Thunder is officially the most broken merc in the game

(Tom2160) #1

Okay, so as we know thunder used to be so bad he was considered a joke. However, now he is considered one of the most op mercs in the game. He has been banned from many competitive matches because of this.

His concussion grenade can concuss anyone within a radius so even if you look away, you will still get concussed. This is by far one of the most powerful abilities in the game as it slows players down by a drastic amount and also blinds people for a long period of time.

In addition to this overpowered ability he has also been given the stark. Meaning he can easily head shot the slowed enemies. And since the stark is so powerful it only takes 2 bursts to kill an enemy.

Even if thunder doesn’t kill you. There’s a great possibility that someone else will kill you as you are essentially standing still for a period of up to 6 seconds.

Also this concussion grenade is probably the worst thing to die from as you are left pretty much helpless to fend of enemies and there is hardly any skill required to throw an effective concussion grenade, the most annoying thing about this is that it is pretty much unavoidable. The ridiculously small cool down on the ability allows it to be spammed quite often.

So please Splash damage, fix this broken merc.

(terminal) #2

You’re just listing the pros of this merc, and they’re all about him being able to kill things well. He’s an assault, he’s supposed to kill things.

(Tom2160) #3

@terminal Yes, but the ability he has is currently far to strong and effective. Hence the reason he has been banned in a lot of competitive matches.

(bontsa) #4

I haven’t been very actively looking at “competitive matches” lately, on which settings exactly is he banned from? I’m curious.

His ability sure could use some careful tweaking, as it isnt far ago when he was outright useless and outshined by Fragger completely. And once bursts get a long awaited changes too then is the time to more careful assessment of Thunders usability.

(SaulWolfden) #5

His ability could certainly have a longer cooldown, but that’s about it.

(frostyvampire) #6

That wouldn’t do anything, cooldown is fine as it is

What I think they should do is reduce the concussion if you look away, this will both - Give the enemy a chance to avoid it AND make Thunder himself able to pull out an easy escape or push. This will balance things out a bit. Maybe they can nerf it a bit more but bring back the EMP effect because I really miss it :3

But we all can agree that MK46 needs a buff, maybe more damage and more fire rate
And maybe instead of giving him the AUG, give him the K-121 because it’s Thunder and he needs heavy guns

(Tom2160) #7

@bontsa Thunder was banned from most of the matches in the proving grounds tournament. If he wasn’t banned, he was always used.

(Verticules) #8

He has been banned because people haven’t had time to learn his counter play.

(watsyurdeal) #9

For me, the annoying isn’t the concussion, but how health he has and the flash effect . Give him 150 health and remove the flash in exchange for maybe keeping his crippling slowing effect.

(bontsa) #10

Wow, last Proving Grounds had finally merc bans? Whoo-bloody-doo am I pissed our team fell apart and couldn’t participate in that.

(Szakalot) #11

there is no counterplay, thats the point

(Eox) #12

They need to introduce cooking back for Thunder’s nades. This would solve everything or at least most of the issues.

(Verticules) #13

Cooking would allow good players to do even better.

(Verticules) #14

I for one would be fine with the flash removal. Concuss or nothing.

(UndeddJester) #15

I feel like SD might have overtuned the conc flash to compensate for the removal of the EMP, which is entirely understandable really. I can’t say I find too much issue in a public game myself, but I can see how it could be an issue in the professional scene

There are a number of factors that I feel could be controlled to better balance the Thunder conc grenade.

The Flash: doesn’t seem to take into account distance, I seem to get just as flashed at close range as I do long (Not a lot of experience with getting hit at max range with the latest incarnation of the flash, but the old flash certainly had no distance scaling. A flash at max range should only partially tint my view brighter, not fully white out my screen, or simply last a hell of a lot shorter.

The Conc: As far as I can determine, the slow effect of the concussion grenade is the same regardless of distance from the nade, what limits it is the duration. At the edge of the conc you are slowed for 2.5 seconds, all the way up to 6 seconds, which given the strength of the slow, even a 2.5 second stun is a huge CC. A couple of ways to tackle this are to either:-

  1. Scale the slow with range from the conc, so those at the edge are less affected than those hit square.
  2. Change the slow to gradually fade over the duration back to normal instead of a flat slow for a time.

Personally I prefer option 2, I feel it has a nice “recover” feeling to it, it would mean there is a chance of getting away or fighting back if you are caught on the edge of the flash. A player hit at the tip will only be noticably effected for maybe a second and a half, instead of being totally stuffed for a minimum of 2 seconds regardless. It rewards Thunder for well placed flashes instead of the mindless punt and go.

(Supersneaky) #16

The problem with thunder is that he has the stark, 170hp with a pin point any distance gun… he should be forced close with the k121 and mk42 weapons, as for the 3rd weapon timik is fine since nothing else will do, esp. Not shotguns.

(Eox) #17

Cooking would just prevent grenades from being tossed right away. Setting the conc grenade’s arm time to the same than frag grenades and allowing cooking would give to Thunder the same way to counter him than Fragger : if he doesn’t shoot, get out. I don’t see how good players would perform even better with cooking than they can do right now with Thunder, since cooking require you to not expose yourself for a couple of seconds while not alarming anybody. It’s one more restricting factor to take into account.

(Szakalot) #18

especially since you typically cook fragnades exactly so that they explode 1sec after throw: thats like the most average cooking time used.

yes cooking allows thunder to do nasty airbursts, but thats no different then cooked fragnades.

fragger nade at non-cookable 1sec fuse would be the most OP thing in the entire game, ever

(hoyes) #19

The concs effects do not need to be changed. What does is the cooldown. It should be increased to 18-20 secs, and then give thunder cooking and his emp back. Give phantom some other ability which still encourages team play or give a massive buff to the stealth aspect of the refractive armor.

(Herr_Hanz) #20

i would like to see the EMP effect back with the conc grenade. prefferably traded for a nerf of the flash.