Character Updates: Negasonic (Modern), Beast (AoA), Yellowjacket (Live 4/27)

IceIX

Hi all! Another batch of character updates for you to either explode or get your mad science on, as the case may be. Shall we get into it?

Negasonic (Modern)
Deal With It - 8 Green AP
Deals 116/276/428/732/954 damage to the enemy team and creates a 4/5/5/6/6-turn Countdown tile that, when matched or destroyed, creates a number of Charged tiles equal to the counter left on the Countdown tile.
(PASSIVE) Whenever you match or destroy a Charged tile, also destroy 1/1/1/1/2 random tile(s). (Does not generate AP.)

Updated: Deals 296/414/533/770/1293 damage (Max level 577/808/1039/1500/2423 damage)

This ability is fine for the utility, but does way too little damage per AP. So to fix this, we've updated the ability to raise the damage by about 40% at max level, and also flattened the curve on ability damage a bit so it's a little stronger at lower covers.

Thermonuclear Whatever - 9 Red AP
Negasonic Teenage Warhead throws a punch that explodes on impact. And after impact. Also before. Deals 370/533/675/1004/1786 damage plus 139/167/222/278/445 damage for each Charged tile you have matched or destroyed this battle up to a maximum of 6 tiles, then converts 1/2/2/3/3 random basic tile into a Charged tile.

Updated: Deals 417/601/761/1131/2013 base damage (Max level 812/1170/1482/2203/3920 damage). Bonus damage unchanged

Again, a decent hitting ability, but just a little underpowered for damage/AP. With a character that can provide easy Charged tiles instead of making them with just Negasonic, this can hit pretty hard for a relatively low cost Red ability.

Resistor - 6 Yellow AP
Negasonic Teenage Warhead sparks their powers to keep up the fight. Swaps 2 pairs of random basic tiles. For every Black tile swapped, converts 1 random basic tile into a Charged tile.
(PASSIVE) Whenever you make a Yellow match, Negasonic Teenage Warhead gains 220/269/356/467/786 health.

Updated: Heals 220/308/396/572/924 health (Max level 428/599/770/1113/1798 health). Added to Passive: "If Negasonic made the match, create a random Charged tile".

This ability's base utility isn't bad, and didn't really need a change, especially at higher levels as it swaps more tiles for more board shake, as well as more Charged tile generation. The Passive however needed a little bit of a boost in healing. We also added another method of creating Passive tiles in making Yellow matches. This gives Negasonic a good reason to be tanking and matching those tiles.

Beast (Age of Apocalypse)
Scientific Method - 8 Blue AP
McCoy’s experiments set in motion a dangerous chain reaction, proving that doing things the right way isn’t the same as doing the right things. Create 2 4-turn Red Countdown tiles that create 1/1/2/2/3 strength 5 Black or Green Attack tile(s) each turn. When this Countdown expires, stun a random target for 2 turn(s).
(PASSIVE) If a friendly match includes a friendly special tile, gain 1/2/2/2/3 additional AP.

Updated: Changed from creating Black and Green tiles to Blue and Green tiles.

The ability itself does what it needs to do in creating multiple Attack tiles relatively quickly as well as giving good AP returns on matching friendly specials. However, in creating Black tiles, it doubles up on the Black special tile creation done by his Black Passive. This changes it so that the doubling up doesn't occur.

Bleeding Edge - Black Passive
(PASSIVE) McCoy employs brutal techniques, sacrificing himself and others in the name of science. Friendly Attack tiles deal 10/8/5/5/5% less damage, but Beast’s match damage is increased by 14/18/23/35/57% for every Black AP you have. Whenever an enemy matches a friendly special tile, Beast creates 1/2/2/2/3 strength 15/15/15/21/21 Black Protect tiles.

Unchanged. With the alteration to Scientific Method, this now creates tiles on its own, generally just increasing his overall utility.

Blinded With Science - 9 Green AP
Beast shows no mercy to the weak, bombarding the enemy with every tool at his disposal. Deals Deals 324/324/842/842/1361 damage to the enemy team and converts 1/1/1/2/2 basic tiles to Blue Charged tiles.

Updated: Beast shows no mercy to the weak, bombarding the enemy with every tool at his disposal. Deals 324/324/842/842/1361 damage to the enemy team. For every 4/3/3/2/2 Protect tiles on the board, gain 1 Black AP. For every 4/3/3/2/2 Attack tiles on the board, gain 1 Blue AP.

Why was Beast making Charged tiles instead of Special tiles when his kit works around Special tiles? It'd be one thing if fellow AoA characters were using Charged tiles to power their abilities, but they aren't either. So we've updated this ability to instead synergize with his SAP tile creation to become a secondary AP battery along with the Passive on his Blue Scientific Method.

Yellowjacket (Darren Cross)

General: Updated Darren's match damage and health to modern character values. This also increases the base power of his abilities, which is taken into account in the below rebalances.

Cross Your Heart - 6 Black AP
Yellowjacket concentrates the Pym Particles in his suit to stabilize himself and prepare for his next attack. Restores 1029/1132/1235/1441/1852 health and the next time Yellowjacket fires a power, he also deals an extra 1668/1835/2002/2335/3002 damage.

Updated: Yellowjacket concentrates the Pym Particles in his suit to stabilize himself and prepare for his next attack. Energizes Yellowjacket, restoring 1661/1827/1993/2325/2990 health and adds 3544/3898/4253/4962/6379 damage the next time Yellowjacket fires a power. If fired while Energized, restores 150% more health and removes Energized.

The concept of storing up energy and firing it off in the next ability is a neat one, but it runs into two problems: First, that the only ability it can be used with is his Green, leaving not much in the way of an outlet. Second, that the boost itself isn't exactly earth shattering. It's not bad, but really only useful as an ability when it's being used to heal and combo right into the Green. With this change, it gives Darren the ability to increase a second heal with the same ability, giving a second outlet, as well as increasing the damage by over 100% compared to the previous version.

That Shrinking Feeling - 6 Blue AP
Yellowjacket shrinks down to avoid enemy attacks while concentrating his own power! Yellowjacket goes invisible for 2 turns.

(PASSIVE) While invisible, Yellowjacket's powers ignore Protect tiles and his matches and powers deal 191/306/458/764/1337 more damage. If Yellowjacket makes a Black, Blue, or Green match while Invisible, he stays Invisible for an extra turn.

Updated: Unchanged in effect, but it now adds to his base match damage instead of providing bonus match damage. While this doesn't change much when there are allies to hit, it means that if he's the last selectable enemy, he's going to be very hard to take down without someone to Stun or lock him out of this ability.

Sting Like A Bee - 9 Green AP
Yellowjacket sets his sights on the enemy, firing a series of energy blasts from his stingers. Fires 2 separate blasts of 843/843/977/977/1076 damage. If Yellowjacket is Invisible, also destroy 3/3/3/4/4 enemy Strike, Protect, or Attack tiles. (Destroyed tiles do not deal damage or generate AP.)

Updated: Deals 1772/1949/2126/2481/3190 damage. (Max level 7122/7834/8546/9971/12820 damage)

The original idea for this power was that it would do two hits and double dip on Strike tiles, plus be powered up by Cross Your Heart. However, due to a technical limitation, Cross Your Heart only applied once, essentially halving its effectiveness. This technical limitation is a bit too deep to root out, so instead we've increased the damage of the ability itself to compensate. So now it'll be blasting away twice for some decent damage while still getting the improved damage (once) from Cross Your Heart if available.

BlackBoltRocks

Phew Yellowjacket's mechanics remain untouched, and he got a welcome numbers boost. Much appreciated! Likewise for Negasonic and Beast for those in 4* land. Negasonic will hit harder for those who use her with Jane Thor, and EDIT: reading through others' comments, and having tried him out in the DDQ node, this does feel like a nerf to Beast. Previously you knew his Green would always create Blue Charged tiles regardless of the board. Now it's dependent on SAP tiles. Meh.

EDIT: I didn't realise the buffs were already live. For Darren, I thought this made a 5/3/5 build more viable; I didn't realise his new Blue adds directly to his base match damage. Thanks for the clarification @marvel075 . Looks like 5/5/3 is still the way to go.

WilliamK1983

Glad YJ got a tweaking and not a overhaul. Just what he needed.

MrDupaTM

This is so cool, it will really reshape the Chasm meta.

BlackBoltRocks

@MrDupaTM said:
This is so cool, it will really reshape the Chasm meta.

Is this really necessary?

Omegased

so glad YJ just got a bit of a damage boost, and his invis wasn't touched.

EDIT: Also - it's made me realise that we shouldn't use "rework". this round isn't. they're just... updates.. yknow, just like they say.

toecutter3095

It would be nice to have a little vault or CP store or maybe even an HP offer like a powered-up pack to go along with these character updates. Some sort of opportunity to grab some covers to build out the newly reworked toons since you've gone to the effort of making them better.

dianetics

Cool to see YJ get buffed.
Honestly though, in the 4* tier Beast didn't need a buff or tweak as he was already quite strong. Negasonic was also pretty strong once her kit got rolling.

There are many other 4s that need looking at rather than the upper mid tier 4s which is where these 2 were.

Bzhai

It would be cool if like the new character poll, they let us vote for the next batch of reworks. They already addressed the biggest losers in the game so now it's just a matter of moving up the F-tier list.

Bad

Positive buffs here for all characters.
Still yes, dr strange, spider-man 2 versions, GG, cable, Wolverine, BW, Daredevil, need a lot more some rework in 5* tier.

Borstock

These are all....fine. Still probably only using YJ when boosted. But that's the game these days. Glad he got the health update.

sinnerjfl

Not a fan at all of the change on Beast's green, adding blue charged tiles always gave you a nice chunk of AP right away and a good chance at a cascade.

Now you need 10 atk tiles to get 5 blue, you used to get the same amount by making a match including a single charged tile. This is so much slower and his repeaters are not even fortified...

Daredevil217

@BlackBoltRocks said:
EDIT: I didn't realise the buffs were already live. For Darren, while 5/5/3 is still generally better, this makes a 5/3/5 build more viable, especially if he's not tanking all of Black/Blue/Green and maximises his damage output when he's not invisible.

My Yellowjacket has the same health/match damage as before. Anyone else?

ThisisClemFandango

This is all very nice but when's mysterio going to get some love? I know he was in line to be looked at, but it kills me that my favourite spidey villain doesn't do anything at all

ThaRoadWarrior

Super glad none of these characters backslid or lost flavor, all good adjustments as best i can tell. Does this now make Dark Beast a good Mehneto partner? He does have the brotherhood tag, so potentially. Not sure if it'll be earth shattering, but I'll have to try it at some point. Negasonic in particular is unlikely to tank anything, but it's cool she really is the Polaris of charged tiles now. Does her yellow still 'remove' her green countdown without doing anything when it gets shuffled around? That always felt like a bug to me.

Scofie

@ThisisClemFandango said:
This is all very nice but when's mysterio going to get some love? I know he was in line to be looked at, but it kills me that my favourite spidey villain doesn't do anything at all

Mod mode off
He comes out every Christmas with a snow globe for a head. What more do you want?!

entrailbucket

@ThaRoadWarrior said:
Super glad none of these characters backslid or lost flavor, all good adjustments as best i can tell. Does this now make Dark Beast a good Mehneto partner? He does have the brotherhood tag, so potentially. Not sure if it'll be earth shattering, but I'll have to try it at some point. Negasonic in particular is unlikely to tank anything, but it's cool she really is the Polaris of charged tiles now. Does her yellow still 'remove' her green countdown without doing anything when it gets shuffled around? That always felt like a bug to me.

That Negasonic combo is going to be extra dumb now, I should try it out again!

I don't think Yellowjacket really needed this buff...he was pretty obnoxious before and I did often see him when he was boosted. Still, I'll take it. It definitely makes him better. There are about 8 or 10 other guys I'd pick to buff before him, though.

ThisisClemFandango

@Scofie said:

@ThisisClemFandango said:
This is all very nice but when's mysterio going to get some love? I know he was in line to be looked at, but it kills me that my favourite spidey villain doesn't do anything at all

Mod mode off
He comes out every Christmas with a snow globe for a head. What more do you want?!

.....OK yeah I've got nothing

dianetics

@ThaRoadWarrior said:
Super glad none of these characters backslid or lost flavor, all good adjustments as best i can tell. Does this now make Dark Beast a good Mehneto partner? He does have the brotherhood tag, so potentially. Not sure if it'll be earth shattering, but I'll have to try it at some point. Negasonic in particular is unlikely to tank anything, but it's cool she really is the Polaris of charged tiles now. Does her yellow still 'remove' her green countdown without doing anything when it gets shuffled around? That always felt like a bug to me.

Dark beast is less good. Still a 4* heavy hitter though.
The blue charged tiles were key to many of his synergies before.
He is not bad but trying to turn him into a battery makes him less useful. Since you have to spend ap to generate it，it is not as good.
Negasonic is clearly getting a minor buff.

Again neither of them needed this treatment.

SuperCarrot

Dark Beast, definitely, as others have said, will not be as useful. The blue charged tiles helped in a stun lock setup…and well I wanted him to make black tiles…he hits harder with more black ap. Feels like a nerf but I haven’t taken him for a spin yet so could be wrong.

Rod5

Thanks for this. When are you going to buff 5* Wasp?