Professor Critic 👨 vs Duke

[digital niche]

Duke is at first a universal indestructible based hero same as, Shinji , Eureka and Optimus. As each of these heroes having unique abilities aside from their indestructible Duke also has his own .

Passive Abilities:

Duke offers very decent indestructible shield 🛡️ which is considered one of the strongest second to Optimus at its base in value . It even jumps to be at the top with the addition of exclusive skills. Since the indestructible has first been introduced it had no where to reach the maximum of 70% while with Duke it reaches to a minimum of 60.92% at exclusive level 7, which is so close to the maximum possible value . The advantage of this hero being universal is that his abilities are usable by all three units types, not like Layla which is a strong only navy based hero .

The Vitality ability added at exclusive level 5 is one of a kind that has recently been introduced in the game . It offers regular damage boost that can reach up to a maximum of 60%. Even though this ability sounds good, but it is not of a huge benefit to both Navy and Army , as both of these types are mostly dependent on the trigger damage not the regular damage . On the other hand, Air Force has a couple of heroes that can harness the full potential of this ability who are Barbie and Serval , since both of their triggers are of regular damage not trigger damage .

Active ability:

Duke offers trigger damage via three rockets which at first appear so powerful and appealing because of their high damage . The rockets are indeed very powerful, and get even stronger at exclusive 7 making them very powerful without a doubt . However, they only target the current back row of the enemy march and until the row is completely eliminated they keep on targeting them, this might lead to a huge waste of rockets when some stacks of the targeted rear row are left with only 1 unit while stacks of front rows remain almost at full power . This will indeed eliminate stacks of a given rear row way faster than weakening all stacks by spreading the rockets against all stacks at random like what Layla, Shinji and Eureka do. Even though eliminating the stacks is indeed very beneficial which will lead to the enemy loosing trigger chances with the battle goes , however the front rows will continue to trigger at almost full power since they were not targeted as frequent as for other indestructible heroes .

The most important point to consider is the placement of the HTs for the enemy march. Despite it being hard to determine which stack to expect seeing the HT of the enemy at, we can easily predict which row it would be based on the meta heroes being used . Up to now it has been rarely seen that the HT placed at rear row despite it being the row with the highest damage increase gained from the formations . And with Duke release, it will be highly unlikely being used in rear row for any march . Players will actually place it in the front row to avoid the destructive triggers of Duke from this point forward. This will impact the flow of the battle very heavily, as the highest source of damage is done by the HT and for it not being targeted with high amount of damages, it will make it last longer than usual in battles which will definitely lead to causing more damage than expected which will even change the course of battles .

As a conclusion, Duke is indeed a very strong hero that is most useful to Air Force with Barbie or Serval marches. But he is not the best choice up to now to replace any of the current indestructible heroes . The reason I say **up to now ** is that we might be seeing more heroes that rely on the rear row for their power in the future in which Duke will become the most important weapon against them by then even for Navy and Army . Thus, this hero is worth the investment for the future and not for now

Professor Critic 👨 vs Duke

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👋 (My opinion/view) In Navy, Duke will target back row making them weak, and if Stormoy is exclusive 7 she can stop 3 units in first or Second row from triggering, with another hero that will possibly take out row 1/2 if unlucky trigger will go to back row

@digital niche

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Navy is strongest for Duke in my opinion as I said in my other response

[digital niche]

You have a valid point in there that could also be added into the equation. However, exclusive 7 is a totally different universe and it is not as easy as you might think. The reason I say that because you forgot in your equation that Stromoy exclusive 7’s anti hero has already been released and still being used. I am talking about Barbie in which she is not affected by the silence effect, this means that she will continue to trigger at first two rows even if last row is being eliminated.
Aside from that my main concern is still the HT and the chance it offers it to survive longer by using Duke. This by itself a huge disadvantage. Aside from this fact, I personally prefer to weaken all stacks rather than eliminating few stacks at a time. Weakened stacks won’t do much damage when triggered.
Thus, I concluded that Duke is better with AF at this moment until further releases of other heroes.

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@digital niche
With Barbie and Duke what other hero would you use? Brady or Kum?
If the current player doesn't have Air meta

Or if the player has current Air meta would this be a good march to switch to to test?

[sand echo]

thank you Special ❤️

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nvm, found a video from T-mi

[digital niche]

The perfect combination with Barbie and Duke is Cranston. The Vitality of both Duke and Cranston will boost Barbie’s damage very much and bring her to a new level.

I wouldn’t say that it’s the best march for Air Force per se, but it would be very strong especially against Stromoy ex 7.

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@digital niche would there be another hero if the player doesn't have Barbie?