⚖ Hero Balance Discussion: Yang Mai

This thread is for discussing whether Yang Mai is well-balanced, or whether you think she needs a buff or nerf.

This thread is NOT for general discussion of Strategy or Summons related to Yang Mai. For that, please see: Yang Mai – 5* Fire/ Red - May 2021 HOTM (Hero of the Month) -- Initial Release


If you’d like to see more threads like this — or ignore threads like this, please see instructions in: 🔔 Watching or Ignoring Hero Balance/Buff/Nerf Threads



:bar_chart: Poll

  • I think Yang Mai is reasonably well-balanced overall
  • I think Yang Mai is excessively weak, and needs a buff (increase of their strength)
  • I think Yang Mai is excessively strong, and needs a nerf (decrease of their strength)
  • I’m not sure yet

0 voters


:speaking_head: Discussion

  • If you think Yang Mai is well-balanced, too strong, or too weak — why?

  • Are there specific, concrete suggestions you’d make to the game designers to alter Yang Mai? Or are there specific reasons you think they should remain unchanged?


Purpose of this thread:

To provide an aggregate place for the topic here on the forum; thus preventing there being a million threads popping up. And to provide an actual set of impartial votes rather than a #ideas-feature-requests which has no real voting.

In short, to neaten the forum and to give players and outlet for their thoughts on her balance without bogging down the rest of the forum or the main hero thread.

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Thread Closed. Will be opened 48 hours after Yang Mai release.

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This topic was automatically opened after 46 hours.

She is just fine with her elimental link.
Good one against LOTL minions and someone like Freya and Bera.
Resist mana reduction like Shesh.
If Yang Mai comes to me, i will give her ring (s).
:heart::heart_eyes::slightly_smiling_face:.
:joy:.

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AFAIK, she does not resist the mana reduction. Only upon her mana getting reduced, she gets +30% attack for 3 turns.

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Yep.

But for me, I love how SG releases HOTMs that are neither OP nor UP. Neither very weak, nor very strong. Just so-so. At least, it helps players not chasing any hero from any portal. Veterans and whales may see very little of what she can offer in their insane roster. Newbies and F2P may still see Mai as a very good hero. Really up to the player’s appreciation on the hero and how they can make her (or any other hero for that matter) work with their existing heroes.

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I am perfectly fine with holding on to my money as well :smiley:

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Thx for the corrections @Guy. :slightly_smiling_face:

Elemental link and weak hit do not deserve rings. Hero is well balanced to me when ascension mats are worth sacrificing. In her case, nope. Bump that chance to 70%

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I’d be fine with it if that was their approach from the very beginning.

Currently we have HotMs which are worse than those we were getting in 2018-2019. With still overpowered heroes being released elsewhere.

It’s clearly not a good will or caring about the game balance - it’s hiding the power behind thicker paywall.

You could have relied on 80% of your non-classic heroes being HotMs + 20% being event heroes in the past. Now HotMs are so niche you have to surround them with event heroes to build a reliable team that can compete on top wars etc.

Feel bad for those who started around 2020 and aren’t willing to throw their mortgages into this game. So difficult to catch up and execute a plan for this game.

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I was a little disappointed to see her % chance to attack another reduced even further from 60% to 50%. Her damage isn’t formidable, and the damage from the extra hits less so. What she did well was to build stacks quickly through the extra hits and mana link her red brethren. I felt that she was good at 70%, because of the speed she could build her stack. I felt she was ok at 60%. RNG is still slightly in your favor and she could reasonably build stacks in good time. At 50%, I feel like her elemental link is now her strongest feature and the stacks will simply be unreliable. Beta feedback was fine with 60%. Why the further decrease?

This. This is my biggest issue with the recent generation of HotMs. In the past, we had heroes like Hel, GM, Drake, Kingston, Seshat… the list goes on. As heroes from other portals have seen an overall incremental power creep, for the most part HotM have gone in the opposite direction. Not only that, but more often than not, they are become a niche orientated class of heroes.

I don’t think Yang Mai is a bad HotM by current standards, she’s actually one of the better ones and she would certainly find a spot on my mostly S1 and HotM roster. But for me, the last debuff was unnecessary and I don’t understand why they choose that option.

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In the past you also had heroes like Thoth-Amun, Perseus, Natalya, Aeron… it’s always been a bit of a mixed bag. Plus, of course, some age better than others. Poor Seshat, who was bordering on OP at release and has been a fixture on my left wing almost forever, is now beset by minion stealers, minion eaters and minion exploders on all sides, so that she’s almost a liability against certain teams. Times move on even without power creep as such. I don’t think that’s necessarily such a bad thing.

Agree with you about Yang Mai’s reduced hit chance, it’s a bit mean and you have to wonder how necessary it was really. Perhaps after a few months of reviewing performance they’ll tweak it up again. I hope they do (if I get her - if I don’t, the weaker she stays the better!).

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I would like to her getting back to 60% or even 70% chance of getting a follow-up. However, I am not completely sure whether she actually needs said buff, because I didn’t play with her enough yet. But it would be nice, no doubt.

I was test it a lot in beta on every form, in 70% she was a little bit op because of synergy with outer chain heroes like Finley, on 50% she was UP never I can’t reach more than 4 or 5 stacks, in 60% she was ok, no OP no UP, I don’t understand why SG decided to release it in this form, now she it’s useful only on red team because of her elemental link and nothing more.

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wrong link?!?
20 wrong links?

Well I for one think that her percentage for additional hits should be at least 60%. Her whole advantage is gaining power through additional hits without that she is just a manna booster. Her attack isn’t powerful and manna isn’t enough to balance her out. Compared to c.kad with her dodge special I feel her minor additional hit ratio should be higher than what it is. If they got good feedback in beta at 60% then why lower it? She is nowhere near upper level new hero’s (see season 4) I guess cause with hotm more people get them so make people pay more for the really powerful hero’s when you basically give the hero of the month away.

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It depends how they have implemented it. If they used the same code as they use for c kads 45% dodge then there should be no problem reaching the stack at 50%

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I’m not really sure but c.kad dodge seems like way more than 45%. Guess I should level up yang mai and try her out. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Still I doubt she’ll be earth moving regardless but still a welcome addition to my red mono team with c.marjanna and gefjon and manna is always a plus!

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Yang Mai REALLY needs a buff. Just did a team battle against a maxed Yang Mai, non-emblemed. I deliberately stalled the match to see what she could do, even at 10 stack, her first hit deals in 300-450 range. She’s got potential, but the overall damage isn’t there. She could have her initial bumped to 300%. That could do something for her. It would put her damage output similar to Killhare.

Just my review of her

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