Verminion - strategies vs human players

[Myon88]

Another thing I just realized - and I confirmed my suspicions - is that the plush cushion's LB is able to cleanse the 'withdrawn from battle' status inflicted by the selfdestruct and wind-up gentleman's LBs (although it also removes the atk and def buff). It says "Removes all beneficial effects from enemies and allies" but this seems to be another mistranslation, it's really more like "Removes all beneficial and detrimental effects.." - either that or it doesn't differentiate between you and your enemy (after all, what is detrimental for you is beneficial for your enemy).

Anyway, the upshot of this is it's probably a good candidate for best cleanse minion in this case, as it has the all important 4 speed, and unlike wind-up kan-e only costs 10 to summon (instead of 20), and its LB only costs 20 points to use (instead of 30). And it's super effective versus search eyes as well, as the icing on the cake.

I wonder what other minions are potential sleeper hits because of things being lost in translation...

[phantom23]

Hmm ill have to take a closer look at some minions, it never crossed my mine that the text could be wrong.

[PotatoTree]

I tried out the plush cushions and they indeed do as you said. Plus being able to dispel opponent minions also adds some extra utility. Just got to be careful that you don't dispel their hildies (probably wont dispel their bombs since if they get one off the cushions will probably be dead). But at the moment, I agree that it's the best cleanse minion. It's also slightly tankier than the hatchling too.

I tested the apkallu some more and it does look like you are right in that it makes the attack aoe. I've faced some apkallu swarms a few times and they just melt away pretty much anything. I guess it's because each hit is like a hildy hit, but aoe. Luckily they can be out microed due to their low speed.

[Myon88]

Well I'm glad that apkallu mystery is finally solved! I never got my ARR sightseeing log done as I only joined the game after Heavensward.

The other thing I noticed that perhaps you guys already know, is that minions with AoE autoattacks seem to have a slower attack interval than minions with single-target autoattacks. Based on some very cursory testing with a stopwatch, it seems like AoE minions have an autoattack interval of 5 seconds, and single target minions have a 3 second autoattack interval.

It's not big enough of a difference to sway existing minion choices I think, and probably done for balance purposes since AoE attacks can potentially add a lot of extra damage. I always did wonder why my AoE minions felt a little bit sluggish in combat, and perhaps that's the reason. It would also explain why the apkallu is unusually strong when their LB is activated - maybe they keep their 3 second interval when their LB converts their attacks to AoE, so like you said they pretty much become hildy on crack (if you let them catch up to you that is...)

[Myon88]

I happened to record a random tournament match I played recently for someone, and I thought some of you might find it interesting to watch. I hope no one minds that I didn't black out any names, frankly I don't know how/don't have the software to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOmn...ature=youtu.be

It's actually a little embarrassing because my play in the first quarter was quite sloppy, but I think it gives a rough overview of how I approach matches. Abuse coeurl kittens and constantly pressure the search eye, produce tech minions as required (in this case, bats to counter coeurl kittens), while making sure to have one super-effective unit harassing other infrastructure at all times. I personally prefer a slightly oblique camera angle as well, I feel it makes it a bit easier to watch the corners without moving the camera - I try to avoid having to move it at all if possible unless I'm doing something that requires more precision.

I find proactive strategies are much stronger than reactive ones in general, because it's very easy for me to order a minion to walk to an objective, but more taxing for your opponent to pay attention to it and respond appropriately. Often people will be distracted defending their search eye at the start and you get tons of chip damage in - and it becomes very hard to swing the momentum back in your favour even if you successfully repel the kittens.

[PotatoTree]

Cool match! I need to find some more good swarm opponents that can multitask well to practice against.

[Berilein]

Gave them a try and appreciate the guides, but I completely lost interest when I seen people win trading for ranks on the tournament rankings. Sigh.

[PotatoTree]

Unfortunately there always are, in both TT and LoV. SE isn't really good at or interested in dealing with it. Some days I can't even get 1st in the tourny despite winning all 30 legit games because of a few win traders. I have way too much MGP anyway so I don't really care, I just play for the fun of it.

[Myon88]

So how are you guys feeling about the viability of the new minions in Stormblood? From what I can see, none of them really seem like they have the potential to be meta defining.

The tiny tatsunoko will probably find a spot on my bar though, as a replacement for the wind-up nero if I need to tech swap into the utility it has (blows up opponent's trap and it deals damage as if it was yours). It seems almost strictly better for that purpose as it only costs 10.

Magitek Avenger F1 has a fairly strong special ability too with the potential for extreme amounts of burst - but with only 3 speed and it lasting 6 seconds (plus being situational to use, you have to be half dead), it doesn't seem very consistent.

[phantom23]

So how are you guys feeling about the viability of the new minions in Stormblood? From what I can see, none of them really seem like they have the potential to be meta defining.

The tiny tatsunoko will probably find a spot on my bar though, as a replacement for the wind-up nero if I need to tech swap into the utility it has (blows up opponent's trap and it deals damage as if it was yours). It seems almost strictly better for that purpose as it only costs 10.

Magitek Avenger F1 has a fairly strong special ability too with the potential for extreme amounts of burst - but with only 3 speed and it lasting 6 seconds (plus being situational to use, you have to be half dead), it doesn't seem very consistent.

Nothings has changed, as long as the str buff monsters are still strong nothing will change.

I stopped trying to be fancy in taking down the zerg or playing in general, now may strategy is clean and efficient. Open with 6 crystal busters 2/2/2 , 1(10c) eye buster , 1(10c) shield buster, by the time I have my opener set, i can tell if my opponent will zerg. If I see even 1 Succubus,Fenrir,Wolf pup, or any other str buff I will react with a Fenrir or a Pup, if they do not summon any I will bring 4 pandas and 4 pups. I still win most of my matches, but now its more fast and efficient.