Lorelai's CP Barrier Ratio Needs A Nerf (Eventually)

I think her barrier is probably fine. There are a lot of opportunity costs to really maximize it (build health, build armor/shield, build cooldown, or build damage?) Captain Lorelai often needs to skip things like Atlas (which might be useful when whatever flavor of the month dive hero is showing her extra attention) because she needs bonus health. Then there is the empowerment mechanic: does she put her pools where she can stand in them? Or does she put them where they inhibit the enemy?

Same with her carry path: she needs to make a lot of choices to get the best use out of her barrier. Her carry path has much weaker CC, so she doesn’t lose as much by standing in her puddles instead of putting them on the enemy is a lot more likely, but she also isn’t likely to build to get the maximum barrier. Do you build Capacitor Plate for the barrier, Aegis for the Reflex Block, or Slumbering Husk? Do you give your barrier to teammates, or save it for yourself when you get dived on? Since carry builds need more damage, she needs to make harder choices about building health.

There are best ways to play and build her, but not everyone is going to get the best out of it every time.

Her CP empowerment ratios might need tuning, but they are probably fine at lower levels. Captain Lorelai doesn’t have much utility in early game, so pressuring the enemy with damage is her utility, and she’s not the only carry with a strong early game. So if her CP empowerment were nerfed, I’d rather see it after the first level of her B.

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Agreed with almost all of what you said. Despite all of that, the problem is, in layman’s terms, regardless of how you play her, her barrier is buffed and big as hell, her pools are still brutal, she still has a stun with range that can be executed immediately & the delayed version actually helps you pre-aim, and if you give her any cooldown at all, all of this is in your face constantly, whether she’s on offense or defense, it doesn’t matter. The only core trait she needs is energy. You could say cooldown but her cooldowns are low enough at max to maximize her a different way there as well. Not to mention she has inherent better roam potential due to her river denizen trait, and her AA range makes it so on offense she has a great advantage over melee heroes and can go toe to toe with nearly all ranged heroes, and on defense, she can build basic attack effect items to support her team if she so chose (which yes might be wp but as support you don’t need cp on lorelai if you hybrid because of her ability effects [Pro Tip! Though no, an off meta full wp lorelai is not effective as you lose the hp boost from capt items.])

Oh and also, the big thing about her barrier is that it is never weak, meaning that a lorelai can go any build and her barrier is strong enough to do its job to a degree: an unempowered barrier can pinch off enough dmg to save a dying teamate in any situation, as long as it’s maxed, and the cleanse is always available. In fact, the reason why lorelai is kinda op is that her kit only gets stronger. There’s no weakness, nothing you really lose out on either way. You just kinda choose how powerful you want to be, whether you want to make her a ranged ability user with FB and SF or more of an AA hero with DE and AC. You choose whether you want the base of her barrier to be strong with capt items or strong mainly when empowered with CC due to high CP. There’s no situation in which either one of her builds have a weakspot, unlike almost all of the hero roster. In fact the only other hero like her (off the top of my head) is churnwalker (go figure) except he can’t NOT have captain items.

Which reminds me: I need to start writing uncommon/off meta build guides again. In fact when I have the time I’m going to write a most flexible heroes guide. They usually only need one type of item as core to succeed and they usually also allow the player to scale as wp/cp/capt without any side effects due to their ability, perk traits, or a specific powerful stat nature. Another example is Baptiste.

I think the tank meta is more of an issue than anything about Lorelai’s abilities. Characters with dashes and high damage tend to counter her, but they don’t fit into the tank heavy meta. Lorelai otoh works well against ranged carries, captains, and brawlers who rely on sustain rather than speed, which is what people are playing. I’m still not seeing that many of the sorts of mobile melee who put her on the defensive.

The other thing, is that to counter Lorelai, you need to know what she’s doing. I find her easy to fight with assassins, but I play her a lot too. I know what she’s doing and what she can do. I can look at her build and know whether or not I can burst through her barrier, and whether I can run through her splashdown pools. Inara seems particularly good at countering her, since I can dash to her, kick her out of her pool, and slow her.

She’s definitely in a good place right now, but I see a lot of people who seem to have no clue how to fight her. You mostly need to force her to fight differently than she was planning.

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