It’s an Epic troop, not a Legendary.
So according to his base rarity, he seems a balanced troop.
Stoneskin vs Armored: the main difference is how many skulls he can tank.
Stoneskin seems enough for this fast true damage troop, so he can survive few skulls without having a “I take all the skulls during the fight”.
The spell is situational and so on, you cannot use this troop against all teams.
I don’t see how rarity is a necessity in determining if its balanced. There are already plenty of Epic troops that already outperform Legendaries as is.
Azura, Ragnagord, Lady Ironbeard, Lord Ironbeard, Nobend Brothers, Princess Fizzbang, all 6 Trolls, Mercy, Captain Skullbeard, Rowanne, Lady Anariel on a good day, and more
Most of these troops are mana generator so it’s difficult to compare them.
The Ironbeard are situational, same for Rowanne (i.e. loosing Armor and your troop will do crap).
Shocktopus spell mechanic is pretty unique, that alone makes it usable. Just give it some time for it to be absorbed into creative players’ troop pool.
Nothing Mongo does is unique in itself, and it mixes very different natured spells with randomness. Mongo is unusable. Mimic is a way better troop as far as randomness goes. But even Mimic, I only use it in arena.
@Saltypatra, not sure if you saw this when I initially posted it. The top 10 scorers for the contest got the same untraited version (I’m lead to assume; at least I did). Is there somewhere for us to submit our invite codes to facilitate the rewards delivery, or are things already set in motion?
I got mine in the mail, thank you very much! I wasn’t here for the troop design event, so I guess that might be why Shocktopus is “just another troop” to me and not as special as he seems to be for some others, causing either disappointment or happiness. I’m not big on mechs or sea creatures in general, so he’s not my cup of tea anyway, but I’m still grateful for all gifts and him being available this way for everyone, so thank you for a Valentine’s gift! (Only one I’ve gotten, too - wonder what it says about me when all I get for V-Day is a mechanical octopus and a tentacle love message.)