Stoker's molotov suggested nerf

(CCP115) #1

I understand that many people find Stoker to be a balanced merc, and I agree to an extent.

However I feel as if the molotov deals far too much direct hit damage. If I’m not mistaken, 65. Combine that with the instant 40 damage of the fire, and that’s 105 damage right off the bat, and combined with a single enemy bullet, that’s 110.
It doesn’t really make sense to me how powerful the initial damage is. I mean, it’s a molotov, not a stick bomb, so why does the molotov hit so hard? It’s a glass bottle, I don’t think glass shards hurt that much.

I suggest bumping it down to 50 damage on a direct hit. That means you can still kill a light class very very fast, but it leaves any 100 hp classes and over an extra second to escape.

Also it would be nice if the fire did 40 damage per second spread out. Getting chunked for 40 damage is very odd, if it got spread out it would feel a bit better.

(DMaster2) #2

I’m against. Right now it’s a good balance. If you nerf the direct impact you have to increase, even slightly, the periodic damage and the radius to balance things out. Otherwise you kill Stoker pretty much.

(N8o) #3

Stokers are the only counter to Fletcher that people can actually use almost half-decently. I think he is in a great place right now, and when I die to a direct hit napalm, I give props to the guy who can throw it. I know it’s not easy to direct hit people with throwing items, so they deserve it.

(cornJester) #4

It’s not a traditional glass bottle molotov, even if it was though try setting yourself on fire and tell me that it doesn’t hurt real bad, real quick. What stoker is throwing is actually an incendiary grenade, it’s chemical fire, like napalm. You get that stuff on you and your skin is going to melt. It’s a lot more than just “glass shards.”

(MarsRover) #5

In my opinion molotov shouldn’t be nerfed.

And if any nerf was to be done, then punishing skilled use is the worst idea. Direct hits are hard, often you risk overshooting if you miss and doing no damage at all or not blocking the desired area.

(Dog) #6

I think it needs to function consistently before we talk of nerfs. I’ve had moments where it lands a good foot in front of me and I suddenly take 100 damage, and I have moments where it lands literally on my face and I take 40 damage after ~ a quarter second.

If it does need a nerf, it needs to be nerfed in how much damage it does to objectives, particularly generators. Holy jesus does it burn through it’s health :^)

(neverplayseriou) #7

@MarsRover to bad that in pubs most direct hits just come from people who realise they won’t win a 1v1 and use their ability for one enemy :wink: not exactly skilled use ;p

(Dawnlazy) #8

It should be devastatingly powerful. Just compare with other fire support abilities.

(MarsRover) #9

Direct hit requires skill.

(CCP115) #10

Wait, doesn’t Fletcher counter Stoker? Sticky bombs totally annihilate the molotovs flames.

And yea sure, buff the following afterburn damage, or dmg a second, that’s fine with me, but can we reduce the instant damage on contact? It’s insane getting killed in less than half a second. Especially in Execution, where you know where enemies will be, then it’s kinda guaranteed to get someone.

(Amerika) #11

I honestly can’t think of why the damage would need to be nerfed. Molotovs are quite nice at area denial and also being able to take care of areas where players like to stack as that is where it’s best used. I rarely ever throw it at just one player and when I do it’s more luck than skill if I direct hit them. I rarely ever get direct hit myself since they are pretty easy to see coming.

If I see a Stoker switch away from a gun you can best believe my ass is long jumping in some random direction to avoid being hit/in the fire.

(Captain_Forward) #12

It’s good as it is. I played Stoker alot recently, and catched some Molotovs in my face too. Yes, it is good, no need in change.

(Eox) #13

Wait, doesn’t Fletcher counter Stoker? Sticky bombs totally annihilate the molotovs flames.

And yea sure, buff the following afterburn damage, or dmg a second, that’s fine with me, but can we reduce the instant damage on contact? It’s insane getting killed in less than half a second. Especially in Execution, where you know where enemies will be, then it’s kinda guaranteed to get someone.[/quote]

I’d add that the initial explosion seems to be much bigger than it looks. I got almost one shot by a molotov that seemed far enough away from me a lot of times. This does not feel right IMO. Initial explosion being 65 damage as reported, this plus a single tick deals 85 damage which is insane. I’d swear it deals much more damage than that however; It almost seemed glitched.

Buff the AoE, make the flames taking more damage from explosions before extinguishing, tune down the CD to 35 seconds if you want, but that blast damage on throw really has to go IMO. The molotov is an area denial tool, not a Frag Grenade with instant detonation.

(Ritobasu) #14

As much as it makes me groan when I get dunked by a molotov as a squishy, it’s perfectly fine and doesn’t need any changing. It’s a 40 second cd ability that should be as devastating as any other Support’s, please don’t touch it at all. Treat him like a Fragger and expect a molotov to come flying in your direction at any time, especially if you see him running without a rifle.

In fact, my only complaint is that it doesn’t spread consistently in objective areas like the 2nd obj in Trainyard or Terminal. Sometimes you get really pitiful fires that you expect to engulf the entire bomb but only cuts off the area in front.

(MarsRover) #15

[quote=“Eox;110029”]Initial explosion being 65 damage as reported, this plus a single tick deals 85 damage which is insane.
[/quote]

Why is that insane? It’s about the same as Nader’s nade and less than Fletcher’s sticky.

(Eox) #16

[quote=“MarsRover;110102”][quote=“Eox;110029”]Initial explosion being 65 damage as reported, this plus a single tick deals 85 damage which is insane.
[/quote]

Why is that insane? It’s about the same as Nader’s nade and less than Fletcher’s sticky.[/quote]

Nader’s Grenade does not explode on contact with the ground. You need to actually hit the guy. In my case, the guy did not touched me, he touched like, two meters away. I wasn’t dreaming. :confused:

(TheSoldier) #17

In Execution, I feel like the Molotov is a lot more powerful since you’ve only got one life, and there’s about a 100% chance you’ll get Finished if you die in the flames. It takes some experience (and a lot of twitch reflexes) to long jump out of the flames with minimal damage. The predictable paths players take in Execution also builds on it - I’ve blown up many an unlucky player with Skyhammer’s Airstrike and Fragger’s grenades in Execution.

Since I don’t exactly like Execution too much (the single life thing just doesn’t allow for teamwork to get going before everyone’s dead), I mostly play Objective or Stopwatch. In those game modes, his Molotov Grenade is less OP since you can just spawn back in. I think the grenade and radius itself are fine - just learn to stay away from Stoker at close range, and back off if you do happen to run into him.

(avidCow) #18

Seriously though, 40s cooldown… (leave molotov alone)

(Maverix) #19

Molotovs do not need a nerf. It’s very rare that I ever die to one the battlefield. They are meant to close off areas and every now and then get a kill. Honestly it does a very poor job of killing people compared to the stickies, grenade launcher, frag grenades, orbital laser, turret, and the list goes on and on.