Legion Rework/Buff idea
Hello everyone! I know Legion isn't exactly on the docket for any big changes but I wanted to get the idea I've had out there and see what everyone thinks.
It's no secret that Legion (who I will refer as a he for simplicity's sake) is one of the weaker killers in the game. The weakest? I'd disagree, but we all agree that he's on the weaker side and the character has been... quite the roller coaster since his first iteration.
But time has passed and now Legion's more or less found his spot as a killer who excels and injuring but is reduced to a normal M1 killer to finish the job. Love him or hate him, Legion's found his place and his fanbase. So what I sought out to do was to increase the character's viability without changing him to the point where he is functionally a different killer. I'm not out to make the next top tier killer—just a decent one.
Let's start with something every Legion player knows and hates. It's the cooldown—the fatigue. There is no escaping it. Whether you're a God-Legion or a complete pepega, you're getting the full brutal 4 second fatigue (3 with double add-ons).
Solution? Easy. For every successful stab within a Frenzy, Legion's cooldown is reduced by 0.5 secs to a maximum of 2 secs. It would go like this.
0 successful stabs: 4 secs
1 successful stab: 3.5 secs
2 successful stabs: 3 secs
3 successful stabs: 2.5 secs
4 successful stabs: 2 secs.
If you're a God-Legion and manage to get a 4-man stab, then congrats, you get a 2 sec fatigue and get to be an immediate threat to the survivors.
Double Stabs on a survivor do count as a successful stab, but as they would get a speed boost, this would only be useful in niche situations (ex: unhooking situations), so you're not just stabbing someone's back until your fatigue is nothing.
Speaking of which, have Legion's Frenzy pause when he is kicking a gen/breaking a wall (similar to how it pauses whenever he vaults a window).
The next part is Deep Wounds. This is something I had to think very long and very hard about. In its current state, DW is a tool meant to stall survivors by pressuring them to mend before they can do gens.
Problem? It lasts 30 secs. 30. And the timer pauses while they run. You know what can happen in that time? A survivor could do almost 40% of a gen before dropping. Stab during the endgame to prevent an escape? Unless you have Remember Me stacks, they will have time to open the gate, teabag you at the exit gate and click their flashlight and leave with time to spare. 30 secs is way too forgiving.
Solution? Cut the timer in half. Done. Have Legion's Frenzy inflict a 15 sec Deep Wound. It'll give DW's more pressure, and won't be insanely broken. In a chase? Relax, the timer pauses while you run. It's a simple number change.
Hold up. I know what you're thinking. Some veterans of the community are probably having some very bad memories of Old Legion as 2 add-ons come to mind. Don't worry. This is where we discuss add-ons.
Cold Dirt/Joey's Mixtape/Julie's Mixtape (cooldown add-ons)
These need a complete rework if the above changes are implemented. What could they do instead? Decrease the amount of Frenzy lost when Legion misses a Frenzy attack (note: Double stabs do NOT count as misses—you're still knocked out of Frenzy). So if Legion misses a stab, he will instead lose 80%/65%/50% of his frenzy, with the best stacked (provided i did the math correctly) saving 85% of your Frenzy meaning from the base 10 secs, you'll only lose 1.5 secs for a missed attack.
Stab Wounds Study/Frank's Mixtape (DW add-ons)
Rework! Rework! REWORK! With the purposed DW change, these NEED a rework. I will not be responsible for bringing Old Legion back. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty stumped as to how I could change these in a way that wouldn't make they entirely useless.
Stab Wounds Study can now 1) Cause survivors hit by Frenzy to suffer from the hemorrhage status effect. 2) Survivors inflicted with DW cannot works on gens, sorta like Doc's T3 Madness (it does not prevent things like rescues, vaults, pallet drops, etc). How would it have any use? It can prevent a survivor from clutching a gen in your face, and you might think I'm crazy for having hemorrhage there, but as Legion is probably the only killer you're not crazy for running Bloodhound on, I think it's fine.
Frank's was a bit harder. However, a friend of mine purposed an idea I found somewhat nifty. At the start of Frenzy, Legion is is 5% SLOWER than his current state, however, for every successful stab, gain a 5% increase in speed during that current Frenzy. Get a 4-man and you're 15% faster than default Frenzy. You can use this to position yourself a little better before snapping out of Frenzy, or maybe rush to a gen you've been needing to Pop or something.
And that's it. A change to his add-ons and some tweaks to his base kit. The counter-play to Legion is the same (split-up), and he'll be familiar enough to his current players that they should feel comfortable. He'll still be a basic M1 killer to finish the job and he'll likely never be a top tier killer, but hopefully, this should make Legion more rewarding to play as and somewhat increase his viability.
Thank you all for your time!
Comments
I absolutely hate running against Legion - he's up there with the Oni as my two most-hated killers to face. Reason? I hate his Killer Instinct - the same way I hate the Oni's tracking ability through blood orbs.
That being said, I think the DW duration could be shortened to like 20 seconds instead of 30. Most of the Legions I face anyway tunnel down their DW victims to begin with unless they're specifically using Frenzy to tag multiple Survivors.