On October 06 2015 11:01 karazax wrote: Last night to play Zeratul in his current form. All the data leading up to the past week or so would suggest he deserves a nerf at the highest levels of play. Then the Korean and EU tourneys this weekend seemed to show a reduction in his effectiveness
According to these stats, in EU Zeratul was banned 13 out of 36 games and played in 17 games so he did have a strong presence, with only 6 games where he wasn't picked or banned for an 83.33% pick or ban rate. He won 52.94% of his games. In comparison for example Arthas was picked in 21 out of 36 games and had a 66.67% win rate. Raynor won 66.67% of his matches with a 58.33% pick or ban rate. Uther had a 61.9% win rate and 97.22% ban or pick rate. Zeratul ended up at roughly the same spot as Kharazim who won 52% of his game with 88.89% pick or ban rate. Kharazim was the most played healer though Uther was banned much more often.
Other interesting stats from the EU championship: + Show Spoiler +
Most banned: Abathur at 16 bans, with a 100% win ratio in the 4 games he was picked. Johanna was the most frequent first ban. Uther was the most frequent 2nd ban. Leoric was the most first picked hero with a 43.48% win rate in 23 games. Jaina was the most common 2nd pick despite her 35.71% win ration in 28 games. Kael'Thas was the only hero picked or banned in every single game with a 50% win rate. Kerrigan had an 87.5% win rate after being picked or banned in 52.78% of the games
Reghar only won 1 out of 11 games he was picked in for the worst win rate of heroes with 10 or more games, followed by Nazeebo with 3 wins out of 10 games and Jaina with 10 wins out of 28.
Sylvanas and Butcher were played in 2 games, both wins. Chen and Illidan were played once each in wins. Rexxar, Sgt. Hammer and Zagara each played once in a loss. Azmodan, Diablo, ETC, Gazlowe, Li Li, Murky, Nova, Stitches, Thrall, and Tychus were not played at all.
Some of the other Meta shifts that might explain reductions to Zeratul's effectiveness: Zagara went from a frequent first pick or ban a few weeks ago to only 1 game played which was a loss and 2 second wave bans. Kael'Thas and Jaina were the only consistently picked great targets for Zeratul. Lots of Uther and Kharazim healer comps. Lots of CC making worm hole more dangerous. And lots of tanks. All that being said Zeratul still won over half the games he was picked in and was the 3rd most banned after Abathur and Uther so who knows how effective he might have been if he played more games. And it's just one tournament.
I want to see the KR stats for how many times he was picked/banned and his win/loss record there which will be released later this week. I know DK beat Zeratul several times, and he isn't a priority pick or ban as often in Korea. Blizzard has said that at lower levels of play Zeratul's win rates are about where they want him prior to tomorrow's changes. The new Void Prism range is shorter than his blink range, and he has less time to worm hole now to go with his slight dps nerf. Is Zeratul being nerfed when this weekend's tourneys suggest teams might have found good counters for him? Or will the meta shift again because of his reduced threat? It will be interesting to see where he stands after the patch.
Oh and another look at what happens when a bad medic is piloting a drop ship:
I mentioned it previously on Reddit, but it really seemed like Zeratul was losing steam before the patch. the OGN games between Black and DK, Zeratul was less that useless in most games he was picked.
Zeratul with VP is important to set up a wombo combo, same as Zagara. Koreans drafts don't work well for a setup like this, just like it works bad against them. Now that specialist waveclear better again then Warriors with a really good escape, the playstyle of having warriors clear waves gets weaker. Which makes Zeratul stronger, as he was used for that sort of soaking as well and to punish one splitting up to soak.
I like that Brightwing is used more often again. She is so good against melee Healers, like Uther and Kharazim, especially the monk, who needs perfect timing on his divine palm. Also can't wait to see Medic + Tyrande with Battle Momentum Combo.
Oh and didn't help Zeratul that the only ranged DD people would take would be Jaina, who works super well against Zeratul picks. As for waveclear with Leoric and Johanna. I feel its not enough, but they need a waveclear talent now to be fast as usual.
So Medic by default is already pretty good with Butcher. I wonder if since the Falstad + Butcher combo of Gust + Post is popular if with Medic + Butcher you can take the grenade talents on Medic to push a team away while the Butcher posts someone. Accomplish a similar task. Not quite as safe or easy to pull off as Mighty Gust but at least you don't have to invest a hero and a heroic into accomplishing it.
On October 06 2015 22:22 karazax wrote: Nova needs a talent that allows for decent wave clear to be professionally viable I think. Maybe a talent that allows her to one shot individual wave mobs at level 4. Too many other heroes with good wave clear and good damage, and top pros are almost always going to spot cloaked heroes immediately so cloak is not nearly as big an advantage at that level.
As a Nova main I disagree. This is not Nova's role or place in her team. I'd love a buff, as gathering power and bolt were nerfed, but Nova would be too strong if she had waveclear. Maybe a talent to make the shimmer less visible a few seconds ? Or more decoys, or the damaging clone from start (that would be too much of a buff though). The invisibility's main point is to not show at all on the map, and this is a great thing. It's right people notice you quickly if you move in their field of vision.
On October 06 2015 22:22 karazax wrote: Nova needs a talent that allows for decent wave clear to be professionally viable I think. Maybe a talent that allows her to one shot individual wave mobs at level 4. Too many other heroes with good wave clear and good damage, and top pros are almost always going to spot cloaked heroes immediately so cloak is not nearly as big an advantage at that level.
As a Nova main I disagree. This is not Nova's role or place in her team. I'd love a buff, as gathering power and bolt were nerfed, but Nova would be too strong if she had waveclear. Maybe a talent to make the shimmer less visible a few seconds ? Or more decoys, or the damaging clone from start (that would be too much of a buff though). The invisibility's main point is to not show at all on the map, and this is a great thing. It's right people notice you quickly if you move in their field of vision.
How about this? A talent that instantly cloaks her when casting decoy? I play Nova at a so-so level (that is I don't own her but when she's free I do as well with her as I do with heroes I actually own), so maybe that's not an issue at the top level of Nova play.
Also, she already has a talent that allows her to wave clear, but it's terrible and competes with One in the Chamber so maybe if they moved it to 4 where she basically has no good talents it'll help her out?
To be clear I was suggesting something that just allowed her to one shot individual creeps not whole waves. Which still wouldn't be great wave clear, just not pathetic. Still take up to 7 or more slow auto attacks to clear a wave by her self. Something like 200% damage increase on auto attacks against non-heroes perhaps.
Leoric's wave clear speed early game is about the same from what I saw. Mid to late game he can't one shot waves any more though without double swing.
EPT
