The Raider changes that are needed | Forums

[Kargish1]

Hello and happy new year

Today I want to address one of For Honor's most iconic vikings.The Raider.

The Raider is current a very underperforming hero, especially in the 1v1 environment, and is in need of some extra power to his kit. Most of the issues with Raider isn't that he's necessarily got a bad moveset, infact I would consider it one of the more balanced ones (high damage traded off for slow attacks), but he's simply outdated compared to everyone else.

While Shaolin, Kensei, Highlander and others enjoy being jack of all trades, Raider is having a great time being the jack of ganking. We'll get back to that one.


I don't propose to just straight up buff Raider, but rather make a power swap from some of his ganking power into his attacks.


Soft Feints

A lot of heroes have multiple soft feint mechanics built into them, and those that don't are usually the one dimensional ones that are low tier no matter the environment (hi peacekeeper and warlord).

I propose that Raider should be able to cancel his side heavy openers into a guardbreak.
Hard feinting a heavy into a guardbreak often takes too long to bait out someone attempting to parry, and a soft feint will be the tool Raider needs to compete in the modern era.
Keep in mind it's only side heavy openers, meaning any chained heavy can't be soft feinted.



This next thing is more of a thematical change, and I don't think he needs both of them, but one of them would be good.

Hyper Armor

In a world where Highlander, Kensei, JJ, Berserker and Tiandi all wield hyper armor, Raider is lacking behind both his fellow vanguards and other A+ tier heroes.
There are 2 places I think hyper armor would make sense on Raider.

1. Heavy attacks
2. Enhanced zone attack

Raider is forced to turtle most of the times, because it's simply too easy to distrupt his combo, and the amount of times I'm 2 weeks into my zone attack and still get GB'd out of it is immeassureable.
Adding in hyper armor will allow him to keep up the pressure against opponents like Orochi, Shaolin, Tiandi and other fast attackers.


More Unblockables

The other solution could be to simply embrace Raider as the hero with the most raw power in the game, next to Shugoki.
The average dane axe weighted roughly 2 kg (4.4 lb), and I could guess Raider's weights a bit more, which is heavier than your typical long sword. The amount of force Raider has in his body, and the weight behind a weapon like that, is enough to shatter most defenses with an overhead swing.
Take a look at Raider's overhead swings ingame, they are brutal and crash down his opponent.

For this reason I believe an alternative solution to Raider's problems could be to make all chained top heavies unblockable. Though his zone attack already provides him plenty of unblockables, having more options to access them within chains adds more unpredictability, and allows Raider to keep up the pressure since it's part of a chain.



Lastly, I would like to mention what I think doesn't belong with Raider.
Raider is a strong ganker, that's for sure, and it's not okay to buff him while he has his current ganking power.

1. Stamina drain while carrying someone needs to go
2. Potentially, a pinned opponent can receive damage reduction from external sources if still too strong

Draining your opponents stamina from carrying makes absolutely no sense. If anything Raider's stamina should be drained. Stampeding Charge should be a tool to seperate enemies from each other, and catch unaware enemies off guard. It should not be certain death if you get knee capped while Raider has allies around him.

[Tasteewheat]

Clearly you're just not pressing stunning tap enough. Now shut up, buy more steel and switch to Kensei you filthy casual.

How dare you have an opinion! The nerve of some people really...

[Kargish1]

Clearly you're just not pressing stunning tap enough. Now shut up, buy more steel and switch to Kensei you filthy casual.

How dare you have an opinion! The nerve of some people really...

This is why I go to the forums man

[Tyrjo]

I'm not sure about the top heavy chain being unblockable. I think it's going to be wonky with a chained zone as a potential chain attack as well.

If the chained zone receives hyper armor, I think it has to be toned down to 40 dmg maybe. But take note: if chained ZA suddenly has HA, you won't be getting those light attacks to parry. People will roll away instead probably, ZA into Stunning Tap is going to have to counter rolls in that case.

L H L needs to be added.

I also think all his lights should be sped up to 500ms.

[Kargish1]

I'm not sure about the top heavy chain being unblockable. I think it's going to be wonky with a chained zone as a potential chain attack as well.

If the chained zone receives hyper armor, I think it has to be toned down to 40 dmg maybe. But take note: if chained ZA suddenly has HA, you won't be getting those light attacks to parry. People will roll away instead probably, ZA into Stunning Tap is going to have to counter rolls in that case.

L H L needs to be added.

I also think all his lights should be sped up to 500ms.

More chains is definitely a big help, but less damage on Raider's attacks kills his fantasy and the purpose of him having slower attacks than others.

I don't think rolling is a valid argument Imo. It's practically a counter to any attack in the game, including Raider's current zone, and if anything it drains stamina from your opponent.

[UbiInsulin]

While Shaolin, Kensei, Highlander and others enjoy being jack of all trades, Raider is having a great time being the jack of ganking.

This is a succinct way of putting it and made me laugh.

More chains and more powerful mix-ups are both things we've let the team hear about, in terms of Raider feedback. Thanks for writing this up, and thanks for including corresponding "nerfs" to go with the buffs.

[Tyrjo]

I don't think rolling is a valid argument Imo. It's practically a counter to any attack in the game, including Raider's current zone, and if anything it drains stamina from your opponent.

True, but Warden and Kensi have their dash attack for that. Would make sense if Raider also had the same thing. Roll back to avoid Raider ZA, get hit by the Stunning tap if the Raider feinted into it.