War Dogs – Black Panther and Nakia join the team

Scopely will put a new War team in the game: War Dogs. They are specialized for War Offense, where they will be capable of beating some of the top War Defenses. It will be the 3rd War Offense team Sopely introduced in a relatively short period. They want to put more mixed matches in War game mode. And that’s always a good option because better teams equal more engaging battles (matchups).

War Dogs members will be Shuri, Black Panther, and Okoye, alongside two new characters: Black Panther (1mm) and Nakia. We have kits for those two, and we will see what they can offer.

Black Panther (1MM)

1000000 B.C. Bashenga, a member of the Panther Tribe, discovered the Vibranium meteor. By unlocking Vibranium’s powers, he becomes the first Black Panther. As a member of the Avengers, together with Odin Borson and some other powerful characters, he saved Earth from Celestial. He is a deadly fighter wearing Vibranium Armor and claw-like spikes.

In the MSF, he is a Brawler with a high amount of Damage and Focus.

Traits: Hero, Global, Mystic, Brawler, Wakandan, War Dog

Abilities

Basic – Prehistoric Claw

With his Basic, he will attack the primary target with a high amount of piercing damage and apply Defense Down. If he has Defense Up, he will repeat this attack.

Special – Shred and Rend

The Special will cost just three energy points. He can use it at the beginning of combat. He will attack the primary target and rebound chain to five targets (Counterattack will break it) with a high amount of piercing damage. At the same time, he will apply +2 Defense Down to all enemies he attacks. If any Wat Dog ally has Stealth, this attack can Chain to Stealth targets, cannot be counterattacked, and gains +500% Extra Focus.

Ultimate – Bast’s Judgment

The energy cost of his Ultimate ability is four, and it will start full-bar. He will copy and clear five positive effects, excluding Taunt, from the primary target, then attack it with piercing damage (500%). He will gain 500% extra focus for these actions.

On War Offense, he will gain additional benefits from this ability.

First, he will apply +2 Charged to himself and all allies. For each enemy with Charged or Revive Once, he put one additional Charged to himself and all team members (up to a maximum of 10). Then he will gain Deathproof + Deflect + Evade. If the primary target has Safeguard, he will apply Safeguard for two turns to himself and all War Dog allies.

And at the end, he will Spread all positive effects, excluding Safeguard, Stealth, and Taunt, on himself to all WAR DOG allies. The attack can’t be blocked.

Passive – The First Panther

When he gains Offense Up, he will automatically get one more. If he has a Charged, wherever any non-summoned enemy drop below 50% health or gets killed, he (and all of War Dogs) will get +10% on Speed Bar. Then he will lose one Charged.

Wherever the enemy with Defense Down has a turn, he will gain one Charged. He will have +30% Armor (on War Offense, War Dogs will have 30% Armor). He will have +50% Resistance (on War Offense, War Dogs will have 50% Resistance).

When we look at his kit, we can see that he will be an offensive-oriented character with powerful attacking abilities. He will passively produce bonus armor and resistance for War Dogs on War Offense.

Most importantly, he will have a strong synergy with Nakia. She (as you see a little later) will have Stealth, and he will benefit from that. He can affect everyone from the enemy side with his Special and put Defense Down on them. Then he can exploit that with Charged and passively fill the speed bar to his team. And as we all know, Speed is something that matters the most in those kinds of games.

With his Ultimate, he will destroy the opponent, but that is not the most important thing – he will copy and strip buffs, then (War Offense) spread it to his team members. Every attack he made is a piercing attack – this is a benefit to his offensive side. His attacks will ignore armor, and at the same time, when he attacks with Ultimate, even if the target has Defense Up, he will deal additional damage and nullify it.

From those things we can see, I am free to say that MSF is getting New Kicking-Ass Brawler. Same as Shang-Chi – a powerful character who can produce a lot of damage and has low cooldowns on his abilities. If he will be versatile and actually powerful like Shang Chi it is yet to be seen.

Nakia

She is a member of the River Tribe in Wakanda. She becomes a member of War Dogs – the central intelligence service of Wakanda, where she collects information from all around the World to ensure the safety of Wakanda. In other words – spy. She helped T’Chala when Kilmonger usurped the throne of Wakanda. With her help, Black Panther retook the throne restoring peace to his land.

Nakia is Controler in the War Dogs team with high Damage and Focus.

Traits: Hero, Global, Skill, Controller, Wakandan, War Dog

Basic – Ring Blade Assault

She will attack the primary target with a nice amount of damage and chain to three adjacent targets – clearing two positive effects from each. If any of those attacks are crit, she will gain +1 Stealth (up to a max of 5).

Special – Twin Rings

Special will cost three energies, and she can use it at the start of combat. She will clear all negatives from herself, then attack the primary target by applying Disrupt (cannot be blocked). After she attacks, she will put two Stealth on herself.

On War Offense – she will generate 1 Ability Energy for all adjacent War Dog allies. She will clear Taunt and Immunity from the primary target and put 2 Disrupted instead of 1. Attack will have a +500% focus.

Ultimate – From the Shadows

Ultimate will cost five energy points, and she can use it on her 2nd turn. Attack primary and rebound to 3 adjacent targets. If she has Stealth, it will chain to +1 adjacent target per Stealth on her (damage will be Piercing). Then she loses all Stealth. Enemies can’t counterattack it.

In War Offense, she will apply Ability Block (2 turns) to the primary target.

Passive – Wakandan Spy

Every time she gains Defense Up, she will also gain +1 Stealth (up to a max of 5). While she has Charged, and the enemy or War Dog ally has a turn, she will attack the most injured enemy (ignoring Stealth) for 100% piercing (350% in Warr Offense). Then she will lose one Charged.

On War Offense, she will get one Charged on spawn plus one additional Charged per War Dog ally. If she has at least 2 Stealth when War Dog allay drops below 50% hp, she will transfer one to the most injured team member.

She will gain +30% Damage (on War Offense, War Dogs will have +30% Damage). She will have +50% Focus (on War Offense, War Dogs will have +50% focus).

As we can see, she has nice Synergys with Black Panter (1MM). During the combat, she will have a few ways to get +Stealth. Later, she can redistribute those to the most injured allies. In War Offense, she will passively attack the most injured enemies constantly, and her damage is excellent. All in all – it is an engaging character – at least in War game mode.

Conclusion

We still do not know what will happen with three other War Dogs: Black Panther, Shuri, and Okoye. And if they rework them, what can we expect? Maybe they slightly upgrade their stats and improve some of their abilities to synergize with the new two characters, or they will simply do nothing. Even in the worst case, if they do not touch anything on those characters, we will have a powerful synergy for War Offense.

Most importantly, Black Pather (1MM) and Nakia will be an essential part of the Wakandian synergy needed for Death Scourge Nodes 5 and 10. Considering Shuri’s healing capabilities it would be no surprise for me that War Dogs actually become the only viable solution for Death Scourge leaving Bionic Avengers only as the SAC team.

This is only a theory craft but according to my previous experience, everything suggests that we will be forced to invest in new War Dogs – everyone has BA almost maximized already and I am 100% certain that War Dogs will be invaluable for the new Scourge. It only remains that we see if we can rely at all on BA in Death Scourge or not.

Do not be mad at Scopely if my suspicion proves to be accurate. Bionic Avengers are the only viable Tech option for Doom 3 nodes and they are a really good team and counter for some META teams. My advice is to start improving the rest of War Dogs immediately and to be prepared when new characters (Black Panther (1MM) and Nakia) become available – it will pay off in the end for sure!