Everyone knows that there were tons of overpowered robots that appeared since the Dash era made its debut.
Once again, many stated their opinions regarding the Leech and yes, once again many outside of the War Robots and mobile mech community in general can’t comprehend how one robot can define the way a certain game operates…
Okay, here is something about the Leech. It is amazing.
Leech is breaking the game again. But hey, we’ve experienced enough of broken things, right?
Starting with the Dash, followed by the Shocktrain, then coupled with the Spectre, and topped by the Pantheon, Dragon and Ragnarok line of robots – you are sure to see where War Robots is going. Add to that the Inquisitor unlimited stealth, Bulgasari’s invulnerable shield and Weyland auto-kill exploits and you’ll be able to realize how far the game has come by.
Without further ado, let’s dissect what makes Leech one of the most powerful and toxic robots in the game today. Yes, the Leech is amazing, but only if you are its owner!
What is the Leech?
A Leech is a medium robot with 150,000 hit points and runs at 55 kilometers, baseline level 12 MK1. Baseline level means that it’s not MK2, that it’s not yet affected by modules, boosters, skin abilities and pilot abilities just yet.
It is quite strong already on its own, with 4 medium slots, thus giving it the most versatile set of weapons in the game.
Imagine putting all of the above positive modifiers on the Leech. Get the feeling of being ZEUS or as an ION CANNON operator in Command and Conquer?
In addition, it has an ability called “Repulse” that targets an opponent REGARDLESS OF OBSTACLES. This 10-second ability not only reduces damage to the Leech by 90%, but also redirect damage to the target of your choice. Think of the Retribution, but a guided one…
What do I put on the Leech?
Remember what you used to put on the Spectre? Whatever they were, use the bloody things on this one and you’ll be soon earning a notorious reputation. Yes, once again, the Leech is amazing for you!
Without Phase Shift, you are superior to the Ares and all the other Pantheon robots out there. With Phase Shift, you are playing the role of an all-powerful deity, dictating the battle and curing your enemies under your virtual will.
Do you want to lose all of your friends at once? Use Phase Shift, grab skills that reduce the ability cooldown of the Repulse ability and Phase Shift – and say goodbye to this world!
Why is it overpowered?
You can’t kill a Leech in just forever. Everyone and their dog will just abuse the hell out of the Phase Shift – Repulse combo. The only thing going for players facing a Leech is that it is rather soft, so if you all suddenly burst it down and catch it mistiming, then you should be giving charity to 100 people for allowing you to take down one of these things!
Unlike the Ares which focuses on gifting damage to the enemy and the Ao Jun that focuses on suppression of the enemy, the Leech KILLS and SUPRESSES and TURNS YOU ALL INTO SITTING DUCKS. Do I need to mention that you are near-invulnerable?
In other words, the amazing Leech breaks the strategy of your enemy, gives you map control, enables your team to capture objectives effectively, and FRAGS EVERYONE ON TOP OF THAT. With its four medium slots (ahem, ahem), it can kill its enemies pretty fast, and as such, its trade potential is quite high for a robot that is supposed to be used for controlling the map – it can wreck a whole metric f***ton of robots before going down on its own…
Explain it in terms of the game mechanics, please.
Any game element has three characteristics: trade (damage output and efficiency), crowd control (defense, potential maximum range of weapons, any attributes that can disable or deter enemies) and tempo (mobility, threat reaction, synergy with teammates). The Leech is overpowered because it can do all three functions excellently, in comparison with the Ares (very good trade, CC and tempo, quite negated by the Shieldbreaker), Invader (excellent trade, good CC and good tempo) or the Bulwark (good trade, bad tempo, excellent crowd control).
So guys, this is why the Leech is overpowered.
What can I do against a rampaging Leech?
Frankly, you can try to use stealth, but remember that there’s Quantum Radar. Worse, we have lockdown ammo and the energy shotguns can lock you all the same!
Any cheese (i.e. trick) that you can put on a bot is negated when multiple of these amazing Leech bots are in the same place and time their shields to form a “train”- this renders all of the above counters near useless.
Other than that, treating it as a number one priority has been proven to be the only way so far to deal with these monsters. SERIOUSLY. If there was a class SSS+++ threat, then this should be it (without a Phase Shift, it’s just a class SSS threat).
Anyone who plays a properly constructed game should know that overpowered (or preferred tools) should only have a tradable value of 2:1 at most…and the Leech way passes that mark (SIMILAR TO THE SPECTRE AND THE SHOCKTRAIN – wait, didn’t we say the same thing about the Ares, Fenrir and Ao Jun?), to the point that its users survive on only one robot throughout the entirety of the match and garnering seven-digit damage values (this is even outdated, getting 4 or 5 million in a single match is a thing now).
The only logical choice is to use five of the best-optimized Leeches yourselves and hope that your enemy makes mistakes that will provide you with an opening; in the case of the top clans out there, they will ALMOST never do those mistakes…
I will not be surprised if people start to cheat, just to spite those Leech users…
What is the solution for this?
Handing small nerfs or allowing users to develop a way to increase the counter-play options for that robot seems to be the best compromise in order to keep the Leech competitive, while at the same time, manageable for all players.
These changes will also allow the game to be more diverse again, especially at the highest levels of play, thus ensuring a healthier metagame and more “creative” and “conducive” game environment for the users.
Final remarks
The Leech is amazing, and it is a robot that is extremely WAY cost-effective and fills multiple roles for the price that it entails. As a result, it should be nerfed in order to keep the game more interactive. In fact, it should not exist at all.
Counterplays are one of the key hallmarks of a game like War Robots.
Without counterplay, matches become straight brawls where brawns, not brains, turn out to be the winner. Wasn’t War Robots supposed to be a combination of skill, strategy, tactics, teamwork, determination (and luck)?
If we are to go back to the previous quality of matches as well as the high levels of play that we’ve experienced in the past, we should start encouraging good balance in terms of weaponry.
And there’s no other way to start than by putting the Leech into its proper place – yes, its spotlight is more than enough now and for the most part, it has been bad, nasty, bad.
The OP nature of the Leech was a big part of why I finally bailed out of WR. Add in the futility of trying to upgrade the new Titans without bringing boatloads of real bucks to the game, and the naked realization that WR is really all about harvesting money from folks who are willing to spend lots of $$$ to keep up with the latest robots and weapons, and walking away was easier than it should have been. It should be possible to offer up a game for players that doesn’t turn into an “Alien”-style wallet-hugger…