Does anyone else feel like the airstrike cool down balance is a little out?

(doxjq) #1

I don’t know which way it’s out. Whether Artys cool down is too short, or Skyhammers is just far too long. I’m kind of leaning towards thinking Skyhammers cool down is just a little too long. I know it takes the EV out with one hit, and I know it has a huge range, but 1 minute and 10 seconds isn’t it? Compared to Artys 20 second cool down and how much more versatile Artys airstrikes are I just feel like the balance is out one way or the other.

It’s so bad I almost never use Skyhammer any more, unless I have a mission for him. I just don’t find his airstrike practical in most situations now given how long the cool down is. I’d personally like to see leaning more towards the 50 second range.

I haven’t included Kira in this as I think her cool down is in a good spot.

Interested to hear other peoples opinions on the matter. Also inb4 you’re an Arty hater. Arty is my main, 100+ hours with him now, but I’m starting to think his cool down could do with an extra 5 seconds or so added to it, or Skyhammers should be reduced. I really don’t know. I’m just finding Arty to be a little too efficient now and Skyhammer redundant as I get better at the game, and I’ve noticed many top players prefer to go for Arty now.

(nokiII) #2

I think skyhammers strike is in a good spot. It’s basically the same with artys ability. On paper it seems straight forward and easy to use but to really learn the art of effective airstrikes, you’ve to play skyhammer alot. Also to kill an ev, you needs 3 arty strikes or ~60s of cooldown and skyhammer got 70s with the bonus not to need a line of sight.

(doxjq) #3

For reference I do have 60+ hours with Skyhammer. I think he is my 3rd most used merc behind Arty and Proxy, but yeah I dunno. I can use his airstrikes well, I just feel like something isn’t balanced right, which ever way it is.

(nokiII) #4

If you play pubs alot, it might be, because people don’t really capitalize on the zoning effect of an well place airstrike, while you get all those cheeky arty strike kills left and right.

(Randomdeath) #5

I think the cooldown is a little long by 10 or 20 seconds, but what really ticks me off is when the marker goes off under something. I get it if its indoors, but under the ev… Really grinds my gears. The cooldown if its thrown indoors needs to be reduced, or an airstrike needs to be called in even if it goes off under the ev

(PD_Agent47) #6

Arty’s Cooldown is perfect … no problem with it … but Skybro’s cooldown is way too long … it should be reduced :smile:

(ImSploosh) #7

I use Skyhammer more, but there’s no denying the effectiveness of Arty’s airstrike. Although I love precision and the ability to take out generators with ease, nothing beats the satisfaction of wiping out an entire team with 1 airstrike. Skyhammer’s ability is insane. A well-placed airstrike could potentially kill the entire team and destroy the EV.

I find that it’s more useful in clutch situations because it can either stop a team in their tracks or kill/injure them all. Earlier today I actually dropped an airstrike on Trainyard in an 8v8 and it killed 6 people + me killing a Fletcher near the generator on the 2nd objective. So 7 kills within seconds. That actually allowed us to plant and ultimately win. I was expecting maybe 1-2 kills and the health stations/ammo stations taken out… Got a lot more :smiley:

Anyways, I don’t mind where the cooldown is now, but a shorter cooldown would be awesome. I remember them increasing the cooldown a while back? Leave Arty’s strike where it’s at though.

(Jostabeere) #8

The following post relies on my memory and I hope you need 3 artillery strikes to kill and EV and not 2. If it’s 2: I’m an idiot and the post is irrelevant.

I think the cooldown should be reduced slightly because Arty is a bit more efficient at killing the EV.
Let’s see. For example you have to destroy the EV 3 times in a row.
Both mercs start with a ready ability. Skyhammer throws an airstrike and completely destroys the EV. Next time he can destroy it at 01:10 mark. The third time is at 02:20 mark.
Basically Skyhammer can kill 3 EVs in a minimum of 02:20.
Now Arty. He starts with 2 strikes. Unloads both into the EV and need to wait 00:20 for the third one to finish off the EV. The second EV can be destroyed after 01:20. And the third one after 02:20.
We see, both mercs need a minimum of 02:20 to kill 3 EVs. But if you have to do it more than 3 times Arty becomes the better choice. He only adds 01:00 while Skyhammer adds 01:10 per EV. I would say Skyhammers strike should be buffed to 01:00 but he would’ve receive a cooldown of 00:20 at the beginning of the match once to even it out.

(SereneFlight) #9

Skybro trying to get airstrike out under enemy fire? No problem.
Arty trying to get artillery out under enemy fire? Chances are there will be no artillery for you.

(MarsRover) #10

Arty’s ability has no use indoor. Skyhammer’s airstrike is a nade. A very crappy nade, but still. Arty needs to have line of sight, has to fight aimpunch and random invisible terrain irregularities (train tracks on Trainyard etc.). They seem balanced compared to each other.

(Eox) #11

When the game was in steam closed beta, people used to complain about repetitive Skyhammer airstrikes being almost constant and making EV missions an even more painful experience than they already are, so the cooldown go increased.

I wouldn’t go back.

(doxjq) #12

Fair points. I forgot to take into account the fact that you can use Skys airstrike marker as a grenade indoors, so that’s a +1 to him.

I’m still kind of convinced Skys strike is a good 10 seconds too long though, but I won’t push the convo any further since it’s clear most of you think it’s balanced, which is really all I was wanting to know haha.

(bushyg) #13

There used to be a global cool down for it lol, it was very bad.

(watsyurdeal) #14

No Arty is too short, he’s far too spammy imo.

I feel like I’d rather have a barrage of strikes every 40 seconds rather than two distinct ones with 3 shells each.

Just my opinion.

(FalC_16) #15

I like Arty as he is now. Yes he is also my most fav merc. So don’t touch him! ^^

Arty is much more precision oriented AoE merc. Skyhammer just sweeps the whole area and if timed right he can devastate the whole team. Therefore his cooldown is more than 1 min.

I never felt Arty being spammy.

(Amerika) #16

The only thing I really dislike about Arty is the screen shake. So even if he doesn’t hit a damn thing it can still royally mess you up. Then you throw in 2 or 3 Arty’s and it’s nothing but a shaky screen everywhere which gets annoying.

Skyhammer lost popularity when Stoker was released. Stoker has a much more consistent indoor ability even with Skyhammer getting his indoor grenade buffed. I used to play Skyhammer constantly but since Stoker was released I rarely play him anymore.

Also, a lot of people forget this, but you can reduce Skyhammer’s airstrike time by getting direct hit ammo packs on teammates. Same with Arty. So toss ammo accurately to teammates if you want another strike up quickly.

(doxjq) #17

Isn’t it only 1 second per pack though?

(Dawnlazy) #18

[quote=“Amerika;175219”]
Skyhammer lost popularity when Stoker was released. Stoker has a much more consistent indoor ability even with Skyhammer getting his indoor grenade buffed.[/quote]

Wasn’t it actually nerfed from 15 second cooldown to 20?

(Amerika) #19

[quote=“Dawnrazor;175366”][quote=“Amerika;175219”]
Skyhammer lost popularity when Stoker was released. Stoker has a much more consistent indoor ability even with Skyhammer getting his indoor grenade buffed.[/quote]

Wasn’t it actually nerfed from 15 second cooldown to 20?[/quote]

Umm, I’m not sure on that. I know the blast radius and the damage was buffed a decent amount though.

It’s more than that. Easy enough to test!

(doxjq) #20

Pretty sure it’s only 1 second. I was just doing it in a server now and only getting 1 second, unless I’m doing something wrong.