Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 3

Vol.18 Ch.13: Druid's Scaling History

The game has just started but my tower is already like this... Ben frowned as he examined the Turret's remaining HP. From just one push, the tower dropped down to 88%.

And, this was only the beginning of the game, the very first wave. Things will get only tougher from here on out as minions will grow stronger with each wave.

In this first push, the Orc's strong basic attacks were responsible for most of the damage. However, over time, all the minions together will be delivering just as much damage as Appretnece, if not more. At that point, Ben's tower will lose about 20% HP per wave.

N-No, I can't let that happen! Ben steeled himself. This isn't the first time I'm facing an aggressive Orc. I can defend against it, even if Druid isn't exactly the best class for the job.

Defending was the one thing Ben knew how to do best. It was the only skill he believed he excelled at. Therefore, no matter what kind of pro-level prodigy Appretnece was - Ben should be able to stall the guy; he had to!

"Ben, are you alright?" Kai asked. "You're looking kinda pale over there."

"Y-Yes, I'm fine! I can do this! Everything is alright. Yes."

"Very convincing." Kai made a face. "Looks like that Korean guy gave you quite the beating, huh."

"I-It's okay, I can handle this," Ben insisted. "With a Lv.2 shield, I'll be able to tank the minions properly. I won't let him push like this again."

"Are you confident you can do it?" Yuel asked. "I was thinking of having Nia patrol Top Jungle to discourage further pushes."

"It's okay, I can handle this," Ben insisted. "I don't think there's any need to waste her time on something like this, really."

"Are you sure? Your tower took quite the beating."

"S-Sorry about that..."

"I'm not blaming you," Yuel explained. "I'm just stating the facts as they are. This isn't a comfortable matchup for you, and your opponent is a high-level player. It'd be stranger if you didn't struggle."

"I-It'll be okay!" Ben insisted. "I was just a little startled last round, that's all. I'll defend properly this time."

"Are you completely sure?"

"Yes, I know what to do in the next few waves." Ben shared his plans for the upcoming battles. Defending against hyper-aggressive opponents was something he practiced a ton, so it was one of the few topics he was rather confident about.

"With a Lv. 2 shield, this should be easy enough to achieve," Ben concluded his explanation on that note.

The HP of Gaia's Protection increased substantially by a flat amount with each level. As such, there was quite a big leap between Lv. 1 and Lv. 2 in the early-game.

I wish that building HP or Defense also made the shield buffer. Ben thought. But, it just doesn't scale that way, unfortunately.

Out of all things, the HP of Druid's shield scaled with Magical Power. It was a rather odd decision for a class that was clearly designed to be a defensive tank. There was actually some history behind it.

On release, the Druid's shield did scale with HP as expected. And, like today, the shield also benefited from a flat HP increase per level.

I wish I played Mancers during that time. Ben always sighed whenever he thought about this topic. It sounds like Druid was such a strong class back then.

It was indeed treated as top-tier back then, even arguably broken. With the shield scaling based on HP, Druid players simply built tons and tons of it. This way, the Druid player became an unkillable tank, and the shield he provided to allies was equally durable. During these times, Druid was the epitome of defensive support.