Guardian first impressions

Just had a couple quick matches, my thoughts:

Guardian
HP range (2700-12200, +194hp/level) looks fairly decent. While it doesn't have the Blues of a Defender, you have a solid health pool at the top end.
Speed and agility are great. Doesn't feel nearly as slow and unwieldy as Defender.
Not sure about the weapons. 3RR limits you to a Speeder style weapon combo but with Cleanse running around, you might lose the buff quickly.
4TTT is good for variety.
Engine sound is way, way too loud (at least on Android) - I can barely hear my weapons over it.

Defense Wall
Two major beefs with this item.
1. IMHO, the shield should follow the turret rotation, not the ship. As it is, it's only helpful for when you're charging head-on into enemies, rather than trying to strafe out from cover and fire broadside shots.
2. Much like the Tesla Shield, it's very fragile - but it's a much bigger target. Easy to lob an Explosive shot into.

And a minor request - I think it needs a "shattering" effect when you break it.

Defense Aura
Interesting potential here to redirect damage, if you have a Fixer on your team they can heal up the additional damage quickly. Get a Defense Aura going, have a Fixer throw down a Repair Pulse, and you could greatly increase survival rates; but without that Fixer or a seriously strong Bandage (being 1pt, you can put this on your Defender) your own HP will get chewed up quickly if you Aura too many teammates.

As a side note though, the damage-redirect effect appears to persist even if you're dead. So if you've only got a sliver of life left, Aura your whole team, reduce their damage by that percentage, and know that your death wasn't entirely in vain.

Cleanse Pulse
The real MVP of the update, in my opinion. Stun hits your Fixer? Cleanse. Team eats a Firebomb? Cleanse. Incoming Frost Mortar? Prep the Cleanse. The drawback here is the long, long cooldown (20s default) - but being only 1pt, you might even want to consider running two of these to really ruin a Firebomb spammer's day.

Bolster Armor
Defense Points on-demand, anyone? If a Guardian gets tanky enough, they could Defense Aura their teammates, then Bolster to reduce the incoming damage even more.

Additional Thoughts
I think Defender should get 2 Teal points in its hybrid slot. This would let it use all four items, and Bolster Armor really fits the feeling of the Defender being a "tank" class.

 

Not game-breakingly so, I don't think. Even a T5E Wall is only good for about 3000hp (plus perks, I suppose, that might push it up to 4000 with four Epics) and it's a big target that doesn't stop torpedoes (or Tesla stuns)

A Defender with 50% damage reduction from a T5E Bolster Armor could be a force to reckon with, and might actually survive a head-on attack into a crowd. Right now, even 20K HP melts really fast in a world of 4K crits.

 

Shields get emitted from the ships under Defense Aura, similar to how boats with Pulse active get green +'s.

The stars were a placeholder, IIRC, but a bit of a giveaway that there was more going on than just the Cleanse Pulse's bubbles.

 

I definitely think it's got potential. We'll have to wait until people have been able to get their hands on upgraded Teal items to really see how they will shake out in the current meta, but I think Bolster and Cleanse are the big winners. Aura is an interesting idea but definitely needs to be upgraded heavily to avoid just being a "Sink my ship now" button. Defense Wall could be a major strategic player if the change is made to rotate with turret vs ship; imagine popping one up and swinging it around to protect your fleet from an attacking Speeder.

 

There's no crystal ball for future changes, outside of what Zeus will reveal in the official Discord server (see the #ask-a-dev-answers) channel.

The whole idea of the Cleanse Pulse was a "no comment" right up until recently, and then suddenly it was here.

So, I guess, "no comment"

 

With about four matches under my belt(was playing pretty hard yesterday) I'll say this:

I regret scrapping my rare big shield, or I'd be a close-to-endgame Guardian as of now, iten-wise. I literally saved a GAME by eating a burn that was killing my teammate while my cleanse was on CD. I'll say that this ship has ENORMOUS potential. It's 100% going to blow up on the NML scene. Cynics can laugh, but see you in Feb 2018 when the top 50 contains at least two Guardians

I'd say that none of the things it has are actually OP. Cleanse works in a small radius, and the ship has a top speed of 1.51, meaning it can only de-debuff ONE type of ship in a shitfight. Dealing with a Guardian who is not paying attention will be EZ but a guardian that's on point will make you regret touching his teammates. This is no fixer. It's a true bezerker with the speed to back it up with, a force to be reckoned with on the endgame battlefield. If I could play in MY level range with level 10 uncommons, it's just a testament to what the Guardian will be capable of in the endgame. The legendaries we're getting are a nice touch, and with 600 coins a day, one can get them in 5 days(which fits in great with my exam schedule).

Two issues.

• Support by the Guardian HAS to be counted in a teamfight.
• The ship needs to stand out a little more, please improve the color scheme xD.

Overall, a big THANK YOU to the devs for bringing in a REAL tank into the game.

 

Have you seen AM's Guardian? 18k HP with a 2.8k regenerative barrier. Reaper, no matter what you do, will ALWAYS be vulnerable to sudden swift burst. This ship? Freakin' unit! I saw a dude trolling with double barriers, it was waaaaaaaaay better than TS could ever be. 8-15 is the base level cycle of the shields, you can basically keep two shields going forever! Imagine a super tank with twin energy shields and 18k HP coming at you, team in tow. Isn't that a scary thought?