Character design 100 points to rate
Lore - up to 40 - How in depth is it, does it tie to any other lore, does it help design the character?
- The lore is not quite depthful, whilst it provides the general gist of him being a merciless bounty hunter, and the recurring ‘just kills for currency’ makes it quite bland, it doesn’t exactly make him unique given his appearance. However it does hint to a potential character that he could possibly be supplying with Raw Heronium. It is also rather short for the standard and doesn’t give anything that builds the HH universe.
Rating 14/40 points
Visual and audible design - up to 40 - How does it fair with the purpose and personality of the character? Is it detailed? Is it interesting?
- Ballista’s ‘exo’ features high quality, and slightly damaged metals. Here and there are some void lamps on his exo. But what mainly stands out is his odd collar. The design doesn’t really give off its purpose, neither does it add much to his depth by that. His mask however, is quite intimidating, resembling a skull. Although this too is quite common in your general bounty hunter/mercenary trope. What also catches the eyes is his spandex suit and crossbow. The suit and locations of the fixed armor definitely gives thought into his mobility. Now, his crossbow is definitely a trademark, although not very unique except for its glow. The design of it doesn’t give much of a thought behind the working except for the ‘it’s magic so it shoots’. However one thing in game came to my notice, and that is his size. He is humongous, and his low, mainly grunting noises does match well with the idea of him being a merciless bounty hunter that leaves death behind everywhere. It could indicate hardness over the course of his career, which in my opinion suits along with his yet brutish look.
Rating 22/40 points
Abilities and weapon from lore perspective - 20 - Do they fit? Do they have any connection to the lore and does it add to their design or is it merely just a fill-up?
- Ballista’s crossbow is his only visible form of offense. He doesn’t seem to possess anything else that could potentially be lethal. It is quite plain that a bounty hunter like him only possesses an arm mounted crossbow. However, ion the gold skill it deals splash damage. His crossbow shoots very slow, but it does fill his bronze up rather quick. It feels powerful as it does also deal good damage. The weapon’s slowness suits his appearance. Now, the abilities look good. The bronze really does feel like he heavily channeling energy to deal a massive blast, and his vigor adds up to it. However the release feels weak as he seemingly has no trouble releasing it, and instantaneously switches back to his crossbow as if it was nothing. His silver is fast, too fast in my view for the fact that it causes a tremor. Although the smash does leave behind a good impact. Trembling effects and a slightly slower animation would have fixed this.
Rating 14/20 points
Gameplay - 100 points to rate.
Weapon - up to 25 - is it unique? Does it play well? Is it smooth and does it help the character or does it hinder them?
- The arm crossbow is a slow, but heavy hitting weapon. It charges the bronze quickly with high cooldown reduction per shot. It plays smooth, from the shooting to the reload it just satisfies. It plays unique too, the only character that feels similar to me is Elixir. Shooting this weapon feels good and rewarding for his utility
Rating 22/25
Abilities - up to 25 - Do they synergize? Do they perform the role that hero is meant to play, are they unique and can they play a significant role in a battle?
- He can deal heavy direct damage and create shields for his team with his abilities. His abilities synergize a lot with himself, stacking shields and growing stronger the longer those last. He also has a form of crowd control with his taunt and stun. He can also have and spread CC immunity and shields instantly at ruby, which pairs well with his downtime at the start of a match. In the midst of a match he can provide powerful buffs and distract enemies, he also seems to easily aggrevate enemies by shooting them. His wide, and strong utility can provide for amazing support in every gamemode, and with his ruby he can counter matches that are over the first few 10 seconds. Although powerful they do not feel too much, they feel rewarding the better you time them, but never too much at once.
Rating 20/25 points
Team synergy - up to 25 - Does his kit provide the opening for a wide array of teams? Do they compliment other characters or do character compliment him?
- He mainly synergizes with himself. His synergy doesn’t seem tied to a specific category of heroes and mainly comes from him and goes to allies. Shields can potentially synergize with heroes like Kobold or Quasary, but nothing too specific. The same for the stun, while it can be widely used it is not specific, as it is just a regular stun. The reflect doesn’t do much special either except for the reflecting. Caine could possibly fair well together with Kaishi perhaps, but it doesn’t enhance their reflecting to a degree I would choose him to build around it. The ruby skill however, is undeniably unmissable. It will provide him with early game protection that he needs with the aggression he pulls, and his anti CC can lengthen matches and give mid-late game heroes a chance to survive.
Rating 19/25 points
Control - up to 25 - Are they worthy of controlling? Or are they rather to have by your side? In other words, are they better on manual or auto? The amount of control points determine how important it is to control said hero.
- Ballista performs best when controlled, obviously, but without control he is simply just too slow to have much effect in early game. However, his ruby skill alone is enough reason to ‘just’ bring him and control him later on as it provides early game protection. In the mid game placing your abilities right is quite important, but merely switching to him and activating the bronze and silver is enough, since Ballista’s passives are mostly out of control.
Ballista gets a control rating of 17/25
Bonus points - any special things worth mentioning into the final result?
No
Overall rating - How high do I rate this in numbers? Design is excluded from gameplay into 100 points each.
Design 50 /100
Gameplay - 78\100
Final - My opinion. Are they worth investing? For what levels? For what purpose? For how big of a price?
- Ballista is worth upgrading for every level. At low levels he starts with good utility of its own, later on the synergies come. He is squishy, and aggroes quick, so he may die quickly. But he pays that back in his utility. He acts as a damage/shielder/tank hybrid. But also provides stability in the team. At ruby he gains an ability that is never absent and completely counters exactly what makes ruby pvp so imbalanced and chaotic. He is worth it on each level. Do you have to spend everything on him? Getting him as high as possible is certainly worth the trouble, but i honestly do not think it is worth spending money to push him past 8 stars. It is mainly his HP that seems to hold him back at lower levels and the stars fix that.
