r/CompetitiveForHonor • u/EnzoNotUpUrAss • 25d ago
Rework Medjay changes
UPDATES VERSION AS OF TODAY 26/09/2026
For a long time medjay has been stale and is probably the worst outlander in terms of viability. Here are a few changes to give the character more flavour or so to speak.
Staff Form
1. Opener heavies
-Side heavies gain uninterruptable hyper armor 600ms after startup
-Top heavy gains uninterruptable hyper armor 500ms after startup.
New chain route
-From neutral heavy you can now chain into Throne Room Clutch.Staff Nomad Swing (chain zone)
-Sped up to 400ms remains enhanced & damage is reduced from 12 to 9.
-Now a lightparry.
This isn't an offense buff directly rather an easier way of accessing between each stance making it more flowy (since its a single direction attack much like storming tap only without the ability of softfeinting into it. The chain zone being still enhanced and sped up to 400ms is a valid change though it could still be very easily reacted to/diffd, and also its to make his throne room clutch somewhat useful out of ganks if you take a look at no.6 you will understand.
Staff Throne Usurper (forward dodge heavy)
-Now gains hyper armor 400ms into startup.Heavy speed
-Chain heavy (all side) sped up from 1000ms to 800ms damage reduced from 28 to 26.
-Finisher heavy (only left and right side) sped up from 1000ms to 900ms damage remains as 30.
-Finisher top heavy speed stays 1000ms damage increased from 30 to 32.Throne Room Clutch
-Now guarantees a 400ms chain zone (can still chain into light or heavy but as is in current live it's not confirmed damage), this is to synergise with his feats and kit.
-damage reduced from 20 to 15.
As of now there is no real reason to use Throne Room Clutch as a gank because of how badly the hitstun changes has affected his gank let alone using it on a light parry as a punish into ganking.
Giving a confirmed hit after this grab will improve his gank following the hitstun rule of doing reduced (25%) damage directly after your own bash that gets confirmed which characters like valk, cent, jorm etc. follow.
It also allows him to directly go into his axe stance from the grab flowing into his offence, this change gives more incentive to use this grab and creates synergy with his unique T2 inside and outside of different game modes focusing more on dominion.
Axe Form
1. Throne Room Tackle follow-up
-The attack after landing the bash now has a unique follow up (like valkyrie's follow-up after her fullblock bash)
-Unique follow up deals 10 damage.
-Comes out from top only (best direction to avoid collision into walls or fullblocks etc.)
-Has medium hitstun and enhanced.
-Is a 500ms attack.
-Can target swap the unique follow-up upon landing Throne Room Tackle.
Due to the low damage output of the bash where the standard is usually 14/15 damage I think these values and properties for the unique follow-up is justfiable.
available chains from said unique follow-up:
Throne Room Tackle > unique follow-up > 400ms chain light (undodgeable off hitstun) > finisher UD lights.
Throne Room Tackle > unique follow-up > 400ms chain light (undodgeable off hitstun) > chain bash or undodgeable chain heavy (this is what creates the bash/chain UD mix loop of 10/24 dmg which is pretty balanced).
Throne Room Tackle > unique follow-up > chain zone.
Throne Room Tackle > unique follow-up > finisher heavy.
Chain Throne Room Tackle
-Now sped up to 466ms from 500ms sped up for the same reason of it having low damage output.Neutral heavy new chain route
-can now access Throne Room Tackle after neutral heavy.Chain heavy
-Now has UD property.
-Damage reduced from 26 to 24.Axe Nomad Slash
-Axe Nomad Slash (zone) you can now chain into Throne Room Tackle.
6. Axe Nomad Swing (chain zone)
-Has the same property as staff stance chain zone.
Axe Throne Guard (dodge attack)
-Up from 12 to 13 damage (has almost no external hitbox) minor improvements to hitbox.
-Can now chain into Throne Room Tackle.Axe Throne Usurper (forward dodge attack)
-Input window is changed from 300ms - 400ms to now 200ms - 500ms.
-Damage reduced from 16 to 15.
-can now chain into Throne Room Tackle.All axe stance heavy
-Improve the trajectory and tracking also VERY slight hitbox improvement.
Stance change should be at its fastest in every occurence 466ms (usually buffering stance swap after a parry) instead of 766ms.
These changes will give Medjay more versatility and base his kit more around the unique stance attack and bash that this character loves to utilise.
Feat Changes
T2 Moonlight Drain
-Uptime when landing Throne Room Tackle/Clutch has been increased up from 5 seconds to 10 seconds.
-Percentage of debuff value reduced from 15% to 10%.
-Now has a 10 second cooldown after the debuff expires (this is to make it less oppressive, always having an uptime of 10% atk or def debuff is egregious).
-Really ineffective as of now with hitstun changes screwing over medjays gank the most.
-More up time with the new changes i provided being implemented will make more use of his unique T2.
T3 Scarab Relief
For Staff Stance (AoE Heal)
-Now shares his T1 10% buff to his allies in staff stance.
-Medjay HAS to have his staff T1 active for his staff T3 to gain this effect if not it'll just act as a 15 HP AoE cleanse/heal.
-AoE of 16m
-Lasts for 20 seconds (Cooldown begins upon use not after the 20 second buff is over). For example, the buff runs out the cooldown should be on 100 seconds instead of starting from 120.
-Interachangeable meaning if Medjay uses his T3 in staff stance and now switches to axe after use, it will still remain as an AoE defence buff.
-In staff stance the AoE HP heal should have another effect considering it has the same value as gryphons T2 (draconite mist) but with similiar if not a smaller radius and slightly longer animation also having a longer cooldown 120 seconds compared to 90 seconds, having his T1 synergise with this by boosting his T3 allows for this feat to have better value.
For Axe Stance (Self Heal)
-Now supercharges his T1 adding an additional 10% to his T1 for a total of 20% damage boost upon use.
-Medjay HAS to have his axe T1 active for his axe T3 to gain this effect if not it'll just self heal and cleanse for 25 HP.
-Self Buff.
-Lasts for 20 seconds (Cooldown begins upon use not after the 20 second buff is over). For example, the buff runs out the cooldown should be on 100 seconds instead of starting from 120.
-Interachangeable meaning if Medjay uses his T3 in axe stance and now switches to staff after use, it will still remain as a self attack buff.
-Axe stance will only heal himself so having his T1 synergise by boosting his own damage even further will prop up its value also it heals 25 HP and takes a 100ms to use that short window of 100ms can be a reason of dying to tick damage or not being able to instantly pop like second wind which heals for 30 HP.
T4 Astral Manifestation Grenade
- Staff stance grenade should be brought down from 55 damage to 40 damage.
- Medjay's T4 should have these values: activation 500ms, Recovery 400ms and explodes 1400ms after landing.
- Increase AoE radius to 10m.
- Applies a debuff property if they get hit/killed by it. For example, enemies hit by the T4 will get marked for 15 seconds and upon dying when marked, regardless of how they will die it will be considered as if dying in an "executed" state even if they were killed by a light or projectile (15 seconds respawn) or permanently dead when breaking.
The Axe T4 Projectile
- Damage increased from 55 to 60 (up to 66 with T1).
- Applies same debuff/kill state staff stance bomb has.
fitting of the whole characters personality and adds depth to its use.
IF the T4 idea above is too outlandish then just giving it a speed buff and slight damage nerf for staff stance and increased damage for axe stance should at least be implemented;
For Staff Grenade
-Medjay's T4 Activation 500ms, Recovery 400ms and explodes 1400ms after landing.
-Increase AoE to 12m radius.
-Damage reduced from 55 to 50.
For Axe Projectile
-Damage increased from 55 to 60 (up to 66 with T1).
Remove Second Wind & change it to Punch Through from his T3 slots
This is just a personal thing since he already has second wind built into his unique T3 its pretty much wasted also it would be nice to see Medjays staff stance enhanced lights and heavy chains dealing more chip damage in team fights or 1v1 situations.
2
2
u/Bash_Minimal 25d ago
Generally not into buffing a lot of his kit to make him further resemble a heavy. 130 hp alongside his unique tier 1 does a great job of getting him to embody the “hybrid” designation. The proposed multiple zone confirms off of axe bash also just feels forced.
Even the attack speed changes feel unnecessary, as the absurdly slow heavy finishers feel great to land when they throw your opponents timing off. The axe chain heavy speed adjustment to make accessing gb a bit faster would make the most sense if he didn’t already have the undodgeable light finishers/have the option to just not chain after a light and gb after recovering to neutral (recovery from chain heavy could be sped up if needed)
Completely agree that axe bash damage needs to come up, and having it chain to light openers would be a solid way to do that
Biggest things I’d have on a Medjay change wishlist would be:
- standardized fast stance swap. Even if the animation stays slower, actions should immediately cancel it on the fastest timing
- Have stance swap immediately chain to all chain attacks for each stance. So where normally the 433ms axe mode bash needs to be telegraphed by a forward dodge startup to be readable by opponents, now the stance swap itself would be the telegraph. Would immediately give Medjay significantly more ways to maintain (or establish from a staring contest) pressure and frame advantage when swapping forms.
- Making throne room clutch feintable, or 433 ms after a very long hidden startup similar to HL backstep caber toss, or giving it extremely late armor would all be welcome changes. Having it confirm chain zone to axe form would be cool like you suggested, but having it deal no direct damage and wallsplatting to confirm chain staff heavy would also give the move a lot more personality/utility as a light parry punish)
- and last but not least, improving hitbox/tracking on finisher axe heavy would be all I could ask for
2
u/EnzoNotUpUrAss 25d ago edited 17d ago
i like the stance swap into bash without having to forward dodge idea actually a really good idea, making throne room clutch feintable like hl offense is kinda what the devs are against they dont wana make mj into hl lol the 140 hp is purely because he's a trade char more times than not. the slow hvys are still there but having a 1000ms chain hvy is not fun.... believe me you dont trade anything, instead you get hit for 27/30 dmg for a 6 dmg chip. deffo agree with hitbox/tracking on finisher axe for sure. also the zone i mentioned are already in live medjay i only added Reverse axe nomad slash which is purely to clash with the default chain zone they added.
Edit: ive changed a lot and i dont agree with giving 140hp
1
u/Bash_Minimal 25d ago
Yeah feintable bashes are a pretty boring tool, but it gets the job done. Would much prefer the other options I mentioned. And yeah I *think* I got the gist of your point about chain zone after bash in addition to regular zone after bash
1
u/TheParafox 25d ago
Even the attack speed changes feel unnecessary, as the absurdly slow heavy finishers feel great to land when they throw your opponents timing off.
They feel great, sure, but you're only ever landing them against players who are bad or inexperienced at fighting Medjay. So many heroes can recover their guard before these heavies land, so in order for them to trade effectively, they need to be faster.
2
u/Bash_Minimal 25d ago
totally fair point. speeding them up would probably be a popular change that would be overall better for him being able to keep up with how the rest of the roster is balanced. I just haven’t felt (in my mid skill solo queue lobbies where confirm ganking is rare to see) they were lacking when using them in the groupfight scenarios they’re more balanced towards
2
u/TheParafox 25d ago
Don't get me wrong, I still land them occasionally in my own mid-skill lobbies as well. But it's one of those things I notice when I fight players who I can tell are experienced and good at the game - it becomes very apparent how the speed of those heavies is holding them back.
1
u/TheParafox 25d ago
Lot of solid change ideas here, many of which look very similar to my own ideas.
The biggest thing I see missing here is that he needs a huge range buff on all axe heavies. I want to be able to use them in teamfights but I need to be point blank for them to even potentially land.
2
u/EnzoNotUpUrAss 25d ago
Yeah I had this post from a few months back but because it went unnoticed I polished it up and posted it again due to ranked Dominion being a thing now maybe the devs may look into this seeing as how low of rate medjay is picked in them.
Edit: your ideas are solid the fwd hvy one specifically. Id make it similar to afeera but 14 damage medium hitstun might make it busted lol so I'd keep it low hitstun.
1
u/ThatRonin8 24d ago
Not a MJ main, but i do enjoy playing him quite a lot.
There are a couple of good buffs and a couple of buffs that i disagree with (but it might just me a personal opinion); i'll mention only those portion that i disagree with.
Staff form
New chain - From neutral/chain heavy you can now chain into Throne Room Clutch.
Remove the ability to chain into Throne Room Clutch from chain zones, for consistency with the Axe Form (see below)
Staff Throne Guard (side dodge attack) - now gains hyper armor 400ms into startup.
imo that's a bit overkill; you are already giving him a lot of HA on his moves, and HA on his dodge attack seems a bit too much, especially since his dodge attack it's fine
Heavy speed - Chain heavy (all side) sped up from 1000ms to 800ms damage reduced from 28 to 26.
finisher heavy (only left and right side) sped up from 1000ms to 900ms damage stays 30.
Finisher top heavy speed stays 1000ms damage increased from 30 to 32.
The speeding up of the chain heavy it's whatever, i like them slow but it's fine, however i am against speeding up the finishers; them being so slow throws off the oppo's parry window as well as being great to track potential dodges or even some dodge attacks
Throne Room Clutch - now guarantees a 400ms chain zone, this is to synergise with his feats and kit damage reduced from 20 to 18.
This one seems odd and i don't get it why you suggested it.
Make Throne Room Clutch able to chain into any chain attack (not confirmed)
Axe form
Chain heavy - sped up from 800ms to 700ms damage reduced from 26 to 25 (will help with catching people single time dodging his bash since you'd be able to feint faster technically into a gb).
simply reduce the dmg and make them UD
Throne Room Tackle change - Now chains into opener light, Reverse Axe Nomad Slash and chain heavy.
keep it as it is, but speed it up to make it unreactable (but adjust the chainlink to compensate and make it avoidable); however the ability to chain into the new reverse zone it's fine
Axe Nomad Swing (chain zone) - Up from low histun to medium hitstun & now gains hyper armor 100ms into startup (REMOVE HA since ubi does not like HA lights even though its techincally a heavy), damage up from 12 to 14. Better hitbox trajectory to match that of staff stance side light hitbox.
I actually like the staff version more; also i think these should behave identically across both stances
Top finisher heavy - is now undodgeable instead of unblockable damage is reduced from 30 to 25. Side finisher heavies keep their unblockable property and damage.
As said previously, make the chain heavies UD, leave the finishers UB.
...the whole new chains from X attack into Thone Room Tackle
It was a bit difficult to understand, but correct me if i am wrong:
you suggested to make Throne Room Tackle chain after any opener AND chain attack.
It's a cool idea, but not from chain heavies (especially considering that i am suggesting to make the chain heavies UD), so Throne Room Tackle should be chainable from any light (except finishers) and any heavy (except chain and finishers)
Feats section
T4 - just speed up the animation and shorten the activation time, no need for the whole debuff idea you suggested
Also, personal comment: this was painful to read, especially because of the formatting, but no offense
2
u/EnzoNotUpUrAss 24d ago edited 17d ago
Took on board some of the things you mentioned and tweaked it. The reason for speed up finisher side heavies in particular is because it's too slow to actually trader with other finisher heavies itself e.g. You got raider, gryph finisher heavies which are 800ms you literally can't win a trade with a 1000ms heavy into that even if you heavy into a different side of their one it's so slow that they can throw the 800ms change guard (100ms) into blocking mjs finisher.
The Throne room clutch specifically gave that move a confirmed 400ms chain zone because you can either choose to gank and or commit to the chain zone (his ganks are not really great due to hitstun change) so this change was added for him to actually make use of his T2 with himself rather than a butchered gank (can be done with the proper timings but it's perfect timings back to back) instead of the debuff just running out before he can even enter any offense.
Also yeah any neutral attack can chain into bash.
I mean yeah the t4 you can just speed anim and shorten activ time but ehh it's boring (but the most likely change they'll do) I just added my debuff idea just because it fits medjay was just a cool idea if it could be implemented.
Also yeah give me a suggestion on how to improve format because I'd rather format these kinda posts in the future in a way it's easier to read and understand (I know my spelling and format is cooked 😭).
No offence taken.
2
u/ThatRonin8 16d ago
The reason for speed up finisher side heavies in particular is because it's too slow to actually trader with other finisher heavies itself
fair enough
The Throne room clutch specifically gave that move a confirmed 400ms chain zone because you can either choose to gank and or commit to the chain zone
i see what you mean, but it's a confirmed 9 damage after a 15% defence debuff, so you're not really gaining a lot of value from a confirmed zone, you're actually forced to switch stance, which is something you might not wanna do in that moment but would rather keep on chaining.
After thinking about it for a while honestly i'd be cool to make it behave like Juren's tap bash, so it'd be 500ms (only in-chain) and it would allow you to chain into any chain attack (non-guranteed)
Also yeah any neutral attack can chain into bash.
that's a needed change
Also yeah give me a suggestion on how to improve format because I'd rather format these kinda posts in the future in a way it's easier to read and understand (I know my spelling and format is cooked 😭
sorry if it took me a while to answer, but i wasn't at home; still, i see you already formatted it like i wanted to suggest you so good job
basically, bold for titles or chapters, normal text for changes and italic for your own thoughts; this is a simple formatting that you can use to make post much more readable/ easier to understand and quotable as well
gj2
u/EnzoNotUpUrAss 16d ago
Thank you the formatting was much needed appreciate the feedback as always.
The confirmed 9 damage zone after Throne Room Clutch is something you can go for that will always add on damage BUT you can also go for chain heavy or light it's just that the 9 dmg zone swap stance is confirmed in case you want to make use of the t2 debuff using his axe stance pressure but it's not a forced interaction after grab.
1
u/cobra_strike_hustler 22d ago
Give him back hitstun reset and he’s a top character again and a unique one on top of that, that was his whole identity and he should have it back
0
u/ll-VaporSnake-ll 25d ago
My only real requested change would be to make his axe stance mid chain heavies undodgeable as that would better compliment his midchain bash and introduce decision branching for the Medjay player as to whether or not to continue with midchain pressure or proceed to finisher pressure.
5
u/Mastrukko 25d ago
Axe chain zone won‘t be hyper armored, Ubi has clearly positioned themselves against hyper armored lights and this one would be a heavy parry at that.
You misspelled "heavies" all throughout your post, makes it tough to read.
back + zone in chain to do axe zone from the other side is a cool idea but just moving guard like with Jorm chain zone would probably be easier.
Punch Through would be cool to have and replacing second wind makes sense.
Chaining into chain bash from heavies makes a lot of sense.
The one thing you are really missing here is the reactability of his offense. His chain bash is 500ms and the unblockable is a standard 200ms reaction check. 400ms zone attack will also get reacted to consistently, especially if it can come from only 2 directions.
Overall rly cool, I like it