Feedback – Skylar & high-safety ranged heroes

[south notch]

Hi, I’d like to share some balance feedback regarding Skylar and similar high-range, high-damage heroes.
In soloQ, especially at low/mid ranks, these characters feel overly safe: strong damage from range, high mobility/defensive tools, and very limited counterplay for melee heroes in early and mid game.
Many matchups feel decided very early, not due to strategic mistakes, but because of kit design that heavily favors safety with low execution requirements.
This creates a lot of frustration for new and mid-skill players and may hurt player retention.
Thanks for taking the feedback into account.

[turbid wing]

how would you make this things better?

[ivory rock]

Risk needs to match reward

Heroes that are safe should do less damage and heroes that are vulnerable should do more damage

Skylar can literally fly away but also out DPS anyone with her cheesy beam

[south notch]

For me it’s mainly about risk vs reward.
Heroes with very high safety (long range + mobility/escapes) should either deal less consistent early damage or have clearer punish windows when they misuse their tools.
Right now, heroes like Skylar can play very safe, disengage easily and still out-DPS much riskier picks, which leaves very limited counterplay for melee heroes in soloQ.
From a retention perspective, a hero designed to help new players onboard should not consistently outperform classic, higher-commitment heroes like Greystone, even when those are played by experienced players (e.g. Paragon veterans).
Small early-game tuning or mobility cooldown adjustments could already improve the experience a lot in low/mid ranks

[pallid surge]

Skylar is a hero meant to be higher skill while greystone is meant to be easy to play kit design wise.

The issue with Skylar is just how her beam does damage and how early in the games life a hero like her was released as more and more answers will consistently be released. (There are other issues such as adcs as a role needing a rework but those aren't the purpose of this post)

[south notch]

I understand the skill floor vs skill ceiling argument, but I think that’s exactly where the important nuance is.
Greystone may have a low skill floor (it’s easy not to die with him), but it’s not easy to win difficult lanes: he relies heavily on timing, spacing, and reading engages, especially against ranged and mobile heroes.
Skylar, on the other hand, doesn’t feel like a truly high-skill hero in practice right now, because the risk for mistakes is relatively low: she plays from a safe range, has clear disengage tools, and can still provide strong DPS without perfect execution.
So the issue isn’t “easy vs hard”, but risk vs reward.
A hero that is very safe and easy to extract value from shouldn’t consistently outperform more committal picks, especially in soloQ and low/mid ranks.
That said, thanks for the discussion — I think the different perspectives are clear at this point.