sounds like ai is not allowed to get a cascade,
rules state only humans can get cascades so ai clearly cheats
2 Likes
I hope in that case Dragon Soul looses his 3rd trait and keeps mana shield
1 Like
Famine’s nerf is an intermediate step until we get Mana Shield preventing mana drain. Let’s get both up and running and see how the meta feels.
3 Likes
Why does no one mention Famines first trait Jinx: Halve enemy Gem Masteries. Almost every other true mythic has his first trait very weak. In most cases it adds some stats to one type of troops or give same base immunity like stand or DM. The most absurd is Elemaugrim with +1 to life for each purple ally.
So why is Famines first trait so OP. IMO this is the much bigger problem than his 20 mana price. When I play against 2x Famine, I almost never get mana surge and there were cases when I wasn’t able to fill my Nyx before he filled his Famine.
Using partial mana drainers like Manticore is useless, because I need at least 2-3 turns to fill him (because of no mana surge), while he needs onle one to get his 7 mana back.
Another huge problem is his 3rd trait that can completely cripple the first troop within 5 turns.
So please stop arguing about his mana cost, because it is irrelevant and I do not see any significant difference between 22 and 24.
And one more thing. I will be probably alone but I think that his dame should be reduced. For example to Magic + 5 as it is now, + mana drained instead of Magic + 5 + mana drained * 2.
5 Likes
Jinx was never really considered strong, until GW came and teams were focused around a single colour. Normal PVP/Explore teams can get around lack of Mana Surges with gem converters etc, but no targeted converters convert to one of their own colours. So in Guild Wars you’ll never see Giant Spider in a Purple Team, or Valkyrie in a Blue team etc. All this comes together to make Jinx’s effect more noticeabl than it is in other modes…
Other troops that have Jinx: Banshee, Cthyryzyx, Dark Song, Ettin, Famine, Green Slime, Hag, Nobend Brothers, Peasant, Summoner, Sunweaver.
2 Likes
I completely agree, but the whole Famine problem is only because of GW. In the normal PVP I can use Gorgotha/Krys/DS/Krys team and smash Famine, because Gorgotha and the DS explode gems and are not affected by his Jinx.
The problem as you mentions are GW. The same problem is with Khorvash. Ok not that big but still big enough. Draining first two troops, when all 4 use the same color is extremely strong.
2 Likes
I complained about Jinx in another thread. I agree that the problem isn’t just Famine’s spell, but that multiple Jinxes combine to make it much less likely that you will fill your mana-draining troop before Famine gets filled. Famine’s third trait is also especially ruinous in multiples.
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They don’t really need to, though. They just need to fill someone who shares one color with them, and the color they make.
For example: “you’ll never see Giant Spider in a Purple Team” - But you’ll see him in a green team, filling Kraken for example, even looping with him. “or Valkyrie in a Blue team” - But you’ll see her in a red team, filling Bat, Tesla, Jotnar etc.
4 Likes
I’m sure you won games more often than lose, even against Famines. Famine is one of the very FEW troops that excellent on defense. Why no one ever complained about Gard? It’s because he is crap on defense, but he’s very powerful on offense. Famine is annoying, you will struggle to get mana fighting against him, and that’s just how Famine works. Even his name is fits with his ability.
I personally don’t want him get nerf further than he is now.
7 Likes
@Nimhain @Saltypatra i thought famine was going from 20 mana to 22 ? Mine is still at 20 this morning
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There hasn’t been an update through to Steam yet, my guess is they didn’t want to make changes directly around weekly reset due to number crunching be done by the servers etc. We’ll probably see it later tonight / tomorrow before GW starts.
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The mana shield change will make non Famine manadrainers(aka Ghetto mana drainers) fall off even more compared to Famine.
It is entirely a step into the wrong direction to change core mechanics and diminish the usefulness of already very situational troops further just to make a single troop not be insanely op anymore.
mana drain resistance was long needed feature,
also there is not many mana shield units in game, i dont see how would that be an issue?
Personally i never had any problems with enemy mana drainers aside from Famine, so i don’t think it is a long needed feature at all.
But if that feature stops me from ever draining a Valk or a Dragon Soul (or whatever more critical mana shield troop will be introduced in the future) with balanced mana-drainers, while also doing nothing to keep Famine in check, who will still be able to oneshoot mana shield troops with the mana it drains from the rest of the team, then this change entirely fails to hit the mark.
I like all the comments by Nimhain. While I agree that Mana Drain protection is well overdue, I think having it on TDS makes him all too powerful. (As much as I don’t want to say anything since I use him a lot)
Now I can have a board exploder which can’t be drained of mana and get my team back on track. Would be able to put him higher in my team against EK so now I essentially get to keep mana on my TDS and my Krys (previously in 2nd slot).
Though as I’m thinking about EK, it would only prevent one cast, because there is a chance that TDS is still stunned by the time EK fills again.
khorvash 
anyway i dont think that ‘if ppl have or dont have problems with’ a status / effect should be the decisive factor to add a defensive counter for said status / effect
sooner or later stronger troop or combo with said effect would emerge anyway, balance-wise giving the counter is more logical and consistent
devs said they will be looking at all mana shielded troops and possibly rebalance them when/if they add mana drain immunity to it
(ps i think dragon soul keeping its mana would be cool, at the other hand he doesnt need to mimic IK resurrection)
if you are so concerned about famine put more then one mana shield unit in the team, then the possible mana drained will not be this high to one-shot a troop
Absolutely right, i should not have left him out, he is an outlier just like Famine, and i stated so on several occasions.
Still the point is to bring extreme outliers in line you don’t have to introduce changes that will cripple the respective troops that are in line much more than the outliers themselves.
True, that still doesn’t make it “a long needed feature” though, introducing counters to existing mechanics is a reasonable thing to do but not long needed in this case, what is long needed is to get Famine and Khorvash the two drastic outliers in line which btw this change won’t achieve.
Quite the opposite, it will make several regular drainers much less usefull and situational, while only posing a small chink in the shining armor of infinite overpoweredness of Famine and Khorvash.
So to counter a clearly overpowered troop i shall be forced to limit my troop choices to 9 instead of the Devs balancing it? Yeah, no.
3 Likes
it does make it ‘long needed’ if you know that khorvash is not planned to be nerfed or balanced any further
also countless players think (not me) he is ‘fine’
id rather buff/rebalance the other troops that will be underpowered and keep a defense counter introduced in game for those who want to counter that specific mechanic (its the one i hate most, not devour and not deathmark/instakill)
ofc not but allow others to have the choice to do so if they wish to take the defensive-counter tactic instead of offensive-counter
just cause you think other mana drainers are fine and there is no need for a defensive counter for it doesnt mean others wouldnt like such tactic,
its probably the same with entangle, or immunity to silence? - id say many could agree its not needed counter xD
I am not against another mana drain countermeasure, this one is just boring, brings up even more balancing issues, and creates a ton of potential mana shield prevents a troop from being countered scenarios. And it does very little to adress the two outliers, while rendering several other mana drainers even more situational than they already are.
Yeah but that won’t happen, you know that, right?
Moloch has been subpar forever now, he got a slight tweak that was the balancing equivalent of a pad on the back for a troop that keeps soldiering on even though he knows he sucks, and that manashield change will render him absolutely useless to anything with that trait. The only reason he saw any use lately were the specific colour rules of GW.
Meanwhile Famine just keeps on oneshotting stuff and draining 75% of the enemy teams mana, good times ahead.
1 Like
i suppose gem transformers and gem creators probably shouldnt be mana drain resistant 
but besides that i dont see a reason why making mana drain not counterable just coz its the way to counter something?
then that something needs to be addressed and and created more ways to counter it, instead of protecting that one counter way (ps you can counter valkyrie silencing their team or stunning her then mana draining)