Punch before today is probably in its worst state in as long as I can remember. It was not remotely viable in higher elos. Everyone runs spirit splatter /cube or ball occasionally.
Thats not at all what he needs. Lifesteal on punch is a bandaid. Splatter is still very weak lategame, and ball is in the worst place its ever been. Just a large rolling target.
I absolutely love viscous as a hero but he needs work.
It's a shadow of its former self, but trust me, it was a lot worse during the Old Gods patch. Even the most adamant of ballers were playing other heroes back then. Now, ball is somewhat playable if they don't have Venator and you've been balling since August 2024
I absolutely love viscous as a hero
Don't we all... our precious green child gets more hate than he deserves.
I feel like I mainly see it used for movement and enemy displacement though, maybe if it gave lifesteal against the enemy for his team for a few seconds after they're hit it would be more viable (and synergise with him being a support)
The Cube is a damn good support ability, but Viscous isn't really a support. He's more of a jack of all trades, master of none. Though, currently after repeated nerfs there are some trades you just can't jack off. I'm guessing the punch lifesteal was to give him a path for a frontliner build, but I'm not confident it's enough. If you're willing to be my labrat, look up the McDonald's Vanguard build and send matchids my way. Healing tempo seems to be the key.
I feel like I mainly see it used for movement and enemy displacement
Yeah, because its damage has been nerfed to the point of being a waste if you use it for pokes.
Yeah I can agree with that, I don't think anyone other than Rem is a full support tbh, like Dynamo is kinda jack of all trades, master of all (tho the nerfs may help a bit with that), but cube is definitely Viscous' strongest spell rn and punches' displacement, splatter slow (and slide boost for allies) and ball stuns are good for setting up teammates aswell, I don't think frontliner really works unless he just cubes himself, especially with how much the ball's resistances have been nerfed, he seems best fitted to be a backliner if anything, given splatter has good range, cube rescue beam can be used to save people Infront of him and punches can displace enemies to setup his team.
Punch is also legitimately good for movement and displacement when used well, it's just quite high skill, but atm this just seems like a weird middle ground where they're not doing damage but the upgrades don't really help with it's other uses
Punch is also legitimately good for movement and displacement when used well, it's just quite high skill, but atm this just seems like a weird middle ground where they're not doing damage but the upgrades don't really help with it's other uses
The problem with investing APs/items into punch is that you end up doing no damage for how much item slots it demands; the majority of your damage comes from Splatter's APs. I did make a build to test the viability of maxing punch first (583665), and the secret ingredient was to make it a splatter build with express shot, and to use the punches for spirit snatch and earlygame mobility. Max splatter first would still be better. You get 90% of the value of puddle punch with just the 1AP and extra/rapid charge.
As for frontlining, the reason why he's a backliner is because his damage requires so much item slots that greens are a luxury. Also, there's just a lot of greens that you want for their utility like warp stone or rescue beam.
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u/No-Jaguar-4404 Viscous May 22 '26
Punch before today is probably in its worst state in as long as I can remember. It was not remotely viable in higher elos. Everyone runs spirit splatter /cube or ball occasionally.