I think these items are cool. It’s about time we get even more defensive and utility options and they ALL have strong effects and I’m excited to test out new builds with these and I think these items may very well make captain builds more diverse finally We’ll have to wait and see. Capacitor Plate is actually a pretty sizeable buff to Adagio since now his heals give MOVESPEED which is INSANE!!! Can’t wait to see how Cap Adagio does with this item And I also like how there is shield and armor too. Also, FOUNTAIN PROCS PLATE!!! IT’S INSANELY GOOD! Pulseweave is interesting and very good on tanks like Grace, Cath, etc. And the fact that it deals bonus damage from bonus health is insane! Very interesting item and seems like a WAY better Dragonblood contract tbh though it’s to be expected since…it’s way more expensive Also, Grace gaining 10% MORE speed? When she’s already fast as fuck (boiiii)? Hecc. Rock’s Decree is an interesting ability too. It essentially makes Ardan’s A the big boi barrier ability while also making his B a secondary defensive option, allowing him to give AOE barriers which is very cool, and paired with Plate he can give some decently beefy barriers for the whole team. All of these items look like they’re gonna impact the game since they’re more or less defensive utility items instead of straight up defense like Husk. VERY VERY excited as a cap main to start gaining even more options for my cap builds!
Capacitor plate seems like the item that will finally bring Lorelai into the spotlight. Pulseweave should be pretty good on bruiser/initiators like Grump, Glaive, Rona to finish off slippery carries. And of course the captains like Ardan, Lance , Catherine, Phinn and Fortress benefit from it as well. I’m also glad they opted to give slumbering husk straight defensive stats, so it may actually be a good situational item to pick up now. All in all these are some much needed changes to the defense/utility tree that will definitely make the game more interesting
AS - Finally back to where it should be. With the 2.18 health buff, AS % health damage was massively increased. 20% was the average health increase and AS nerf from 15% to 12% is a 20% nerf.
Boots - Heroes are faster earlier so the -0.1 decrease is a push.
Attack Speed Nerf - Heroes are getting more base attack speed so the nerf should balance.
Capacitor Plate - Buffer item. New support armor. Passive works with Heals, Barrier, and FH. Granting health, cooldown, and a passive. Perfect for backliners like Adagio, Lyra, and Lorelai. But the real winners - Ozo and Reim?
CW - nerf for Ults. 30s or less it’s a buff. more than 30 is a nerf.
Echo - gone. It probably the most difficult item to balance.
Pulse Weave - Speed item. Another Support item. Adagio, Lyra, and Lorelai can use the bonus health towards scaling. But Phinn and Churnwalker could use for the speed boost.
Rook Degree - Barrier item. New required Captain item. Team wide barriers are going to be strong. Stack with Capacitor Plate for extra strong barrier.
Slumbering Husk - May replace MJ in some situations. 75 Armor/Shield and 2 seconds FH. We could see RB to SH to Aegis as the new Def meta for carries.
Tornado Trigger - 10% speed boost. High base movement heroes now have TT and Pulseweave. A potential of 20% movement speed on heroes like Ringo and Gwen seems scary.
That 2.18 change meant all you needed was AS. Before you needed both AS and BM and to stack it to amp the damage. The health change was an early game buff to AS. It contributed to the Koshka, Reza, Taka, etc. “Buy AS and Snowball” meta most prominent in 2.19-3.1. Plus BM was so powerful it left no decision making. In all but a couple situations, BM was the best item.
My getaway from this patch (based from Excoundrel’s 1 hour video that I watched) is that they are giving captains more power and potential to be more effective in fights, meanwhile slightly reducing the snowball capabilities of carries. Armories respawn, turrets are tankier, minions are tankier, global gold for turrets are reduced to 50 (but 200 split gold to nearby teammates), etc.
I’m super hyped for this patch. I don’t even give a flip about Kinetic anymore. Super glad with he 5v5 polishing. Cheers to SEMC
It is not like they weren’t snowballing already. Seriously it isn’t very different from before. And yes I do prefer old HP because of BM. Now you need 3 slots to have the same effect as you had before.
