Balancing Heroes

[Bloodydood]

Well I've tried and tried to balance 8 heroes, each with different stat combinations for each primary attribute, and I'll keep trying at it, but I'm wondering if there's a system, rule of thumb, or a tutorial for this kind of thing.

If needed I can provide all information that apply. I want to do this before I decide to add abilities and more hero tiers.

 

[MateoSoetsu]

Use the melee stats of heroes as a guide or you could look at the stats of heroes in any popular & balanced game like Dota or Footmen frenzy and see how the heroes are balanced in those games.

Abilities are way harder to balance than just stats though.

 

[Tru_Power22]

This tutorial can help:

http://world-editor-tutorials.thehelper.net/cat_usersubmit.php?view=69629

Also, the only good way to properly balance a map is to test test test.

 

[millzy]

i way i balace my heros atributes is make sure they all have the same + str intel and agi in a way

e.g say evry hero when you add up up the str intel and agi + per level is = to say 5

then just make all heros + atribute bonus per level all to = to 5

E.g2

hero 1
str per lvl 2
intel per lvl 1
agi per lvl 2

it all = to 5

hero 2
str per lvl 1
intel per lvl 1
agi per level 3
it all = to 5


im not sure if this is a good way but it works for me

 

[Joccaren]

Good idea Milzy, I might use that to help me balance. Anyway, what I do is give units the same attributes depending on what type of hero they are then change them to make each hero unique. Also, the attributes, like Milzy's method, all add up to the same thing. (For me, usually 23)

E.G:

Strength Based Hero:
Base Strength: 15
Base Agility: 5
Base Intelligence: 3

 

[LurkerAspect]

As long and tedious as it sounds, in my opinion the best way to balance heroes is to have them fight each other, while you analyze and find out what needs to be changed.

Remember: What's worth the prize is also worth the effort. If you spend a long time balancing your heroes, then surely they will be better balanced.

Sure, a system could help, but unless you find a system that works well enough, who knows what actual in-game performance the heroes will deliver. Also, systems aren't good at factoring in a hero's abilities. Is it going to work out that if you pick storm bolt at level 2, you will be unbalanced? That is why trial and error is the oldest and most reliable 'system' ever.

Just some thoughts.

 

[PrisonLove]

As long and tedious as it sounds, in my opinion the best way to balance heroes is to have them fight each other, while you analyze and find out what needs to be changed.

Remember: What's worth the prize is also worth the effort. If you spend a long time balancing your heroes, then surely they will be better balanced.

Sure, a system could help, but unless you find a system that works well enough, who knows what actual in-game performance the heroes will deliver. Also, systems aren't good at factoring in a hero's abilities. Is it going to work out that if you pick storm bolt at level 2, you will be unbalanced? That is why trial and error is the oldest and most reliable 'system' ever.

Just some thoughts.

^^ This.

Testing, testing, and more testing is your best option. There's just no way around it!


Just a couple of suggestions from me though.

1. If your hero has an AoE attack it should do less damage than a single target attack.

2. Melee heroes should be the ones that have the stunning spells, as they actually need to be close to a target to attack.

3. (This is a gripe from DotA) Don't give shadow strike to a ranged hero. Allowing DoT with slowing and a range hero makes for imbalance (Curse that poison hero lol).

4. A lot of these things are common sense, and if you look at the heroes in normal multiplayer you can see some guidelines (see next point).

5. Melee heroes tend to have stuns, Agility heroes tend to have strong single target abilities, Intelligence heroes tend to have summons and AoE attacks (Obviously there are exceptions, but I think this is a good general guide line).


Hope this is helpful and best of luck on your map.

 

[Bloodydood]

Thanks for the advice. I already had heroes have stats gained by a point total of 6. Maximum level is 40. Attack speed is not gained through more agility, 10 agility = 1 armor, 0.01 gain on hp/mana regen per point to str/int, base armor is 1, base hp is 500, all attack animations are the same, attack cooldown (for now) is 1.00, damage number of dice is 5 and sides per dice is 1.

Hero 1 Melee
Primary Attribute: Stength

Initial Str: 3
Str Per Level: 3
Initial Agi: 2
Agi Per Level: 2
Initial Int: 1
Int Per Level: 1

Hero 2 Ranged
Primary Attribute: Agility

Initial Str: 1
Str Per Level: 1
Initial Agi: 3
Agi Per Level: 3
Initial Int: 2
Int Per Level: 2

Hero 3 Melee
Primary Attribute: Agility

Initial Str: 2
Str Per Level: 2
Initial Agi: 3
Agi Per Level: 3
Initial Int: 1
Int Per Level: 1

Hero 4 Caster
Primary Attribute: Intelligence

Initial Str: 1
Str Per Level: 1
Initial Agi: 2
Agi Per Level: 2
Initial Int: 3
Int Per Level: 3


As an example, Hero 1 at lvl 40 has 3500 hp, 2 armor, 125-125 damage (making dps 125 even) and 1.20 bonus to hp regeneration (base of 0.25).
Casters will be rigged to have no advantage without spells, but should be able to kill each other at a constant rate.
If I can get this working then adding abilities and hero tiers won't be a problem.

 

[Viikuna]

You just need to use some common sense when setting Heroes properties such as damage, health and mana and others.

After this you need to do shitloads of playtesting to actually find out how those Heroes really play out, so you can balance them.



edit. Also, you need to think the gameplay too. Is your combat more about abilities, or just auto attacking?

If it is about abilities, you need to make sure that abilities are all powerful and balanced, and it doesnt really matter if some hero has lil bit better stats than some other, because its the abilities and how you use them what determines whos gonna pwn and whos not.