🧪 Early Information on the February 2020 HOTM (Jean-François)

[Mr_Style_Points]

Okay, let’s break this down.

@windcar

GM total damage per hero does not lose out to JF I reckon, and he deals damage faster, in terms of mana regen and number of DOT turns. It makes him with a lot lesser time to deal with than JF, don’t even mention about how GM can decimate green heroes like paper. In terms of damage per hero, he even lose out to Locke although Locke is slower in mana and we certainly hear no complains about her…

I’ll be glad to defer to one of the math whizzes here, but I’m pretty sure that the damage per hero actually favors Jean by ~100 or so. Still fairly close, but that is in addition to the fact that he hits 5 instead of 3. Also, considering his decreased total damage output, Gravy has to fire twice to match Jean’s output. Firing twice requires 50% more mana to charge, and the burn damage will be across the same 4 turns that Jean’s damage is. Yes, the instant damage is preferable, but let’s not pretend gravy’s initial hit is some kind of snipe and it is certainly not enough to offset roughly double the damage being done by JF. JF does lose out on single target damage to Locke, but you also must factor in a few things: 1) He still does more total damage than she does. 2) Fast generally trumps average on defense, which is why the current meta favors fast heroes above average speeds in most roles aside from tank, and if we are being honest he’s clearly the better tank of the two. 3) As you stated originally, damage applied faster is favorable as it is less risky and can potentially kill an enemy before they can hit, and Locke suffers from most of her damage being backloaded. This combined with her slower speed makes her more likely to be cleansed, and cleanses will disproportionately affect her damage output relative to Jean’s. Were her damage frontloaded on the targets or spread evenly like Jean’s that’d clearly be an improvement on her current state.

@windcar

Ok, it the is sub specials that makes him ‘looks’ OP, but then it is still up for debate since those sub specials looks very niche.

If he needs a nerf, it’s definitely a modification to those sub specials, and not to his main DOT. Perhaps, instead of sub specials to every member on the team, limit to himself and neighbors only?

No, I’m pretty sure that it’s the damage, and the rest is just icing on the cake. We have seen this argument multiple times before in this thread, but it generally comes from no-nerf advocates as a red-herring, rather than nerf advocates. I’m sure there may be a few who solely take issue with the defense buffs, but they’re far outnumbered by those of us in terror at the damage output.

@windcar

If his DOT is nerfed, no one would want him, think what will happen if Kingston was nerfed to 300% damaged?
Kingston has plenty of criticism before release, but currently no one says he is OP. In fact, Zeline is still much better than him in defence.

I’ll still be chasing him at anywhere from 400-450 damage, and still consider him better than GM at 450. The only difference is that if they drop him to this sane damage range I will probably stop at just one of him, instead of planning to put one of him on each of my war teams if he launches as-is due to his ridiculous power.
As for Kingston, you really may want to reconsider your argument as it really favors the pro-nerf crowd. Kingston actually WAS nerfed due to his criticism in Beta, and is in a VERY good place in the meta now.

@Mr_Style_Points

Move over, Gravy, there’s a new GOAT in town. When they hit Kingston with the nerf hammer I just hope they don’t render him unuseable. Effect to only target and nearby, and duration x 3 turns seems right

(I got the duration wrong, but was pretty damned close…)
As for Zeline being better this makes several cases for the pro-nerf crowd, and cuts against your own argument. First, your assessment of Zeline proves that higher initial per target damage is NOT what determines a better defender. Secondly, (particularly relevant since Zeline’s debuff can be cleansed OR overwritten, making her far more likely to have her effect countered than Jean) an effect from a fast mana hero that lasts 4 turns is not always or even usually going to be cleansed.
Since you quoted his guide as evidence of your claims, maybe @Anchor or someone who has heard from him can let us know what he thinks of Jean. I don’t view his claims as gospel, but respect his analyses and am curious what he thinks of the matter.