Codifying Champions: Maelstroms and Slayers

Jeff Mitchell

2 hours ago

3 min read

Codification:

"Codification is the process of compiling rules and laws into an orderly, formal system, or code." - Cornell Law School

Hello Champions, and welcome to the final Codification article on the Community Balance Pass. Today we’re announcing the codification of four champions, and putting the last six up for codification feedback.

First up, thanks to community playtesting, feedback, and voting, we are pleased to announce that Jaak, Durthax, Helena, and Halftusk are now codified!

As we mentioned in the last Codification Article, we felt that the playtest feedback from these four champions indicated sufficient improvements to move forward with formal community balance pass updates.

In the interest of transparency, community engagement has somewhat tapered off as the balance pass has moved forward, and despite our best efforts to encourage participation, these four champions did not have the same level of Codification feedback as previous champions. To this effect, we are interpreting that no feedback means no objections, and that moving forward is a better approach than indefinite delays.

The Council has learned much throughout our broader efforts, and would like to recognize that taking on such a large number of champions initially, and potentially over-indexing on forms has likely contributed to feedback fatigue over these past four months. We have learned these lessons, and if the community decides to have another balance pass, they are definitely worth taking into account.

Now, it’s time to look at the last 6 crews; Maelstroms and Slayers.

Grimgut is now the king of bonus actions, and he can finally do almost all the things he wants to in a turn. With so many bonus actions, the real decision is which one to use, since you can only use one a phase. He should also feel more Maelstrom ish now that he can score two follower KOs in the Clash if he sets up correctly.

Kailinn has proven a wild one to tame. Her ult change is designed to increase her performance in scenarios she's traditionally terrible at, while the rest of her kit has been adjusted to bring down her anti-champion power level. By not adjusting her mobility, we hope to maintain her core identity as the most mobile champion in the game.

Maxen has only seen three changes: an additional damage die on Shrapnel Shot, moving the timing of the Shrapnel Shot push, and a Protection blight on Piercing Shot. These should all give him more Slaying power on turns when he doesn't drop his 8/8 birdshot. He's still a terror to stand next to, and very easy to manipulate with most Shapers.

Lorsann needed just a little bit of help. More precision shot accuracy to help her anti-dodge identity, some dodge for the Rangers, and a guaranteed diceless damage with her ultimate. Now she's more capable of skirmishing against higher dodge and landing those crucial shoot and scoots. We recognize that there may still be some trepidation around a 4/1/6 defensive profile for a champion, however with the decrease of playtest feedback we felt it important to not let perfection be the enemy of progress.

Skullbreaker is now a 3/2/8 without easy access to any defensive boons. Go for the belly only moves the target 1 hex. And the toothbearers lost a die or two of damage. Finally, he can now be backstopped by his friendly followers. Some may consider the backstopping and extra armor a buff. That's okay, he's now easier to hit with manipulation abilities like Earthquake. He's still a brutal executioner you don't want to stand next to, but no longer capable of dodge tanking with 8 health.

Rangosh. We saved the best for last. We tried many things to address Rangosh, and in the end we changed 3 things. He lost a hit point. He now has range 2 on Brutal Master. Bandits cannot ambush in the clash phase, and instead Sabotage. These adjustments bring him down from his perfect fit into every scenario and list, and adjust his play style from autopilot to more like a manual transmission. Rangosh is still Rangosh, he just has more counterplay and fewer automatic wins.