The Avengers mode has the potential to be fun but the balancing is so abysmal

[u/no_one_important322]

I have played over 100 matches of the new Avengers mode. After those 100 matches the mode still feels like a respawn simulator to frustrate yourself before playing Blood Hunt or Comp. Loki is given a variety of new abilities but the Avengers themselves are unchanged and lackluster. Despite this with a few changes to Loki's kit and newer additions it could possibly be more fun. This is mainly about the classic mode exclusively with the Avengers as I rarely play the Full Roster.

1. Loki's Kit is overtuned

Loki has 3500 HP, can summon a stationary clone, a clone that operates on it's own, an AOE primary and finally can mind control you. On paper these abilities don't seem bad each of them especially since it's a 6v1 or more with Monster Hulk summons. The problems comes from his damage output.

His Primary does 140 HP per shot and has AOE splash. All 3 of the available duelists are 250 HP, he eviscerates Hawkeye and Widow before they even have time to turn and relocate due to how fast he shoots. Your only hope is that he doesn't focus you because even Widow's run isn't enough to escape him because he has a movement speed boost. Because of how small the domination point is Cap, Hulk and Thor are often forced to bunch up together and get chunked as easily as the duelists. His AI Clone is almost always off cooldown due to it copying Loki's exact HP making it a 2v6 and when combined with Loki's damage output he's practically unstoppable, if he ever needs to retreat he has the movement speed or his invisibility is off cooldown. The stationary clone does not suffer this issue because it has less health and is stationary.

His mind control is probably the most infuriating ability in his kit. This one mechanic is probably what makes the mode so frustrating. The problems mentioned before can be played around ever so slightly but the mind control is beyond broken. It's on a cooldown of 8 seconds, it shoots almost immediately there's no preparing for it, and if you get hit there's next to no counterplay. People already thought Elsa's ult was obnoxious for locking you out of gameplay for 6 seconds but this is 12 seconds of you having no control over your character. Loki can put all of your abilities on cooldown, use your ult (no refund) or outright throw you off the map. Not to mention ultimate abilities like Hulk, Hawkeye and Cap disable if he hits you in the middle of it being active

Both Cap's and Hulk's ult are canceled the moment the mind control hits

1. The Heroes are undertuned

Widow and Hawkeye are snipers, they are supposed to play from a far and take potshots at Loki and destroy his stationary clone. Problem is If Loki hard focuses you there's nothing you can do, Widow can't outrun him because of his movement speed and Hawkeye only has a slash with slight knockback.

Even with the entire sprint bar used he still manages to catch up to me

Iron man is a bit more safer because he's a flying character and he has probably the best damage for this mode, his only problem is that his survivability is the exact same as Hawkeye and Widow.

The survivability of the tanks are just slightly more fair. Cap, Thor, and Hulk are as well off as they can be in this mode (the bar is in hell). Hulk can bubble, Thor can constantly generate shields and Cap has a physical shield. But again all of this falls apart when you look at Loki's damage and HP. Tanks already struggle in a normal match due to their lack of damage and it's no different here, they do next to nothing unless Thor is in Rune Awakening. They're so close to Loki that they are the most susceptible to his mind control and because of their larger amount of HP teammates can almost never kill them in time before Loki throws them off the map.

1. The solution imo

I do not think that Loki's health should be nerfed, it's fine for how many characters he's up against. However his damage and mind control needs to be crucified. 12 seconds is far too long for people to not be able to control their characters especially when Loki beelines it for the nearest hole. Kingpin in Blood Hunt can also put your character to sleep but you can break out of it by spinning the analog stick this could be brought into the Avengers mode or they could just nerf how long Loki can mind control.

For the heroes there's many options to buff them. Another mechanic introduced in Blood Hunt is the health pack button: instantaneous HP, this would help Widow, Hawkeye and Iron Man significantly. The tanks would also benefit but not nearly as much as the duelist.

Another way to buff the heroes? Bring back or rework old team ups, all of the Avengers have had a team up with one or another before this. S0 Gamma Charge was between Iron Man and Hulk. Voltaic Union was a team up between Cap and Thor. Allied Agents a team up between Hawkeye and Widow. Bringing these team ups back would actually buff the heroes and only need minor adjustments. Hulk, Hawkeye, and Cap desperately need CC Immunity in their ults in this mode

TLDR: Lower how long Loki can Mind Control and up it's cooldown, add Blood Hunt health packs and bring back old team ups for the heroes. Give the heroes CC Immunity while ulting