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Enhancements to Hound and Kickback

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  • FirebotFirebot Posts: 525
    Gunz0 wrote: »
    Have KB’s healing buffs always been capped at 6 stacks?
    gje71kln6cgb.png

    No, it always depends on the number of power leaks the opponent has.
    (For each power leak inflicted on the opponent kickback gains a repair buff that repairs 3% of his max health)
  • Gunz0Gunz0 Posts: 2,949
    Firebot wrote: »
    Gunz0 wrote: »
    Have KB’s healing buffs always been capped at 6 stacks?
    gje71kln6cgb.png

    No, it always depends on the number of power leaks the opponent has.
    (For each power leak inflicted on the opponent kickback gains a repair buff that repairs 3% of his max health)

    You seem to have misunderstood my question. In this fight, Kickback managed to land 9 Power Leak debuffs, which according to his ability description, should translate to 9 repairs. However, KB could only convert 6 debuffs into repairs, with the remaining 3 still staying on the opponent.
    I wanted to ask if this has always been the case or just a feature after his rebalance update.
  • MutantdocMutantdoc Posts: 470
    I don't think it was capped before
  • MystaJayMystaJay Posts: 135
    I have never gone past 6 debuffs during sp3 before (sp2 got up to around 9-10) and therefore never had more than 6 heal buffs, and i used him extensively in raids

    looks like 6 is the cap unless it's another oversight by kabam
  • GeneralZ9 wrote: »
    I get the Hound buff but Kickback?! Really?! You had the chance to rework Soundwave and you blew it! I do appreciate the buff to Kickback and Hound tho, but you had a chance to rework a bot (Soundwave) that was long overdue for a rework and you didn't take it!
    Who's to say that Soundwave can't be next? Or Megatron, or Cheetor, or anyone? There's a lot of bots out there, and we're doing some touch-ups as we go. That said, remember that not every Bot has to be the next Megatronus.
  • JIMMY_SABJIMMY_SAB Posts: 1,008
    GeneralZ9 wrote: »
    I get the Hound buff but Kickback?! Really?! You had the chance to rework Soundwave and you blew it! I do appreciate the buff to Kickback and Hound tho, but you had a chance to rework a bot (Soundwave) that was long overdue for a rework and you didn't take it!
    Who's to say that Soundwave can't be next? Or Megatron, or Cheetor, or anyone? There's a lot of bots out there, and we're doing some touch-ups as we go. That said, remember that not every Bot has to be the next Megatronus.

    Feels like old times. Now we just need an obscure clue.
  • KittenKitten Posts: 1,897
    GeneralZ9 wrote: »
    I get the Hound buff but Kickback?! Really?! You had the chance to rework Soundwave and you blew it! I do appreciate the buff to Kickback and Hound tho, but you had a chance to rework a bot (Soundwave) that was long overdue for a rework and you didn't take it!
    That said, remember that not every Bot has to be the next Megatronus.

    lrkhd9704icq.png
  • Bi1b0BagginsBi1b0Baggins Posts: 1,049
    Kitten wrote: »
    GeneralZ9 wrote: »
    I get the Hound buff but Kickback?! Really?! You had the chance to rework Soundwave and you blew it! I do appreciate the buff to Kickback and Hound tho, but you had a chance to rework a bot (Soundwave) that was long overdue for a rework and you didn't take it!
    That said, remember that not every Bot has to be the next Megatronus.

    lrkhd9704icq.png

    Got em.
  • Kitten wrote: »
    GeneralZ9 wrote: »
    I get the Hound buff but Kickback?! Really?! You had the chance to rework Soundwave and you blew it! I do appreciate the buff to Kickback and Hound tho, but you had a chance to rework a bot (Soundwave) that was long overdue for a rework and you didn't take it!
    That said, remember that not every Bot has to be the next Megatronus.

    lrkhd9704icq.png
    That's a Megatronus possessed by an ancient Titan... That's THE next Megatronus!
  • Bazzatron1979Bazzatron1979 Posts: 238
    Firebot wrote: »
    Hound needs a knock back ability , like cyclonus when MM charges in , to keep the opponent at (Michael) bay.

    It could be called belly-bounce or something like that

    I agree about his firepower needing to apply effects regardless of blocking

    Inferno should apply burn regardless of block, precision should be unblock able and unreflective

    Hold it right there pal, You're making him from not useful at all to a god?
    Even megatronus cannot apply armor break when opponent is blocking.

    Regression to the mean
  • KittenKitten Posts: 1,897
    Kitten wrote: »
    GeneralZ9 wrote: »
    I get the Hound buff but Kickback?! Really?! You had the chance to rework Soundwave and you blew it! I do appreciate the buff to Kickback and Hound tho, but you had a chance to rework a bot (Soundwave) that was long overdue for a rework and you didn't take it!
    That said, remember that not every Bot has to be the next Megatronus.

    lrkhd9704icq.png
    That's a Megatronus possessed by an ancient Titan... That's THE next Megatronus!

    Problem is he certainly doesn't compare with Megatronus, isn't Necrotitan meant to be all powerful? It seems he's only made Megatronus weaker ;)

    Necrotronus is still top tier imo but he should've been much better still
  • SilverZASilverZA Posts: 363
    I think that is it is great that Hound has been beefed up now, but we can all agree that Hound's signature duplicate ability isn't exactly like the movies, right?
  • DaveJLDaveJL Posts: 1,779
    Glad to see some long-waited rework done to Hound, but it doesn't look like a very solid buff to the warrior.

    Firstly, it's good to make the bot dedicated to range play. But without a ranged heavy, you don't have enough benefit trading shots with the AI. Take a look at IH, Shockwave and Megatronus, and you know why.

    Secondly, being able to refresh a burn debuff certainly contributes to Hound's damage. But if you make the 3rd hit the refreshing one, that means we'll sacrifice an opening (where we could do a 'doubletap - dash 5 combo - special') just for a refresh. Why would we do that when a special can mostly apply a burn or some bleeds anyway?


    Finally, what's the point of nullifying shields? Can his shots bypass Soundwave's reflection? Does he has enough shots to melt all the shields of Rhinox? Mirage? He only activates his shield against specials. In the end, the only viable use of this nullify ability, is against Wheeljack.

    The idea of refreshing the debuff is to keep the debuff active and stack the ranged damage via extra crit damage. If you use sp3 and don't do a melee attack, the crit resist debuff stays there (unless you get hit too) so theoretically if you can proc his sig ability and pummel the opponent with constant ranged attacks after an sp3.

    With regards to the shield removal - think it would work well against Blaster? It would be better if it removed shields through block too - that would make Hound a properly viable warrior IMO
  • Primerprime5Primerprime5 Posts: 853
    I can confirm that Hound is significantly better now. The hits on the Inferno Buff don't even have to be successful, just hitting the opponent's block is enough. Use a Heavy at the start of the fight, land a few Burns and keep launching three-hit ranged combos, he's now a walking Harm Accelerator. Rhinox's Shields giving you trouble? Shots fired away, and watch his Signature become useless. Mirage capping off your damage output? Take out the Shield Buff and use your Special while it's recharging. He's still not the best Warrior yet, but he's extremely versatile and it's a lot more enticing to use him.
  • I can confirm that Hound is significantly better now. The hits on the Inferno Buff don't even have to be successful, just hitting the opponent's block is enough. Use a Heavy at the start of the fight, land a few Burns and keep launching three-hit ranged combos, he's now a walking Harm Accelerator. Rhinox's Shields giving you trouble? Shots fired away, and watch his Signature become useless. Mirage capping off your damage output? Take out the Shield Buff and use your Special while it's recharging. He's still not the best Warrior yet, but he's extremely versatile and it's a lot more enticing to use him.

    Now who is going to be the first player to beat LOC with a 5 star rank 4 Hound?
  • Primerprime5Primerprime5 Posts: 853
    I can confirm that Hound is significantly better now. The hits on the Inferno Buff don't even have to be successful, just hitting the opponent's block is enough. Use a Heavy at the start of the fight, land a few Burns and keep launching three-hit ranged combos, he's now a walking Harm Accelerator. Rhinox's Shields giving you trouble? Shots fired away, and watch his Signature become useless. Mirage capping off your damage output? Take out the Shield Buff and use your Special while it's recharging. He's still not the best Warrior yet, but he's extremely versatile and it's a lot more enticing to use him.

    Now who is going to be the first player to beat LOC with a 5 star rank 4 Hound?

    Crazy is your first name, it's like you were made for this.
    ox2cr6cpwfc3.png
  • Gunz0Gunz0 Posts: 2,949
    It’s official, BC is now the bottom Warrior bot. Have fun ranking him up for Base Gold bonus and Away Missions.
  • Gunz0 wrote: »
    It’s official, BC is now the bottom Warrior bot. Have fun ranking him up for Base Gold bonus and Away Missions.

    Still better than an unduped bludgeon though. Bc needs a buff.
  • Primerprime5Primerprime5 Posts: 853
    Edit: Okay, I just realised that Hound might actually have become a little too powerful. For reference, he's the only Warrior and one of the few Bots that:
    1) renders the Nanojack combo useless (Burn Debuff nullifies Nano-repair, Precision Ammo removes Force Shield)
    2) reliably bypasses Arcee's and Barricade's Evades,
    3) removes Soundwave's Shielding (with a little luck) and makes his Signature useless.

    Even his Melee hits have been elevated, as strategic use of Heavies allow him to land Burns every 5 hits and makes every other hit a Critical. He's got a flaming punch and a Melee Crit Rate that can only be matched by G1 Bee. He's basically got a weaker version of OGP's Signature.
    I can confirm that Hound is significantly better now. The hits on the Inferno Buff don't even have to be successful, just hitting the opponent's block is enough. Use a Heavy at the start of the fight, land a few Burns and keep launching three-hit ranged combos, he's now a walking Harm Accelerator. Rhinox's Shields giving you trouble? Shots fired away, and watch his Signature become useless. Mirage capping off your damage output? Take out the Shield Buff and use your Special while it's recharging. He's still not the best Warrior yet, but he's extremely versatile and it's a lot more enticing to use him.
  • VectorSierraXÎXVectorSierraXÎX Posts: 84
    edited May 2020
    Edit: Okay, I just realised that Hound might actually have become a little too powerful. For reference, he's the only Warrior and one of the few Bots that:
    1) renders the Nanojack combo useless (Burn Debuff nullifies Nano-repair, Precision Ammo removes Force Shield)
    2) reliably bypasses Arcee's and Barricade's Evades,
    3) removes Soundwave's Shielding (with a little luck) and makes his Signature useless.

    Even his Melee hits have been elevated, as strategic use of Heavies allow him to land Burns every 5 hits and makes every other hit a Critical. He's got a flaming punch and a Melee Crit Rate that can only be matched by G1 Bee. He's basically got a weaker version of OGP's Signature.
    I can confirm that Hound is significantly better now. The hits on the Inferno Buff don't even have to be successful, just hitting the opponent's block is enough. Use a Heavy at the start of the fight, land a few Burns and keep launching three-hit ranged combos, he's now a walking Harm Accelerator. Rhinox's Shields giving you trouble? Shots fired away, and watch his Signature become useless. Mirage capping off your damage output? Take out the Shield Buff and use your Special while it's recharging. He's still not the best Warrior yet, but he's extremely versatile and it's a lot more enticing to use him.

    I believe Hound is now good where he is for the moment and the adjustments provide further incentive for Hound to be used and considered amongst the other top tier warrior bots. As mentioned in the original post, Hound was intended to be an extremely versatile bot who could handle many situations, mainly focusing on his range attacks. It also matches his in-game description (finally).

    'Autobot Hound has a mean bark and a nastier bite. This brave warrior will back his teammates no matter how grim the struggle. Armed with enough weaponry for a small army and quick to improvise, this Autobot is able to hold his own in any situation.'

    The game itself required more direct counters towards shielded opponents other than the exclusive scout Bumblebee which not many could obtain as a 5* at the moment. And Hound is now a decent alternative to him for the lower level players. He could now especially deal with the Energon Shield mod, currently found in chapter 3.2 on the hardest lane of expert and master spotlight. Before this, scout Bumblebee was the only bot whom of which could remove this mod with his critical attacks. Now, Hound is also a viable alternative though the former is still preferable.

    Hound was always meant to be an evade-killer since the very beginning with his precision ammo being one of his main abilities. He has always been able to deal critical damage like there's no tomorrow for which it compensates for his mediocre melee damage.
  • DaveJLDaveJL Posts: 1,779
    Hound is still in no way one of the best warriors though...
  • DaveJL wrote: »
    Hound is still in no way one of the best warriors though...

    We can agree overall damage-wise, Hound is still subpar due to him being primarily range-focused. What further limits Hound's potential in the damage department is how the A.I is constantly moving around and dodging range attacks, making it extremely difficult to consistently land 2 or more consecutive range shots thus drawing out the fight further rather unnecessarily. Potentially leaving you open in getting caught in a combo from the opponent. Especially in high-level content such as Alliance Missions or Legends of Cybertron or even Master Spotlights. You absolutely do not want to go into a range battle with any of those bots on such contents to begin with.

    I will commend the staff at Kabam however for attempting to try something new with a bot like Hound. No other bot in the game is as range-centric as Hound is. However this uniqueness towards his playstyle is also unfortunately his main drawback. It does not help asking a player to adept to a certain playstyle in order to fully make use of a bot's full potential. Hound being one of those bots.

    Utility-wise, Hound has his strengths in this part. Being the only bot who could purify daze debuffs, stop Windblade's, Cheetor's, and even Mirage's heavy attacks in its track where otherwise all other bots would have just missed their hits against them. Now being one of the only two bots in the game capable of removing shields. Being one of two bots able to inflict a critical rate down debuff and being the only bot able to apply a critical resistance debuff which leads to more direct critical hits translating to more critical damage.

    It wouldn't be much of a surprise if the people at Kabam decided to add further utility towards Hound sometime in the future. As it stands, Hound is one of the few bots if not the only bot Kabam would experiment with rather freely with such a utility-focused bot.
  • JIMMY_SABJIMMY_SAB Posts: 1,008
    Lots of good feedback here. What stands out most to me is that Hound needs a ranged heavy in order to put it all together. Can we make that happen @Kabam Miike @Kabam Vydious ? I know that would be unprecedented but wow, what a simple change in order to smooth out a well intentioned bot rework.

  • JIMMY_SABJIMMY_SAB Posts: 1,008
    edited May 2020

    Hound was always meant to be an evade-killer since the very beginning with his precision ammo being one of his main abilities. He has always been able to deal critical damage like there's no tomorrow for which it compensates for his mediocre melee damage.

    RoK SideSwipe begs to differ. Neither Hound’s anti-Evade nor his Burns nor his Crits can overcome in this scenario. I know this is unique but even aside from the gif below I did 3 long fights vs Swiper the Fox. In over 45 mins of fight time, at no point did any of Hound’s skills prove to be effective. There was a stretch where I had about a 70 hit streak and burned the heck out of him but it was still too weak. Maybe his attack rating needs a boost too? I vote for making his heavy a ranged attack personally.

    39c7dgeukgkn.gif
  • VectorSierraXÎXVectorSierraXÎX Posts: 84
    edited May 2020
    JIMMY_SAB wrote: »

    Hound was always meant to be an evade-killer since the very beginning with his precision ammo being one of his main abilities. He has always been able to deal critical damage like there's no tomorrow for which it compensates for his mediocre melee damage.

    RoK SideSwipe begs to differ. Neither Hound’s anti-Evade nor his Burns nor his Crits can overcome in this scenario. I know this is unique but even aside from the gif below I did 3 long fights vs Swiper the Fox. In over 45 mins of fight time, at no point did any of Hound’s skills prove to be effective. There was a stretch where I had about a 70 hit streak and burned the heck out of him but it was still too weak. Maybe his attack rating needs a boost too? I vote for making his heavy a ranged attack personally.

    39c7dgeukgkn.gif

    Which was why I've mentioned using Hound against any high-level content like Legends of Cybertron would not be the wisest of ideas and may very well be detrimental and futile towards yourself despite his utility in many different scenarios. Hound simply does not have the damage output, let alone his range-centric playstyle necessary to go up against bots with massive health pools and high attack ratings unlike the other warrior bots who could deal far higher amounts of burst damage and are much better equipped for these scenarios.

    Hound's more suited towards contents on par with his own rating and slightly higher like on the earlier missions of master spotlights or act 4 story missions and below. Anything more would be a disadvantage towards yourself and the fight itself. The opponent of such high-level contents may have already won before you land a hit on them when you used Hound against them.
  • Primerprime5Primerprime5 Posts: 853
    JIMMY_SAB wrote: »
    Lots of good feedback here. What stands out most to me is that Hound needs a ranged heavy in order to put it all together. Can we make that happen @Kabam Miike @Kabam Vydious ? I know that would be unprecedented but wow, what a simple change in order to smooth out a well intentioned bot rework.

    Either this, or give him some Heal Buffs, maybe a 3% Heal Buff per Debuff inflicted during Sp3 (similar to Dinobot). Not only is it a requirement to compensate for his lower armour and attack, but it would also give players a valid reason to use his Sp3 (which right now is just his Sp2 with more animation). It would also play well with the Healing Synergy he has with Drift and MV1(I think).
  • DaveJLDaveJL Posts: 1,779
    JIMMY_SAB wrote: »

    Hound was always meant to be an evade-killer since the very beginning with his precision ammo being one of his main abilities. He has always been able to deal critical damage like there's no tomorrow for which it compensates for his mediocre melee damage.

    RoK SideSwipe begs to differ. Neither Hound’s anti-Evade nor his Burns nor his Crits can overcome in this scenario. I know this is unique but even aside from the gif below I did 3 long fights vs Swiper the Fox. In over 45 mins of fight time, at no point did any of Hound’s skills prove to be effective. There was a stretch where I had about a 70 hit streak and burned the heck out of him but it was still too weak. Maybe his attack rating needs a boost too? I vote for making his heavy a ranged attack personally.

    39c7dgeukgkn.gif

    RoK Sideswipe is bugged though.

    Strategy for Hound is use sp3, keep burn active, pummel with sig boosted range shots without melee hits for constant crits, higher crit damage and burn stacks.

    A ranged heavy would be nice but I don't see what it adds in the mechanics there, unless it activated another ability.
  • MystaJayMystaJay Posts: 135
    how the hell did that sideswipe get THAT much power?

    also....
    WINDBLADE

    This change isn’t for the Bot herself, but for the AI that controls Windblade when she is the enemy. Currently, she plays too much like a ranged Bot, when she is not. Moving forward, she’ll be more likely to use Melee attacks, and will use her Special 2 Attack from closer.

    did someone forget to tell warrior shark that he should be a little less "distant" with his sp2?

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