Currently, the state of SG is in a less than ideal state balance wise. Annie has becoming a staple of most teams, and for good reason. Her explosive damage and DHC synergy with pillar of creation make her a staple of most teams. Before Annie, the three anchor characters were generally Double, Bella, and Band. While it is nice Annie adds another option for players, she is quickly becoming a must have on most teams. Fortune/Annie kills off of one reset for two bars, and there are many ways to do this. As post Pillar of Creation routes are optimized, this is only going to become more common. When this happens, the creativity of the game goes down, because there becomes an optimal way to play every character, rather than optimal ways to enable characters are playstyles. Point character with high meter build -> super -DHC poc kill is going to become the optimal way to play SG.
Those who remember the M Shadow Fukua vortex days know that this is not necessarily something that is fun or good for the game.
Additionally, myself and many other players feel as though Peacock didn't really get normalized, but rather got a slap on the wrist. A damage reduction doesn't really touch on the more egregious aspects of the character and she really needs at least more real nerf so that she isn't the definitive best character in the game in 95% of situations.
Finally, Fortune needs some changes to make her less oppressive, and to highlight the weaknesses all characters should have and she really doesn't.
I've already made a post about the changes I think Eliza should get, I won't retread those here. Rather I'll focus on normalizing who I believe are top 3: Peacock, Annie, Fortune.
I also believe Fortune should be looked at, as her meter gain is kind of out of control for how much damage she does.
Here are the changes I'm proposing:
Peacock
1. Revert teleport + assist
Reasoning. Liam has spoken and peacock gets to keep her teleport. The issue is said teleport + assist call leads to the best L/R mixup in the entire game. While all characters have tricky left rights, the character with the strongest neutral also has access to a left right that does the following
A) can hit assists
B) can be converted off anywhere on screen
C) cannot be reliably punished
D) is plus on block and leads to additional pressure and mixups
Peacock's existing kit is incredibly strong and she does not need something like this. Some of you may remember that Peacock's teleport did not use to be this way. I'm proposing we change it back to what it was.
And/OR
2. If teleport + assist is here to stay, the following changes need to be applied to normalize how insanely good item drop is
Additional scaling on combos started with level 2 item drop
Level 3 item drop is now a hard knockdown
Forcing Peacock to play neutral once or twice more in a match (when its already arguably the best in the game) is a reasonable compromise for how strong she is, and these changes would address that.
Annie
Annie is an incredibly strong character, however she does not need to be significantly nerfed. With a few small changes I feel like she can be a much more fair character.
1. Additional scaling on Pillar of Creation
Reasoning: As explained above, having a strategy this strong is ultimately bad for creativity and the meta of the game. Players would need to be more creative to get around limitations of PoC scaling, with better resets or more optimized routes, rather than everyone just basically doing Pillar -> f.hp into a string or two to kill a character.
2. Install drains meter faster when Annie has 3 bar or more
Reasoning: Annie install is absurdly strong and anyone who has played Cloudking's Annie can attest to this. 5 bar install Annie can wipe out entire teams in seconds as her j.HP ADC j.hp force crossup is insanely strong, beats absolute guard, and forces a player to switch block at 1f timing at different intervals. Rather than nerf the install itself, I propose we make it drain meter faster when Annie has 3 or more meter. This would encourage the Annie player to be more mindful of meter use and remove the 5 bars = instant win neutral aspect
Fortune
1. Slightly reduced meter gain
Reasoning: Fortune's damage and neutral are incredible, she doesn't have many bad matchups and the one she has are not that bad. headless fortune is a terror with amazing neutral. On top of all these things, I think it is fair if the character does not build meter as fast. She is strong enough without just generating bar by existing
2. No hitstop on head during combos
Self explanatory, this would stop the head from messing up combos/confirms and ultimately is would solve a lot of people's problems about the character. I believe Liam did this once in a build so it might be worth trying again. The bonus damage is still applied when a hitbox makes contact with a head, however the head can now never make a combo drop
I believe this changes could lead to a much healthier SG meta wise. Please let me know what you think.
Those who remember the M Shadow Fukua vortex days know that this is not necessarily something that is fun or good for the game.
Additionally, myself and many other players feel as though Peacock didn't really get normalized, but rather got a slap on the wrist. A damage reduction doesn't really touch on the more egregious aspects of the character and she really needs at least more real nerf so that she isn't the definitive best character in the game in 95% of situations.
Finally, Fortune needs some changes to make her less oppressive, and to highlight the weaknesses all characters should have and she really doesn't.
I've already made a post about the changes I think Eliza should get, I won't retread those here. Rather I'll focus on normalizing who I believe are top 3: Peacock, Annie, Fortune.
I also believe Fortune should be looked at, as her meter gain is kind of out of control for how much damage she does.
Here are the changes I'm proposing:
Peacock
1. Revert teleport + assist
Reasoning. Liam has spoken and peacock gets to keep her teleport. The issue is said teleport + assist call leads to the best L/R mixup in the entire game. While all characters have tricky left rights, the character with the strongest neutral also has access to a left right that does the following
A) can hit assists
B) can be converted off anywhere on screen
C) cannot be reliably punished
D) is plus on block and leads to additional pressure and mixups
Peacock's existing kit is incredibly strong and she does not need something like this. Some of you may remember that Peacock's teleport did not use to be this way. I'm proposing we change it back to what it was.
And/OR
2. If teleport + assist is here to stay, the following changes need to be applied to normalize how insanely good item drop is
Additional scaling on combos started with level 2 item drop
Level 3 item drop is now a hard knockdown
Forcing Peacock to play neutral once or twice more in a match (when its already arguably the best in the game) is a reasonable compromise for how strong she is, and these changes would address that.
Annie
Annie is an incredibly strong character, however she does not need to be significantly nerfed. With a few small changes I feel like she can be a much more fair character.
1. Additional scaling on Pillar of Creation
Reasoning: As explained above, having a strategy this strong is ultimately bad for creativity and the meta of the game. Players would need to be more creative to get around limitations of PoC scaling, with better resets or more optimized routes, rather than everyone just basically doing Pillar -> f.hp into a string or two to kill a character.
2. Install drains meter faster when Annie has 3 bar or more
Reasoning: Annie install is absurdly strong and anyone who has played Cloudking's Annie can attest to this. 5 bar install Annie can wipe out entire teams in seconds as her j.HP ADC j.hp force crossup is insanely strong, beats absolute guard, and forces a player to switch block at 1f timing at different intervals. Rather than nerf the install itself, I propose we make it drain meter faster when Annie has 3 or more meter. This would encourage the Annie player to be more mindful of meter use and remove the 5 bars = instant win neutral aspect
Fortune
1. Slightly reduced meter gain
Reasoning: Fortune's damage and neutral are incredible, she doesn't have many bad matchups and the one she has are not that bad. headless fortune is a terror with amazing neutral. On top of all these things, I think it is fair if the character does not build meter as fast. She is strong enough without just generating bar by existing
2. No hitstop on head during combos
Self explanatory, this would stop the head from messing up combos/confirms and ultimately is would solve a lot of people's problems about the character. I believe Liam did this once in a build so it might be worth trying again. The bonus damage is still applied when a hitbox makes contact with a head, however the head can now never make a combo drop
I believe this changes could lead to a much healthier SG meta wise. Please let me know what you think.
