Hyrule Warriors Balance

[Locke]

Comment on game balance - warriors, stages, items...

I'm pleasantly surprised at the intricacies of warrior balance. There are so many variables, even minor ones. For example, not only does warrior speed vary, but so does the time it takes to start sprinting. Not only do warriors have variable animation/delay lengths between and after combos, but they also allow dodge-cancelling to different extents (i.e. some attacks can be cancelled immediately by dodging, some can be cancelled partway through the animation, and for some you have to wait for the animation to complete before dodging is enabled).

I'm finding that warriors with few iframes between attacks and dodges and quick dodge-cancelling opportunities are most effective. Especially ones with very mobile movesets. Link's Hylian Sword is a good example. Fi is extremely mobile - her attacks cover a lot of distance and dodging is almost as fast as sprinting - but she's limited by low strength and some unfortunate vulnerabilities during combos, only some of which allow dodge-cancelling. Lana can dodge-cancel almost anything, especially with the Spear, with which she's also very mobile.

A good test for dodge iframes is to target a ReDead and dodge around them while they're trying to petrify you. With Lana I can stay within the circle the whole time and not get petrified (and then I'm in a great position for counterattack). Darunia on the other hand has a delay between dodges, so he gets petrified.

I could go on and on but I think I'll stop for now.

 

[Jirohnagi]

Only realizing myself that Zelda is pretty brutal with her rapier. Can literally go through mobs so quick... not as fast as link with the Master Sword but meh. The balance in between Character Levels and Levels stages seems to be a bit odd to me, Adventure mode seems to dump you in the deep in at some points without an incline or anything.. but then this is likely because you have powered through a large chunk of the map and need a drop off to stall you for awhile.

 

[MartDiamond]

Definitely agree with this, I just unlocked Ruto this morning and she's so good from afar with her strong attack, but her normal attacks are very slow and I can barely get a hit or two in on a weak gauge before it disappears. Darunia has moved up on my list due t his combos hitting far more often and more destructive than others making them unable to counterattack. His attacks are also fairly powerful so they drain weak point gauges.

Very interesting balance indeed...

 

[the8thark]

Definitely agree with this, I just unlocked Ruto this morning and she's so good from afar with her strong attack, but her normal attacks are very slow and I can barely get a hit or two in on a weak gauge before it disappears. Darunia has moved up on my list due t his combos hitting far more often and more destructive than others making them unable to counterattack. His attacks are also fairly powerful so they drain weak point gauges.

Very interesting balance indeed...

I personally do not like Ruto at all. What got to me was her inability to move much while comboing. Even a simple BBB rooted to to the one spot. But that's just me everyone has their own favourite characters. The beauty of choice. Apart from Legend Mode (which you won't ever play after you beat it the first time, you'll play free mode instead) and certain Adventure mode stages, you can choose whatever character takes your fancy.

And About Zelda's rapier. I think it's better than Links sword at an equal player/weapon attack rating. I have a 420 attack 6 slot 8 bit sword and of cause that betters almost every other weapon in the game on attack power alone. But if I found a 420 power Zelda Rapier I'd seriously have to decide which I think is better. Zelda's might just come out on top for me. Link's X focus spirit power though I think is a lot easier to use.