OK, let's try it again, but for real this time. There's things that are overperforming and things that are underperforming. Some of those might be horrible ideas, but I'd still like to share them.
Well then, which are the three main complaints with GS right now?
I'd say it's
1: Spider Rider Archers
2: Stone Trolls
3: Grom
Spider Rider Archers: +80G, -5 Ammo, slightly reduced reload time. This is gonna mean they aren't quite as spammable and cannot sustain their poison rate for quite as long. The reduced reload time does technically increase their ranged dps but also makes them prone to wasting their now quite limited ammo (and let's be honest... noone picks these guys because they deal any meaningful amount of damage). This may not look very drastic, but you need to remember that the thing making them powerful isn't their statline which is quite honestly pretty abysmal, it's their low price and their ability to easily apply poison across the board.
Stone Trolls: Now, Stone Trolls are an interesting one. The thing most people are gonna be complaining about are their resistances and I'm not gonna change those. I think there's two ways to go about nerfing them. One is the obvious stat bomb which might have to be applied either way: +150G, -7 MD, -7 Speed, -8 CB. One idea would also be to increase their attack intervall which would lower their dps.
The other one would be a change to all trolls in general and this would definitely need some testing ahead of time: change their leadership system. The thing is, trolls are stupid. Really freaking stupid, in fact. So stupid that it even affects their ability for self-preservation. Instead of having them break and flee away from combat (which gives them an opportunity to make good use of their regeneration), they could derp out. Kind of simular to rampage, but instead of charging whatever enemy unit is closest, they'll mostly just stand around, having forgotten what they were meant to do. Even if they are currently getting shot at. They'd have a short aggro range and if an any unit got within say, 30 meters of them, they'll attack it, but well, otherwise they'll just stand around and take it.
The issue with this idea is quite obviously that it would technically unbreakable which might be more of a buff than a nerf, so there's definitely still some kinks to be worked out. One possible fix would be to still let the trolls shatter eventually at which point they'll just run off the map, though it might take more derps than it takes regular leadership breaks to shatter them.
Grom: Now, I don't really want to hit Groms general statline too hard, there should at least be one somewhat good chariot lord in the game. Maybe take down his armour to 85 or 80, since his entire belly is not protected at all, so he probably shouldn't have quite as much armour. Grom's does however also have major issues in terms of his abilities, specifically Language of da Boyz and his Lucky Banner so I'd change those:
Language of da Boyz: Reduce Effect Range to 30m. Swap out melee defence for melee attack. Change trigger requirements to being in melee for 15 seconds so you can't just hit&run to keep the effect up.
Lucky Banner: Recharge condition: Not in melee. This means that you have to be a bit more tactical and have to decide if you want Grom for his support capabilities by leaving him in melee or if you want to maximize his survivability by cycle charging him instead.
Various other changes:
Vindictive Glare: Cost +2 (up to 6). Vindictive Glare Upgraded: Cost +6 (up to 14). I'm honestly not too concerned with the damage it's dealing, it's supposed to be quite deadly after all (iirc there's a moment in the lore where Karl Franz gets hit by it and everyone except Deathclaw assumes he's dead for like half an hour which to me implies that for one, people are used to seeing it kill and also that it's enough to incapacitate even a powerful warrior quite easily) but it shouldn't be anywhere near as cheap and spammable as it is now.
Mither: Range down to 80, Cooldown up to 120, unlimited uses.
Spinning Loons (NOT The Loons of Eight Peaks): Only 1 use.
Potential buffs:
I think one way to stirr away the greenskins from the current meta would also be to improve upon some other units and abilities.
Tricksy Traps: +10 LD, +10 MD. Now, the thing with Tricksy Traps is, it's pretty expensive for an ability that you are realistically only going to be using once a battle, especially if you could instead just bring Night Shroud which, whilst costing some magic, has the advantage of not being centered around the caster. Giving Tricksy Traps a slight boost to combat relevant stats helps to make it more useful.
Orc Warboss: Noone ever picks the Orc Warboss. Anything he can do, someone else does either better or cheaper. He hasn't been good ever since the early days of Warhammer 1 when they decided to stop generic lords from being able to bring potions of healing and/or toughness. From my perspective there's three ways of helping him out:
1: Buffing his stats. Probably not the best way, he's already quite bulky and he'd still directly compete with the other lords. For only 100 extra base cost you get Azhag who has better stats and access to better abilities and items and spells.
2: Reducing his cost. This might be a decent enough option. The OWB is honestly quite pricy for what he does compared to simular lords from other factions, even factoring in that Greenskin lords in general pay a premium ever since waaagh was made an army ability. Cutting his price down by maybe 150 might make him a bit more interesting for certain builds.
3: Give him a good item. Right now he gets the Opal Amulet iirc which is not a horrible item (basically a Von Carstein Ring lite) but it's also just not a good reason to bring a specific lord. It makes him better, no question, but it isn't really impactful on the battlefield. It would have to be an item that, if properly used, could really turn the tide of combat. For that, I'd see three options: a) A scroll or item with a bound spell (maybe move the stone bombardment one from the River Troll Hag to the Warboss). b) Some sort of healing item (i.e. potion of toughness). c) The infamous helm of discord.
I think by now the Greenskins have enough interesting and unique legendary lords that buffing one of their generic lords won't make all of the LL's obsolete, but it would be nice if there would still be a use case for them.
Rogue Idol. Turn it into a construct. It really shouldn't rout. That's just a depressing sight.
Giant (for all factions): Increase speed to 50. It's got long legs and should be able to outpace infantry. This would also possibly help it get to the frontline without immediately getting shot to bits. Possibly also increase its armour to 50 to represent it having thick skin (again, make it a bit more survivable to missile fire).
Boar units (all): +7 Speed, +45% charge speed
Boar Boyz (regular): +5 MD, +4 Weapon damage
Boar Big'Uns (Savage): +5 Anti-large
Squig Herd: Change Squigs Go Wild ability to: When Rampaged, gain +12 Leadership and +10 melee attack. Increase base LD by 7 (up to 43) or lower cost to 450.
Night Goblin Fanatics (NOT the Eight Peak Loonies): Add Ability "Mushroom Brew": For 30 Seconds, gain +20 LD and Immune to Psych at the cost of Rampage and losing 10 MD. Max uses 2, Cooldown 90 Seconds.
Teef Robbers: AP swap for missiles, price up to 725.
Random campaign things:
1: Change default garrison leader to either Night Goblin Shaman or BOBB (Orc Shaman gets added by the Shaman hut building anyways). The GoBB is utterly useless without his mount and abilities to the point where having him as a commander over a random infantry unit is more of a nerf. BOBB would be idea, but since he's FLC content I can understand that adding him to garrisons might be difficult. At that point, I'd rather have a Shaman with Vindictive Glare and/or Sneaky Stabbing over the Goblin Big Boss.
2: Give Iron Rock a unique and powerful garrison building at T3. It's supposed to be the most formidable Greenskin fortress in the badlands, one the dwarfs haven't been able to reconquer in spite of their best efforts for centuries and yet in campaign it is utterly undefendable due to it just being a minor settlement and having a particularily exposed position. You technically need to hold both the western badlands and the silver road if you don't want Iron Rock to get taken all the time.
3: Change Grom's starting position (in Mortal Empires) when not playing as him to either Misty Mountain or Massif Orcal. He's almost impossible to confederate because he tends to get wiped out within the first 15 turns due to his horrible start on Ulthuan. Also, move Skarsnik when not playing as him to Eight-Peaks for simular reasons (this is also gonna make Clan Angrund Campaigns a lot more interesting).
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Comments
The nerf to stone trolls is a similar overreaction.
I stopped reading the rest because, well...
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2 · 3Disagree 2AgreeBut i still dont believe giant need a speed buff anymore. 1500, 600ws, 9000+ HP with 100LD is honestly a steal. Yes, it gets shot, its a bit slow, but thats why you get the other stats for so cheap. Their speed can easily keep up or faster than heavy infantry and you want them to move in together with your main army anyways. He is a missile sponge for your army.
Against factions with weak range, its not bad.
I think the only buff is change his splash radius to be more effective in killing infantry. He takes too long to kill models for something with 600ws.
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0 · 1Disagree AgreeIt also means that your response isn't something I'll consider valid criticism.
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1 · 1Disagree 1Agree- Report
0 · Disagree AgreeAs for vindictive glare there needs to a change soon. It is sooo spammable and does too much damage, its ridonkulous and no fun to play against. It reminds me of the OP spirit leech spam in WH1.
The fact that GS have gone this long without any meaningful nerfs despite their clear overperformance is really worrying in terms of MP support.
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1 · Disagree 1Agree- Report
3 · Disagree 3Agree- Report
0 · Disagree AgreeIn single player it’s important they’re different to other types of trolls. In MP, nerf their cost if they’re op
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0 · 1Disagree Agree- Report
0 · 1Disagree Agree- Report
0 · Disagree AgreeAlso wrote the similar thing about Orc Warboss many times. Dude is super squishy for an orc. More squishy than pointy ear princesses even and you can't easy regrowth him.
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0 · Disagree AgreeI’m not sure what the argument is against price nerfs (if required). Everything can be balanced through price
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0 · 3Disagree AgreeI dont agree with only giving Grom a slight nerf, he's far too common a pick and the easiest target for nerfing GS without changing their style overly
I dont agree with giving GS better cavalry and much worse skirmishers
I'd rather they tweak the faction than change it.
Grom +200 cost
Skarsnik +75 cost
spider archers +25
fanatics: loon 1 shot
that should balance the faction imo, without causing any drastic changes except making grom a less common pick
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4 · 2Disagree 4Agree- Report
1 · Disagree 1AgreeAlthough reality is that whatever nerfs/buffs GS are going to get have already been decided on at this point. Now it is just waiting and seeing what the patch notes bring.
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1 · Disagree 1AgreeAnd again, it's the wrong approach. We don't wanna punish people for playing Grom, we wanna punish people for playing troll cancer poison spam builds and those are still entirely possible at 200 more with some smart budgeting.
Throwing a bigger pricetag on everything you don't like doesn't do anything to properly fix the balancing, it only creates long term issues.
That aside, why DO greenskins have 4 different heavy cav units if none of them is even remotely worth using? And it's not like I'm advocating for turning them into a bunch of green demigryphs, I'm just turning them somewhat usable because fact of the matter is, you are better off investing 650 in xp chevrons than you are investing them into Boar Boyz.
And "much worse skirmishers" is also an overstatement. It's 1 unit that is absurdly underpriced and can easily nerf the damage of like half of the enemy army by 20% for an entire battle. Greenskin cav pricing currently doesn't make sense. Like, why tf are Squig Herd 500 and Boar Boyz 650 whilst Spider Rider Archers are sitting at 450 which is the same as basic Orc Boyz?
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0 · 2Disagree AgreeWhat's the correct price of a unit that could one-shot half a dozen other units from across the map with unfailing accuracy? Only one correct answer, too expensive to be fielded ever. So that's practically minus one unit for a race. Does that sound like a good solution? Much better to just not have it one-shot half a dozen units from across the map with unfailing accuracy by nerfing that ability.
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0 · Disagree Agreelucky banner reduce wardsave by 10%
Fanatics +cost
Missive cav +25g
Waghh +10% points needed
Posion -5% effect
Those should be good GS nerfs.
Perhaps buff idol/ boar chariot and warboss
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3 · Disagree 3Agreeyour suggestion of giving huge nerfs to spider archers and fanatics in return for buffs to cavalry might be balanced, its hard to say because you are making some fairly big changes to the faction including softening the faction identity of having subpar cavalry
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0 · Disagree Agree- Report
0 · 1Disagree Agree- Report
0 · Disagree AgreeIf ROF is low enough its possible to reach and kill it before it reaches 20 units balancedcost might be 10K-12K though. again. worst gamedesign imaginable but possible to balance.
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0 · 1Disagree AgreeOrc Boars are supposed to be scary and powerful, not some kind of joke unit that takes ages to get anywhere and is likely to get shot to pieces beforehand or just straight-up picked apart by even the most basic skirmishers in sustained melee (in fact, it could be argued that they ought to have above average sustained combat stats compared with most other cav units at their level because a war boar is a much more vicious, strong and dangerous animal compared to a horse).
There's a reason these lads are prominently featured in a lot of warhammer iconography and it's not because they are particularily whacky or funny, it's because they are iconic and impressive and because a great number of boar mobs crashing into a frontline is exactly what you wanna see in a warhammer game. Just a pity that you never see it. Because Boar Boyz are a waste of money. Because they are horrible.
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0 · Disagree AgreeGS cavalry are fairly niche, they are AP and shock, but there are some few matchups where they are decent choices and can deal with things GS might otherwise struggle with
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0 · Disagree AgreeCompare to OC vindictive glare caster.
Apart from vs tk the damage to many targets is similar.
Cost, survivability and ease of use quite different propositions
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0 · Disagree AgreeI'm talking about a hypothetical unit that can one-shot half a dozen enemy units at any time during the battle from any position. You start the battle with your enemy fielding this and you are immediately down six units because they got cheese-whizzed off the board.
If the hypothesis that you can balance by price alone is right, then there's a price that allows fielding this unit without turning the battle into a complete farce. What would that price be?
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0 · Disagree Agree- Report
0 · Disagree AgreeName one, demonstrate that it would work or admit that you can't balance by price alone.
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0 · Disagree AgreeObviously these are both ludicrous extremes. Units that cost infinite points or one shot armies don't exist and wont exist. However, some units can still have their cost increased to a point were they are no longer are able to synergize with a roster's design or play style. this would cause a unit to become worthless for the sake of making it a fair price. In that case it would have been better to adjust the unit itself.
I have seen the Lady, my brothers. She came to me from the waters and told me of the trials to come. This is why I call you here, so that Her summons may be answered. I call Errantry, a crusade to strike at the heart of the new darkness"
-- The Lionhearted
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1 · 2Disagree 1Agree