I’ve been messing around with Conq to Rep 10. I must say I disagree. Not that the zone is a strong option, but that it needs to be changed. I really disagree with this and hear me out:
To clear the air: I play console and have played the game since before it’s release. I’ve seen the evolution of every hero and tend to miss the way the heroes used to be. Conqueror is one of the few who I think was done really well. The only thing I disagree with is soft feinting heavies into his bash.
The thing about conqueror is that he is supposed to be an all defensive hero. Honestly his zone is already completely useless more or less on inflicting damage. Here’s the thing about conqueror: he has amazing defensive options, but on offense, he really is not that great, even on console where light chain spam is an issue. (To be fair, his infinite chain can be hard to deal with depending on what hero you’re playing.) His bashes are very reactable, his soft feint into bash is easily delt with by blocking in that direction and dodging on orange indicator for a punish. Even on successful bash he only gets a light into a possible chain.
What I’m getting at, as I’m sure you’re starting to understand already, is that his zone is unique and what allows him to not be a complete push over hero. It does nullify a decent amount of offensive attacks. I got one believe this to be rather fair CONSIDERING his lack of good offensive options. It allows him to level the playing field against really aggressive heroes that he would otherwise be unable to deal with effectively otherwise. It is still blockable, parryable, dodgeble and interrupted by bash on good timing. This last point is very important for dodge into bash characters which is many with a bash. I agree that as a move it does cover many bases as a whole and for that reason is probably the strongest in the game, however I believe for this particular hero it suits him and his play style very well. If anything, I would rather they tone down his ability to be aggressive than to mess with the zone.
Another important point is that it is necessary to balance out his lack of normal feints. That would make him completely useless more or less if he didn’t have his zone. He wouldn’t be able to feint into his all block without being punished every time, making his heavies a huge risk to no reward. He needs to have a strong alternative to offset his lack of feints. If he started a heavy all one would have to do is block that direction and GB the all block on reaction. That’s the other big issue with messing with his zone is it acts as the only viable way to throw out heavies. This is also rather taxing on his stamina (heavy-> all block->zone) so I’m not sure if a higher cost to stamina is the right way to go either.
His zone, if changed I feel would lose most viability and like I said is his one tool to level the playing field against heavy mix up options. Now if it was changed, the only thing I’d agree with is a limited range in all directions, making it hit only the focused enemy but still keep the superior block. I hope that makes sense. So basically it would interrupt chains still but would be able to be UB through without you being hit out of your attack. This would help take him down during team fights and mitigate his borderline too strong survivability but also not diminish the characters identity as well as leaving his zone as a viable option to account for his lack of feints and offense.