Vela Ult Feedback.
Vela's Ult. I've had it for awhile now and I don't feel super impactful with it. With other champions I feel like you are looking for opportunities to use your ult to do something cool/punchy/damagey. Something that is "SO SICK" However with Vela's Ult I still only find myself using it when I am trying to escape and usually that is when I am losing a battle and already feel bad. It just makes me feel less bad because I lose less units. But I feel like other Squads have abilities that make them feel good and allow them to murder more.
Alder -- DeepRoot Terror -> Lots of Murder and Stuns
Celesta -- Cleansing Light -> AoE Murder
Eris -- SandStorm -> Eris Murders things in a line
Grath -- Bestial Rage -> Gets Big, Hard to Kill and slows opponents.
Hydros -- Turn the Tide -> Doesn't help Murder per say. But allows your units to fight longer to murder more.
Ryme -- Frozen orb -> Murder Orb of slowing
Vex -- PyroBlast -> Fire Murder
Vela -- You can sneak into position quickly at which point you can engage the enemy. I mean I guess this puts you in a good position but your effectiveness at killing enemies doesn't really increase.
Yes, I know her ult has a lot of utility and probably a lot more "potential" then her previous snipe ult but It feels a bit left out compared to the other ults.
I feel jealous that their abilities are "cool" and mine are "not awesome"
I don't know the best way to remedy that but the first thing that comes to mind as a possible solution is "Your units first shot After cloak deal a small amount of AoE damage, or their first shot deals double damage. Just some incentive for it to be used in combat.
I'll keep trying to figure out a way to make the current state of the ult work and be effective. But those are my thoughts. Does anyone else have any on it?
PS: If you've found cool ways to use Vela Ult please share your experiences! Maybe I just need to git good. If you shared your replay that would be especially appreciated!
Comments
I would also like to add that its super frustrating to use if you have any mercs in your squad as it doesn't affect them. So if your trying to be sneaky you have to leave them behind and if your running away your basically guaranteed to lose them.
I agree that it's an interesting thing that your mercs don't get concealment. I've "worked around" this by moving my mercs to their own control groups so it's a separate "blob" then my main army. Otherwise yeah it would definitely be more death sentence -y.
The main thing that I get from your point is this. You're using the ult to Run Away! Diplomatic Measures feels like it's a tool used to set traps but instead it is mostly to retreat instead of to engage which seems contrary to the main abilities of other squads. Have you had any success if using it as an offensive tool?
Maybe my confusion is coming from my understanding of an Ult. What purpose is it meant to serve?
I see it as follows.
1) An ability that can significantly alter an engagement.
2) An ability that is very thematic and serves to uphold the "character" of the squad.
I would say Vela's ult DEFINITELY meets the second criteria of MY definition (Maybe not the right one). It makes sense. It makes your snipey squad stealthy and allows you to get into position. But I don't think I like it because it doesn't feel like it can significantly alter an engagement, especially if it used mainly as a "retreat" tool since that happens after an engagement.
Yeah I would tend to agree I almost always use it for running away. Every once in a while I've used it to do some cool stuff like there was one time where I got the drop on a bunch of enemy whelps that were harassing our base but mostly I use it like an extra rabbits foot.
Using it to shutdown/sneakup on a small group of units that are harassing seems like it would be a good use for it. I don't know if in the current Meta that happens very often but I guess that does give it some offensive use. It does really feel like an extra rabbits foot just stronger. I will check today to see if the Ult + Rabbits foot gives you a double speed boost. That could be very significant. And also very strong for harassing.
Update: Vela's deadeyes can aim their ability to fire while in stealth and it doesn't break stealth until they fire. Might be a good use of her ult but I need to investigate more.
Update2: You can use Vela's Ult and Rabbits foot for a double speed boost.
Update3: Less Vela Ult More Vela in general -->> Skipping raptors and going for dead eyes and wind rays along with Shield Men allow you to do alright. Very deadly against bots need to work on it against. Real People.
Oh man was I wrong about Vela.
Vela is super awesome. Fun Fact about Vela that you didn't know because you didn't read the tool tip.
Headshot upgrade only halves the cooldown of your deadeye's Snipe if the target they hit is marked.
Here's another fun fact about Vela that you didn't know because it's not in any of the tooltips in the game. If you hit a marked target with Snipe you do QUADRUPLE DAMAGE Yes that is right. You can 1 shot blinders. Two shot leviathans. It's insane! Problem with Grath's Rhino? NOT ANYMORE two shot them right back to the spawn queue.
Now a few words on Vela's dope ass Ult.
Only actually firing breaks it. So you can pop your ult, throw down fair warning (WITH AN INVISIBLE VELA WHO STAYS INVISIBLE AFTER CAST. And then go ahead and cast your snipes with your invisible deadeyes. Who will Aim and fire ALL INVISIBLE UNTIL death rains down upon their enemies. I had no idea Vela had this much potential. Before I was worried that the ult was bad and that vela was weak. I take all those worries back. Come daily test i HIGHLY recommend you all give vela with deadeyes a shot.
You seem convince it's great now, but that's in ideal situations. Put anything between you and your key target and you get nothing/very little from so much work. There are many abilities (like stone form from Grath) that can shut down your snipes completely. Fair warning can be dodged in any number of ways. Even if you kill the key unit or two you wanted to (using your ult and all your T2 abilities...) the rest of the army runs in and crushes you. Vela walks on a constant tightrope and is punished far more than the enemy for mistakes, and is negated much easier.
I get that it's only in ideal situations but previously I didn't know how to CONSTRUCT those ideal situations. Vela was just a bunch of lame. Now I know i can get better and if i get good at constructing the ideal situations I can potentially faceroll.
I definitely think they should edit the in game Snipe Tool tip to explain it can crit.
And it's not about killing the key unit snipe will kill practically anything when it crits and you can repeat that every 7ish seconds with the upgrade. The ability has great range and the deadeye has a 51 base attack. That lends itself very well for taking out t1's, moving, shoot moving shoot. etc. Stone form can definitely shut down one of my snipes but it's cooldown is longer than snipes after hitting a critted target.
They upped vela's speed a bit to where she is at 4.4/4.6 base so she can kite much easier (No contest with windrays) and you can also use ult and rabbits foot to further your kiting ability. I think Vela can struggle with someone who wants a direct engagement (hydros) but her Ult allows you to avoid that. I think she also benefits greatly from good wardage and using terrain to block enemies.
I'm not saying Vela is perfect. I'm just very happy that I found she can be very very strong WITH a high level of player skill. I know what I need to do in order to get better. Sure she might require more effort to hit her skill ceiling but when you do you won't still be far far below other squads. That was my main frustration with Vela and i think I just sort of blamed her ult because it's not just point click kill.
The tooltip does say it does 450 damage to marked targets.
I forgot to mention but Hazard is totally 100% right. Vela isn't weak at all, and I was wrong about being able to shut her down easily. Seems there is a world of difference between good and bad Vela players. Last playtest I got utterly destroyed by Vela all night long.