Alliance War Season 19: Updates to Path Identities and New Nodes! [ June 30]

Summoners,

After his defeat at the hands of the Summoner and Carina, the Grandmaster has been an elder without a calling. Despite the problems and conflicts that the Grandmaster and The Collector have caused, they are still Carina’s family, and she loves them very much.

Instead of banishing them to a far off land, she’s worked with her council to create a plan to keep the two of them busy, and out of trouble.

The Universal Gamesman

Carina knows that a game with changing rulesets and unpredictable pieces is the perfect distraction to keep En Dwi Gast out of trouble. Under her supervision, The Grandmaster will transform Alliance Wars into his tournament, where he seeks the strongest Alliances every season to crown as his victors!

Recreating the Battlefield

The Grandmaster has never been shy about wanting to mould the Contest to his vision, and making sure his presence is noticed. He’ll be starting with the Maps on which you fight.

So first, we’re going to take a look at the new Nodes, Path Identities, and Layouts of the Grandmaster’s New Maps. All Map Changes will take effect on June 24th!

New Maps

First, we've got 2 Brand New Maps! One for Alliances playing on Easy and Normal, and one for Alliances playing on Intermediate, Hard, Challenger, and Expert. If you'd like to take a closer look, we've attached the High-Resolution versions of these maps to this post.

These new more simplified Maps eliminate Portals and bring the entire Battlegroup back together and key points throughout the Map.

Easy and Normal:

Intermediate, Hard, Challenger, and Expert:

New Local Nodes

The Grandmaster has crafted the following nodes for Alliances on the Intermediate, Hard, Challenger, or Expert Maps.

Path Identities

If you like to plan ahead, the Grandmaster is happy to provide you with a list of all buffs on all nodes across the Maps. There are lots to look at, so we've attached the lists of Nodes in the next post.

Matchmaking Updates

The Grandmaster wants to ensure that his tournament stays as competitive as possible. To do so, he is updating the parameters of Matchmaking. Matchmaking will now emphasize your Alliance's War Rating above all else. This will ensure that Alliances vying for the crown will be competing against other top Alliances.

This will be a big adjustment for a lot of Alliances. Currently, many Alliances are either have an inflated War Rating or a Deflated War rating due to the current system. To expedite the process of Alliances finding their "true" War Rating, we will be reducing every Alliance's War Rating by 50%. This will affect every Alliance in-game and will accelerate the rate at which Alliance's find their true position faster because of the concentrated War Ratings of all Alliances.

The Change to Matchmaking and the War Rating reduction will occur on July 8th.

What's Next?

There's still so much to reveal about Season 19 and beyond. Next week, we'll cover:
- Reward Changes
- Defense Tactics and Attack Tactics
- Alliance War Solo Events

Remember, Alliance Wars Season 19 Starts on July 7th, and there will be no war starting on July 5th!

Stay tuned for more information on everything else about Season 19!

Comments

KnightZero

@Amadeo01 Claire doesn't work on Hazard Shift with Cold Turkey. Her shifting the states counts as purification. Just great. Another counter down.
Looks like ppl better r5 iceman I guess...thanks for the update
Just confirmed Iceman takes burst damage from cold turkey, It's beyond ridiculous.
How? What is he purifying? Who were you fighting? Because I didn't take damage as Claire when I didn't shift modes.
It was a Masacre, It's there some interaction that I'm unaware of? Because I've never gotten burst damage when facing a Masacre whit Iceman before.

Edit for clarification: I didn't purify anything, I was getting burst damage when i was hitting on Masacre.

Ah thought so. If an incinerate immune champ get Incinerate debuff on him vs Massacre, then the champ takes burst damage instead. It's a part of his abilities.

Gregdagr8

@zuffy yeah medusa worked.
Does Medusa actually shut off the 90% damage reduction?

Yes she does! She shuts off the whole node as well. So she also shuts off the fury. So I knocked down DH after he was armor shattered and I did NOT get the fury. But easy fight with Medusa.

KnightZero

Suggestion for attack globals:

Flow:

Every time you end a passive powergain via well timed block you steal them with half the potency (max 3).

Stubborn:

When you parry 3 hits in a row (no normal hits on block in between) they cant gain any indestructable charges for 15 sec and you gain +20% damage for 8 sec.

Protect:

Start the fight with 2 passive autoblock charges vs L & XL champs that activate and stun the defender when you lose an intercept (like Nova's skill) and 1 passive vs S & M champs.

Bulwark and Siphon attack nodes are fine imo

Cant be that hard to create something Fun right?

Problem with the Stubborn attack in your post would be that parry doesn't work a lot. Might go for a parry as you always do, but it just randomly doesn't work. I've had that happen. I just feel that the indestructible should be removed through you hitting their block like KM.
Without the attack global that is. Because those are restricted to only #defensjve champs. That makes the global much better.

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KnightZero

@Amadeo01 Claire doesn't work on Hazard Shift with Cold Turkey. Her shifting the states counts as purification. Just great. Another counter down.
Looks like ppl better r5 iceman I guess...thanks for the update
Just confirmed Iceman takes burst damage from cold turkey, It's beyond ridiculous.
How? What is he purifying? Who were you fighting? Because I didn't take damage as Claire when I didn't shift modes.
It was a Masacre, It's there some interaction that I'm unaware of? Because I've never gotten burst damage when facing a Masacre whit Iceman before.

Edit for clarification: I didn't purify anything, I was getting burst damage when i was hitting on Masacre.
Ah thought so. If an incinerate immune champ get Incinerate debuff on him vs Massacre, then the champ takes burst damage instead. It's a part of his abilities.
Well that is annoying, thanks for the clarification my friend.
Sorry to the Kabam overlords for my hasty statement.

I still feel the node is dumb. You have only 6 champs who can fight the node. Cold Turkey removes 4.
And people might say that you could just get a single immune like biohazard, but here you just can't attack for 7 seconds. Very easy chance to get taken into the corner. And then the heavy chain starts. Can always intercept the heavy and take the damage, but it's unnecessary damage. Especially in a game where the point is to avoid damage.

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Gamer

I am just shocked that they didnt come close to fulfilling any of the objectives they mentioned in the prelude, but at the same time this is what they always do so its not shocking at all.

That’s mighty be because s19 was already plane out so ther didn’t won’t to changes it that how I’m understanding it els ther Hav rewinding the old map allread

GroundedWisdom

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/205251/update-to-the-stubborn-defense-tactic#latest

Kabam Zibiit

Hey there everyone, we made an announcement here to let everyone know, but the Stubborn Defense Tactic will be changed on Challenger and Expert maps so that #Defensive Defenders will only be able to store up to 1 Indestructible Passive while Stubborn is in use.

Kabam Zibiit

To address some other questions that have been raised about the Stubborn Defense Tactic, the Dexterity Mastery can cause it to activate and the Indestructible Passive it provides will behave somewhat like the Indestructible Luke Cage has, preventing all damage while the opponent has the charge.

Thecurler

That's incredibly reassuring. Should be easy now.

nolcuN

Hey there everyone, we made an announcement here to let everyone know, but the Stubborn Defense Tactic will be changed on Challenger and Expert maps so that #Defensive Defenders will only be able to store up to 1 Indestructible Passive while Stubborn is in use.

Now you nerf it just before Release? Just scrap it all together...

KnightNvrEnding

To address some other questions that have been raised about the Stubborn Defense Tactic, the Dexterity Mastery can cause it to activate and the Indestructible Passive it provides will behave somewhat like the Indestructible Luke Cage has, preventing all damage while the opponent has the charge.

Ok but basically nobody is a fan of your defensive tactic at all to begin with lol it’s like you’re not even reading anything here lol

Nojokejaym

No one is a fan of stubborn or flow lol, they decided to get rid of crush and dodge well because those don’t cause a lot of deaths which help there bottom line. I will be leaving aw alone now no more for me kabam has ruined my favourite mode, I waited seasons after seasons to see if they’ll fix but instead they just made it worst lol.

KnightZero

The indestructible is still basically making you take block damage. I don't understand why. Still makes it better I guess.
But back to just flow then lol. Also, how does one fight Tunnel Vision node in war? Can't dex multiple part specials. And add Oscillate and Aggressive fury, means that even when you parry, you'll take a lot of damage. Basically need to intercept MLM all the time. Whoever made this Map needs to play it themselves. It's not fun at all. With or without globals. One blocked hit on tunnel vision node is going to take a ton of health. Since you need to remove Falter somehow. Bs node. And you guys gave it the health of a mini boss. That's 200k health to face that way. Have to face the node as well to move up.
Please reconsider this bs.

Amadeo01

The indestructible is still basically making you take block damage. I don't understand why. Still makes it better I guess.
But back to just flow then lol. Also, how does one fight Tunnel Vision node in war? Can't dex multiple part specials. And add Oscillate and Aggressive fury, means that even when you parry, you'll take a lot of damage. Basically need to intercept MLM all the time. Whoever made this Map needs to play it themselves. It's not fun at all. With or without globals. One blocked hit on tunnel vision node is going to take a ton of health. Since you need to remove Falter somehow. Bs node. And you guys gave it the health of a mini boss. That's 200k health to face that way. Have to face the node as well to move up.
Please reconsider this bs.

Fury might work, after you get 5+ charges he can't miss. Plus after 15 charges, he's unblockable so can hit through oscillate. MIght be the way to go.

Nojokejaym

I like difficult wars but my gosh this is just bs

Bendy

The indestructible is still basically making you take block damage. I don't understand why. Still makes it better I guess.
But back to just flow then lol. Also, how does one fight Tunnel Vision node in war? Can't dex multiple part specials. And add Oscillate and Aggressive fury, means that even when you parry, you'll take a lot of damage. Basically need to intercept MLM all the time. Whoever made this Map needs to play it themselves. It's not fun at all. With or without globals. One blocked hit on tunnel vision node is going to take a ton of health. Since you need to remove Falter somehow. Bs node. And you guys gave it the health of a mini boss. That's 200k health to face that way. Have to face the node as well to move up.
Please reconsider this bs.

Fought doom on this node and seems best champ be just quake style as no worry about tunnel vision or aggression fury or oscillate but can see champs other than her needing ur full focus intercept to keep it down if he hasnt stacked aggression fury up already and if say u get faltered the fury from aggression fury ur basically dead can we at least get 1 node removed either oscillate or aggression fury to still be challenging but easier as its not even challenging its stressful

KnightZero

The indestructible is still basically making you take block damage. I don't understand why. Still makes it better I guess.
But back to just flow then lol. Also, how does one fight Tunnel Vision node in war? Can't dex multiple part specials. And add Oscillate and Aggressive fury, means that even when you parry, you'll take a lot of damage. Basically need to intercept MLM all the time. Whoever made this Map needs to play it themselves. It's not fun at all. With or without globals. One blocked hit on tunnel vision node is going to take a ton of health. Since you need to remove Falter somehow. Bs node. And you guys gave it the health of a mini boss. That's 200k health to face that way. Have to face the node as well to move up.
Please reconsider this bs.
Fury might work, after you get 5+ charges he can't miss. Plus after 15 charges, he's unblockable so can hit through oscillate. MIght be the way to go.

Yeah. That's one of the only options. Pretty silly though. Shouldn't restrict on mini boss nodes based on node as such.

The indestructible is still basically making you take block damage. I don't understand why. Still makes it better I guess.
But back to just flow then lol. Also, how does one fight Tunnel Vision node in war? Can't dex multiple part specials. And add Oscillate and Aggressive fury, means that even when you parry, you'll take a lot of damage. Basically need to intercept MLM all the time. Whoever made this Map needs to play it themselves. It's not fun at all. With or without globals. One blocked hit on tunnel vision node is going to take a ton of health. Since you need to remove Falter somehow. Bs node. And you guys gave it the health of a mini boss. That's 200k health to face that way. Have to face the node as well to move up.
Please reconsider this bs.
Fought doom on this node and seems best champ be just quake style as no worry about tunnel vision or aggression fury or oscillate but can see champs other than her needing ur full focus intercept to keep it down if he hasnt stacked aggression fury up already and if say u get faltered the fury from aggression fury ur basically dead can we at least get 1 node removed either oscillate or aggression fury to still be challenging but easier as its not even challenging its stressful

Quake with Stubborn might face issues there. Since you'll keep getting indestructible to remove off. And have to do that by taking blocked hit.

Arifutera

OK, how the hell do I counter Darkhawk in node 2 with ebb and flow knockdown? I tried corvus, knock him down but the window too small to do any damages on top of DH’s ability from knockdown. Only the first node, and war suck so bad alresdy.

Quake should work fine ( not considering stubborn)

Bendy

The indestructible is still basically making you take block damage. I don't understand why. Still makes it better I guess.
But back to just flow then lol. Also, how does one fight Tunnel Vision node in war? Can't dex multiple part specials. And add Oscillate and Aggressive fury, means that even when you parry, you'll take a lot of damage. Basically need to intercept MLM all the time. Whoever made this Map needs to play it themselves. It's not fun at all. With or without globals. One blocked hit on tunnel vision node is going to take a ton of health. Since you need to remove Falter somehow. Bs node. And you guys gave it the health of a mini boss. That's 200k health to face that way. Have to face the node as well to move up.
Please reconsider this bs.
Fury might work, after you get 5+ charges he can't miss. Plus after 15 charges, he's unblockable so can hit through oscillate. MIght be the way to go.
Yeah. That's one of the only options. Pretty silly though. Shouldn't restrict on mini boss nodes based on node as such.
The indestructible is still basically making you take block damage. I don't understand why. Still makes it better I guess.
But back to just flow then lol. Also, how does one fight Tunnel Vision node in war? Can't dex multiple part specials. And add Oscillate and Aggressive fury, means that even when you parry, you'll take a lot of damage. Basically need to intercept MLM all the time. Whoever made this Map needs to play it themselves. It's not fun at all. With or without globals. One blocked hit on tunnel vision node is going to take a ton of health. Since you need to remove Falter somehow. Bs node. And you guys gave it the health of a mini boss. That's 200k health to face that way. Have to face the node as well to move up.
Please reconsider this bs.
Fought doom on this node and seems best champ be just quake style as no worry about tunnel vision or aggression fury or oscillate but can see champs other than her needing ur full focus intercept to keep it down if he hasnt stacked aggression fury up already and if say u get faltered the fury from aggression fury ur basically dead can we at least get 1 node removed either oscillate or aggression fury to still be challenging but easier as its not even challenging its stressful
Quake with Stubborn might face issues there. Since you'll keep getting indestructible to remove off. And have to do that by taking blocked hit.

When stubborn is active then i hope say one node is gone but as its flow wars for a while and we see like doom on this node 1 node needs to be removed i think as even when stubborn enters the wars its only nick even then its if u dont get tagged intercepting or u not in real nick phase at start

Stagedear85

Hey there everyone, we made an announcement here to let everyone know, but the Stubborn Defense Tactic will be changed on Challenger and Expert maps so that #Defensive Defenders will only be able to store up to 1 Indestructible Passive while Stubborn is in use.

I appreciate that you guys are taking steps to make AW better but ill be honest and I think I speak for about 90% of the players when I say just scrap Defensive tactics all together, all it does is frustrate players and take the fun out of AW, or just remove flow all together its the lease favorite tactics and instead of removing dodge or what ever else was remove flow should've been the first to go because its the "lease popular defensive tactics " do a poll with all the tactics and I can guarantee you that flow will get the most vote for lease popular. Please consider removing Defensive tactics we all want It Gone and the attack tactics are useless to be honest.

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Carmel1

i have a question about the strike counter fury node.

first of all the numbers i see in the counters are different than the one i see in the forum.
in the maps it says 5 light, 5 medium and 2 heavies...
i'll guess the numbers are just based on the tier\map.

second, the description of the node says that in order to get rid of the passive fury the attacker need to reset all the counters.
in the description it says there are two ways to reset the all the counters. once is by completing all the light\medium\heavy missions and the second one is by launching special attack.
my teammate fought this node and use two heavies... the heavy counter went to zero and the defender gained passive fury over time. without completing the other missions he used special attack that reset all the counters but the fury wasn't removed.
is that a bug or i miss something with the way this node works?

Little_Crocodili29

My team's been G2 for many seasons. We purposefully stay low and avoid getting anywhere near T5. Not worth the hassle / stress / price.

But even then we still organize full diversity, assign attack paths, do whole season and everybody plays. For our time and input, Season rewards were always a joke in comparison. But the worst thing about it?

It's.just.not.fun!

Chatting with my members tonight we realized last we really enjoyed ourselves in AW was in this map tbh.

We barely had 4*s back then and the champs were so basic. But damn... it used to be an actual competitive cool game mode.

Going thru section 1 tonight and all our three battlegroups agree: this version is the worst yet. A whole month locking our champs for this?

RIP AW seriously.

Thecurler

My team's been G2 for many seasons. We purposefully stay low and avoid getting anywhere near T5. Not worth the hassle / stress / price.

But even then we still organize full diversity, assign attack paths, do whole season and everybody plays. For our time and input, Season rewards were always a joke in comparison. But the worst thing about it?

It's.just.not.fun!

Chatting with my members tonight we realized last we really enjoyed ourselves in AW was in this map tbh.

We barely had 4*s back then and the champs were so basic. But damn... it used to be an actual competitive cool game mode.

Going thru section 1 tonight and all our three battlegroups agree: this version is the worst yet. A whole month locking our champs for this?

RIP AW seriously.

That was the best map by far. Black Widow needed for thorns on path 4.

Raganator

My team's been G2 for many seasons. We purposefully stay low and avoid getting anywhere near T5. Not worth the hassle / stress / price.

But even then we still organize full diversity, assign attack paths, do whole season and everybody plays. For our time and input, Season rewards were always a joke in comparison. But the worst thing about it?

It's.just.not.fun!

Chatting with my members tonight we realized last we really enjoyed ourselves in AW was in this map tbh.

We barely had 4*s back then and the champs were so basic. But damn... it used to be an actual competitive cool game mode.

Going thru section 1 tonight and all our three battlegroups agree: this version is the worst yet. A whole month locking our champs for this?

RIP AW seriously.

Yeah. It really was a fun game mode back then. Sad what it has become.

Pulyaman

i have a question about the strike counter fury node.

first of all the numbers i see in the counters are different than the one i see in the forum.
in the maps it says 5 light, 5 medium and 2 heavies...
i'll guess the numbers are just based on the tier\map.

second, the description of the node says that in order to get rid of the passive fury the attacker need to reset all the counters.
in the description it says there are two ways to reset the all the counters. once is by completing all the light\medium\heavy missions and the second one is by launching special attack.
my teammate fought this node and use two heavies... the heavy counter went to zero and the defender gained passive fury over time. without completing the other missions he used special attack that reset all the counters but the fury wasn't removed.
is that a bug or i miss something with the way this node works?

It does not say that the fury is removed, if you reset the counter

Gomezlink

They left the most complicated knots, now to remove the indestructible in the interception, it has to be every 6 seconds, the fight is eternal, and the opponent is always indestructible ...

Verreaux

I think node 23 needs to be toned down in challenger and below, Oscillate + Aggression Fury is just not a fun combination when oscillate makes the defender back away and you can't safely attack since they always have a chance to just light attack if you try and heavy, and adding Tunnel Vision really reduces your ability to hit the defender to reduce the stacks properly without causing miss and dying instantly. Combined with a good flow defender like IMIW, the defender gets so much time to build up fury while you can't safely attack that you are basically expected to perfect intercept or die on a parry. Even for a node all 10 people can hit, placing the right defender there can cause so many deaths that it's just not good design at all.