Epic Buffs for Not-So Epic Creatures

Hello everyone! Ed here. I was bored and just thinking about how in the last patch, there were almost no changes to any creatures minus an adjustment to one move, which barely impacted the two creatures using it. It was pretty meh and hopefully this patch, we see more changes in all rarities. I decided that maybe I could assist Ludia with some potential ideas to get the ball rolling. Here's a starting point. It has worked before, with creatures like Baryonyx gen 2, Megistotherium, and Ankylocodon gaining relevance while other ideas of mine like Nodosaurus, Kentrosaurus, and Parasaur Lux now being meta staples in their respective rarities. So, I thought, why not do it again? And that is what I’ve done. I decided to just stick with Epics this time around as the last tournament format that I really played focused on purely Epics, so I know how the Becklespinax twins fit into the mix (and how they kind of run the show). So, here are my reworks. I hope you enjoy them and the method to my madness.

Ghost:

Only one Atrociraptor is still relevant and the other three struggle. Ghost has almost never been good and is universally accepted as the worst of the pack. I tried her one format and while she wasn’t bad, she just couldn’t do it. And now with the Becklespinax twins existing along with Gigantspinosaurus, Ghost just falls flat. With Chaos Theory season 3 coming up, I thought the Atrociraptor pack could use some love, with Ghost being the first to come to mind. And with that, I slightly improved her kit to tackle both Becklespinax dominating the format. She flat-out two-shots Blonde by striking first then using decimation. And with disarming lockdown on escape, Blonde can’t run away. With Brunette, it’s not as straightforward, but going for cautious strike should secure you the KO as well. I chose devour for Ghost because it helps around the pinning effects of INSTANT berserk decimation (I hate that this name is shared with Rajadorixis’s decimation move as well). She’s trapped, but not helpless and might be able to fire off another one.

Omegas will make things slightly harder on Ghost. I bring up Omegas because, while I and many others may not like them coming in and usually dominating whatever format they exist in, they are here and here to stay. That being said, Ghost can still hold her own. In a raw 1v1, she struggles against most top Omegas minus Geosternbergia. But with a setup, she can punch huge holes through even the bulkiest of Omegas like Olorotitan and Mastodonosaurus while being able to KO more frail Omegas like Sinraptor, Rativates, and Yutyrannus. In order to beat this new Ghost, Stegosaurs like Kentrosaurus and Gigantspinosaurus that can work around the dodge and deal big damage will do the trick. Ghost may chunk them, but Pulmonoscorpios can stun her and bleed her out. Ampelosaurus is another option, even without the stun, but just don’t get hit with a decimation critical hit.

Red:

Red is up next, and I decided to keep her pretty simple, but one not to take lightly. I first increased her deceleration resistance to better keep ahead of the pack after using accelerating shielded distraction. I added another on escape in on escape vitalize, which is what Arctovasilas has. But Red does one thing and one thing well: big damage. I gave her a full resilient counter along with tweaking berserk resilient rampage to impose vulnerability before attacking, allowing Red to one-shot Pulmonoscorpios, Argenteryx, and even Compsovenator. This allows Red to one-turn Blonde, Rativates (as long as it doesn’t kill you with jab and weave), Deinotops, and so on. And if Red can’t kill them, she’ll still chunk them for a good amount of their hp.

As for other top Omegas, she can’t kill Sinraptor unless she’s sped up. Yutyrannus is a prediction. Clever Girl isn’t clever enough to escape this rampaging raptor. Olorotitan will just brute force its way through as will Mastodonosaurus. Gigantspinosaurus and Kentrosaurus have the vulnerability immunity to keep themselves safe while Brunette has the bulk and shields to also take Red down. Other fierce with cleansing abilities like Allosaurus gen 2 and Giganotosaurus can find their way around, with the latter having to play more carefully.

Tiger:

Tiger is up next, and has always felt to be the weirdest of the Atrociraptors. Now I have been really bullying the Becklespinax twins with the other two, so now its time to bully Gigantspinosaurus. With this new kit, Tiger should be able to take on Gigantspinosaurus with ease while also keeping it there. You just need to make sure nullifying rampage isn’t available. Olorotitan will also not appreciate this new Tiger change as well seeing as it cannot just run away as per usual. The same is true for Spinosaurus Aegypticus, who isn’t going to like seeing Tiger after using up its revenge double piercing strike.

To beat this Tiger, there are many options to choose from. Yutyrannus and Sinraptor are no-brainers for omegas as is Mastodonosaurus. Other Epic options include Kentrosaurus, Stegoceratops, Procerathomimus, Pulmonoscorpios, and Sarcorixis.

Erlikogamma:

Next up isn't a raptor, but it's a raptor hybrid. Erlikogamma hasn't been doing too hot, especially with all the resilients running wild and now many cunnings and fierce standing up to it. So that's where this change comes into play. Accelerating obstruction allows Erlikogamma to trap fierce on the field and keep them there while it uses distraction to take them out. The instant impact and run may seem redundant, especially on a creature I made 131 speed now. But there's a reason. This Erlikogamma can take on Blonde and win thanks to the precision on both pounce and the impact. This is also why I increased it's hp. The other reason is due to Deinotops. This Epic is at the top of the rarity and can even bring Gigantspinosaurus to its knees if it swaps in on devouring wound. Hence why it's 131 speed. It's going to be able to dish out damage to Deinotops before swapping out. Or it might find itself in the rare 1v1 and can take it down. Resilient creatures will still be a pain, but Erlikogamma better fits in this current meta.

Dodos:

Let’s keep the feathered ball rolling with the Dodos. The Dodos were never good, even when flocks were first released and just flat out broken. The Dodos, however, never saw much play. Dodocevia had a chance to shine for a little bit before it too fell off. I want the Dodos to finally be good. There are a few things in its way to stardom: Blonde, Brunette, and Gigantspinosaurus. With these changes it can, again, take down the Becklespinax twins. Blonde drops 90% of the time with Brunette losing every time. Alert berserk decoy is a powerful move that can do big damage, but that’s all the Dodos really have after that. Not to mention other flocks like Pulmonoscorpios can get the better of it. Gigantspinosaurus can swap in if you predict flightless strike, but it still will take around 3000 damage from decoy, which is impressive for any cunning. Other solid options to take down these birds include Sarcorixis, Kentrosaurus, and Sinoceratops. Omega options to harvest these birds include Yutyrannus and Australotitan, but Omegas like Sinraptor better hide from these flightless birds.

Moros Intrepidus:

There are four Epic creatures with swaps that deal damage, and when Omega are included, an additional seven are thrown into the mix. Pretty big competition. Apart from Maiasikasaurus Moros Intrpidus is the worst, and I would choose Maiasikasaurus over Moros any day. Let’s just simplify things and look at the Epic swappers. Currently, I would say the best is Stegoceratops. It has priority, decent damage, decent resistances, good bulk, and an amazing kit. Sinoceratops isn’t far behind as it may not have as good of a kit, it has better stats and resistances as well as the ability to trap. Woolly Rhino may not have all these flashy new toys, but it still has raw stats backing it up as well as the highest attack of any swapper in the format with a powerful impact to follow up. Moros Intrepidus has the third lowest attack stat, the lowest hp stat, and the highest speed. But that doesn’t matter when you can’t deal enough damage to warrant a place over these three. The kit focuses on devour, but with being a flock, devour is basically wasted here. So instead, I went for a rally heal with Moros Intrepidus in both reversal as well as cleansing healing rampage, allowing Moros to take advantage of absorb like every other flock. This rampage also allows it to cleanse the swap prevention, which is another reason why it and Woolly Rhino fall short of the Ceratopsian duo. On escape reversal deters anything from swapping out while definite strike allows Moros Intrepidus to potentially pick off any Blondes hiding behind dodge along with other creatures that rely on it. Challenging alert impact is a nice move, but Moros Intrepidus could never take full advantage of it with that lower speed stat, hence the increased speed. Omegas like Sinraptor will not appreciate another good flock while Epics like Animantarx will still hold their own.

Darwinopterus:

Moros Intrepidus was a pretty mediocre Epic, but an Epic that is downright terrible and in contention for worst in the game is Darwinopterus. This Epic has never been good. I’ve only used it once, and it was a filler Epic and just was used for the swap in bleed when I had nothing else for an advantage format. A Dimorphodon would’ve been better honestly looking at it. There are about 16 Epics that have never been useful or good throughout the game’s lifespan, and I’m talking really bad. Like Ovilophosaurus isn’t included in this small group. Darwinopterus is and has been here since version 1.5 of JWA, which is a long time ago. So, I will try to finally make it usable. It will still be a swapper and rely on bleed, which runs into another issue: Dimodactylus. Dimodactylus is THE pivot for Epics and has been for a long time. It’s a fairly safe swap. So, I made Darwinopterus a more higher risk higher reward type of swapper. Cleansing swoop is a very safe option, but emergency swoop is like that, but better. You want to swap Darwinopterus into an attack that won’t kill it, but that will take it to threatened range, which is a small range. Then you use emergency swoop, heal all the way back up, and then swoop away. And creatures that are just immune to bleed have to respect it as the swap has affliction, and when paired with Darwinopterus’s high speed and the possible priority on emergency swoop (or with Darwinopterus’s newer 131 speed stat), you can make those immune creatures really bleed out. You can also just lead Darwinopterus and swoop away, inflicting 40% bleed (unless the opponent has an attacking on escape, doing a potential 73%!). Darwinopterus here now can just shred whatever it wants, but it has to be careful. You really cannot go around swapping willy nilly. Diplodocus, Smilodon, Giganotosaurus, Blonde, and Gigantspinosaurus can all send it to the mat with one attack. And I also gave Darwinopterus a 131 speed stat to swap in on Deinotops and have a shot to swap out.

Spinosaurus gen 2:

Speaking of bleeders, let's talk about a group of creatures in JWA that seem to keep getting the short end of the stick. So, every Spinosaur has seen better days. Even the mighty Suchotator has taken a back seat. I want to change that and what better candidate than Spinosaurus gen 2. I wanted to bring in a mechanic that only is seen once in the Epic rarity: act last. The only creature with an act last ability in this rarity is Blue, and it stinks. On a less disappointing note, I decided to make delayed wounding rampage, allowing it to better hit a specific Stegosaur running the show. This also allows Spinosaurus gen 2 to hit fierce like Giganotosaurus before it can cleanse away the bleed. And to finish things off, you have killer instinct. This paired with the increase in attack to 1400 allows Spinosaurus gen 2 to also take down frailer Yutyrannus in a single hit and pick off frailer faster Omega threats like Sinraptor, potentially baiting them into swapping before unleashing a rampage instead. And then the health buff is there to make life even worse for Gigantspinosaurus, allowing Spinosaurus gen 2 to swap in and take it down with it thanks to swap in wound. In order to keep this thing in check, you need to look towards Epics immune to bleed like Beelzebufo and Indominus Rex gen 2.

Entelochops:

This is the last bleeder, I promise. Let’s also introduce a mechanic to the Epic format that isn’t all that commonplace. Entelochops has been falling off for some time now and is just not able to compete with the likes of the newer fierce like Brunette or the resilients like Gigantspinosaurus or the buffed creatures like Kentrosaurus and Megistotherium. Of the nine Epic fierce-resilients, Entelochops is probably 7th, and almost no matter how much you cut from an Epic format, odds are there will be something better to take its place. Brunette is banned? I will probably go Dimodactylus. He’s banned too?? Protoceratops or Concavenator are also on the table. Those are banned too? Well I guess I will go Tiger. And at that point, you’re really trying to justify Entelochops when you will probably be better off running two different Epics devoted to what Entelochops would do. So I wanted to set Entelochops apart. Entelodon just got a buff, and with it came a new move. Group shattering trample is a really good move that can really help Entelodon get some great turn one damage. So I did that for Entelochops. I am first getting rid of revenge decelerating impact because it’s just redundant. You can slow down opponents with superiority strike still or outspeed faster opponents with deceleration immunity with mutual fury. And normally on revenge, you’re going to use revenge shattering rampage to work around armor and shields. You want to revenge kill with Entelochops, not set up the opposing creature for something else. So I took off revenge decelerating impact and made a newer version of trample that, while unable to bypass absorb, can reduce healing by 50%.

You know what creature I’m targeting down with this buff. Gigantspinosaurus can be a real menace. But Entelochops can take on a fielded Gigantspinosaurus with the combination of the new blighted impact, the rampage, and the slight damage increase I gave it. This should allow Entelochops to barely take down this bulky Stegosaur every time. You also can trade with Kentrosaurus now as well. Blonde and Brunette will still be tough to get around, but Brunette still won’t appreciate Entelochops. And to deter swappers and absolutely prevent Gigantspinosaurus from swapping in, ferocity on escape can help Entelochops get an extra boost. Dimodactylus also doesn’t appreciate this change and if you’re forced in by Deinotops, you can take it on as well. Fierce like Giganotosaurus still can pose a threat to this hybrid.

Brachiosaurus:

This Brachiosaurus acts similarly to Gigantspinosaurus minus the healing. That’s what I think the biggest issue with Gigantspinosaurus is. Yeah it does a ton of damage, but it also heals on top of that, which is too much. This Brachiosaurus can swap in and tank hits from the likes of Rativates, Blonde, and other cunnings that are popular. And it can also be used as a lead to fight other possible common leads like Yutyrannus or Australotitan. And if Dimodactylus shows up, you can always leave, which is the one advantage you have over Gigantspinosaurus. The resistances were also increased to give it more consistency against the likes of certain stunners that have taken hold in the meta like Pulmonoscorpios and Sarcorixis. However, it still will struggle to fight off creatures like Concavenator, Brunette, Ankylosaurus, the ‘93 Rex, and Yuxisaurus. This is also the first creature on this list that doesn’t drop to Kentrosaurus.

Amargocephalus:

Next up we have Amargocephalus, an Epic that has had some brief success, but it wasn’t that amazing still. Now with many resilients, healing is a good way to stick around. I should know. My Parasaur Lux and Nodosaurus reworks found their way into the game, and they are at the top of their respective rarities. There is one problem that can arise with these bulky resilients: mirror matches. Nodosaurus cannot KO another Nodosaurus. Even a level 30 Nodosaurus with max attack cannot KO a level 15 base Nodosaurus. Parasaur Lux is a similar scenario. So that’s why with Amargocephalus, I excluded healing. In fact, that’s why I excluded manual healing from every rework other than Darwinopterus, which will still drop do a decent attack from almost any creature in the Epic rarity. Instead, I gave it a trait from its common parent, Euoplocephalus. With armor advance as a counter, it can tank hit after hit that cannot pierce armor. And if you can, you better make sure you can shatter shields, as with instant invincibility strike, Amargocephalus can stick around for a while. However, with mirror matches in mind, I had to make sure of two things: It can break the shields and it can bypass armor. And that’s why it has armor piercing as an attribute to its version of resilient rampage and clubbed impact lets it get around opposing Amargocephalus using shields. This Amargocephalus can take on Blonde and also swap in on Gigantspinosaurus and win. It can also become a pain for Omega creatures like Olorotitan as well as any cunning Omega that happens to face it.

Tsintaosaurus:

Finally, we end on another Epic that has never seen success and probably never will with its current set of abilities. Tsintaosaurus has good stats, but the kit is just really bad. So I fixed it and made Tsintaosaurus a true wildcard, adding in some cunning traits to allow it to be an annoying creature to deal with and a dangerous cleanup Epic. Vitalize on escape is there for obvious reasons, but with swap in empower, cleansing fatal strike, and lure along with blessed strike, that x1 heal can snowball out of control. And if the healing on escape made it tough to bring down, that’s where cheaters impact comes into play, introducing this mechanic into the epic format for the second time (Koolasuchus can make use of it, but it cannot control when it activates all too well and it is just fine now). The armor from blessed strike makes Tsintaosaurus even tougher for the resilients that want to remove the ferocity from cleansing fatal strike while the fierce that can bypass it have to deal with that cheaters impact. And when your opponent’s team is all low and in range, Tsintaosaurus can just run through the rest of it. I never made a set goal for it, but if you save it for the end, it should do well. And to keep it as a raider and brawler, I added taunt immunity. Creatures like Protoceratops and Concavenator should be able to wait out the cheat death and take down this hadrosaur.

Closing Words

Thank you for reading. I tried to make sure that these revised epics could somewhat compete and yet be worthwhile at the same time. Creatures' buffs like the one Monolophosaurus got a while back don’t do anything worthwhile and are a waste of time for everybody involved. I wanted to create impactful buffs that make creatures solid options with or without Omegas involved, because like I said, they’re here to stay. The buffs I made were mostly simple as well as I am sending these to Ludia, and I would like to see moves like these added, and the simpler a move is, the easier and more likely it is to implement these reworks. I also wanted to make fun creature buffs that don’t stall out the match or that slowly eat away at opponents, hence the lack of manual healing. (This is one of the reasons why I hate many of the modern Apex creatures.)

I hope you enjoyed what I have offered, and I hope Ludia finds it valuable as well as I am sending them this list of epic reworks. Hopefully they make it in game like mine did last time!

Thank you for reading and have a good day. - Ed