Hercules after most recent patch

What do you all think about the recent Hercules changes? I played him about 10 times in a row last night, went 5-5. I think the added stun on the 1 makes him a lot more viable and sustained in lane.

I need blue at pretty much all times or else I can't keep my health up with 3 as much as I'd like to.

I love that the stun is now baked into Driving Stike regardless of health.

I really love playing Hercules, but i find him to often be very unforgiving. Although very rewarding.
Missing my Earthbreaker ment i had no follow up and my whole setup is ruined.

With the stun, it kinda makes Driving Strike viable solo aswell as in synergy with Earthbreaker.

Also, Herc kinda feels like a carry.
He feels very weak early game and becomes incredibly powerful lategame.
Atleast for me he does, i become an unstoppable juggernaut later in the game while i struggle just to keep myself going until i get some proper mana regeneration.

I never play him myself, but I've been up against him a lot. And to be honest I never really feared him before (except his boulder ofc) because the pull is so easy to avoid. But now as he got a stun he feels pretty decent to go up against.

So I think it was a good change :)

He definitely needed something to help with his stun, but I wish they would have taken a different route. He's always seemed like a low skill floor and high skill ceiling god to me, so I wish they had given his Driving Strike a mechanic similar to Impale; if he pushes them into a wall, they will be stunned for 1s (and of course still keep the <50% health stun regardless).

When I first started playing I actually kept trying to push people into walls because that's how I thought it worked, lol.

The reason alot of people didn't play him in casual was probably just because he took some more skill to play then other gods who can just smack you around and are much easier to play.

I noticed a few things when people pick hercules in casual.

They think because of their 3 they are invincible.

They miss alot and I mean ALOT of their 2's.

They can't really do much since they never land their 2.

The only thing they usually hit me with is his ult sometimes.

So what I'm saying is, hercules 2 is somewhat of a skill shot. Its not the easiest thing to do and you need it to bring people towards you. I sometimes miss my 2 and it takes more focus to use it then other skills. You have to be at the perfect range, you have to lead it because of the slight delay on it and you have to put them in the box at the end of the 2.

So players that ain't good with hercules will have a hard time playing with him.
Players that for some reason are very good with using hercules 2 will do much better simply because they can bring the enemy to them now.

Players need to know when to use their 3 also.

A good hercules will PURPOSELY take damage when his 3 is maxed because he knows it will regenerate more hp back.

The only probably with herc was that he takes some skill to use, thats not a bad thing to me.
I guess I won't call him OP yet but he is super strong IN THE HANDS of a good hercules.

Well, that is unless the enemy team has healing reduction items like Divine Ruin, or a god that can cast a healing reduction like Sobek with his Sickening Strike, or if he knows he will survive the onslaught long enough to regenerate back up.

I was thinking after playing Herc, Earthbreaker has kind of become just a secondary.
Whereas pre-buff, Earthbreaker was my primairy attack. However it was very unforgiving.

Seeing how unforgiving Earthbreaker was and how important it was to hit your target with it before the buff, it was both frustrating and rewarding.

But now hitting with Earthbreaker is just a bonus, a great one though.
Because my primairy initiation and damage tool has now become Driving Strike.
Herc kinda lost some synergy and some of its rewarding playstyle.

So i tought, how would be the best way to fix that without nerfing him again?

- Driving Strike only stuns targets that has its movement speed impaired.
- Earthbreaker, also puts targets off balance, slowing their movement.

Earthbreaker and Driving Strike synergy is back, not the easy stun and Earthbreaker has its role as initiator back.

I think Hercules is balanced now.
I genuinely enjoyed playing him in my last couple of games and think I'll be picking him up a lot more!

I still use the earthbreaker, driving strike combo as you can really put people out of position with it as well as dealing a little damage. Earthbreaker has always been a utility skill for me as I prioritise either his healing or 1 for the damage.

Long live Hercules, the stun doesn't make a huge difference but just enough to make him more fun to play as gods with jumps can be aa'd after the driving strike!

Really? I still use Earthbreaker as my primary.

Earthbreaker, 180, Driving strike them toward your tower. Rinse, repeat

Its very situational when i use Earthbreaker as an initiate. Getting cornered on your tower and pulling enemies in works great, but its not (atleast not my) main source of kills.

Coming to assist a lane or gank, with a Driving Strike on multiple targets is FAAAAR better of an iniator than pulling in someone with Eartbreaker.

Ever since Driving Strike got its stun baselined, i've been ganking the majority of games and getting my team into a advantage when you jump in and stun multiple targets.
Not only does it stun them, it also neatly puts them into a tight spot. Having massive synergy with other gods.
Putting them in a bad spot so for Ultimates like Release the Kraken, Searing Pain, Shards of Ice, etc. or making it much easier to connect other attacks.

Not only offensively mind you. Using Driving Strike defensively to help someone trying to escape from one or more gods pretty much guarantees their survivability.

Additionally, this means i have Eartbreaker to counter their escapes.
If they start running after the stun, i can just pull em right back in.