Second-time Tune-Ups

This is a thread for suggestions about second-time Tune-Ups.

There have been a few of these lately: Yondu, Deadpool X-Force, Gamora, and Jane Foster. They've actually all been really good, so I'm hoping that other champs will get the same opportunity, where an original buff was just a little bit underwhelming, and left them still on the bench.

So, the premise for this thread is to suggest modest changes to champions who've already have some kind of buff/Tune-up, that maybe wasn't so well received: a handful of changes to the champs current kit, which should otherwise be pretty much unchanged.

I've got some ideas for a few champions, which I'll add below over the next couple of days. But I'd like to encourage other people to add suggestions for second-time tune-ups for other champs that I really don't have ideas for, such as Psycho-man, Ant Man and Sentry.

Comments

Magrailothos

Civil Warrior

Following his tune-up, Civil got access to decent damage and moderate utility, but he requires an incredibly stressful and unsatisfying playstyle: once you've started converting Armour buffs to Fury buffs, you're basically locked in to a style of constantly dashing back to convert more, in order to prevent them falling off. And with an even slightly passive AI, all your work can be lost; which is incredibly frustrating

But still, the kit itself actually isn't bad at all - strong reliable armour, power control, immunity to Nullify, access to surprisingly big damage, and effectively rapidly becoming essentially immune to bleed/poison. What's not to like?

I think he could be made less stressful, valuable and genuinely meta with just a couple of tweaks/additions to his repertoire:

(1) When starting a Combo against a non-Stunned Opponent, Personal Fury buffs are paused during the combo, and for 2.5 seconds after landing a combo-ending attack.

(2) When he has an Armour buff, Civil Warrior can parry non-contact attacks, and counts as having #Psychic Shielding.

(3) Instead of granting Ability Accuracy Reduction against Bleed+Poison, Armour buffs grant AAR against Bleed, Daunted and Neuroshock.

Magrailothos

Daredevil (Hells Kitchen)

Obviously his reduced base regeneration is the main problem; also everyone runs Inequity now, his damage-related buffs don't last long enough for decent damage; and the AAR in Stick's Apprentice mode isn't quite reliable enough. But we can fix all that...

(1) Daredevil's base regeneration rate is set at 40% of normal, but gains a flat +40% whilst he is suffering from a damaging debuff. Additionally, he disables the opponent's Inequity and Despair masteries.

(2) Whilst in Stick's Apprentice mode, charging a Heavy Attack after a non-combo-ending attack inflicts Daredevil with a Sidestep debuff lasting 1.5s which causes all incoming non-Special attacks to Miss. Cooldown 12s

(3) Special-1: Instead of granting Precision, this now inflicts a Disorient debuff (-35% Defensive Ability Accuracy and Block Proficiency) which lasts 12s and is Paused until the end of the special animation.

(4) When Daredevil triggers the Dexterity Mastery, or lands a first Light attack into block, he Pauses his Personal Fury and Cruelty buffs for 2s.

Magrailothos

War Machine

Like Civil Warrior, War Machine actually has solid damage; it's just that for him, it requires a ridiculously long SP2-SP2-SP3 rotation. He's also very held back by his non-returning Armour buff. Let's see if we can improve on those...

(1) If War Machine's indefinite Armour Up buff is broken, it is replaced after 12s. When fighting cosmic opponents, replacement Armour Up buffs have 50% reduced Potency.However, if his indefinite Armour Up buff is Nullified or Stolen, it is instead replaced with an indefinite Armour Up passive with +25% Potency.

(2) On SP2, opponents who are immune to Armour Break instead suffer a Physical Vulnerability debuff lasting 15s, and reducing Physical Resistance by -1150. These Physical Vulnerability debuffs count as Armour breaks for his other abilities.

(3) Enhanced Armoury Prefights
When defending, War Machine activates one random Prefight ability
Support: Start the fight with three indefinite Cleanse charges, and generate one Cleanse charge each time a Special Attack is activated. Max stacks three.
Fortify: Champions gain Energy Resistance equal to their Armour rating, and Physical resistance equal to half their Armour rating.
Skirmish: Gain up to +1277 Attack based on current Armour, and Personal debuffs gain +33% duration
Expedite: Start the match with a 40% Energise buff lasting 25s.

Magrailothos

Yellowjacket

Yellowjacket is a Science champ who's nearly good, and is absolutely rammed with utility; but despite that he's completely overshadowed by basically every other Power Sting champion. A few small changes could help make him more interesting/useful:

(1) Quantum Evasion - Yellowjacket does not make use of the Dexterity Mastery. However, he shrinks as he dashes back, and cannot be struck by attacks. When dodging an attack in this way, gain +5 Core charge (cooldown 1.2s) and inflict an Infuriate debuff on the opponent for 7s (+1s per level invested in Dex).
Note: works like Silk, so it isn't a buff immunity; and it will enable him to 'Dex' against Serpent, Photon, or when Fumbled.

(2) The base potency of Power Sting damage needs to be increased substantially - probably around 60-70%. Additionally, the SP3 sting is upgraded to a Severe debuff.

(3) Signature (Replaces old Sig):
The first time any Power Sting or Petrify debuff ends, it has a 50-80% chance to re-apply itself at 50-80% of the original Potency.
Additionally, Core Meltdown is extended by 4-8 seconds.

Magrailothos

Hawkeye

Hawkeye actually got a deceptively good kit. There's utility, he remains the only Skill champion with meaningful Power Control; and when Awakened, his damage is actually way better than you might think, if you're aggressive.

He's got Slow to simulate his canonic 'never miss' skills, but it's a pretty short effect, it requires a Heavy to activate, and honestly, it just doesn't actually feel right for him. I like Hawkeye being able to counter Evade, but it really doesn't make sense for Hawkeye to prevent Unstoppable, at least without even making use of a Trick arrow.

(1) Prefight ability: Toggle between trick arrows that inflict Bleed/Shock/Acid Burn. Acid Burn inflicts 20% less damage than the other two, but additionally reduces the opponent's Regeneration rate by 30%. All personal abilities that apply to Bleed debuffs apply equally to these alternate debuffs.

(2) Remove his Slow ability. Instead, on Intercepting the opponent, or Punishing their Heavy/Special attacks, gain a Pursuit passive for 14s.

Whilst Pursuit is active, Special Attacks can't be Autoblocked, and gain +625 Critical Damage Rating and +825 Armour Penetration.

(3) Dialed In passives are improved to increase personal debuff duration by 20%, and each also grants Hawkeye +140 Critical Rating, doubled on Special Attacks. Any Early/Late release costs him two passives.

Average_Desi

Just ignoring Maw, huh

Magrailothos

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2929727#Comment_2929727

I'm not finished! 🤣

Hadn't thought of him, yet, though. I'll have a crack at him soon!

Magrailothos

Dani Moonstar

Technically she was rebalanced, rather than 'tuned up'. But still, that's close enough for me...

Dani is beautifully animated, and she's fun to play. But, her signature 'Marked' ability, which was once unique, is now turning up all over the place; her damage is serviceable at best, and unless you're a fan, there just aren't a lot of reasons to use her besides having a bit of fun. And multiple Skill champs counter Miss, making her Illusions much less effective against the Class Wheel.

But a couple of small changes could give her better utility and damage, particularly against the Skill champs she's supposed to counter...

(1) Move Marked into her base kit.

(2) As well as gaining Neural Arrows when the opponent Misses, also gain one when she inflicts the opponent with Falter.

(3) New signature:
When a Neuroshock or a Parry-stun is Cleansed or Purified, inflict an equivalent Potency Passive with up to +100% Duration.
Additionally, for each 40 Sig levels, Dani's max stacks of Prowess and Neural arrows rise by one.

This last bit of the Sig is stronger than you might think - her Neural arrows also increase her Prowess Potency, so the effect on her damage potential should be pretty noticeable.

Magrailothos

Guillotine (Classic)

Kabam went for absolute simplicity when they buffed Guillotine. But she's so simple that she would need crazy damage to make it worthwhile. And the damage simply isn't that crazy.

I'm particularly disappointed by the design for "Pain Link", which is an annoyance on defense, but virtually useless on Attack: it's a great idea, but surely it should actually reduce the damage she takes? If it did, then it could be used offensively...

(1) Pain Link reduces all non-physical damage to Guillotine by 30%. The damage prevented is inflicted on the opponent. Additionally, whilst Pain Link is active, reduce the opponent's regeneration rate by 40%: any healing prevented is transferred to Guillotine.

(2) All sword attacks have a 25% chance to inflict Bleed, increasing to 60% on Critical Hits and Intercepts.

(3) SP3 adjustment: Instead of a flat increase just to the duration of degeneration, each Soul charge (note that there's a max cap 15) increases the Potency and Duration of Degeneration by 10%.

(4) Signature: In addition to replacing Bleeds with Ruptures, Guillotines Awakening improves her Bleed Curse: Bleed Curse gains +2-4s duration, and also inflicts 15-25% Bleed Vulnerability

Magrailothos

Ebony Maw

One for @Average_Desi 😉

(1) Ebony Maw starts the fight with Persuasive Voice active (focusing is only required after knockdown). The opponent gains one Persuasion every 0.6 seconds. Additionally, whilst Attacking, one Persuasion is gained each time an attack is blocked, or two Persuasion each time the opponent Misses.

If you bait out Misses during Falter, this should speed his ramp substantially…

(2) Heavy attacks: Power Steal Potency is a flat 20% of a bar of Power, increasing to 30% whilst the opponent is Faltered.

(3) Special Attacks: All Personal Falter effects are Paused during Maw's Special attacks. Additionally, if no buff is Nullified on his SP1, the opponent gains a Precision buff granting them Guaranteed Critical Hits for 6s.

As long as he's not fighting a Science opponent, or a Miss counter, that Precision buff should give Maw 6 seconds of complete control over the fight to do whatever he wants with, as well as something he can Nullify. Against a Science opponent, it's going to be a classic 'pride comes before a fall' moment 😁

(4) Missions from Thanos:

In Battlegrounds, Maw starts with one additional persistent charge if Attacking, or two if Defending.

Each charge increases the duration and Potency of personal degeneration effects by 12.5%, and reduces the Potency of the opponent's Fury and Power Gain buffs by 25%.

A bit more utility against opponents with power gain abilities; the persistent charges now affect duration and Potency of degenerations, plus it's good to start with bonus charges in Battlegrounds.