Let’s talk about this Aftershock “nerf”

This item is a MASSIVE problem child in this game and has been the cause of an incredible amount of frustration on my end, so I figured we’d look at how this patch affects my personal role, the high health roam character.

So I recently checked today and with 3-4 completed items (usually the basic Fountain/Crucible/Treads/Stormcrown or whatever, I’m just playing casual with some fun builds) my max health typically falls in the 4.4k range. Sometimes slightly more.

Now, I do not know if Aftershock deals crystal damage or not. Or if it’s affected by the shield stat. Sometimes it feels it isn’t as the item just does a massive chunk of damage regardless.

So, against a 4.4k health character without factoring shield (exactly 4400 health) you will take (on the current patch) 616 damage PURELY from the Aftershock effect, not counting the base damage of whatever is hitting you. Put this on a Koshka with a similar 4 item build and suddenly you’re getting chunked for almost a third of your health while you’re the tanky character.

Let’s repeat, an assassin with Aftershock can burst down a tank as effectively as a glass cannon carry. Now, factoring in defense you MIGHT be able to lower this amount by about 30% (pulling numbers outta thin air for this just from experience) so. Without EXACT numbers, let’s say 700 damage is going to be about what you take overall from just a single ability and auto.

Now, with the nerfed Aftershock that bade damage is reduced by 44. You’ll take a base of 572 from the proc, and still take all the damage of the ability and auto as well.

Now, as someone who frequently plays supports and tanks I feel this is nowhere near a significant reduction and really is just a “crowd pleaser” nerf to make fewer people complain about this horrendously overtuned special effect.

The big problem I have is that it gives some CP (a damage stat) which alone isn’t a big deal. But it also adds a massive burst of damage on a very low cooldown (any assassin remotely worth their salt will be able to time their abilities so they nail multiple procs) at an extremely low cost (I believe it’s 2400 gold, tied with Clockwork for the title of one of the cheapest crystal items) and it is often a better pickup than actual CP items.

Now, I would be happy to see the item cost increase by (at the very least) 300-400 so it is near the cost of other frequently purchased core items, as it has become a core pickup for melee CP assassins. It’s no longer an item supports buy to deal damage (though they can do this as well)

TL;DR Aftershock lost 40 damage on proc and still remains incredibly low cost. It hasn’t lost any effectiveness and the heroes who use it won’t feel any effects from this pitiful “nerf”.

5 Likes

I think they should nerf the % max health from 13 to 10 and increase the cost by 100 gold. However, the bonus CP is increased from 35 to 40.

1 Like

Honestly I would rather see them do this gradually a huge nerf all at once can seriously screw things up causing emergency buffs. By doing it a little bit at a time also allows them to see if is starting to work if not easy to undo

7 Likes

The health was increased 20–25% on heroes. The balance point for AS would be 12% for it to match the damage it was doing before. I agree the cost should increase to balance the item.

aftershock needs a cooldown nerf not a health nerf. I understand it was made for CP brawlers to stay in the fight better than they would with eve but it can truly be abused by anyone with a tank build or who kites effectively, which was outside it’s purpose.

I personally feel raising the cost to equal comparable items would go a long way toward balancing it by delaying the power spike.

The item does seem a little too good. I throw it onto my adagio support build sometimes and it works really well. Defense does affect it I think.
They need to boost the defense. Many things were messed up that way :frowning:

3 Likes

The problem at the moment is that Reza and Koshka can both abuse the item as a first buy, as it combines well with their Kits (Especially Reza literally his entire kit takes advantage of it). I think nerfing it isn’t necessarily the right idea, or at least if you do you’d have to buff those two heroes. However making it a little more expensive so they can’t get it quite so early might be a good idea. Or maybe make it more like Tension Bow, give it a fixed extra damage output to make it OP early but not scale well. That might ruin CP Ozo tho.

imo the way as nerfed is right

if this 12% still too powerful, take another 1%

next, if 11% makes as useless/weak, buff it back but not with %health but with crystal power

2 Likes

If you nerf it because of 2 heros how many heros will be thrown under the bus and be unviable

You guys know it doesn’t actually give any CP right?
The crystal power dmg you see is 14% of health converted to CP. That’s why Brokenmyth makes it more effective. It’s also why Eoh is more effective on ranged heroes because AS is technically the weaker item with more cooldown but provides a damage source on high health enemies that eve doesn’t.

Aftershock is actually a weak item for CP heroes, that’s why they’re probably hesitant to nerf it. The only reason it seems so powerful is because not only does it damage, it also provides some sustain.

This is how things should be nerfed or buffed on every patch. subtle, tiny changes, so you can assess it after each patch.

If they did this from the beginning, it would be balanced by now. still, every patch needs hotfixes - evidence of no prior testing.

Classic example is Echo, CD buffed, nerfed, buffed, nerfed - reason? people not using it enough.

Same reason for every buff or nerf they do, instead of looking at the evidence and making changes accordingly, it’s based on “popularity” and how often it gets complained about.

Do it right everytime and you’ll find it’ll only take 2 or 3 patches to get it right. Subtle changes are how it should be, everytime, on every hero and item.

1 Like

afaik it gives 30 cp…

let’s just see how 12%
if it’s too weak, add 5cp next patch

if too strong, make it 11%
if 11% too weak, try add 5cp
etc

1 Like

That’s what they are doing except they are doing the reverse to make sure not to over nerf and break hero’s that rely on it

Now where is my funny rating?

Aftershock weak?

Under which rock are you living. People can hit 80k damage with just SC AS… Aftershock does have base CP too.

1 Like

Yep I thought it didn’t. Checked again. You and @Xaldarian are right. Still, it is the weaker of the healing items on the CP tree, depending on who you’re facing and what kind of build your hero needs. I’m saying it’s technically weaker in comparison, not that it’s weak in general.

2 Likes

Honestly it is pretty comparable to Serpent Mask when you think about it do we need to nerf that too now?

?

i agree with current nerf style…
12% possibly enough

i said “if”

Btw folks, you guys didn’t notice that 50% of the damage caused by Aftershock will heal the user?

I noted that. It seems stronger because it’s providing you with damage and sustain constantly, and is affected by enemy hp, while eve provides consistent stronger dmg that can be outdamagesd by AS. Not to mention eve runs out, and fast, depending on how squishy you are.

Basically, AS is to EoH what DE is to SG, in a broad sense. The most painful part about AS however, that is not commonly noted, is that there is no T3 shield item that doesn’t give you health, which is why AS pairs so well with BM: there is no situation where you can adequately defend against CP and not also make yourself weaker to an AS+BM combo.

1 Like