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Balance Update Coming (1/7) - Magic Archer, Goblin Giant, Freeze and more!
Heal being a 3-cost counter to 4-cost Spells can create some frustrating metagames. A vast majority of decks only run one larger Spell, several run multiple small Spells. Reducing Heal to 1 cost makes it more appealing to Hog Rider, Miner, or Goblin Barrel cycle decks. Fear not! Decks like Three Musketeers will not able to counter Fireball + Zap.
We nerfed Magic Archer two months ago but the effect was more than we expected. He’s a unique and fun Legendary who opens up a lot of clever gameplay, so we are returning some (but not all) of his first attack speed to bring him back up to competitive play.
The Goblin Giant is one of the least used win conditions in the game, but one of the most fun to play. We want to inch him closer to viability by increasing his Hitpoints and letting his Spear Goblins throw a tiny bit further. While they are riding in his backpack, they use their higher vantage point for longer range throws!
Across the board, Golemites are lesser than their big Golem daddy. One stat where they are the same is Death Damage Pushback, creating weird situations where tiny Golemites knock back larger Troops several tiles. The knockback has been cut in half to feel more intuitive and allow for easier Golemite defense.
Since last month’s rework, Freeze has been dealing full damage to Crown Towers. This isn’t consistent with other damaging Spells, so we have applied the -65% damage to Towers that all other Spells have.
This electric lady has needed a bit of a buff, as she is stopped at range by the ever-popular Electro Wizard. This minor range increase will allow her to blast away an Electro Wizard, and lock onto towers ever-so-slightly sooner.
The slammin’ ram has become a critical component in multiple high winrate decks. From Three Musketeers to P.E.K.K.A to Barbarian Hut decks, Battle Ram consistently outperforms its peers on offense while providing defensive blocking in a pinch. We want to make Battle Ram a bit less powerful when it connects, bringing it more in line with Hog Rider on offense.
The Barbarian Hut has remained unchanged for years and during that time has come in and out of the meta. The problem is that when the meta supports it, it becomes an unbreakable wall of defense. This past month is the third time Barbarian Hut has had a top win rate in the game, so we are adjusting the building health to be lower.
Barbarian Barrel shot up the use and win rate charts after a recent buff that made the Barbarian deploy a bit faster. This made his first attack nearly instant and prevented counterplay. We are reverting half of the increase, trying to bring it into an acceptable win rate.
We spent this month revisiting prior balance changes to see where we overdid it. The final change this month is giving Valkyrie some of her Hit Speed back. She was very popular for a while, but her win rate has dropped well below the 45% we aim for despite a meta full of Battle Ram and Three Musketeers that she would ideally be strong against.
- Heal: Elixir Cost decreased 3 -> 1, Duration Reduced 2.5 -> 2, Healing/sec -63%
Heal being a 3-cost counter to 4-cost Spells can create some frustrating metagames. A vast majority of decks only run one larger Spell, several run multiple small Spells. Reducing Heal to 1 cost makes it more appealing to Hog Rider, Miner, or Goblin Barrel cycle decks. Fear not! Decks like Three Musketeers will not able to counter Fireball + Zap.
- Magic Archer: First Attack faster
We nerfed Magic Archer two months ago but the effect was more than we expected. He’s a unique and fun Legendary who opens up a lot of clever gameplay, so we are returning some (but not all) of his first attack speed to bring him back up to competitive play.
- Goblin Giant: Hitpoints +3%, Spear Goblin Range Increased
The Goblin Giant is one of the least used win conditions in the game, but one of the most fun to play. We want to inch him closer to viability by increasing his Hitpoints and letting his Spear Goblins throw a tiny bit further. While they are riding in his backpack, they use their higher vantage point for longer range throws!
- Golem: Golemite Death Damage Pushback reduced
Across the board, Golemites are lesser than their big Golem daddy. One stat where they are the same is Death Damage Pushback, creating weird situations where tiny Golemites knock back larger Troops several tiles. The knockback has been cut in half to feel more intuitive and allow for easier Golemite defense.
- Freeze: Tower Damage -65%
Since last month’s rework, Freeze has been dealing full damage to Crown Towers. This isn’t consistent with other damaging Spells, so we have applied the -65% damage to Towers that all other Spells have.
- Sparky: Range Increased 4.5 -> 5
This electric lady has needed a bit of a buff, as she is stopped at range by the ever-popular Electro Wizard. This minor range increase will allow her to blast away an Electro Wizard, and lock onto towers ever-so-slightly sooner.
- Battle Ram: Charge Damage -11%
The slammin’ ram has become a critical component in multiple high winrate decks. From Three Musketeers to P.E.K.K.A to Barbarian Hut decks, Battle Ram consistently outperforms its peers on offense while providing defensive blocking in a pinch. We want to make Battle Ram a bit less powerful when it connects, bringing it more in line with Hog Rider on offense.
- Barbarian Hut: Hitpoints -7%
The Barbarian Hut has remained unchanged for years and during that time has come in and out of the meta. The problem is that when the meta supports it, it becomes an unbreakable wall of defense. This past month is the third time Barbarian Hut has had a top win rate in the game, so we are adjusting the building health to be lower.
- Barbarian Barrel: Deploy Time reduced
Barbarian Barrel shot up the use and win rate charts after a recent buff that made the Barbarian deploy a bit faster. This made his first attack nearly instant and prevented counterplay. We are reverting half of the increase, trying to bring it into an acceptable win rate.
- Valkyrie: Hit Speed increased 1.6 -> 1.5
We spent this month revisiting prior balance changes to see where we overdid it. The final change this month is giving Valkyrie some of her Hit Speed back. She was very popular for a while, but her win rate has dropped well below the 45% we aim for despite a meta full of Battle Ram and Three Musketeers that she would ideally be strong against.
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