Julius Is Getting Nerfed (Mobile)

Change in Julius' Shield Announcement

Hero, an important change to Julius's second skill is coming soon!

Almost all shields in our game are activated before taking into account any defensive stats, also it is impossible to dodge with shields on, and to deal critical damage to them. Julius's shield from the second skill "Copycat Device" is an exception, as it activates after everything mentioned above.

Starting from October 9, 2 AM (UTC), this skill will start working according to the standard shield logic. Thus, if now the incoming damage is first reduced by armor or magic protection and only then gets into the shield, after the change all the damage will go straight into the shield. To balance out the change we decided to significantly increase the volume of the shield:

Now: 200% * Physical Attack + 50 * Level After the change: 330% * Physical Attack + 200 * Level

Don't miss Julius's change in the game

Why is This Change Being Made?

As the post states, Julius' shield was not behaving like most other shields in the game. This was very likely causing him and the Way of Progress faction to be more powerful than intended.

I've got 3 potential reasons why I feel this change was made:

1. The Heidi rework was not enough to lower the popularity of Julius/Judge/Isaac (JJI).

2. The shield limited design space: maybe Julius is next to get a Skin+ or a Talisman

3. Most Simple and Most likely: increase consistency in game mechanics.

How Does Julius' Shield Work in Hero Wars Alliance?

The way that Julius' shield works is that the blocked damage takes place AFTER defensive checks, such as Armor, Magic Defense, or Dodge.

It goes like this:

1. Enemy attacks a Julius' shielded enemy

2. Damage Mitigation Happens from Armor, Magic Defense, or Dodge

3. Any damage that's left over then hits the shield Julius gave himself or an ally

4. Any Damage left over after the shielded damage, is sent to the hero.

So for example, using arbitrary numbers:

I do 1000 physical damage, and armor reduces it by half to 500 damage, that 500 damage hits the shield.

How Do Armor and Magic Defense Work in Hero Wars?

Armor and Magic Defense work in the exact same way, except Armor reduces PHYSICAL DAMAGE and Magic Defense reduces MAGICAL DAMAGE.

As you can see to the right, having 3000 of either stat will reduce the damage by 50%.

You can NEVER reduce 100% of Physical or Magical damage, because this is on a curve.

The Graph to the right shows this damage curve, with 2 points highlighted: 3000 and 9000 defense stats. The curve will never reach 100%

Armor Penetration subtracts armor from your enemy, reducing their % blocked.

Magic Penetration subtracts Magic Defense from your enemy, reducing their % blocked.

How Does Dodge Work in Hero Wars?

Dodging an attack is based on your hero's Dodge Stat, as well as the attacking hero's main stat. Check out the equation to the left.

Basically, if your dodge stat is equal to the attacker's main stat, you have a 50% chance to dodge the PHYSICAL DAMAGE from an attack.

How Does Julius Shield Work After the Change?

Referencing the Above Section about how Julius' shield worked before, compare it to how it works now: Julius' shield blocked damage takes place BEFORE defensive checks, such as Armor, Magic Defense, or Dodge.

It goes like this:

1. Enemy attacks a Julius' shielded enemy

2. All of that damage first hits the shield.

3. Any left over damage then checks against Armor, Magic Defense, or Dodge

4. Any Damage left over after the reduced damage, is sent to the hero.

So for example, using arbitrary numbers:

I do 1000 physical damage, the shield blocks 250 of it (750), armor reduces it by half to 375 damage, that 375 damage hits the hero.

So is it a Nerf or a Buff?

The first thing to note is that in my examples above I used arbitrary numbers, and the situation is going to vary quite a bit based on the makeup of the attacking and defending teams. Overall, shields will not last nearly as long as before, and thus won't gain the advantages that Julius (and other heroes) can apply. How quickly a shield will be defeated had been based on each hero's individual damage mitigation stats (armor, magic defense, and dodge).

IE: A hero with stronger mitigation stats would have a shield that would last longer.

With the rework, each individual's damage mitigation stats won't matter; so if your Way of Progress team was full of heroes with high defenses, they will now lose their shield FASTER.

The change to how strong the shield is:

Now: 200% * Physical Attack + 50 * Level After the change: 330% * Physical Attack + 200 * Level

Is a buff to compensate for this change in overall shield durability.