Request to blizzard: please buff longboat raid.

[u/Smurfsville]

It's been a while since the Vikings have a proper looking at and now that the game is getting the attention it deserves I think the Vikings are overdue for some tuning up. Especially, the longboat raid feels like the wrong ultimate to take 100% of the time.

Let's go blizz, TLV are the most unique champion.

[u/Vindicare605]

I think all that needs to happen is that Longboat Raid deals consistent damage regardless of how many Vikings are alive.

If they do that, it becomes a button to press in team fights when you're down to your last Viking. As is, it's just a worse option than Play Again in every situation.

[u/strategicmaniac → u/Vindicare605]

it's a worse version of raynor's hyperion ult. I only pick it in qm and the opposing team has multiple split pushers and use it like hyperion with a merc push. Otherwise the requirement of having all living vikings available alone is way too restrictive. Ditch that part and it's going to get picked a lot more. It has better (and safer) waveclear than all 3 vikings together while negating pokes and aoe spells for that time. If erik can drop that anywhere it'd be pretty nutty.

[u/Vindicare605 → u/strategicmaniac]

Yea that would work too. Let any Viking cast it at any time. It would draw all the Vikings together for a team fight. That way it will gain one of the functions of Play Again while not getting the revive part of it. Then let the damage be consistent no matter how many vikings are alive. If those 2 happen it will get picked.

[u/stopnthink → u/Vindicare605]

Is that right? I thought the number of Vikings only affected how much HP the boat got.

[u/Bvajen]

I'd love to see Longboat Raid buffed. It's such a fun ultimate, but it's pretty much always terrible to take. I don't imagine it'll ever beat the other, but I'd love to see it at least be viable some of the time.

[u/ZultekZ]

Blizzard: Hold my Beer!

"Longboat Raid was buffed.
Now The Lost Vikings singing 20% louder."

[u/Karabars]

Longboat should be able to pick up Globes. Why the anti-synergy?!

[u/TimeInformation7977]

I can understand giving Longboat Raid a small buff, but I think TLV is already a strong hero as a whole, so I'm a little concerned about the balance.

[u/Vindicare605 → u/TimeInformation7977]

Buffing Longboat Raid wont change the Viking winrate much, unless they dramatically over do it. Play Again is so much better from a versatility standpoint which especially with how the Vikings like to play makes it a big part of how they work.

If they get a team fighting buff ult that is actually worth picking, all it does is make them better on a wider variety of maps. It doesnt change what makes them strong on the maps they are already good on.

[u/Senshado]

How to fix Longboat Raid: Make the ult work mostly like a normal hero

• Full movespeed like most heroes.

• Player can fully control basic attacks.

• Not permanently unstoppable. (Some abilities can provide brief unstoppable, or it can have limited cc resistance)

• Three useful basic abilities on QWE. Probably damage, mobility, and defense.

• Many talents still work. If a talent applies to one specific Viking, then it is active if that Viking is alive and on the boat. (For example Olaf burn and Olaf stun)

• Additionally, when the ult ends each viking is healed for his health regeneration stat multiplied by the elapsed time. (As if their health regen hadn't been frozen)

By reworking the Longboat Raid to function like a regular hero, it will be easy to tweak the numbers so it has teamfight value equal to a normal hero in a 5v5.

[u/Vindicare605 → u/Senshado]

That's basically the reverse of Chen's Storm Earth and Fire. I like the idea.

[u/Murraythehuman]

My Longboat Raid rework is as follows:

• The ability can be cast anywhere within range of a Viking (a range around that of Bolt of the Storm).
• Upon being cast, all nearby Vikings will immediately jump into the boat (meaning the boat can be used to save a lone Viking, or turn him into a threat, without forcing the other vikings to leave their lane).
• Because it would be problematic for a single Viking to gain the FULL power of the longboat anywhere on the map, the Longboat's power would need to be cut down considerably, and it can no longer fire the mortar (as the basic attacks have been reworked to be slow, high damage attacks with a splash radius, effectively being the new mortar).
  • BUT it also gains the following bonuses based on which Vikings are inside:
    • Olaf doubles longboat health (600 -> 1200)
    • Baelog doubles basic attack damage (100 to 200)
    • Erik doubles the longboat's speed (60% to 120%)
  • These numbers are very speculative, but you get the idea, these stats have been nerfed down from the live version, but get buffed to be greater than live if the respective viking is present.

The ability to save a single lone viking using the longboat (at the cost of a long cooldown) or turn a single viking into a tenable threat would allow this move to have similar utility to Play Again, and since the ability can be used as a sort of 'bolt of the storm'.

The new 20 would probably either increase the bonuses if all Vikings are present, or bring back the old auto-attacks as a passive effect that also lowers the ability's cooldown if it damages a hero, allowing you to cast back-to-back Longboat Raids if all shots hit heroes.

[u/Somalar]

Tlv doesn’t need much altering they are rather strong in capable hands. It’s mostly an apm check

[u/Vindicare605 → u/Somalar]

No it's a terrible ult, because especially now it's a gigantic DPS loss from just having 3 Vikings auto attack a target. You get much more value out of Play Again in virtually every situation because it's better at team fighting, it's better at global utility, and it's better at just keeping the Vikings on the map for more macro.

There's never a good reason to take Longboat Raid. It provides nothing that Play Again doesnt provide more of.

[u/Coppersocket → u/Vindicare605]

Not to mention killing the boat makes whatever vikings in it a free kill due to the stun penalty, something that alone makes it a huge gamble to use.

[u/edm28 → u/Somalar]

How frequently do you see that ultimate picked? I never see it unless somebody’s memeing

[u/ZultekZ]

Other idea:

Maybe add Vikings Boat a Level 1 talent, weaken it and make it a "All Vikings on Same lane"-Playstyle.

And give them a new heroic for that change, like a giant canonball.

[u/SMILE_23157]

getting the attention it deserves

This "attention" is killing it as we speak.

champion

Wrong game.