Member
The rework for an Aramusha is much needed. I would hope sooner than later. And in light of that idea, I would like to propose simple changes to balance him appropriately without having to mess to much with his design, or animations, or strike timing and damage.
I main the Aramusha, and I have since he came out. I have a team I play on where we win most of our games, and I believe my stats right now in PVP say I have a KDA of 3.6 Overall, and with the Aramusha himself I am probably sitting at around 5:1 KD. This year has been a tough one. The Aramusha's natural counter is the tank. And each of these new tanks has brought something new to the table, and something uniquely difficult to deal with as an Aramusha.
Personally, I think the use of hyper armor on nearly all the new "tanks" is cheap, and a poor design, along with nearly every new tank being shield-less. Three of your tanks this year play more like Vanguard hybrids than true tanks, but I have another post coming about that, so I will get back on task here.
Fixing the Aramusha:
1. The Aramusha is supposed to be a tank hybrid. But he has no tank qualities other than his juggernaut stance as a feat. His health pool is relatively shallow, he has no strikes that provide hyperarmor consistently, or unblockable other than his AOE.
So, my first change would be to allow his light attacks to have the "enhanced" quality. Meaning that they do not bounce away when they hit and are blocked. Giving the Aramusha the abiilty to begin his chain if he is blocked instead of parried.
2. His second heavy attack finisher, needs to have hyper armor applied so he cannot be knocked out of it if he chooses to finish the combo on a heavy instead of feinting into a light.
3. Get rid of the need for his chain to come over the top no matter what. At me and my teams level of play, chaining is VERY dangerous with this hero, and it breaks down the flow of the hero. This happens because the chain requires an over the top strike to continue. ANY player who knows Aramusha simple takes a hit, and then parries top side, and gains a free combo against you. Especially tanks. Most notably anyone worth a damn on Vortiger.
4. His dodge recovery needs to be decreased. In order to play the Aramusha now, I MUST engage the target, and then stay engaged... however, good players know this. So, they roll out, they disjoint my rythm by using gb and blocking my lights and then make the counter which usually is a combo these days, not just one strike.
MY attacks are easily countered for the most part with back step or even a slide step. Because most heroes have a dodge recover that is pretty quick. Yet for whatever reason, you took this very agile, combo heavy hero, and made him unable to react or move around an opponent with his dodge. The amount of times I find myself just a millisecond to early on a dodge when 2v1 and getting punished for it, is uncountable per match. Giving him a quick recovery, and allowing him to be only slightly more mobile will help against tanks that are using their shield bash into feinting constantly.
5. The all block is realistically ineffective in most fights. Its a risk to do. If you miss it, you are left open to any number of light attacks or the initiation of most combos by assassins and tanks.
To finally balance this hero, you need to extend the viability of the full block. Making it so that it has a longer chance to catch the strike of a hero for counter.
The full block should also be allowed to counter, unblockable strikes. In this way, the combos from your fient heavy heroes into ublockable high damage strikes, like the kensai and the Vortiger can be put on a level playing ground against the Aramusha, who basically has NO unblockable skills for the most part. None that are really useful in any situation but in Revenge anwyay.
So, to recap, in order to create an Aramusha that is balanced for gameplay and also plays as an actual tank hybrid and not a lackluster assassin:
1. Give his light strikes the "Enhanced" Quality (just as warlord has), so that the hero can begin his combo if not parried.
2. Put hyper armor on a heavy finisher (As MOST classes already have)
3.Allow his chain to be continued from any direction with no requirement to come over the top. (Reduce the predictability of the hero)
4.Decrease the time on his dodge recovery to be more like what everyone else has. (so that he can strategically maneuver fights, especially when it is more than 1v1)
5.Allow "Full Block" to block unblockable attacks to create a more intense and strategic fight for opponents. (Give the Aramusha the abiilty to be an actual threat against opponents who's kits are built upon spamming these attacks and combos.)
Member
For the 2nd thing I would much prefer unblockable finishers instead of hyperarmor so Aramusha can build some pressure with it. He needs something to force his opponent to react and I think an unblockable would fit that really well paired with his deadly faints or Faint into GB.
HyperArmor would change almost nothing since people tend to block those finishers anyway. I've never seen anyone attacking into a Aramusha finisher so it would be basically useless.
Member
So the reason is, that they usually parry that finisher anyway. Its slow as hell. Even I parry it against other Aramusha. However PK, the new lights from Sundha, the nobushi specifically, and orochi, they can easily get in a light attack. also, during most matches, I am usually 2 v 1. Because the Aramusha flows, he doesnt hard feint and he doesnt strike and wait, in 2 v 1, they can often attack me from the side on a finisher and save the opponent. This stops this.
Member
The easiest, and perhaps most obvious solution to that 1v2 situation is something many heroes already have: Larger sweeps.
If the Aramusha's heavy finishers to the side hit an area large enough to damage an enemy while they try to attack into your finisher then that would be an easy way to cancel that.
Same as noone can hit into a Profundis.
Nobushi would need that upgrade as well, on a side note.
Junior Member
I agree that getting blocked is pretty rough for aramusha as it can sometimes be a struggle to get in especially on tank characters to do what he wants. But honestly my biggest complaint with aramusha is simply his full block is just not worth it majority of the time considering the risk/rewards and that sucks cause he has 4 semi unique and interesting moves that require it to use. So like all his "fun" is ignored for most fights leaving the character feeling kinda bland. I've found often i'm better off just parrying than going for a full block which at my particular skill level is just as safe if not more safe in may instances and offers a bigger punish.
Like balance aside when so much of your fun is hidden behind an unreliable move I think its worth considering either buffing the crap out of that move (even at the cost of nerfs elsewhere) or simply moving some of those moves off of the full block requirement and put elsewhere.
Member
@Eidetik
Err... aramusha is supposed to be a tank hybrid? since when?
Aramusha is a vanguard-assassin hybrid all the way.
Moreover only 2 of 4 new heroes do have hyperarmor and between the two Hitokiri hyper armour was just (finally) nerfed, so not really "most" of them.
Then you start your post speaking about 4v4 modes, yet aramusha suffers mostly in 1v1 scenarios, aramusha's chains with target swap in 4v4 do work well enough.
Having said that, I agree that aramusha needs to be addressed.
Recoveries and being blocked and how he can access his chains are the main issues that need to be tweaked.
Among all full blocks stances, only bp can deal with unblockables since he has a darn kite shield. Aramusha being able to deal with any unblockable (like Highlander toss, or a bash) just by crossing his two swords seems a bit ridicolous, but maybe increasing the fullblock window a little might indeed help.
