BROKE THAT CURSE FAM. We back to winnin'. Went 2-3, which is honestly better than I expected for Weekend HotS. We did pretty good.
Also learning that once again my own stubbornness is my downfall with Varian. They had Chromie/Li-Ming, Rynox suggested I go Shield Wall. I never go Shield Wall, but I was like "yknow what, you might be right". Zero deaths. Chromie/Li-Ming NEVER did damage to me.
It's not bad at all, in certain niche situations. You can still make Charge work (70% slow is still good!), but yes the 16 second cooldown is otherwise brutal. There are definitely games that I should've been taking Shield Wall in, but my own stubbornness prevented me from doing so. It's an incredible tool vs Mages and you can negate so much of their damage that way. You can also straight up Charge in immediately hit W, and make EVERYONE waste their buttons. And then you turn the fight instantly because lol they have no cds.
Also I tried out Endless Energy in that Alarak game over Chaos Reigns. It's... pretty good. I didn't fully complete the quest (9/10), but that cooldown reduction is noticeable. It gives you more poke and more healing. With the buff to E range this patch I figured I'd try it out. And, honestly, it has a similar winrate to Chaos Reigns. I didn't go full lightning build, just Endless Energy. Still pretty good. Also you can like, target minions/buildings with E to get the "hit-in-the-center" requirement. Hm!
bonus pic of me being salty over supagoat stealing my mvp
I've said it before, Shield Wall is actually a stupid good talent. It's just, the base version of Charge is so bad, that Warbringer gives you MORE utility improvement than Wall in 70-80% of games. Really hope they fix the Taunt build. I think he doesn't need the attack speed slow at 10, and a buff to baseline charge, plus make Taunt AoE and give it a larger radius would do the trick.
EDIT: actually, give Taunt a higher cooldown as well, make it more powerful, more impactful, and make it happen less often. Because right now, with the 16 second CD, you charge (16s) Taunt (16s) and get about 1.5s of control total. Or you can just take Warbringer at 4 and get a 6s cd charge and stun on one ability that gives you 1s of control. An extra .5 or so second of control is not remotely worth an extra 10s of cd.
morgan_coke on
XBL: Morgan Coke Yes, there is a space, not an underscore. I'm old school like that.
Battle.net: morgancoke#1589
pff, was just playing a game with a fury varian on my team against CS varian, zeratul, and arthas. boy zeratul especially is a sad sad panda when he has to get into a melee fight with fury varian. our varian won multiple fights against 2 or 3 of them because he just has so much healing.
their arthas didn't take the aspd down which would have probably been smart, we didn't have much else melee attack but worth just to counter varian probably.
Has anyone else been coming up against a lot of 5 stacks. I think in my last 8 or so games I have been placed against 4 or 5 stacks all with higher average mmrs then my team.
Has anyone else been coming up against a lot of 5 stacks. I think in my last 8 or so games I have been placed against 4 or 5 stacks all with higher average mmrs then my team.
What's the size of your party? 3 or more makes it more likely I think
Has anyone else been coming up against a lot of 5 stacks. I think in my last 8 or so games I have been placed against 4 or 5 stacks all with higher average mmrs then my team.
The weekend sees alot of that. It's why the match quality goes to shit.
This is a really well written, well thought out post about Varian's current situation regarding Second Wind (and other stuff in general).
Did you know: Second Wind is NOT 1% of his health per hit? It's actually 1.17%? I always thought it was 1% this whole time. That extra .17% does make a difference.
But anyway, the person who wrote this up has some pretty good ideas about how to handle nerfing Second Wind, and other changes in general. Some I don't necessarily agree with (CS making Varian self-vulnerable, ick no), but a lot of those proposed changes look great.
Also Taunt's attackspeed penalty has got to go. I dunno why they put it in there to begin with.
Has anyone else been coming up against a lot of 5 stacks. I think in my last 8 or so games I have been placed against 4 or 5 stacks all with higher average mmrs then my team.
What's the size of your party? 3 or more makes it more likely I think
It was just me solo-queuing. I was playing Varian, so that might have had something to do with it. Just very frustrating as I kept getting stomped, oddly enough it stopped once I queued up with another person. Hooray matchmaker.
0
21stCenturyCall me Pixel, or Pix for short![They/Them]Registered Userregular
So i jumped back into HotS after an extended (like, year long) hiatus.
So i jumped back into HotS after an extended (like, year long) hiatus.
How does Cho'Gall work?
He's a two-player hero. One person picks Cho, the other picks Gall. Each has their own separate talent trees (including ultimates), but you often want to coordinate the picks because there can be some synergy.
Cho is the one who gets to control Cho'gall's movement, while Gall basically pew pews. Playing Gall is a bit like controlling an Abathur hat, if you've ever played that hero.
So i jumped back into HotS after an extended (like, year long) hiatus.
How does Cho'Gall work?
Cho and Gall must be selected as a team, i.e., both players must be in a party. Cho is a beefy warrior with at least some self-sustainability, and Gall provides high ranged DPS while basically acting as a turret attached to Cho. Playing either is a delight if you're on good terms with the person playing the other.
Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
This Brawl is too structured to not have a matchmaker or allow people some control over the heroes they select. The other ones were pretty much "just run around and kill stuff", so it didn't matter as much. But this time there's a clear objective that requires some sort of coordination, and it takes all the worst parts of QM and exacerbates them to not only have widely disparate skill levels but a random selection of heroes besides. The games are incredibly lopsided, and you are either left feeling incredibly frustrated at a loss you have no control over or vaguely dissatisfied with an easy stomp.
This is one case where they would've benefited from making this a more meaningful game mode, or changing things up enough that skill level or hero choice doesn't matter as much.
So i jumped back into HotS after an extended (like, year long) hiatus.
How does Cho'Gall work?
Cho and Gall must be selected as a team, i.e., both players must be in a party. Cho is a beefy warrior with at least some self-sustainability, and Gall provides high ranged DPS while basically acting as a turret attached to Cho. Playing either is a delight if you're on good terms with the person playing the other.
But are Cho and Gall separate heroes? Like, if i purchase Cho, do i get Gall too?
So i jumped back into HotS after an extended (like, year long) hiatus.
How does Cho'Gall work?
Cho and Gall must be selected as a team, i.e., both players must be in a party. Cho is a beefy warrior with at least some self-sustainability, and Gall provides high ranged DPS while basically acting as a turret attached to Cho. Playing either is a delight if you're on good terms with the person playing the other.
But are Cho and Gall separate heroes? Like, if i purchase Cho, do i get Gall too?
They are separate heroes, but buying one should get you both. That was the case on their release, so I have to assume that's the case now.
Alright, I'll jump into training and give it a go. Also, got Zarya today for free. Didn't like her at all. Feels clunky compared to other Warriors and I'd rather play Muradin...who I just bought today along side Azmodan.
Only 8 games away from the 30 game Nexus challenge being completed and then I'll have to look over my favorites. Still sitting on 30k gold and haven't decided who to pull the trigger on yet. No rush I guess, especially if they keep offering heroes for free.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
Alright, I'll jump into training and give it a go. Also, got Zarya today for free. Didn't like her at all. Feels clunky compared to other Warriors and I'd rather play Muradin.
Muradin and Zarya are both Tier 1 warriors. They're both huge assets to a team. But that's where the similarities end. Muradin is an insane front-liner with almost unparalleled self-sustain and crowd control. Zarya provides a ton of support while also bringing the damage. Look at this screenshot that @Dibby posted earlier on the page --
See how Rynox has top everything. That's what an average Rynox on Zarya match looks like. He plays her incredibly well, but anyone who gets her fundamentals down can post huge stats like that. She's a DPS machine.
I guess I'm the odd man out cause I like regular ol' Quick Cast. None of this weird On-Release nonsense :P
It is personal preference between the two, I mean. Like I tried On-Release but I found it was messing up ALL my skillshots. Like I'd fire off a Q on Jaina and it'd fling in the complete opposite direction because by the time I released Q, my mouse was elsewhere.
I'm moving my mouse around, a lot. I'm constantly clicking and moving and panning. I need my skillshots to go off the MOMENT I press a button down, not the moment I release the button up.
I'd suggest trying both On-Release and regular Quick Cast to get a feel for both. Again, I personally prefer regular Quick Cast; it just makes everything feel more fluid and responsive.
THAT SAID. There's a few abilities I actually leave QC off for, and this is on a per-hero per-ability basis. Falstad's Hinterland Blast is one of these, because you really need to line it up just right, and also sometimes you're offscreen and need to utilize its humongous range. I also have Nazeebo's Zombie Wall off QC, because I always seem to overestimate the cast range on that stupid thing (it's REALLY tiny) and it's caused me to miss a whole shitload because of it. I also have Nazeebo's Toads off of QC for a similar reason, I need to know the maximum distance I can fire that off (especially if I'm going Toad talents).
But for the most part, Quick Cast all day, son.
Dibby on
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
+1
No-QuarterNothing To FearBut Fear ItselfRegistered Userregular
This Brawl is too structured to not have a matchmaker or allow people some control over the heroes they select. The other ones were pretty much "just run around and kill stuff", so it didn't matter as much. But this time there's a clear objective that requires some sort of coordination, and it takes all the worst parts of QM and exacerbates them to not only have widely disparate skill levels but a random selection of heroes besides. The games are incredibly lopsided, and you are either left feeling incredibly frustrated at a loss you have no control over or vaguely dissatisfied with an easy stomp.
This is one case where they would've benefited from making this a more meaningful game mode, or changing things up enough that skill level or hero choice doesn't matter as much.
Yeeeep, I just tried out the Brawl myself.
Not fun at all.
The first one was actually really close? 4/5 cannons fired, I fired the 5th... just as the enemy team hit 100%. Welp.
2nd was a shit show. No one knew how to work together, kept trying to fight into the enemy deathball of 5 when down in numbers.
It's just too fucking easy to defend. It's SO hard to attack.
(reminds me of a certain other blizzard game i couldn't get into that had this same problem :rotate:)
Edit: 3 out of 3 games were losses, all 3 games were on Offense. What a surprise! Yeah, this Brawl is awful, I hate it. The Defense team just deathballs around the map and it's entirely too easy to stall out the attacking team. Attackers are revealed at all times when they have Cannonballs so the Defense team can just go where they are. Fuck, man.
Alright, I'll jump into training and give it a go. Also, got Zarya today for free. Didn't like her at all. Feels clunky compared to other Warriors and I'd rather play Muradin.
Muradin and Zarya are both Tier 1 warriors. They're both huge assets to a team. But that's where the similarities end. Muradin is an insane front-liner with almost unparalleled self-sustain and crowd control. Zarya provides a ton of support while also bringing the damage. Look at this screenshot that @Dibby posted earlier on the page --
See how Rynox has top everything. That's what an average Rynox on Zarya match looks like. He plays her incredibly well, but anyone who gets her fundamentals down can post huge stats like that. She's a DPS machine.
I have no doubt that Zarya can be a monster, it's just that I don't feel like she's for me. She requires a more in-depth understanding of the game, all the enemy heroes, and when to shield up. Since I have just under 200 games under my belt and haven't even come close to playing more than 30% of the cast, I'm clearly (as Illidan would say) "not prepared" to be good with her.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
what if i told you @Supagoat and I queued into a QM game on Braxxis
and our team comp was Dehaka/Kharazim/Gazlowe/Medivh/Rexxar
vs Artanis/Uther/Nova/Varian/Zagara
would you think that we lost that one super hard?
or would you believe that we actually won
BELIEVE IT
(i even took the wrong heroic oops)
Our Medivh was on point though man. Great portals, great shields, awesome dude. At one point the Artanis was slinking away to his base, Medivh drops a portal. I enter, TONGUE ARTANIS RIGHT AS HE'S ENTERING HIS GATE AND WE KILL HIM. Not today, Artanis. Not today.
Also side note, I was playing Dehaka wrong all this time Primal Aggression is the fucking light, it is the truth, it is the way. It turns Dehaka into a waveclear MONSTER, it makes it really goddamn easy for him to get Essence, he can even solo merc camps on his own (albeit it takes a few uses of his W). But the merc camp thing is really handy, you can start it before an objective, and it'll take a while, but then you cap it, objective pops, you hearth and Z right in.
I tried Quick Cast across the board and I'd misjudge range or my aim would be just a little bit off and it was killing me, but on-release lets me hold it down to aim if I need to or tap it quickly to fire it off quickly, and makes a world of difference from [key press] + [mouse click] for everything. Quick Cast is good for a lot of non-skillshot abilities though.
I played for ages with it turned off except for a few cherry picked abilities, until I jumped into League of Legends, got used to its default on-release settings, and then could barely play HotS anymore until I switched to on-release. :P
0
Custom SpecialI know I am, I'm sure I am,I'm Sounders 'til I die!Registered Userregular
Sweet, just got my Nexus Challenge "done". I'm at 29/30, but I'm saving the last one until I'm actually planning on being around to party up and play with real people so I'm not just wasting the first few days of stimpack.
Posts
BROKE THAT CURSE FAM. We back to winnin'. Went 2-3, which is honestly better than I expected for Weekend HotS. We did pretty good.
Also learning that once again my own stubbornness is my downfall with Varian. They had Chromie/Li-Ming, Rynox suggested I go Shield Wall. I never go Shield Wall, but I was like "yknow what, you might be right". Zero deaths. Chromie/Li-Ming NEVER did damage to me.
It's not bad at all, in certain niche situations. You can still make Charge work (70% slow is still good!), but yes the 16 second cooldown is otherwise brutal. There are definitely games that I should've been taking Shield Wall in, but my own stubbornness prevented me from doing so. It's an incredible tool vs Mages and you can negate so much of their damage that way. You can also straight up Charge in immediately hit W, and make EVERYONE waste their buttons. And then you turn the fight instantly because lol they have no cds.
Also I tried out Endless Energy in that Alarak game over Chaos Reigns. It's... pretty good. I didn't fully complete the quest (9/10), but that cooldown reduction is noticeable. It gives you more poke and more healing. With the buff to E range this patch I figured I'd try it out. And, honestly, it has a similar winrate to Chaos Reigns. I didn't go full lightning build, just Endless Energy. Still pretty good. Also you can like, target minions/buildings with E to get the "hit-in-the-center" requirement. Hm!
bonus pic of me being salty over supagoat stealing my mvp
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
EDIT: actually, give Taunt a higher cooldown as well, make it more powerful, more impactful, and make it happen less often. Because right now, with the 16 second CD, you charge (16s) Taunt (16s) and get about 1.5s of control total. Or you can just take Warbringer at 4 and get a 6s cd charge and stun on one ability that gives you 1s of control. An extra .5 or so second of control is not remotely worth an extra 10s of cd.
Battle.net: morgancoke#1589
Titan's Creed: Jump first, don't ask questions, punch everything
Also, I'm up for grouping for anything besides AI over the weekend, feel free to message me if I'm not in game and I'll probably hop on.
Those are some of the most fun and op heroes in the game!
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
their arthas didn't take the aspd down which would have probably been smart, we didn't have much else melee attack but worth just to counter varian probably.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
What's the size of your party? 3 or more makes it more likely I think
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
The weekend sees alot of that. It's why the match quality goes to shit.
"GJ team, keep soaking lanes."
"Damn, lost tower. Illidin group please."
"Illidan group up."
"Illidan?!"
"....."
You have lost.
Illidan really wanted to solo the top tower all game long.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
This is a really well written, well thought out post about Varian's current situation regarding Second Wind (and other stuff in general).
Did you know: Second Wind is NOT 1% of his health per hit? It's actually 1.17%? I always thought it was 1% this whole time. That extra .17% does make a difference.
But anyway, the person who wrote this up has some pretty good ideas about how to handle nerfing Second Wind, and other changes in general. Some I don't necessarily agree with (CS making Varian self-vulnerable, ick no), but a lot of those proposed changes look great.
Also Taunt's attackspeed penalty has got to go. I dunno why they put it in there to begin with.
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
It was just me solo-queuing. I was playing Varian, so that might have had something to do with it. Just very frustrating as I kept getting stomped, oddly enough it stopped once I queued up with another person. Hooray matchmaker.
How does Cho'Gall work?
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
He's a two-player hero. One person picks Cho, the other picks Gall. Each has their own separate talent trees (including ultimates), but you often want to coordinate the picks because there can be some synergy.
Cho is the one who gets to control Cho'gall's movement, while Gall basically pew pews. Playing Gall is a bit like controlling an Abathur hat, if you've ever played that hero.
what a waste of development resources, i'd rather play aram or basically anything else.
Cho and Gall must be selected as a team, i.e., both players must be in a party. Cho is a beefy warrior with at least some self-sustainability, and Gall provides high ranged DPS while basically acting as a turret attached to Cho. Playing either is a delight if you're on good terms with the person playing the other.
Steam: TimIsOnSteam
Battle.net: TimIsOnBnet#1745
Switch: SW-7012-4788-7410
PSN: TimIsOnTheNet
I won 2 games as defenders and 2 games as attackers. It's super fun.
XBL: InvaderJims
Bnet: Pudgestomp#11153
This is one case where they would've benefited from making this a more meaningful game mode, or changing things up enough that skill level or hero choice doesn't matter as much.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
Yes. "On Release" on just a couple heroes.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
On release, always.
Steam: TimIsOnSteam
Battle.net: TimIsOnBnet#1745
Switch: SW-7012-4788-7410
PSN: TimIsOnTheNet
But are Cho and Gall separate heroes? Like, if i purchase Cho, do i get Gall too?
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
They are separate heroes, but buying one should get you both. That was the case on their release, so I have to assume that's the case now.
Steam: TimIsOnSteam
Battle.net: TimIsOnBnet#1745
Switch: SW-7012-4788-7410
PSN: TimIsOnTheNet
On a per skill basis, depending on preference.
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
Only 8 games away from the 30 game Nexus challenge being completed and then I'll have to look over my favorites. Still sitting on 30k gold and haven't decided who to pull the trigger on yet. No rush I guess, especially if they keep offering heroes for free.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
Muradin and Zarya are both Tier 1 warriors. They're both huge assets to a team. But that's where the similarities end. Muradin is an insane front-liner with almost unparalleled self-sustain and crowd control. Zarya provides a ton of support while also bringing the damage. Look at this screenshot that @Dibby posted earlier on the page --
See how Rynox has top everything. That's what an average Rynox on Zarya match looks like. He plays her incredibly well, but anyone who gets her fundamentals down can post huge stats like that. She's a DPS machine.
I guess I'm the odd man out cause I like regular ol' Quick Cast. None of this weird On-Release nonsense :P
It is personal preference between the two, I mean. Like I tried On-Release but I found it was messing up ALL my skillshots. Like I'd fire off a Q on Jaina and it'd fling in the complete opposite direction because by the time I released Q, my mouse was elsewhere.
I'm moving my mouse around, a lot. I'm constantly clicking and moving and panning. I need my skillshots to go off the MOMENT I press a button down, not the moment I release the button up.
I'd suggest trying both On-Release and regular Quick Cast to get a feel for both. Again, I personally prefer regular Quick Cast; it just makes everything feel more fluid and responsive.
THAT SAID. There's a few abilities I actually leave QC off for, and this is on a per-hero per-ability basis. Falstad's Hinterland Blast is one of these, because you really need to line it up just right, and also sometimes you're offscreen and need to utilize its humongous range. I also have Nazeebo's Zombie Wall off QC, because I always seem to overestimate the cast range on that stupid thing (it's REALLY tiny) and it's caused me to miss a whole shitload because of it. I also have Nazeebo's Toads off of QC for a similar reason, I need to know the maximum distance I can fire that off (especially if I'm going Toad talents).
But for the most part, Quick Cast all day, son.
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
Bad Illidans are so easy to farm.
It's even easier when you're playing Illidan.
e- On release for me. I think I may I have micro-set a few abitilities like DIablo's Flamestomp or Illidan's E, or Varian's W on Quick-cast.
Yeeeep, I just tried out the Brawl myself.
Not fun at all.
The first one was actually really close? 4/5 cannons fired, I fired the 5th... just as the enemy team hit 100%. Welp.
2nd was a shit show. No one knew how to work together, kept trying to fight into the enemy deathball of 5 when down in numbers.
It's just too fucking easy to defend. It's SO hard to attack.
(reminds me of a certain other blizzard game i couldn't get into that had this same problem :rotate:)
Edit: 3 out of 3 games were losses, all 3 games were on Offense. What a surprise! Yeah, this Brawl is awful, I hate it. The Defense team just deathballs around the map and it's entirely too easy to stall out the attacking team. Attackers are revealed at all times when they have Cannonballs so the Defense team can just go where they are. Fuck, man.
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
Especially since I just got handed Falstad.
GUST FO' DAYS. GTFO.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
I have no doubt that Zarya can be a monster, it's just that I don't feel like she's for me. She requires a more in-depth understanding of the game, all the enemy heroes, and when to shield up. Since I have just under 200 games under my belt and haven't even come close to playing more than 30% of the cast, I'm clearly (as Illidan would say) "not prepared" to be good with her.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
what if i told you @Supagoat and I queued into a QM game on Braxxis
and our team comp was Dehaka/Kharazim/Gazlowe/Medivh/Rexxar
vs Artanis/Uther/Nova/Varian/Zagara
would you think that we lost that one super hard?
or would you believe that we actually won
BELIEVE IT
(i even took the wrong heroic oops)
Our Medivh was on point though man. Great portals, great shields, awesome dude. At one point the Artanis was slinking away to his base, Medivh drops a portal. I enter, TONGUE ARTANIS RIGHT AS HE'S ENTERING HIS GATE AND WE KILL HIM. Not today, Artanis. Not today.
Also side note, I was playing Dehaka wrong all this time Primal Aggression is the fucking light, it is the truth, it is the way. It turns Dehaka into a waveclear MONSTER, it makes it really goddamn easy for him to get Essence, he can even solo merc camps on his own (albeit it takes a few uses of his W). But the merc camp thing is really handy, you can start it before an objective, and it'll take a while, but then you cap it, objective pops, you hearth and Z right in.
This was a fun game though
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
I played for ages with it turned off except for a few cherry picked abilities, until I jumped into League of Legends, got used to its default on-release settings, and then could barely play HotS anymore until I switched to on-release. :P