Has anyone else noticed an influx of Benedicts?

Battleborn Battleborn Competitive Multiplayer Discussion
#1

On Incursion, it feels like that damn bird is in every single game, and he’s all over Meltdown as well. It reminds me of the Great Alani Proliferation, which lasted from her introduction until her nerf - there was never a question of whether there would be an Alani, only if someone would disconnect when they didn’t get her.

Putting aside my selfish Mellka-related reasons to fret over Benedict, Hawkeye just feels really gross on certain maps. On Paradise, for example, Benedict feels far more like an opportunistic and lethal menace than Pendles ever did - the perches allow him to terrorize both lanes. And maybe this is a phenomenon of the small player pool that inhabits Australian evenings, but it seems like there’s a ton of very kill-focused players that exclusively main Benedict, and whose strategy is to fly in, Hawkeye a support or a squishy target 100-0, and then fly back to perch. Even if someone CCs or snipes him at that point, it’s still incredibly frustrating for whichever squishy target he’s repeatedly sending back to spawn.

And on a selfish Mellka-related note… (everything below this is a vent: feel free to skip it haha)

After seventh months of sticking it out with Mell, watching her accuracy and health get hacked away while Caldarius, Benedict, etc. enjoy buffs, I think the ubiquitous presence of Hawkeye is finally what is going to make me put down the claw. Four seconds of homing rockets is a death sentence, and Benedict only has to splash Mell while she’s hindered by the immortal minion wave, any of the other four enemies on the field, or the cruel and unloving red bar. Because Mell has such poor accuracy at range, she can’t really compete against him until she reaches level 8 - and even at level 10, her homing blade launcher pales against Hawkeye + full homing clip. It’s not necessarily a “hard” counter, because a good Mellka will beat a bad Benedict, but it’s a dramatically unfavorable matchup. A good Benedict should crush a good Mellka every time.

This wouldn’t necessarily matter if Benedict were more niche, but he’s strong across the board and effective against all the cast, so he’s pretty much an inevitable enemy pick. The other skirmisher, Caldarius puts up a better fight against the bird, thanks to pinpoint accuracy, flashbangs, shield, higher HP… (why is his accuracy so much better than Mellka’s, anyway?)

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#2

Well duh caldarius gun is way more advanced and streamlined (still waiting for mellka rework for melee)

#3

I agree, he’s everywhere. I think everybody have finally realized how busted he is. It’s been a good run.

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#4

maybe people will listen to you more than me and they’ll finally see he needs a good smack of the nerf bat. hell with how tired i am of seeing his face, just take away his hawkeye ability altogether. no reason he needs to be a no aim required sniper that kills any non tank in 3 heat seeking hits.

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#5

Part of the reason why I start to roll Galilea more when I play seriously. She shuts him down easily.

#6

Recently played as that compensating bird myself for the first time.

While I can’t speak from a PvP perspective, homing projectiles that are this lethal should be retooled one way or another I think. What works in PvE may not in PvP.

I’d suggest to weaken Hawkeye’s ability to track targets at least. Even if the change is just for PvP. But it might help.

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#7

Or, maybe it’s just because Benedict has the hottest ass in Solus and everyone’s just now coming to realize it!

Sticks finger in lighter and attempts Ambra taunt.

Awww… fk!!! Fking f**k!!! My talon! OW!!!

Begins licking burnt finger.

P.S. - I disagree. I think the game version of me is fine.

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#8

@Ginger_greninja has suggestedpreviously that Hawkeye just add a damage buff, like Priority Target, but no homing. I like that idea. To me, it seems counter-purpose to give the game’s best tracking ability to the guy with the rocket launcher - surely Benedict would be a much more satisfying character if players had to learn to lead all their shots, the way rocket launcher players do in most FPS-style games? It’s not like splash damage doesn’t already give him some generous leeway.

Plus, four seconds on the base ability (not even requiring a helix beyond level 1) is just… it’s wild.

I’ve been bringing out Gali more and more lately. She’s good in red bar, she’s got some good moves against the bird, and she’s the closest thing the game has to a female tank (which I really want!) Admittedly, Desecrate is a bit cheap - not as cheap as Hawkeye, but still cheap - but Boldur has set a pretty high bar for “broken OP tank” haha

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#9

Lol, yea I agree. Love her moves and I’m really fond of the melee characters in the game in general. I really don’t know how you play her in red ping though, you must have some serious skills. I can’t stand playing any character in yellow ping, in red ping the lag really gives me a headache, lol. My hats off to you, besides that… it’s too easy to hit him with a shield throw when hen lifts off to fly away. @Benedict_87 probably understands the feeling.

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#10

What do you think about the Heavy Bombardment jelix? A multiplicative 20% damage increase on fast, highly-tracking rockets that are already lethal from the get-go. With Symbiotic Gauntlet (and maybe even a Talon of the Hawk), it seems to me like numbers like these are just begging to create serious imbalance issues against low-health characters (like you-know-who.)

edit: note to myself, Party Starter is only on the Hawkeye rocket itself, not the tracking ones - I’m pretty sure anyway!

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#11

140 of my 150 Mellka hours are probably in red ping games, and it’s a nightmare :stuck_out_tongue: Her reload glitches, her canisters fire so late you can’t lead them, Lunge and Spike are so sluggish that you can be killed before they even activate, and Air Stall tends to just rubber band you back into your enemy.

Compared to that, red bar Gali is beautiful. Shield toss sucks but red bar canisters have given me a lot of patience for that sort of thing.

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#12

I like the debuff idea (obviously since it was mine haha) since it would incentivize learning to lead targets like a rocket launcher character SHOULD have to be able to do to be proficient.

As it stands now I rarely, if ever, see any Benedict secure a kill with regular rockets, it’s 99% hawkeye kills or a follow up Boomsday if you somehow failed to get away.

Here’s another idea from another thread I posted in earlier.

I’d like to see them make the actual blue hawkeye rockets count as ammunition.

The triple hawkeye rocket everyone currently chooses by default would
then only allow two homing rockets from the clip, versus going with the
harder to land single hawkeye rocket with the potential for 3-4 homing
rockets.

This way you have to choose between reliably landing hawkeye rockets
and having diminished burst potenital or taking a greater risk by
getting closer to land the single hawkeye rocket with potenital for
higher burst.

Also it doesn’t make sense for him to have two huge damage buffs in
his helix (one specifically for homing rockets) which allow him to get
insane burst damage on a homing rocket WITH SPLASH.

Another idea to promote regular rocket use would be to change the helixes that offer additional damage to his rockets to be contingent on them being non-hawkeye.

Surgical strike as it stands provides a substantial damage buff at the cost of splash radius, which makes hitting with his primary more difficult but more rewarding - fair enough, but when combined with hawkeye it is counter-intuitive. You get the damage benefit and guaranteed hits, removing the supposed issue of less splash (ie: harder to hit targets).

He also gets a helix which adds 20% damage to homing rockets… now it’s just ridiculous. Why on earth should you be given such a significant damage boost on a HOMING ROCKET WITH SPLASH, and then be able to fire four of them at once? That’s obscene.

I’d prefer to see them make the damage buffs apply SOLELY to non-homing rockets to remove the crutch that is hawkeye. To take it a step further I’d love to see heavy bombardment changed from

(currently): Homing Rockets deal increased damage to enemies. +20% Damage

to

(proposed): Non-homing rockets deal increased damage to enemies +18% (and perhaps homing rockets now deal 5% less damage as a trade off).

The problem with Benedict is that he gets both huge game changing damage skills in rapid succession at levels 6 and 7, at which point he becomes a death machine on high. It’s usually about this point in the game where a shift in momentum will occur and Benedict is far too strong during this mid-late game phase with these power spikes.

There is simply little reliable counter play to hawkeye, especially given its rapid cooldown and tracking mechanics (I’ve seen the rockets turn more than 90 degrees around corners to hit people who have already taken cover). It needs some attention.

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#13

Awww… c’mon!!! They already got rid of my crits!!!
And my homing rockets are SOOOO COOOL!!!

NOVA:
I agree with making his Hawkeye more like Reyna’s Priority Target.

BENEDICT:
THIS DOESN’T CONCERN YOU NOVA!!!

NOVA:
Oh… shut-up. I’m allowed to have an opinion too. The truth is, a +35% damage increase to homing rockets is a bit much. You can’t be allowed to dominate the field like that.

BENEDICT:
Hawkeye is GLORIOUS… and does not need a nerf! YO!!! Out of character guy who keeps hacking my account… you got anything to say about this?

BREAKING CHARACTER…:
I honestly wouldn’t have a problem with encouraging skill hits with regular rockets and making his Hawkeye more like Priority Target. Although, if they get rid of homing rockets, I would like crit rockets back. Just because I’m aiming for the heads anyway and I’d like the damage bonus back. Here’s a thought… what if Hawkeye grants critical hits?

BENEDICT:
You are both traitors and scoundrels and I HATE YOU BOTH!!! That said, now I’m torn between having my crits back and having my homing rockets. I miss having both…

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#14

Crit rockets are so much more palatable than homing rockets! Anything that rewards skilled play is a big plus in my book. Even Mell’s silliest helix (Refined Canisters) requires her to actually aim the damn things, and that’s still only ~40DPS of venom damage (just contemplating Hawkeye DPS makes my skin crawl…)

#15

At risk of making benedict extremely similar to reyna, it’d be cool if you had to make a choice on how hawkeye rockets act.

If at base they acted as a debuff in a similar sense to PT, you could then take a helix that

a) rockets now home in on targets but deal reduced damage

or

b) Rockets hit on enemies affected by hawkeye now deal an additional 20% damage.

Right now homing rockets are just overloaded.

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#16

Which is why Gali rightly gets a lot of heat for Desecrate… but even Desecrate is only really overpowered when it comes with team support.

It’s so strange how some overloaded abilities (Geyser) have been completely savaged by the devs, while others (Hawkeye, Desecrate) just keep coasting under the radar.

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#17

Breaking Character…
I like this idea, but I think “b” should be “Hawkeye now grants critical hits that deal an additional ____% damage.”

Then you could take additional helixes that allow the crit effect to last longer.
This encourages skilled rocket hits and not lazy homing.
I REALLY want Benny’s crit rockets back, even if I need to use Hawkeye first to get them. It is super annoying not to be able to do “Critical Hit” challenges in the story ops and it is super annoying to aim for the head and get NO damage bonus. I would much rather have increased damage from skilled hits than homing rockets. It’s sooooo much more satisfying to get a kill from accuracy.

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#18

I’ve noticed a lot of em, but they all seem to have caught a case of the stupids.

“Hey look, a Whiskey Foxtrot just triple slow’d me, and hit me with a damage amp, I should just float in place and shoot in his general direction”

Seriously, I can count on one hand how many good Benedict players there are out there.

Not that I can blame them, I’m probably the only person who plays Whiskey Foxtrot, so I’d imagine his kit is confusing to some players.

Either way, I’m sorry you main Mel xD She’s in dire need of some buffs.

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#19

Nothing puts a smile on my face quite like making it rain blood and feathers as Toby, so i’m quite happy with all the Benedicts.

…Except the one on these forums.

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#20

Whenever I pick Toby and there’s a Benedict on the enemy team there generally also tends to be

  • Montana
  • Caldarius
  • Thorn/Marquis

RIP shield :frowning:

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