Overview:
- Their stats are not necessarily any better than nightcrawlers or spirits
- They cost significant mana to keep up compared to a 200 mana ward or FREE
- You can only get a very limited number of them
- Shamblers are a prerequisite for too many skills for them to be anything but 'great'.
- Yeti's have no synergy with Sedna's play style.
Further thoughts on each main point:
Their stats are not necessarily any better than nightcrawlers or spirits
Minion |
Hit points |
Damage |
|
Spirits |
630 |
50 |
Nightcrawlers |
730 |
20 |
Yetis |
810 |
30 |
Shamblers |
675 |
30 |
Yetis have a slightly larger number of hit points, but not much more damage (per yeti). Shamblers have the second lowest hit points of any minion. Considering the cost, and maximum amount possible, of each minion type, the shamblers and yeti's should be significantly greater. As it is, it is very VERY hard to justify the shambler or yeti skills when other minions easily defeat them.
They cost significant mana to keep up compared to a 200 mana ward or FREE
Yetis: Cost per yeti at each rank. 550/375/475/287.5
Shamblers: cost per, at each rank. 450/312.5/312.5/213.25
The biggest hits are at the first rank of the ability. Compared to a single rank in oaks spirit ward, or 0 points in Erebus' conversion aura, they have to pay a massive 450 or 550 mana for just a single summon, where as oak spends 200 for 3 (or more!) and Erebus gets his for free.Even at it's best (Rank 4) the effect is still significantly more costly than either of the other two, and doesn't grant units that make up for the plethora of 'weaker' summons you get for basically no mana. Heck, even the spirit ward at rank 4 has a +400 armor aura, and can generate dozens of spirits, if placed well. The cost to effect ratio is way out of wack.
You can only get a very limited number of them
In addition to the general mana problem of summoning these minions, you also just don't have that many. Even if the stats were generally better, it is hard to ignore that having 10 spirits is much better than 4 shamblers. You get more value from enhancements to minions, like damage upgrades. At level 4, a +10 minion damage item gives you 100 more minion damage with Oak, but only 40 more with Sedna or QoT. Also, neither of these two has to go out of their way to replenish their minion number. So while Oak can have 10 minions at a time, in the middle of a battlefield with a ward in it, they are quickly replaced if they die.
Shamblers are a prerequisite for too many skills for them to be anything but 'great'.
Specifically talking about Queen of Thorns and shamblers for a moment. Shamblers have an additional problem, that extends out into the way people 'build' the queen. That is, that she has two and a half skills that are dependant on you having points in shamblers. Even if shamblers were a valid way to play her, the whole system is significantly worsened by the fact that if she chooses not to use shamblers, he skill tree suddenly becomes significantly more narrow. Even worse, if you think shamblers are weak, and so is Uproot, you end up with literally a 3 skill tree that she has to max out. No other character has so many skills dependant on another. In fact, most characters have skills that synergize instead, meaning they get better in the presence of other skills. That's a good thing. Making them dependant on other skills, though, is a bad thing.
Yeti's have no synergy with Sedna's play style.
While shamblers have their problems, One thing they have going for them is synergizing with how the queen plays (aoe, debuffs, etc). Yeti's don't even do this. Sure they get a bit stronger, but what value do they really have with Sedna? As a strong support caster, she really doesn't want to waste mana on a weak summon, or really any summon. Putting a yeti in combat with the idea that you can heal it is simply ridiculous, since you could be in combat, with greater armor, and doing much more damage.
Final Thoughts:
Decrease QoT's skill dependency on shamblers, and make Sedna's synergize with her play more. Make them both more mana efficient, or make them very obviously a strong assistant. Heck, even just having more minion buffing items that could somehow benefit them more than other minions, would be nice. Whatever happens, these DG's will have at the least a more limited skill tree until their minions are brought up to par.
Thanks for reading.