Introduction
January Balance Patch
Balance patches in Epic Seven are pivotal moments awaited eagerly by the gaming community. These updates aim to refine the gaming experience by altering hero abilities and skills, striving for a harmonious gameplay balance. Recently, a series of changes was unveiled, sparking diverse reactions among players.
We’ll delve into a detailed examination of these adjustments, assessing their impact on the game’s dynamics. This analysis scrutinizes each modification’s potential effect on hero performance and gameplay strategies. Join us as we explore the recent hero and artifact changes in Epic Seven, evaluating their implications within the game’s evolving landscape.
Character Adjustment Reviews
Judge Kise
Judge Kise, a highly anticipated character, underwent changes intended to enhance her effectiveness in battle. Her Skill 1, previously inflicting defense breaks, has been altered to penetrate defense, a shift that amplifies her offensive potential against high-defense targets.
Additionally, her Skill 2 now includes an AoE attack, stripping buffs and rendering enemies unable to counterattack for two turns. Despite this seemingly beneficial adjustment, the practicality of the skill in various scenarios remains questionable. The reliance on landing the debuffs may limit its reliability, particularly in PvP situations.
Her Skill 3, an AoE attack aimed at increasing skill cooldowns by one turn, appears promising but fails to address her crucial issue: lack of speed. Judge Kise’s inability to outpace opponents remains a significant drawback, hindering her viability in competitive scenarios like World Arena. The adjustment to her imprint concentration to effectiveness seems more of an identity change than a substantial improvement, posing challenges in defining her role within the game.
In essence, while these modifications bring novelty to Judge Kise’s abilities, they don’t necessarily resolve her primary challenge—her speed deficiency, limiting her usability in high-tier gameplay.
Specimen Sez
Specimen Sez, a character known for his unique abilities, received modifications aimed at improving his utility in battles. The alteration to his Skill 3, enabling evasion rather than counterattacking when an ally (excluding Specimen Sez) attacks, presents an intriguing adjustment.
However, this change appears to make Specimen Sez more susceptible to units specializing in ignore evasion abilities. Notably, this adjustment reduces his effectiveness against such opponents, diminishing his previous capacity to counterattack and disrupt their strategies.
Although intended to enhance his survivability, this alteration might actually undermine his overall performance. Specimen Sez’s reliability as a viable unit in different scenarios could decrease due to this adjustment, potentially relegating him to a less favorable position within the meta.
In essence, while the intention behind these changes for Specimen Sez aimed at enhancing his survivability, the outcome may lead to a reduction in his overall effectiveness against specific opponents, thus affecting his versatility in various scenarios.
Spirit Eye Celine
Spirit Eye Celine, renowned for her prowess in battles, underwent modifications aimed at refining her combat dynamics. The adjustment to her Skill 1, where the attack now penetrates more defense but deals reduced damage, presents an intriguing alteration to her skillset.
This modification seemingly shifts Spirit Eye Celine’s focus towards dealing increased damage against high-defense targets while potentially reducing her impact on more fragile units. Previously, her role wasn’t primarily to counter tanks, which might make this adjustment less impactful.
Additionally, the change to her skill, providing an increased attack effect on her passive skill, alongside the removal of her defensive barrier, might alter her survivability. This shift might necessitate a different approach in using her within various team compositions.
While these changes aim to diversify Spirit Eye Celine’s effectiveness across different enemy compositions, they might inadvertently limit her adaptability, potentially changing her role within certain battle scenarios.
Hwayoung
The alterations made to Hwayoung bring forth a shift in her combat mechanics and potential roles on the battlefield. Initially known for her prowess in delivering high burst damage, these changes seem to aim at altering her approach and usage within various team compositions.
The adjustment to her Skill 1, where she no longer requires a buff to deal additional damage, yet loses her protective barrier, significantly impacts her survivability. This modification potentially weakens her ability to endure hits in prolonged battles, potentially hindering her effectiveness.
Additionally, the changes to her Skill 2 and Skill 3 attempt to pivot her role towards a bruiser-type character, focusing on sustainability rather than delivering one-shot eliminations. However, this could potentially limit her versatility, particularly in countering tanky teams where her prior one-shot potential was valued.
While the modifications seem aimed at broadening Hwayoung’s utility, they might inadvertently narrow her effectiveness in certain scenarios, potentially affecting her viability in specific team compositions.
Elena
The recent modifications to Elena’s skills offer a notable enhancement to her role as a counter against units heavily reliant on area-of-effect debuffs. With her Skill 3 now capable of dispelling two debuffs, Elena’s utility has significantly improved, especially against enemies flooding the battlefield with multiple debuffs.
This enhancement positions Elena as a more robust counter to AoE debuffers like Ran and Peira, reinforcing her value in specific team compositions. The introduction of this upgrade elevates her status from being just ‘adequate’ to becoming a more impactful presence in counter-strategy teams, particularly against debuff-heavy opponents.
These alterations are a welcome change, strengthening Elena’s position as a reliable anti-debuff unit, significantly broadening her application in varied scenarios.
Command Model Laika & Montmorancy's Tweaks
Command Model Laika and Montmorancy received adjustments that aimed to address their usability issues. Laika’s enhancement grants her a 100% chance to inflict Sleep, significantly improving her consistency and making her a more reliable choice in various situations. This change has the potential to elevate her presence in battles due to the increased reliability of her Crowd Control capabilities.
Conversely, Montmorancy’s update attempts to enhance her utility by improving her Sleep chance to 75%. While this is a positive step, it may not drastically alter her overall utility, particularly in PvP scenarios. Her primary limitations, including cooldown times and lackluster healing, remain, limiting her widespread applicability beyond her current PvE-centric role.
These modifications, while seeking to improve their respective roles, may offer more tangible benefits for Command Model Laika, potentially widening her utility in different team compositions. Montmorancy’s update, however, might not deliver a game-changing shift, as her core weaknesses persist despite the tweak.
Auxiliary Lots
The adjustments made to Auxiliary Lots in the recent patch seem to have raised concerns among players. The alteration to his abilities, including an increase in cooldown for his S2, has generated disappointment within the community. With his S2 cooldown extended from two to three turns, it has significantly impacted his effectiveness in PvE settings, where he was predominantly utilized.
Moreover, the attempt to transform him into an Effectiveness-oriented unit might not resonate well with his primary utility. Given his crucial role in PvE content such as Abyss and Banshee, where his previous functionalities were paramount, the changes seem to hinder his performance rather than enhance it.
The modifications to Auxiliary Lots appear to have steered him away from his core utility, rendering him less effective in areas where he was previously indispensable. Players have expressed concern about the potential decrease in his relevance due to these tweaks.
Infinite Horizon Achates
The adjustments for Infinite Horizon Achates include a slight 5% CR push increase, which, unfortunately, doesn’t significantly impact the overall gameplay dynamics.
Romann
Moving on to Romann this change doesn’t enhance his usability; he remains an obscure choice. These modifications appear inconsequential and fail to offer compelling reasons for their use.
Artifact review
The recent artifact revisions in Epic Seven have left many players feeling somewhat underwhelmed. This update seems to primarily focus on adding crit chances to a multitude of artifacts. For instance, Circus Fantasia and Manica of Control have been endowed with crit chances. However, this uniform approach feels superficial and lacks significant impact in the game.
Moreover, Sacred Tree Branch, now altered to increase CR after any attack, appears to have undergone a minor adjustment. While this change might potentially open up new possibilities, I have reservations about its actual utility.
Overall, these artifact revisions seem superficial and fail to address players’ specific needs or bridge existing gaps. Additionally, for users of Soul Weaver-type characters, the already numerous excellent artifacts in this category render these adjustments relatively insignificant.
Conclusion
Summing up the changes set for January 18th, here’s the breakdown: Judge Kise, minimal impact; Specimen Sez, possibly worse; Spirit Eye Celine and Hwayoung, leaning towards a nerf. Conversely, Elena and Command Model Laika received notable buffs. However, Auxiliary Lots’ nerf seems out of touch, rendering him nearly unusable in PvE. The adjustments to Infinite Horizon Achates, Romann, and Montmorancy, while technically buffs, lack significant impact.
Regarding artifact changes, they seem lackluster. This January Balance Patch feels disappointing and poorly executed.
Should you share my views on these adjustments, feel free to share the article. See you in six weeks for the next balance update. Don’t hesitate to return for new in-depth analyses and discussions about your favorite gaming universe!
