Main Offtank for Levi/Pluck
by Anonymous
Leviathan
Increase your Ultimate charge rate by 15% and your Maximum Health by 500. Activating Ancient Rage resets the Cooldown of Dredge Anchor and Shell Spin.
Ancient Rage
Strongarm
Reduce the Cooldown of Dredge Anchor by 0.6-3s.
Dredge Anchor
5
Ebb and Flow
Reduce the Cooldown of Shell Spin by 20-100% after falling to or below 40% Health.
Armor
4
Surf
Increase the travel distance of Shell Spin by 10-50%.
Shell Spin
3
Determination
Increase your Healing received from other players by 5-25% while at or below 50% Health.
Armor
2
Salvage
Regenerate 1 Ammo every 0.5s for 0.5-2.5s after activating Dredge Anchor.
Dredge Anchor
1
Guide
So, let me start off with this, I have posted a loadout for Makoa already and it was one centered around his halfshell for offtanking purposes. If you want to see a brief guide for why I use the loadout and my point allotments for it, the loadout is back under version 3.3 since I originally posted it before the site was updated for the Radiant Stars patch. Anyhow, Makoa recieved quite a few significant buffs this patch which, in my opinion, have made him a more prominent offtank choice pick. While he may not be as powerful as he was several patches ago, he is still a powerful tank, especially when put into the hands of someone who can play him well-enough. The changes that he recieved to his base kit and his Levi talent have made him an exceedingly better offtank than he was last patch. Before I go on to discuss those changes a bit more, if you just want to see my reasoning for my loadout card choices and a brief guide feel free to scroll on past. Otherwise, I'm just going to briefly cover the buffs that he recieved.
1. Let's start off with Koa's most notable change this patch; the rework that he recieved to his Leviathan talent which has made it an exceedingly powerful ultimate based talent. Before the rework, all the Levi talent provided Koa was a 500 hp bonus. Now, this was basically a throw pick since it provided Koa with no real benefit at all. His talent was literally the equivalent to a 3 point hp bonus loadout card in most other tanks' loadouts. Although with the current rework, the talent, again in my opinion, has given Koa three very viable talents. As for the additions to the talent:
- His ultimate charge rate is increased by 15%
- Upon successfully entering your Ancient Rage, the cooldowns of Dredge Anchor and Shell Spin are reset.
These two additions not only allow you to get his sluggisly charging ult up a bit quicker, but you no longer have to worry about having your hook and dash up before activating your ult. To make the most out of your ult, you actually want to make sure your dash and hook are on cooldown before activating it, if possible.
2. The damage fall off range of his cannon was increased from 50 units to 75 units. Now, in my opinion, this is the second biggest buff that Koa received this patch. The range at which Koa can hit for full damage is actually the same as his hook distance now. While the point of the buff is to help give Koa a bit more damage at range, it can actually help you to learn the distance of his hook as well. Whenever you're firing at an enemy, they will have a glowing outline around them when in view. While the outline around them is red, this means that whenever hitting them with a shot it shouldn't have any damage fall off applied for their current position. Since the distance of his hook and the start for his damage fall off are the same, this can help give you a "rough" idea of his hook distance. Whenever someone has that red glow around them, you can comfortably throw your hook out and reel them in. Although the reason I said "rough" idea earlier was because the hitbox for his hook extends slightly out past this range, so you can hit enemies that are slightly outside the start of his fall off range.
3. The cooldown of his Dredge Anchor was reduced from 15 seconds to 14 seconds. There's not much to say about this change. It's honestly an all-around really nice buff for Koa. Long-story-short you'll be able to throw out more hooks per game at base, which is a good thing.
4. A small grace period was added after activating Shell Shield during which it cannot be deactivated. This is a very minor change and just helps to prevent you from spamming your shield and then cancelling it in a panic.
5. His Strongarm card was buffed to have an increased cooldown reduction (CDR) per level. (0.5 seconds -> 0.6 seconds) This means at max level you can have a hook with an eleven second cooldown. Once again, we have been blessed with the ability to have his hook cooldown the same as it was several patches ago before his major nerfs. If you're gonna run Strongarm, I recommend running it at max. level.
Now concerning my loadout card choices and point allotments, this is the main build that I run when I'm offtanking (w/ Levi or Pluck) with Koa and have no real need to run Rampage. The loadout is simple in what it's supposed to do and I feel that it accomplishes that pretty well. The point to the loadout is meant to empower both your hook and dashes just a bit more.
Strongarm V: I run this card at a five to take advantage of that 11 second CD. If you run Chronos with it, you can have your hook down to a 9.9 second CD with level one Chronos and so forth.This helps to maximize the number of hooks that you can throw out in a single match. Although, the cooldown to his hook is still a bit lengthy even at 11 seconds. So, you want to make sure that you're not just throwing out your hooks because you can and also make sure that you're hooking high-value targets when needed (i.e. enemy dps and supports).
Ebb and Flow IV: this is a card that I have bounced between how many points to invest into it quite a bit. I have tried running the card at a two, three and four. Personally, having it at a two is not nearly enough to notice it when needed. I have come across quite a few other people and talked to some who prefer running it at a three. While at a three, if you fall to 1800 hp or below (2000 w/ Levi) then the CD of your Shell Spin is reduced by 60%. This can be enough in about 70-75% of situations from my experience, but I prefer to run it at a four because to me it is good enough for roughly 90% of situations which is quite the improvement. In all honesty, if the internal CD on the card were lowered a bit, I may consider running it at a three again.
Surf III: this is here to help you either close the distance on enemy backline better or put some distance between those that you are trying to escape from. You could bump it up to a IV if you wanted and lower Determination down to a I, but that's personal preference there.
Determination II: determination is probably the second best filler card for Koa. It allows you to get that extra bit of healing while at 2250 hp or below (2500 w/ Levi) and give you that extra needed sustain. I have seen some people who run the card at a IV or V, but again that's personal preference and if you wanted to do that you would have to swap around the points from other cards.
Salvage I: anytime I need a filler card for Koa, this is the card that I run. It is hands down the best filler card that you can run in any loadout for Koa. Giving him that one extra shot after throwing out your hook can prove to be the decisive factor in certain situations.
As far as items go:
- Cauterize: this is just a necessary pick for whenever you want to offtank with Koa especially against double support comps.
- Rejuv.: just help your healers man.
- Haven/Blast Shields: dependent on the enemy comp.
- Bulldozer: I just call this the anti-turret item whenever I play Koa. It can help to save an extra shot on Barik's turrets, but make sure you check the Barik's loadout first. Otherwise, you can just two shot those things.
- Resilience: if you're going against a CC heavy comp., then you're gonna want to max this out as quickly as possible. Yes, you are CC immune during Koa's ult, but the rest of the time you're not.
- Illuminate: use to counter Strix when you're putting pressure on him or to help w/ Skye.
- Nimble: only get this item if you really have the room for it with your current build.
- Master Riding: a pretty all around good item especially for maps like Ice Mines.
- Chronos: it can help to reduce the CD on your hook further and passively benefit your other abilities as well. Although, this is an item you want to take some caution with because you want to prioritize other items first such as Cauterize and Rejuv.
**NOTE this loadout can be used with either Koa's Levi talent or Pluck talent interchangeably!**
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