No one is denying KB is a power control bot, but the question was asked who is the “best” at it.
It’s shockwave and a close 2nd is prowl.
Well... Not exactly.
There are power control bots that are better in certain scenarios than others.
When it comes to straight power control,. Shockwave and prowl are undeniably the best...
However, vs power gain/flow mods and abilities KB is the hands down winner, without contest.
Why? He consumes the power buff entirely with a heavy attack, taking it out of the equation. He also applies a 30% power rate debuff with t-clog, which is equivalent to Prowls power rate debuff, except that prowl has to get the opponent down to 0% power for his power rate debuff to kick in.
KB does it without effort.
Then, KB also applies power drain debuffs similar to Shockwave, and can stack a ridiculous number of them with an S2.
Then there's rhinox... His power control shines in one scenario, better than ANY bot. He can take on that stupid 8-hit power gain mod with ease, because of his power lock. Just apply the power lock and you don't have to even worry about it.
There is no single best power control bot in all matchups.
@Gunz0
I tried using OGM's Power Rate Debuffs
against Power Flow and apparently nothing really changed; they were still able to generate massive amounts of power. So best to say it's ineffective against Power Gain/Power Rate mods.
@Gunz0
I tried using OGM's Power Rate Debuffs
against Power Flow and apparently nothing really changed; they were still able to generate massive amounts of power. So best to say it's ineffective against Power Gain/Power Rate mods.
This is because power rate debuffs only affect the base rate at which bots gain power, meaning, when they land hits or get hit.
@Gunz0
I tried using OGM's Power Rate Debuffs
against Power Flow and apparently nothing really changed; they were still able to generate massive amounts of power. So best to say it's ineffective against Power Gain/Power Rate mods.
This is because power rate debuffs only affect the base rate at which bots gain power, meaning, when they land hits or get hit.
I see. Guess I’ll stick with Shockwave for this lane
Kickback is built for power control. Prowl gets a decent amount of power control in bursts, and has power gain from his sig to achieve it faster, but you are sacrificing some damage to accomplish it (no sp2 if you're using sp1). Shockwave has an actual condition to be met (blocking ranged, and then landing one back), although if you just use sp1 it still slaps. Kickback's requirements, to my memory, are literally to crit and then get lucky. Not to mention power-consume/purify. Kickback's leaks are a consistent and accessible source of drain, and having one power leak on the opponent=more power gain per hit for kickback. Dragging yourself up to an sp2 is a death sentence for the enemy power bar.
Other contenders to my knowledge are rhinox, bonecrusher sig, windblade, and barricade. Rhinox is somewhat limited because his power control comes from his also-very-vulnerable heavy that has a diminishing-reapplication on it, but the lock+mini drain is nice. Bonecrusher's bleeds to lower power rate are awkward bc in the initial stages you're either heavy-ing constantly or being hit constantly. Windblade only works on direct power gain buffs (soundwave, blaster, and the like). Barricade's power control is super indirect, and essentially revolves around making the enemy not use specials bc of backfire, and then getting up to sp2 to take their bar out from under them.
Whether or not Kickback's pure power control capacity is worth what /feels like lower damage output is a different question, I think. Prowl and shockwave are on my main squad, so I'd favor them as more balanced/rounded out bots compared to kickback. In terms of power control alone, kickback is a beast.
@Gunz0
I tried using OGM's Power Rate Debuffs
against Power Flow and apparently nothing really changed; they were still able to generate massive amounts of power. So best to say it's ineffective against Power Gain/Power Rate mods.
This is because power rate debuffs only affect the base rate at which bots gain power, meaning, when they land hits or get hit.
Ah, I assumed that was the case.
Thanks for clearing that up.
Comments
Well... Not exactly.
There are power control bots that are better in certain scenarios than others.
When it comes to straight power control,. Shockwave and prowl are undeniably the best...
However, vs power gain/flow mods and abilities KB is the hands down winner, without contest.
Why? He consumes the power buff entirely with a heavy attack, taking it out of the equation. He also applies a 30% power rate debuff with t-clog, which is equivalent to Prowls power rate debuff, except that prowl has to get the opponent down to 0% power for his power rate debuff to kick in.
KB does it without effort.
Then, KB also applies power drain debuffs similar to Shockwave, and can stack a ridiculous number of them with an S2.
Then there's rhinox... His power control shines in one scenario, better than ANY bot. He can take on that stupid 8-hit power gain mod with ease, because of his power lock. Just apply the power lock and you don't have to even worry about it.
There is no single best power control bot in all matchups.
I tried using OGM's Power Rate Debuffs
against Power Flow and apparently nothing really changed; they were still able to generate massive amounts of power. So best to say it's ineffective against Power Gain/Power Rate mods.
This is because power rate debuffs only affect the base rate at which bots gain power, meaning, when they land hits or get hit.
I see. Guess I’ll stick with Shockwave for this lane
Thanks anyways guys
Other contenders to my knowledge are rhinox, bonecrusher sig, windblade, and barricade. Rhinox is somewhat limited because his power control comes from his also-very-vulnerable heavy that has a diminishing-reapplication on it, but the lock+mini drain is nice. Bonecrusher's bleeds to lower power rate are awkward bc in the initial stages you're either heavy-ing constantly or being hit constantly. Windblade only works on direct power gain buffs (soundwave, blaster, and the like). Barricade's power control is super indirect, and essentially revolves around making the enemy not use specials bc of backfire, and then getting up to sp2 to take their bar out from under them.
Whether or not Kickback's pure power control capacity is worth what /feels like lower damage output is a different question, I think. Prowl and shockwave are on my main squad, so I'd favor them as more balanced/rounded out bots compared to kickback. In terms of power control alone, kickback is a beast.
Ah, I assumed that was the case.
Thanks for clearing that up.