RE: Army Non-Archetype Discussion: Ranged Destroy
on note of king-range magic units mentioned here (Pyro SK++ Lilith),
These are known hazards in the way they can create impassable area control that forces higher range, and in their often extreme synergy with enchantress, but not so much for their forcing of avoiding blindspots in army building, since many other units do this all the same. Anything landing in the middle of your army on a blindspot is probably going to turn into some kind of problem, but Lilith/SK can make it into a much larger problem than normal. I am undecided if Lilith/SK are too strong or too high on RPS, but they seem like relatively minor problems outside of enchantments.
Among these, I think pyro is actually underpowered, from a long-standing 'noob-friendly' nerf that has its cost artificially higher simply to match the kind of 'unbeatable' vibe it can create against certain armies. However, the same armies that find pyro to be 'unbeatable' are likely to find the same problem in many other cases as well, so the 10 value may no longer make sense in the context of the game, and despite being a little cancerous, I think it would be more balanced at slightly lower costs. That being said, if the update wasn't already so big I may attempt some redesign to pyro for creating counterplay mechanics while also buffing the cost to reflect that. As it stands, even while knowing it is too weak, I am very hesitant to buff it into a more balanced state.
Pyro was the first Magic user, and hasn't changed much since then.
So, it is probably long overdue for some type of recalibration.
SK isn't as unfun to play against as opposed to Pyromancer mainly because trading for Pyromancer is usually a bad move morale-wise
Buffing Pyromancer will only make the problem worse. Pyromancer needs a tier shift upward if it needs a buff, and it should get higher cost due to being able to defend like a King. Maybe the new Pyro+++ should get some tele-swap squares.
SK will probably get nerfed because SK++ has King defense, but SK++/SK+++ is a fun unit to use so I'm not putting it in the "delete this unit pls" box like Pyromancer.
I've never really seen a Lilith, but they are very cheap at providing an absolute defense at minions and serve mostly to discourage minion-heavy armies.
That is probably right, but nothing comes to mind right now.
I had only written -1 all tiers on pyro, but tier shift could be ideal.
Although, I actually don't like pyro+++ moveset much, so one higher... idk.
You make good points in favor of tier shifting pyro, but i feel like teleswap on pyro moveset would be erratic. The only unit that comes to mind which is intentionally erratic is Bat, for theme. I'll reconsider pyro change while leaving what I have currently on the notes, and I will be posting a full balance change preview here soon. (today/tomorrow, probably)
I think I agree in the general sense of 'blindspot' (like an enemy Pyromancer getting onto your 2nd row). Of course I think ranger/alchemist etc. are degenerate, but Pyromancer/Lilith/SK++/Salamander cause this too to a lesser degree by horribly punishing blindspots on specific minions like Pawn/Axeman/Spearman, basically pushing them completely out of play (this doesn't happen with Militia/Salamander because their 3 front squares force the Lilith/SK to be one entire row back). But of course you don't see that effect right now because Ranger/Alchemist do that even better.
And I think pretty much every experienced player sees Pyromancer as a noob unit, it's "10 cost and only has King attacks" basically. I do like the movement pattern of Pyromancer, I actually find it intuitive (as odd as it sounds).
-main_gi
in an ideal scenario, the minions with blindspots have larger champions backing them up, but then those same larger champions needing to trade for a lilith/pyro becomes a larger problem. I think the reason pyro was placed at 10 cost was to raise the threshold for number of units that can even contest it, and make trading something like berserker/legionary/warrior/knight favorable instead of roughly even. So, james is probably right that it needs a tier shift or moveset improvements rather than cost reduction.