Makeshift-D

Join Date 05/2009

Warp Area is Awful

Warp area has easily one of the coolest skill animations in this game, but the effect and costs are really bad, making DA have trouble destroying creeps late game. While it's bad to compare it to other skills, since every demigod is made differently, I can at least prove that the level 1 skill is terrible with a simple comparison to two other similar skills.

Warp Area I

Available at level 5, 700 mana, Instant cast, and 15 second cooldown Level 5 required

DA does a series of 4 warps for 250 damage each over 1.6 seconds. Demon Assassin is invincible for the duration of Warp Area I.

Fire Nova I

Level 5	Fire Nova I	775 mana	0.5s	15s	400	15

Available at level 5, 775 mana, .5 second cast time, 15 second cooldown.

A wave of fire radiates outward from the Torch Bearer, dealing 400 damage and throwing smaller units into the air

Surge of Faith

Available at level 5, 500 mana, 1 second cast time, 10 second cooldown

Oak releases a wave of holy power, dealing 300 damage to enemies. Increases allied unit attack speed and movement speed for 7 seconds

The biggest difference between Warp Area and the other two skills is that Warp Area can only deal a maximum of 1000 damage, whereas the other two skills can theoretically unleash infinite damage. Even against a single 7 unit creep wave, Surge of Faith can deal up to 2100 damage, as opposed to Warp Area's 1000 damage. Warp Area is also very expensive. It costs 700 mana, as opposed to Surge of Faith's 500 mana, and as opposed to Fire Nova's 775 mana: Only a slight cost decrease for a huge disadvantage in damage output.

The only advantages this skill has is that it has an instant cast time, and it makes DA invulnerable for 1,6 seconds. However, I can't imagine those attributes improving this skill from being worthless. While I think the level 10 ability is pretty crappy for its cost too, I think the level 5 ability should at least be able to target as many enemies as the level 10 one (8) for the same time duration.

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I agree with Warp Area being week versus creeps but every character needs to have there own personality and I think DA being weak versus creeps like Sedna is a step in the right direction.

If your having problems with creeps try natures rekoning on DA.

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Neilo

Join Date 04/2006

+128

Wow...your right. I hadn't crunched the numbers but what you point out is very true. I think it's a great skill to watch and can be really useful against early creep waves, but yes, the maxium damage needs to be addressed.

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I agree. I've not found the skill very practical. Use it near enemy DG and you could end up in a very gankable position. I've tried to use it to counter hammer slam with no luck so far. If you get boulder rolled there is not time to activate WA and if you activate at just the right second the rook will abort his slam. Fail.

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I don't think it needs to be changed. I have used it for its invincibility as often as I have for its damage and that sort of mixed utility is what makes it fine as it is.

DA is already strong enough (imo too strong) at what he does (nuking down players OR towers), he doesn't need to be any stronger at taking out creatures also.

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Warp Area + BotS = good mana resource

imo an Assassin like DA should not have AoE dmg....the solution with the warp area (single dmg quickly dealt) is perfect balancing in my eyes

my 2 cents...sry

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Why exactly do you think that Fire Nova and Surge of Faith are similar skills to Warp Area?

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and btw there is IMMUNE

how could you ignore being COMPLETELY immune to dmg/cc ?

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Not everyone need AOE. He does need some weaknesses right?

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Quoting Trigeminal,

reply 8

Not everyone need AOE. He does need some weaknesses right?

Needing tons of mana, hp, and speed items you mean? or does he need some more.

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I tend to hit each minon 1 time before activating this so to insta kill them and earn the gold. (if you trying to wipe a low lvl creep wave)

Otherwise this can be a nifty ability used AFTER his tail attack for high damage ( but good chance you will warp to something else instead of the fleeing DG and not get the kill)

I think this is balanced in relation to his OTHER abilities

Please consider he can cast 2 large nuke spells, the tail blade, then warp in, then warp strike is the THIRD

if warp strike lvl1 is raised in DMG too much he would simply be TOO stong against nuke susecptible characters IE Regulas.

Try to not use him in 2v2 or less, 3v3 he works better to assist another DG, he is not the main AOE for killing creeps but if you want get warp2 for killing priest waves quickly.

Lastly, the warp is great for avoiding spells such as rook hammer slam, unclean spit, torchbearer fireball,

possible you could dodge sedna pounce

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I somewhat agree. I've played a bunch of games with him and he's definitely too squishy AND mana intensive to be a viable demigod. I've tried a Blade of the Serpent approach with everything else being HP items, no helm, and while BotS keeps him always mana fed he is still too fragile, even with Banded, Nimroths, UNbreakable, and Narmoths Ring. And let's not forget he's slow and needs boots of speed almost in all cases.

Another problem of warp area is whenever there is less than 4 enemies at sight it's a waste of mana to use it. I think a possible fix would be to allow DA hit the same target multiple times whenever there are less than 4 enemies he can attack to. That way u could potentially hit a single demigod for 1000 damage when ur 1v1 (possibly OP?), which is his main problem IMHO, DA can't stand a fight 1v1 against almost any other demigod.

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Will Warp Area activate Reg's mines? I could see there being utility in using the skill if it did, and you were immune to the damage. But if your warped movement doesn't set them off, I think that's a bit cheap. =|

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I just don't understand the bonus rank of this ability. At first I thought it would throw nearby enemies into the air so that they wouldn't be viable targets for the damage portion and you could focus on hitting DGs, cataputs, or whatever other more important stuff is in your way.

However, that doesn't seem to be how it works, so you have the option to spend a point to throw units who die in one hit to it anyway into the air? What am I missing here? Did I just not see what's going on when you activate it correctly?

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I find it pretty awesome...its much better at rank 2. You can use it to prevent getting hit by fireballs/spit/gadgets, or so you can be immune while you wait for CDS. You can push lanes with it and get full mana with Warp Area + BotS (as microstar stated). BotS seems like a must for DA.

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The problem i found is that if there are only 2 enemies around, it will only do two attacks. Whilst this seems intended, if you are trying to dodge a snipe or a fireball or a hammer, then quite a lot of the time one vs one you will still get hit.

What if instead, you did the animation, but if here werent enough people around, it would still play out?

And what if the first animation did 8 attacks for 250, the second did slightly higher?

DA only really starts to shine at post level 11-12.

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You can push lanes with it and get full mana with Warp Area + BotS (as microstar stated). BotS seems like a must for DA.

BotS is meh due to lack of aoe...

but i find with a speed/health stack and a few mana pots you can usually get a kill or lane control early on then hopefully farm enough to outlvl the enemy

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They really need to up the AoE on Warp Area, reduce the cd to 7 seconds, reduce the mana cost, or remove it altogether.

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As I already proposed, how about allowing DA to hit the same target multiple times whenever there are less than 4 (lvl1 WArea) or 8 (WArea lvl2) enemy units around? That way it wouldn't be useless against single targets.

I Know, at lvl2 it would be surely OP being able to deal 8x500 = 4000 damage to a single target, but at lvl1 -> 4x250 = 1000 it wouldn't be that much OP. Maybe let Warp Area hit the same target twice when not enough enemies around? That would be 500 max to each target at lvl1 and 1000 max to each target at lvl2. What do you think guys?

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Don't get me wrong, I personally find DA to be grossly OP late game with his near instant 1400 damage Warp Strike + 1150 damage Spine Attack combo. I'm simply pointing out that his Warp Area ability is awful and really could be a bit better, not that DA himself needs an overall boost.

As some have pointed out, DA will become more like Sedna: devoid of good area damage. However, I don't think that either of these demigods were intentionally designed this way. Sedna was supposed to be able to have area damage through her yetis. It's more of a flaw in design that these aoe skills are bad rather than being Stardock's intention.

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i think u guys r all missing warp areas key purpose. IVe found that with BotS it refills practically all ur mana. i think the dmg is the bonus part in that respect. but not only that, it grants invincibility.

ive also used this skill to quickly finish off a low health enemy if ur having troubles keeping up.

it may not be as effecive as oaks surge dmg-wise as such but it has its advantages.

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Stardock dint make the game and no it was gpgdecisiomnn

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eh iunno.. it's situational imo.. nice invuln to dodge a snipe or fireball.. but there has to be creeps around to dodge the snipe (unlike mist).. but, i've used it to catch up to a fleeing demigod when warp strike is on cd which is also nice. lvl 1 is worthless for creeping, but lvl 2 is decent.

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i forgot to mention something before....

warp area 1 - lasts for 1.6 secs and does 250 dmg each hit.

warp area 2 - lasts for 3.2 secs and does 500 dmg each hit.

warp area 2 is practically 4x better than warp area 1. It lasts twice as long and does twice as much dmg. This makes warp area 1 seem completely useless when doing this sort of comparison.

so what i wanna suggest is this;

- warp area 1 - lasts for 3.2 secs and does 250 dmg each hit (8 hits like warp area 2).

- warp area 1 - lasts for 1.6 secs and does 400 dmg each hit (4 hits).

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Quoting gkrit,

reply 23

i forgot to mention something before....

warp area 1 - lasts for 1.6 secs and does 250 dmg each hit.

warp area 2 - lasts for 3.2 secs and does 500 dmg each hit.

warp area 2 is practically 4x better than warp area 1. It lasts twice as long and does twice as much dmg. This makes warp area 1 seem completely useless when doing this sort of comparison.

so what i wanna suggest is this;

- warp area 1 - lasts for 3.2 secs and does 250 dmg each hit (8 hits like warp area 2).

or

- warp area 1 - lasts for 1.6 secs and does 400 dmg each hit (4 hits).

Just as you say, Warp Area I deals a quarter the amount of damage of Warp Area II; potentially 1000 compared to potentially 4000. Making it hit 8 targets over 3.2 seconds instead of 4 targets over 1.6 seconds makes the most sense.

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Quoting nomilarac,

reply 18

Problem with this is you would find DA's wiping out creep waves themselves only to use Warp Area on You!
Maybe just have him sit in some sort of warp thing?

Quoting gkrit,

reply 23

- warp area 1 - lasts for 3.2 secs and does 250 dmg each hit (8 hits like warp area 2).

This! Much better

Also the last level sucks. They should buff the power and increase to 10 targets for last level

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