Thoughts on the new Queen nerf.

[VortexGaming]

So, July 1st the queen can no longer charge and her speeds been reduced. I know a good queen can wipe marines alone but was it really her speed that needed the nerf? I would think it'd be her screech.

I just want to hear some opinions about it.

[DefinitelyAlone0309]

I feel like if queen ever loses her screech, hive will just be fucked, because the entire meta of xenu from long long ago till here has been to rely on the screech to attack/defend.

The charge nerf was necessary, the speed nerf not so much. While personally I don't think it's that much of an impact if you don't just unga dunga your way into the middle of the marines with no flanking maneuver whatsoever, I can see why it can be annoying to get used to for queen players.

[VortexGaming]

I feel like if queen ever loses her screech, hive will just be fucked, because the entire meta of xenu from long long ago till here has been to rely on the screech to attack/defend.

The charge nerf was necessary, the speed nerf not so much. While personally I don't think it's that much of an impact if you don't just unga dunga your way into the middle of the marines with no flanking maneuver whatsoever, I can see why it can be annoying to get used to for queen players.

I mean as screech nerf as not losing it but reducing the stun time and raising the cool down. stuff like that

[CABAL]

Then it would be still used as before, but with less impresive effects. Cool down was trival since "charge in, screech and run back" tactic (That would change into "run in, screech and run back since removal of charge). Reducing stun time would just mean less marines getting killed during one push and those two things combined to longer battles and longer rounds.

Queen really needs now to be "brain" of xenos, not brawn. Robust players as queen now can't decimate squads alone by running around colony/ship for hours being chased by marines.

[Gnorse]

Exactly. The nerf was much needed, imho, since a semi-decent queen player was able to charge in, kill some marines by running them over, screech, kill even more marines and charge away, all while stunning marines using neuro and killing them in 1v1s.

[BadApple]

My least favorite thing about the queen charge was that it was used to bravely charge away from the marines when the round is about to end, dragging it out ages because no marine can catch her.

It seems the screech is still powerful enough

[Saytkl77]

I don't find it a particularly strong nerf for two reasons.

1) It encourages the queen to hang around a chokepoint and scream/ neuro marines there while slashing, rather than charging into the middle of 30 marines.

We had a round recently I played queen after this patch, where we went up in the dropship and 50 marines rushed the dropship with us down to about 8 xenos. I just chilled around the dropship and tight corners and killed about 30 marines, focusing on stunning marines and dragging them away, then whenever they passed their morale check and went in as a group, screamed them and slashed 5-6 with the help of the hive. Charge being removed is basically a non-issue in close quarters combat without long open spaces, which is where you want to be as a xeno.

It encourages newer queens not to charge into the middle of a massive group of marines on open ground (because they can't!) which is the number one way I see queens die. (Its always "I'm going in", "Screaming!", followed by the queens death scream).

2) It encourages the queen not to fight and instead stay in ovi.

Personally I feel like queens drop ovi too quickly, and stay out of it too long, consider the benefits of ovi:

- You can spread a very strong warding pheromone across 2-3 different areas of the battlefield simultaneously. For instance you can give it to the front, to a group of xenos flanking the front, and to a group of xenos ambushing marines heading between the FOB and the front. This is like giving your entire hive a flat health buff, which disappears the moment you leave ovi and instead only affect those near you. Warding is the difference between a xeno wrecking marines for 40 minutes, before getting caught being overconfident and dieing, and a xeno survivng for the full 2.5 hours, with several close calls at 5-10% hp.

- It lets you heal xenos, you can cycle between your mature ravagers/elite lurkers and when one over-commits heal them. Each time you save someone, its the equivalent of a button that says "Spend 600 plasma, pop out a mature ravager/elite lurker for your hive". The combination of this and the warding pheromone, means that each second you spend out of ovi, you are burning through xeno lives at an increased rate, from xenos who lose the warding protection and who can't be saved from being crit.

- It lets xenos gather evolution points, while you are out of ovi, xenos aren't gathering evolution points, this means when inevitably T2/T3s die, there isn't someone immeadility able to evolve and replace them, I see alot of queens who keep fighting at the front even once the push is broken, and the hive is down to one T3 and two to three T2s. This has knock on effects because even when they do eventually ovi, the T2/T3 xenos are much younger than if the queen had ovi'ed earlier.

- It gives you perfect knowledge of the battlefield, at the end of the day the queen is the commander of the xeno forces. In ovi she can see how all the different fronts are faring, she can see where marines have few defenses, she can see whether xenos who have spotted marines are over or under exaggerating the strength of marine forces in given locations, her long sight even lets her see things her own xenos cant. When she de-ovis she gets a bit of "tunnel vision", she no longer has long sight, she has to rely on often vague reports from runners as to marine strength and location.

The main way to lose versus the marines as xenos in my opinion is to just have one front, which the marines push down with CAS and explosives, one front makes the xenos into the defender struggling to survive. By contrast if you have three fronts, with marines being flanked from behind, from the north and from the way they are trying to push. Marines often don't know which way to go, they dont have enough barricades to cade up every entrance, their morale to push in is lower, when xenos keep appearing behind them and off to their side.

Also I think the charge change is good for ending delaying, when the queen is down to 5 xenos, the only way she is going to turn that around, is to ovi, get some eggs, capture a squad of 6-7 marines that attack her, and protect it long enough to burst. Without charge she is encouraged to try and stay and defend and actually make a comeback, rather than just charge around the map slashing marines, but doing nothing to replenish xeno numbers, which eventually dwindle to zero.

[DefinitelyAlone0309]

snipo

I mean, if it makes the population of queen players improve and not just rely on the crutch wombo combo that is charge+screech+charge away after, I'm all for it. If marines blindly charge into a choke with a queen and some other neuro users, they should be dunked. If queen gets off her ovi early and tries to be this killing machine, she should be dunked (but most of the time, she's not, because she can just charge away before this update)

[Reuben Owen]

it's fine

queen was fine before she got charge anyway

[Build_R_]

I like the speed and charge nerf. At least now it won't feel like watching Scooby Doo running down the halls as the queen charges away from marines constantly at the end of the round. The charge nerf was sorely needed and now it forces the queen to work with other xenos like using a defender or a charger as a shield while she runs up to screech at the marines.

[ThesoldierLLJK]

The change is better, the queen should be a support role more than a front line fighter role. She's like the AOE stunner while the tanks and DPS run in to finish the job.

[Lorem123]

Queen is still a bit too strong but at least you don't get rounds where the queen is just charging down long hallways for the entire match after the xenos get their asses kicked and delaying the round for an hour+ in hopes of getting a chance to ovi.

[lmwevil]

I'd be okay with the Queen having boiler levels of speed in return for some ludicrous health pool

[MattAtlas]

Queen is still a bit too strong

Local marine can't 1v1 the Queen anymore, literally cannot be.

Jokes aside the charge nerf was necessary. I don't agree with the speed nerf but it is what it is-- an armoured marine going faster than a frenzy Queen is quite the meme.

[Symbiosis]

If the Queen is getting chased alone then she deserves to die. She has Neuro, Screech, High tackle chance.

Nerf is fine, speed nerf just slows her down a bit. The thing I miss most is charging through window sills and shutters.

SURPRISE! ITS QUEENIE!

[Davidchan]

Charge nerf was absolutely needed. Queen should be Ovi when ever possible and only ripping out to defend the hive or do a final push. She doesn't need to be a super crusher and she certainly shouldn't be doing hit and run attacks on Marine positions. If Queen is attacking, it has to be a full commitment and not some half measure to whittle down opposing forces resources and supplies.

[BobatNight]

I'm completely fine with the change, unfortunately it doesn't seem to be discouraging Queens from "Coming to help" yet but it seems a lot more fair to the Marine players who stood little to no chance against the Queen's charges before.

[Symbiosis]

I'm completely fine with the change, unfortunately it doesn't seem to be discouraging Queens from "Coming to help" yet but it seems a lot more fair to the Marine players who stood little to no chance against the Queen's charges before.

Queen helping is almost a necessity with Medics and pushes overall favoring the Marines. Even if they only gain a few steps, they can retrieve their dead/wounded and treat them. Xeno lives are very limited.

[BobatNight]

I'd say my biggest issue with Queen's coming to help is when they're coming far too early. It usually cripples the Hive unless they can command the xeno in such a way that you have a swarm at your back, other-wise it leads to a lot of early Queen deaths.

[Schall Meister]

i dont think either shouldve been nerfed, queen was perfect the way she was, in the movies a pred couldnt really take a queen that good 1 on 1 but this game makes it seem like its the other way around, buuuuut i liked the old queen better thats just my opinion

[NethIafins]

If queen loses screech it will go to another caste

Now look at drone Evo. You see ??? ?

That'd be it

[misto]

too much power had been concentrated into the queen. i guess they felt that with the rise of warrior, defender, and revamped prae, that it is safe to cut back on the queen, and i think theyre correct for the most part