1.0.9 Sneak Peek - Barrier

Official News
103

I’m level 350+, I’ve been playing the Arena daily for forever, and I actually always pick the Dryad when I get the chance (out of personal preferences, because she’s good, not god-tier). My Dryad is still just Epic, and I have a long way to go to ascend her to Legendary, let alone Mythic. How in the hell are those level 100 players going to have their basic Rare Dryad even begin to compete with Emperina, Celestasia (if they’re lucky and get her in an early chest), or any of the many bigger and better troops available for non-rigged PVP teams? They’re also obviously not going to have all the juicy stat boots from Level 10 Kingdoms, or be anywhere near that yet (I’m still working on this myself, though I’m finally getting close), or have Traits on most troops…

You seem to be forgetting what PVP is actually like for the average low level player (who isn’t in Match Masters or similar). Stats come first and picking a squishy Rare support like the Dryad early on would be madness, even if her spell were “OP”. If you’re level 100-ish, your best bet to even have a shot at some PVP is to pick Legendaries, more Legendaries and a select few of the more powerful Epics. You don’t have the luxury to pick a once-garbage-tier troop like the Glade Warden and turn it into a 40/40/40 killing machine.

If any troop below the Epic rarity becomes popular in PVP, it’s typically for people at much higher levels than that. At which point you yourself claim even the “OP” Dryad would be discarded (which is pretty clear to me as well). So it shouldn’t have any impact on PVP.

Also, for the Arena, I’d like to add that the Arena meta will undoubtedly change a lot in 1.0.9, if only for the huge buffs to Heroes, which will have a million times bigger impact than any one troop could ever have. Other troops will also get changed, like the Frost Giant (that we know of yet, from a couple of tiny teasers). It’s way too early to estimate how good any one troop will be in this changed meta. We’ll just have to see it in context. My guess is that it’ll probably be more than fine, though (I think we’ll get roughly back to the pre-1.0.8 equilibrium, where your team is worth 50% hero + 50% the other 3 slots combined).

I also agree to disagree on that, obviously. You’re reacting as though Barrier would be worth a spell all on its own. 8 mana “Give Barrier to an Ally”… This is the equivalent of ONE proc of Agile. Any skull (including a 1-skull proc from an Explosion) or any damage spell (including a cheap split/spread damage ability like the Giant Spider’s or Hobgolin’s) will remove it. It’s not like this was “this troop can’t die, period”.

Getting this ability from a support troop, like the three examples in the preview screenshot, makes perfect sense. It will be a good bonus that will make them more viable (or in the Priestess’ case, maybe viable at all - she’s currently trash-tier even in the Arena). The Dryad is about as good as tenth of an Emperina or a Yasmine’s Chalice at the moment; adding 2 HP and one temporary shield to her spell won’t suddenly make her “OP”, anywhere. Note that even Emperina is found in approximately 0.0001% of all current PVP teams, by the way, despite being worth 10 Dryads…

However, if we’re super wrong and the Dryad truly does become an even greater plague than the goblin and true shot teams… lol I have no shade of doubt that there will be no shortage of calls for her to be nerfed at the stake then.

Could we please wait? =)

1 Like
104

105

While you are joking, you are more correct than you may realize. Dryad’s problem always has been how useless her spell is on a fully healed troop. That is why she got the 3 hp gain in the first place. Now she will have 5 HP gain and barrier per cast on top of gem spawn.

At level 1 with no bonuses, Dryad does: (8 mana)

  • 5 HP gain
  • 9 green gem spawn
  • 2 heal
  • Barrier

At level 1 with no bonuses, Celestasia does: (14 mana)

  • 2 HP gain
  • 10 gems
  • Cleanse

At level 1 with no bonuses, Emperina does: (14 mana)

  • 1 HP
  • 1 Attack
  • Full heal
  • Cleanse

Not to mention they will have Dryad likely within their first week or so of playing, whereas the other two would be months+. I’m not quite sure what argument you are making here for lower leveled players, especially since barrier scales upwards much better. A level 50 with a weak team up against a level 200+ will fend better with barrier than with not having barrier.

2 Likes
106

Are you seriously talking about level 1 troops? For PVP? :confused:

It’s pretty clear that no one would (or at least should) bother with Invades (and consequently Defends) with a line-up of level 1 troops. I’ve hardly ever faced a line-up that wasn’t entirely made of max level troops, even when I started myself. Everyone would take 4 level 10 troops to PVP, even if it was their only troops above level 1. It moved to level 15 when that was patched up, just as most line-ups these days have level 18+ troops. This is pretty basic.

So maybe compare what’s comparable? Level 15 (at least). Assuming a player with no magic bonus at all yet (could still get one from having 4 dragons, for instance, though), so just from the troop’s magic:

Emperina
SPELL (14 mana)
+3 Attack
+3 HP
FULL HEAL
CLEANSE
vs
STATS
Life: 14
Attack: 7

Celestasia
SPELL (14 mana):
10 gems
+6 HP
CLEANSE
vs
STATS
Life: 15
Attack: 9

Dryad
SPELL (8 mana):
9 gems
+5 total HP* (based on what we can half read from the screenshot)
6 HP heal (if possible)
BARRIER* (based on what we can half read from the screenshot)
vs
STATS
Life: 10
Attack: 5

Goblin Shaman:
SPELL (10 mana)
7 gems
+3 total HP
EXTRA TURN
Life: 14
Attack: 6

A player with these options is obviously far better off without the Dryad than with it. The spell alone does not the troop make. The opposite point was made recently for the Ogre, for instance (with good reason). Horrible spell? sure, but insane stats for his rarity slot. Dryad has a nice spell? Great. She’ll still get one-shot by fairly much anything you face in PVP, sometimes before casting her spell even once.

EDIT (grrr forgot that one point ^^):

lolwat? Emperina is one of the free epics everybody is given just by completing kingdom quests, remember? Dryad, players actually have to get from chests (or, much farther down the line, from Arena, for mucho gems). Emp is free of charge, guaranteed, and you basically start with her, just like Sapphira etc.

107

I believe Dryad won’t be nerfed regardless of its performance for the same reason Valkyrie will never be nerfed. Just like Valkyrie ensures everyone can farm souls, troops like Dryad will ensure lower leveled players can invade much higher leveled players. The only thing that will really happen is a troop with 3x cast damage and 2x skull damage to Fey.

My main concern with her is she will make 4x Fey the new 4x Marauder. If people thought 4x Marauder took forever to kill, wait until the complaints come in for 4x Fey.

108

@LegendMaker @Tacet

My speculation is that we will see massive changes to troop, so much so, that it is hard to compare the couple we’ve seen in the sneak previews. I say this based on the first line in:

“It’s an interesting theory, and I believe there is a time and a place for power creep and large sweeping buffs” !!??!!

1 Like
109

You keep telling this and it keeps making zero sense to me. We’ll just have to agree to disagree on that.

I highly doubt that. Feys are far less synergistic and snowball-y than Marauders. The bonuses for having a full unique Fey/Forest of Thorns line-up are also spread much thinner than for Marauder/Zaejin.

@Esoxnepa: Thanks for the link. I hadn’t noticed that other thread.

Exactly. What I said about the changes to the Arena meta with 1.0.9 should be true for PVP to an extent as well. After all, the main set goal of the bulk of the update is supposed to be to make the Hero viable for PVP, and a number of changed troops and new status effects will also likely shake up the meta a bit. Not to mention the True Shot and Agile adjustments (hopefully, if they come with the same patch). So we’ll have to see the big picture.

1 Like
110

I am level 478. Lets say a level 100 is facing my current defend team. It leads with an Ogre with base 27 attack +1 every time it is damaged. Barrier, regardless of the Dryad’s level or rarity will negate the full attack. This occurs regardless of the Ogre’s attack. This level 100 could be up against a level 80 with an Ogre with 13 attack. Barrier is just as effective in both instances, meaning it is more effective in the instance of the stronger enemy. That is a difference of over 14 protection per instance blocked.

111

You could make this same point for a lot of effects already in the game though, heal to full, entangle, devour, or the general damage boost to spells by gemnumbers of a colour, generally everything that disregards the individual skills of a troop with its effect.

1 Like
112

Heal to full:

  • Limited by a lower level’s lower max HP

Entangle:

  • Limited by Immunity
  • Attack gain

Devour:
-Limited by % chance

While barrier is consistent with upscaling, it is limited too by:

  • Poison
  • Burn
    But guess who has full immunity? Dryad. And Priestess has cleanse.
113

So everything has limitations then, great!

Devour itself is btw an additional limitation of barrier you forgot, one without a way around it too.
And if attack gain is a limitation for entangle, so is any kind of direct damage to barrier, attack gain doesn’t just happen without spending a spell on it or being damaged.
Also what is Dryads immunity gonna do for the troop she is actually shielding? Unless she is actually in front which i think no one is unhappy to see in an enemy team in the first place. :sunglasses:

2 Likes
114

You would be surprised how strong a level 20 fully traited Dryad is in the first slot location. It is by no means the best first slot, but she is quite comparable to Knight Coronet in defensive capabilities of the same color.

115

Knight Coronet has stoneskin, the single best defensive trait in the game which makes a huge difference.

116

Yes, but he lacks big or huge, which Treant (fey, Forest of Thorns) and Gloom Leaf (fey, Forest of Thorns) have both. Add Dryad (fey, Forest of Thorns) and she will just feed the other two while still acting as an above par tank. She is by no means a superior tank compared to every possible tank in the game, but sufficient all around. Knight Coronet can just be silenced, entangled, and the such.

117

While all that is besides the point of the argument, i’ll bite and say Dryad will just be oneshot by a trueshot troop or twoshot by any hardhitter, she has no offensive use for her spell, and is among the weaker skull damagedealers(though the difference gets more negliable the more kingdom bonuses come into play obviously).

She needs to pump mana into herself just to simulate similar tanking capabilities as the knight has passively, whereas the knight just dishes out devastating spelldamage with his mana. A silenced Knight still has stoneskin and tanks just as well as a nature’s gift spamming dryad.
Yes other Fey troops are amazing tanks that is exactly why a Dryad in front would make me happy, i get to dispatch her quick instead of her spell adding to the tankiness of treant or gloom leaf.

1 Like
118

vs

&

Even if that were relevant to her applying Barrier to another troop, which it is not, you’re talking about exactly the type of Dryad that a level 100 player cannot possibly have. Impervious is the Dryad’s third Trait, for crying out loud! And you need 91 copies of that troop to make it reach level 20!!! “She’s gonna be OP at level 20 with full traits” and this is somehow going to help low level players? Come on…

And even in your very example, the Dryad would never fill up and apply her spell anywhere near as often as your Ogre would simply match 3 or more skulls. So she’d get one-shot or two-shot anyway, end of story. Not to even mention that your defense team surely has a skull generator or two, to back up that Ogre. Edit: And your troops also have spells; even your Ogre himself could potentially remove a Barrier with his trash-tier “explode 1 gem” ability. The Dryad would need 8 mana for every single Barrier cast; removing each Barrier would be almost for free…

Also, in the (current) Arena, there are no Traits and all troops are at level 15. Unless you also expect that to change in 1.0.9 (which I really hope won’t be the case, as it would completely kill the mode’s spirit), nothing you have said so far supports in any way, shape or form your original assessment that the 1.0.9 Dryad will be OP in the Arena.

All you’ve managed to make reasonably believable so far on this matter is this:

Which is to say, she won’t be a problem, so she won’t require a nerf, let alone be OP. There are far more problematic troops out there already.

1 Like
119

Oh guys… Let’s just see what happens…

3 Likes
120

Wait until the thread starts for the new hero with traits. That discussion will be utter chaos. :smiling_imp:

121

Wish I could like that post a 1000 times!

122

At some point this just becomes an american political debate between a single party. Vacuous and with no real meaning until the proof is shown.