Secret skills

Neo Monsters Neo Monsters General Discussions
1

I feel like these could’ve been designed a bit better. The problem I have with SSs is the fact that there seems to just be no reason NOT to have them. They offer such a massive upgrade to a monster’s repertoire, for a measly cost of 1-3 points, and for mythics 1-2. It’s a general trend between star ranks that greater ranks have a greater amount of abilities overall, so unlocking your SS in essence is just like adding a star to your monster’s collection. Assuming you have the cost to spare, why would you ever NOT take an offer like that? At this point could we even imagine Centaureon without instant purify? Gazer without retreat? Mortar monsters without instant reload? Plenty of monsters would drop at least a few tiers without these extra resources. So the versions without SS generally aren’t worth using at all, just because the version with SS exists.

I think it would help add a lot more depth to the game if the decision between SS or no SS wasn’t so one sided. Perhaps there could be a universal cost increase, so that instead of 1-3 it’d be 2-4, or even 3-5. Having a 5th active skill is just such a huge game changer that I feel that it’d still be worth it in most cases. Another little bonus is that making it harder to fit as much value into your team could reclaim some of that nuance a lot of us veterans still appreciate about 173 cost? Maybe? Anyway, would like to hear what y’all think about it. Might be a horrible idea lol, but I feel it’s worth getting my thoughts out on it.

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2

I think there should be Secret passives :partying_face:

4 Likes
3

What balances the secret skills is that they can only be used once; think of them as an ace up the sleeve, they’re there to save the day when you really need it. And while some secret skills are mandatory like you said, other secret skills can be switched off and the monster’s performance isn’t changed at all (for example, Tygoron’s skill is nice, but not 100% necessary). I disagree on the cost increase as I feel it’s balanced fairly.

4

I think of legendaries more as being 14-16 cost with 5 skills, one of which you can turn off if you want the monster to be cheaper and can do without it.

Personally I love the design of secret skills and all that they add to the game.

The only failure I see with them is on a few monsters where the SS is completely unnecessary but the monster is too good for 13 cost. The monster might be designed to be 16 cost but when you’re never going to have the SS on you’re basically cheating cost. It similar to monsters which function very well in their second form so you save yourself the 5-8 cost by using them in that form.

5

I just want Mythics to cost 1 more like they used.

2 Likes