Helix options: the best and worst of 'em

Battleborn Open Beta Open Beta General Discussion/Feedback
#2

I only ever really played as Thorn for the beta… So I’m not going to be all that helpful/knowledgable on this subject (but hey, someone has to get started with a reply!)…

But I can say, anything to do with Thorn and melee… I ‘never’ picked… that’s just not how I personally would play her, she may be quick on her feet, but she didn’t strike me as the ‘get up in your face’ type of character… I’d normally rely on getting the heck out of there if getting an up close rumbling, aquire myself some distance, then give a bow/blight beat down once settled… But never melee, I like my space.

Blight choices were always the preferred choice for me, because it worked well on both melee and ranged characters (preferably in matches), but second to that was always arrow/bow options… But again, if linked to melee, I wouldn’t choose that option… Even her bio says ‘sniper’.

But, I’ll have to try more of the melee options on release, and maybe, I’ll get a new ‘pleasantly surprised’ way of playing Thorn, who knows?

#3

Thats your example? X_X i ALWAYS took Lumberjack Blast. Even if you miss, the explosion can knockback/stun them, not to mention other heroes in the way, makes the skill sooo much more powerful. Push it is… You just gotta knock them into an object, so just dont use it until they got their back to something. But knock in the air? Thats not an upgrade thats a trade and im not a fan of trades. Lumberjack Blast is just a pure upgrade goodness.
I think Montana’s level 9 Helix is a nail biter.

#4

When a BB character reaches a higher level, they are always given a choice for reduce cooldown or higher damage.

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It was always a no brainer that I went for the amplified hook.

#5

I found that basically any helix choice with CC is the obvious one to go for since it is so strong in the game. Examples of this that stood out for me with Miko were:

Breathe deep: Intensifies the slowing effect of Cloud of Spores. +100% Slow.

and

Sporeshock: If Cloud of Spores hits an enemy directly, that enemy is stunned rather than slowing all enemies in the blast radius. +2 Seconds Stun Duration.

Both of these may as well be on auto pick for me.

#6

While I 90% Agree with you, I disagree with your example. I don’t like Sporeshock as it makes it harder for me to use Breathe deep. I want to consistently throw around slows in an area. I don’t want to stun one person when my team is trying to flee from the other 2 or whatever.

#7

Personally I love Sporeshock. Ranged stuns are awesome.

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#8

Boldur has a several.

Overshield on dash vs. Axe return - overshield everytime. Super easy to get axe back and sometimes you don’t even want it back to keep movespeed bonus.

Rage on dash vs. Move speed on dash - Rage everytime. Reliable way to frequently gain damage reduction and increased damage (now with overshield too), yes please!

Bleed on axe throw vs slow - slow everytime. Bleed effect is so minimal it is hardly worth it.

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#9

This is a fairly important issue, and if gearbox was pulling hard data on helix choices, I think they can easily see which helix options need to be changed to be more appealing. That said some of the helix options just don’t give enough hard data for people to know if they’re worth grabbing or not, so people just…don’t.

…I would love to give an example of this, but I don’t have one. But I feel like some of the lesser picked helix options might simply be because people didn’t really understand how good they might have been.

I personally picked push it on montana, because it turned his knockback nearly into a true stun because of how far it knocked people back. You could use it nearly anywhere and get the stun off. The ol’ one-two seems more if you don’t feel comfortable using a disruption, for example if your team has a lot of melees, or characters like orendi who have delayed skills. I didn’t play montana enough to get that helix mutation, but it seems nice as well, though perhaps inferior in a lot of situations? I dunno, like I said, no experience with it.

#10

One example of what you are talking about is for PvE play. Some skills activate on killing an enemy battleborn or a major enemy, but it is unclear to many just what a major enemy in PvE is and if you encounter them enough in PvE to make it worth while.

#11

Also a lot of skills seem to function as ways of making something easier to use, like Oscar Mike’s helix 1 option that causes frags to detonate on impact, or reyna’s helix that has her plasma pulses home in. The alternative is clearly a stronger choice, but requires higher skill. Getting a +25% damage bonus on your frags (Or airstrike?) out of stealth is really nice, and obviously the slow on hitting someone marked with priority target is absolutely ace, but the other options almost purely exist to make using the skill simpler.

I think this is good and bad at the same time, as it exists to give newer players a way to compete without as much skill…? But it also serves to narrow the choices, as if you’re good at aiming, why ever pick homing shots. The slow is just too good. (I don’t mean too good as in nerf it, pls no nerf)

Maybe those are the levels that need a third helix choice, if one choice is specifically “for noobs”. Maybe all the levels need a third choice by default, or you unlock a third choice on every level over time. I dunno.

#12

Homing shots can go around and over some cover if aimed right, allowing you to hit players normally protected. Use is still limited compared to slow effect, but it is useful for more than just “bad aimers”

#13

You are correct, but pretending you’re in the movie Wanted is difficult with how viciously it homes in. I’m not saying the helix doesn’t have a use, it’s just the other option is better if you can use the skill effectively already.

#14

All these, as well as most mutations, can be found on the wikia http://battleborn.wikia.com/wiki/Battleborn_Wiki great resource. There are defenitly some characters who’s helix mutations are not so great. Others which seem balanced to certain play styles, and some like Galilea whos give her to much power when shes already a power house ( muations that provide aoe range pull and silence).

My personal favs for mutations would have to be Marqies mutation to get 2 more rounds per reload (very useful) and Kelvins 3% health to chomp to damage, which helps keep chomps damage high against lower hp targets.

Of the normal helix I personally enjoy Thorns high jump and Rath’s double jump for getting around the maps. Just my thing I suppose.

#15

Agreed but for different reasons. Option1 is only useful situationally, where option 2 is useful all the time.

#16

I often choose the homing over the slow because it really pisses off characters that re fleeing or high mobility. It makes Benedicts life especially difficult.

#17

What I think is bad design about sporeshock is that it is currently a necessary pick to complete the lore challenge (stunning 100 enemies with cloud of spores). Their are a few other examples that I can’t think of off the top of my head where a helix choice is required to complete a lore challenge. This skews the choices more than it should and I think lore challenges that do this should be changed.

#18

Considering the relatively fast cooldown on it, 100 is that much, especially if it is enemies in general and not battleborn. Play a couple PvE matches with the stun option and you’ll have completed the challenge.

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#19

My point is, it will make people pick it not on its own merit alone(its pretty good, balanced with the other option) and they will pick it to complete the lore challenge when they otherwise might not take it. If the challenge was just to slow enemies with cloud of spores but it was a slightly higher number, say 200, you could complete it regardless of helix choices.

#20

I think lore challenges should take some purposeful work to get. If you get them just from normal play then it’s just kind of boring.

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#21

For the most part, lore challenges are unlocked through just normal play. Healing 30-50k as miko is one of them, I wasn’t even attempting to get it and I got it within the first day.