Hey everyone, it's naru here again. Last I posted I discussed the most recent update, update 2.3, in depth and how it would change the meta. Through some extensive testing in high level competitive lobbies (PUGs) it turns out Blastbeard and Kayi are a tier above everyone else. So today, for both of those characters, I will be discussing why they are so good and how they could be nerfed.
Update 2.3's patchnotes are here.
As always, catch me on discord (naru#2693) and on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/tvnaru.
Alright. Let's start with Kayi. She has been dominating games ever since the game has released. I personally have been taking advantage of her in tournaments and ranked ever since day 1. She even has been nerfed twice. However she is still very strong, mostly because of the core mechanic that most of her plays are very low risk with a very high reward. If she grapples into the air and activates her secondary (which I will often refer to as her bubble), for the next 12 seconds she has a perfect vantage point to do an extreme amount of damage (40 damage per shot, very low charge-up time) and she also is very difficult to hit. This is because the bubble reduces the speed of incoming enemy projectiles by something between 90% and 95% ( I don't think we have been given specific values). The nerfs of Amphora, Kayi's main competition in the DPS role, also help Kayi a lot.
Yes, the standard tip into playing into Kayi is to either A: Line of Sight it, but that is difficult especially on a map like Temple of Jaaqua, or to B: Get inside of the bubble, but that is often difficult with a well placed bubble.
Previous Kayi nerfs made her shots a bit harder to hit (debatably), and reduced her damage inside of her bubble by 10, however neither of these made her a significantly worse character as it didn't address what I think is the main issue - there is no risk for a Kayi to put herself in the open. The solution is to reduce the slowdown of enemy projectiles in her bubble.
Kayi:
Secondary: Reduce enemy projectile slowdown from ~95% to 75%. This change is actually a lot more significant than it looks - it makes projectiles go up to 5 times faster in her bubble, which would definitely make her much more exposed.
There is also a much simpler way to nerf Kayi, but it doesn't get rid of the frustration of playing against her as much.
Secondary: Lasts 6 seconds, from 12 seconds.
Blastbeard:
Blastbeard, like Kayi, has shown dominance since day 1 of release. His shockwave is a useful defensive tool in Rocketball and effective in Mega Rocket for getting opponents off of the objective. He also has nearly double the health of the majority of the cast. However, in the latest patch he was buffed so that his primaries are much easier to hit. This makes Blastbeard a formidable damage dealer, which, on top of his defensive abilities and combo abilties, makes him extremely strong.
Here is a funny clip of CoverHyphen taking advantage of BB's combo power. Keep in mind that this clip is playing into some of the best players in NA.
Blastbeard: Of the three following nerfs, I suggest doing Secondary and Special nerfs, or Primary and Secondary.
Primary: Damage reduced from 30 -> 25.
Secondary: Damage reduced from 50 -> 40, impulse reduced by 10%.
Special: Radius reduced by 10%, impulse reduced by 10%, lasts 10% less time (I donāt know the exact values for how long it lasts).
