2008-06-29, 11:31:15
There are 4 possible problems with the demon tank (4 abilities):
1. Banish. (Slows and makes the tank take more magic damage for a period of time) I have never seen this ability dominate a game or even come close to being very important. It has caused me to be killed a couple times but that's it.
2. Lava servant: It's nice to pop out extra cannon fodder and pick up a few creeps, but this cannot dominate a game, it's not possible against incompetent players.
3. Hellfire: A nice ability to clear a few creeps while dropping a lot of damage on an opponent. But it's has a fairly limited range and 90% of the time is possible because of:
4. LAVA SHOT!!!The only problem with the demon tank is lava shot. It deals 1750 damage, has 2000 range, and stuns for 3 seconds. This is the best ability in the game because it can stop things like infernal's rain of fire, Frost robots, rain of ice, sky fortresses system overload, with 2 of them can keep the titan stunned long enough to not cast keep on fighting. And theseare all tanks that are stronger than it is. To a tank with less health and less stun, it will dominate those also. A couple demon tanks, or a whole team of them can easily dominate the game, or be the only important force in the game (Granted a team of infernals will destroy your base as you might kill them) because of this one ability.
In that last paragraph I may have overstated how good demon tanks are for the entire game, but they are the best, by far, transition to infernal/sky fortress/frost robot?/Titan. And this is because of lava shot. Even with allies around or creeps around, lava shot is scary because of the 3 second stun. It's almost expected to have multiple enemies teleport in, or just charge in and use their short range weapons and hellfire to finish you off (easily in the 3 seconds, or 6 if another one adds its stun).
Also, if you compare Demon tank to other tanks in the same cost area (+-25%), you get 2 tanks, Earth Robot, and Sky tank. Sky tank: no stun, no disable, nothing that it can do to stop the stun and hellfire from going off, and having 2-3 seconds of attacks on it before it can get off it's abilities(which are all time based ironically). Earth Robot: While I don't have much experience with this tank, if you cannot get off your granite defense off before the stun happens, you have no chance unless you can get dustwave off quickly. As for earthquake that's going to be worthless if they have one person just wait until you cast it to stun you. With these comparisons, the demon tank will easily outmatch the 2 tanks that cost near the same price. There are some ways to stop demon tanks with lesser tanks. A high level shredder and a goblin tank, or 2 shredders can stun until it's dead, but with the help of 1 other person these tanks will not have the health or abilities to compete with hellfire and lava shot. A heavy tank will stun for 1 second at max level and a demon tank will stun for 3 seconds at first level, that's an obvious winner. Besides those I don't see any other comparisons.
In all of these matchups the demon tank wins because of the 3 second stun and not because of the 1750 damage, and not because of the 2000 range. Both of these help a lot but they are not the most important factor. Maybe keeping the 3 second stun is what is needed for this tank to keep it distinct and to keep the highest no armor vehicle at the top of that part. One proposition, ignoring what I just said is to lower the stun to 2 seconds, and leave everything else the same. My propositon is to lower the damage to 200 per level and lower the range by 500. Well this ability is excellent to start a combat, it is ridicilous when you kill someone you keep pushing, they come back control point teleport, and shoot you while you're trying to make it back to base. I don't think an ability that has 1500 range, stuns for 3 seconds, and deals 1000 damage is unreasonable for a 10k tank. Another problem with the 1750 damage is when teams all aim for one factory and shoot it. There literally is no defense. Even if you've had your laser towers survive for the last 30 minutes, you can't stop this, and by lowering damage and range it would make this strategy less effective too.
The final part about the stun is that it is what allows demon tank to be a good transition from non-armor based tanks, to armor required tanks. If you have a sky tank, or earth robot, or even goblin tank, and a sky fortress starts floating around, you're going to be worthless vs. it. But if you're demon tank then your stun is going to give you a good chance to still be useful in the fight even against superior tanks. but anything less is not going to be helpful and is going to start to feed.
1. Banish. (Slows and makes the tank take more magic damage for a period of time) I have never seen this ability dominate a game or even come close to being very important. It has caused me to be killed a couple times but that's it.
2. Lava servant: It's nice to pop out extra cannon fodder and pick up a few creeps, but this cannot dominate a game, it's not possible against incompetent players.
3. Hellfire: A nice ability to clear a few creeps while dropping a lot of damage on an opponent. But it's has a fairly limited range and 90% of the time is possible because of:
4. LAVA SHOT!!!The only problem with the demon tank is lava shot. It deals 1750 damage, has 2000 range, and stuns for 3 seconds. This is the best ability in the game because it can stop things like infernal's rain of fire, Frost robots, rain of ice, sky fortresses system overload, with 2 of them can keep the titan stunned long enough to not cast keep on fighting. And theseare all tanks that are stronger than it is. To a tank with less health and less stun, it will dominate those also. A couple demon tanks, or a whole team of them can easily dominate the game, or be the only important force in the game (Granted a team of infernals will destroy your base as you might kill them) because of this one ability.
In that last paragraph I may have overstated how good demon tanks are for the entire game, but they are the best, by far, transition to infernal/sky fortress/frost robot?/Titan. And this is because of lava shot. Even with allies around or creeps around, lava shot is scary because of the 3 second stun. It's almost expected to have multiple enemies teleport in, or just charge in and use their short range weapons and hellfire to finish you off (easily in the 3 seconds, or 6 if another one adds its stun).
Also, if you compare Demon tank to other tanks in the same cost area (+-25%), you get 2 tanks, Earth Robot, and Sky tank. Sky tank: no stun, no disable, nothing that it can do to stop the stun and hellfire from going off, and having 2-3 seconds of attacks on it before it can get off it's abilities(which are all time based ironically). Earth Robot: While I don't have much experience with this tank, if you cannot get off your granite defense off before the stun happens, you have no chance unless you can get dustwave off quickly. As for earthquake that's going to be worthless if they have one person just wait until you cast it to stun you. With these comparisons, the demon tank will easily outmatch the 2 tanks that cost near the same price. There are some ways to stop demon tanks with lesser tanks. A high level shredder and a goblin tank, or 2 shredders can stun until it's dead, but with the help of 1 other person these tanks will not have the health or abilities to compete with hellfire and lava shot. A heavy tank will stun for 1 second at max level and a demon tank will stun for 3 seconds at first level, that's an obvious winner. Besides those I don't see any other comparisons.
In all of these matchups the demon tank wins because of the 3 second stun and not because of the 1750 damage, and not because of the 2000 range. Both of these help a lot but they are not the most important factor. Maybe keeping the 3 second stun is what is needed for this tank to keep it distinct and to keep the highest no armor vehicle at the top of that part. One proposition, ignoring what I just said is to lower the stun to 2 seconds, and leave everything else the same. My propositon is to lower the damage to 200 per level and lower the range by 500. Well this ability is excellent to start a combat, it is ridicilous when you kill someone you keep pushing, they come back control point teleport, and shoot you while you're trying to make it back to base. I don't think an ability that has 1500 range, stuns for 3 seconds, and deals 1000 damage is unreasonable for a 10k tank. Another problem with the 1750 damage is when teams all aim for one factory and shoot it. There literally is no defense. Even if you've had your laser towers survive for the last 30 minutes, you can't stop this, and by lowering damage and range it would make this strategy less effective too.
The final part about the stun is that it is what allows demon tank to be a good transition from non-armor based tanks, to armor required tanks. If you have a sky tank, or earth robot, or even goblin tank, and a sky fortress starts floating around, you're going to be worthless vs. it. But if you're demon tank then your stun is going to give you a good chance to still be useful in the fight even against superior tanks. but anything less is not going to be helpful and is going to start to feed.