the longest base duration of his Rock Field, I would use similar values to suggest 3% of his base attack per sphere per strike for up to 6 strikes each. This would mean the sphere persists if it does not connect, and each could deal 18% of base or a combined total 54% from 18 strikes. I prefer it this way because [if programming allows] the intention is for an opponent to be able to time a strike between sphere rotations.
This means opponents could safely attack when a Sphere is beside and behind Magneto, and step back when it swings in front. This of course would be harder when all 3 spheres are present, unless the timing of their appearance was such that all 3 are behind close to the same times. In this way they would also differ from Terrax, Omega Red or Mephisto because as long as his field/aura is up, being near them starts damaging the opponent.
If Magneto launches Special Attack he consumes all available spheres to augment his attack. Each Sphere increases the following:
Bleed Chance of +15% - His base is a 55% chance to inflict Bleed on all Special Attacks, so consuming all 3 spheres lends +45% for a 100% guaranteed Bleed
Heal Block duration of +15% - Sp2 and 3 have a 100% chance to heal block for 10 seconds, consuming 3 spheres extends this to 14.5 seconds
Armor Break potency of 15% - 6⭐ R2 Sig 200 Magneto (classic) can reduce armor by 1400 for 8 seconds. Potency increase effects intensity and duration, so Max potency would cause up to 11.6s Armor Breaks reducing armor rating by up to 2030.
Row 8 - Polaris Synergy: I'd like to see a Polaris build from you. If you're going to build in a Synergy for a Champion that doesn't exist yet, it would be nice to see said Champion.
Duly noted. Since this is a Champion Improvement thread I refrain from going too deep into activities that belong in Character Suggestion 3.0. Mentioning Polaris (and Mystique) was meant to be illustrative of creating champion designs that account for base abilities (out of the box), signature abilities (that activate or scale with awakening) and those that add on with the right Synergy. Since she is his magnetism powered daughter I figured an appropriate boost to his magnetism could come from her, and be different from what he would get from the other version of himself.
That said I do have a design of her in a Spreadsheet Workbook, and I can share these basics about her.
She is his opposite in multiple ways 1) opposite affiliations (she's mostly aligned with heroes, he's mostly known as a villain, although both flip sides), 2) father/daughter, 3) green color scheme opposite on the color wheel to Mag (classic) who wears red (she will be considered Classic's daughter, while MN! is not native to her universe.
As such, where he reduces the Ability Accuracy of #Metal Opponents, she increases the Ability Accuracy of #Metal Teammates a flat 20%.
She also enhances her own Ability Accuracy by 10.1% up to 30% per #Metal Teammate present based on signature level
Her synergy benefit when teamed with Magneto allows her to expand the list of teammates that enhance her Ability Accuracy from to the same additional ones he can affect
Like Magneto, she inflicts Armor Break and Heal Block, but unlike him and as a [mostly] heroic character, she does not inflict bleed except in certain situations...
...one situation is via Synergy with Invisible Woman - as two characters that share a history controlled by a character called Malice their force fields and specials become more cruel and can inflict Bleed
...second situation, when attacked by opponents hurling Metallic projectiles, she captures 10.1% to 70.4% of them and inflicts Bleed over Time when returning them with her attack (think Daredevil's ability to auto-dodge non-True projectiles and consider her capturing them with her Magnetism). Aside from Bleed, she also captures a similar portion of electrical based attacks and returns Shock Damage over Time.
The 10 to 70% is based on her signature level, but this can be further enhanced by her Ability Accuracy increases via #Metal teammates.
Via Synergy with Magneto (MN!) she can expand her electromagnetic capture to other energy based projectiles
Row 8 - Other Synergies: I'd like to see a Mystique build from you. If you're going to build in a Synergy for a Champion that doesn't exist yet, it would be nice to see said Champion. I'm not clear on the mechanic for adding metal to an opponent. How often is it added? What's the amount? Is there a counter that pops up to track it?
Ditto about Mystique about such builds belonging in Character Suggestion 3.0 threads; however, good question about how she works. The idea is that Magneto collects metal from the environment that can create 1 sphere every 30 seconds when he is highest Sig, at lowest Sig he requires up to 45 seconds. Against #Metal opponents he cuts this time down to 1/3rd. Mystique's presence essentially makes most non-metallic opponents into a #Metal version of themselves, but let's say she splits the difference for him.
Vs Non-Metal 30 - 45 seconds per sphere
Vs #Metal 10 - 15 seconds per sphere
Vs #Metal Infused 20 to 30 seconds per sphere
To that point, it would be a 'call out' at the start of the fight "Metal Infused" whenever Magneto (C) faces a non-metal opponent with Mystique on the roster with him.
Magneto (MN!)'s mechanism to add metal to an opponent is a counter. Simply a HUD icon with a small number next to it.
Against #Metal the counter number starts at 50 and goes up to 90
Against non-metallic opponents it is 0 to 40
Each light, medium and heavy attack adds +1, +2 or +3 per strike until reaching max 40 or 90
When Polaris is present, these numbers start and end 10 higher (i.e. 10-50 and 60-100) and reduces ability accuracy % by the indicated number
When Magnetism is in cool-down the icon and number grays out, when Magnetism is active the icon is Yellow
Row 9 - Limitation: This still doesn't tell us how long it takes to alter the metal in an opponent. Plus, does Magneto's "adding metal to an opponent" turn off when his power cycles off? It would be strange for it to be on while his Ability Accuracy Reduction when his magnetism cycle is inactive.
Correct! Cycle off grays out the icon and number indicating AAR effectiveness is 0%
Row 10 - Value: I see where you're going with these. This is a clear goal, and I like the goals. I'd just like to see something more concrete in the implementation.
I'm hoping the breakdown's above clarify the implementation part. The aim was to be succinct for the value added by introducing the stated feedback reduction, variable AAR, threat of the spheres, and enhanced bleed/block break/heal block leading to being realistic options for defense or offense.
Row 11 - Mechanism: So, Ability Accuracy Reduction doesn't trigger until 40%? Also, if Magneto (Marvel NOW!) rips some metal out, would that lower his Ability Accuracy Reduction to gain the additional damage on Bleeds?
To clarify, AAR triggers whenever Magnetism cycles on, it is just at weaker potential until he's landed enough basic hits to maximize it to 40, 50, 90 or 100% AAR as applicable. Specials do add then take AAR as a way to manage/balance his use. That is, at 30% AAR a Special 1 adds +6% AAR, briefly causing Abilities to be 36% less Accurate on contact, then causes a 10% more potent bleed because the enhanced Bleed is due to bleeding out 5% AAR causing metal. As such they started at 30, spiked to 36% and ended at 31%.
There are caveats when passing the upper limits: At 40% SP1 can spike AAR to 46% however, after the strike and before metal is pulled, the opponent resettles at max 40% before 5% is bled out over time, so after any special, the upper limit of 40%-5% results in a 35% AAR state.
Although this may sound unnecessary, giving Attackers reason to build back up to something is a typical challenge posed in game design. The one strike AAR >40% (up to 68%) or >90% (up to 118%) would apply to ability triggers on contact that do not persist.
Row 13 - Bonus: Magneto's bonus ability here could reduce the damage from incoming special attacks below 0. It's also unclear; does Magneto lose all of his spheres to reduce damage, or does he lose a certain percentage of the spheres based upon the damage he would have taken? This is not written clearly. Neither is Magneto (Marvel NOW!)'s bonus ability. I don't quite grok how it functions.
Magneto (C) Technically yes to potentially getting 0 damage, but not necessarily. The idea is to set up a one time max damage reduction at the consumption of up to 3 Spheres in addition to his potential 12.67% Health damage limit from 1 source. A 6⭐ R2 Sig 200 Mag with Attack rating of 2377 and Max HP of 34103 can normally limit health loss from receiving a Sp3 to -4,320.85. Now with 3 spheres Mag would further reduce 2377A*(3*0.2)=1,426HP. Total Max loss spat out by the Computron is 2894.65HP from a single strike.
And yes, Mag loses all spheres. The term used was "...at the cost of the spheres" to imply the Spheres are consumed in order to further reduce damage. If this was Mag (MN!) with his 5% HP loss cap, maybe 0 damage would be more achievable.
Magneto (MN!) Hopefully the earlier explanation clears up the confusion with MN's bonus, but essentially it meant that Specials have the potential to build to near the max faster than light, medium or heavy attacks could; but unlike the slow and steady basic attacks, special attacks have the drawback of pulling back out 5% effectiveness of max AAR.
Great questions! Glad to get more technical. I typically keep it simple for others to just get the general concept, and for Kabam to sort numbers that fit with their 'balance' but I do have numerical basis for the majority of my designs and redesigns that fit other comparable upper tier champs. Thanks for pushing for some clarity.
@Bodhizen I didn't double check everything before hitting post so here are corrections to the #Metal values with a recap of how metal builds up and causes Mag MN! to cycle on AAR, and how Special attacks build them faster
Basic attacks add:
Light causes +1% AAR
Medium causes +2% AAR
Heavy causes +3% AAR
__ Special attacks add metal then remove some to cause 10% enhanced Bleed potency
Sp1 +6% AAR (then -5% from Max AAR)
Sp2 +12% AAR (then -5% from Max AAR)
Sp3 +18% AAR (then -5% from Max AAR)
__ Non-metallic opponents Sp1 (40% | +6%=46% | ->40% | -5%=35%) - can jump to max from 34 AAR Sp2 (40% | +12%=52% | ->40% | -5%=35%) - can jump to max from 28 AAR Sp3 (40% | +18%=58% | ->40% | -5%=35%) - can jump to max from 22 AAR
#Metal opponents Sp1 (90% | +6%=96% | ->90% | -5%=85%) - can jump to max from 84 AAR Sp2 (90% | +12%=102% | ->90% | -5%=85%) - can jump to max from 78 AAR Sp3 (90% | +18%=108% | ->90% | -5%=85%) - can jump to max from 72 AAR
ABILITIES: All Attacks:30% chance to inflict an Armor Break Debuff on Stunned Opponents for 3.5 seconds, removing an enemy Armor Up Buff and reducing Armor Rating by 526.95. Heavy Attacks: 100% chance to Stagger the Opponent for 8.0 seconds. The next time a Staggered Opponent triggers a Buff, that Buff and all other Buffs triggered at the same time will be immediately Nullified. Mind-Shield Helmet (Passive): Juggernaut's helmet protects him from undue mental influence. Therefore, Juggernaut is immune to Reversed Controls. Furthermore, Juggernaut reduces all incoming damage to 0 from telepathic attacks, such as Emma Frost's Special Attacks. Developer's Note: Canonically, Juggernaut's helmet, fashioned from an unknown mystical metal found in the Crimson Cosmos dimension of Cyttorak, provides him with complete protection from telepathic attack, even from telepaths on the order of Professor Xavier. It would stand to reason that attacks that are completely telepathic in nature have no effect upon him.
Armor Break is interesting. IDK if that's a relatively large or small Armor Break - is it on par with, say, one of Cull's Armor Breaks or perhaps something lesser? It's a pretty short Armor Break, which is alright, but the relatively low chance to trigger means that it might either be insignificant, if the reduction to armor rating is too low, or merely inconsistent, if the reduction is high. It should be alright, though.
I see the Stagger hasn't changed much. And, again, the specific calling out of Reversed Controls immunity is very nice. I like that addition to make him permanently Indestructible against telepathic attacks - you use Emma Frost as an example, are there any more telepathic attacks that you can think of, or is this perhaps just a future contingency?
Unstoppable (Passive): Every time that Juggernaut activates a Special Attack, he gets stronger, gaining 1 Persistent Charge. Every time that Juggernaut defeats an opponent, he gains 2 Persistent Charges. If Juggernaut finishes the fight above 90% Health, he gains an additional 1 Persistent Charge. There is no limit to the number of Persistent Charges that Juggernaut can gain.
IS THAT A NEW COLOR? Very nice. Looks like Juggs will want to spam Specials as much as possible. Alright. I think the bonus for finishing a fight above 90% health could be a little bit more, though - perhaps it could give him two additional PC's instead of just one? Just a thought, given the difficulty in finishing a fight above 90% HP can be sometimes.
Juggernaut gains +20 Attack Rating, Critical Rating, Critical Damage, and Armor Rating for each Persistent Charge he has, to a maximum of 100 Persistent Charges. 1+ Persistent Charges, whenever he activates a Special Attack, he becomes Unstoppable for 4.0 seconds, shrugging off enemy attacks. 5+ Persistent Charges, begins the fight Unstoppable and shrugs off all attacks for 3.5 seconds. 10+ Persistent Charges, his Special Attacks gain True Damage, ignoring all of the opponent's Armor. 20+ Persistent Charges, he gains a True Strike Buff for 1.0 seconds whenever he charges a Heavy Attack. 30+ Persistent Charges, Juggernaut's Special Attacks become Unblockable. 50+ Persistent Charges, Juggernaut takes 25% less damage from Basic Attacks. 75+ Persistent Charges, he shrugs off all non-damaging Debuffs, except for Slow Debuffs, after 1.2 seconds. 100+ Persistent Charges, his Special Attacks inflict a Heal Block Debuff that lasts for 8.0 seconds. 125+ Persistent Charges, whenever he knocks an opponent down, he instantly gains a burst of Power equal to 22.5% of a Bar of Power. 150+ Persistent Charges, he shrugs off all damaging Debuffs, except for Degeneration Debuffs, after 1.2 seconds.
Developer's Note: This ability is really the base of Juggernaut's power and utility. It should be a part of the base kit, not his Signature Ability. He now gets stronger and meaner as he charges forward, breaking through everything in his path! When Taking Hits: When Juggernaut is hit by the third light attack in a Combo, he gains an Unstoppable Buff for 1.0 seconds. While Unstoppable: Juggernaut is immune to Stun Debuffs and if the opponent attempts to Stun him, he will instead apply his Heavy Attack Stagger to them.
That's a little less than +200% Attack, if I'm reading that right. IDK about the other stats, though, I'm sure they would scale differently than Attack rating? I do like the idea of giving him additional stats though, so that he has more than just Unstoppable, which I believe is one of your goals with this rework. Nice.
OK, so it seems like it should be very easy to get Unstoppable even with the PC mechanic. Good on you to move it from the sig to the base kit. I don't see any potential benefits on defense for Juggs aside from the Unstoppable on Specials which he already has, except for maybe the Unblockable specials around 30? The reason I point this out is because you're actually taking away a little something from his defensive capabilities, since he no longer starts the fight Unstoppable without having 5 PC's first. I know that's just one cycle of Unstoppable, but it's at the beginning of the fight, which can be a little annoying to deal with, especially since he's Stun immune while Unstoppable.
The bonuses seem nice, though. Nothing overpowered, really. Heavy spam against Spider-Man seems like a good way to use the 20 PC bonus, the 50 PC bonus seems like a nice little safety net if you get hit, the 100 PC bonus is a nice, consistent Regen counter, and the 125 PC bonus seems like a lot of fun, to be honest, especially since specials are unblockable by then. Shrugging off debuffs seems interesting, especially for nodes like Long Distance Relationship or the like. I wonder how this reworked Juggs will work on nodes that increase the attacker's power gain (can't remember the name exactly right now)?
Signature Ability - Cyttorak's Exemplar:Juggernaut's connection with the demon-god, Cyttorak, grows even stronger, granting him additional benefits.
Cosmic Champions gain 100% less power from being struck by or blocking Juggernaut's Special Attacks.
Juggernaut gains +25 Block Proficiency for each Persistent Charge he has, to a maximum of 150 Persistent Charges.
Every time that Juggernaut executes a Well-Timed Block, he has a 40% chance to Nullify one random Buff off of his Opponent, or one random Debuff off of himself. If Juggernaut has no Debuffs currently on him to Nullify, he immediately heals 1% of his Maximum Health.
Nice benefit against Cosmics there. The Block Proficiency is definitely nice, as well, although at this point I worry perhaps there are too many stats that are being boosted - perhaps choose between Crit Rating and Crit Damage? At this point I think you have all the major stats except for power rate being boosted. The Parry bonus is nice as well, although it doesn't seem quite as aggressive as I'd like for someone like Juggernaut. Also, a bit of semantics - I believe that you would say "Purify" a debuff off of him, so instead of "If Juggernaut has no Debuffs currently on him to Nullify, he immediately heals 1% of his Maximum Health." it would be "If Juggernaut has no Debuffs currently on him to Purify, he immediately heals 1% of his Maximum Health."
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Special 1 - Tremor – Juggernaut smashes the ground, sending the opponent flying.
100% chance to Stun the Opponent for 3.5 seconds.
Against X-Men or X-Force Champions, this Attack has a 100% chance to place two Stagger Debuffs upon the Opponent for 5.0 seconds. The next time a Staggered Opponent triggers a Buff, that Buff and all other Buffs triggered at the same time will be immediately Nullified.
Special 2 - Aftershock – Juggernaut's devastating headbutt ripples through his opponent, shattering the ground below them.
100% chance to gain a Passive True Strike Buff for the duration of this Special Attack, allowing Juggernaut to ignore Armor, Resistances, Auto-Block and all Evade effects.
Against X-Men or X-Force Champions, this Attack has a 100% chance to place two Stagger Debuffs upon the Opponent for 8.0 seconds. The next time a Staggered Opponent triggers a Buff, that Buff and all other Buffs triggered at the same time will be immediately Nullified.
Special 3 - Avatar of Cyttorak– Juggernaut uses the environment in more ways than one, with devastating results for opponents.
100% chance to gain an Indestructible Buff that lasts for 4.0 seconds, reducing all incoming damage to 0.
This Indestructible Buff lasts for an additional 0.04 seconds per Persistent Charge that Juggernaut has at the time of the Special Attack's activation.
Additional effects to the Specials are very nice. Stun's good, True Strike's good, the Indestructible seems like a very interesting addition... at 150 PC's, that buff'll last 10 seconds. How fast can you spam heavy attacks? I think you could certainly get a lot of uptime, if not infinite uptime, off of that Indestructible for sure. The bonuses against X-Men/Force is also neat, but I can't think of any of those champions that absolutely need their Buffs, so I'm not 100% certain in the viability of that Stagger.
Accidental Summoning: with Deadpool, or Doctor Voodoo: Deadpool: Deadpool has a 60% chance to shrug off Heal Block Debuffs after 2.0 seconds; Doctor Voodoo: Doctor Voodoo gains a smokescreen, granting him a +5% chance to Auto-Block basic attacks; Juggernaut: Juggernaut gains +20% Block Proficiency versus Mutant Champions. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Enemies: with Colossus, Hulk, Magik, Nightcrawler, Thor, or Unstoppable Colossus: All Champions gain +155 Critical Rating.
Factor Three: with Human Torch: Human Torch: Bleed Debuffs have 10% reduced potency and duration; Juggernaut: Juggernaut shrugs off Stun Debuffs 25% faster. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Feel Cyttorak's Embrace: with Colossus, or Unstoppable Colossus: Colossus: Armor Up Buffs also grant +1% Attack Rating; Juggernaut: The first Unstoppable Buff each fight gains +2 seconds duration; Unstoppable Colossus: Gain +20% Fury and Armor Up Buff Proficiency. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Legion Accursed: with Diablo, or Mephisto: Diablo: Recover 1 Ironskin after winning 1 fight; Mephisto: Gain 40% of a Power bar when a Poison Debuff would be gained. Cooldown: 10 seconds; Juggernaut: +2000 Armor during Heavy Attacks. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Nemesis: with Doctor Strange: All Champions gain +5% Attack Rating.
Rivals: with Unstoppable Colossus: All Champions gain +115 Critical Damage Rating.
Thunderbolts: with Luke Cage: All Champions gain +10% Special Attack Defense. Unique Synergy: Does not stack with duplicate synergies.
Synergies are all-around alright. Nothing essential, but everything's fairly nice to have. Bonuses for champions like Colossus, Diablo, and Mephisto are nice. I assume "Accidental Summoning" is a reference to a comic book event I missed? And for the Feel Cytorrak's Embrace synergy, specifically Unstoppable Colossus' part of it, I think you might mean Fury and Armor Up Potency instead of Proficiency.
Great work as always. I have no huge concerns, and I think the trade off between a slight decrease in defensive viability for a huge increase in offensive viability is fair enough. I think the ramp-up is fair for the amount of Specials you'll be throwing in normal quests, and it would be super interesting to see a ~300 PC Juggs take on LoL/RoL spamming SP3s for Indestructible. Let's hope the rest of your posts can have such luck in getting approved!
Armor Break is interesting. IDK if that's a relatively large or small Armor Break - is it on par with, say, one of Cull's Armor Breaks or perhaps something lesser? It's a pretty short Armor Break, which is alright, but the relatively low chance to trigger means that it might either be insignificant, if the reduction to armor rating is too low, or merely inconsistent, if the reduction is high. It should be alright, though.
I see the Stagger hasn't changed much. And, again, the specific calling out of Reversed Controls immunity is very nice. I like that addition to make him permanently Indestructible against telepathic attacks - you use Emma Frost as an example, are there any more telepathic attacks that you can think of, or is this perhaps just a future contingency?
The Armor Break mechanic here is a bit more interesting than I believe you took it for. A 30% chance to Armor Break on all attacks means that in a 5-hit combo, you're going to be inflicting an Armor Break once or twice a combo. The short duration is to compensate for the fact that it's going to be a pretty consistent Armor Break. Against Champions that gain a lot of Armor Up Buffs, you're going to be peeling that armor back like an onion.
The Stagger wasn't changed on Heavy Attacks on purpose... because it was changed elsewhere. As for the telepathic attacks, yeah, it's just a future contingency.
IS THAT A NEW COLOR? Very nice. Looks like Juggs will want to spam Specials as much as possible. Alright. I think the bonus for finishing a fight above 90% health could be a little bit more, though - perhaps it could give him two additional PC's instead of just one? Just a thought, given the difficulty in finishing a fight above 90% HP can be sometimes.
No, it's not a new color. I've used it a couple of times. You're right that Juggernaut has incentive to spam Special Attacks (especially Special 1, since you'll build Persistent Charges the fastest that way). Here's the thing about the 90% Health bonus... You can use Health Potions to get yourself back above 90% if you fall below in a Quest. Combined with the healing mechanic in his Signature Ability, you could conceivably gain this benefit fairly frequently. It's intended to be an extra perk, not a central feature.
That's a little less than +200% Attack, if I'm reading that right. IDK about the other stats, though, I'm sure they would scale differently than Attack rating? I do like the idea of giving him additional stats though, so that he has more than just Unstoppable, which I believe is one of your goals with this rework. Nice.
OK, so it seems like it should be very easy to get Unstoppable even with the PC mechanic. Good on you to move it from the sig to the base kit. I don't see any potential benefits on defense for Juggs aside from the Unstoppable on Specials which he already has, except for maybe the Unblockable specials around 30? The reason I point this out is because you're actually taking away a little something from his defensive capabilities, since he no longer starts the fight Unstoppable without having 5 PC's first. I know that's just one cycle of Unstoppable, but it's at the beginning of the fight, which can be a little annoying to deal with, especially since he's Stun immune while Unstoppable.
The bonuses seem nice, though. Nothing overpowered, really. Heavy spam against Spider-Man seems like a good way to use the 20 PC bonus, the 50 PC bonus seems like a nice little safety net if you get hit, the 100 PC bonus is a nice, consistent Regen counter, and the 125 PC bonus seems like a lot of fun, to be honest, especially since specials are unblockable by then. Shrugging off debuffs seems interesting, especially for nodes like Long Distance Relationship or the like. I wonder how this reworked Juggs will work on nodes that increase the attacker's power gain (can't remember the name exactly right now)?
Imagine, if you will, that you get to 150 Persistent Charges. That's +3000 Attack... Added to a 4-star's 1171 Attack for a consistent 4171 attack rating. It's going to take you a ton to get to that point, but it's on every single hit. You're hitting really, really hard, all the time. It gives even a 4-star Juggernaut extreme value in the Labyrinth and the Abyss. His Armor starts at 273, and by the time you get to 14 Persistent Charges, you've doubled that. At 150 Persistent Charges, his Armor as a 4-star has gone from 273 to 3273. Again, huge value in Labyrinth and Abyss. Since the Armor Rating is based upon Persistent Charges instead of Armor Up Buffs, you cannot take those away. Put Juggernaut on a Power Focus/Gain + Special 1 (or 2) Bias Node and watch his defensive value soar; so that's Nodes 9, 14, 20, or 53 as prime spots to place him. He's going to get increases to his base stats and hit back much harder as he goes. You're going to want to prevent him from gaining Power to neutralize him as a defender.
It's super easy to go Unstoppable on Special Attacks. You only need 1 Persistent Charge to get there, and that's quite literally what the old Signature Ability did. He doesn't lose much in the way of defensive capabilities, since the threshold to start a fight Unstoppable wasn't a huge benefit. He got 3.3 seconds of Unstoppable in his old build, and you just had to wait for it to wear off. It really amounts to a negligible benefit in his current build. Then again, if Kabam were to take a rebuild like this, they could set it on a node that gives him 5 Persistent Charges (or more) to begin with...
Nice benefit against Cosmics there. The Block Proficiency is definitely nice, as well, although at this point I worry perhaps there are too many stats that are being boosted - perhaps choose between Crit Rating and Crit Damage? At this point I think you have all the major stats except for power rate being boosted. The Parry bonus is nice as well, although it doesn't seem quite as aggressive as I'd like for someone like Juggernaut. Also, a bit of semantics - I believe that you would say "Purify" a debuff off of him, so instead of "If Juggernaut has no Debuffs currently on him to Nullify, he immediately heals 1% of his Maximum Health." it would be "If Juggernaut has no Debuffs currently on him to Purify, he immediately heals 1% of his Maximum Health."
The point of Juggernaut is that he's big, hits hard, and is tough to damage. He's not flashy like some other Champions are, which is why I went for small boosts to base stats that can add up in a big way. Well-Timed Blocks are really easy to execute, and to Nullify Buffs off an opponent with one is fairly significant. The Nullfification/Purification thing is minor and semantic, so I'm not overly concerned there.
Additional effects to the Specials are very nice. Stun's good, True Strike's good, the Indestructible seems like a very interesting addition... at 150 PC's, that buff'll last 10 seconds. How fast can you spam heavy attacks? I think you could certainly get a lot of uptime, if not infinite uptime, off of that Indestructible for sure. The bonuses against X-Men/Force is also neat, but I can't think of any of those champions that absolutely need their Buffs, so I'm not 100% certain in the viability of that Stagger.
You can throw a lot of Heavy Attacks (triggering Staggers) in 10 seconds. I should put a limit on those... Anyway, the big benefit comes in at 125 Persistent Charges... When you hit with a Heavy Attack, it knocks the opponent down. That's going to grant you up to 22.5% of a Bar of Power. If you can get 1 Heavy Attacks in 10 seconds, you can build up to another Special 3 and start the cycle anew. So... I should probably lower that Power Gain a bit...
The bonuses against X-Men/X-Factor Champions will have potentially devastating effects against: Bishop (Prowess), Cable (Regeneration, True Strike), Colossus (Armor Up, Fury), Deadpool (Regeneration), Gambit (Prowess), Iceman (Ice Armor), Old Man Logan (Regeneration), Phoenix (Fury), Storm (Pyramid X) (Prowess), Unstoppable Colossus (Armor Up, Unstoppable, Fury), Wolverine (Regeneration), and Wolverine (X-23) (Regeneration).
Synergies are all-around alright. Nothing essential, but everything's fairly nice to have. Bonuses for champions like Colossus, Diablo, and Mephisto are nice. I assume "Accidental Summoning" is a reference to a comic book event I missed? And for the Feel Cytorrak's Embrace synergy, specifically Unstoppable Colossus' part of it, I think you might mean Fury and Armor Up Potency instead of Proficiency.
Great work as always. I have no huge concerns, and I think the trade off between a slight decrease in defensive viability for a huge increase in offensive viability is fair enough. I think the ramp-up is fair for the amount of Specials you'll be throwing in normal quests, and it would be super interesting to see a ~300 PC Juggs take on LoL/RoL spamming SP3s for Indestructible. Let's hope the rest of your posts can have such luck in getting approved!
Yes, the Cyttorak's Embrace synergy should reference Potency instead of Proficiency.
The Armor Break mechanic here is a bit more interesting than I believe you took it for. A 30% chance to Armor Break on all attacks means that in a 5-hit combo, you're going to be inflicting an Armor Break once or twice a combo. The short duration is to compensate for the fact that it's going to be a pretty consistent Armor Break. Against Champions that gain a lot of Armor Up Buffs, you're going to be peeling that armor back like an onion.
The Stagger wasn't changed on Heavy Attacks on purpose... because it was changed elsewhere. As for the telepathic attacks, yeah, it's just a future contingency.
Huh. Isn't it just a chance against Stunned opponents, though? Then again, you can get ~3 hits in while the opponent is stunned from Parry, so odds are you are going to get one Armor Break per combo most of the time, and that Armor Break will be pretty consistent. Alright, I see that now. Fair point.
No, it's not a new color. I've used it a couple of times. You're right that Juggernaut has incentive to spam Special Attacks (especially Special 1, since you'll build Persistent Charges the fastest that way). Here's the thing about the 90% Health bonus... You can use Health Potions to get yourself back above 90% if you fall below in a Quest. Combined with the healing mechanic in his Signature Ability, you could conceivably gain this benefit fairly frequently. It's intended to be an extra perk, not a central feature.
Imagine, if you will, that you get to 150 Persistent Charges. That's +3000 Attack... Added to a 4-star's 1171 Attack for a consistent 4171 attack rating. It's going to take you a ton to get to that point, but it's on every single hit. You're hitting really, really hard, all the time. It gives even a 4-star Juggernaut extreme value in the Labyrinth and the Abyss. His Armor starts at 273, and by the time you get to 14 Persistent Charges, you've doubled that. At 150 Persistent Charges, his Armor as a 4-star has gone from 273 to 3273. Again, huge value in Labyrinth and Abyss. Since the Armor Rating is based upon Persistent Charges instead of Armor Up Buffs, you cannot take those away. Put Juggernaut on a Power Focus/Gain + Special 1 (or 2) Bias Node and watch his defensive value soar; so that's Nodes 9, 14, 20, or 53 as prime spots to place him. He's going to get increases to his base stats and hit back much harder as he goes. You're going to want to prevent him from gaining Power to neutralize him as a defender.
It's super easy to go Unstoppable on Special Attacks. You only need 1 Persistent Charge to get there, and that's quite literally what the old Signature Ability did. He doesn't lose much in the way of defensive capabilities, since the threshold to start a fight Unstoppable wasn't a huge benefit. He got 3.3 seconds of Unstoppable in his old build, and you just had to wait for it to wear off. It really amounts to a negligible benefit in his current build. Then again, if Kabam were to take a rebuild like this, they could set it on a node that gives him 5 Persistent Charges (or more) to begin with...
So Juggs is one of those champions where the PC meter goes up throughout the battle... I understand now. For some reason I was thinking PCs like Aegon's and Cull's, where they only add up at the end of the battle. But I would surmise that instead it works more like Heimdall's (that's the only example I can think of right now) where it goes up during battle. Understood. In that case, it's kind of like he's on Aspect of Evolution, although I'm not sure if that's exactly accurate... Also, fair point on the beginning Unstoppable. I've just been very annoyed by it in the past, so maybe I'm a little biased.
The point of Juggernaut is that he's big, hits hard, and is tough to damage. He's not flashy like some other Champions are, which is why I went for small boosts to base stats that can add up in a big way. Well-Timed Blocks are really easy to execute, and to Nullify Buffs off an opponent with one is fairly significant. The Nullfification/Purification thing is minor and semantic, so I'm not overly concerned there.
Alright. You're right that the nullification is pretty significant for Juggs. Gives him another core Mystic characteristic to him.
You can throw a lot of Heavy Attacks (triggering Staggers) in 10 seconds. I should put a limit on those... Anyway, the big benefit comes in at 125 Persistent Charges... When you hit with a Heavy Attack, it knocks the opponent down. That's going to grant you up to 22.5% of a Bar of Power. If you can get 1 Heavy Attacks in 10 seconds, you can build up to another Special 3 and start the cycle anew. So... I should probably lower that Power Gain a bit...
The bonuses against X-Men/X-Factor Champions will have potentially devastating effects against: Bishop (Prowess), Cable (Regeneration, True Strike), Colossus (Armor Up, Fury), Deadpool (Regeneration), Gambit (Prowess), Iceman (Ice Armor), Old Man Logan (Regeneration), Phoenix (Fury), Storm (Pyramid X) (Prowess), Unstoppable Colossus (Armor Up, Unstoppable, Fury), Wolverine (Regeneration), and Wolverine (X-23) (Regeneration).
Might've missed a digit between "get" and "Heavy Attacks" there. Oh, one thing that just occurred to me - if you're Indestructible, you could tank SP3s. If you can tank SP3s, you can spam heavies in the corner. And with this Juggs build, if you can spam Heavies in the corner... you might be able to keep an Indestructible infinite loop. Something to keep in mind - if you're looking to lower the Power Gain, I'd suggest perhaps capping it at 1 bar of Power every 12 seconds. With the power gained from the Heavy attack strike, plus the knock-down 125 PC bonus, that should still let you get a great amount of power while preventing infinite loop Indestructible.
Was Bishop's Prowess a Buff? I seem to recall it being a charge of sorts. Haven't used him very much, though. Of those, I'd say Cable, Deadpool (once a fight), Iceman, and UC could be the most hindered by Stagger, although on the right nodes (Recovery, anyone?) it could certainly be useful for the rest. I stand corrected!
Yes, the Cyttorak's Embrace synergy should reference Potency instead of Proficiency.
Thanks for the critical eye!
No problem! Always happy to help. I might post a rework of my own soon, but I'm focusing on my writing right now. Say, while I'm here, I'm curious - what if you were to design a character, from scratch? An original character, with an original kit and backstory... I'm thinking of including some original characters in my Storytime threads, and, well, the more characters the better!Understandably if you want to stick to reworking existing characters, that's good, but I think you could definitely come up with something cool.
Still waiting on that post approval for Magneto (Marvel NOW!) before I post my next revision.
Before I comment on your Juggernaut post: just post Magneto again. It probably had a failed upload or something; or a mod accidentally deleted rather than approving it. You can put a disclaimer at the top or bottom if you like, stating it's been resubmitted and why.
Juggernaut looks pretty cool. Lots of fun stuff; much feedback already covered between you and @HeroBoltsy. You've done some great stuff with the PC mechanic overall.
I've just a few thoughts to add:
I think the combination of Unstoppable, Indestructible, Unblockable Specials and Power Gain on knockdown is a bit excessive. However, all you'd need would be a short (even two seconds) cool-down on the Power Gain to prevent this being abused.
I couldn't help thinking of Sentry's much-hated Sig whilst reading the PC benefit to finishing above 90% health. I don't think this would be a popular feature. As an alternative, how about something like "For each hit Juggernaut inflicted during the fight, he has a 1% chance to gain an additional charge"?
Whilst he's physically very resilient, Juggy's isn't well known for his blocking/defensive skills. And you're going (appropriately) for an aggressive character design. So, instead of giving him Block Proficiency, why not give him Critical Resistance? It'll have the additional benefit of starting to reduce debuffs that are frequently inflicted on critical hits; and fits better with the Nothing can Stop the Juggernaut power-set.
Unblockable Specials comes way too soon. It's a pretty mean mechanic, and Kabam is using it way too much. Don't encourage them! I'd move it much later (like 100+ PCs), and replace the earlier benefit with Block Penetration on Specials. That's effectively a stepping-stone towards Unblockable, is still in keeping with Juggy's build, but less over-powering after just a few fights.
Synergy with Diablo? Not sure what connection they have, but if you're going to make someone carry Diablo, give him get a less specific benefit than always gaining the exact same potion: how about "Diablo recovers the first/last concoction brewed each fight"? Or gains Prowess whilst poisoned? Your call, of course.
Really nice thoughts in there, though. Great design ideas.
Juggernaut looks pretty cool. Lots of fun stuff; much feedback already covered between you and @HeroBoltsy. You've done some great stuff with the PC mechanic overall.
I've just a few thoughts to add:
I think the combination of Unstoppable, Indestructible, Unblockable Specials and Power Gain on knockdown is a bit excessive. However, all you'd need would be a short (even two seconds) cool-down on the Power Gain to prevent this being abused.
I couldn't help thinking of Sentry's much-hated Sig whilst reading the PC benefit to finishing above 90% health. I don't think this would be a popular feature. As an alternative, how about something like "For each hit Juggernaut inflicted during the fight, he has a 1% chance to gain an additional charge"?
Whilst he's physically very resilient, Juggy's isn't well known for his blocking/defensive skills. And you're going (appropriately) for an aggressive character design. So, instead of giving him Block Proficiency, why not give him Critical Resistance? It'll have the additional benefit of starting to reduce debuffs that are frequently inflicted on critical hits; and fits better with the Nothing can Stop the Juggernaut power-set.
Unblockable Specials comes way too soon. It's a pretty mean mechanic, and Kabam is using it way too much. Don't encourage them! I'd move it much later (like 100+ PCs), and replace the earlier benefit with Block Penetration on Specials. That's effectively a stepping-stone towards Unblockable, is still in keeping with Juggy's build, but less over-powering after just a few fights.
Synergy with Diablo? Not sure what connection they have, but if you're going to make someone carry Diablo, give him get a less specific benefit than always gaining the exact same potion: how about "Diablo recovers the first/last concoction brewed each fight"? Or gains Prowess whilst poisoned? Your call, of course.
Really nice thoughts in there, though. Great design ideas.
Thank you very much for the feedback!
I'm only going to refer to your last point, because I pretty much agree with everything else. The Synergy with Diablo is an existing Synergy, not a new one.
Comments
The Blackjack table is a very nice addition to Joe Fixit's kit. I like it! It's a rather clever way to get even more of Mr. Fixit's gambling background into the game in a mechanic-based way, which is awesome. I also like how this new ability empowers, but does not supersede the Suits mechanic that he currently has. I'm not too hot with any of the numbers, really, but extra Crit Rating, Attack, Regen, and a little bit of Concussion seems very nice to have, even if the random cycling of Suits may be occasionally tedious. (Can you imagine, for instance, needing to get Spades for whatever reason and finding yourself switching between Hearts and Clubs due to pure RNG?) For that, I would suggest some mechanic like "Once a Suit has been swapped out (via the Heavy Attack), it cannot be reactivated until all four Suits have been activated". IDK if my wording is clear enough there, but something like that would be nice. Special Attacks are nice, though I'd like to have seen a Blackjack bonus on more than one, I do also acknowledge it's probably not easy to get Blackjack. The Poison mechanic is also pretty neat - "he also gains a Cruelty buff as a retaliation to some fool’s attempt to poison him!" <--- That's hilarious, by the way. Nice job on properly representing, from my understanding, the Mafia version of the Hulk!
Now, onto Magneto (Marvel NOW!)...
Magneto now has a new "Magnetic Charge" mechanic, which I'll get to in a second. First, though, let's take a look at some of Magneto's passive abilities.
<blockquote class="UserQuote">
Magnetic Attacks (Passive): Magneto’s attacks deal Energy Damage instead of Physical Damage.
Telepathic Resistance (Passive): Magneto has trained himself extensively for fighting telepaths, and is resistant to telepathic attack. This is augmented with the aid of his helmet. Magneto is immune to Reversed Controls. Furthermore, he gains a 5% chance to Evade Telepathic Attacks, such as Emma Frost’s Special Attacks, Psylocke’s Special Attacks, and any hits from Psylocke’s Psychic Knife.
The telepathic resistance and energy attack callouts are pretty nice, just to get those features in writing, so to speak, in Magneto's kit. I'm not 100% sure, but I think there might be some comic backstory/explanation for why Magneto (Marvel NOW!) can't keep up his ability accuracy reduction through the whole fight. I'll check.
Aha, found it: That comes right after the AvX section in Magneto's bio, and I'm told that the Marvel NOW! event started after AvX, so the two would seem to coincide. I'm fairly certain now that Magneto's current inability to maintain his Magnetism throughout the entire fight is reflective of this state from the comics, which may warrant some correction.
Here we have the main crux of Magneto's kit - the Magnetic Charges. So Magnetic Charges are generated by landing Heavy Attacks and Special Attacks, and are used to empower Special Attacks. As far as using him for offense, Magneto seems like the kind of character that doesn't necessarily need his signature ability, but could definitely use it, since you can start the battle with three Magnetic Charges ready to go. I find it interesting (and perhaps a little unnecessary?) that Magneto so directly counters Quake. While understanding the canonical explanation for this, I nevertheless think that perhaps that ability over earthquakes might be better reflected in his kit - perhaps he can have a similar Aftershock scale, built up by use of Magnetic Charge through basic attacks, and there can be a specific callout that as his Aftershock scale rises, any similar scales on opponents (thus, both Quake and himself, for mirror matches) will decrease by the same amount? I'm not sure if that would fit the canon, though.
A few questions - are there any limits to how many Magnetic Charges can be stored? I assume it's similar to this month's champion, Sorcerer Supreme, where you can store infinite amounts of Runes but can only spend them at a certain rate. And the Culmination passive - is the additional attack and power gain contingent on defending the final node of a quest? I'd think it is, but it could use a little clarification, such as, "While defending the final node in a quest, etc., Magneto automatically generates 1 Magnetic Charge every 15 seconds, and gains +20% Attack Rating and Power Gain Rate while at or above Magnetic Charges." That way, it's very clearly a part of his Culmination ability.
A final thought on the signature ability - seems like a very useful contingency plan if you get hit on offense, but also seems like it might be a tad bit annoying on defense. The specification that the Auto Block won't trigger parry, though, keeps Magneto from being possibly one of the best AW Defenders. I assume that, when you say "taking hits", you mean direct and not blocked hits? I like the changes to the Special Attack animations, to further distinguish Magneto (Marvel NOW!) from his classic counterpart. I'm not sure if these have any basis in the actual Marvel NOW! run, but it would be awesome if they did. Is it bad that I'm just imagining Terrax' rock field for the SP2? I definitely like the X2 reference in the SP3, though, that's awesome.
Mechanics wise, SP1 has Armor Break and Power Drain, upgraded to Power Burn against Robot Champions. I like the bonuses against Robots there, though I wish we could have seen perhaps more of it in his kit, since logically most (all?) robots are metal-based. +50% Attack is a nice Magnetic Charge bonus there. SP2 with Heal Block and Bleed - Why a 95% chance to Bleed? That's so close to 100% that you might as well make it 100%, imo, since there's only disappointment to gain when it fails to trigger using him offensively. The Unblockable bonus seems like a fun one, though. I'm a bit irked that the SP3's Heal Block is only 20% longer than the SP2's, for 50% more Power, but the Frailty debuffs seem like an interesting addition. I assume the fact that it's 3 debuffs at 150 each, not, say, 1 debuff at 450 total, is for Despair purposes? I think both debuffs are perhaps too short to be an efficient use of power, though, and I'm not sure of SP3's can crit. Honestly speaking, I'd rather see the Magnetic Charge bonus perhaps double, or at least extend,the duration of the inflicted debuffs. Here's the part I can't read while quoting! Interesting that he has so many synergies - I count 11. That might be a record! Most of them are fairly rote, though, which is perfectly alright. The Emma Frost synergy is fascinating - Are Heavy Attacks not, by nature, Unblockable? Perhaps Unstoppable would be a better substitution there. Also interesting that Scarlet Witch gains the Decimation bonus despite not being called out as a synergy member, but only a beneficiary. Adding back the bleed through synergy does allow you to basically switch on and off the Bleed as needed - perhaps you need constant bleed for a node like Do You Bleed?, or perhaps you want to avoid it for a Cornered path. That's a nice amount of choice avoided to the player, there.
Overall, as always, I had a few questions, a few clarifications that might be nice. I do think that some expansion on the Aftershock idea is perhaps merited, as maybe another dimension to the Magnetic Charge ability, but overall I think this rework does make Magneto (Marvel NOW!) a more interesting champion, what with the Heal Block and the Auto Block and such. I think I'd like to have seen more from the Magnetic Charge ability, though, and maybe that's the first time I've felt that your reworks are just a tad bit lacking, which is where the Aftershock comes in, for me at least. Strangely, my biggest issue is the Magnetism ability, and I'd certainly like to see full fidelity to the comics run from which this version of Mags draws his subtitle from, but it's still a pretty good rework, and far better than the Magneto we have in game now.
Best wishes, and stay safe, everyone!
I always appreciate it when you can read a Champion's info and know exactly what you're dealing with. Magneto has been powered and depowered several times in the canonical Marvel universe (notably in the Genosha and Regaining Powers sections on the same page you referenced). Magneto's control over his powers has typically been consistent, except for rare circumstances where the exercise of his powers has left him temporarily drained.
Having said that, in their current builds, Magneto (Classic) has a passive that reduces a #Metal tagged opponent's Ability Accuracy by 40%, and Magneto (Marvel NOW!) reduces a #Metal tagged opponent's Ability Accuracy by 60% periodically throughout the fight. I purposefully set his Ability Accuracy reduction against #Metal tagged opponents as a consistent factor, not an on again/off again benefit. With the Magnetic Charges... Magneto and Quake counter each other. No one else can reduce her Aftershock rating, and she would have the ability to drain his Magnetic Charges by raising the Aftershock rating. She can still raise it more easily that he can lower it, but he gets to knock it down pretty quickly if he's got the charges built up. I felt it was a decent way to reflect that he does have canonical power to control earthquakes. He's not going to cause any with his Magnetic Charges, but he will blunt her ability to use them against him.
There is no limit to the amount of Magnetic Charges he can store, just like other Champions that have no limit when a limit is not explicitly stated.
The Culmination ability... Yes, the additional Attack Rating and Power Gain is contingent on defending the final node, which is why it's encapsulated within the Culmination Ability. It doesn't need to be double-explicit that it applies only when Culmination applies, otherwise, it would have been its own ability, or a part of another ability. If the additional Attack Rating and Power Gain were a part of the Magnetic Charges ability description, then it would apply at any point when Magnetic Charges equal or exceed 10 Charges. Being that they are a part of the Culmination ability description, it is pretty clear that they only apply when Culmination applies.
Lastly, I do not understand the confusion between "taking a hit" and "blocking a hit". If you're taking a hit, you're taking a hit. It is, by definition, not being blocked.
I hope that all of that helps to clarify.
As for the duration of Debuffs on Special 3, there's no explicit power-to-intensity or power-to-duration ratio in any Champion's power kit. Twelve seconds is a long time for a Debuff to apply. As for the critical hits on Special 3, I don't see why they can't be critical. Not only would it give Magneto (Marvel NOW!) an advantage against Terminal Velocity nodes, but The Champion can land critical hits with Special Attack 2, and Corvus Glaive deals additional damage on Special 3 when he has Glaive Charges (which guarantee Critical Hits) remain. It also potentially drops some of the efficacy of Magneto's Special 3 versus Scarlet Witch and Groot, who trigger abilities when Critically hit. Right now, Magneto (Marvel NOW!) has 9 Synergies (some of them incoming). I only added Brotherhood Recruits and Mutant Leadership.
Heavy Attacks are not, by their nature, Unblockable. They can be resisted if you have the Stand Your Ground mastery, or if you are Mole Man, you can resist block breaks (and potentially Unblockable attacks) if you have Monster Mass. The Mutant Leadership synergy helps a bit to get around the Stand Your Ground mastery if your opponent has it. Unstoppable... You can still be parry/stunned, so it's not quite as useful. The Brotherhood Recruits synergy was designed with the notion that sometimes you don't want to cause your opponent to Bleed, so thank you for noticing!
Overall, thank you for your questions! I hope that I've been clear on everything. I am interested to hear on what your added dimension to the Magnetic Charges ability (without making it too powerful) would be. I'd love to hear your ideas!
Best wishes, and stay healthy!
As for Magneto (in no particular order) I understand the debuff explanation for the SP3, and I wasn't aware that SP3's could crit before... the numbers that pop up after a SP3 have never been yellow (critical) for me, but I could just be perpetuating a misconception here. Thanks for the Magnetic Charge/Domination clarification, by the way. As for the Mutant Leadership synergy, I would have thought since a Heavy Attack breaks through the opponent's block, it's therefore Unblockable, but perhaps I'm getting a little confused with the specific terminology there. My bad, if that's the case. Although even in the light of a Stand your Ground counter, the chance for Stand your Ground to trigger is fairly low, if I'm remembering this correctly. Somewhere in the single digits, I think. That, coupled with a small 10% chance to go Unblockable on the Heavy, means that the chance for the synergy to accurately counter the mastery it's meant to counter is pretty low. Then again, there are certainly synergies with less use in today's game, so it should be fine.
Aside from the obvious "adds Attack/Crit/Crit Damage Rating" route for Magnetic Charges, perhaps Magneto's Ability Accuracy reduction could be tied to the Magnetic Charges? For instance, he could start every battle reducing Metal-reliant opponents' AA by, say, 40%, increased by 4% for the first 5 Magnetic Charges, capping out at 60% AA reduction. Something like that.
Thanks for the clarification!
The Stand Your Ground Mastery has a 17%-50% chance of activating while you're blocking a Heavy Attack, depending upon how many Mastery points that you invest in it. I didn't want to go overboard with the Synergy, but upon reflection, 10% may be too low. Being able to break an opponent's block (pretty much no matter what) 10% of the time was, I thought, pretty good. Maybe 20% or 25% would be better?
As for the Magnetic Charges and Ability Accuracy reduction... I don't think that's the direction that I want to go with them. It weakens the build pretty significantly, as that's the major appeal of playing Magneto/Magneto (Marvel NOW!) in their present builds. I was hoping for something really creative that we've not seen before... When I was asking you the question, I thought about a damage field like Terrax has, but first off, that's been done. Secondly, I think we can do better. Third, I really would like to turn him into a monster Alliance War or any Quest boss, so something defensive would be really nice, I think. I think that making him an enhanced end-boss would really play to Magneto's character (and I wish that I had thought of it in my Kang rebuild).
I really appreciate the feedback, good sir! Please feel free to keep the dialogue going!
In that case, yes, I think perhaps 20% would be better, to make the synergy a pretty nice thing to have. 20 feels like the right balance between "not triggering enough to be useful" and "triggering too much", so that's my thought there.
I understand not wanting to go that route with the Magnetic Charges, and I'll see if I can come up with something on the spot. Admittedly, I haven't read very many comics and I'm familiar only with the very early iterations of Magneto, not the specific version from Marvel NOW! depicted here. If defense is the goal, as an end boss, I should think a good mechanic would be something that makes attacking him difficult and tedious, without being maddening. I agree that a damage field would not be the way to go, since that is very, very annoying sometimes. The tricky part with this, I think, is not just stalling out a theoretical 3 minute AW timer, nor dealing unavoidable damage to the opponent.
My first thought is that perhaps they could reduce damage that Magneto takes - something like ~5% less damage for every Magnetic Charge. But I think this would only make fighting him unnecessarily tedious, since all it would do would be lengthen battles without adding any element of strategy. Perhaps something like reducing the opponent's Block Proficiency passively for each Magnetic Charge could work instead - something fairly large that eventually, around 8 or 10 Magnetic Charges, any gain from blocking is completely lost. Thus, as the opponent's Block Proficiency decays, the opponent will have to be more reliant on intercepting, which does give the player an ability to avoid or negate this challenge. It's not completely unavoidable this way, which is good.
Of course, with mechanics like this, you might have to add in some way to remove Magneto's Magnetic Charges. The only ways that can be achieved right now is either through triggering Auto Block, and forcing him to dash back and charge up a bonus for his next Special (which is probably too long to be of any practical use). Continuing the intercept avenue as a potential source of strategy against Magneto, perhaps you could raise the chance for Auto Block to trigger on the final boss node (as an addition to Domination on the Sig), but also add in a reduction to that chance when successfully landing intercepts.
I do think, however, that intercepts are something a lot of players have mastered, so this would make Magneto a sufficient challenge for those mid-game players that are still learning how to intercept, players around or below Uncollected level, while not being, I think, the challenge you envision for endgame players. Perhaps damage can be dealt back to the attacker on Auto Blocks, like how Quake deals damage back to the attacker on blocked hits, and said damage can be contingent on how many Magnetic Charges are currently stored? But again, this a) needs additional routes to remove Magnetic Charges and b) is kind of unfair - if the damage dealt back is too low, it's almost negligible, but if the damage dealt back is too high, it's super tough to deal with.
Actually, that last idea, provided a cap of, say, 3 or 4% of the opponent's Max Health, reflected back to them upon an Auto Block, might not be so bad. I'm imagining a max sig Magneto (Marvel NOW!) would certainly Auto Block once every combo (given the almost 50% chance to Auto Block), so while the low percentage might not seem like a lot, it's going to be triggering quite a bit, and it'll add up before long. I'm certain there's better ideas, though, and those are just a few preliminary thoughts. I think there might just be something to one of these ideas, but I'll have to give it more thought.
In any case, I look forward to what ends up being the solution for Magneto's Magnetic Charges and defensive capabilities. Thanks for the challenge, @Bodhizen !
So, Magneto looks interesting! Particularly the decision to make him a specific counter to Quake, with a view to him on defence in AW. I like some of @HeroBoltsy's suggestions on the Sig.
You aren't happy with the expiring Magnetism that MMN has currently - The reason it expires is simply for game balance - having a 60% AAR is huge if it's kept up for the whole fight. You obviously prefer permanant Magnetism, so I'd either suggest (1) reducing the AAR to a flat rate of 30-40% AAR; or (2) making the potency of the Magnetic AAR proportionate to his Magnetic Charge, of with about 5-10% per magnetic charge, Max 60%.
Also, I'm afraid you will need a different bonus for Magnetic Charges on an SP3. Special-3s can't be critical - it's one of their fundamental properties; just like they can't be blocked or evaded. Maybe a Prowess effect, or increased Frailty debuff potency/duration? I like the Frailty debuff, btw.
I also rather like the idea of Evading telepathic attacks; but would exclude Psylocke's Psychic Knife from this as it's a physically-directed attack; even if the damage caused is telepathic in nature. Her SP2 is fair game, though.
A thought for the SP1 - rather than a simple Armour Break (which won't work on Colossus, Thing, Dr Doom, Man-Thing or anyone with debuff immunity) is there an option for a slightly different alternative such as
(1) if it makes contact, this attack removes all armour buffs on the opponent, and also inflicts an armour break debuff...
Or (I quite like the idea of turning this on a champ like Dr Doom or Colossus)
(2) Armour Burn: This attack inflicts True Damage; and if it makes contact it inflicts a burst of bonus Physical damage proportionate to the target's armour rating*. (*Convert flat armour to a percentage; X% armour means X% bonus damage).
Overall a fun rework, nice and imaginative. I hope the Devs glance at these occasionally!
With regard to the Ability Accuracy Reduction... It's one of the things that makes Blade as powerful as he is, and he can apply his Danger Sense to 6 Dimensional Beings (expanded to 24 playable Mystic Champions and counting, plus 10 unplayable Mystic Champions with a Synergy; expanded to 45 playable Villain Champions and counting with a different synergy) at 40% (increased to 95% with a different synergy). This rework of Magneto can do 60% (with no increase) Ability Accuracy Reduction to 51 playable #Metal-tagged Champions (and counting), plus a few that should be #Metal-tagged, such as Blade and Psylocke. 60% is admittedly a lot, but it affects fewer total Champions and to a lesser potential degree. Minus the overlap, Blade can affect up to 56 (and counting) Villains and Mystic Heroes (since all Diensional Beings are Mystics) at up to a 95% Ability Accuracy Reduction. I question whether Magneto affecting up to 51 (plus Champions that use metal weapons [that aren't Vibranium] in their Basic Attacks such as Blade, Drax, Elsa Bloodstone, Heimdall, Longshot, Moon Knight, Nick Fury, Night Thrasher, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Rocket Raccoon [metal flight pack], Ronan, Ronin, Star-Lord, Storm [Pyramid X], Taskmaster, Terrax, and Yondu - for a total of 69 Champions), at a 60% maximum Ability Accuracy Reduction is too powerful an ability. However, I'm not completely opposed to dialing it down a bit.
In any case, I'm about to post (in a few minutes) a revision of Magneto (Marvel NOW!) that incorporates some of these suggestions. Thank you!
Magneto
Base Stats and Ablilites
*All stats based on 4-Star, Rank 5, Level 50, Signature Level 99Health: 15660
Attack: 1092
Critical Rate: 598
Critical Damage: 703
Armor: 273
Block Proficiency: 3556
Energy Resistance: 0
Physical Resistance: 0
Critical Resistance: 0
Basic Abilities: Bleed, Heal Block, Magnetic Sense, Stun
ABILITIES:
Magneto's Helmet – Passive• Magneto’s Ability Accuracy cannot be decreased and is immune to Inverted Controls, however if inflicted with Armor Break Debuff, his helmet is cracked for 10 seconds, temporarily disabling these immunities.
Magnetic Sense – Passive
• 239.2 increased Critical Hit Rating against opponents reliant on Metal
• Magneto gains True Strike that ignores Armor, Resistances, Auto-Block and all Evade effects.
When Attacking:
• Opponents reliant on Metal gain Magnetic Charges.
• Hitting an opponent with a Light or Medium Attack places 1 Magnetic Charge on the opponent.
• Landing a Heavy Attack gives 3 Magnetic Charges
• Landing a Special Attack gives 5 Magnetic Charges
• Once the Opponent has 20 charges, they are removed and replaced with one Magnetized Passive that lasts for 15 seconds.
Magnetized – Passive:
• The Opponent is Power Locked.
• The Opponent has -30% Ability Accuracy.
All Attacks:
• Attacking an opponent that is Bleeding has a 20% chance to trigger an additional Bleed, dealing 600.6 Direct Damage over 2.5 seconds.
Special 1 – Shrapnel
• Sharp metal fragments are pulled from the surrounding environment and propelled across the arena.
• 75% chance to inflict Bleed, dealing 2293.2 Direct Damage over 10 seconds.
• When the Bleed from this attack expires, it has a 65% chance to be converted into an Open Wound. An Open Wound counts as a stack of Bleed but is Passive and deals no damage.
• This attack is Unblockable if the opponent is Magnetized
Special 2 – Fracturer
• Magneto expands his magnetic grasp deep under the arena, impaling his opponent with metal from below.
• 80% chance to inflict Bleed, dealing 2293.2 Direct Damage over 10 seconds.
• 100% chance to inflict Heal Block, preventing the target from recovering Health for 10 seconds.
• This attack is Unblockable if the opponent is Magnetized
Special 3 – Cold-Blooded Fusion
• Encased in a metal prison, Magneto's target implodes. Peace was never an option.
• 100% chance to Stun for 3 seconds
• 100% chance to inflict Heal Block, preventing the target from recovering Health for 10 seconds.
• If the opponent is Magnetized, Stun and Heal Block duration are increased by 2.5 and 10 seconds, respectively.
Signature Ability: Refraction
• Magneto bends a dense electromagnetic field around his body to create a personal force field, preventing him from losing more than 10% Health from a single source.
This is always so frustrating.
(Note, I agree that Terrax's introduction seems to make one of the suggestions below less novel, but I believe it is still worth doing because like many similar abilities, the way they work get little tweaks in order to make them interesting or unique. I've had this idea for years and I know others have as well, or even posted it, so sorry for only now getting to it in a post-Terrax era)
Magneto {both Classic (C) and Marvel Now (MN)} suggestions
Many of my suggestions are meant to only make champions more competitive, so these changes are not meant to turn either version of Magneto into monstrous champions. However via Synergies further value could be had:
So, we all accept that the game has left the OG 2005 champions that have not yet gotten reworked far behind. While some can be enhanced decently by the right synergy, I believe both versions of Magneto could do with a simultaneous rework based on these ideas.
(Note, I agree that Terrax's introduction seems to make one of the suggestions below less novel, but I believe it is still worth doing because like many similar abilities, the way they work get little tweaks in order to make them interesting or unique. I've had this idea for years and I know others have as well, or even posted it, so sorry for only now getting to it in a post-Terrax era)
Magneto {both Classic (C) and Marvel Now (MN)} suggestions
Many of my suggestions are meant to only make champions more competitive, so these changes are not meant to turn either version of Magneto into monstrous champions. However via Synergies further value could be had:
- With Polaris, ability accuracy can be further enhanced with each additional #Metal teammate
- With Colossus, the value would be reflected in him as well, causing minor Limbo-like environmental burst energy damage whenever temporary Armor Up expires, and when any Armor is broken (electromagnetic pulse)
- With each other: Mag (C) and Mag (MN) respectively pull and push metal 50% faster. This synergy is housed in Mag (C)'s Synergy List
- In Mag (MN)'s List, Mag (C) gets -100% feedback damage during contact with light attacks and Mag (MN) gets -100% feedback damage during contact with medium attacks
Apologies, just noticed the double post when trying to edit my grammatical mistakes within 15 mins.I'll try to give you my best critique on your Magneto concepts.
Row 2 - Similarity: Magneto (Marvel NOW!)'s Ability Accuracy Reduction fails to specify just how much it reduces the opponent's Ability Accuracy.
Row 3 - Add Benefit: Interesting. I'm curious as to what this is based in.
Row 7 - Outcome: Magneto (Classic)'s floating spheres don't specify how much damage or over how much time. Magneto (Marvel NOW!)'s Ability Accuracy Reduction now tells me how much, which is good. I can see Magneto (Marvel NOW!) layering metal over his opponent to slow them down, perhaps, but I'm having difficulty visualizing the Ability Accuracy Reduction in non-metal opponents.
Row 8 - Polaris Synergy: I'd like to see a Polaris build from you. If you're going to build in a Synergy for a Champion that doesn't exist yet, it would be nice to see said Champion.
Row 8 - Other Synergies: I'd like to see a Mystique build from you. If you're going to build in a Synergy for a Champion that doesn't exist yet, it would be nice to see said Champion.
Row 9 - Limitation: This still doesn't tell us how long it takes to alter the metal in an opponent. Plus, does Magneto's "adding metal to an opponent" turn off when his power cycles off? It would be strange for it to be on while his Ability Accuracy Reduction when his magnetism cycle is inactive.
Row 10 - Value: I see where you're going with these. This is a clear goal, and I like the goals. I'd just like to see something more concrete in the implementation.
Row 11 - Mechanism: So, Ability Accuracy Reduction doesn't trigger until 40%? Also, if Magneto (Marvel NOW!) rips some metal out, would that lower his Ability Accuracy Reduction to gain the additional damage on Bleeds?
Row 13 - Bonus: Magneto's bonus ability here could reduce the damage from incoming special attacks below 0. It's also unclear; does Magneto lose all of his spheres to reduce damage, or does he lose a certain percentage of the spheres based upon the damage he would have taken? This is not written clearly. Neither is Magneto (Marvel NOW!)'s bonus ability. I don't quite grok how it functions.
I hope that you find this feedback helpful.
Best wishes!
Thanks, and best wishes!
This next suggestion isn't a singular ability tweak, rather it would affect multiple champions in the process. Some of it is a bit out there though, so bare with me:
First, introduce a permanent Variant Special Event Quest with 6 Chapters and two Difficulty levels (Classic and Epic/Variant). Alternatively, Kabam could introduce 2, 3 or 6 individual quests that divide up the rewards distribution and extend the reworks.
Rewards include 6 possible titles that work like Champion Boosts that lock in for up to 48 hours. After they expire, the title reverts to the previous title each Summoner had and goes into cool down for 96 hrs before it can be used again. Alternatively, we can use a new "Sub-Title" space for this.
The 6 titles awarded for Completion include (of course, these are demonstrative and do not have to be the names used):
How this works
Sample Ability Additions
Using Hawkeye as an example, when a Summoner loads their earned title, 'Inter-Agency Ordinance,' he gains:Ability Effectiveness
Diversification
Notice, this is specific to Hawkeye despite Inter-Agency Ordinance benefiting multiple champions that are historically/canonically (in movies, animation and/or comics) significantly affiliated with SHIELD, AIM, HYDRA, The HAND, SWORD or HAMMER. This means that Black Widow (classic), as another example, would get different ability enhancement, although they would work with similar mechanisms. For her:Intentional Exclusions
As of today, a few champions who are considered weak, underwhelming or left behind (often referred to as the Meme Tier) are in consideration for reworks or actually currently in Beta, so you will notice that Ms. Marvel (Kamala Kahn) and Hulkbuster are not on this list, when normally they would be the first up, in my opinion. I also intend that if certain Synergies make the champion very good already, they could be excluded.Of course, Synergies do not currently apply on AW Defense though, so I would consider revisiting this (to that I would recommend Kabam classify Synergies in 3 categories, and allow lower level ones to apply in Gold Tier, medium level ones to apply in Platinum Tier wars, and all, including higher level, unique ones, to apply in the 'championship matches' of the highest 4-8 Alliances).
Others that could be left out are the Avengers who got the Infinity Stone boosts (Cap, Thor, IM, BW, Hawkeye and Hulk) if the event is intended to be repeated. In such a case I would recommend those two reworks, or a version of them, be considered as permanently being added to their kit. Reason being, BW is not currently so overpowered with her Subtlety that she couldn't have a few other abilities, and Hawkeye is missing what he was known for in the comics: having a vast variety of trick arrows. Bleed and Power Drain, while useful, barely scratch the surface of what he was known for, and his animations already support Shock, Incineration and Armor Break with sparks and explosive bursts (and Poison needs no visual effect).
Note too, that variations of characters may fall under different sections. Examples include Cyclops (Blue Team) and Magneto (Marvel Now) being in Danger Room Drills, while Cyclops (New Xavier School) and Magneto (classic) are in the Villain's Lair grouping. This is intentional so even if both are owned, only one carries the benefit at the time if they gain similar or identical additional abilities when their Title is active.
BASE STATISTICS:
Hit Points: 16,876
Attack: 1171
Crit Rate: 326
Crit Damage: 500
Armor: 273
Block Proficiency: 2546
Energy Resistance: 0
Physical Resistance: 0
Crit Resistance: 0
Signature Ability - Cyttorak's Exemplar: Juggernaut's connection with the demon-god, Cyttorak, grows even stronger, granting him additional benefits.
ABILITIES:
All Attacks: 30% chance to inflict an Armor Break Debuff on Stunned Opponents for 3.5 seconds, removing an enemy Armor Up Buff and reducing Armor Rating by 526.95.
Heavy Attacks: 100% chance to Stagger the Opponent for 8.0 seconds. The next time a Staggered Opponent triggers a Buff, that Buff and all other Buffs triggered at the same time will be immediately Nullified.
Mind-Shield Helmet (Passive): Juggernaut's helmet protects him from undue mental influence. Therefore, Juggernaut is immune to Reversed Controls. Furthermore, Juggernaut reduces all incoming damage to 0 from telepathic attacks, such as Emma Frost's Special Attacks.
Developer's Note: Canonically, Juggernaut's helmet, fashioned from an unknown mystical metal found in the Crimson Cosmos dimension of Cyttorak, provides him with complete protection from telepathic attack, even from telepaths on the order of Professor Xavier. It would stand to reason that attacks that are completely telepathic in nature have no effect upon him.
Unstoppable (Passive): Every time that Juggernaut activates a Special Attack, he gets stronger, gaining 1 Persistent Charge. Every time that Juggernaut defeats an opponent, he gains 2 Persistent Charges. If Juggernaut finishes the fight above 90% Health, he gains an additional 1 Persistent Charge. There is no limit to the number of Persistent Charges that Juggernaut can gain.
Developer's Note: This ability is really the base of Juggernaut's power and utility. It should be a part of the base kit, not his Signature Ability. He now gets stronger and meaner as he charges forward, breaking through everything in his path!
When Taking Hits: When Juggernaut is hit by the third light attack in a Combo, he gains an Unstoppable Buff for 1.0 seconds.
While Unstoppable: Juggernaut is immune to Stun Debuffs and if the opponent attempts to Stun him, he will instead apply his Heavy Attack Stagger to them.
SPECIAL ATTACKS:
Special 1 - Tremor – Juggernaut smashes the ground, sending the opponent flying.
- 100% chance to Stun the Opponent for 3.5 seconds.
- Against X-Men or X-Force Champions, this Attack has a 100% chance to place two Stagger Debuffs upon the Opponent for 5.0 seconds. The next time a Staggered Opponent triggers a Buff, that Buff and all other Buffs triggered at the same time will be immediately Nullified.
Special 2 - Aftershock – Juggernaut's devastating headbutt ripples through his opponent, shattering the ground below them.- 100% chance to gain a Passive True Strike Buff for the duration of this Special Attack, allowing Juggernaut to ignore Armor, Resistances, Auto-Block and all Evade effects.
- Against X-Men or X-Force Champions, this Attack has a 100% chance to place two Stagger Debuffs upon the Opponent for 8.0 seconds. The next time a Staggered Opponent triggers a Buff, that Buff and all other Buffs triggered at the same time will be immediately Nullified.
Special 3 - Avatar of Cyttorak – Juggernaut uses the environment in more ways than one, with devastating results for opponents.SYNERGIES:
Since the moderators are refusing to approve my previous post after being tagged and private messaged... I'm going to try to see if this one goes through.
So, this rebuild changes a lot for the Juggernaut. First off, I recognize that his Unstoppable ability gets stronger the more he defeats opponents and throws Special Attacks. This is on purpose. It's all about Special Attacks and beating his opponents, not maintaining a high combo meter. Juggernaut is intended to take hits and shrug them off no matter what, not just power through while he's winning. That means that he's going to progress slower than Champions like Ægon, but it also means that he has the potential to be more consistent.
I didn't feel that it was necessary to go any further than 150 Persistent Charges; you'd have to jump into some pretty heavy Quests like the Labyrinth of Legends or Abyss of Legends to even get up that high. Just defeating Champions without any health loss or throwing any specials, you have to defeat 75 of them. In an average 3 minute fight, maybe you're throwing 4 to 8 Special Attacks. So, it's probably going to take you at least 15 fights or so to max out your Persistent Charge potential outside of the Labyrinth or the Abyss. It's doable in a long quest, but you're probably not going to get there in an Alliance War, which tones Juggernaut down a bit as an attacker.
Not much new in the way of Synergies, either. Just a couple of new ones, though with the number of X-Men that the Juggernaut has battled, he could probably have an additional 3-4 Synergies just based upon that. Also, as per my own personal efforts each rebuild, I'm trying to make sure that the Signature Ability adds to Juggernaut's kit without having to be absolutely necessary. It doesn't add a ton to Juggernaut, but what it adds is fairly significant. Very light health recovery, but a big potential buff to Block Proficiency and a big middle finger to Cosmic Champions that I was originally going to add in on Special Attacks 1 & 2, but I decided that it might be better suited to the Signature Ability instead.
As always, I hope that you enjoy this rebuild, and that Kabam will eventually give these rebuilds a look in the hopes that they may spark some interest in revisiting other older Champions.
Lastly, this process isn't possible without additional eyes and thoughts from the community. Please feel free to review and suggest improvements! I am specifically inviting feedback from contributors like @Magrailothos, @Bajan_Samurai, @DrZola, @Whododo872, and @HeroBoltsy, though I welcome feedback from all.
Thanks, and best wishes!
This means opponents could safely attack when a Sphere is beside and behind Magneto, and step back when it swings in front. This of course would be harder when all 3 spheres are present, unless the timing of their appearance was such that all 3 are behind close to the same times. In this way they would also differ from Terrax, Omega Red or Mephisto because as long as his field/aura is up, being near them starts damaging the opponent.
If Magneto launches Special Attack he consumes all available spheres to augment his attack. Each Sphere increases the following:
- Bleed Chance of +15% - His base is a 55% chance to inflict Bleed on all Special Attacks, so consuming all 3 spheres lends +45% for a 100% guaranteed Bleed
- Heal Block duration of +15% - Sp2 and 3 have a 100% chance to heal block for 10 seconds, consuming 3 spheres extends this to 14.5 seconds
- Armor Break potency of 15% - 6⭐ R2 Sig 200 Magneto (classic) can reduce armor by 1400 for 8 seconds. Potency increase effects intensity and duration, so Max potency would cause up to 11.6s Armor Breaks reducing armor rating by up to 2030.
Duly noted. Since this is a Champion Improvement thread I refrain from going too deep into activities that belong in Character Suggestion 3.0. Mentioning Polaris (and Mystique) was meant to be illustrative of creating champion designs that account for base abilities (out of the box), signature abilities (that activate or scale with awakening) and those that add on with the right Synergy. Since she is his magnetism powered daughter I figured an appropriate boost to his magnetism could come from her, and be different from what he would get from the other version of himself.That said I do have a design of her in a Spreadsheet Workbook, and I can share these basics about her.
- She is his opposite in multiple ways 1) opposite affiliations (she's mostly aligned with heroes, he's mostly known as a villain, although both flip sides), 2) father/daughter, 3) green color scheme opposite on the color wheel to Mag (classic) who wears red (she will be considered Classic's daughter, while MN! is not native to her universe.
- As such, where he reduces the Ability Accuracy of #Metal Opponents, she increases the Ability Accuracy of #Metal Teammates a flat 20%.
- She also enhances her own Ability Accuracy by 10.1% up to 30% per #Metal Teammate present based on signature level
- Her synergy benefit when teamed with Magneto allows her to expand the list of teammates that enhance her Ability Accuracy from to the same additional ones he can affect
- Like Magneto, she inflicts Armor Break and Heal Block, but unlike him and as a [mostly] heroic character, she does not inflict bleed except in certain situations...
- ...one situation is via Synergy with Invisible Woman - as two characters that share a history controlled by a character called Malice their force fields and specials become more cruel and can inflict Bleed
- ...second situation, when attacked by opponents hurling Metallic projectiles, she captures 10.1% to 70.4% of them and inflicts Bleed over Time when returning them with her attack (think Daredevil's ability to auto-dodge non-True projectiles and consider her capturing them with her Magnetism). Aside from Bleed, she also captures a similar portion of electrical based attacks and returns Shock Damage over Time.
- The 10 to 70% is based on her signature level, but this can be further enhanced by her Ability Accuracy increases via #Metal teammates.
- Via Synergy with Magneto (MN!) she can expand her electromagnetic capture to other energy based projectiles
Ditto about Mystique about such builds belonging in Character Suggestion 3.0 threads; however, good question about how she works. The idea is that Magneto collects metal from the environment that can create 1 sphere every 30 seconds when he is highest Sig, at lowest Sig he requires up to 45 seconds. Against #Metal opponents he cuts this time down to 1/3rd. Mystique's presence essentially makes most non-metallic opponents into a #Metal version of themselves, but let's say she splits the difference for him.- Vs Non-Metal 30 - 45 seconds per sphere
- Vs #Metal 10 - 15 seconds per sphere
- Vs #Metal Infused 20 to 30 seconds per sphere
To that point, it would be a 'call out' at the start of the fight "Metal Infused" whenever Magneto (C) faces a non-metal opponent with Mystique on the roster with him.Magneto (MN!)'s mechanism to add metal to an opponent is a counter. Simply a HUD icon with a small number next to it.
- Against #Metal the counter number starts at 50 and goes up to 90
- Against non-metallic opponents it is 0 to 40
- Each light, medium and heavy attack adds +1, +2 or +3 per strike until reaching max 40 or 90
- When Polaris is present, these numbers start and end 10 higher (i.e. 10-50 and 60-100) and reduces ability accuracy % by the indicated number
- When Magnetism is in cool-down the icon and number grays out, when Magnetism is active the icon is Yellow
Correct! Cycle off grays out the icon and number indicating AAR effectiveness is 0% I'm hoping the breakdown's above clarify the implementation part. The aim was to be succinct for the value added by introducing the stated feedback reduction, variable AAR, threat of the spheres, and enhanced bleed/block break/heal block leading to being realistic options for defense or offense. To clarify, AAR triggers whenever Magnetism cycles on, it is just at weaker potential until he's landed enough basic hits to maximize it to 40, 50, 90 or 100% AAR as applicable.Specials do add then take AAR as a way to manage/balance his use. That is, at 30% AAR a Special 1 adds +6% AAR, briefly causing Abilities to be 36% less Accurate on contact, then causes a 10% more potent bleed because the enhanced Bleed is due to bleeding out 5% AAR causing metal. As such they started at 30, spiked to 36% and ended at 31%.
There are caveats when passing the upper limits: At 40% SP1 can spike AAR to 46% however, after the strike and before metal is pulled, the opponent resettles at max 40% before 5% is bled out over time, so after any special, the upper limit of 40%-5% results in a 35% AAR state.
Comparatively, Sp2 (40% | +12%=52% | ->40% | -5%=35%) Sp3 (40% | +18%=58% | ->40% | -5%=35%) for non-metallic
Sp2 (90% | +12%=52% | ->40% | -5%=35%) Sp3 (40% | +18%=58% | ->40% | -5%=35%) for non-metallic.
Although this may sound unnecessary, giving Attackers reason to build back up to something is a typical challenge posed in game design. The one strike AAR >40% (up to 68%) or >90% (up to 118%) would apply to ability triggers on contact that do not persist. Magneto (C)
Technically yes to potentially getting 0 damage, but not necessarily. The idea is to set up a one time max damage reduction at the consumption of up to 3 Spheres in addition to his potential 12.67% Health damage limit from 1 source. A 6⭐ R2 Sig 200 Mag with Attack rating of 2377 and Max HP of 34103 can normally limit health loss from receiving a Sp3 to -4,320.85. Now with 3 spheres Mag would further reduce 2377A*(3*0.2)=1,426HP. Total Max loss spat out by the Computron is 2894.65HP from a single strike.
And yes, Mag loses all spheres. The term used was "...at the cost of the spheres" to imply the Spheres are consumed in order to further reduce damage. If this was Mag (MN!) with his 5% HP loss cap, maybe 0 damage would be more achievable.
Magneto (MN!)
Hopefully the earlier explanation clears up the confusion with MN's bonus, but essentially it meant that Specials have the potential to build to near the max faster than light, medium or heavy attacks could; but unlike the slow and steady basic attacks, special attacks have the drawback of pulling back out 5% effectiveness of max AAR.
Great questions!
Glad to get more technical.
I typically keep it simple for others to just get the general concept, and for Kabam to sort numbers that fit with their 'balance' but I do have numerical basis for the majority of my designs and redesigns that fit other comparable upper tier champs. Thanks for pushing for some clarity.
Basic attacks add:
- Light causes +1% AAR
- Medium causes +2% AAR
- Heavy causes +3% AAR
__Special attacks add metal then remove some to cause 10% enhanced Bleed potency
- Sp1 +6% AAR (then -5% from Max AAR)
- Sp2 +12% AAR (then -5% from Max AAR)
- Sp3 +18% AAR (then -5% from Max AAR)
__Non-metallic opponents
Sp1 (40% | +6%=46% | ->40% | -5%=35%) - can jump to max from 34 AAR
Sp2 (40% | +12%=52% | ->40% | -5%=35%) - can jump to max from 28 AAR
Sp3 (40% | +18%=58% | ->40% | -5%=35%) - can jump to max from 22 AAR
#Metal opponents
Sp1 (90% | +6%=96% | ->90% | -5%=85%) - can jump to max from 84 AAR
Sp2 (90% | +12%=102% | ->90% | -5%=85%) - can jump to max from 78 AAR
Sp3 (90% | +18%=108% | ->90% | -5%=85%) - can jump to max from 72 AAR
Add 10 to upper limits when paired with Polaris
I see the Stagger hasn't changed much. And, again, the specific calling out of Reversed Controls immunity is very nice. I like that addition to make him permanently Indestructible against telepathic attacks - you use Emma Frost as an example, are there any more telepathic attacks that you can think of, or is this perhaps just a future contingency? IS THAT A NEW COLOR? Very nice. Looks like Juggs will want to spam Specials as much as possible. Alright. I think the bonus for finishing a fight above 90% health could be a little bit more, though - perhaps it could give him two additional PC's instead of just one? Just a thought, given the difficulty in finishing a fight above 90% HP can be sometimes. That's a little less than +200% Attack, if I'm reading that right. IDK about the other stats, though, I'm sure they would scale differently than Attack rating? I do like the idea of giving him additional stats though, so that he has more than just Unstoppable, which I believe is one of your goals with this rework. Nice.
OK, so it seems like it should be very easy to get Unstoppable even with the PC mechanic. Good on you to move it from the sig to the base kit. I don't see any potential benefits on defense for Juggs aside from the Unstoppable on Specials which he already has, except for maybe the Unblockable specials around 30? The reason I point this out is because you're actually taking away a little something from his defensive capabilities, since he no longer starts the fight Unstoppable without having 5 PC's first. I know that's just one cycle of Unstoppable, but it's at the beginning of the fight, which can be a little annoying to deal with, especially since he's Stun immune while Unstoppable.
The bonuses seem nice, though. Nothing overpowered, really. Heavy spam against Spider-Man seems like a good way to use the 20 PC bonus, the 50 PC bonus seems like a nice little safety net if you get hit, the 100 PC bonus is a nice, consistent Regen counter, and the 125 PC bonus seems like a lot of fun, to be honest, especially since specials are unblockable by then. Shrugging off debuffs seems interesting, especially for nodes like Long Distance Relationship or the like. I wonder how this reworked Juggs will work on nodes that increase the attacker's power gain (can't remember the name exactly right now)? Nice benefit against Cosmics there. The Block Proficiency is definitely nice, as well, although at this point I worry perhaps there are too many stats that are being boosted - perhaps choose between Crit Rating and Crit Damage? At this point I think you have all the major stats except for power rate being boosted. The Parry bonus is nice as well, although it doesn't seem quite as aggressive as I'd like for someone like Juggernaut. Also, a bit of semantics - I believe that you would say "Purify" a debuff off of him, so instead of "If Juggernaut has no Debuffs currently on him to Nullify, he immediately heals 1% of his Maximum Health." it would be "If Juggernaut has no Debuffs currently on him to Purify, he immediately heals 1% of his Maximum Health." Additional effects to the Specials are very nice. Stun's good, True Strike's good, the Indestructible seems like a very interesting addition... at 150 PC's, that buff'll last 10 seconds. How fast can you spam heavy attacks? I think you could certainly get a lot of uptime, if not infinite uptime, off of that Indestructible for sure. The bonuses against X-Men/Force is also neat, but I can't think of any of those champions that absolutely need their Buffs, so I'm not 100% certain in the viability of that Stagger. Synergies are all-around alright. Nothing essential, but everything's fairly nice to have. Bonuses for champions like Colossus, Diablo, and Mephisto are nice. I assume "Accidental Summoning" is a reference to a comic book event I missed? And for the Feel Cytorrak's Embrace synergy, specifically Unstoppable Colossus' part of it, I think you might mean Fury and Armor Up Potency instead of Proficiency.
Great work as always. I have no huge concerns, and I think the trade off between a slight decrease in defensive viability for a huge increase in offensive viability is fair enough. I think the ramp-up is fair for the amount of Specials you'll be throwing in normal quests, and it would be super interesting to see a ~300 PC Juggs take on LoL/RoL spamming SP3s for Indestructible. Let's hope the rest of your posts can have such luck in getting approved!
The Stagger wasn't changed on Heavy Attacks on purpose... because it was changed elsewhere. As for the telepathic attacks, yeah, it's just a future contingency. No, it's not a new color. I've used it a couple of times. You're right that Juggernaut has incentive to spam Special Attacks (especially Special 1, since you'll build Persistent Charges the fastest that way). Here's the thing about the 90% Health bonus... You can use Health Potions to get yourself back above 90% if you fall below in a Quest. Combined with the healing mechanic in his Signature Ability, you could conceivably gain this benefit fairly frequently. It's intended to be an extra perk, not a central feature. Imagine, if you will, that you get to 150 Persistent Charges. That's +3000 Attack... Added to a 4-star's 1171 Attack for a consistent 4171 attack rating. It's going to take you a ton to get to that point, but it's on every single hit. You're hitting really, really hard, all the time. It gives even a 4-star Juggernaut extreme value in the Labyrinth and the Abyss. His Armor starts at 273, and by the time you get to 14 Persistent Charges, you've doubled that. At 150 Persistent Charges, his Armor as a 4-star has gone from 273 to 3273. Again, huge value in Labyrinth and Abyss. Since the Armor Rating is based upon Persistent Charges instead of Armor Up Buffs, you cannot take those away. Put Juggernaut on a Power Focus/Gain + Special 1 (or 2) Bias Node and watch his defensive value soar; so that's Nodes 9, 14, 20, or 53 as prime spots to place him. He's going to get increases to his base stats and hit back much harder as he goes. You're going to want to prevent him from gaining Power to neutralize him as a defender.
It's super easy to go Unstoppable on Special Attacks. You only need 1 Persistent Charge to get there, and that's quite literally what the old Signature Ability did. He doesn't lose much in the way of defensive capabilities, since the threshold to start a fight Unstoppable wasn't a huge benefit. He got 3.3 seconds of Unstoppable in his old build, and you just had to wait for it to wear off. It really amounts to a negligible benefit in his current build. Then again, if Kabam were to take a rebuild like this, they could set it on a node that gives him 5 Persistent Charges (or more) to begin with... The point of Juggernaut is that he's big, hits hard, and is tough to damage. He's not flashy like some other Champions are, which is why I went for small boosts to base stats that can add up in a big way. Well-Timed Blocks are really easy to execute, and to Nullify Buffs off an opponent with one is fairly significant. The Nullfification/Purification thing is minor and semantic, so I'm not overly concerned there. You can throw a lot of Heavy Attacks (triggering Staggers) in 10 seconds. I should put a limit on those... Anyway, the big benefit comes in at 125 Persistent Charges... When you hit with a Heavy Attack, it knocks the opponent down. That's going to grant you up to 22.5% of a Bar of Power. If you can get 1 Heavy Attacks in 10 seconds, you can build up to another Special 3 and start the cycle anew. So... I should probably lower that Power Gain a bit...
The bonuses against X-Men/X-Factor Champions will have potentially devastating effects against: Bishop (Prowess), Cable (Regeneration, True Strike), Colossus (Armor Up, Fury), Deadpool (Regeneration), Gambit (Prowess), Iceman (Ice Armor), Old Man Logan (Regeneration), Phoenix (Fury), Storm (Pyramid X) (Prowess), Unstoppable Colossus (Armor Up, Unstoppable, Fury), Wolverine (Regeneration), and Wolverine (X-23) (Regeneration). Yes, the Cyttorak's Embrace synergy should reference Potency instead of Proficiency.
Thanks for the critical eye!
Was Bishop's Prowess a Buff? I seem to recall it being a charge of sorts. Haven't used him very much, though. Of those, I'd say Cable, Deadpool (once a fight), Iceman, and UC could be the most hindered by Stagger, although on the right nodes (Recovery, anyone?) it could certainly be useful for the rest. I stand corrected! No problem! Always happy to help. I might post a rework of my own soon, but I'm focusing on my writing right now. Say, while I'm here, I'm curious - what if you were to design a character, from scratch? An original character, with an original kit and backstory... I'm thinking of including some original characters in my Storytime threads, and, well, the more characters the better!Understandably if you want to stick to reworking existing characters, that's good, but I think you could definitely come up with something cool.
Best wishes, and stay safe everyone!
Juggernaut looks pretty cool. Lots of fun stuff; much feedback already covered between you and @HeroBoltsy. You've done some great stuff with the PC mechanic overall.
I've just a few thoughts to add:
- I think the combination of Unstoppable, Indestructible, Unblockable Specials and Power Gain on knockdown is a bit excessive. However, all you'd need would be a short (even two seconds) cool-down on the Power Gain to prevent this being abused.
- I couldn't help thinking of Sentry's much-hated Sig whilst reading the PC benefit to finishing above 90% health. I don't think this would be a popular feature. As an alternative, how about something like "For each hit Juggernaut inflicted during the fight, he has a 1% chance to gain an additional charge"?
- Whilst he's physically very resilient, Juggy's isn't well known for his blocking/defensive skills. And you're going (appropriately) for an aggressive character design.
- Unblockable Specials comes way too soon. It's a pretty mean mechanic, and Kabam is using it way too much. Don't encourage them!
- Synergy with Diablo? Not sure what connection they have, but if you're going to make someone carry Diablo, give him get a less specific benefit than always gaining the exact same potion: how about "Diablo recovers the first/last concoction brewed each fight"? Or gains Prowess whilst poisoned? Your call, of course.
Really nice thoughts in there, though. Great design ideas.So, instead of giving him Block Proficiency, why not give him Critical Resistance? It'll have the additional benefit of starting to reduce debuffs that are frequently inflicted on critical hits; and fits better with the Nothing can Stop the Juggernaut power-set.
I'd move it much later (like 100+ PCs), and replace the earlier benefit with Block Penetration on Specials. That's effectively a stepping-stone towards Unblockable, is still in keeping with Juggy's build, but less over-powering after just a few fights.
I'm only going to refer to your last point, because I pretty much agree with everything else. The Synergy with Diablo is an existing Synergy, not a new one.
Best wishes!