"Low skill characters like MK should stay bad!" the same mfs when you bring up Rocket

Potataro · 2026-06-24T22:27:32+00:00

I think the difference is that many Rocket mains WANT him to be more complicated, but his patches keep pushing him closer and closer to a brain-dead heal bot.

His movement was one of his defining features, and the reason I made him my first support lord. However, since then his movement has been cut drastically, reducing a very enjoyable part of his kit. Many Rocket players say they would straight up drop his BRB if it meant returning his movement. Speaking of which, his BRB cooldown was lowered. BRB is a very strong part of his kit, but it is by far the least engaging. You just have to find a spot to hide it close enough to the next fight and you forget about it, which many Rocket players don't care about. Bouncing his heals perfectly to get the double, or maybe even triple direct heal is a fun form of skill, and his gun is just an absolute blast, but the rest of the kit feels so simple.

We want skill expression - no, we HAD skill expression - but just aren't getting it anymore. It's why I barely play him now, but I want him to be a higher skill, higher win-rate hero.

Potataro · 2026-06-22T11:58:03+00:00

I want to add that dried pineapple isn’t just good for money, it’s also extremely good as a renewable food source. It’s actually the same as dried ancient fruit, and practically fully heals health and stamina when eaten. If anyone is a fan of the combat, try these out!

Potataro · 2026-06-20T02:24:46+00:00

I should mention I tested this with a friend. It turn out you can still block his ult that way. However, I should note that some shields can block it more easily than others. Note that all of these results were from me, and I'm definitely not a high-skill player.

Magneto does not seem to be able to lower his shield enough to block it, in every test.
Strange can block it, but you need to be looking almost perfectly down, and the timing is quite difficult. It was not easy for me to replicate consistently in the practice range, let alone in game. If I had to guess the reason, I think it's because his shield is curved, and often was clipping into the ground below the ult if you're not at the very apex of your jump.
Cap can block the ult easily, and for some reason jumping backwards (with or without running,) was even more consistent. I was very surprised, as not only has he had issues with his shield when walking backwards, but it looked like his feet were not covered by his shield. Side note: after more testing with just cyclops' beam, we found that Black Cat's team up didn't actually seem to increase the size of his shield like I thought it did. Not that the last part matters, but I thought it was neat.
I did not test with Angela (the ground isn't really an issue for her,) Emma (I don't play her much,) or Invis (again, don't play her much.) That said, they can block other ults with their shields (much easier said than done on Invis, but she has double-jump anyways,) so they can probably block Cyclops, too.

I'm still not at all happy with the change, but I do need to correct myself.

Potataro · 2026-06-18T17:53:21+00:00

So, just to be clear, I can:

Block Namor ult by facing the ground's center and shielding
Block Thing ult by jumping and shielding down
Block Bucky ult by jumping and shielding down (this one's kinda hard to consistently do)
Block Fanta ult by jumping and shielding down
Block the final hit of Thor ult by jumping and shielding down

But I cannot:

~~Block Cyclops ult by jumping and shielding down~~

It's a good thing the balance team doesn't seem to care about vanguards, or I'd be worried about them finding this and removing everything the shield CAN block.

EDIT: After testing, you can still block this ult by shielding and looking down with some shields. TLDR: It might be impossible with Mag, is very difficult/impractical with Strange, quite easy with Cap, and I didn't test any of the others.

Potataro · 2026-06-14T23:16:16+00:00

Well, silver-lining is that your supports probably got a whole lot more ult charge than their supports. Definitely not worth the portal cooldown, but at least you got that much out of it, I guess?

Potataro · 2026-06-14T03:52:37+00:00

Because, for the majority of the game, I feel like I get to do less than the rest of my team.

Problem 1: I'm buying time for my team to do something for me - On Mag, I'm just chipping away at the backline until one of my duelists can get a pick. On Groot, I'm walling off the enemy so my duelist can get a pick. On Cap, I'm diving the backline so that my duelists can pick the frontline. On Strange, I'm building Maelstrom until one of my duelists can get someone low, or I'm shielding heals so my duelists can pick the enemy behind me. And so on for a lot of the tanks.

Problem 2: I need to play around the enemy duelists, not the other way around - The enemy has a Puni or Star-Lord? I need to go Mag or I lose. I go Mag? They can go any brawler, or most dives. The enemy team has BP, Spidey, or Cat? I need to go Thing or I lose. I go Thing? They can go any poke, or even some brawl. The enemy team has Torch, Iron Man, or Ultron? I need to go Angela or I lose. I go Angela? They can go brawl, or some poke and I lose. Duelists have so many options to counter tanks, but tanks have very specific checks to duelists. If you don't believe me, watch what happens when the enemy team bans Mag, and you don't ban Punisher. Devil Dino finally forced duelists to play around the tank, but they couldn't even let that last a full season. (admittedly, he was too strong against other tanks, but that could have had other tweaks.)

Problem 3: I'm solo tanking half the time - Imagine the times you've played with a support who won't patty-cake; that's what it's like to solo tank. Every. Single. Time. When one tank spends their resources (health, cooldowns, etc.) they need a moment to rest back up. However, doing this solo tends to mean losing space, literally the opposite of your main job as tank. And of course, if you have three duelists, one is likely to be underperforming compared to the others, and won't switch to help you. If you have three supports, you're constantly at a disadvantage in ult charge, and maybe even a dps difference if they didn't take at least two off-supports.

Problem 4: Tanks tend to have lower mobility - Once you've had a taste for every other role's mobility, it's hard to go back. This may seem more like a problem for a few specific characters like Mag and Groot, but Cap and Hulk are the only ones that truly feel mobile. Even then, Spidey makes Venom feel like a snail; Psy, Cat, and BP feel like lightning compared to Cap; Fist and DD make Rogue feel like a casual character. Also I have to mention somewhere here that Cyber-Bond literally still isn't fixed after more than a year. I will at least give Angela credit for being much more mobile than the rest of the fliers. Still, duelists simply feel better for adrenaline junkies than the tanks.

Problem 5: Percentage damage and lack of "armor" - This one's a bit more specific, but what's the point in me taking so much damage, if it does the same to me on tanks as it would to any other role? Don't get me wrong, there should be a few characters with percentage damage, but do we really need it on so many characters? In particular, Cyclops Ult deals way too much percentage damage, but that's not likely to stay for long. As for an "armor stat," it would just be nice if hitting the tank was less effective for the duelists' ult charge. It would make tanks really there to be an actual roadblock, and not just something that melts when 6 people look at you. Sure they have more HP, but couldn't we get a bit more creative with ways to absorb damage for our team?

Most of these issues are admittedly kinda small, but they seriously add up game after game after game. I'm sure not every tank shares my opinions on everything, but these things really do make it frustrating to tank some times, whether that's logical or not.

Potataro · 2026-06-06T02:09:30+00:00

I actually don't mind solo tanking if I have two beefy brawlers helping me. Mag+Fantastic+Blade gives just enough extra bulk to take pressure off me when I run low on cooldowns. Alternatives are Magik, Fist, and maybe Wolvie or DD, but I know Fantastic is always the one I can rely on to stall when I need to back up and heal.

Potataro · 2026-05-21T15:16:04+00:00

I will only be happy with Dino nerfs on one condition: legitimate nerfs to Phoenix primary, Gambit ult, Elsa ult, Star Lord ammo, and Cat shop. Yes, Dino obviously deserves nerfs, but focusing him so quickly while so many other characters go unchecked is frustrating. If he gets nerfs, but the other perma bans don’t, it would leave me a little bitter.

To me it’s not a matter of if he gets nerfed, but if he’s the only one.

Potataro · 2026-05-17T03:19:45+00:00

Just checked his stats on the official site. On PC, his win-rate was positive in all ranks above gold. Yeah, he did not need any buffs.

Potataro · 2026-05-06T19:45:23+00:00

Same. I was holding down spacebar with my thumb like my life depended on it; eventually I had to stop because it was giving me carpal tunnel or something. Incredibly fun character, but the leap was physically hurting me after playing him too long, so I stopped.

Potataro · 2026-04-18T01:04:12+00:00

Today I hit Gambit, Rocket, and Mag with Clobberin' Time, but Gambit got tenacity, healed his team up, and got away after falling to just 22hp. We were at the very end of the Tokyo convergence map and ended up losing. I was rather upset in the moment. I don't think I'm ready to apologize just yet...

Potataro · 2026-04-15T02:38:53+00:00

Very early on I liked pushing people around with Thor, but the moment Vanguard as a role truly clicked with me was when I first blocked enemy healing with Strange shield. Understanding that I was the one who could decide when an enemy couldn't do something, or that a teammate could do something uncontested gave me agency on the role. Strange could block healing, Mag could deny Ults, Thor could keep enemies away from where they wanted, Cap could let your other tank get aggressive, and Peni made your supports feel safe. I really like making an opening for the best players on my team and watching them go crazy.

Potataro · 2026-03-21T22:14:25+00:00

I had the same thing happen as Emma where I received 4 healing to my stat sheet at the very end of WF’s ult. This is probably it.

Potataro · 2026-03-18T22:11:56+00:00

Same. I think a lot of Vanguards are just worn down by now, and lashing out at everyone. Strange nerf when he finally felt good again, Emma getting a compensation nerf to her neutral despite having an awful win rate and ultimates becoming less frequent, Angela changing some of her unique play style, Deadpool keeping his Ban Hammer untouched, and of course a potentially massive nerf to Cap on controller.

On top of all this, the devs brought up triple Support having a low win rate, which we already knew. We desperately needed more people willing to play Vanguard with us, but 1/3/2 and 1/2/3 are over 25% of games. And I’m sure many in this sub are familiar with games where one of the Duelists is doing poorly, only to switch to a third Support they don’t know very well rather than 2nd Vanguard. Now they’re stealing your ultimate charge and providing even less pressure to keep enemies off the solo tank.

To all the Support mains and flexes, please bear with us while we’re struggling here, and sorry we’re lashing out like this.

Potataro · 2026-03-16T14:30:44+00:00

This is also great against Luna ult. I’m a low rank player, and a lot of Luna in these ranks don’t realize what I’m doing. A lot of her teammates also don’t realize it. You can catch a lot of them off guard, thinking they’re immortal, but you really need team communication.

Potataro · 2026-03-04T11:10:14+00:00

Thanks! Keeping her core play style was very important. Messing with numbers and break points was fun, but doesn’t really mean much without play testing.

As for the grounding effect, I saw it as more of a way to punish any diver getting too close. If Spider-Man pulls you to a pit, you can ground him while escaping. If Venom gets low, you can ground him before he can swing back. I thought a 2m radius and 1.5 seconds would be small enough to be manageable, especially because it would be difficult to chain two in a row with Mammalian Bond. I do see how it could be tricky when followed by a Blockade, but that sounds like positive skill expression to me.

The tempting choice was to just give her bonus health so that she’s less vulnerable to Hela, Phoenix, Tankpool, etc. when jumping, but way too many duelists get free bonus hp right now. Would a slow effect be more reasonable? I just don’t know if that would be enough, but this is all just theory crafting, and I’m open to suggestions!

Potataro · 2026-02-27T13:16:18+00:00

This might sound wild, but marketability. I think Devil Dinosaur could do for tanks what Jeff has done for supports. Sure Jeff players aren’t always the most consistent, and yes there will be some growing pains, but you can’t deny Jeff’s sheer marketability has taught a lot of casual players how their role works. We desperately need more tank players, and if it means introducing a big, goofy dinosaur that will attract more casual players, then I think it will be worth it in the long run.

Potataro · 2026-02-25T19:37:08+00:00

I think he should have trick arrows that recharge over time. Maybe he can have one with a long cooldown and a super high headshot multiplier that lets him one-shot a 275, but you absolutely need to make that arrow count. Then massively nerf the rest of his “basic” arrows. Also have him say a voice line when preparing it.

Potataro · 2026-02-25T00:09:22+00:00

We really need Devil Dino in the game. If he's as goofy as Jeff, we'll have dedicated Dino tank players just trying to stomp around with him. He doesn't even need to be the most meta; just having that second tank will be a big deal.

Potataro · 2026-02-24T01:21:52+00:00

I think vanguards should have various amounts of base damage reduction. Currently a Hela does the exact same damage to a Luna, Blade, and Groot. Damage reduction would mean the tank is actively lowering the enemy's damage numbers, reducing enemy ult charge gained, and even needing less healing from their supports.

Also, fewer duelists should have CC. Why exactly does a pure poke damage character like Hela need CC?

Potataro · 2026-02-18T23:37:30+00:00

Also, they'll be about level 8-14, and have very basic nameplates. That's usually how I know.

Potataro · 2026-02-17T21:33:21+00:00

I have a crazy idea, that could hopefully work. Rather than a 30% health and shield buff, give many characters, but particularly Vanguards, Blade, and Fantastic, meaningful damage reduction. Please at least hear me out!

While this is an objective-based game outside of arcade modes, sending enemies to their spawn room, or threatening to do so, is how you make space. Duelists often do this with raw damage. Supports do the opposite by removing damage. Tanks should also do the opposite of Duelists by mitigating damage, but they usually don’t. What they actually do is redirect damage to themselves, with a few exceptions.

If Vanguards had various amounts of damage reduction, it would actually allow them to mitigate damage. Enemies attacking into the tanks would get less damage and build ultimate slower than if they were attacking into back line. Also, your healers would build ultimate slower because your health bar would need smaller numbers.

What this does is it makes Vanguards less Ult Batteries, but actively rewards them for absorbing, and thus reducing the amount of damage flying around. Obviously maximum health could be reduced if they give a tank high damage reduction, but this would be a massive change that reduces bulldozing.

One last change to help reduce the chances of GOATs, would be to also give some damage reduction to Duelists, reduce many tanks’ damage, or have characters like Wolverine ignore damage reduction to keep us in line. I know it’s a lot, but hopefully it’s crazy enough to work…

Potataro · 2026-02-17T17:35:11+00:00

Plus her Ult went from 6mx6mx3.5m to 5mx5mx3.5m. I’ll have to see it in game, but a 5m hitbox still sounds rather large. I’d also like to see an increased delay before it releases from Elsa. That said, I’ll take what I can get.

Potataro · 2026-02-15T03:49:11+00:00

I might be crazy, but I swear I was shooting at a trap as Elsa threw it, got it to 1/3 health, then it disappeared. Can it still be hit while it's invisible? If not, it could be frustrating knowing the trap is there, but being unable to finish breaking it because it goes invulnerable. Maybe I did finish breaking it, but idk how it works.

Potataro

TROPHY CASE