Proton, Atom, Nucleus - rework suggestion

[rapid hatch]

Hi! I saw that Proton is in your watchlist for beeing too weak and I agree. (if the watchlist is only about proton and not also atom and nucleus, pls ignore the whole thing)
There's a thing that I've always thought about Proton. It's one of those buffs that don't require a good placement of the piece.
That makes Proton easier (so stronger in lower elo) but at the cost of what could be a little more numbers.
What if Nucleus requires the atoms to be around like any other area? This would give room to a more powerful buff, like "Atomic Acceleration: Upon reaching full mana, increase your atoms mana generation x2 and increase their damage 1% per mana point"

[umbral copper]

The issue is they are very strong when they get Mana but take too long to ramp which is a very delicate balance

And then being both pure defense and offense if you over state them it's a slippery slope

So doing any exponential changes on them make them that much more scary to balance

Imo buffing or nerfing that whole line needs to be flat changes to DPS/AS/HEALTH/RANGE

[glacial yacht]

My fave unit but I’d love to see some sort of buff. I feel the time to get to max mana is just a lil too slow, even with mana buffs on them

[latent belfry]

Likely this!

Fwiw, Proton and its upgrades aren't that weak. They have a slightly low win rate (~48%), but I also see a lot of players using them poorly (notably upgrading to Nucleus too soon and not having enough frontline for them). I think when used well, they are 50%+ win rate and viable, and I've personally played successful Proton-focused builds.

May buff next patch, but want to see how data looks.

[umbral copper]

I do think it's worth noting protons are worse the higher rank you go. I had a friend who did nothing but build protons all the way up to like 1800 mmr, he would eventually build better thanks but rounds 1-9 was able to get away with nothing but protons for the most part

[glacial yacht]

How do you feel about the kraken stun here?

[latent belfry]

Kraken's stun was probably a small nerf to Atoms, since they tend to be within the stun radius, but I can't imagine it's that significant of an impact on overall viability.

On Drachbot, Proton is 50.2% win rate in Diamond+, 49.1% win rate in Senior Master+, and 50.4% win rate in Grandmaster+.

[glacial yacht]

Not that I think you balance for 4v4 but how does it stack up there?

[latent belfry]

Classic favors late game fighters and combos. Atom isn't typically considered a late game fighter, but more Atoms = more Nucleus value. Combined with a solid frontline and ideally a supportive fighter (APS, Leviathan, Steeds, or Brewpots), I think it can be a competitive build.

[umbral copper]

With such a balanced WR maybe a change isn't warranted. At most a slight buff but basically a 50%ish wr I see as a win

Especially in high ELO