Paragon: Monolith Impressions
Paragon has been given a huge facelift with the new Monolith update. Not only is there a brand new map, but faster times to kill and some big hero changes make it seem like Epic’s got a brand new bag.
First and foremost, one of the biggest differences for players who were used to the legacy map is the lane changes. Monolith is a lot more like LoL or DOTA, where you have a safe lane, off lane, and mid. Mid is also now kinked, so you can’t see enemies all the way back at Tier 2 towers. This is already changing the team composition dynamic, and it’s becoming more and more apparent that you can’t just gather a team of tanky fighters and deathball straight to the core.
________________________
“Epic took a lot of criticism to heart and made some huge changes.”
Speaking of tanks, the tank meta is gone! Health and armor received huge nerfs, and most abilities had their cooldowns reduced. Now, fights are fast and frantic. Travel mode is also gone, meaning if you can escape a fight, you’re not going to get enemies essentially leap-frogging in and out of travel mode to catch you. I’ve noticed a lot of people chasing kills all the way through the jungle over the past week, unaware that only a few heroes can really chase down kills now.
One hero in particular got a full rework. Twinblast, often made fun of on Reddit or the Epic forums, is now actually viable. His ultimate is twin machine guns and nitro turned into a triple shot for three rapid-fire shots. His grenades no longer slow, but there are three charges so you can clear minion waves with ease at higher levels. On the flip side, a few heroes seem to have been given devastating nerfs. Iggy and Scorch’s turrets now give CXP to the enemy team when destroyed, and without the tank meta he’s no longer able to build straight tank and walk through fights.
Dekker, while still somewhat viable, is also in a very odd place now. Her ultimate is over quickly, but so are team fights. Many are crying that she’s unplayable, but I’ve seen good players turn the tide of battle numerous times. Most of the heroes are going to take some getting used to due to the new meta and nature of the game.
New buffs litter Monolith and gone are the days of shredding towers with black buff. We now have the two river buffs which give mana regen on top of a random buff: temporary shadow plane entry, increased movement speed, increased ability damage, or damage over time on basic attacks. These are both up at 3 minutes and return every 2 minutes after that. The river buff is currently a huge point of contention between laners and junglers, and if you ignore them and let the other team grab both, you’re going to be in for a bad time.
The jungle buff grants a temporary shield which explodes once it’s been destroyed. Not only is this great for clearing the jungle in the early game, but it can be incredibly devastating during team fights to soak up the burst damage and get a free attack on whoever is around you. Orb Prime remains basically the same, but now on the other side of the map there is a new jungle camp called the raptors. This is a more powerful camp that gives much more CXP than normal, but be careful because they pack quite the punch.
If you still haven’t checked out Monolith yet, I recommend doing so. Epic took a lot of criticism to heart and made some huge changes. While it’s not the perfect balance and many complain that we’re back to the glass cannon crit meta, it’s a huge step in the right direction. ADCs are strong but it’s not like we’re back to the 1200 damage crit days of yore. As long as Epic can keep tweaking and fine-tuning, I think Paragon has a real chance of becoming the next big MOBA.