Conceptually, I think the abilities are actually on the right track, but each of the miss the mark just enough that I feel compelled to come up with a redesign. I only have a very basic knowledge of Kraven - I know that he's a hunter and a Spidey villain, but any nuance past that is unfamiliar to me. Regardless, I think there's enough that we can do with the idea of a master hunter/tracker. It would be easy to tweak some existing powers (5* Panther's Black and 3* Punisher's Red are both abilities that I think could fit the hunter template quite well) however I wanted to see if we could also use this as a chance to bring some love to Trap tiles.
Wounded Pride
I felt like there was a big disconnect between the ability and description here; it talks about Kraven lashing out when his ego takes a hit but it's an activated ability that destroys his own AP - is Kraven attacking his own ego?
Instead I imaged this ability as a Passive that is triggered whenever a friendly Countdown or Trap tile is destroyed or removed by the enemy. (That is, any way in which an enemy can get rid of a Trap or Countdown without activating it.) When activated, this creates a Wounded Pride countdown which targets friendly Black AP and enemy strongest colour.
I think the damage potential of the countdown in the original ability was decent enough, it's just the criteria for getting a countdown on the board that I wanted to modify. I've also changed the friendly AP portion to always target Black - so even though this is a Passive, you still want to make sure you've been collecting Black AP to fuel the damage that each Wounded Pride CD can deal. There's a little bit of inspiration from Chavez here, who is designed around retaining AP rather than spending it. This ability has a little self-synergy in that Kraven will create a Wounded Pride CD if the enemy manages to remove a Wounded Pride CD that was already in play (although a Rank 5, they will be 1-turn countdowns that activate as soon as the enemy turn ends)
Think Like the Enemy
Another ability with a disconnect between description and implementation. This ability is supposed to represent Kraven turning an enemy's strength against them, but I don't get that impression from reading the ability mechanics.
Change this into an activated ability. Purple, 11 AP - cost reduced by 1 AP for each enemy A/S/P tile on the board to a minimum of 5. Creates a Countdown tile (3/4/5 turns). At the start of each turn, this tile accumulates X damage for each enemy special tile; if there are more than 6 enemy A/S/P tiles, also reduce their strength.
I'm not sure I worded that very well, so let me explain. This ability creates a countdown that deals 0 damage, at least to begin. However, at the start of every turn, the amount of damage it deals is increased according to the number of enemy special tiles (A/S/P only) that are on the board. The tile strength debuff is linked to the CD being on the board as well as the threshold value.
Most Dangerous Game
Keep this as an activated ability. Blue 9 AP. The Trap is placed on a random Black, Purple, or Blue tile (instead of always Blue) and steals 1 Black, Purple, and Blue AP (see also: Elektra's Ballet of Death) per turn. If matched away by a friendly match, convert tiles to Blue and deal damage (that is, the similar to current effect). No effect if the trap is matched by an enemy (however it would still trigger the Wounded Pride passive).
I think this gives the ability a lot of versatility - the trap now helps fuel all of Kraven's abilities specifically and can me matched away by a friendly in order to deal some damage and potentially gain some more Blue AP to recast. This should reflect the idea that Kraven is always closing in on his target. There's no effect to the trap being matched by the enemy baked into this ability itself, but it would trigger Wounded Pride (which was the intent of my design).
DrDevilDinosaur said: Conceptually, I think the abilities are actually on the right track, but each of the miss the mark just enough that I feel compelled to come up with a redesign. I only have a very basic knowledge of Kraven - I know that he's a hunter and a Spidey villain, but any nuance past that is unfamiliar to me. Regardless, I think there's enough that we can do with the idea of a master hunter/tracker. It would be easy to tweak some existing powers (5* Panther's Black and 3* Punisher's Red are both abilities that I think could fit the hunter template quite well) however I wanted to see if we could also use this as a chance to bring some love to Trap tiles.Wounded PrideI felt like there was a big disconnect between the ability and description here; it talks about Kraven lashing out when his ego takes a hit but it's an activated ability that destroys his own AP - is Kraven attacking his own ego?Instead I imaged this ability as a Passive that is triggered whenever a friendly Countdown or Trap tile is destroyed or removed by the enemy. (That is, any way in which an enemy can get rid of a Trap or Countdown without activating it.) When activated, this creates a Wounded Pride countdown which targets friendly Black AP and enemy strongest colour.I think the damage potential of the countdown in the original ability was decent enough, it's just the criteria for getting a countdown on the board that I wanted to modify. I've also changed the friendly AP portion to always target Black - so even though this is a Passive, you still want to make sure you've been collecting Black AP to fuel the damage that each Wounded Pride CD can deal. There's a little bit of inspiration from Chavez here, who is designed around retaining AP rather than spending it. This ability has a little self-synergy in that Kraven will create a Wounded Pride CD if the enemy manages to remove a Wounded Pride CD that was already in play (although a Rank 5, they will be 1-turn countdowns that activate as soon as the enemy turn ends)Think Like the EnemyAnother ability with a disconnect between description and implementation. This ability is supposed to represent Kraven turning an enemy's strength against them, but I don't get that impression from reading the ability mechanics.Change this into an activated ability. Purple, 11 AP - cost reduced by 1 AP for each enemy A/S/P tile on the board to a minimum of 5. Creates a Countdown tile (3/4/5 turns). At the start of each turn, this tile accumulates X damage for each enemy special tile; if there are more than 6 enemy A/S/P tiles, also reduce their strength.I'm not sure I worded that very well, so let me explain. This ability creates a countdown that deals 0 damage, at least to begin. However, at the start of every turn, the amount of damage it deals is increased according to the number of enemy special tiles (A/S/P only) that are on the board. The tile strength debuff is linked to the CD being on the board as well as the threshold value.Most Dangerous GameKeep this as an activated ability. Blue 9 AP. The Trap is placed on a random Black, Purple, or Blue tile (instead of always Blue) and steals 1 Black, Purple, and Blue AP (see also: Elektra's Ballet of Death) per turn. If matched away by a friendly match, convert tiles to Blue and deal damage (that is, the similar to current effect). No effect if the trap is matched by an enemy (however it would still trigger the Wounded Pride passive).I think this gives the ability a lot of versatility - the trap now helps fuel all of Kraven's abilities specifically and can me matched away by a friendly in order to deal some damage and potentially gain some more Blue AP to recast. This should reflect the idea that Kraven is always closing in on his target. There's no effect to the trap being matched by the enemy baked into this ability itself, but it would trigger Wounded Pride (which was the intent of my design).
Tiger Wong said: He can’t ‘murder’ jack one on one. Unless you consider sitting behind an invisibility tile, praying for an almost impossible 5-match, and doing normal 3 match damage.is water torture considered ‘murder’?
HoundofShadow said: I understand where you are coming from. Wouldn't Venom's ability reduce enemies' protect tile to 1 anyway? Hawkeye's black throws out 4 special tiles but it overlaps with Kraven's black. Whose black ability would you prioritise?
zodiac339 said: HoundofShadow said: I understand where you are coming from. Wouldn't Venom's ability reduce enemies' protect tile to 1 anyway? Hawkeye's black throws out 4 special tiles but it overlaps with Kraven's black. Whose black ability would you prioritise? No, go 5/3/5 on Venom when paired with Kraven. Kraven’s purple will reduce protects to 1 at the beginning of your turn.
Tiger Wong said: I wonder why they made Wounded Pride a CD. I don’t get it.
sambrookjm said: Kraven and 4-star Venom work together pretty well, especially against those wonderfully annoying Daken+Bullseye Dark Avenger Nodes. I've got him at 5/4/2 after my LT opening binge, so he's still not fully covered/leveled up just yet. Can anyone recommend a good red/purple user to round out the rainbow team?