6 years ago

I still think Wraiths 'Phase Shift' ability needs a risk to it.

I made a post months ago similar to this and the main argument against me was that while using phase shift Wraith cant see players or open doors so it must be balanced.

I don't even play Wraith and I know where the enemies, who we're just firing at me, are when I use phase shift. If you play Wraith you know where players are using the ability, even if you don't realise it - its having basic game sense.

Not being able to open doors is not a feature that is going to get you killed because half the time you use the ability you will be outdoors and even inside if you make it to a door then that door now just acts as your cover to heal.

Anyway, to put it simply Phase Shift is a get out of jail free card on a legend who has a smaller hitbox and despite this the ability has no repercussions for its use nor any notable downsides.

I think Wraith should take 15-20 Health Damage on use, similar to Octane's stim, with the balance being that she can move 10% faster while using Phase. In addition, unlike Octane Wraith should be able to knock herself if she isn't cautious of her health and the damage taken from using Phase only applies after Wraith exits Phase.

This will turn Phase into a tool used more for a safer way Wraith can re-position herself before or after a fight rather than a tool that allows her to easily escape a fight when she is close to death due to her making a mistake.

Thanks for reading, I'm not a fan of nerfs, I would rather buff the weaker legends however I think this change would be a good example of a balance rather than a nerf.

legends

13 Replies

SethCurry
6 years ago
@WoahItsTeaAbsolute nonsense.. The fact you can see a bright trail of light when she phases and delay before phasing and also delay when she comes out of phasing is enough risk...
WoahItsTea
6 years ago
@SethCurry So everything I have mentioned is nonsense and your reasoning for this is the one minor feature to phase shift that I left out. The blue line she leaves is just an indicator as to where she is going, you still can't shoot her or stop her from getting to cover or her team. It's a neglected feature for all the right reasons and doesn't effect my balance proposal. From your profile, I am going to assume you main Wraith and I am sure my post upset you however you must understand that you are still maining one of the easiest to play legends in the whole game due to her small hitbox and abilities which allow her to out-manoeuvre and recover from grave mistakes far easier than other legends. She needs some more drawbacks which don't hinder her gameplay but balance her to the same level as everyone else.
PholanxTTV
6 years ago
I dont see a reason in the damage really? She already takes 10% more damage or something.
phase is to just negate damage. With octane he can regen thats why he takes health damage.
she gains a slight speed boost, cant take damage and cant see enemies. They use it mostly when they are low to escape the situation, so in close quarter combat you can follow her and take her out fairly easily because shes at a disadvantage to not knowing where exactly you are, her weapon needs to come out for her to shoot and she wont have much health.
imo she just needs a bigger hitbox.
Sadronan
6 years ago
The phase is short and easy to follow. I have easily killed many wraiths by just finishing them off after their phase ends because there’s a delay before she can ready up her weapon again. There’s no need to change anything about her phase, if anything, it maybe needs buffed, so it’s not so easy to follow lol.
WoahItsTea
6 years ago
@Sadronan I too can easily follow and kill a Wraith who uses the ability with no prior knowledge of where they intend to go or what to do after the ability ends. Main problem is when the Wraith does have an idea in mind. Its very easy to slide or climb and find some cover while using Phase shift, heal up and come out with an advantage over your opponent. That's my main issue. Not that it's so overpowered you can never kill any Wraith but that it has no impactful drawbacks and a good Wraith will always abuse that.

God forbid it gets a buff.
WoahItsTea
6 years ago
@PholanxTTV Wraith currently does take 5% more damage due to her small hitbox and, on topic, her hitbox is fine it is just small - I don't expect it to change.

Currently, Phase is used to get out of a fight you would otherwise lose as you take no damage and can quickly relocate to cover. My changes are to turn Phase from a tool to negate damage into a tool you can use to relocate yourself safely before or after you realise you're about to be in a poor situation. For example, you just finish killing a squad but you now see another squad coming at you and your team isn't fully prepared to fight. As Wraith you can fall back or place yourself into a better position at the cost of 15 damage. You could also use this before a fight too. You could still use the ability mid fight but you would need to be cautious of the health damage yet the speed boost would allow you to fall back to cover even faster than it currently is.

It's sometimes hard to fully articulate what I mean in text, but trust me I think my change would be a healthy balance to her kit.

And as I said in my post, this doesn't apply to Wraiths who have no idea what they're doing. This is for experienced players who know exactly where their enemies are and know where to go for cover even when they're in Phase Shift and can't see anyone. It's just basic game sense.
heme725
6 years ago
@WoahItsTea Your adjustment to her tactical is actually fair and reasonable although we don't know how the changes would actually play out. However you don't give any good reason to change it. Among the legends with a "get out of jail free card" Wraith's abilities rank 3rd at best behind Pathfinder and Bangalore so there's no reason to start with her.
Ignoring whether it would work or not how would players react? You've needlessly given Wraith players another thing to keep track of which will be annoying. Newer players won't be able to adjust to this well at all so the forums would be filled with people complaining about their skill killing them and demanding Wraith gets a buff.
I like that this idea was thought out but I can imagine more negatives than positive to a change that's unnecessary.
Symbioticfork5
6 years ago
@heme725 Great reply, very level headed. Wraith could use a minor fix to offset pick rate / win rate / damage dealt and every other category she's on top of to help balance things out a bit.

If her phasing ability didn't give 100% immunity to everything. That would be a good fix. Maybe let's say energy weapons disrupt and penetrate the void. That would never happen though, you're changing the characteristics of weapons to deal with a single character in the game, talk about warped. Maybe she has a 75% damage reduction while phasing instead of 100% with reduced activation time. Ideally if she just took 5% more damage from her awkward stance that would be a good fix. Instead of "Low Profile" it would be called "Lowest Profile".
Sadronan
6 years ago
All the abilities of all the legends are intended to be abused and perfected as we get better with them and learning to best use their skill sets. I still think there’s nothing wrong with her phase ability. Yes it can be used to occasionally get her out of trouble, but if it couldn’t then it would be completely useless. Besides, there are many legends that have abilities that can help them escape, many of those being even better than wraiths (Pathfinder, Mirage, Caustic, and Bangalore). I don’t think it should hurt her either. Octane’s stim takes health but he also regenerates health, so this combination makes sense, especially since he can use it so frequently. I haven’t played wraith much since season 1, so I don’t remember how long her cool down is to phase, but I feel like it’s long enough that she can’t use it a lot during the duration of most fights. Mirage’s ultimate is far more effective at getting away to safety than her phase, but even then if you have a headset and get good at following footsteps, you can fairly easily follow him too.

We may have to agree to disagree, but I think Wraith’s phase is fine as it is.
hhnbbfggty66
6 years ago
@WoahItsTea No, it needs a buff!
It needs to be faster.