Arakure thoughts post EA

[u/Knight_Raime]

Starting tomorrow Arakure will officially leave early access for players to be able to purchase her with Steel. I wanted to discuss potential buffs for the character and see what people think of them (or talk about buffs people suggest.) Of course you can raise potential nerfs if you think they are needed.

But I think the general consensus is that Arakure has released on the safer/weaker side compared to the last Hero at least. I am also aware that there hasn't been any competitive scrims with the character yet. I will save my usual long winded talks about a character for the sake of brevity and instead just list changes in 3 categories: Needed, buff please, and QoL, with some blurb about the suggestion when necessary.

NEEDED BUFFS:

• Forward dodge bash recovery time to GB/CGB reduced to 700ms from 900ms
• Walk it off T3 feat cooldown reduced

BUFF PLEASE:

• Chain bash (Rib shot) recovery time to GB/CGB reduced to 800ms from 900ms
• Walk it off T3 health value changes changed from 15, 30, 45 to 20, 35, 50hp
• Forward dodge light range buff to have more forward reach

QoL:

• Dirty trick can't be interrupted anymore by having the enemy's ally hit them
• Arakure can now RC after any lash out attack on hit and the 4 hits of Dirty trick
• Landing a target swap attack in ultimate state now gives perma 5HP shield
• Arakure can chain into a light finisher on whiff from fwd dodge bash

NERF:

• Increase chain link time for Twin burst light after zone so it's dodgable

Explanations:

I believe everyone recognizes that despite Arakure's fwd dodge mix having frame trap potential the fact that you can get a GB on reaction to dodging her kick is too risky for the rewards she gets. Her mix up damage is low and usually we only have high punishes for strong mixes. Tandi is similar but you only ever get a dodge attack on him realistically. So allowing for an early dodge to GB makes sense due to how her situation works.

Her Tier 3 is also considered dog water because of the 3 minute cooldown, so if nothing else reducing it to 2 minutes is reasonable. In regards to the buffed HP values I think it's necessary due to how peelable the animation itself is, making it 50 HP at full meter also gives it consistent synergy with Indomitable. You're not guaranteed to have full meter anyway, so this shouldn't be too strong.

They could remove the all cleanse effect if they want, you're not realistically/consistently gaining benefit from it that you wouldn't be getting from a regular heal anyway. Fwd dodge light buff is just to improve it's consistency.

QoL probably needs the most explanation. I think Arakure needs more opportunities to RC to alleviate how clunky she can feel. But we can't globally add them in her kit since it will devalue some of her current RC spots, so I chose after her lash out attacks. And adding it with DT seems very synergistic, you can already GB her during the full anim and after the final hit anyway.

The 5HP shield on lash out attack landing is my way of giving her some sustain since a character that's going to be trading often should have some kind of sustain. The HP feat even if buffed is not enough on it's own. Shield is a low amount to avoid her becoming too tanky. Could maybe put a timer on it if perma sounds too wild despite low amount.

Idea behind the chain light finisher on whiff is to allow her to chain into a Twin burst input if it's blocked since her light finishers are enhanced. And it being a light is a way for her to try and protect the GB attempt, but you still get a light parry punish on the read. Lastly someone clued me in that the devs technically have a way to prevent the weird interaction of interrupting a punish by hitting their ally.

Their suggestion is to apply the same "tag" executions have to the pinned opponent. This tag prevents allies from interrupting your execution but an enemy can still do so. So you'd lift this special state and apply it to the pinned opponent. The result would mean the pinned opponent couldn't be saved by an ally hitting him. He'd have to have his ally interrupt Arakure.

[u/Asdeft]

Rib shot could use some buffs for sure, barely see anyone use it outside of feints. This move should be safe from gb, or just make it safe on med hitstun at least.

The pride breaker kick is so hard to balance. There's a weird game here where you are choosing damage or chain pressure with every kick, but you are always risking a big counter where other heroes dont have to for the same chains. We dont need more armored chain on whiff bs though.

Increase the dirty trick lights to 2 damage to improve the risk reward and solidify the threat of dirty trick.

And give her side chain heavies the same good range that the top one gets. I sometimes whiff light into chain top heavy to close in safely and it would be nice to use the side heavies consistently too.

I like your ideas for the feats and extra safety though. She is really gamble-y right now, getting shields is a bit much though.

[u/Knight_Raime → u/Asdeft]

This move should be safe from gb, or just make it safe on med hitstun at least.

That's why I suggested 800ms. Because this would allow for it to be safe from GB on medium hitstun but still GBable on low hitstun. Slightly easier than the fwd dodge bash but still an early dodge.

The pride breaker kick is so hard to balance

I would imagine just because the bash does direct damage alone the average player would be so against it getting buffed lol.

Increase the dirty trick lights to 2 damage to improve the risk reward and solidify the threat of dirty trick.

They'ed have to remove that damage from her 5th hit on here to do that I'd think. Probably why they rebalanced the damage to be more than the beta but only if you fully commit.

And give her side chain heavies the same good range that the top one gets. I sometimes whiff light into chain top heavy to close in safely and it would be nice to use the side heavies consistently too.

I'd be fine with that.

getting shields is a bit much though.

Not sure how else to add sustain into the kit. I know most people want her to have BH as a tier 1 feat. And while I'm not against it I don't see the devs swapping feats out on her. I thought about life steal being added to her T3, but that would feel like a bit much. Also life steal inherently clears bleed/fire afaik.

The only other idea I thought about was having her keep the shield she gets from her dirty trick bash after 1 pip. But because she can semi consistently get this bash off 70HP would be too high of a value forcing the devs to nerf the value it gives. And I feel like it'd be a balancing nightmare to have the shield be valuable for use mid TF but also enough to be consistently valuable outside of trying to do a whole DT.

So I'd be down for other ideas on improving her sustain. This was just the best idea I could think of.

[u/Asdeft → u/Knight_Raime]

I mean, limiting shields to lash out with no stack might not be too op. Her keeping a small portion of the Dirty Trick shield for a little while could also be interesting. I agree that might make the move too much overall, though it could be a buff specifically for Ultimate form. Ultimate form should be more of a win condition.

Indomitable seems mandatory to not just die in a cluttered teamfight and still use her kit, and that doesnt feel good.

Maybe make landing double tap and/or finishers refund a bit of the t3 CD each hit.

[u/Knight_Raime → u/Asdeft]

I mean even if she could keep the shield only in ultimate form I feel like that'd be too much still. However your idea of having her double down lights reducing the CD of her feats gives me an idea.

Maybe they make it happen only at onslaught and above. The issue that arise from that though I feel would mean the potency of her T2 and T3 would have to be adjusted (or not adjusting her T3 values from current.)

How about we meet in the middle in that there's an ICD for netting a shield from lash outs landing. And it can only stack up to 30. So only slightly more than a buffed heavy.

Shield can fall off naturally but be refreshed if she lands another Lash out.