I’ve a lot of friends who play Paragon and like most people, they had a lot of questions relating to Monolith. In this article I’ve attempted to round up as many questions as I can find from them, the forums and Reddit to (hopefully) answer them. Take a look below.
Q) Are there any new “Pings?”
A) Yes - there’s a new “Ward OP!” ping.
Q) What are Raptors and do they roam the jungle?
A) Sadly not, they’re situated just off the offlane and can strengthen - as far as I can see - up to three. They’re stationary at the moment and are incredibly difficult to solo.
Q) What does the Black buff do now?
A) Technically it’s now a river buff and provides damage over time to enemies. The Black buff camp still has raptors, but these reward a full card level upon killing each raptor.
Q) Has the game got the old travel mode animation in yet?
A) Sadly not, but Epic stated it will be implemented when you’ve been running for a short while.
Q) How much faster is the game?
A) It’s difficult to tell exactly but it feels at least 20-25% faster. Significantly quicker than the walking speed of Legacy, but slower than its Travel Mode.
Q) Will the movement speed change affect my ability to play on a pad (I’m a PS4 player)?
A) Honestly, that’ll depend entirely on your personal ability with a controller and how used to playing ‘twitchy’ games you are.
Q) Are there any new skins?
A) Not in the Monolith client I played.
Q) Is card crafting implemented yet?
A) Not yet, although I did see a skin that could be craftable (for Twinblast) however this seems to have been removed from the client after it was patched.
Q) Are there any changes to cast or strike tokens?
A) No, they’re still here and usable by everyone.
Q) Does it take a long time to now earn Card Experience?
A) Honestly it’s still very fast, even if you only gain one card level at a time. Gaining three card points takes a few minutes if you farm well or secure kills. It takes about 4 minutes to get your first 3 points.
Q) Is there any new lore about Monolith?
A) I’ve looked but can’t find any.
Q) Are there any UI changes?
A) I haven’t noticed any.
Q) Do Inhibitors respawn?
A) No. Once they’re dead, they’re dead.
Q) How do Wards now work?
A) They respect line of sight but also now have a fixed cooldown. Going back to base won’t replenish them (it’s around 120 seconds per charge).
Q) What has happened to Harvester Keys now they’re no longer in the game?
A) They’ve been adjusted to act as normal cards that provide benefits against jungle minions.
Q) Have minions changed any?
A) Siege minions seem to have a new flashier ranged attacked.
Q) How much does the gold buff grant additional card experience?
A) From testing that I’ve done, at level 5, I gained 120 + 450 bonus card experience per last hit.
Q) Does The Fey stop moving when readying abilities?
A) No. She can move freely with all abilities, she only stops moving on casting her Ultimate. It's a brief pause of about 0.5 seconds.
Q) Why is the Safe Lane named the Safe Lane?
A) Partly due to the new map design of Monolith and partly because Heroes that play there would struggle in Offlane or Mid Lane. You couldn’t have Sparrow in Offlane for example because she’d quickly be overwhelmed by her opponent (her clear is too slow) nor could you have Narbash in the Mid Lane (again because his clear is too poor). Safe Lane allows Heroes such as your Carry (Sparrow, Murdock, Twinblast) to farm safely as there is only one entrance to it that you can easily Ward, while such safe farming allows your team’s Support to gain easy card experience.
Q) Will I have to remake my decks?
A) You will. It’s also worth doing as most cards have changed.
Q) Has cooldown reduction been completely removed?
A) It has been removed as a card upgrade component but is still present on some cards, but in smaller values (such as Mind Flow).
Q) What are the River buffs?
A) These are a random selection of buffs that are temporary and which are easy to obtain quickly (the creatures die easily). They offer movement speed, stealth (or entry into the Shadow Plane) a damage over time and a straight damage increase.
Q) Can you still solo Orb Prime?
A) I’ve tried on multiple Heroes and he hits very hard. The only Hero I came close to achieving this with was Khaimera but it took far too long by myself.
Q) What is the difference between basic damage and ability damage?
A) It’s pretty easy: your basic damage are your left mouse button. Your ability damage is any skill with a cooldown. Regardless of your Hero, all your basic attacks and ability damage scale with Power. Simply put, if you want to hit harder, buy cards with Power.
Q) What armor should I now buy?
A) It depends entirely on what enemy composition you’re against. Are you against a team that mostly relies on their basic attacks? Take basic armor. If you’re against a team with lots of abilities such as Gideon or Howitzer, take ability armor.
Q) How effective is health as an attribute?
A) All health values from cards were halved. It’s still useful, just no where near as strong.
Q) Is a crit-chance build viable now?
A) I’ve tried several critical builds and they seem better than they were, but critical damage bonus cards cost 6 points. I can’t see people investing in these until they bring the price down to 3.
Q) Which Heroes do you think are particularly strong in Monolith?
A) Unquestionably Sevarog, Kallari, Feng Mao and Twinblast. Most Heroes are still very good but these stand out.
Q) Is our ELO being reset for Monolith?
A) No, it’ll remain the same as Legacy.
Q) How much faster do abilities cast?
A) Frighteningly quicker. Take a look at our .gifs to see for yourself.
Q) Is Offlane the hardest lane to play on?
A) Without a doubt. You’re fighting against 2 players by yourself. That said, the map design of Monolith does help the Offlaner as if the enemy wants to push to the Tower, they leave themselves very vulnerable from behind and from the jungle.
Q) Do you have data on the scaling changes?
A) Sadly I don’t. However, I can say that all Heroes feel “squishier” and the time to kill appears shorter.
Q) Are mana and health regeneration important in Monolith?
A) Honestly, I think they’re must-have cards and upgrades now. Lanes are short and the enemy can push incredibly quickly. Going back to base can see you lose a lane very easily. Having sustain through health and mana regeneration is an enormous benefit.
Q) Is there now a movement penalty when strafing/firing/attacking?
A) Yes. You move notably slower when attacking in comparison to someone who is simply running.
Q) What do you think has changed the most between Legacy and Monolith?
A) Undoubtedly the speed of movement and using abilities. Its transformed the game.
Q) Why does Dekker have such a long cooldown on her Containment Fence when it only lasts 3 seconds?
A) I can’t speak for Epic but the duration is more than enough time to unless every single Ultimate ability against those trapped. Howitzer - as one example - gets his full Ultimate off before the fence comes down. She’s still very strong.
Q) What are your thoughts on the Amber Links?
A) I still don’t see the value of them in their current form and still think they need reworking. They feel very inconsequential.
Have a question about Monolith? Ask in the comments below and I'll be sure to answer it!
Read our Monolith Hands-On Impressions here!
Want to learn about how the balance changes effect Paragon's Heroes? Hit the jump.
Want to see the Monolith login menu, cards and Hero abilities? Look here.
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