Character Rebalance - **** War Machine (James Rhodes) ****

IceIX

"Next time, baby." Well Rhodey, next time is here. You've been sitting in the shadows of 4-Star land for long enough, it's time to bring your Stark Industries heavy artillery to bear on the enemies of freedom with this newest character rebalance in MPQ!

We'll lead you through the changes which go from pure numbers updates to a full rework of James's Gatling Gun, making it focus on a bit of a different situation than current. On to the upgrades!

War Machine (James Rhodes) 
4-Star Rarity
Affiliations: Heroes, Avengers, Team Iron Man
    

"Skilled military pilot and friend of Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes first donned the War Machine armor after believing his friend to be dead and taking control of Stark Industries. Feeling betrayed after Tony's return, he was given the armor as a peace offering.

Adopting the identity War Machine, James Rhodes uses his piloting skills and advanced weapons systems to fight as a powerful and effective force of justice."

(Abilities listed at level 70, followed by 270)

Health and stats remain unchanged.

4446 Health / 16465 Health

 10 | 42 | 37 | 8 | 33 | 9 | 23 | 4x
 13 | 85 | 74 | 11 | 65 | 12 | 43 | 4x

OLD:
Aerial Assault - 9  AP
War Machine soars skyward to rain down bullets below! If one does not exist, create a 4-turn Red Countdown tile that deals 741 damage. While this tile is on the board, new tiles have a 15% chance of being strength 41 Attack tiles on War Machine's turn. (Max 1443 damage/strength 79 tiles)

• Level 2: New tiles have a 20% chance of being strength 55 Attack tiles. (Max strength 107 tiles)
• Level 3: Countdown tile deals 1010 damage. New tiles have a 25% chance of being strength 55 Attack tiles. (Max 1966 damage)
• Level 4: New tiles have a 25% chance of being strength 95 Attack tiles. (Max strength 182 tiles)
• Level 5: Countdown tile is Fortified. New tiles have a 33% chance of being strength 113 Attack tiles. (Max strength 219 tiles)

NEW:
Aerial Assault - 8  AP
War Machine soars skyward to rain down bullets below! If one does not exist, create a 4-turn Red Countdown tile that deals 908 damage. While this tile is on the board, new tiles have a 15% chance of being strength 41 Attack tiles on War Machine's turn. (Max 1769 damage/strength 79 tiles)

• Level 2: Countdown tile deals 1032 damage. New tiles have a 20% chance of being strength 55 Attack tiles. (Max 2010 damage/strength 107 tiles)
• Level 3: Countdown tile deals 1128 damage. New tiles have a 25% chance of being strength 65 Attack tiles. (Max 2198 damage/strength 126 tiles)
• Level 4: Countdown tile deals 1163 damage. New tiles have a 30% chance of being strength 95 Attack tiles. (Max 2266 damage/strength 182 tiles)
• Level 5: Countdown tile is Fortified and deals 1938. New tiles have a 35% chance of being strength 113 Attack tiles. (Max 3776 damage/strength 219 tiles)

The mechanics of Aerial Assault is unchanged, but it's been buffed in just about every way. The most obvious is a decrease to the AP cost for quicker use, but almost every other numeric value has also been boosted. This includes increased damage, making it almost double the strength at Level 5 when compared to it's previous version. Changes also ramps up the Attack tile chance and strength a bit more smoothly. Overall, this makes the ability pack a much stronger punch on every use, while also providing a good boost for players that are still leveling this power or those that decide not to max it out.

OLD:

Heat Signature Detection - 11  AP
War Machine activates his heat signature detection, flushing enemies out of hiding and cutting through their defenses. Removes all enemy Invisibility tiles and up to 2 enemy Protect tiles, then deals 732 damage. (Max 1425 damage)

• Level 2: Deals 1140 damage. (Max 2219 damage)
• Level 3: Can remove up to 5 enemy Protect tiles and deals 1520 damage. (Max 2958 damage)
• Level 4: Can remove up to 6 enemy Protect tiles and deals 2316 damage. (Max 4509 damage)
• Level 5: Removes all enemy Protect tiles and deals 3864 damage. (Max 7522 damage)

NEW:
Heat Signature Detection - 10  AP
War Machine activates his heat signature detection, flushing enemies out of hiding and cutting through their defenses. Removes all enemy Invisibility tiles and up to 2 enemy Protect tiles, then deals 773 damage. (Max 1505 damage)

• Level 2: Can remove up to 3 enemy Protect tiles and deals 1172 damage. (Max 2282 damage)
• Level 3: Can remove up to 5 enemy Protect tiles and deals 1560 damage. (Max 3037 damage)
• Level 4: Can remove up to 6 enemy Protect tiles and deals 2397 damage. (Max 4666 damage)
• Level 5: Removes all enemy Protect tiles and deals 4051 damage. (Max 7886 damage)

A small but effective upgrade, Heat Signature Detection also receives an AP decrease making it easier to trigger and neutralize those pesky Invisible enemies. It also introduces a smoother Protect tile removal ramp, accompanied by a small increase in damage across the board. While the ability is best used as a niche counter to certain enemy types, it now also has slightly increased utility all around.

OLD:
Gatling Gun - 8  AP
War Machine revs up his Gatling gun and prepares for destruction. Creates up to 2 2-turn Countdown tiles that deal 301 damage and destroy up to 2 random basic or Team-Up tiles around them, dealing damage but not generating AP. (Max 586 damage)

• Level 2: Countdown tiles deal 389 damage and destroy up to 3 basic tiles around them. (Max 757 damage)
  
• Level 3: Countdown tiles deal 486 damage and destroy up to 4 basic tiles around them. (Max 947 damage)
  
• Level 4: Countdown tiles last 1 turn and deal 632 damage. (Max 1230 damage)
  
• Level 5: Creates 3 Countdown tiles that destroy up to 5 basic tiles around them.

NEW:
Gatling Gun - 8  AP
War Machine revs up his Gatling gun and prepares for destruction. Destroy 6 non-friendly tiles in two random adjacent rows and deal 38 damage per tile destroyed. Destroyed tiles do not generate AP or deal other damage. (Max 75 damage)

• Level 2: Destroys 7 tiles. Deals 62 damage per tile destroyed. (Max 123 damage)
  
• Level 3: Destroys 8 tiles. Deals 79 damage per tile destroyed. (Max 156 damage)
  
• Level 4: Destroys 9 tiles. Deals 120 damage per tile destroyed. (Max 237 damage)
  
• Level 5: Destroys 10 tiles. Deals 203 damage per tile destroyed. (Max 401 damage)

Gatling Gun is amongst one of the least used abilities, showing that it could definitely use a little more power. With relatively low damage per Countdown tile and random placement, it wasn't really exciting to use. At the very best, it could do around 3000 damage if all 3 tiles somehow blew up 15 Red tiles which was... unlikely. The updated ability alters the functionality a bit, turning it into a power that is a bit more niche in use, but becoming much more powerful and targeted within that niche. Dealing damage for each non-friendly tile it happens to find in the two rows, this ability now works as a fairly cheap destroyer of tile spammers like Carnage, but also a possibility of a hail mary approach when you've got a dangerous CD tile hanging out that you just can't otherwise reach.

This latest character update is scheduled for the normal server update on Valentine's Day (2/14)! So make a date and get ready to take this upgraded Stark tech armor out for a ride!