Remember all the true shot teams of 1.0.7 etc… welll Devour has to be the WORST skill put into this game, it becomes who devours whom first. Removes strategy from the game. If you dont have a fully traited maw with mercy and other cards, you should never attack them. You just have zero chance without devouring the other maw/devour troops first.
I had a match with black monacles 20% chance to devour and devoured me 4 times in a row. How do you counter this? With devour of course… but where is the strategy when all you do is devour? This skill should be removed from the game.
Eh it can be annoying especially when that chance of devour off skull hits seems to be closer to 100%. But if your team is fast, you can play around the computer’s Mercy and then just hit as hard and fast as possible. It’s not too hard to play smarter than the computer and force it into moves that will help you more.
You’re not the only one that feels this way. Do a search over the forum and you’ll find a dozen threads in greater or smaller agreement, ranging from “ZOMG GET RID OF IT” to “reduce the % chance on Maw’s third trait.”
It’s a very hard effect for the devs to balance, because of the dramatic effect it has on the battlefield (alters the balance of power by two troops in favor of the devourer). I suspect there are some regrets as to its inclusion as an offensive skill (was never an issue when you were just devouring your own via Black Beast).
I make no claim as to the exclusivity of opinions for or against. I’m merely stating that there is a vocal opposition to Devour and the troops that have it, so the OP is not alone.
See, I think that is the best way to handle something that’s too strong.
Don’t nerf it, especially if it takes multiple pieces to be good: either buff other things, or make something new that counters it, but is still good by itself.
I think the devs agree with you, @ForsakenM. They seem to be attempting to create Mercy/Maw counters instead of nerfing the troops. (Which I approve of as well, though Maw’s third trait could still stand a gentle adjustment.)
I was skipping Maw teams prior to 2.0 and I’m back to skipping them this week, and I’m happier for doing so. It’s not that I can’t beat those teams, it’s that Maw is more frustrating than fun to play against, especially due to its third trait. And it’s the only troop I feel that way about. I really wish they would replace that trait entirely.
What I’m saying is that DEVOUR itself should be removed from the game. This skill is just wrong, it doesnt matter how many times you buff your troops, how many times you silence theirs, all it takes is 1 success and your troop is gone.
So the only real counter to this is to devour/defeat them before they devour you. This skill is more unbalanced than any other skill in this game. There is no counter to devour. Unless I can cast “Undevourable” on my team, or a trait that makes my whole team “undevourable”.
I’m not asking for maw neccisarily to be nerfed, I’m just relating this to the “true shot” teams of 1.0.7 where it was whomever created skulls quicker than the other team. This skill was nerfed to oblivian, but since devour isnt neccisarily a “damage” based troop, but its a Kill and Boost yourself, which is 10x worse than the true shot teams of 1.0.7
This skill whether on MAW or other cards, its just too powerful. If you don’t have the cards to challenge a devour team, you cannot attack them. So if all 3 of my PvP teams I’m against are all mercy/maw/black monacles etc… I have only 1 choice to spend the gem to get another 3 mercy/maw/black monacle teams.
How many times will a player do this before they just say, this game isnt worth it. And when I encounter 50%+ of the teams I’m fighting with devour troops, you will see the unbalanced part of this skill.
I agree that the third trait is too strong. Reducing the % to the point where it’s not a problem makes the trait underwhelming, but keeping it as it is feels unfair.
Racing against the 24 mana is doable, if you’re lucky enough to have the tools.
I wonder if there’s some way to change the trait entirely that would still be in the right spirit? Like… what if the third trait were like, “Big Appetite” and gave an effect similar to disease, where the Maw would continue to gain mana but at a reduced rate, so you’d have a chance at a second devour but it wouldn’t be random?
Or would it just be too easy to kill the thing before it could gather another, what 50 mana & all the while it would be blocking your other troops?
I’ve been running a mana-drain-based control deck that has a nearly 100% win rate against Maw. Entangle, drain, and skull destruction are excellent counters. In fact, any deck that relies on skull damage just crumbles to it.
You cant mana drain a skull attack at 15% chance that works nearly 100% of the time.
Nor can you mana drain a lucky 4-5 times in a row 4-5 gem match combo drop and devour your main troop.
I can have 1000 health, 1000 attack, 1000 shield and still lose to this 1 skill regardless of their level.
A level 1 maw with all 3 traits can devour my entire team without any skill at all.
If fact, its in my best interest to have weaker teams with lower health, because devour gets better when its against buffed troops.
Wrong, there are plenty of counters, you missed the post that listed them
Silence is really strong, TOO strong in my opinion, and it perfectly counters both Maw and Mercy. Freezing Maw will prevent Mercy from getting an extra turn from a crazy yellow match. Entangle prevents him from doing skull damage, so no Third Trait. Mana Drain is half of what Silence does, yet is still a great way to counter Maw or Mercy.
Cockatrice is a perfect counter for Maw in this regard, as it tackles two of his major strengths.
Even developers have heard the cries of the masses, and they test things to see if it truly is too strong…guess what? It’s not.