The Buck And Doe Update Patch Notes: Creature Adjustments!

Explorers! We hoped that you enjoyed the new creatures of the update. But that’s not all! As with almost every patch note beforehand, this one’s no different. Here comes the creature adjustments of this update! In this update, a whopping total of 16 creatures are getting themselves a new makeover and will be ready to take on the battlefield once more. Anyways, let’s jump right into it!

Please be noted that the patch notes mostly didn’t include descriptions of how the new abilities actually behave. So anything relevant shall be double confirmed once the update goes live. For now, ability introductions and how they actually behave are simply through speculations from their icons, and for the hybrids, via the history of their creature components. 

• Distracting Rampage becomes Group Distracting Rampage

• Added Counter Ferocity

• Health increased from 3150 to 3300

• Damage increased from 1200 to 1350

• Gained swap revention immunity

Like Troodon before, Dakotoraptor was nothing special for an Epic Cunning creature before. Not only being outclassed by Beta and the 4 Atrociraptors for the place of top raptor, but it can be said arguably as one of the more underused creatures too. But with this buff on this dromaeosaur, it seems that Dakotoraptor would finally overcome both its weaknesses: Flocks and swap prevention effectively. Besides, getting some health and damage buffs on its stats and even a pretty decent counter actually helps it even further. Unfortunately this buff isn’t really gonna affect the Epic meta due to the Omega + Gigantspinosaurus meta we’re currently in, but on the bright side, at least Dakotoraptor finally gets the love it deserved.

• Distraction becomes Cunning Strike

• Greater Stunning Impact becomes Greater Stunning Rampage

• Group Decelerating Impact becomes Group Resilient Impact

• Added Dig In On Escape

• Added Nullifying Counter

• Health increased from 3750 to 4250

• Damage increased from 1000 to 1250

• Gained swap prevention immunity

• Gained armour reduction resistance: 0% to 50%

• Gained damage reduction resistance: 0% to 50%

Now this is a huge overhaul for the Indoraptor version of the Stegoceratops. Not only it’s kit was completely revamped, but it would probably seem to let Monostegotops have an even better time on adapting the new Legendary meta! Some changes, like the return of Greater Stunning Rampage and it gaining Dig In On Escape as well as a Nullifying Counter? Definitely a win. As it could now stop Rexy from dealing that ferocious damage on itself, while probably even having the chance to beat Rexy too. Aside from that, despite losing Group Decelerating Impact for Group Resilient Impact, this actually helps Monostegotops on the Panthera Blytheae matchup. Yep folks, this buff actually successfully made another PB counter to the Legendary meta. With the pattern of Group Resilient Impact and Dig-In altogether, it’ll be a matter of time that it could strike through the snow leopard. Also, it gained some health and damage buffs, and even 3 resistances as well. Although the change isn’t that much for the resistances, it’s always nice to see this ceratopsian having swap prevention immunity, so it could just walk away, and deal 1250 damage by swapping in anytime it wants to. Overall speaking, This buff on Monostegotops is definitely worth the shot. Time will tell whether it would step in the Legendary meta once more.

• Group Distracting Rampage now has a delay of 1

• Critical chance increased from 5% to 15%

Originally I would have placed this into the ‘Nerfs’ category if it wasn’t for a buff for this salamander hybrid’s increased critical chance. To be fair, it does make sense for Group Distracting Rampage to have a delay of 1 in the first place, so the decision was right. But with one of its biggest moves now having a delay of 1 in exchange for an increased critical chance? I’ll take it. Especially when Skoolasaurus has one of the best priority moves in the game that a critical hit could change everything. So either way, this is more of a buff than a nerf. Would this affect Skoolasaurus’ matchups? Hopefully not, but maybe we’ll see the clear differences once we have a Legendary tournament coming up in the future.

• Fierce Strike becomes Precise Piercing Strike

• Critical Impact becomes Dispersed Fierce Impact

• Added Distracting Counter

• Health increased from 4000 to 4250

Well, well, well, what have we here? Spinotasuchus, here we meet again. If the buff you received in 3.4 wasn’t enough, then this surely wouldn’t as well. Although it saw some improvement on striking flocks and some tanks, the damage dealt for those critters unfortunately wouldn’t be hard enough to take them out entirely. Precise Piercing Strike is good after all, but you’re living in a meta where Omegas practically outclass you in every single way. The health buff ain’t that much as well. I’m aware that Distracting Counter received a buff on its overall damage reduction mechanism, but 25% isn’t really gonna do much on a meta where almost everything relevant has resistance or immunity to it. Again, with the high proximity of beginners unlocking Rexy before it, the chances are now even slimmer for it to even enter the Legendary meta again. 

• Cunning Strike becomes Tough Group Cunning Strike 

• Revenge Instant Ferocity becomes Vengeful Ferocious Distraction

• Speed increased from 110 to 113

• Damage increased from 1200 to 1300

• Reactive now becomes: Increase speed by 25%

Antarctovenator has become underwhelming ever since the large amounts of updates rolled in. But how can this buff change ‘Grumpy Flaffy’? Tough Group Cunning Strike is always a nice choice when fighting against flocks. Although we aren’t sure what the new Vengeful Ferocious Distraction does to Antarctovenator’s overall abilities, if it turns out to be a significant improvement to Revenge Instant Ferocity, I’ll take it. Especially when it comes along with the distraction mechanic that would help it further as a Wildcard hybrid. The reactive also seems useful for increasing its speed as well, especially it also received a speed buff in the meantime. The damage buff on the other hand, isn’t that much. Why not something to 1500 to really make a difference? Overall, can this increase the amount of Antarctovenators in the Unique tournaments? Unfortunately the chances of that happening would be slim. This buff might be useful for Antarctovenator, but I believe more players would rather spend their Concavenator DNA on its 3 outstanding hybrids across different metas. So unfortunately for Antarctovenator, the buff might be useful, the overall usage won’t be high enough for it.

• Heavy Strike becomes Group Heavy Strike

• Health increased from 5250 to 5350

• Damage increased from 1550 to 1650

• Armour increased from 10% to 15%

• Reactive becomes: If the opponent is wounded, self heal 10% of max health at the start of the turn.

In my opinion, I don’t actually think Ceratosaurus is in need of a buff. But hey-ho, we’ll take a look at how it could work. Group Heavy Strike now allows it to strike flocks with ease, so we hope that it changes its Dsungascoprios matchup during tournaments, especially since these matches can last more than 4 turns. The health and damage buff aren’t really that much, as the buff for both of these aspects only increased 100 each, so it probably won't have much effect on the current Unique meta, and the same can be said for the armour too. but if you aren’t investing it in tournaments, this buff isn’t really much of a chance for a Fierce-Resilient, so most of the time you’ll choose something better as an alternative, like Concatosaurus or Grypolyth. But we’ll also take a look at the new reactive, which would now be triggered every time the opponent is wounded. Healing 10% of your health is great after all, but with so much to do with cleanse nowadays? It’s not really much of an improvement to what it was before. So either way, Ceratosaurus’ new buff isn’t really anything special. So it’s another skip.

• Shattering Regenerating Impact becomes Group Shattering Regenerating Impact

• Titanic Takedown now has a 75% chance to stun the opponent for a turn

• Regenerating Alert Dominance now targets the team instead of itself when healing

• Damage increased from 660 to 780

Australotitan is an Omega creature that has been stuck in a tough situation. It's a Wildcard, but It’s health isn’t too great for it to be a tank, while the attack stat on the other hand isn’t too great for it to be a damage unit either. But all this is about to be changed. With it now gaining some attack stat buffs and a versatile group attack that could regenerate its health with a cool-down of 1, it’s probably gonna change a few of Australotitan’s matchups in both the Rare and Epic metas. Aside from that, we’re glad that Titanic Takedown now has the ability to stun the opponents with an actual normal degree. 50% wasn’t enough for it to stand its ground, so 75% would make the difference. Regenerating Alert Dominance on the other hand, can be widely considered as Australotitan’s trump card. But with the move now being available to heal your teammates in raids as well? Australotitan would now also be a group supporter in raids too. Overall, the buff probably would allow this Australian titanosaur to gain some improved offensive and defensive capabilities against the different metas that it’s most powerful in.

• Leading Charge now attacks for 2X instead of 1.66X (Applies to Diaboloceratops only)

• Instant Crush now attacks for 2.5X instead of 2X (Applies to Diaboloceratops only)

• Survival Instinct now increases armour by 35% in threaten state (Applies to both)

In terms of the Omega tier list, Diaboloceratops has been in the bottom of the barrel. But this whole new overhaul to its 3 main moves may now be a menace to be dealt with. Now you’ll have to deal with a rampage and devastation for Diaboloceratops. Why a devastation though? That is because Instant Crush applies vulnerability before attacking. So it may just be a decimation from hindsight, but in fact a devastation for anything without vulnerability resistance. With the move also being a group attack and comes with the precise mechanism, if done correctly, this move might have now become, if not, one of the best ones in the game. To add on, it, as well as the Unique Crichtomoloch have also received a buff on the counter Survival Instinct, which now increases armour by 35% on threatened state. This would definitely come in handy once Diaboloceratops faces Cunning creatures like Clever Girl and Fukuiraptor, as well as Nomingia and Pantherator for Crichtomoloch in the Unique meta. Jokes aside, but Diaboloceratops has now really transformed into a devil, staying true to its name. 

• The effects for Ferocious Flying Strike now targets team instead of itself

• Fierce Impact becomes Dispersed Fierce Impact

• Divebomb now has a 50% chance to stun the opponent for a turn

• Health increased from 1120 to 1320

• Damage increased from 530 to 575

Geosternbergia is one of the more interesting creatures of the Omega category. Being a capable dodger and a strong combatant, it could deal as much damage as it could once getting it to level 21. That is if the opponent isn’t a flock. Thankfully, it just received a well-deserved buff on a new group attack in the name of Dispersed Fierce Impact, so now if you pair that up with its cloaks, Geosternbergia might have gotten what most creatures with cloaks would like the most: A huge group attack. Aside from that, the effects for Ferocious Flying Strike has also been expanded from itself towards its teammates in raids too. We aren’t sure how this pterosaur can work in raids, but maybe a test or two would do so once the update goes live. Additionally, it seems that Divebomb has become a much bigger menace with the new stun mechanic that comes along with it. Despite that, many creatures nowadays have stun resistance or stun immunity, so it’s pretty uneasy if it really wants to get itself a free turn. Even with this disadvantage, chances are that Geosternbergia would definitely become a terror to anything that is wandering around its territory thanks to its versatility of striking opponents with such huge attacks. With this buff, I genuinely believe that Geosternbergia would probably be usable as a better Omega creature nowadays. 

• Instant Shielded Strike now heals 10% of maximum health

• Unstoppable Force now has a 50% chance to stun the opponent

• Armour increased from 5% to 10%

Like Diaboloceratops above, Koreanosaurus is easily stoppable with its lacklustre moves. So with this buff being made, we believe that it could change a bit of its overall strength. Firstly, Instant Shielded Strike now regenerates some health when using this priority move. This might not be cool for Cunning creatures, but for Fierce creatures like the Sinraptor and Yutyrannus lurking in your neighbourhood, it's just free real estate. Unstoppable Force is a decent decimation, and now with a 50% chance for you to stun the opponent, it’s debatable on whether it can be proven a niche self-defensive move for Koreanosaurus. Cause like Geosternbergia’s newly upgraded Divebomb, it’s pretty hard for the stun to work properly when the meta is practically filled with creatures with high resistances and immunity.  But the damage is once again, pretty terrifying if it’s turn to strike. As for the increase of armour, it ain’t that much to be fair, so it’s a disappointing change to its overall adjustment. It might be a bit better than what it was before, but the changes are not gonna be enough to bring it to the tournaments that are filled with Fierce creatures when most of its moves are mainly resilient based.

• Offensive Stance now has a 75% chance to dodge an attack

• Shattering Triple Jab now attacks for 0.5X trice instead of 0.33X

• Jab And Weave now attacks 1X twice instead of 0.75X

• Critical chance increased from 5% to 10%

Rativates works surprisingly well as a multi-damage dealer, and with this buff here, Rativates might have just become more powerful on dealing multiple hits to the opponent. This can be proven further when Shattering Triple Jab just turned from an attack to an impact with no cool-down. So chances are that Rativates can have an impact on disarming the opponent cautiously. Speaking of multi-hit attacks, it also received a buff on Jab And Weave. Which originally serves as an impact, and now with this buff being made, it’s now practically a double strike. So whether or not you’re a flock, be wary of Rativate’s attacks, especially since it now has a slightly increased critical chance as well. So even one critical hit can determine your fate on the battlefield. Even if you want to attack Rativates in the most extreme circumstances, its primary move Offensive Stance now grants it a 75% chance to dodge any upcoming attack. So hitting it can be proven harder than before. Combined with its decent attack stats by default, my hopes for Rativates being more prominent in the Rare and Epic meta are pretty high. 

• Delay removed for Embolden

• Critical chance increased from 25% to 50% of Embolden

• Stunning Vulnerability Impact becomes Stunning Vulnerability Rampage

• Distracting Counter now reduces damage for 25% for 2 turns and 4 attacks

• Critical chance increased for 26% to 35%

Like Diaboloceratops and Koreanosaurus, Stegouros never was an amazing creature to be used aside from being in the Common meta. But this new buff might make a difference to its overall kit. Specifically speaking, it now has a rampage in replacement of its impact, so it can deal more damage in return. Besides that, Embolden now has its delay removed, so Stegouros can use this move on the 1st turn. Additionally, this move allows Stegouros to have its critical chances increased from 25% to 50% for a few turns as well. When paired up with its new default critical chance from 26% to 35%, it can practically have itself a whooping 85% chance of getting a critical hit. So overall, Stegouros’ kit has significantly improved its performance aside from the Common meta. The only thing that keeps it from having some good performance is how it spawns. Being a short-range spawn, it’s pretty hard to come by nowadays, but let’s hope that can be fixed soon.

• Payback Rampage now attacks for 2.5X instead of 2X

• Damage reduction resistance increased from 50% to 75%

This buff on Yuxisaurus isn’t much, but we believe that an increase in attack stat from Payback Rampage would firmly make Yuxisaurus’ a bit more menacing. Besides, it also has a slight increase of its distraction resistance. Although 75% isn’t much of a difference as with 50%, it’s nevertheless still an improvement, so I’ll let it slide.  

• Swap In Shattering Prowl will now perform the regular attack before the buff, in which the regular attack will not be benefitted from the buff.

I bet everyone’s already celebrating when this nerf was announced, not because of the reason that we are probably seeing this coming, but this change will probably determine Thylos’ fate in the current meta! As most players, if not all already realise how much of an annoyance Thylos’ swap in attack could be when performed in the right moment. In tournaments, it might deal 2625 damage along with the attack increase and critical hit, but with these fierce flocks being hit by the nerf hammer, it’ll simply deal 1400 damage on swap-in. Even if you’re lucky and get the critical hit on the swap-in, it’ll still only deal 1750 damage. It’s an entire difference of 875 damage altogether! But still, be wary of its ferocity buffs would still be applied for the time being, and it can still 2-hit KO anything without rend resistance with Dual Rending Assault. And with the swap-in damage being the main reason why most top players still use Thylos nowadays, the usage for these gingerbread men would probably be lowered down thanks to this nerf. Even saying so, it can still play a part of the meta by being the reliable Concatoloch and Plateorex counter it is right now, so this nerf gets its job done, while continuing to retain its main role as a tank buster.

• Swap In Bulwark Alert now gains a lockdown of 2 turns in both secure and threatened state.

This nerf here doesn’t really change much of Platerorex’s performances, as its rather adjusting the lockdown mechanic when this hybrid swaps in. This now makes Plateorex more manageable for its opponents, as it has to stay inbound for 2 turns instead of running away and swapping in as an infinite loop. We aren’t sure whether it could affect its matchups yet, but we’re glad that the ‘Broad King’ can be tamed with the update for the lockdown on the swap in.

And those are all the 16 creature adjustments in this update! To conclude, I’m pleased to see Monostegotops seeing a overhaul that’ll come in handy in different matchups, Dakotoraptor and Antarctovenator finally getting some love, as well as Australotitan and Geosternbergia having some improvements to existing moves. Additionally, we’re also curious of how Thylos’ nerf would affect its place in the current meta. Let’s hope these adjustments can further help these creatures be more effective in a balanced way on the battlefield and raids. What’s your favourite creature adjustment in this update? Join our Discord server and let us know in the comments! Thanks for reading and stay tuned for future updates!