Copycat units -> Need rework!
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:25 pm
There are (at least) six units in the game which are - to varying degrees - carbon copies of a different unit. There is so much potential for greater variety and I think it is worth contemplating changes to the following units:
Dwarven Engineer < - > Meat Wagon
Same cost, same HP, same attack speed, same range.
Similar damage, similar ability.
The problem with these two is that the clear advantage goes to the engineer, on almost every category. The additional damage of the meat wagon is far, far worse than the better splash. The Fortified armor is great but neither unit is designed as the "tank" which just makes it awkward. The engineer is infinitely better because its upgrade is actually super useful all the way to the end of the game whereas the meat wagon's upgrade is basically completely unused.
I think one or the other unit should be changed completely, given a new concept. I would support leaving the engineer alone and changing the meat wagon, personally, because engineers have a stable place in the meta. As a possible suggestion for how to make meat wagons different without losing their current niche entirely, make their ability instead of splash be to cause corpses near the target to explode; igniting the fumes or something. As an alternative, less similar ability, it could cause minor knockback and slow to non-boss units, just slow to bosses.
Guardian of Death < - > Spawn of Dragon
Same attack type/armor type, exceptionally similar upgrade.
Similar ability.
Guardian of Death feels like it should be a much stronger Spawn of Dragon, given the huge cost difference, but I would actually argue it's far worse. Spawn has a definite niche as a powerhouse for waves 1-3 and 7. Guardian of Death is pretty much only respected as anti 21 and 24 with possible uses on 14 and 18 but so expensive it's very hard to obtain that early.
Instead of cleave damage, which ends up being worthless on the GoD, I suggest something more like a "doom" effect: long cooldown debuff on a single target which causes it to lose hp over time and deal less damage, which if the unit dies while under this effect spawns 2 skeletons to fight for the GoD.
The dragon upgrades both feel super similar which I don't like. I'm open to suggestions on how to make one of them feel more different from the other. The Azure is a good example of a dragon which feels significantly different. (albeit underpowered/underused af)
Frenzied Ghoul < - > Fangtooth
Same cost. Same HP. Same armor type. Exceptionally similar damage. Exceptionally similar ability.
The Frenzied Ghoul received a nice little change which made it scale, though far too little to actually become a relevant unit. Still, it's fine and well for it to have that little bit of specialness.
Other than that though, even considering Ghoul vs. Swamprunner, the two units are pretty much the exact same. I would even possibly advocate ditching the Fangtooth and just having the Defiler, but sadly I really like multiple upgrade trees, and the Defiler is complete trash. If the Defiler had like 225 range it would actually be a useful debuff for boss waves but in its current state, it along with the Gnoll Savage may as well not exist for how little they see use.
Soul of Villain < - > Blood Orc Warlock
Same ability. Same damage and armor types.
Very similar cost.
Soul of Villain should be changed entirely in my opinion. I would enjoy another unit similar to Soul of Hero but maybe along slightly different lines. Could be something like exchanging amount of attack-slow for amount of damage or attack range or something? At any rate, being the exact same as Blood Orc Warlock just seems wrong to me. A different kind of debuff would even be enough for me, just not the exact same one, please.
Neotank < - > Assault Tank
Same niche. Same damage and armor types.
Now don't yell at me. These are the least similar on the list, but still, they earn my disgust. Basically I would only build Assault Tanks if I really needed the siege damage and rerolling was not a viable option. Neotanks on the other hand do have a solid niche since their unupgraded form is ranged. Assault Tanks' ability is too awkward and bizarre, given that they are not supposed to be the front line. It should be different in my opinion, and preferably quite different to give it a different niche from Neotanks/Doomsdays. As a suggestion, Assault Tanks could have a Fervor-type ability, where continuous attacks on the same target increase in speed/damage up to a stack count cap.
Gateguard < - > Raider
Same unit. Different HP amounts.
Not much needs to be said here. This is probably the unit you were all thinking when you saw the title of this thread. I've made a suggestion in the past for how to change the Raider. At any rate I don't care how one changes or which one it is, but one should definitely change. As a suggestion, Raiders instead of having a summon could have a group-buff like Skeletors. Instead of the amount built of them increasing all their attack speed, it could increase HP or something. Could even do it like the Skeletor, where the Blood Raider is the one that provides the buff, but it provides a strong buff to other Blood Raiders and a weaker buff to Raiders. To a limit, like the Skeletors.
Dwarven Engineer < - > Meat Wagon
Same cost, same HP, same attack speed, same range.
Similar damage, similar ability.
The problem with these two is that the clear advantage goes to the engineer, on almost every category. The additional damage of the meat wagon is far, far worse than the better splash. The Fortified armor is great but neither unit is designed as the "tank" which just makes it awkward. The engineer is infinitely better because its upgrade is actually super useful all the way to the end of the game whereas the meat wagon's upgrade is basically completely unused.
I think one or the other unit should be changed completely, given a new concept. I would support leaving the engineer alone and changing the meat wagon, personally, because engineers have a stable place in the meta. As a possible suggestion for how to make meat wagons different without losing their current niche entirely, make their ability instead of splash be to cause corpses near the target to explode; igniting the fumes or something. As an alternative, less similar ability, it could cause minor knockback and slow to non-boss units, just slow to bosses.
Guardian of Death < - > Spawn of Dragon
Same attack type/armor type, exceptionally similar upgrade.
Similar ability.
Guardian of Death feels like it should be a much stronger Spawn of Dragon, given the huge cost difference, but I would actually argue it's far worse. Spawn has a definite niche as a powerhouse for waves 1-3 and 7. Guardian of Death is pretty much only respected as anti 21 and 24 with possible uses on 14 and 18 but so expensive it's very hard to obtain that early.
Instead of cleave damage, which ends up being worthless on the GoD, I suggest something more like a "doom" effect: long cooldown debuff on a single target which causes it to lose hp over time and deal less damage, which if the unit dies while under this effect spawns 2 skeletons to fight for the GoD.
The dragon upgrades both feel super similar which I don't like. I'm open to suggestions on how to make one of them feel more different from the other. The Azure is a good example of a dragon which feels significantly different. (albeit underpowered/underused af)
Frenzied Ghoul < - > Fangtooth
Same cost. Same HP. Same armor type. Exceptionally similar damage. Exceptionally similar ability.
The Frenzied Ghoul received a nice little change which made it scale, though far too little to actually become a relevant unit. Still, it's fine and well for it to have that little bit of specialness.
Other than that though, even considering Ghoul vs. Swamprunner, the two units are pretty much the exact same. I would even possibly advocate ditching the Fangtooth and just having the Defiler, but sadly I really like multiple upgrade trees, and the Defiler is complete trash. If the Defiler had like 225 range it would actually be a useful debuff for boss waves but in its current state, it along with the Gnoll Savage may as well not exist for how little they see use.
Soul of Villain < - > Blood Orc Warlock
Same ability. Same damage and armor types.
Very similar cost.
Soul of Villain should be changed entirely in my opinion. I would enjoy another unit similar to Soul of Hero but maybe along slightly different lines. Could be something like exchanging amount of attack-slow for amount of damage or attack range or something? At any rate, being the exact same as Blood Orc Warlock just seems wrong to me. A different kind of debuff would even be enough for me, just not the exact same one, please.
Neotank < - > Assault Tank
Same niche. Same damage and armor types.
Now don't yell at me. These are the least similar on the list, but still, they earn my disgust. Basically I would only build Assault Tanks if I really needed the siege damage and rerolling was not a viable option. Neotanks on the other hand do have a solid niche since their unupgraded form is ranged. Assault Tanks' ability is too awkward and bizarre, given that they are not supposed to be the front line. It should be different in my opinion, and preferably quite different to give it a different niche from Neotanks/Doomsdays. As a suggestion, Assault Tanks could have a Fervor-type ability, where continuous attacks on the same target increase in speed/damage up to a stack count cap.
Gateguard < - > Raider
Same unit. Different HP amounts.
Not much needs to be said here. This is probably the unit you were all thinking when you saw the title of this thread. I've made a suggestion in the past for how to change the Raider. At any rate I don't care how one changes or which one it is, but one should definitely change. As a suggestion, Raiders instead of having a summon could have a group-buff like Skeletors. Instead of the amount built of them increasing all their attack speed, it could increase HP or something. Could even do it like the Skeletor, where the Blood Raider is the one that provides the buff, but it provides a strong buff to other Blood Raiders and a weaker buff to Raiders. To a limit, like the Skeletors.