The issue with Chrono Dampener

Chrono Dampener was nerfed recently, but I don't think it was enough. I couldn't even tell you what was changed about it because it's still broken.

The issue with Chrono is not directly the frequency or duration of the stun, but the fact that the stun will bring units to an immediate standstill. After the stun expires, the unit movement speed will be 0, and it has to reaccelerate to its max speed, which can take a second or two. Sadly at this point the next stun will have hit, bringing the movement speed back down to 0.

So, not only does Chrono stun units, it also significantly slows them down. This makes chrono extremely powerful (basically unkillable) when the ACU is retreating. I believe the best two fixes would be, in order of preference:

  • Allow units to keep their momentum after being stunned
  • Reduce the frequency, but increase the duration of stuns to allow units to get back to their maximum speed, and maintain it for a longer period of time

profile picture credits to petric

I think bully is a genius. This post has reinvigorated my will to play 1v1 again and spam chrono every game as an aeon main. My life has returned to normality.

The embodiment of depression...

How is Aeon supposed to compete against tier 0 UEF without chrono? Basically autolose at that point.

Has anyone got some hih level replays ID showing the power of this?

just as chris taylor intended

https://replay.faforever.com/19711969
replay desyncs, but min ~20 still shows a nice example. also the 200 blaze push blodir does later on (post desync) was completely crushed by chrono, few pd and few restos aswell

profile picture credits to petric

Uef, the t2 pd faction, shouldn't have any issue with chrono

Remove t2 pd from aeon roster to balance chrono

Why not increase the resource cost of Chrono a tad bit?
15, or maybe 20% more power to grab the upgrade, to be specific.
Could also increase mass and build power as well, but that would probably need more tweaking than just an energy increase.

A little something to slow down the upgrade so It wouldn't be obtained as early as it can be currently.
Instead, aiming toward more of a slightly later stage of a match, near the T3 land stage.

The reason this upgrade is so powerful is that it can be used in conjunction with 'double gun'.
Which already outranges most, if not all, T2 units - shredding them when they can't even get into range to fire off a shot.

At least at the T3 stage, most units can match the range of the ACU.
This way, moving the upgrade to, say... a T3 stage instead of a mid-T2 stage, would help even things out.


That being said, I haven't actually seen Chrono in a long while.
Interesting.


~ Stryker

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I remember seeing a few videos of Jip and Spikey playing around with a variable stun time based on range. Worth integrating, in my opinion, purely because it's so cool. It does also offer up some new and interesting degrees of freedom for the balance team to play with, though.

With such a change, chrono would naturally affect longer-ranged units less, and since those tend to be slower, maybe this would coincidentally represent a step in the right direction for balance. Depending on the stun duration at the outermost perimeter, It might also allow fast units to intentionally run around the ACU, enabling a surround, and it would punish the attacker less for stepping into the danger zone accidentally.

Here's a link to one of the videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv1TCW9jO9w&t=785s

As you can see, the scripting and effects work has already been done, all it needs is a balance pass.