Willow is disappointing (From game perspective)

I doubted if I should do this, but after some CC unboxed her HC I guess I have to make this post

So, as a “Controller”, Willow has been hardly playable for 2 years due the “Control” gimmick held her balance hostage, yet SC hardly do anything about her, or should I say too careful yet not needed, every buff she gets feels like a short test whether if she’s dangerous or not (At least the impression is something like this)

To discuss the whole disappointment issue, I should start with her main attack, it’s simple yet weak, a 2400 damage deals within 3 seconds, can be thrown over walls within a 7.33 tile radius, 1750 projectile speed, and 2 seconds reload. It seems fine but after all but the whole utility combined is weird to say the least, Barley with the same projectile speed and reload but could do further range, Larry with the same range can deal more damage and quicker damage output, Dyna has more damage, plus her range + projectile speed is overall bad (Literally, Sprout has longer range + area denial, Grom and Tick has that very particular range)…..

And it takes 12 EXACT FULL TOXIC TICKS to charge one, 1 less hit takes you more time than that

Well sure it’s a design balancing to fair out her “Control” aspect, so that should have worked, right?

Let’s break down her super, she sends out a tadpole with a 4130 projectile speed in a 8.33 tiles and take control the 1st enemy it hits, lasts for 4 seconds, seems kinda decent but the truth is the whole process leads to many issues, if not counting those glitches…

The very 1st thing is how this controlling extremely depends on RAW STATS, imagine you controlled a normal movement speed enemy, usually we will do 1 out of 2 things, either create chaos to the enemy side by distracting lanes or pull them back to your team and let your teammates deal with them while they’re low on defence. If the map is a typical 3 lane map, and you dealt with your lane by dragging the enemy to other lanes, it will take like 1 or 1.5 seconds to arrive the other lane, or 2s or more to reach your side.

Next is obviously the ammo count, getting control on a slow reload enemy brawler (Say 1.8s) while they’re short on ammo is actually bad, cuz you’re doing almost nothing while forced to froze ( You wasted time to reload ammo yet the only thing you can do is to drag the enemy), you could see how ammo count is important to determine the value of the super, these stats very much making Willow a hit or miss for controlling

POSITIONING is another issue, like unless you get the enemy near you face, you usually get them in distance, but ask these to yourself : How far you can go with the controlled enemy? Is that really a good idea? You might be just dragging it for 4 whole seconds without making anything works. Plus if there’s more than 1 enemy nearby you yet not on the same lane, you’re basically sitting duck and waiting to respawn if you can’t distract the enemy within time. See how this makes her less viable for a safe controlling process

Well STATS is next, let’s just face it, 8.33 tiles isn’t good enough for the controlling range, as said before of positioning, this range means the MAXIMUM range you could make the controlling work within time, and the time lasted? Be real, it’s not good enough for an impact, at least compared to other controllers’ abilities (Charlie lasts for at most 5s, Finx lasts for 6s, Meeple and Lou lasts for 10s), Willow looked like a bad deal to trade with, and she doesn’t have anything like Otis’ quick finishing abilities (3s mute is good for him). Let’s not exclude the fact it CAN BE BLOCKED by spawnables (1500 damage, really SC), even Charlie super could ignore that

That’s not all, SIDE FACTORS are next, her positioning takes risk, as stated before, the HP she could possibly handle is still fragile (11200 HP while controlling enemy with your HP is full on), enemies could shreds you within 3 seconds if full on pouring damage to you, the worst of all is when they decided to target you, you literally have no escape (Except Dive but I will talk about later). Speaking of which, giving the controlled enemy Full HP is actually a terrible idea, if you died early the enemy could get full on benefit, even if you did safely past the 4 seconds, the enemy could still be a threat if used wrongly, and never bring a supercharged enemy back to your team’s base….

Enough about that, let’s talk about SP and Gadgets, Spellbound is slowly becoming good after the gadget change since you can pour damage frequently, still it sacrifices the supercharge of it, Dive is okay but that harsh timing is always pulling it back, since you either managed your time or other way around. Love is Blind….be honest I feel like this SP is not that great, since you could annoy people over walls, there’s not much need to make them essentially reload slower (Tho the addition 42% reload time is good on normal reload brawlers), Obsession is somehow what makes Willow slightly vital since you can make the positioning and moving much easier and more effective, could be base kit but SC didn’t cook

HC tho….. the control time can’t make the fragile fact less suffering, plus wasting the stats boost during the process, worst of all, the controlled enemy didn’t get any buffs somehow

Back to the balancing fact, I think SC’s “buffs” to her is more like an experiment to see when will she be “broken”, but its more like small compensations each time, like from the initial version she has LESS HP AND NO SHIELD, ultra within control width and short range, till this day, she still hardly feels complete, and that HC didn’t save her from bad to vitality

The only place she’s good and ultra toxic is Brawl Ball, and be honest I hate the gimmick here since it’s hardly defensive if Willow got her hands onto the ball, Hot Zone and Gem Grab tho she is meh

TD:LR, Willow is such a failed test by SC to prove the “Control” mechanic is good in their hands yet she hardly be used and greatly impact games and matches except Brawl Ball, they should do something better either improve the worthy of her or just give up, this is just no worth the time if they don’t give good care or anything, though HC saved her yet nope