Update on the Finn/Threepio Raid Interaction: Resulting Finn Modifications

CG_TopHat
78 posts SWGOH Dev Team
edited February 2019
TL;DR - To address the Finn/Threepio infinite loop we’ve reworked Finn. We’ve updated Finn’s leader ability, added ramping damage to his kit, and given him a new unique buff, Determination. Please read on for the specifics.

In December we announced our intention to act upon an unintended interaction involving zFinn and C-3PO that allowed players to auto Phase 3 of the Heroic Sith Triumvirate raid (along with phases in other raids) by leveraging what is functionally an infinite loop. As has been a long-standing policy of ours, when we discover infinite loops we take action on them. Unlike some of our previous instances, where we maybe acted too quickly, we really wanted to continue to iterate until we found something that would stop the interaction and also improve the character(s) affected.

Finn was released over three years ago along with the release of The Force Awakens. Finn was also one of our earliest characters to receive a zeta, approximately two years ago. After the addition of his zeta, Finn has been a prolific presence within the HAAT raid thanks to his Leader ability, which reduced the cooldowns of all Resistance allies and grants them 35% Turn Meter whenever an enemy takes damage from an Expose. C-3PO brought this to a head with his Cyborg Relations Unique, which allowed for Rebels and Ewoks to inflict an Expose with their basic abilities. This in addition to C-3PO's ability to call his team members to assist with his special ability "Oh My Goodness" meant that the team was able to apply Expose at an extremely high frequency, and thus reap the benefits of Finn's leader ability to stay at 100% Turn Meter while preventing their opponents from taking a turn.

As a result of this loop, we’ve made some changes to Finn and only Finn. The detailed kit changes are found below but functionally what we’ve done is changed the amount of turn meter he is accruing for the team, given him some more regular team sustain, and a lot more damage output in PvE/Raids.

How He’s Changed
Below is the revised ability kit for Finn. We’ve made no changes to his core stats.
Changes are highlighted in Green.
Basic - Crack Shot
Description: Deal Physical damage to target enemy. This attack deals 5% more damage for each time the target has been struck by it.
  • Upgrade 1: +5% Damage
  • Upgrade 2: +15% Damage
  • Upgrade 3: +5% Damage
  • Upgrade 4: +5% More Damage
  • Upgrade 5: +5% Damage
  • Upgrade 6: +5% Damage
  • Upgrade 7: +15% Damage and +10% More Damage

Final Text: Deal Physical damage to target enemy. This attack deals 20% more damage for each time the target has been struck by it.
Special 1 - Hold the Line
(Cooldown Change to 3 turns at Base)
Description: All Resistance allies recover 5% Health and Protection. Finn gains Advantage, Defense Up, and Taunt for 2 turns, and dispels all debuffs from all allies.
  • Upgrade 1: +1% Health and Protection recovery
  • Upgrade 2: +2% Health and Protection recovery
  • Upgrade 3: +2% Health and Protection recovery
  • Upgrade 4: +2% Health and Protection recovery
  • Upgrade 5: +3% Health and Protection recovery
  • Upgrade 6: +5% Health and Protection recovery
  • Upgrade 7: Finn gains Determination for 2 turns
Final Text: All Resistance allies recover 20% Health and Protection. Finn gains Advantage, Defense Up, Taunt, and Determination for 2 turns, and dispels all debuffs from all allies.

Determination: Whenever any other Resistance ally falls below 50% Health, Determination expires and Finn Taunts for 2 turns. If that ally was Taunting, it is dispelled. When Determination expires, Finn gains Retribution for 2 turns.


Special 2 - Takedown
(Cooldown Change to 2 turns at Base)
Description: Deal Physical damage to target enemy with a 70% chance to Expose them for 2 turns and a 70% chance to Stun them for 1 turn.
  • Upgrade 1: +5% Damage
  • Upgrade 2: +15% Expose and Stun Chance
  • Upgrade 3: +5% Damage
  • Upgrade 4: +5% Damage
  • Upgrade 5: +15% Expose and Stun Chance
  • Upgrade 6: +20% Damage
  • Upgrade 7: This attack deals 60% more damage for each time the target has been struck by it (doubled against Raid Bosses)
Final Text: Deal Physical damage to target enemy, Expose them for 2 turns, and Stun them for 1 turn. This attack deals 60% more damage for each time the target has been struck by it (doubled against Raid Bosses).

Leader - Balanced Tactics
Description: Resistance allies have +30% Defense, Offense, and Potency, and other allies have half that amount.
Upgrade 1: +5% Defense, Offense, and Potency
Upgrade 2: +5% Defense, Offense, and Potency
Upgrade 3: +5% Defense, Offense, and Potency
Upgrade 4: +5% Defense, Offense, and Potency
Upgrade 5: +5% Defense, Offense, and Potency
Upgrade 6: +5% Defense, Offense, and Potency
Upgrade 7: Each time they damage an Exposed enemy, all Resistance allies gain 3% Turn Meter and the target enemy loses 5% Turn Meter for each Resistance ally; damaging an Exposed enemy also reduces Resistance allies' cooldowns by 1.

Final Text: Resistance allies have +60% Defense, Offense, and Potency, and other allies have half that amount. Each time they damage an Exposed enemy, all Resistance allies gain 3% Turn Meter and the target enemy loses 5% Turn Meter for each Resistance ally. Damaging an Exposed enemy also reduces Resistance allies' cooldowns by 1.

Commentary on Changes
Players will immediately notice that we’ve made some significant changes to Finn’s leader ability. We've reduced the amount of Turn Meter that he and his allies gain from activating Exposes, but now given them the ability to reduce the Exposed enemy's Turn Meter as well. Additionally, the Leader ability scales based on the number of Resistance allies and Resistance allies are the only ones that can activate turn meter gain/loss from exposes. We've also boosted the stat bonuses granted by the Leader ability. Finally we’ve removed Finn’s ability to grant Advantage to Resistance members that have lost Foresight. Thematically we didn’t think this made a lot of sense and practically it didn’t help the Resistance too much.

In order to help maintain Finn's identity as a powerful character within our raid encounters, we've changed his basic attack and "Takedown" special ability so that they now each deal more damage based on the number of times they've each been used against an enemy. So, while looping the turns may be a bit more difficult, Finn-led Resistance teams in general will take more turns. Consequently, Finn will have significant scaling damage the longer the encounter goes on.

We've also revisited his "Hold the Line" special, which now recovers Health and Protection for all Resistance allies instead of granting Heal Over Time, and grants him the new "Determination" effect. Determination is a new effect exclusive to Finn, where when another Resistance ally falls below 50% health, and the effect is active, that ally loses Taunt if they have it, and Finn gains Taunt for two turns while dropping the Determination effect. When Finn loses Determination, whether it expires naturally or if an ally triggers its effects, Finn gains Retribution. These changes should allow Finn to provide a much more significant portion of his team's damage and act as the driving force between taking the enemy down faster, rather than extending the battle infinitely.

PvP Experience Changes
These changes do not drastically alter the performance of the Finn-led Resistance squad in PvP, but his changes do offer the team some additional utility and a slight improvement in their PvP presence. With ramping damage now present on Finn’s basic ability and his 2nd special ability, the longer he can stay alive and the more turns he can take, the more potent he becomes. Determination goes a long way in making this a reality, as it provides not only an additional means of spreading damage around the team by providing Finn with the ability to Taunt, but also grants him Retribution which can give him a few free hits to ramp up damage on his basic ability. While these changes haven’t brought the Resistance squad into the current competitive meta, they can more handily dispose of teams such as Kylo Ren (Unmasked)-led First Order and General Kenobi-led Jedi.

PvE Experience Changes
Finn remains one of the best leaders for PvE and Raid content. Internal testing still has him performing as a top tier performer in the AAT (Phases 2, 3, and 4) and the Pit (Phases 1-4). We have internal testing figures that place this new Finn team able to do about 20% of Phase 3 of the Heroic Sith Triumvirate. That’s under our internal testing regime, which means mileage will vary (and our suspicion is it’s probably higher out in the wild of the live game with all the crafty theorycrafters out there). Overall, his ramping damage, team heal/sustain, and turn meter manipulation make him a potent weapon in the war on rampaging raid monsters.



We think this should resolve the Finn-Threepio interaction moving forward. As our internal testing has shown that Finn matches or exceeds where he was prior to C-3PO's launch and we expect the community to push him even further, we have no intention of refunding the zeta associated with him. We look forward to your feedback on this proposed change.

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