Is Cloak Overpowered. The Finals
Rock, paper, scissors This concept of game design has been around for a long time, and when the finals launched. I was able to see the underlying concept of rock paper scissors in having this cycle of play where one thing ends up being countered by the next, where that next thing is then countered by the next, and there are a few things, such as Recon, that had little counters, which did kind of feel out of place.
We also had some situations, like nukes, where the counters were simply not strong enough to keep up with the raw power that nukes brought. I always saw the game as heavy as rock, medium as scissors, and light as paper. The heavy class relied a lot on its utility and gadgets for its power, such as RPGs and C4s.
Shields, etc., and Light was able to stun, glitch, and do tons of DPS to melt that big HP bar, essentially removing Heavy's capabilities. Light relied on being stinky, approaching from off angles, and either had to play back with its weapons or get right in people's faces. Medium was actually able to use the Recon sonar grenade and tracking dart to essentially track and scout the light back, making it much harder for the light to do what its job is, which is taking off angles, and even when it was in a face-to-face match, the medium's weapons would often just win even when stun, especially with the F car's accuracy.
The medium was typically the support bringing mobility, healing deib, or Intel Gathering, depending on the load out with little to defend themselves. They relied a lot on being near teammates; the heavy was very explosive and could actually just wipe targets instantly. The mesh provided a safe way to reposition.
The sa2 is still one of the strongest DPS weapons in the game and can melt targets; the medium is no exception. They also have C4 RPGs and domes that are excellent. Potentially, they also did have access to nukes, and combined with this versus a medium, they seem to be really good at just taking them out since the medium's mobility often was stuff like the jump pad or zipline, which didn't really provide enough of an escape when you got caught out now.
Speaking of nukes, we've also seen plenty of different strategies. Come and go to explain the nuke first. It was where you'd strap C4 onto a barrel and throw it at an enemy to blow it up. This was strong enough to wipe out an entire team. This was removed in season two after plenty of balancing attempts previously that didn't seem to get it quite in the spot that people were happy with.
We saw the Recon meta take over the game, an ability that gave you wall hacks, map-wide knowing where every single player is, was definitely not the healthiest thing in the game, and was a complete counter to stuff like Cloak in season 2 medium lost Recon and also ended up losing the tracking dart and sonar grenade as those ended up moving over to light.
This means that the cloak no longer has a counter outside of another light, which means paper now counters paper. The cloak also makes noise when activated. While they're cloaked, they make a buzzing sound. There's also a shimmer on cloaked players. These effects are either stronger or weaker depending on how fast the light player is moving, so you can actually sit still in a corner and be quiet, and it's also very hard to see as your shimmer increases.
It is very hard to notice, so there is sort of counterplay in that regard, but nothing really direct. Now the developers do not have to make this game rock, paper, scissors, and that may not have been the intention originally. It is a sandbox game, and freedom is very important. I also don't think everything needs a counter.
But it does create the current issue where players are very upset with Cloak, and especially the stun gun in combination, as in casual play it is completely taking over and complaints about Cloak are all reddits. I typically play ranked; I currently am Diamond 1, and I'm in and out of the top 100 depending on how many cheaters I've happened to face that day.
My peak rank was 40 this season. I'm most likely going to be kind of stepping back a little bit from ranked until some of the cheating issues are dealt with, and the rank system is a little bit more clear when it comes to light in general. We are luckily seeing more of them in rank this season, and the light-medium-heavy comp is very strong and often used by some of the best teams currently in the game.
Basically, every light in the top 100, or really top 500 for that matter, tends to use Cloak and lh1 or xp54. Stun Gun Gateway, and glitch, and there are some variables like sonar grenade tracking Dart that get brought out sometimes, and then there are some other gadgets being popped up here and tested, but as it stands, it seems like Cloak is the go-to specialization.
For the best players out there now, in my opinion, you can certainly run a vase of Dash and still do well, but an issue I have is that Cloak is so good for playing the objective and staying alive, so you could run a vanish bomb if you're running an evasive Dash. This creates a new dilemma: which gadget do you drop the stun gun on?
honestly is one of the best gadgets for lights. There's a reason why so many people complain about it: it can stop steals, make great picks for you and your team, keep you alive while you're running away, and so much more. Is huge; it is a very big reason why light is so good this season. The ability to traverse the map with your team is so incredible.
It also gives you amazing escape and even chase potential; overall, the utility it brings for your team can't be ignored. Glitch grenades after the rework making them work on impact was amazing; now it's one of the best ways to break up steel where they're using Dome Shield best and also breaking up defenses when you are trying to steal.
We see this gadget is finally allowing you to play aggressively and succeed. But if you don't see a ton of heavies, you could potentially drop this. But heavy is still dominating. The meta, so it's kind of unlikely, is why we aren't seeing a lot of evasive dashes at the moment, and H ELO, the way I see it is that this is a team game through and through.
A huge reason why heavy and medium have been so good is the impact they have on the team heavy with its ability to drop cash outs with all the multiple shield barricades to protect your team and survive. This class is just great as the front line for the team in the medium of defib. Heals and mobility for the entire team are all extremely strong, and then we have light where we have fewer team utility choices.
The stun and glitch are amazing for opening up a lot of fights defending cash outs, and the Gateway now provides the same team. Mobility that the medium often brought, however, I'd say it's actually a lot better and also has some more unique utility that comes along with it. When I look at my teammates and what they are running.
