Member
Hello everybody, my name is Basso.
I'm the Warden that goes around looking like Willy Wonka's a**, so you might have met me.
Today I want to have a discussion about the "new" Warden (after patch 1.08) and how to tune it in order to make him viable in high level plays without breaking his signature ability, the shoulderbash.
Being an all-rounder and a vanguard, the Warden should not have an high damage output, nor it should behave like an harasser (like Centurion or Warlord): his main strenght consists in having a solid-yet-punishable opener with few moves to support it (for example, Vanguard Advance to catch up early dodgers and the CCS to punish hasty top attacks).
The solution Ubi implemented was aimed to reduce his opener spam-ability and the option select Wardens used to have on charged SB, by increasing the stamina cost and reducing the feintability to 400ms, yet they gave him nothing to compensate his absolute lack of...kit. Warden in high level play can't rely on feints, spammable unblockables, fast-recovery dodges , fast attacks (except from the 500 ms top light) or soft feints
" But Basso he's still he's better than half of the cast"
"He's got an actual opener"
Yes and no. If we're talking about a turtling Highlander [GENERAL TURTLE CLASS\ HE'S NOT OUT YET] that does nothing but eating SB without trying to roll away\interrupt it, yes. You're right. On the other hand if you're taking the same class played by somebody that can properly space the warden and use\abuse techs to compensate his lack of "actual openers" (buffHighlanderUbi)... You get my point.
I'm compiling 4 points, 4 options to make Warden more viable in high level plays without breaking him into a mindless bash-spamming machine. Let's discuss about them. Tell me whatchathink. Each option is unrelated to the other: it's one or the other, not all of them.
A - Make SB feintable after 400ms window
The level of committment to a SB is disproportionated to how easy to justDodgeIt is. My suggestion is to make the SB feintable after the 400ms window. This change won't make wardens have their old option select, but only make the read-then-punish harder on the opponent (expecially with a proper mixup of level 1 and level 3 SB).
B - Revert the guard properties after SB feint
Keeping the 400ms feintability window should give us the possibility to parry\punish our opponent properly, without having to wait the recovery time or - at least - let us block\dodge away swiftly during the 400ms timeframe. Right now a well-minded spacing game + <= 500 ms attacks can completely void the SB.
C - Change recovery speeds on side\backdodge to be 500 ms
That would encourage a more dynamic playstile from Warden players, making his flow more complex than just the ternary Commit to SB \ Take the punish\Parry. Feinting Guardian Assault or Vanguard Advance with this buff would make much more sense,as the flow would be
Vanguard Advance
1 Top Light -> Heavy -> Feint -> Dodge -> SB
2 Top Light -> Heavy -> Feint -> Backdodge -> SB3
3 Top Light -> SB -> Dodge -> Doublelight (to catch the GB) -> SB OR Vanguard Advance
D - Safe on block zone attack\ increase zone attack damage
Pretty self explanatory: the one or the other. If you want to keep this shoulderbash, at least make the only other viable move of his kit worthwhile.
(this has been posted on r/forhonor and r/competitiveforhonor too)
Senior Member
Member
I like the ideas you've put forward,
It would be good to see Warden improved slightly,
I've not played as warden very often so I'm not sure what would be best to improve him and feel its not really my place to say as Idont main him,
But at the moment he does feel a bit underwhelming to fight against once you learn to counter his shoulder bash and top light parry technique.
Senior Member
