I have had a long running debate with some friends of mine. They both think Ao needs a total nerf, whereas I don't see it necessary simply because of how squishy he is and he has a shaky escape. All you have to do is dodge his attacks. However I would like to hear better counter arguments than "HE'S OP, HE'S OP!!,"
My biggest issue is the amount of damage he does on Tornadoes/Whirlwind if you so much as graze it. A squishy who grazes it (and it will happen eventually) will lose about a quarter, maybe more of their life.
I would be completely fine with his 2 being buffed if they did something about the damage on his 3.
Ao Kuang is easy to deal with if you know his tornadoes are on cooldown or he messes up with it. If he does land spirit's tempest and squall you'll still be dead though.
If you step a pinkie toe into Ao's tornadoes late game, a squishnugget will lose half their health. His ultimate will literally oneshot people as long as you get Book of Thoth.
He's a lot harder to use than other oneshot gods like He Bo or Loki. But the results are similar.
If you step a pinkie toe into Ao's tornadoes late game, a squishnugget will lose half their health. His ultimate will literally oneshot people as long as you get Book of Thoth.
He's a lot harder to use than other oneshot gods like He Bo or Loki. But the results are similar.
Pretty much this.
The fact his ult does a ridiculous amount of damage and is pretty much insta-cast is a bit stupid. I can't count how many times I've been attacking an Ao at melee range, only to have him turn around and one shot me instantly with his ult without me being able to do much about it.
And I won't go into much about the damage on his tornadoes since it's already been covered here already.
"Dodging his attacks" is a lot easier said than done. A good Ao, or really any good god/goddess, will try to anticipate any course deviation and account for it, and honestly, it's really not that hard to do.
Other mages suffer from a lack of escape, and yet Ao Kuang shines over most, if not all of them as far as damage goes.
He's not the most OP character in the game, but he could definitely survive a damage nerf in some spots.
I main Ao so I never have trouble fighting an enemy Ao. He's easy enough to dodge and is fodder for many gods in the game. He's not a 1v1 combatant usually and his #2 is almost useless. I use it for dropping tornadoes deep into enemy territory more than for escaping. Against a noob team he can seem overpowered, but when playing against people who know what they're doing, he's average at best. He requires a lot of skill to play aggressively - and that's how I play him. It either works wonders or I die miserably.
Now tank Ao Kuang.... that's a different story... When the enemy team is stupid enough to pick all phys or all magic I go tank kuang. I start with Warlock's, then Ethereal Staff, 3 defensive items (preferably with health for Staff's passive, or Breastplate of Valor if phys team), and end with Rod of Tahuti. With this build, by level 20 I'm at ~3300 HP with ~250-300 or so protection and ~500 MP. Plenty to kill with and I can survive back to back ults from just about any god. I consider this build maybe a little overpowered because A. I haven't lost with it yet and B. I can usually hold my own 1v3 in the middle of a cluster f*$k. I only manage about half of my normal kills but rarely die and have a ton of assists at the end of a game.
TANK KUANG!!!
EDIT: This is particularly fun when playing with a tank who goes all offense. It confuses the enemy initially and can lead to the snowball effect.
edit: Legendary Kukulkan is so sexy, he has white wings ohmygawd im buying
I still buy a poly instead of soul reaver because I don't think it will work well with tornadoes (so the passive triggers earlier then wanted). but the mana is a good point (and teh **** load of damage it gives) still I like a bit of lifesteal.
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