Expanded role for tanks

The problem with low damage, slow, “tanky” heroes in this game is that they have very limited utility other than on your defence team. This is a passive role and since I’m not actively controlling that hero, it’s almost like they don’t even exist since they see so little active playing time.

The other major problem is that with the current game mechanics (as I understand them), you only ever need one tank in this game for defense and that’s it. Ever.

In many rpg type games I’ve played, tanking isn’t just for defending, but there is a crucial role for tanks on an attacking team as well. Why can’t this be the case for Empires and Puzzles as well? I.e. instead of the AI (Titan, raid team, world map mobs, etc.) randomly targeting any one of your 5 attacking heroes, make it so that the tank in front is more likely to get hit (3/7 chance or something). If this is already the case, then great but it doesn’t seem like it is in my experience.

This will quickly make tanks more valued: you will now need 6 of them for alliance wars instead of just one and you may want a tank of each color depending on the titan and special event mobs you are fighting. This might even convince some players to finally find a use for Thorne or Guardian Owl. Riposte tanks will be even more effective since they are more likely to be targetted. Lastly, top players might even have to use a tank not named Ares, Hel or Geneviere once in a while. :slight_smile:

I like where your head is, but your proposal is just weird to me. The approach shouldn’t be too fix tanks that exist but create additional ones that fit the traditional rpg archetype. Here’s an idea for you -

New tank hero skills :
3* provoke - targeted hero takes 30% more damage from tiles matching the color of hero using the skill for 3 turns, and tiles that match the color of the target deal half damage to allies that have not provoked the target for 3 turns.
4* eyes on me - deals 275% damage to target, lowers accuracy of target towards other allies for 4 turns. Allies gain 35% critical damage chance towards target for 4 turns.
5* shield master - nearby allies share 50% damage with Caster for 5 turns, effect is not dispellable unless the Caster dies. Caster and nearby allies are immune to any elemental weakness for 5 turns, effect is not dispellable unless the Caster dies. Caster and nearby allies gain 24% mana generation for 5 turns, and gain 24% defense increase for 5 turns.

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Great ideas! Why not both? :slight_smile:
I just feel that if tank positions matter on a defense team, why shouldn’t the same be true for an attacking team that’s defending against incoming hits?

I think it would add a whole new layer of strategy for players to purposely take a slow, low damage tank into a titan fight for the sake of protecting the glass cannons behind it. Your ideas for new tank hero skills can add a further layer of strategy to the game as well.

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The only reason I’m not fully on board with changing the odds of my attackers being hit, is because when I played mmorpgs tanks didn’t help me lol. I was always that guy who worked really hard to calculate the dps and go for broke.

Whether I had to get gear to increase my evasion or I had to memorize telegraphed attack patterns, I was the glass Canon that you couldn’t get the aggro off of. As things stand there either is no aggro meter here or its very broken. I could support the idea of building one in (or fixing it) but unless there’s a reason to influence targeting parameters it should just be 1/5 for everyone