Godtear Community Playtest Packet: Lorsann v2, Maxen v2, Rangosh v3, Skullbreaker v3

Hello Champions!  As I’m sure you all know, the community is working on a balance pass for Godtear.  In this playtest packet, which might be our last, we’ll be presenting proposed changes for four champions.  Two will get nerfs, two will get buffs.  First, we’ll give you the changes themselves.  Then we’ll explain why we’re revisiting these champions, how we have interpreted the community's perspective on their issues, and how we arrived at the change proposal.

Maxen v2 Experimental Nerfs

Piercing Round: New wording “Hit effect: “This skill has -1 accuracy for each hex between Maxen and his target. Hit effect: The targets gets 1 wound and amor blight”

Shrapnel Shot: Accuracy 6* → 6* 

Shrapnel Shot: Damage 6* → 7* 

Shrapnel Shot: New wording “This skill has -1 accuracy and -1 damage for each hex between Maxen and his target. Hit effect: after rolling damage, if the target is not KO'd, move the target up to one hex away from Maxen.”

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Lorsann v2 Experimental Buffs

Rangers Dodge: 3 → 4

Fire: Accuracy 3/4/5 → 5/5/5

Piercing Shot: Accuracy 5 → 6

Deathblow: New Wording “Before the hit roll, the target takes one wound. Hit Effect: Target takes a wound.”

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Skullbreaker v3 Experimental Nerfs

Dodge: 4 → 3

Protection: 1 → 2

Go for the Belly! new wording: Skullbreaker’s Jawblade skill gains +2 [damage icon] and “Hit Effect: Move target up to 1 hex.” this activation

Club Bash: Damage 4/4/5 → 3/4/4

Setup the Boss! New Wording: “When a Tooth Bearer damages an enemy, Skullbreaker may gain either Movement, Accuracy, or Damage boon, or move one hex.”

Out Of My Way! New Wording: During Skullbreaker’s activation he may move through small followers’ hexes but cannot end his movement on those hexes.”

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Rangosh v3 Experimental Nerfs

HP: 7 → 6

Jawbreaker: Damage 7 → 7

Bandits ambush (clash phase only) becomes Sabotage: Range 1. 5 accuracy. Hit effect: Armor blight.

Brutal Master: New Wording “Once per hit roll of damage roll before rolling the dice, you may remove one Red Bandit from a hex within 2 hexes of Rangosh to add 1 die to Rangosh’s roll.”

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Why revisit these champions?

Slayers have been the most difficult class for us to balance.  With original Skullbreaker and Rangosh outstripping the rest of their field by a wide margin, we stand by our commitment to nerfing them while buffing the bottom three crews in the class.  Slayers are tricky because they are designed to Knock Out champions, but need counterplay so that they can be avoided or KO’d themselves.  In this revision, we’ll look at how we addressed our previous changes to create more counterplay potential.

Maxen v2

Maxen v1 was overtuned.  We were cognizant of that going into the playtest, and the feedback has borne that out.  However, just because he was overperforming in playtesting doesn’t mean the playtesting was without value.  By seeing where and how he was outperforming Lorsann, we could see where he needed to be reigned in.

His gearhawks continued to operate as designed, so they remain untouched.  The armor blight on Piercing Round remains interesting, with the armor blight presenting a decision between which shot to use first on a double attack round.Shrapnel Shot was far too good with 6 base accuracy, and overtuned even if we toned it back to 5 base accuracy.  We decided to restore it to 6* accuracy, but retain the 7* damage we gave him.  This should increase his close in lethality, while also only giving him, under the effects of Eagle Eye, a 5/5 at range 3.  We also made sure that the movement at the end of the attack was a Hit Effect, per our original intentions with the adjustment.

We’re looking to these changes to increase his lethality, while keeping his role of Artillerist intact.  Maxen should still be deadly at close range, and threatening at long range, but easy for his opponents to control given his very limited mobility.

Lorsann v2

Lorsann v1 was fine, but still wanting.  Player feedback didn’t have any issues with her changes, but with what was unchanged.  Upon further review we settled on her Ultimate being a weak point in her kit.  Deathblow is powerful, but when it misses it feels terrible.  So we gave half of it a diceless wound (comparable to Keera’s Ult.) while leaving the chance for more on the table if needed.  This diceless wound from up to 6 away triggering her passive without dice should help strengthen her just enough for her to settle into a common rotation.

We kept all the other v1 changes: The rangers are more dodgy, more accurate, and less Maelstrom fodder.  Piercing Shot remains at 6 accuracy.

Note that now, outside of ultimates, this means that Lorsann at range 3 is always more accurate than Maxen.  He throws a 5/5 with his Accuracy Boon, and she throws an 8/5 with her Damage Boon.  He throws a 5 accuracy piercing round with eagle eye, while she’s always throwing a 6 accuracy piercing shot.Lorsann should keep her place as the ultimate counter to high dodge, low armor, and low health targets.  She can still Shoot and Scoot to skirmish and poke from the edges of the battlefield.  We think her Skirmisher identity remains intact, including her opponent’s ability to punish her when she darts in to crush a banner.

Skullbreaker v3

We like the changes made to Skullbreaker’s defensive stat profile.  However, his access to defensive boons allowed him to pile up to a 4/3/8.  This felt as overwhelming to face as when he was stacking defensive boons to be a 5/2/8.  So we took away his ability to pile on those boons.  In response to this severe nerf to his defenses, especially dodge, we have changed his passive to only work on his activation.  This allows the Skullbreaker player to backstop Skullbreaker with small followers without adversely affecting his mobility.  No more will Skullbreaker be KO’d and yeeted through his own followers into the corner.

Otherwise, we’re pretty happy with our Skullbreaker v2 changes.  We kept the 1 hex movement on Go For The Belly, and restored a die of damage to two stacks of Toothbearers.

Skullbreaker should now be easier to manipulate and disrupt, while also now having the opportunity to backstop himself.  His role as an Executioner remains viable and his mobility is still among the best in the Slayer class.

Rangosh v3

Everyone’s favorite minotaur is here again.  This time, with only three total changes from the original design.  Firstly, we’re sticking with Sabotage on the Red Bandit clash phase.  This ability enhances Rangosh’s lethality still, but no longer allows a stack of 3 bandits to harvest 2 steps by killing 2 followers every phase.

We’re keeping his HP at 6, reducing his tankiness to reasonable levels while allowing him to dodge tank on the frontline.  We’ve heard requests to make his statline 3/2 but just don’t see how that would do anything but hobble him into irrelevancy.  He can be cut off by small followers, unlike Skullbreaker.  He has no out of activation movement, unlike Skullbreaker.  Reducing his dodge by a single point almost triples the chance that an Earthquake will scatter him to the side.  4/2/7 was too tanky, I think we all agree.  4/2/6 is durable enough to stand on the frontline, but not invulnerable.

Finally, we’ve reduced the range of Brutal Master from 3 to 2.  We’re very excited about this change, as we think it brings us back to our original goal from the v1 reduction in bandit size:  Requiring more skill expression through bandit placing and thereby allowing for more counterplay.  With range 3 bows and range 3 brutal master, bandits could just sorta hang out anywhere and be useful.  Now they need to maneuver into a good position closer to the front line of the battle where they are vulnerable to Maelstroms and other followers.

No matter what role you consider Rangosh (bruiser, generalist, or punisher) I hope you can see that these changes do not take away from that identity.  His damage output is unchanged, as are his attack profiles.  His mobility remains good, and his defenses are intact.  1 hit point is huge, but not insurmountable.

How to playtest these changes?

If you want to playtest these changes, simply play a game with one or more of the champions being playtested. Make sure that your opponent agrees on which version (original or community balance pass) of the champions you are using. If you play on TTS, use the changed cards provided by MightyFinePants. The Godtear Community page will also have an online version of the cards that you can use as a reference or if you are playing a live game:

[Images of the cards in TTS and on Experimental]

How to contribute to the project?

To provide feedback, which is essential to the success of this project, you can find the proper link on THIS FORM (note, if you are new to playing online, you can learn more from this article).  

If you want to discuss these changes with the community at large, please post in the #playtest-feedback channel of the unofficial community discord server.

If you want to help brainstorm directions for balance changes, please post your ideas in the #homebrew channel of the unofficial community discord server.

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That’s it for this playtest packet.  Keep checking in on Objective Hex for our Codification articles as we bring this Community Balance Pass to a close.

Wooloolool,

The Council of Eldritch Judgement