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From the internet, but revisited for overall rebalance
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...5OI0zjMhA/edit
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Aramusha is probably the worst hero right now. The dodge recovery standardization stripped him of what little uniqueness he had and now he has virtually nothing.
Some time ago I saw a stellar rework for him on the internet, but it wasn't as good as it could be, so I revisited and now this is how Aramusha should be made in to truly become a force to be reckoned with.
Since now I can post without the weird length limit, here's the complete rework without the link, let's make sure the devs get a look at it
ARAMUSHA REWORK : TWO HEAVENS AS ONE
Aramusha is meant to be this 1vX machine that you CANNOT go through in an easy way. If you try to force your way through him too quickly, he would push back harder and punish your mistakes in a myriad of ways, starting his momentum and overwhelming you quickly with feints, soft feints, commits, etc. However, he is currently way too predictable. His only options from neutral are zone or a 500ms lights. This isn’t bad since he doesn’t HAVE to be the strongest character in neutral, he is meant to excel somewhere else (namely being a combo 1vX character that never stops once he can get his momentum started from Blade Blockade). However, the other options he possesses for his specialties are severely lacking. His infinite chain is incredibly easy to stop/block, and his Blade Blockade, while it has interesting followups, is just not worth the risk when it is compared to parries (more on this later).
GENERAL
- Health increased to 130 (from 120)
o This is to cement his identity as a Vanguard/Heavy Hybrid. It makes no sense to have someone excel at 1vX without relying on i-frames if they have so little health.
TEMPEST/TEMPEST ALTERNATE
- No longer has to be chained from side to top. As long is it’s coming from a different guard direction, the Tempest keeps going. Only a Heavy attack from the same direction allows you to enter your Finisher mixup.
o This makes his chain much less predictable, be it in a 1v1 situation or 1vX while target swapping.
DEADLY FEINT
- Side deadly feint sped up to 400ms (from 500ms)
- Side deadly feints no longer confirm top light
- Top deadly feint damage buffed to 20 (from 15)
o This is to standardize deadly feint. The sides were too slow but guaranteed too much damage (a total of 32 with the confirmed top light) and were frustrating for lower skilled players due to the guaranteed follow-up. Currently, a well-timed dodge avoids most options short of a perfectly read feint to a guardbreak (if they dodged early they can counter the gb). However, in a 1vX situation, you NEVER want to guardbreak since you will eat at least 2 heavies from the other enemy next to you. This allows Aramusha to keep his momentum going and does not buff his 1v1 significantly since feint to gb still allows for more damage (it just takes more time).
CHAIN FINISHERS
- Side Chain finishers are now unblockable if they are initiated after a heavy.
- Top light finishers gain hyper armor.
- Side finisher damage lowered to 40 (from 45)
- Can be soft-feinted into a forward dash or top light.
o Allows Aramusha to apply pressure in his combo and forces a reaction. The forward dash allows you to chain into Rushing Wind to punish rolls on read (similar to Shaman and Kensei unblockable mixups)
RUSHING WIND ALTERNATE (SIDE)
- Sped up to 600ms (from 700ms)
- Gains undodgeable property
o Due to the poor tracking and speed of the current move, it is basically useless compared to the top armored version. This change helps keep Aramusha and his opponent in the fight and out of neutral, where he is the weakest.
o Coupled with changes to his finishers it rewards good Aramusha reads by keeping the “flow” going and punishes trigger-happy Aramushas since it is still a slow move. Top Rushing Wind also keeps its utility to enter the fray in a “safer” fashion thanks to the hyper armor.
BLADE BLOCKADE
- Blade Blockade can now be held for as long as the Aramusha has stamina, but still has 500ms exit recovery and has to be held for at least 400ms. Drains stamina at a similar rate as Warlord’s Full Block.
- Aramusha now gains Super Armor (the one Shugoki has) for the duration of the Blade Blockade (not in recovery however)
- Blade Blockade’s recovery can be cancelled by using Push Back Kick or Twin Vipers
o Blade Blockade is currently the laughing stock of defensive options. It rewards much less on light parries, only slightly more on some heavy parries, while being incredibly risky to use (parrying with his fast heavies beats most feints to guardbreak and beats a lot of other options, while Blade Blockade is vulnerable to feint into Light, feint into Heavy, feint into GB, it even loses to Shugoki’s Heavy soft feint to Demon’s Embrace. With the changes I propose, it would be always vulnerable to feint to gb, but could beat Feints into other attacks, and if you so wish, trade with the opponent thanks to the armored followups.
o This also means he has a way to pressure an opponent in 1v1 situations in addition to his chain, but it is negated with proper spacing, similar to a less threatening Berzerker. Going into Blade Blockade from neutral like this also opens you up to guardbreaks, which would encourage the Aramusha to use this as a defensive tool more than offensive.
o The Blade Blockade is now a big chunk of what ties Aramusha to his newfound 1vX identity. It would work in a similar way to Hidden stance in gank but would balance around standing your ground instead of dodging around and avoiding attacks.
§ For example, what a lot of people will do in gank situations will be to use a fast bash such as Warlord’s Headbutt or Conqueror’s Shieldbash and time an ally’s heavy to land at the same time. With these changes, you could super armor through the bash and hold down the Blockade slightly longer to then go in your new and improved Tempest infinite chain after blocking the heavy coming your way. And if they feint to a gb, you can potentially counter it with a recovery cancel (most likely on read unless you’re Bodrat).
TWIN VIPERS
- Can be soft-feinted into a forward dash or a top light.
- Damage decreased to 33 (from 40)
o Seeing as Twin Vipers is very similar to the Finishers, it gets a similar treatment. However, since it acts as a chain starter instead of a finisher, it is necessary to reduce its damage, especially as it might see some more use from now on and cannot be completely negated by rolls anymore. The damage with the confirmed light gets reduced to 45 (from 52).
RING THE BELL
- Stamina damage increased to 40 (from 20)
o This becomes more similar to a heavy parry now, with less health damage but more stamina damage. Damage shouldn’t be buffed, since it is mostly used as a 4v4 tool to counter external attacks not locked on to you and allowing your teammates to land heavies while you are ringing the bell.
§ 19 more stamina damage (61) when compared to Light parry (42)
§ 2 less stamina damage (82) when compared to Heavy parry (84)
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ZONE ATTACK
-The second hit of the zone now acts as an unblockable Chain Finisher.
- After a feint, the guard direction of the Aramusha is defaulted to the left.
Currently, if an Aramusha feints the zone into guardbreak, the guardbreak will bounce off of an attempted parry if the Aramusha’s guard was not to the left prior to throwing the zone due to guard switch delay. This fixes that.
Junior Member
Here’s my opinion on this:
- Health increased to 130 (from 120)
While I don’t know if it’s necessary, it’s always nice to have. Personally, I think Aramusha is more of a Vanguard-Assassin Hybrid, so extra health while very helpful, might not be warranted to make him a better hero.
TEMPEST/TEMPEST ALTERNATE
- No longer has to be chained from side to top
In this case, Aramusha would be more like the current Berserker and I think it could serve him well. Aramusha’s uniqueness should come from unleashing his most powerful attack by doing a heavy on the same side as the last attack, not going side-top every time. That’s why this change could work quite well.
DEADLY FEINT
- Side deadly feint sped up to 400ms (from 500ms)
I think it does need a speed upgrade. If one’s connection is good, it’s almost too easy to parry and becomes virtually useless. Aramusha can delay his deadly feints, so undelayed could be 400ms and delayed 500-550ms.
However, if the side-top combo were to remain a thing, attack speed on all lights should be normalized to 400ms, at least once Aramusha starts a combo.
- Side deadly feints no longer confirm top light
I think they haven’t been for quite a while, if ever.
- Side finisher damage lowered to 40 (from 45)
If it becomes an unblockable and the side-top combo is no longer a thing, then it would be warranted.
CHAIN FINISHERS
- Side Chain finishers are now unblockable if they are initiated after a heavy.
I think that it would be too overpowered just like the current Berserker is. It could be considered fair only if Berserker were to keep all his current unblockables and Hyper Armor. But personally, I think that’s an issue that should be fixed by taking away Hyper Armor from an Assassin and letting him keep only his heavy-heavy-heavy unblockable. Then Aramusha wouldn’t need an unblockable like this.
- Top light finishers gain hyper armor.
I don’t think that’s necessary. No one ever attacks Aramusha when he’s in the middle of a combo, unless in a gank situation. He just shouldn’t be spamming long attacks like deadly feints in such situations.
- Side finisher damage lowered to 40 (from 45)
Only if it becomes unblockable.
- Can be soft-feinted into a forward dash or top light.
I don’t think that’s necessary. You can simply feint a heavy in the middle of a combo and do it from there. I think that mix-ups shouldn’t be too easy, almost automatic, to do (like those of Berserker, Kensei, or Conqueror are at this point).
RUSHING WIND ALTERNATE (SIDE)
- Sped up to 600ms (from 700ms)
- Gains undodgeable property
I agree it needs a speed upgrade since it’s way too slow to hit anything and almost nobody falls for a parry bait with it. Considering it doesn’t have Hyper Armor like the top dash heavy, I believe that giving it undodgeable property is warranted. Especially since the dash-dodge property of this move almost never succeeds in dodging anything.
It would also be cool to see Aramusha do his dodge-disappear thing somewhere else than in just his running heavy. It looks so cool, it feels like a waste not to use it more.
BLADE BLOCKADE
- Blade Blockade can now be held for as long as the Aramusha has stamina, but still has 500ms exit recovery and has to be held for at least 400ms. Drains stamina at a similar rate as Warlord’s Full Block.
- Blade Blockade’s recovery can be cancelled by using Push Back Kick or Twin Vipers
I don’t think holding the Blade Blockade is needed. Neither Warlord nor Conqueror can set their full block on reaction to a light attack the way Aramusha can set his Blade Blockade, and I believe that setting Blade Blockade like that is a part of his identity.
Then again, Conqueror can go into a Zone Attack from Full Block, or do an almost instant transition into a Shield Bash. In the case he keeps all that, Aramusha could be capable of holding the Blade Blockade as stated and even initiating a Push Back Kick or Twin Vipers by doing an input of f.e. guardbreak button or side heavy.
But this again becomes too much of an offensive tool. After all, Twin Vipers attack has:
- Hyper Armor for the duration of the unblockable,
- undodgeable property,
- a guaranteed top light if it the unblockable connects (very rare but can happen),
- can be soft-feinted into a light and pretty much everyone falls for the feint since they want to parry the unblockable (kind of like what Shaman has with soft-feinting unblockable into a guardbreak).
My point: I wouldn’t want all Aramusha players to front dash feint into Blade Blockade into Twin Vipers, because it would be putting an opponent in a non stop 50-50 situation, making the game boring and frustrating (kind of like current Conqueror’s Shield Bash is). The Push Back Kick on the other hand, would be a good option. Maybe Fury Unleashed too. Then again, a proper delay before using any of the Blade Blockade attacks could make this viable, balanced and fun.
- Aramusha now gains Super Armor (the one Shugoki has) for the duration of the Blade Blockade (not in recovery however)
I don’t think that’s necessary, since Aramusha can Blade Blockade any attack besides an unblockable, guardbreak or bash, even if it’s in a ganking situation. And if the team is ganking well, no amount of Hyper Armor will save you (not even Revenge Mode). Of course, there’s Berserker, Kensei and Shinobi who can anti-gank fairly well, but the first two are currently overpowered, while Shinobi is just very mobile and can run away from an organized gank. All other heroes are pretty much screwed.
TWIN VIPERS
- Can be soft-feinted into a forward dash or a top light.
- Damage decreased to 33 (from 40)
I don’t think soft-feinting Twin Vipers into a dash should be a thing. They can be normally feinted. They can already be soft-feinted into a side or top light, so no change needed there. Twin Vipers is a move that’s immensely slow and difficult to land, so nerfing its damage would only hurt Aramusha. Unless its speed was increased, then it’s fine.
RING THE BELL
- Stamina damage increased to 40 (from 20)
I don’t know if it’s necessary to increase the stamina damage instead of normal damage. After all, it’s presently the only guaranteed damage from Blade Blockade. Push Back Kick on the other hand could do more stamina damage because it’s useless without a wall or ledge behind the opponent.
ZONE ATTACK
-The second hit of the zone now acts as an unblockable Chain Finisher.
I don’t think Zone Attack can be chained in its current state.
- After a feint, the guard direction of the Aramusha is defaulted to the left.
"Currently, if an Aramusha feints the zone into guardbreak, the guardbreak will bounce off of an attempted parry if the Aramusha’s guard was not to the left prior to throwing the zone due to guard switch delay."
I don’t know if that’s a real problem. Whenever I got hit by a heavy after feinting a Zone Attack, I just thought that people did a heavy either early or late by mistake and got a lucky hit. Or that they read my feint and intentionally countered in such way.
But I might be wrong here and it actually needs an adjustment. Not being able to guarbreak after feinting a Zone Attack happens most often against Centurion in my case.
Some extra ideas:
I thought about making Fury Unleashed a guaranteed attack against every hero, but nerfing its damage to 20. In this case, the player would have to choose if he wants to Ring The Bell to do a little damage and some stamina damage, Push Back Kick to do no damage, but a bigger stamina damage, or Fury Unleashed to have a guaranteed 20 damage, but no stamina damage. Then again, some people forget about blocking up against Aramusha, so it might not be a bad idea to keep non-guaranteed 30 damage as it is.
I also thought about giving Aramusha a side dash attack with a light attack like Orochi or a heavy attack like Shaman. He could also be able to do a deflect with a light attack that would give either some bleed damage or guarantee a guardbreak like Berserker’s. Considering that he’s a Hybrid hero, it could be implemented while staying true to his class. Especially since one of his unique traits, a quick side dash, was removed.
Overall, I believe that Aramusha could use some work to get an overall buff, but more importantly, the overpowered characters like Kensei, Berserker and Conqueror should get a nerf.
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Yeah, sure, what else haha. You don't even talk about reducing the speed of the infinite chain of light attacks or limiting it, you cann't block or dodge that chain if it hits you so no thanks. Until that annoying chain that is not nerfed, no buffs for the Aramusha. A buff with that chain would break the character much more. So nope.
Junior Member
I don't know what is your current level in the game, but if you're playing an assassin character, first you just have to learn to block Aramusha's lights. The easiest way to go about it is to push top guard, as if you're slamming it, after you're hit from any direction. It can take some time, but it's easy once you get the hang of it. Some people even learn to parry or deflect the lights.
Aramusha's problem is that at low levels he seems overpowered, while at mid and high levels he's too predictable and easy to outplay. The number of his tools is limited and therefore come suggestions for a buff. It's all so he can be viable for all levels of play.
Banned
I’m too lazy to copy paste what I wrote from my phone, so I’ll simply urge you to go read my rework ideas for which I made a new thread. What you’re suggesting is far too complex and completely changes Aramusha. What I had in mind pretty much addresses all your complaints about the hero but in a much quicker and simpler way, the changes are fewer and easier to follow. It’s called Easy Way to Make Aramusha Fun and Viable
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His worst problem is that he doesn't have anything to open up people with. He is in dire need of a viable unblockable to counter good turtle people who don't get thirtsty for parries.Originally Posted by Kenzu8 Go to original post
His accesses to unblockables in this reworked suggestion would force people to react.
Trust me, they aren't going to nerf Berserker silly HA on lights (So silly that it can beat a Shugoki on a trade), so at this point it would be better to bump up every other character to be just as powerful.
Side unblockable finishers would be predictable in the long run, and in my opinion top heavy unblockable would have been the real OP thing (Guaranteed off parries and guardbreaks, and it would make Aramusha a turtle machine, something he should never be)
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I had an idea I would like to suggest for the new aramusha, and it would be super cool i think.
After a successfull blade blockade, a top heavy would launch 2 light attack coming from both sides, with the 2 blades of the aramusha, just like a big scissors.
The aramusha could have the option to HOLD the heavy, launching a CHARGED attack, with an hyper armor only during the attack animation, not during the chaneling of the attack; increasing the dmg and making the 2 attacks unblockkable.
If the attack isnt charged, the opponent will have the ability to block on of the 2 blade, receiving 1 light attack dmg, if he doesnt block any of the 2 blades, he takes 2x light attack dmg, so it's fair : it's like parrying an heavy and doing a light punish, but if the opponent isnt able to block on of the 2 blades, that's his fault and he takes 2x light dmg.
If the attack is charged, the opponent can back dodge, rollaway, gb or attack the aramusha to cancel the charged attack. But you only have a short window of opportunity to punish the aramusha charged attack cauz he get hyper armor when the attack is launched.
I think this would be a very cool and fair move, what do you think ?
An other idea, to emphasis the ambidextral ability of the aramusha would be to change the zone attack :
it would be in 2 times, like the actual zone, but the first attack would be from both side, like scissors again, and the second attack of the zone would be a top unblockable heavy you could deadly feint or just feint.
This zone attack should be not too fast so the opponent has the time to back dodge it, or go in full guard stance for a conq or a warlord.
The first attack would deal 2x 12-15 dmg, with the possibility to block on of the 2 side attacks, and the top heavy would deal 25-30 dmg, like a normal top heavy
I hope my english wasnt too hard to understand, ty for your feedback and good ideas!
